Varieties of liberalism: Anglo-Saxon capitalism in crisis?

‘Global financial crisis’ is an inaccurate description of the current upheaval in the world’s financial markets. The initial banking crisis did not affect all countries to the same degree. Notably, while the US and UK banking systems were badly hit, those of the other two major Anglo-Saxon economies, Canada and Australia, remain largely unscathed and have even gained in terms of global market share. The national business systems and comparative corporate governance literatures underscore the similarities among these four ‘liberal market economies’ (LMEs) and would predict similar trajectories. This paper investigates the reasons behind the differing performance of the Anglo-Saxon banking systems, which defy a verdict of failure of the LME variety of capitalism as such

Partnership in practice

This paper examines human resource management practices adopted in a group of eight case study firms and their tendencies towards versus away from partnership. The analysis is based on data collected during interviews with 124 employees (75 in organisations tending towards partnership and 49 in organisations tending away from partnership) and senior managers, conducted in 1997-1998 for the Job Insecurity and Work Intensification Survey (JIWIS). Drawing on the perspectives of senior managers and employees, we examine the tendency of firms towards and away from partnership in employment relations; and in keeping with the JIWIS methodology (Burchell et.al., 2001) we combine quantitative and qualitative evidence in our analysis. Specifically, we are interested in what partnership looks like in these different contexts, the reasons it is pursued (or not), the degree to which companies have been successful in achieving their partnership objectives (from the perspective of both management and employees), and the conditions that have either facilitated or impeded partnership in relationships with employees

'Picking winners' in a liberal market economy: modern day heresy - or essential strategy for competitive success?

This paper explores the current debate about industrial strategy and the UK’s hesitant acceptance of a possible role for the state in addressing the challenges confronting British industry in the wake of the 2007/8 financial crisis. In this context – and following the 2012 London Summer Games – political leaders have been pointing to the strategy that succeeded in reversing the British Olymic team’s fortunes following its nadir at the 1996 Atlanta Summer Games; and they are suggesting that there may be lessons for industry. However, the political rhetoric has yet to be translated into action. Analysis of the elite sport strategy, in the light of the evolving literature on industrial strategy and policy suggests that although there are details that are specific to sport, there are also aspects of the general strategic approach that can be used to inform the design and implementation of a strategy aimed at developing and improving the international competitive performance of UK industrial sectors and manufacturers. The significance of the UK elite sport strategy is that it was evolved and successfully implemented in the British social, political and economic context, building on and improving existing institutional capabilities

Assessing austerity

This is the introduction to the Virtual Special Issue on Austerity, drawing articles from the three journals owned and managed by the Cambridge Political Economy Society: Cambridge Journal of Economics, the Cambridge Journal of Regions, Economy and Society and Contributions to Political Economy. http://oxfordjournals.org/our_journals/cameco/asessing-austerity.htm

Time to stop playing games with industrial policy? What government and business might learn from Team GB

This paper investigates the degree to which the British elite sport policy model might inform a strategy for building international competiveness in UK industry. The methodology is qualitative, based on in-depth interviews with key figures in the British elite sport system, including UK Sport’s CEO, Performance Directors of National Sport Governing Bodies whose athletes competed in London 2012 and Rio 2016 and Olympic athletes. The analysis also draws upon detailed case studies of sectors that are currently competing successfully in international markets – despite decades of ill-informed industrial policy, if not neglect. Areas standing out as key to the UK elite sport policy model’s success include: an institutional structure to provide strategic leadership, identify talent and support the development of internationally competitive athletes and teams, whilst at the same time insulating them from interference by short-term political (and sporting) interests; an enabling competitive environment with access to a reliable source of finance; and an institutional system that encourages learning, innovation and responsiveness to opportunities and constraints. Taken together, these – if available to British businesses, clusters and sectors – would likely facilitate improvement in the UK’s industrial performance. The significance of the elite sport case is that not only was it developed and successfully implemented in the British cultural, institutional and political context, in many respects elite sport can be considered a high performance industrial sector. It therefore offers a starting point for evolving strategy for building international competitiveness in comparable sectors of British industry

Clinician and Patient-reported Outcomes Are Associated With Psychological Factors in Patients With Chronic Shoulder Pain.

Validated clinician outcome scores are considered less associated with psychosocial factors than patient-reported outcome measurements (PROMs). This belief may lead to misconceptions if both instruments are related to similar factors. We asked: In patients with chronic shoulder pain, what biopsychosocial factors are associated (1) with PROMs, and (2) with clinician-rated outcome measurements? All new patients between the ages of 18 and 65 with chronic shoulder pain from a unilateral shoulder injury admitted to a Swiss rehabilitation teaching hospital between May 2012 and January 2015 were screened for potential contributing biopsychosocial factors. During the study period, 314 patients were screened, and after applying prespecified criteria, 158 patients were evaluated. The median symptom duration was 9 months (interquartile range, 5.5-15 months), and 72% of the patients (114 patients) had rotator cuff tears, most of which were work injuries (59%, 93 patients) and were followed for a mean of 31.6 days (SD, 7.5 days). Exclusion criteria were concomitant injuries in another location, major or minor upper limb neuropathy, and inability to understand the validated available versions of PROMs. The PROMs were the DASH, the Brief Pain Inventory, and the Patient Global Impression of Change, before and after treatment (physiotherapy, cognitive therapy and vocational training). The Constant-Murley score was used as a clinician-rated outcome measurement. Statistical models were used to estimate associations between biopsychosocial factors and outcomes. Greater disability on the DASH was associated with psychological factors (Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale, Pain Catastrophizing Scale combined coefficient, 0.64; 95% CI, 0.25-1.03; p = 0.002) and social factors (language, professional qualification combined coefficient, -6.15; 95% CI, -11.09 to -1.22; p = 0.015). Greater pain on the Brief Pain Inventory was associated with psychological factors (Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale, Pain Catastrophizing Scale combined coefficient, 0.076; 95% CI, 0.021-0.13; p = 0.006). Poorer impression of change was associated with psychological factors (Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale, Pain Catastrophizing Scale, Tampa Scale of Kinesiophobia coefficient, 0.93; 95% CI, 0.87-0.99; p = 0.026) and social factors (education, language, and professional qualification coefficient, 6.67; 95% CI, 2.77-16.10; p < 0.001). Worse clinician-rated outcome was associated only with psychological factors (Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale (depression only), Pain Catastrophizing Scale, Tampa Scale of Kinesiophobia combined coefficient, -0.35; 95% CI, -0.58 to -0.12; p = 0.003). Depressive symptoms and catastrophizing appear to be key factors influencing PROMs and clinician-rated outcomes. This study suggests revisiting the Constant-Murley score. Level III, prognostic study

Psychiatric Comorbidity and Complex Regional Pain Syndrome Through the Lens of the Biopsychosocial Model: A Comparative Study.

To compare the prevalence of psychiatric comorbidity between patients with complex regional pain syndrome (CRPS) of the hand and non-CRPS patients and to assess the association between biopsychosocial (BPS) complexity profiles and psychiatric comorbidity in a comparative study. We included a total of 103 patients with CRPS of the hand and 290 patients with chronic hand impairments but without CRPS. Psychiatric comorbidities were diagnosed by a psychiatrist, and BPS complexity was measured by means of the INTERMED. The odds ratios (OR) of having psychiatric comorbidities according to BPS complexity were calculated with multiple logistic regression (adjusted for age, sex, and pain). Prevalence of psychiatric comorbidity was 29% in CRPS patients, which was not significantly higher than in non-CRPS patients (21%, relative risk=1.38, 95% CI: 0.95 to 2.01 p=0.10). The median total scores of the INTERMED were the same in both groups (23 points). INTERMED total scores (0-60 points) were related to an increased risk of having psychiatric comorbidity in CRPS patients (OR=1.46; 95% CI: 1.23-1.73) and in non-CRPS patients (OR=1.21; 95% CI: 1.13-1.30). The four INTERMED subscales (biological, psychological, social, and health care) were correlated with a higher risk of having psychiatric comorbidity in both groups. The differences in the OR of having psychiatric comorbidity in relation to INTERMED total and subscale scores were not statistically different between the two groups. The total scores, as well as all four dimensions of BPS complexity measured by the INTERMED, were associated with psychiatric comorbidity, with comparable magnitudes of association between the CRPS and non-CRPS groups. The INTERMED was useful in screening for psychological vulnerability in the two groups

Partnership, ownership and control: the impact of corporate governance on employment relations

Prevailing patterns of dispersed share ownership and rules of corporate governance for UK listed companies appear to constrain the ability of managers to make credible, long-term commitments to employees of the kind needed to foster effective labour-management partnerships. We present case study evidence which suggests that such partnerships can nevertheless emerge where product market conditions and the regulatory environment favour a stakeholder orientation. Proactive and mature partnerships may also be sustained where the board takes a strategic approach to mediating between the claims of different stakeholder groups, institutional investors are prepared to take a long-term view of their holdings, and strong and independent trade unions are in a position to facilitate organisational change

Britain's industrial evolution: the structuring role of economic theory

This paper traces the co-evolution of industrial organization and the ideas and policies that have influenced Britain’s industrial development from Alfred Marshall’s pioneering work on the English industrial districts to the present. It then examines four contemporary districts – in footwear, motorsport, sparkling wine and cyber security – that are internationally competitive, despite decades of ill-informed policy choices, if not neglect. We then investigate the case of British elite sport as a high-performance industrial cluster with potentially transferrable institutional arrangements, particularly with regard to the nature and role of the strategic lead body and the state as well as relationships within the system. We conclude that Marshall’s methodological and theoretical approach to understanding industrial organization – and his belief that industrial districts would co-exist with other forms of industrial organization (rather than be super-ceded by them) – helps to explain the dynamism of contemporary British industrial districts, with important implications for Britain’s industrial revitalization