Entrepreneurial Literary Theory: A Debate on Research and the Future of Academia

Across the world at present, researchers and teachers are being exhorted to become entrepreneurial. Universities are being restructured accordingly. The debate presented in this book considers what that involves and portends for academia. Literary studies are often regarded as the most resistant to – unfit for – entrepreneurial purposes. Literary research is therefore taken as a baseline for this debate. The uneasy place of literary research within profit-driven academia is revealing of the prevailing conditions for scholarship in all areas. Questions that are raised and discussed here include: What does doing research for the public good mean? What is the relationship between profits and benefits from research? What are applied and basic research? Are concepts of academic freedom and disinterestedness meaningful? What is the relationship between corporate and academic research? Are skills and knowledge different? Can pursuits like close reading and text interpretation be made profitable? What is literary value and how can it be measured? Can the literary system be modelled to profitable ends? Can university teaching be automatized? What are the differences between a standard publication agreement and a scholarly publication agreement? How can digital and open-access academic publication be made profitable? Does the academic monograph have a future? What sorts of knowledge and skills inform entrepreneurial leadership

THE IRISH CRASH IN GLOBAL CONTEXT

This article will compare the development of the global neoliberal crisis and the Irish crisis, which is home-grown but, at the same time, an instance of the broader collapse of the recent stage of capitalism. This analysis will be carried out in the context of the Social Structure of Accumulation (SSA) Framework. While capitalism has long had an international dimension, prior to the global neoliberal era, this dimension was a shared international structure linked to discreet national SSAs. In the global neoliberal era, different national structures were integrated into a transnational SSA. One of the strengths of this structure is its ability to link different national formations into global commodity chains locating each productive operation in its potentially most profitable location. While non-neoliberal national formations were capable of integration into the global neoliberal order, the different locations within the global neoliberal SSA tended to produce national variations of the basic institutions of global neoliberalism. The Celtic Tiger era in Ireland will be analyzed as an instance and illustration of this phenomenon. </p

Bulwark of Landlordism and Capitalism: The Dynamics of Feudalism in Nineteenth Century Ireland

The abstract is included in the article

Bulwark of Landlordism and Capitalism: The Dynamics of Feudalism in Nineteenth Century Ireland

The abstract is included in the article

Chiquita Brands and the banana business: brands and labour relations transformations

This paper reports the results of research investigating the evolution of environmentally and socially responsible strategies and practices within the banana industry. An historical overview of a major multinational banana company, Chiquita Brands Int., provides context for the research. Chiquita Brands has been involved in political, environmental, legal and labor controversies in many parts of the world. In Latin America, Chiquita Brands has attracted more attention than any other foreign company and is seen by many as the archetypical representative of United States imperialism. Over a considerable period of time, Chiquita Brands has adopted a succession of structural changes aiming to "clean the past" including innovative corporate social behaviours and building alliances with NGOs such as trade unions and community organizations. Since its bankruptcy in 2001, Chiquita Brands International has adopted a strategy of environmental and social responsibility, has been certified internationally by the Rainforest Alliance and has met Social Accountability International SA 8000 labour standards. The length of time and geographical scale over which the various structural changes have taken place and the high public profile of Chiquita Brands make the results of this case study of general significance.peer-reviewe

Bananas Ethical Quality: Multi-stakeholders, Corporate Social Responsibility and Corporate Governance

This paper examines a recent and very specific development in the field of corporate governance. The regulation of "corporate social responsibility," that is corporate compliance with society's expectations in regard to issues like working conditions and environmental impact has shifted from government agencies to civil society organizations, more specifically NGOs or Non Governmental Organizations. This means that standards are more often negotiated and the subject of voluntary agreements. Since corporations enter into these agreements on a voluntary basis, the enforcement of these arrangements must be at least partially carried out through internal corporate mechanisms. We examine these issues using the example of the banana industry.peer-reviewe

The Development of Railroads in Oklahoma

This thesis is a study of the growth and expansion of railroads in Oklahoma

Bitten by the Celtic Tiger: Immigrant Workers and Industrial Relations in the New 'Glocalized' Ireland

The growth of global economic activity has resulted in a worldwide increase in migration. Despite the growing interest in migratory labour flows, there remains little detailed empirical research about the labour relations practices experienced by immigrant workers. In this article, three general areas are examined from data collected in the Republic of Ireland: (1) what are the experiences of non-Irish national workers employed in different sectors of the economy; (2) do trade unions facilitate the integration of migrant workers in the Irish labour market; and (3) what are the strategies undertaken by trade unions in response to the challenges of immigration? Ethnographic and qualitative research methods were employed to address these broad research objectives. The evidence shows that many immigrant workers have experienced a system of near-serfdom that perpetuates social, economic and cultural exclusion on a large scale. The conclusion argues that an emerging 'glocalization' of the world economy creates a labour market dynamic underpinned by neoliberal policies of the nation-state. The evidence suggests that traditional views of migration and industrial relations theory are found wanting when seeking to explain the concerns of migrant workers. A number of implications arising from this are then discussed.peer-reviewe