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The purpose of this paper is to examine empirically the relevance and impact of a number of factors on the role of local councils in local policy-making in Erbil province/Iraq.

This research theoretically based on literature review and adopted an analytical approach to clarify the related concepts through the policy cycle approach. On the empirical side, the research adopted a descriptive analysis for research questions and used statistical analysis to test the research hypotheses.

The results of the study reveal that variables of the local policy-making process, political factors, interaction patterns and the role of other actors have relevance in the role of local councils. In addition, the study concludes that technical feasibility, budgetary considerations, public opinion, coalition building, civil society, executive bodies, administrative organs and non-governmental organizations have a positive effect on the role of local councils in local policy-making in Erbil province, while interest groups have a negative effect on the role of local councils in local policy-making in Erbil province.

The findings and recommendations of this research can practically use by the local councils to achieve effective local policy, particularly in Erbil province/Iraq.

This research has interesting implications in theory and practice, as it provides several contributions to the literature, as well as the practical contribution for local councils in the local policy-making process.

The purpose of this paper is to study the evolution of Chinese industrial relations after the market reform of 1978, while basing its arguments and conclusion on analysis of the interactions of key actors in the labour arena in China. The significant phenomena in the evolution of industrial relations are the coming of transnational capital and the emergence of self‐organising protests by migrant workers.

The paper uses a case study approach.

The Labour Contract Law and the local political economy experience strong effects from TNCs and other business players. Meanwhile, globalisation has introduced the civil society movement to China, which has given rise to an increasing number of NGOs working for labour rights. Tight financial and technical connections between grassroots NGOs and international donor organisations make it possible for bottom‐up labour activities to counteract the unilateral influence of the state and market over the Chinese workforce. Since the ACFTU, the official trade union umbrella, has many institutional constraints to undertake a thorough transition towards labour in the near future, workers' representation is diversified.

One implication for further theoretical studies is that tripartism cannot fully disclose the reality of Chinese labour, and that labour representation derives from both unions and self‐organisation of workers, such as NGOs, which opens more room for the entrenchment of the grassroots labour movement to sustain the balance of power among the state, ACFTU, firms, international market forces and individual workers in the long term.

The Thai video game domain has witnessed substantial growth in recent years. However, many games enjoyed by Thai players are in foreign languages, with only a handful of titles translated/localized into the Thai locale. Some Thai video game enthusiasts have taken on the role of unofficial translators/localizers, contributing to a localization domain that accommodates both official and unofficial translation/localization efforts. This general review paper aims to outline the author's experiences in collecting data within the domain of video game translation/localization in Thailand.

Using a descriptive approach, this general review paper employs the netnography method. It sheds light on the complexities of video game translation/localization in Thailand and incorporates semi-structured interviews with a snowball sampling technique for the selection of participants and in-game data collection methods.

The netnography method has proved instrumental in navigating the intricacies of this evolving landscape. Adopting the netnography method for data collection in this research contributes to establishing more robust connections with the research sites. “Inside” professionals and individuals play a significant role in data gathering by recommending additional sources of information for the research.

While netnography is conventionally applied in the market and consumer research, this paper demonstrates its efficacy in unraveling the dynamics of video game translation/localization in Thailand.

In this paper we have argued that the reasons for the unusually high level of unofficial strike action in Ireland has little to do with the nature of the industrial relations system, or with any deep‐seated historical ideological conflict among the principal interest groups. Rather it was the marked departure in public policy in relation to pay and collective bargaining that were the principal causes of high proportions of unofficial strikes. Our basic view about unofficial strikes is that they arise because of the presence of some structural rigidity, which, in turn, results from the nature of the bargaining structure. For example, an extended period of centralized pay bargaining leads to a stiffening of local employer‐employee relationships and procedures which, previously in a decentralized structure, were more flexible and less strict and precise in their formulation and application. This change in the bargaining structure leads to increased levels of unofficial action for a variety of reasons, which are discussed in the paper. There are also other contextual and structural factors which may influence or intensify levels of unofficial action: the type of work in which people are engaged, the strike issue, sector ownership, industry, trade union, and firm size.

The study explores African partners' experiences regarding Chinese expatriates' knowledge control practices in 29 Sino-African joint ventures in 12 countries. It provides insights into power dynamics and knowledge transfer (KT) from African partners' perspective.

The qualitative paper mobilized semi-structured interviews with Africans who worked with Chinese expatriates across Africa. The study focused on understanding the experiences of African partners when collaborating with their Chinese expatriate colleagues on assignments in joint ventures (JVs) in Africa.

Chinese expatriates employed five tactics, as described by African partners, to control knowledge based on power, behaviors and knowledge type. Particularly, through the lens of unofficial power, this study explains knowledge hiding tactics between knowledge-holding Chinese expatriates and host country knowledge-seeking locals. A new dimension of authority-based knowledge hiding is discovered.

The paper brings new insights into the analysis of power (official and unofficial) boundaries regarding knowledge control mechanisms in joint venture collaborations between employees from China and Africa. Unofficial power appeared as a major leverage for expatriates in monopolizing their strategic knowledge. The study recommends mobilizing African diaspora and repatriates from China to improve KT for Africa.

This chapter describes the business goals, purpose, and strategy of public diplomatic services. It reinforces diplomatic organizations’ fundamental bureaucratic administrative culture (Tier 1). The bureaucratic culture of diplomacy is deconstructed, and each of the five layers is described in detail. The authors also explain why focusing on the artifacts and behavior layers are the dominant and essential starting points for analysis in diplomatic cultures. The public service culture (Tier 2) overlays and mediates the bureaucratic culture.

Additionally, the authors describe the influence that political appointees as leaders may play in shaping public service cultures. Next, the authors explain how diplomatic cultures reflect the core values of a state’s culture. Next, the chapter outlines the landscape of external influencing cultures (Tier 3) in diplomacy. Finally, the knowledge, learning, and collaboration (KLC) culture of diplomacy is considered, with opportunities for future growth.

This article investigates the possibility of studying modern organizations with the feudal model. We introduce feudalism as an ideal type and explain why it is necessary for understanding organizations. The model synthesizes several perspectives on intra-organizational conflict. After defining the feudal model and tracing its theoretical roots, we review several empirical studies to identify the conditions under which feudal conflicts arise. These factors include decentralization, structural interdependence, uncertainty and informal power. The feudal model highlights several overlooked aspects of organizations, including personal relations, the manipulation of formal rules, bribery, corruption and sabotage. However, given the model's limitations, we propose a “segmented approach” to social analysis, which emphasizes the need for multiple models to explain any organization, past or present.

The purpose of this paper is to analyze how, in three different contexts, the National Council for Advertising Self-Regulation narratively uses its past to build an official history concerning its origins that legitimates advertising self-control as a hegemonic narrative.

By using the historical research and the “uses of the past” approach, this study identifies, analyzes and confronts three organizational histories of Conar’s origins (both its official and unofficial versions) in the context of the creation of the Brazilian system of advertising self-regulation.

After a thematic analysis of the documentary sources, the narratives on the National Council for Advertising Self-Regulation’s origins and the self-control process were grouped into three versions: the narrative under the military regime: 1976/1980; the narrative during the process of re-democratization of the country: 1981/1991 and the contemporary narrative: from 2005 onwards. These narratives were confronted and, in consequence, provided, each of them, a different interpretation of the context surrounding the creation and justification for advertising self-control.

The study shows how a consumer defense organization re-historicized its past strategically to gain legitimacy in three different ways through time. It also reveals that organizations strategically use their past to build an intended vision of the future, thus having more agency than the hegemonic literature in management studies usually guarantees. Finally, it exposes the malleability of past narratives through which organizations play a critical role in the ongoing struggle for competing uses of the past. Therefore, the study identifies different organizational stories through time that allow researchers to reflect on several strategic uses of the past by organizations.

Today’s China has striven to exclude street vendors through political campaigns such as “National Sanitary City” and “National Civilized City.” Such campaigns pursue modernity and beautiful urban spaces by deeming street vendors to be disorderly, unsanitary, and obsolete. Taking a single Chinese city as a case study, this research analyzes why and how local bureaucratic apparatuses apply rapidly-changing and ambiguous political treatment to street vendors. This research also examines street vendors’ struggles and coping strategies with these ever-changing politics.

The data for this study were obtained during a total of ten months of fieldwork, beginning in 2013 and ending in 2016. In-depth interviews were conducted with fifty-one street vendors and six government officials; additionally, the researcher consulted newspaper reports, archives, and relevant official publications.

First, regarding the governance of street vendors, the local administration has shifted their stance between two distinct patterns – suppression and tolerance – depending on the timing of certain political campaigns. Second, the corruption and laziness of government officials has provided niches for the revival of street vending after campaigns are over, though with limitations. Third, street vendors in China tend to be passive recipients of government suppression, unable to forge effective resistance because of a lack of strong leadership and general organization.

This research will add to the general understanding of the government-vendor relationship by revealing the complexity, uncertainty, and flexibility inherent in interactions between these two groups.

As one of the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization initiatives, the creative cities network (CCN) declares the cities that are creative in the contexts of music, gastronomy, design, etc., with the aim of promoting cooperation amongst the member cities and maintaining sustainable urban development. This study aims to identify the destination food image of Gaziantep in Turkey, which is a member gastronomy city of the CCN since 2015. Identified destination food image elements were connected to the common targets of the CCN to show how the city may contribute to the network objectives.

A two-stage research process was used in the study. First, qualitative approach was adopted for the clarification of projected and perceived destination food image elements. Projected image elements were derived from a content analysis performed on a totally 113 official, semi-official and unofficial online documents in Turkish and English. Perceived destination food image elements were identified by face-to-face interviews, conducted on 10 participants. As a result, 18 projected and 20 perceived destination food image elements were obtained. These were then grouped under 4 main and 22 sub-categories. At the second stage, destination food image elements were matched with common targets of the CCN.

Destination food image elements, obtained by two qualitative studies, are grouped under 4 main and 22 sub-categories as follows: gastronomic identity (with sub-categories of destination’s identity and local culinary culture); diversity of the destination (with sub-categories of attractiveness of the local food, ease of promotion and high brand value); gastronomic attractions (with sub-categories of restaurants and cafes, culinary museums, farmer markets, orchards, gastronomy tours, gastronomy events (e.g. festivals, competitions), culinary education, books on gastronomy, certification systems, organizations, street foods and vendors and handmade or homemade foods); and qualified workforce and stakeholders (with sub-categories of expert chefs and cooks, specialist suppliers, service personnel, locals and local authorities). These are then connected to the common CCN targets (e.g. cuisine, tourism and festivals; extension of the creative value chain; fostering cultural creativity; and sustainability).

This is one of the early research attempts in examining a member gastronomy city’s food image elements and the role that they played in the success of the CCN’s common targets. Moreover, the study contributes to the literature on the identification of (projected and perceived) destination food image by using content analysis.