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The purpose of this paper is to provide a holistic and cohesive overview of the development of GATT, Article XX; critically focussing, in particular, on whether the interpretation of the provision permits developed member states to embark on unilateral and protectionist actions.

The methodology for this paper was to assess and review the developing jurisprudence of the World Trade Organization (WTO) that relates to the use of Article XX. The paper adopts a chronological critique to analyse the development of the law; included in this is academic theory that underpins and proffers an explanation for the development.

This paper suggests that while Article XX exists as a potential target to permit unilateral action by developed nations, it does not create a guise for unilateralism and protectionism due to the interpretation afforded to the “Chapeau”.

The paper demonstrates an expansive collection of WTO jurisprudence and case authorities to illustrate the overarching interpretation of Article XX; in doing so, it allows those associated with the WTO to gain a practical overview of the holistic workings of Article XX.

Through demonstration of Article XX, and its interpretation, this paper outlines the social values and norms most likely to enjoy a privileged status to override WTO obligations. This paper also espouses what social values may develop in the future to be classified within Article XX.

This paper provides an original insight by considering holistically, rather than narrowly, the interpretation of Article XX.

The purpose of this paper is to advance a conceptual analytical framework to help explain employment regulation as a dynamic process shaped by institutions and actors. The paper builds on and advances regulatory space theory.

The paper analyses the literature on regulatory theory and engages with its theoretical development.

The paper advances the case for a broader and more inclusive regulatory approach to better capture the complex reality of employment regulation. Further, the paper engages in debates about the complexity of employment regulation by adopting a multi-level perspective.

The research proposes an analytical framework and invites future empirical investigation.

The paper contends that existing literature affords too much attention to a (false) regulation vs deregulation dichotomy, with insufficient analysis of other “spaces” in which labour policy and regulation are formed and re-formed. In particular, the proposed framework analyses four different regulatory dimensions, combining the legal aspects of regulation with self-regulatory dimensions of employment regulation.

Absorbing knowledge from partner firms is a key feature of marketing relationships. Recent publications have called for more dynamic and cognitive approaches in marketing relationship research. Also, established definitions of absorptive capacities have been questioned. This article aims to address propositions that take these overlooked and questioned elements into consideration, which can help explain conducts and dependencies, and affect relationship durability.

The authors put forward four propositions by combining literature on interfirm relationships and managerial cognition with evolutionary ideas from marketing and management literature.

The authors embrace a redefinition of potential absorptive capacity (the disposed capacity to absorb knowledge) and realized absorptive capacity (the absorption of knowledge actually performed). This distinction can, to some extent, be explained by the degree of cognitive attention given to the marketing relationship. Moreover, asymmetrically realized absorptive capacity vis‐à‐vis a partner substantially influences the dynamics of partners' conduct and dependency, which may vary the risk that the relationship will end.

The propositions illustrate how a motivated partner that gives more attention to the relationship is more likely to absorb more knowledge than its counterpart, which can threaten the durability of a relationship. Thus, managers need to be able to understand possible long‐term consequences of the partner's conduct in order to avoid losses of joint strategic resources and relational benefits.

By advocating an evolutionary approach, an impetus for more dynamism in marketing relationship research is presented. This study also shows the importance of including the longitudinal dimension in analysis if one wants to understand change in – and durability of – marketing relationships.

Demonstrates that the European Union (EU) has moved from a twin‐track to a triple‐track approach to the vetting of cross‐border competition concerns. The twin‐track approach is based on co‐operation at the multilateral and bilateral levels. The new third track, not based on co‐operation, is the legal right to unilaterally apply competition instruments extraterritorially. The EU has pushed to establish a multilateral approach through the auspices of the World Trade Organisation. Although there has been some support for this, the reservations from the USA and others make this track unfeasible for the foreseeable future. In the absence of any significant multilateral progress, the EU has concluded bilateral agreements with major partners, but the approach has its limitations – the EU can only deal with the countries with which it has such an agreement. The Commission’s third track unilaterally applies EU competition instruments extraterritorially using the effects doctrine.

On 15 December 1993, the most ambitious trade liberalisation package in history was concluded, marking the end of multilateral trade negotiations under the aegis of the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT). Among the landmark achievements of that round was the addressing of the services sector for the first time in such a setting. This paper analyses the key provisions of the General Agreement of Trade in Services (GATS) in the context of the construction industry. Despite the fact that GATS is presently a framework which requires further negotiation, there are already certain matters that corporate strategists should be conversant with in preparation for the time when full trade surveillance is imposed on the industry. Specific reference is also made to the Government Procurement Agreement towards the end of this paper because of its galvanising force on future GATS negotiations.

This paper aims to analyze outbound investments from China at the time of economic crisis caused due to the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic and how target valuation and the host country’s inbound investment policies influence the acquisition intents. As firms witness low valuations during an economic downturn, they become attractive targets for opportunistic buyers, who may be driven by motives beyond business and influenced by the home country’s political agenda. Such attempts are countered with the adoption of restrictive investment policies in host countries.

The study uses secondary data on cross-border acquisitions from China over the past year and compares the characteristics of these acquisitions with cross-border acquisitions of acquirers from other large developed and developing economies.

Statistical analyzes show that there are significant differences in the way acquirers from China pursue strategic asset seeking, creeping and control seeking acquisitions during the pandemic and the pre-pandemic period. This paper also observes that reduced valuation of the target, due to economic downturn or otherwise, result in greater propensity in strategic asset seeking acquisitions by Chinese acquirers. At the same time, adverse policies at host nations negatively influence the strategic asset seeking propensity of these acquirers. In addition, the premium in the valuation of target assets during the pandemic does not drop significantly when compared with that of the pre-pandemic period.

With the outbreak of COVID-19 and its concomitant economic impact across the globe, the study brings forwards insights on predatory foreign direct investment (FDI) and explores how policy responses in host countries can be comprehensive rather than disembedded and unilateral.

Management industrial relations policy and management style are examined in a panel of 50 highly unionised companies between 1979 and 1991. Management policy in panel firms in 1979 was relatively uniform, centred upon collective bargaining and the closed shop. A much broader spectrum of policies was evident in 1991, although collective bargaining was retained as part of the policy‐making framework in the large majority of companies. A minority of firms had either a strategic planning or financial control management style, which may be associated with tighter regulation of industrial relations. The majority had a strategic control style, the effects of which were more ambiguous.

As after the Second World War, the USA today plays a dominant role in the world following the end of the Cold War. Since 1989, and up to this day, two main theories of history's unfolding, the circular view and the linear view, clash as far as the future role and position of the USA is concerned. On the one hand, Paul Kennedy's The Rise and Fall of the Great Powers (1987) and advocates of the circular theory predict the decline of the USA, as history has shown that all empires that have risen have ultimately fallen. On the other hand, advocates of the linear theory, such as Nye and Fukuyama, postulate the continuation of USA leadership in the world and the inevitable spread of liberalism sooner or later. Both views, however, are mechanical and deterministic. The alternative is the realization that global challenges can only be met globally by global actors.

The purposes of this paper are to organize historical, solved questions and recent, unsolved questions in a coherent, progressive way; explore the key question to be answered under this systematic framework; and reflect on an alternative analytical perspective to the current “problem-solving-oriented” approach. Transnational bribery regulation, with the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) Anti-Bribery Convention as the central governing legal instrument, is on the top agenda of international governance. However, its complex nature makes theoretical viewpoints on this topic rather fragmented. This fragmentation is used to help understand the wisdom of the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA) approach in the early years. However, as the FCPA approach was internationalized and evolves to its current phase, in which individual inquiries become path-dependent and interdependent, the fragmentation causes more confusion than makes contribution.

Sections 2 and 3 retrospect the historical trajectory of academic research on the global regulation of transnational bribery, systemizes relevant theoretical insights and illustrates how people’s understandings of the wisdom of the FCPA approach in early years affect their evaluations of the effect of the OECD Anti-Bribery Convention in the contemporary era. Given that, at present, the most popular viewpoint is that the Convention is “ineffective”, Section 4 systemizes the diverse causal attributions of the “problem” in current academic literature, sorts out the roots causes and points out the key question for the next step forward under the version of the “problem-solving-oriented” analysis. Section 5 has a reflection on the inherent limitation of a “problem-solving-oriented” approach for our understanding of the effects of the Convention.

Under the version of a “problem-solving-oriented” approach, the key question to be solved is how to establish a mechanism to cope with the surreptitious nature of transnational bribery and the self-sacrificed nature of the FCPA-style approach simultaneously. The popular “problem-solving-oriented” approach has an inherent limitation to create new knowledge on the multilateral anti-bribery collaboration. A reality-based, historical analytical perspective is a good alternative to it.

The paper presents a personal, original organization of the conventional theoretical insights to the operation of the global anti-bribery collaboration and the underlying logics of these viewpoints. The paper also presents the author’s personal analysis of the “technical omission” and “inherent limitation” of a problem-solving-oriented approach to analyze the performance of the global anti-bribery collaboration, and the power of a historical analytical perspective as an alternative.

For much of their history, wages councils have functioned in conditions in which public policy, as expressed in legislation, has favoured the development of voluntary collective bargaining. Since 1979 there has been a marked change of emphasis. The effect of the legislative framework and other factors on the development of voluntary collective bargaining is discussed. Some recent research findings on wage regulation in hotels are presented and the future prospects for collective bargaining in the hotel industry are considered.