Search results

Within Western Europe West Germany is invariably cited as the technological, engineering‐led society that has become the pace‐setter of Europe. However the Germans themselves see themselves as “laggards” and have been concerned for some time over their approach to technological innovation and entrepreneurship. New technology is a more contentious issue than in Britain, with conservation‐type issues being more important than in the rest of Europe. The Green Party believes that new technology should be used to remove alienating work and provide for a richer, fuller life. The three other main political parties express fewer misgivings over new technology and all advocate its development, although with different provisos. In many respects the picture that emerges is similar to Britain. However there are indications that Germany could experience a more difficult transition to a “high‐tech” society than Britain. German society seems to be attempting to solve its new problems through the improvement of old techniques.

The idea of conceptual mapping goes back to the semantic differential and conceptual clustering. Using multivariate statistical techniques, one can map a dispersion of texts onto another dispersion of their content indicators, such as keywords. The resulting configurations of texts/indicators differ from one another according to their meaning, expressed in terms of co‐ordinates of a semantic field. We suggest that by using principal component analysis, one can design a user‐friendly semantic space which can be navigated. Further, to learn the names of embedded magnitudes in semantic space, the idea of conceptual clustering is used in a broader context. This is a two‐mode statistical approach, grouping both documents and their index terms at the same time. By observing the agglomerations of narrower, related terms over a corpus, one arrives at broader, more general thesaurus entries which denote and conceptualise the major dimensions of semantic space.

Large manufacturers in Western Europe, North America and Japan show similarities and differences in their manufacturing strategies. A survey of nearly 1,500 large manufacturers in these areas shows that they all place major emphasis on new products, quality and the use of computer power in manufacturing. The differences in the pattern of strategic directions and priorities for manufacturers in each area are observed, and the implementation of manufacturing strategies discussed. Vulnerable elements in the pattern of dominant manufacturing strategies are observed. In the 1990s Japanese manufacturing management is likely to be focused on balancing the need for change with the need to preserve existing capabilities and strengths. The Americans will focus on fundamental approaches to quality control and sophisticated computer‐based information systems. European manufacturers will focus on the need for structural changes in the organisation, workforce and technology. All regions will be faced with a shortage of people with the various skills required to implement new technologies.

Using data from five developed countries — the UK, the USA, Norway, Italy and Belgium — food consumption trends are examined. The movement towards healthier eating (internationally) is documented and discussed, and underlying factors which influence the consumer are mentioned. The five countries selected demonstrate many of the typical characteristics of the developed world's eating habits. Probable future trends are listed.

Descriptive data are used to illustrate periods of violence and of peace since 1740. The focus is on six time periods and four areas (North America, Western Europe, Eastern Europe and Russia). Fatality rates are compared and the results suggest that the present day is a time of relative peace.

The privatization of State Owned Enterprises (SOE) has significant implications for SOE stakeholders. However, the effects on stakeholders will vary depending on characteristics of the privatization process and the structure of the SOE. This paper identifies privatization process characteristics of wealth creation and wealth distribution, and describes SOE structures on a continuum between government corporation and government agency. The privatization effectiveness for stakeholders is discussed and examples provided for each classification of privatization.

Explores the activities of former West German retailers in the five new Lander of the former German Democratic Republic. Tracks the developments to date of 18 major German retailers in the former East in terms of their statements of intent towards this new market, the actual activity reported to date, the mechanisms of expansion and policies on sourcing and staff development up to March 1992. Suggests that developments have been limited to particular sectors of retailing and that the pace of development has slowed down from the initial euphoria. Concludes that much of this expansion is predicated by the underlying economic factors facing the new Länder and the widening gap between East and West Germany.