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Labor management cooperation, and the adoption of high-performance work systems (HPWS), are central topics in recent industrial relations research, with much emphasis given to “best-practice” success stories. This paper uses a case study analysis, relying on conventional, and oral history interviews, to explore why managers, union leaders, and workers in two Maine paper mills rejected the cooperation and the HPWS model. It explores how local history and culture, regional factors like the dramatic International Paper (IP) strike in Jay, Maine, instability in industry labor relations, management turnover, and instability in corporate governance contributed to these two mills’ rejection of Scott Paper Corporation's “Jointness” initiative during the period from 1988 to 1995. The study argues that intra-management divisions blocked cooperation on the management side, and that the Jay strike created a “movement culture” among Maine's paper workers, who developed a class-conscious critique of HPWS as a tactic in class warfare being perpetrated by paper corporations.

Considers the implications for managers in Japanese subsidiaries, by looking at the management style employed by Japanese expatriates and the reactions from their local colleagues. The findings were drawn from a research project encompassing in‐depth interviews with both Japanese and British senior and middle managers working in well‐known Japanese companies. The senior management team of the vast majority of Japanese subsidiaries is composed largely of expatriate managers. It is natural that these individuals attempt to behave in ways that are comfortable for them as they are working for the same board of directors in Tokyo as they were prior to moving to the UK. Although there are many concrete examples of management practices that have been modified to fit the local environment, it is the less tangible aspects such as communication, decision making and delegation that cause conflict between expatriates and locals when expatriates continue in their Japanese ways. Local managers need to be aware of this as much as the recently arrived expatriate.

Events are a significant component of Ireland’s tourism offering. They are an important source of economic activity and an incremental driver of social change and development throughout the country. However, the visual and physical impacts often created by event activities to the environmental and social resource base upon which, events depend, have begun to draw attention to the way events are planned and managed. Although the concept of sustainability has become the topic of much discussion and debate in event management literature, there exist many gaps in relation to its practical application in event management planning in Ireland. This is despite the statutory obligation of local authorities in Ireland to license events and to facilitate the process of planning for large-scale outdoor public events in Ireland. Yet, with the continued expansion of Ireland’s event industry, there is a fundamental need for an evidence-informed approach to planning for event management. Through the application of the European tourism indicator system (ETIS), the long-term sustainability and competitiveness of the national event industry in Ireland could be secured. This paper aims to examine and discuss the application of the ETIS as a possible tool to facilitate greater levels of sustainability and accountability within the events industry in Ireland.

This study used a quantitative content analysis approach involving a complete population sample of local authorities in the Republic of Ireland to determine the application of the ETIS within the legal process of planning for event management in Ireland.

While the findings have identified a basic provision for event management within a number of local authority legally required County Development Plans, none, however, were using the ETIS to monitor the impacts of events at the local level. This lack of data collection and benchmarking highlights the need for greater levels of sustainability and accountability within the legal process of planning for event management in Ireland.

This study suggests the ETIS as an easy, cost effective and viable solution to facilitate an evidence-informed approach to planning for event management at the local level. However, the lessons learned from this study may also have implications for destination planners and event managers outside of Ireland.

This paper claims that global corporations should rethink the concept of cultural control, which relies on an implicit culture, corporate culture, for the control of local managersș thoughts and behavior. Instead, based on hybridizations of corporate and local management cultures created through personal socialization conducted by Swedish and American corporations in local offices in Thailand and Mexico, the paper offers a perspective for cultural control that views and understands cultures in terms of change and hybridizations.

The purpose of this paper is to identify the challenges faced by local government in Indonesia when adopting a public asset management framework.

A case study within the South Sulawesi provincial government was used as the approach to achieve the research objective. The case study involved two data collection techniques – interviews and document analysis.

The result of the study indicates there are significant challenges that the Indonesian local government need to manage when adopting a public asset management framework. Those challenges are: the absence of an institutional and legal framework to support the asset management application; the non‐profit principle of public assets; multiple jurisdictions involved in the public asset management processes; the complexity of local government objectives; the non‐availability of data for managing public property; and limited human resources.

This research is limited to one case study. It is a preliminary study from larger research that uses multiple case studies. The main research also investigates opportunities for local government by adopting and implementing public asset management.

The paper's findings provide useful input for the policy makers, academics and asset management practitioners in Indonesia to establish a public asset management framework resulting in efficient and effective organizations, as well as an increase of public services quality. This study has a potential application in other developing countries.

The aim of this paper is to investigate the perceptions of Malaysian employees of ABC MSC (a Japanese company in Malaysia) in order to recommend changes in management practices.

Fieldwork was conducted using participant observation and interviews. Participant observation was conducted to investigate the flow of information, the implementation of decisions made by the top Japanese managers, problem resolution, and the reaction of the local staff to management practices. The interviews highlighted communication problems which have existed between the Japanese CEO and the local telecommunications companies since the company started operations in 1997.

Even thought the company is backed by a financially strong parent company in Japan and has a lot of growth potential, this potential remains partially untapped due to management strategies of the company headquarters.

Japan remains an important Foreign Direct Investment country in Malaysia. The perceptions of employees of Japanese companies in Malaysia are worth investigating since changes of management strategies in the home country affect the direction and operations of the overseas subsidiaries. Further research should be carried out in other Japanese companies in Malaysia.

Suggestions to improve the management strategies are discussed.

It is believed that no other Japanese company in Malaysia has been investigated in this way before. This paper's findings should be useful to many expatriate managers in Malaysia.

This paper aims to investigate which concerns are most important for local government facility managers in Norway.

The authors analyze a survey dataset covering about two-thirds of all Norwegian local governments and 80 per cent of the Norwegian population. The authors consider both descriptive statistics and results from an ordered probit regression analysis.

Facility managers are most concerned about weak fiscal conditions and lack of political priority of facility management, and local governments reporting public buildings in good condition generally have fewer and less serious concerns. Further, managers in municipalities with a solid fiscal balance are less concerned both about how tight fiscal conditions and lack of political prioritization affect facility management. Managers in municipalities with a centralized facility management structure are less concerned that the organizational structure of the facility management is sub-optimal. Finally, managers in populous municipalities have less concern about tight fiscal conditions, organizational structure and recruitment issues.

The paper offers insights on which concerns are most important among local government facility managers and how these concerns vary with local government characteristics. These insights are valuable in the ongoing debate over best facility management practice and in facility management policy work.

The purpose of this paper is to assess the inherent adaptive capacities of multilevel flood management institutions in England that are necessary to espouse the concept of Ecosystem-based Adaptation (EbA).

This paper is based on an extensive assessment of flood management literature including European and English flood management policies, strategies, regulations and reports. First, an assessment protocol was developed from systematic literature search and, second, multilevel flood management policies and organizations were evaluated. A qualitative scoring method was applied at the assessment stage.

The protocol included 18 major assessment criteria under seven EbA principles. Application of the protocol showed that English national flood policies showed comparatively greater adaptive capacities than European- and local-level policies and local organizations. Specialized flood management policies such as Catchment Flood Management Policies at the local level and European Policies such as flood directives are among the lowest-scoring policy institutions. It was also identified that there is an emerging trend of stakeholder participation, catchment-based approach and knowledge-based adaptation planning at the national level which potentially can be the entry points of wider-scale EbA implementation. This paper recommends proactive roles of local executive organizations through improving institutional communication, consideration of catchment-scale planning with clear adaptation goals and valuing local knowledge base.

The research is important to identify the institutional aspects of adaptive capacity that require attention for promoting alternative adaptation measures such as EbA.

Compiled by K.G.B. Bakewell covering the following journals published by MCB University Press: Facilities Volumes 8‐17; Journal of Property Investment & Finance Volumes 8‐17; Property Management Volumes 8‐17; Structural Survey Volumes 8‐17.

This study aims to examine community participation in cultural heritage management with regard to sustainable heritage tourism management in Sukhothai Historical Park (SHP) in Sukhothai Province.

The qualitative and quantitative research approaches were applied; in-depth interviews were conducted with 27 key informants, and 104 questionnaires were distributed among stakeholders and local communities.

The results revealed that sustainable park management has made a positive impact upon local economy, social and cultural conservation of the world heritage site. The Park Authority has developed and conserved archaeological sites with local community assistance, particularly for physical management, but it has not yet used archaeological heritage in the park for more benefits of tourism development.

The results reveal that sustainable park management has made a positive impact on the local economy and social and cultural conservation of the World Heritage city. The Park Authority has developed and conserved archaeological sites with local community assistance, particularly for physical management, but it has not yet used archaeological heritage in the park for greater urban tourism development. Sustainable cultural heritage management in SHP is government-led, so community participation is based upon two-way communication in the form of “tokenism.”

Sukhothai is encouraged to find suitable mechanisms to facilitate multisectoral communication and development to jointly face the challenge of more visitors and urbanization.

Guidelines for enhancing community involvement in cultural heritage management of the park were proposed.