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Decision-making in human resources management is done at both the micro and macro level of organizations. Unfortunately, the decisions at each level are often executed without consideration of the other, and current theory reflects this issue. In response to a call for integration of micro- and macro-level processes by Huselid and Becker (2011), we review the extant literature on strategic human resources and high-performance work systems to provide recommendations for both research and practice. We aimed to contribute to the literature by proposing the incorporation of the situation awareness literature into the high-performance work systems framework to encourage the alignment of human resources efforts. In addition, we provide practical recommendations for integrating situation awareness and strategic decision-making. We discuss a process for the employment of situation awareness in organizations that might not only streamline human resources management but also result in more effective decisions. Additional considerations include implications for teams, boundary conditions (e.g., individual differences), and measurement.

The 2013 collapse of the Rana Plaza factory building in Dhaka, Bangladesh, was the most deadly disaster in garment manufacturing history, with at least 1,134 people killed and hundreds injured. In 2015, injured workers and the families of those killed received compensation from global apparel brands through a US$30 million voluntary initiative known as the Rana Plaza Arrangement. Overseen by the International Labour Organization (ILO), the Rana Plaza Arrangement awarded payments to survivors using a pricing formula developed by a diverse team of ‘stakeholders’ that included labour groups, multinational apparel companies, representatives of the Bangladesh government and local employers, and ILO actuaries. This paper draws from anthropological scholarship on the ‘just price’ to explore how a formula for pricing death and injury became both the means and form of a fragile political settlement in the wake of a shocking and widely publicised industrial disaster. By unpacking the complicated ‘ethics of a formula’ (Ballestero, 2015), I demonstrate how the project of creating a just price involves not two sets of values (ethical and financial) but rather multiple, competing values. This paper argues for recognition of the persistence and power of these competing values, showing how they variously strengthen and undermine the claim that justice was served by the Rana Plaza Arrangement. This analysis reveals the deficiencies of counterposing ‘morality’ and ‘economy’ in the study of price by reflecting upon all elements of price as situated within political economy and history.

This chapter aims to examine whether the intransigence of consumers is leading to exploitative conditions in developing countries. It focuses on Bangladesh where the situation is dire for workers in the apparel industry, as they work tirelessly to supply the needs of consumers in the developed world.

The chapter adopts an analytical approach to identify and analyse the key issues within the apparel sector. It assesses the issues on the basis of the ethical trade practices and the duty care theory in determining the roles, if any, that retailers and consumers play in the generation of these mishaps. It uses secondary sources obtained mainly through the media and the literature to review the current debates within the sector.

The chapter presents evidence that shows that the rationale for engaging with and supporting workers in developing countries are important strategic reasons for undertaking global investments. The chapter found that problems within the apparel business could be rectified if people at all stages of the supply chain take responsibility for their actions and inactions. This is particularly relevant in the context of weak states, where negative externalities such as human rights abuses, poor working conditions and low pay levels are often found.

The chapter makes a case for compelling firms to ensure the welfare of workers from those countries they source from. In particular, by focusing on Bangladesh, the chapter has attempted to link the national and local context to global forces in which ethical concerns are seen to have become susceptible to pressures of economic considerations. Such a situation underscores the need to explore the tensions that exist between global governance regimes and national regulations, and how they are likely to become more critical during times of economic development. More specifically, the chapter also believes further research can be done to assess how we should discharge our responsibilities to others within the supply chain of the apparel industry.

The chapter contributes to a discussion that has been of considerable concern to many international retailers, consumers and contractors in the garment industry of late. Its importance lies in the fact that it examines critically the competing claims as to who should take the blame for mishaps in the garment industry. It brings to the fore the ethical obligations that stakeholders have and suggests avenues for a series of engagements that can drive the cause for achieving just and compassionate care relations in the broadest sense within the business environment.

The Bureau of Economics in the Federal Trade Commission has a three-part role in the Agency and the strength of its functions changed over time depending on the preferences and ideology of the FTC’s leaders, developments in the field of economics, and the tenor of the times. The over-riding current role is to provide well considered, unbiased economic advice regarding antitrust and consumer protection law enforcement cases to the legal staff and the Commission. The second role, which long ago was primary, is to provide reports on investigations of various industries to the public and public officials. This role was more recently called research or “policy R&D”. A third role is to advocate for competition and markets both domestically and internationally. As a practical matter, the provision of economic advice to the FTC and to the legal staff has required that the economists wear “two hats,” helping the legal staff investigate cases and provide evidence to support law enforcement cases while also providing advice to the legal bureaus and to the Commission on which cases to pursue (thus providing “a second set of eyes” to evaluate cases). There is sometimes a tension in those functions because building a case is not the same as evaluating a case. Economists and the Bureau of Economics have provided such services to the FTC for over 100 years proving that a sub-organization can survive while playing roles that sometimes conflict. Such a life is not, however, always easy or fun.

The introduction of the 22 member countries of the 4+10+2+6 model of the Asian economy is the immediate task. Japan, Korea, China, India, Indonesia, the Philippines, Brunei Darussalam, Malaysia, Singapore, Thailand, Vietnam, Cambodia, Laos, and Myanmar constitute the now-famous 4+10 model. Following the principle of inclusion, Mongolia, Chinese Taipei, Bangladesh, Bhutan, Nepal, Pakistan, the Maldives, and Sri Lanka, as they belong to the regional map of the continent of Asia, are the eight remaining member countries (see Chapter 1). An overview of Asia's 22 member continental economy the AE-22, with its 3.6 billion people (2006) who have made the region of Asia their home in a land area of 20.5 million km² should be welcome. To put these figures in perspective, the AE-22 comprises only 13.7 percent of the world's land area, but is home to over half the world's population. Tables 2.1–2.4, presented below, illustrate the various figures relating to population, land area, GDP, and GDP per capita of the member nations of the AE-22.

Purpose – This chapter explores the use of evolutionary and institutionalization models to understand the progression of sustainability in organizations and their contribution to sustainable effectiveness. It describes the evolution of Gap, Inc.'s sustainability approach, its increasingly central role in the organization's strategy and design, and the methods it is using to institutionalize this critical change.

Design – The chapter describes alternative models of sustainability evolution and change institutionalization, and then applies the concepts in those models to understand Gap, Inc.'s sustainability journey.

Findings – The models of sustainability evolution and change institutionalization provide different but complimentary views on the extent to which sustainability is embedded in Gap, Inc.'s organization. These models can be a useful tool for assessing progress and recommending actions to increase the institutionalization of sustainability strategies and initiatives.

Originality and value – The findings of this chapter will help senior executives with responsibility for sustainability implementation. In addition to providing indicators for assessment of progress, findings of sustainability's institutionalization should prove helpful in predicting achievement of sustainable effectiveness.

The purpose of this chapter is to study opposition of the treatment of the role and meaning of information in an economic system in the conditions of post-industrial and information economy and develop the conceptual model of information economy through the prism of treatment of information.

The authors use the method of comparative and systemic analysis, as well as synthesis, induction, deduction, formalization, and modeling of economic phenomena and processes.

The authors conducted a comparative analysis of the role and meaning of information in the economic system in a post-industrial information economy. It is concluded that the most important qualitative characteristic of information economy, which distinguished it from another, is the key role of information. The proprietary conceptual model of an information economy through the prism of information treatment is offered – it reflects the top-priority role of sustainable socio-economic and managerial connections and relations of information, which are an essential qualitative peculiarity of an information economy, which separate it and determine its specifics as compared to other types of economic systems.

It is substantiated that an information economy has to be studied not only from the position of economic statistics on the basis of precise values of quantitative indicators but also from the position of the economic theory of behaviorism, which allows taking into account the relational aspects of functioning and development of information economy. Behavior of economic subjects (society and business) as to information, initiated by their own motives, has to be one of the key objects of study by the theory of information economy.

Methodological recommendations are developed, which allow – with high level of effectiveness – studying information economy from the positions of economic statistics and the economic theory of behaviorism.