Critical Perspectives on Business and Management – serie

This work gathers together articles by leading British, Chinese and Japanese scholars on the mechanisms at work in Chinese business practices, both within China and in other countries. The topics covered include:* the role of family and lineage* business organization* networks* business and foreign multinationals* technology* business and the stateChinese Business Enterprise is an authoritative source which offers a comprehensive coverage of subjects. Where relevant it draws on anthropological, sociological and historical sources to account for current business practices.This collection contributes greatly to an understanding of Chinese business structure and crucially, to an understanding of economic growth in twentieth century Asia.

With the impact of globalization, comparative management is becoming one of the single most important areas within management studies. Comparative Management reproduces the most insightful and influential papers in this area, including articles on principles and methods of comparative management as well as a wide range of country based studies.

This collection brings together some of the most influential writings of the 1970s and 1990s, and major recent publications on current and future directions in the field. "Classics" and important contemporary articles trace the evolution of research on Japanese business over 25 years. This comprehensive set is particularly strong in the area of Japanese management, both in Japan and overseas. It forms an invaluable reference tool, both for practitioners and researchers into the Japanese business phenomenon.This collection includes:* classic articles from the early 1970s to the mid 1980s; key writings on Japanese management published between 1980-1994* articles on manufacturing and production; the automotive industry* articles on banking and finance; corporate strategy and inter-organizational relationships, and the internationalization of Japanese business* articles on Japanese management overseas, and innovation and learning in Japanese business.

Entrepreneurship has come a long way as an academic field, just as it has in our modern economy and society. Entrepreneurship provides a much needed retrospective view of academic work in the area.Scholars in the field approach entrepreneurship from a variety of disciplines and often exhibit little agreement when attempting to define the term itself. To many, however, 'entrepreneurship' is about innovation and creativity - hardly the province of any one discipline. Instead, the field embraces a disparate set of topics and domains that need not have much in common.This collection highlights the importance of studying multiple contextual forces, including research that derives from economics, history, sociology, psychology and from different business disciplinary bases, such as marketing, finance and strategy.The overall focus is on 'entrepreneurial' activity, rather than specifically small business (or family business), and favours research articles over those that deal purely with practice.The articles selected are useful and influential, and demonstrate the remarkable breadth of research questions, many of which are far from settled. The pieces included are often not readily available to libraries and will provide researchers with a unique source on which to build their own work.A thorough index enables the reader to follow a particular theme through the four volumes, while the new introductions by the editor also provide suggestions for further reading on particular topics.

It is no longer possible for modern companies to ignore the ethical or social implications of their business practice. Controversy surrounding such issues as the environment, rewards to senior managers and international labour standards have made business ethics front-page news and helped the concept of business ethics emerge as a fully-fledged part of the business and management landscape.This set brings together a wide cross-section of material from both philosophy and business journals. It includes:· business ethics and how it has developed· compatibility with the free market· international business ethics· case-studies.There is also a new introduction and a thorough index, making this set an invaluable reference tool for both academics and practitioners in the field.

In developed economies more than ninety-nine percent of enterprises are small. In the EU there are as many people employed in businesses with more than 500 workers. Small firms are therefore highly important in terms of employment and in many countries are becoming more important in terms of job creation.Students, politicians, bankers and potential entrepreneurs need to know more about this vitally important sector. This collection synthesises knowledge about small businesses by bringing together key seminal articles on the topic. It enables the reader to better understand why new firms are established and what makes some of them survive and grow. It is particularly concerned with issues influencing the financing of small firms. The material derived is from a variety of different countries in Europe, the United States and Asia.

In the twentieth century, the United States emerged as the world's largest and most powerful economy. Understanding the evolution, organization and performance of the American corporate enterprise in this period is an indispensable foundation for understanding the evolution, organization, and performance of not only the US economy but also of the global economy.The readings collected in these four volumes examine the evolution, operation and performance of the American corporate enterprise and of the American corporate economy more generally. Many of the readings provide broad overviews of the evolution of the US corporate enterprise, while others contribute to debates on the role of US corporate enterprise in the evolution of American economy and society.The material is arranged thematically to help the reader navigate the field. There is also a new introduction and a thorough index, making this set an invaluable reference tool for both academics and practitioners in the field.

The History of Accounting has been constructed from 68 items previously published between 1971 and 1998, representing the key works of 72 leading authors. The set is designed for a number of applications which include: a range of readings suitable for graduate and postgraduate courses on accounting history; background literature for courses dealing with particular aspects of accounting; an initial source of reference for students undertaking a doctoral thesis in accounting history, and the initial source of reference for existing members of faculty who decide to develop their research in this area. The set also provides a coverage of accounting history that meets the needs of business historians whose research encompasses financial matters.The set is divided into four separate volumes dealing with the following broad subject areas:* accounting research methods and twentieth century developments in accounting theory* record keeping systems and financial reporting procedures* cost and management accounting* the professionalisation of accounting.A significant feature of the study of accounting history in recent years has been the emergence of a widening range of theoretical approaches. The editor has therefore ensured that writers from these different traditions are fairly represented.

This unique collection sets out many of the landmark contributions to the theoretical, conceptual and critical advance of the academic subject of human resource management.

Firms have for a long time been part of the explanatory set-up of economics. However, it is only recently that economists have felt the need for an economic theory addressing:* why firms are different* why firms exist* what determines their boundaries relative to 'the market'* what determines their internal organization.This collection documents the rise of the modern theory of the firm during the last two to three decades. It reprints classic writings from a diversity of perspectives, including not only contractual theories of the firm, but also knowledge-based theories and theories of the firm as an information processor. In addition, the collection features perspectives from business strategy and business history as well as methodological and doctrinal historical perspectives.

Reprinting key writings on different aspects of consumer psychology, from the theoretical to the empirical, this major work skilfully guides the reader through the material, making it a fantastic analysis of consumer behaviour.

An authoritative collection of the leading critical and contemporary writings published in the field of technology and organizations, this set spans a key fifty-year period. The volumes take the reader from the first and most influential papers from the early 1950s, through to recent publications which address contemporary and emerging debates in the field at the dawn of a new century.Each of the 4 volumes has a particular focus upon this key area of research and scholarship:* the early debates* theories, paradigms and concepts* critical empirical studies* emerging themes and future debatesThe editors provide an original introduction to, and overview of, the themes, debates, perspectives, theories and paradigms which characterise this key area of organisation studies. An extensive index guides the reader through the four volumes.

Parallel to the continuing growth of interest in marketing has developed a concern for the history of marketing thought and for the evolution of marketing theory. This concern is mirrored by the introduction of many courses at both undergraduate and graduate level which address these topics. However, the relevant sources themselves remain difficult to access, especially those that are over fifteen years old. Gathering together the seminal contributions to the development of the marketing discipline, this multi-volume set combines the best of both the American and European literature on the topic covering a period of over 70 years. The most comprehensive reference work of its kind, this set includes 162 articles charting both the development and the current debates in the field. The material has been arranged thematically to help navigate the reader through the field, and includes a new introduction and a thorough index, making this set an invaluable reference tool for both academics and practitioners in the field.

Edited by ten academics at the University of Warwick Business School, this collection represents some of the best work within organization studies:Volume 1:Modes of Management seeks to invert conventional approaches to managingVolume 2:Objectivity and Others focuses upon issues of epistemologyVolume 3:Selves and Subjects investigates areas hidden from orthodox organization studiesVolume 4:Evil Empires? Looks at the damaging effects of large organizations upon the lives of people.Together, the collection represents around eighty articles, drawn from the social sciences generally as well as from organization studies specifically. There is a thorough index to assist the reader in navigation of the material.

This set maps articles from the four main fields that influence the study of mergers and acquisitions: economics, finance, strategic management and human resource management, and encompasses a range of further perspectives. With a multidisciplinary approach, these volumes integrate the main fields of reference for mergers and acquisitions, and are structured around the following issues:* the history of, and perspectives on, the modern business corporation and the role of mergers and acquisitions* causes of mergers and acquisitions activity* consequences of mergers and acquisitions activity* public policy and the corporation.A detailed index and new introduction are provided to guide the reader through this multidisciplinary collection.

Until recently, the study of industrial relations centred around trade unions, collective bargaining and strikes - often in the manufacturing industry. Union decline and de-industrialization in the advanced capitalist world have raised major issues about the relevance of this focus. As a result, there is growing interest in alternative forms of worker representation, often in conjunction with Human Resource Management. Union decline is by no means universal, however, even in Europe, and there are regions of the world (South East Asia, some African countries and parts of Latin America) where unions are powerful and growing organisations.This set captures the complexity of the field of industrial relations globally, as well as the continuing relevance of competing theoretical approaches to the subject. The selection covers neglected topics such as feminism, debates about post-modernism and the links between labour movements and politics. It combines classical texts with the latest controversies.The set covers:* approaches, industrial relations systems and context* trade unions: goals and forms, decline and growth* employers and multinational corporations* the state* worker representation: collective bargaining and beyond* conflict and cooperation* looking to the future* Selections focusing on the UK, USA, Germany, Eastern Europe, Japan and Africa.There is a detailed index and new introduction to guide the reader through this complex field.

Since the 1980s, the public sector throughout the Western industrialized world, the transitional economies of Central and Eastern Europe, Latin America and South East Asia has undergone major changes. The main thrust of these changes has been to bring public sector management practices closer to those of the private sector. This raises the question of how far public and private sector management are comparable.This comprehensive five volume set examines the relationships between public and private sector management in terms of both classical management theory and the new public management that emerged in the 1980s and 1990s. While the collection concentrates on articles from the last twenty years, some historical pieces are also included, and a detailed index is also provided. Individual volume introductions as well as a general introduction place the articles in their historical context, making this an invaluable public management reference.

The exceptional growth in the level of international business has been one of the most dramatic features of the last fifty years; in the early twenty-first century virtually all business transactions involve transnationals at some point in the value chain.This comprehensive four volume set includes all major contributions to the field of international business. The articles collected include pioneering works by Vernon, Hymer, Dunning, Casson, Caves and Rugman that developed the early theory of the multinational enterprise, alongside more recent work by Ghoshal, Westney, Kogut, Zaheer and Birkinshaw on international management issues of organization processes and structures. The set also includes key writings in the areas of international political economy and on regional and national issues.The set includes a new introduction by the editor and a thorough index, making it an invaluable reference tool for both academics and practitioners in the field.

Operations management is concerned with the fundamental activity of organizations - how they provide goods and services. One of the earliest branches of business and management studies, the increase in international competition has seen a resurgence of interest in the development of the operation management field.This collection is international in scope, and addresses the four key areas of the subject:* the foundations of operations management* the interaction between operations and strategy* the role of technology* 'Japanization' and 'just in time' techniques.With a new introduction providing an overview of the key concepts, and an extensive index, this collection will prove an invaluable reference tool and teaching aid.

Whilst there are a wide number of competing definitions of strategy there is a consensus about its importance and about its ability to determine whether a company succeeds or fails.This is the most comprehensive collection to date on all aspects of strategy.The collection:* explores different conceptions of strategy, from the classical, rational models of Porter, through the empirical, emergent emphasis of Mintzberg to the competence based models of Grant and others* considers the relationship between strategy and other subjects including economics and organisational studies* covers key new developments including scenario planning, networks and strategic groups and knowledge* looks at the implications of globalization and international management* examines key strategic decisions including diversification and mergers and acquisitions.With a new introduction by the editor and an extensive index, this collection is an invaluable reference tool and teaching aid.

Corporate governance is a relatively new field, but has now moved from the margins to the mainstream of business and management education. However, discovering the origins and foundations of corporate governance involves a lengthy search through law, finance, economics, accounting and management journals. Most of the original and essential corporate governance literature is therefore highly dispersed and often inaccessible to business and management students today.This unique collection brings together this widely dispersed material for the first time, providing students and researchers in corporate governance with an unrivalled research resource.Titles also available in this series include, Entrepreneurship (November 2002, 4 Volumes, £495) and the forthcoming Knowledge Management (2005, 4 Volumes, c.£525).

For years accounting ethics has been viewed as an unimportant adjunct of academic and professional accounting. However, the economic scandals of the early twenty-first century have dramatically nullified this characterisation, with the ruination of investors in Enron, WorldCom, Waste Management, Aldelphia, Tyco and scores of other business concerns raising questions about the adequacy and relevance of academic research into accounting ethics, as well as the ethical nature of professional parties.Presenting important papers that reassess these theories, research studies and professional practices in the field of accounting ethics, this collection scrutinizes the body of knowledge that did not protect the investing public, and examines the current crisis in the creditability of financial reports.

International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS), and the possibility of global accounting harmonization, have recently gained enormously in importance, both practically and from an academic and research perspective. Since 2005, European and Australian listed enterprises are required to use IFRS for Consolidated Financial Statements. Other countries - from New Zealand to China - are actively moving towards these standards. And now, the IFRS Board and the American Regulatory System are publicly committed to a convergence programme. This major work, edited by two leading experts in the field, is a timely appraisal of academic and regulatory work in relation to this whole process. These important volumes bring together – otherwise inaccessible – early material which is vital to the understanding of the historical perspective, both in terms of the current situation and of future developments. International Financial Reporting Standards provides a broad overview, in addition to detailed coverage, of this important and fascinating topic, including a discussion of the processes of change and developments which have led from a widely disparate starting position to the current situation. The four volumes are fully indexed and each includes an informative, contextual introduction by the editors.

The idea of a supply chain is one of the most important concepts to emerge in management research and practice in recent years. In simple terms, a supply chain might be defined as a sequence of organizations—such as suppliers, wholesalers, retailers, distributors, and transport and storage facilities—that participate in the production of a particular product or service. Supply chain management (SCM) recognizes that businesses and other organizations cannot function successfully in isolation and is concerned with the direction and regulation of materials, information, and finances as they process along such a chain.The burgeoning academic and professional interest in SCM can be traced to a variety of causes including the pressures on organizations to outsource non-core activities; globalization; a growing appreciation of the dynamics of ‘lean supply’ Japanese sourcing practices; the growth of the use of IT for collaborative logistics planning; and, more recently, the frenzy around ‘B2B’ e-commerce. This has led to an unprecedented growth of practitioner-orientated publications and a similar development in academic activity. The sheer scale of the growth in SCM research output makes this collection especially timely and welcome. Furthermore, ideas at the heart of SCM have also become the concern of much academic work that goes on under labels other than business and management, and the collection will include insights and research from these different disciplinary perspectives.Edited by a leading SCM researcher at the University of Oxford’s Saïd Business School, this collection brings together carefully selected key historical papers along with cutting-edge research. The organization of the four volumes—on operational integration, relational and functional integration, explanatory frameworks, and the ethics, environment and social impacts of SCM—emphasizes the important key themes and interconnections in the field. Together with the editor’s newly written introductory essays, this organization will enable users to make sense of the wide range of approaches, theories, and concepts that have informed SCM thinking and practice to date. It is an essential collection destined to be valued as a vital research resource by all scholars and students of the subject.

The process of brand management originated in US consumer goods companies in the 1930s and is now firmly established as a core activity within the marketing department of any significant enterprise. In recent years, there has been a great surge of scholarly and popular interest in the subject. Almost every university offers courses in this area; new journals have formed that focus on brand issues; and an ever-increasing number of books and research articles attest to the growing attention paid to brands and their management.As work on brands and brand management flourishes now as it has never done before, this new title in the Routledge series, Critical Perspectives on Business and Management, meets the need for an authoritative reference work to make sense of the subject’s vast literature and the continuing explosion in research output. Edited by Richard Elliott, a prominent scholar in the field, Brands and Brand Management is a four-volume collection of classic and contemporary contributions. It brings together material drawn from the plethora of international business and management journals, as well as excerpts from key books and harder-to-find sources. This one-stop resource gathers not just the most important work on brands and how to manage them, but also key research on the fast-developing area of corporate reputation; the emerging areas of managing brands across cultures; and criticism of brands as pernicious elements of globalization.The first of the four volumes is dedicated to the historical antecedents of brands. It collects research exploring their evolution from signals of provenance and quality to their current status as carriers of symbolic meaning and trust. Volume II brings together the most important writing on the measurement and management of brand equity, including the two major proprietary approaches to the diagnosis of brand health. Volume III gathers the best and most influential thinking on corporate brands and business-to-business brands, and the management of corporate reputation. Volume IV covers the management of brands across cultural and international boundaries. It also contains indispensable scholarship on the emerging social critique of brands, as well as on the defence of their contribution to developing economies.Fully indexed and with a comprehensive introduction, newly written by the editor, which places the collected material in its historical and intellectual context, Brands and Brand Management is an essential work of reference. It is destined to be valued by marketing and business scholars—as well as those working in allied areas—as a vital research tool.

Cross-Cultural Management is a new five-volume collection in the Routledge Major Works series, Critical Perspectives on Business and Management. It meets the need for an authoritative, up-to-date, and comprehensive reference work synthesizing the increasingly diverse cross-cultural management literature. Indeed, the sheer scale of the growth in related research output—and the breadth of the field—makes this collection especially timely and welcome. Cross-Cultural Management provides the most comprehensive collection of classic and contemporary contributions on the subject to date. It facilitates ready access to the most influential and important works across the field, combining the theory and application in the process to encourage a broader appreciation of the discipline and the mutual influences within it.Volume I is dedicated to the conceptual antecedents of cross-cultural management, covering all the major approaches and frameworks along with several noted critiques. Volumes II, III, and IVexamine how national culture influences management practice; material assembled here includes essential contributions on adaptation and assimilation, communication, negotiation, and cross-national teams. Volume V, meanwhile, gathers the best work on methodological considerations.Each volume comprises foundational, cutting-edge, and less accessible research carefully selected and collated by the editors, two leading scholars in the field, as well as newly written introductions. The introductions are designed not just to place the collected material in its historical and intellectual context, but also to explain the relationships between the gathered works and to identify additional and promising areas of research. Together, the five volumes provide an essential one-stop resource for academics, students, policymakers, and practitioners seeking to understand a critical aspect of contemporary business management within an increasingly global economy.

The essence of successful and sustainable marketing practice is founded on an understanding of existing and potential consumers. As marketing has grown around this principle, so the subdiscipline—and industry—of marketing research has flourished. This new four-volume collection in the Routledge Major Works series, Critical Perspectives on Business and Management, meets the need for an authoritative, up-to-date, and comprehensive reference work synthesizing its voluminous literature. Indeed, the sheer scale of the growth in related research output—and the breadth of the field—makes this collection especially timely and welcome. Marketing Research provides the most comprehensive collection of classic and contemporary contributions on the subject to date. It facilitates ready access to the most influential and important works across the field, combining theoretical and practical perspectives to encourage a broader appreciation of marketing research and the mutual influences within it.Drawing on expertise garnered in both the academy and in practice, Marketing Research has been co-edited by David Birks, a leading scholar in the field (and co-author of the Europe’s most successful marketing research textbook, now in its third edition), and Tim Macer, an international marketing research consultant and commentator. The collection is fully indexed and has a comprehensive introduction, newly written by the editors, which places the material in its historical and intellectual context. It is an essential work of reference and is destined to be valued by scholars and students—as well as practitioners in the field—as a vital one-stop research resource.

Edited by a leading scholar in the field, this new title from Routledge’s Critical Perspectives on Business and Management series is a four-volume collection of canonical and cutting-edge research in Event Management.The origins of the serious study of Event Management are comparatively recent, but the subject has evolved rapidly, often drawing on scholarship, research, and practice from a number of other disciplines and cognate areas—primarily, Sports Studies, Leisure Studies, and Hospitality Studies, but also Business Studies, Organization Studies, Management Studies, Political Science, and Sociology. Event Management is now a vibrant and dynamic field of study and research, and the sheer scale of the growth in its output makes this collection especially timely. A wide range of social-science journals have published Event Management-related material and this collection makes readily available foundational pieces of scholarship—as well as cutting-edge research—from these disparate, and sometimes less accessible sources, and from other publications, some of which are no longer in print. Event Management provides a complete overview of the core and emergent issues in the field with a particular focus on the business, economic, and governmental aspects of events, especially issues of strategy formation and operational management.As well as bringing together the key studies and journal articles that have shaped Event Management, the collection will be welcomed as the first mapping of an area that to date has lacked an interdisciplinary synthesis. The thematic organization of the collection, together with the editor’s introduction and commentary on the collected texts, will make sense of the wide range of approaches, theories, and concepts that have informed Event Management. It is an essential work of reference, destined to be valued as a vital research resource by all scholars and students of the subject.

Although the idea of social responsibility has a long and distinguished intellectual pedigree, Corporate Social Responsibility (or ‘CSR’) has re-emerged during the last fifteen years or so as a high-profile concept in both academia and business practice. This revitalized interest has come about largely because of the development of the ‘markets for virtue’ that have institutionalized CSR in business practices in an unprecedented manner. CSR has achieved organizational distinctiveness within companies (e.g. in managerial and board responsibilities); social and environmental reporting requirements have dramatically increased; socially responsible investment funds have not only established themselves in their own right, but have also informed more mainstream investment criteria, particularly regarding social and environmental risk; a CSR consultancy industry has emerged, along with various ‘vanguard groups’ and NGOs who seek not only to promote CSR, but also to bring critical perspectives to bear and to raise CSR standards; and governments around the globe have encouraged investment in CSR, better reporting of these activities, and the implementation of CSR initiatives that complement broader public policies.As research in and around CSR blossoms as never before, this new four-volume collection from Routledge’s acclaimed Critical Perspectives on Business and Management series meets the need for an authoritative reference work to make sense of a rapidly growing and ever more complex corpus of literature. Edited by two scholars from Nottingham University’s world-class International Centre for Corporate Social Responsibility, the collection gathers foundational and canonical work, together with innovative and cutting-edge applications and interventions.With a full index, together with a comprehensive introduction, newly written by the editors, which places the collected material in its historical and intellectual context, Corporate Social Responsibility is an essential work of reference. The collection will be particularly useful as an essential database allowing scattered and often fugitive material to be easily located. It will also be welcomed as a crucial tool permitting rapid access to less familiar—and sometimes overlooked—texts. For researchers, students, practitioners, and policy-makers, it is as a vital one-stop research and pedagogic resource.