Introduction: Revisiting the Roles and Responsibilities of Trade Associations

We explain that the reasons for this Dialog stem from the enduring gaps in our understanding of what trade associations are, how they work, and what impact they have on members, industries, markets, and societies. The Dialog includes an opening paper by Thomas Lawton, Tazeeb Rajwani and Amy Minto and is followed by contributions from Michael Barnett, Steven Kahl, Lyn Spillman, and Howard Aldrich. Building on previous and ongoing research, each author reflected on the key questions driving this Dialogue: Do trade associations matter and if so, how? We argue that not only do they matter but more attention needs to be given to their roles and responsibilities

Corporate political activity and location-based advantage: MNE responses to institutional transformation in Uganda’s electricity industry

We examine how multinational enterprises (MNEs) employ political strategies in response to location-based, institutional transformations in new frontier African markets. Specifically, we explore the heterogeneous corporate political activities of advanced and emerging market MNEs in Uganda’s electricity industry, as they respond to and influence locational advantage using diverse political capabilities. We argue that, in institutionally fragile, new frontier markets, Dunning’s OLI paradigm is more theoretically robust and managerially relevant when combined with a political perspective. Effective MNE political strategies in these markets rely on nonmarket capabilities in political stakeholder engagement, community embeddedness, regional understanding, and responsiveness to stages of institutionalization

The creation and control of EC industrial policy: lessons from the electronic sector

This paper begins by undertaking, a theoretical analysis of EC industrial policy. This will involve selecting definitions and identifying policy instruments, and conclude by advancing an industrial policy model with which we may better comprehend contemporary EC industrial policy. Secondly, it is my aim to explore the relationship which exists between the European Commission and electronics transnational corporations (TNCS) in the creation and control of EC industrial policy. The objective is to understand and to provide a framework of analysis for the processes of Comrnission-TNC relations. This necessitates understanding how the various organisations interact and how they influence one another. This policy-making power interplay is best conceptualised in terms of the Pentagonal Diplomacy model. I acknowledge that other actors, especially national governments, are important players in EC industrial policy formulation. I argue however, that EC electronics policy is shaped and guided mainly by the Commission and a group of large firms. This process occurs through what Wilks & Wright describe as "informal relationships" [1987:2861, the effects of which are often underestimated in analyses of EC industrial policy. Thirdly, I advance the notion that the emergence and consolidation of an EC industrial policy has eroded national sovereignty and contributed to the closer union of Europe's nation states. The 1990 delineation of an explicit industrial policy for the European Union has implications which go beyond mere rhetoric. Member states are now obliged to consult each other and coordinate their actions in many spheres. This means that the industrial policy competence of the Union should also be understood as part of the integration process. That is, through the Maastricht Treaty, the coordination of economic and monetary policies has become central to the development of European integration. The coordination of industrial policies can be seen as a flanking dimension of this endeavour. Following on from the 1950s creation of a High Authority for coal and steel policy, competence has, since the early 1980's, shifted from the national to the European level in several other important economic sectors. This power shift signifies a weakening of national government policy autonomy, and a strengthening of supranational bodies, most notably the European Commission. It indicates an integration of decision-making power, as well as an irreversible fusing of national economic interests for core industrial sectors. I shall support these assertions with evidence from the electronics industry

An Analysis of the Nature and Tactics of Demagogues in ancient Athens and modern America

In its original usage, demagogue did not carry any pejorative meaning. It was a term used to describe the tactics of a leader, not his character. The original definition was corrupted by Plutarch who, in his Athenian lives, created a distinction between demagogues (bad leaders), and statesmen (good leaders). But Plutarch’s distinction was not based on the actions or character of the leader, but simply on whether the historian Thucydides portrayed the politician in a positive or negative light. This creates a problem for modern analysis of demagogues since it is difficult to define the characteristics of a demagogue. The most common practice today is to classify anyone who is aggressive in nature as a demagogue, which ultimately leads to an overly broad and amorphous category. But study of the traits and actions of ancient Athenian politicians, can discern the true nature and identifiers of destructive political leadership. My analysis of ancient Athenian politicians covers Pericles, Cleon, and Alcibiades. After determining the true nature of demagogic action in Athens, I applied my findings to the American system. This analysis identifies the Constitutional barriers that were designed to prevent the rise of demagogues, as well as the processes by which these barriers were dismantled. I then applied my findings of what constitutes true demagogic action to modern America in order to determine which institutions I found to be most emblematic of demagoguery. I discovered that the best example of demagoguery in modern America is the Drug Enforcement Administration since their parochial interests and manipulative popular tactics closely parallel those that were most destructive to the democracy of ancient Athens

Advancing complexity science in healthcare research : the logic of logic models

BACKGROUND: Logic models are commonly used in evaluations to represent the causal processes through which interventions produce outcomes, yet significant debate is currently taking place over whether they can describe complex interventions which adapt to context. This paper assesses the logic models used in healthcare research from a complexity perspective. A typology of existing logic models is proposed, as well as a formal methodology for deriving more flexible and dynamic logic models. ANALYSIS: Various logic model types were tested as part of an evaluation of a complex Patient Experience Toolkit (PET) intervention, developed and implemented through action research across six hospital wards/departments in the English NHS. Three dominant types of logic model were identified, each with certain strengths but ultimately unable to accurately capture the dynamics of PET. Hence, a fourth logic model type was developed to express how success hinges on the adaption of PET to its delivery settings. Aspects of the Promoting Action on Research Implementation in Health Services (PARIHS) model were incorporated into a traditional logic model structure to create a dynamic "type 4" logic model that can accommodate complex interventions taking on a different form in different settings. CONCLUSION: Logic models can be used to model complex interventions that adapt to context but more flexible and dynamic models are required. An implication of this is that how logic models are used in healthcare research may have to change. Using logic models to forge consensus among stakeholders and/or provide precise guidance across different settings will be inappropriate in the case of complex interventions that adapt to context. Instead, logic models for complex interventions may be targeted at facilitators to enable them to prospectively assess the settings they will be working in and to develop context-sensitive facilitation strategies. Researchers should be clear as to why they are using a logic model and experiment with different models to ensure they have the correct type

Information and Nonmarket Strategy: Conceptualizing the Interrelationship between Big Data and Corporate Political Activity

While extant research acknowledges the importance of information for corporate political activity (CPA), there is limited understanding of how information is actually used to deploy political strategies. This gap reflects a broader problem in the literature whereby Big Data (BD) research is overly focused on the impact of information on market performance but overlooks the impact on nonmarket performance. In this paper, we draw on the resource-based view to conceptualize the interrelationship between BD (i.e. information) and CPA. We argue that CPA motivates BD investments, which, in turn, shape the organization of CPA and spur the development of data-driven political capabilities. Our conceptual model, which unpacks the intricate linkages between CPA success factors, BD and political capabilities, generates important theoretical, practical and further research implications

Comparison of Cyssor analogues in the cysteine-specific chemical cleavage of ovalbumin

Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/73531/1/j.1399-3011.1984.tb02721.x.pd

How to use corn silage hybrid trial results

Just looking at the top performing hybrids from a single year, while interesting, has limited value