Entrepreneurs, HRM Orientations and Environmental Fit: A UK-Japan Comparison in High Tech Manufacturing

Entrepreneurs cannot develop a business single handedly. One of the most important tasks the entrepreneur faces is to recruit, allocate work to, motivate and retain employees who will help the business to grow. Based on survey data, this paper examines the HRM orientations of UK and Japanese high tech manufacturing entrepreneurs, and identifies fundamentally different approaches to these tasks, at least as expressed by the entrepreneurs. The UK entrepreneurs espouse an employment relationship based on 'give and take' flexibility, while the Japanese entrepreneurs are more focused on raising or nurturing their employees. Reasons for the differences are explored, and relate to the entrepreneurs' backgrounds, as well as the business and social environment. Implications for the 'new employment relationship' are explored.Entrepreneurship; HR management; High-tech small firms

Brazil and Biofuels for Autos: A Model for Other Nations

This paper examines the evolution ofgovernment policies in Brazil to encourage the switch frompetrol to ethanol, and the response of auto producers. It isshown that the USA and other nations are encouraging theuse of ethanol as an energy source, and suggests that thesuccess of Brazil may be repeated in other key automarkets

Effects Of Societal, Organizational, And Individual Factors On Job Performance, Job Satisfaction, And Job Strain: Multiple Structural Equation Modeling In A Three Wave Longitudinal Panel Study Of New Teachers.

The major objective of this dissertation is to advance a theoretical research paradigm investigating the causal relationships to job stress on individual strain, mediated by characteristics of the individual. The study relates properties of the societal, organizational, and individual environment to job performance and job strain, mediated by self-esteem, coping skills and career commitment. A three wave longitudinal panel of 255 full-time new teachers in Michigan, derived from an original sample population of 1,202, were mailed questionnaires on their teaching situation, problems encountered, personal networks, teaching experience, problem solving, personal characteristics and teaching characteristics. The data were collected at three different stages in the teaching career. The first data collection was at the end of student teaching training. The second and third data collection took place exactly one and two years after the respondents graduated from college. The present inquiry attempts to examine the specific relationships between the job stress variables and the job strains during student training, the first year of teaching and the second year of teaching. In addition, using structural equation modeling, a theoretical research paradigm is constructed based on both cross-sectional and cross-lagged analyses. The results show that two dimensions are extremely important in interpreting the specific job stress-job strain relationships. The first year of teaching is a crucial stage in the teacher's career, and the results reveal strong differences in comparison to the tune of student training and the second year of teaching. The importance and duration of the socialization process is suggested. A second dimension to be considered is the distinction between being in a training situation and in a real professional setting. The structural equation analyses suggest that a distinction needs to be made between three levels of job stress (societal, organizational, and individual) in order to reproduce the data adequately and to understand fully the magnitude of the job stress-job strain relationships.Ph.D.EducationEducational psychologyTeacher educationUniversity of Michigan, Horace H. Rackham School of Graduate Studieshttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/128082/2/8801290.pd

Diffusion of organisational innovation: knowledge transfer through social networks

This paper discusses the linkages between Social Network Theory (Granovetter, 1973) and Organisational Knowledge Theory (Polanyi, 1966; Nonaka, 1994; Nonaka et al., 2001) as it relates to the diffusion of organisational innovation within large organisations. The focus is on examining these theoretical interrelationships in three case studies, delving into major change projects in three large telecommunications firms. The findings indicate that weak ties are vital when the focus is on explicit knowledge. Further, a model is strong ties are vital when the focus is on tacit knowledge. Further, a model is posed to expand this theoretical interrelationship to include a third dimension: the knowledge source