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The purpose of this paper is to explore the development of the Greater Manchester Good Employment Charter – a top-down soft regulation initiative that has been framed as a “movement” to promote good employment across the local area.

The research draws on 24 semi-structured interviews with policy officers, trade unions, employers and civil society actors and various professional and employer bodies who have been involved in the charter since its inception. The interview data are complemented by documentary analysis.

The findings underline the importance of institutional factors such as political access points and the mobilising structures of the state in creating a space for progressive employment policies such as charters to emerge. We also find that the framing of the charter as a mechanism to achieve both social justice and improved productivity allows diverse actors to engage, but at the same time this results in a degree of ambiguity over the normative and substantive reference points for “good employment”.

The article contributes to our understanding of the changing nature of top-down political initiatives that seek to change business practices by engaging a wide range of stakeholders as Allies not adversaries. We argue that while charters are a potentially useful demand side intervention, in the absence of significant workplace or grassroots engagement and without coordinated mechanisms of monitoring and enforcement, their effects on low wage labour markets will be limited.

This paper attempts to propose the uses of a capital budgeting tool, the Economic Value Added (EVA)for a university. Although there are reports of widespread use of the EVA in many for‐profit organisations, there is no evidence in literature that it has been adopted as a capital budgeting tool for a university. In this paper the application of the EVA for a university is proposed. It shows how the EVA can increase the awareness of the importance of asset utilisation in universities and guide universities to better resource management. EVA is proposed for use in a university setting in two different segments: for‐profit and non‐profit. The EVA has been adjusted with a new measure, Academic Value Added Ratio (AVAR) to reflect the university’s objective. The perception of academic staff in the case study university in Thailand with regards to the concept of applying the EVA to a university is further investigated. The results indicate that most members of management staff do not oppose this concept if it is implemented in a proper way.

Market entry strategies range from foreign direct investment to licensing with varying levels of commitment, risk and opportunity. Exporting products or services is one of the most common of the intermediate market entry strategies. It is typically accomplished through authorized international channels of distribution. However, when significant price differences exist between markets, alternative, parallel channels of distribution are almost certain to arise. These parallel channels, often referred to as gray marketing, are generally legal but unauthorized distribution channels that create an alternative export market entry. After a review of the literature, a case study highlights these complex issues from the perspective of both manufacturer and parallel marketer. The case study provides a tool for evaluating theory and a basis for discussing this important alternative mode of market entry. The case and the discussion which follows also highlight the role of international trade shows as an important element of the marketing mix for entering many foreign markets.

The goal of this article is to examine the current trends of political cinema in postcolonial Hong Kong. Many leaders of the Hong Kong mainstream cinema have accepted the Chinese authoritarian rule as a precondition for expanding into the ever-expanding Mainland film market, but a handful of conscientious filmmakers choose to make political cinema under the shadow of a wealthy and descendant industry, expressing their desire for democracy and justice and critiquing the unequal power relations between Hong Kong and China.

This paper consults relevant documentary materials and cinematic texts to contextualize the latest development of political cinema in Hong Kong. It presents an in-depth analysis of the works of two local independent filmmakers Herman Yau and Vincent Chui.

This study reveals a glimpse of hope in the current films of Herman Yau and Vincent Chui, which suggests that a reconfiguration of local identity and communal relationship may turn around the collective despair caused by the oppressive measures of the Chinese authoritarian state and the end of the Umbrella Movement in late 2014.

Despite the small sample size, this paper highlights the rise of cinematic localism through a closer look at the works of Hong Kong independent filmmakers.

This study reveals an ambivalent mentality in the Hong Kong film industry where critical filmmakers strive to assert their creativity and agency against the externally imposed Chinese hegemonic power.

This investigation is an original scholarly study of film and politics in postcolonial Hong Kong.

From the mid-1980s to the mid-1990s, several prominent feminist legal scholars made a case for “difference feminism.” Inspired by psychologist Carol Gilligan’s classic text, In a Different Voice, these scholars argued that social relationships, caring, and the emotions should be recognized as important to jurisprudence and legal regulation. Today, difference feminism is no longer a dominant movement within legal scholarship, but reformers are bringing “mindfulness,” “emotional intelligence,” and attention to relationships into law and business – a development dubbed “therapy culture” by its critics. This essay describes some of the manifestations of therapy culture in law and argues for more feminist engagement.

The purpose of this paper is to contribute further insights into how cognitive styles influence managerial behaviour, using a qualitative approach.

Written testimonies were gathered from people with different cognitive styles, and content analysed (n=100).

Qualitative evidence was found for managerial style preferences in accordance with cognitive styles, leading to various ways of decision making, conflict handling, and giving feedback.

Future research should explore how these results can be linked to contextual elements and to managerial performance.

This study contributes to increased managerial style awareness, which is important for intrapersonal development and interpersonal cooperation.

This is one of a few studies that have sought to qualitatively grasp the implications of having a particular cognitive style. It provides relevant insights into task‐ and people‐oriented managerial practices beyond previous, mainly quantitative studies.

The aim of this study is to investigate some factors that have an influence on employee retention. Based on the literature and previous research, both employee and organisational factors are taken into account.

Data were collected by means of a questionnaire that was distributed on a voluntary basis in professional organisations and among employees, both electronically and in hard‐copy, during 2008‐2009. The study sample consisted of 972 employees, mainly clerks, from diverse profit and social‐profit organisations.

The results show that when organisations want to retain their employees it is important to pay attention to the learning of employees. Letting people do more and learn more of what they are good at will encourage them to stay with the organisation. Results concerning the selected employee variables show that only age has a significant relationship with retention. Regarding the intention to stay, there exists a positive relationship between age and retention.

A limitation of this study is that both employee as organizational factors are measured through the perceptions of employees. The response set of subjects when responding to self‐report measures could therefore be the result of a temporary mood, or could be the result of what may be considered as socially appropriate by the participants. Another limitation is that the questionnaire was voluntarily completed by the respondents; the researcher had therefore no information about the non‐respondents.

The paper focuses on the factors influencing employee retention.

This study aims to examine the long-term effects of adopting economic value added (EVA) as a compensation tool on managers’ behaviour.

The authors extend the sample used in prior studies both in the time and the cross-section dimensions.

The study conclusions are distinct from those offered by existing studies. The authors show that EVA adopters, relative to non-EVA adopters, increase the working capital cycle, use their assets less intensively and decrease their payouts to shareholders via a decrease in dividends and share repurchases. In investing decisions, the authors find a decrease in new investments, but no change in asset dispositions after the adoption of EVA compensation plans.

The study results highlight that the EVA adoption provides more incentives to reduce the total cost for capital rather than increasing operations and maximising shareholder wealth. The results also have implication for corporate management, particularly in the area of management compensation scheme design.

The purpose of this paper is to present a case study of UK fashion retailer New Look and focuses on the impact of private equity on corporate governance, employment and leverage after the public‐to‐private conversion in 2003.

This study follows a case study approach to offer in‐depth insights into the role of different parties in the deal and their perceptions. The case study is based on semi‐structured interviews with key management of New Look, partners of the private equity firms and other members of the New Look board. In addition, complements the analysis with secondary sources (e.g. analyst reports, published articles and financial data of New Look) in order to triangulate our findings.

The case presents an example of a company that pursued a public‐to‐private transaction with the support of private equity firms. The envisioned transformation process post‐transaction turned out to be highly successful with increasing efficiencies and profits as well as an increase of over 3,500 employees over four years. This paper analyses key success drivers and the role of the private equity firms in achieving this success.

The paper is the first in‐depth case study of a European public‐to‐private transaction with support of private equity that offers rich evidence on the impact of private equity on corporate governance, employment and leverage.