Learning to trade ethically: Knowledgeable capitalism, retailers and contested commodity chains     

Alex Hughes   《Geoforum》2006,37(6):1008-1020

This paper explores what happens when corporations engage explicitly in practices of organisational learning not only to become better capitalists by generating ever more innovative ways of maintaining profitability, improving competitiveness and maximising shareholder value, but also to become more responsible corporate citizens in their business practices. In particular, I evaluate the ways in which UK food and clothing retailers are learning to develop their ethical trading programmes in response to political calls for more responsible trading. Thrift’s [Thrift, N., 2005. Knowing Capitalism. Sage, London] notion of ‘knowledgeable, or soft, capitalism’ is adopted to understand the creative and experimental ways in which retailers and their mentors (ethical consultancies, social auditors and multi-stakeholder organisations) are learning to trade ethically. Two specific examples of formal learning spaces experienced by UK food and clothing retailers are examined: (i) training courses on social auditing and (ii) corporate awareness-raising courses on ethical trade. These courses are shown to encompass various participative and affective practices of learning. And while particular limits to the success of these courses are argued to exist, ethical learning practices discussed in this paper are nonetheless suggested to play a role in the making of new, albeit moderate, forms of responsible capitalism.  相似文献   

Competitive Adjustment and Advancement in Global Commodity Chains II: The Case of the Singapore Garment Industry     

Leo van Grunsven  & Floor Smakman 《Singapore journal of tropical geography》2002,23(1):70-92

This is the second part of a contribution to the debate on the possibilities of leveraging economic globalisation — through incorporation in international production networks and global commodity chains (GCCs) — as a strategy for developing countries to industrialise and advance their position in the world economy. In the first part, we analysed the experience of the East Asian apparel industry and addressed the issues of sustaining positions, upgrading to more rewarding roles, and advancing to less dependent positions within production networks and GCCs. We developed an analytical framework at both the firm and industry levels, and subsequently identified alternative firm- and industry-level strategies and trajectories. The present paper deals with these issues in the context of the Singapore apparel industry. Based on extensive empirical research, we demonstrate that although the East Asian experience of upgrading and repositioning within the GCC is to some extent emulated in the case of the Singapore apparel industry, the outcomes have been less favourable in terms of the depth, extent and strength of these trajectories. The differing outcomes can be explained in terms of different (systemic) conditions in the Singapore business environment, including the agency of local players, the geography of sourcing networks, and the role of the state and prevailing business attitudes. Our conclusions merit continued attention in both research and policy circles on the development of capabilities at the firm level, and the role of local business and institutional environments in local industry development processes under globalisation.  相似文献   

Crisis, coincidences and strategic market behaviour: the internationalization of Indonesian clothing brand-owners     

Markus Hassler 《Area》2003,35(3):241-250

Despite the fact that most Indonesian brand-owners continue to emphasize their marketing activities in the domestic market, several brand-owners have started to export clothing under their own label. This has been particularly the result of the economic crisis in the late 1990s, which affected companies serving the domestic market. Companies were trying to compensate for the loss of sales on the domestic market by redirecting their marketing activities to foreign countries. This export strategy has been driven largely by the sole aim to survive. However, in addition to these export activities, some companies have rather sophisticated, long-standing business relations to their distributors in overseas markets. This paper explores these export activities in the context of the global commodity chain framework.  相似文献   

Made in Japan: The Japanese market and herring roe production and management in Canada's southern Gulf of St. Lawrence     

Lenore Burke  John Phyne 《Marine Policy》2008

The herring roe fishery in Canada's southern Gulf of St. Lawrence is a productive fishery that lies outside the confines of privatized arrangements. Yet, this fishery is compromised by its dependence on the Japanese seafood market. Consideration of the efficiency of this fishery needs to account for the role assumed by this market in setting fishing practices. A more ecologically and economically efficient use of the herring resource requires greater attention to supply chain integration by local harvesters, processors and buyers prior to engaging with distant markets. This is necessary regardless of the property rights regime that is in place.  相似文献   

产业集群概念理解的若干误区评析   总被引：32，自引：4，他引：28  

王缉慈  谭文柱  林涛  梅丽霞 《地域研究与开发》2006,25(2):1-6

文章针对在我国学术研究和媒体报道中关于产业集群概念理解中的一些误区进行评析。其误区主要是:(1)把产业集群等同于专业化城市;(2)把产业集群等同于产业部门或特色产业;(3)把产业集群等同于产业的投入产出链;(4)把产业集群等同于企业的地理邻近。文章指出,产业集群是在20世纪80年代中期以后在全球产业分工和信息技术革命条件下出现的产业地方化现象,是与产业区理论、区域创新系统理论等新区域主义学说联系在一起的。通过集群政策促进地方产业升级,首先需要地方政府准确理解产业集群的真正内涵。  相似文献   

关于非齐次马氏链的强极限定理     

刘杰  纪灵军  梁佩佩 《成都信息工程学院学报》2009,24(1)

主要研究了非齐次马氏链的强极限定理.首先应用鞅差序列收敛定理给出了关于非齐次马氏链的任意k元函数一类平均值的极限定理.最后得到一系列相关状态序偶出现频率的推论.  相似文献   

河南区域经济增长俱乐部趋同研究   总被引：13，自引：0，他引：13  

覃成林  唐永 《地理研究》2007,26(3):548-556

1990~2004年,河南区域经济增长形成了高收入、中高收入、中低收入和低收入 4个趋同俱乐部。高收入和低收入趋同俱乐部的稳定性最大且连片扩张,区域经济增长水平和空间结构的两极分化日趋增强。总体上,一个区域的"邻居区域环境"对其经济增长及其向何种趋同俱乐部转移有规律性的影响。低收入区域的经济增长及其向中低收入趋同俱乐部转移的概率与其邻居区域的经济增长水平正相关。中低收入区域更倾向于向低收入趋同俱乐部转移。对于中高收入区域,与经济增长水平越高的区域为邻,其向高收入趋同俱乐部转移的概率越大;反之,与经济增长水平越低的区域为邻,其向中低收入趋同俱乐部转移概率也越大。高收入区域的经济增长及稳定性受邻居区域的影响比较小。  相似文献   

上海城市功能的转型:从全球生产系统角度的透视     

宁越敏  李健 《世界地理研究》2007,16(4):47-54

本文首先回顾了价值链与全球生产系统的研究进展，结合跨国公司最新发展趋势对全球生产系统特征进行了总结；其次以改革开放以来上海对外贸易结构的改变，描述了90年代以来上海在全球生产系统分工中的变化，认为出口产品结构的转型并没有真正改变上海在国际劳动分工中处于低端环节的地位；最后就上海建设世界城市的差距与优势进行了总结，提出全球化发展的外部力量和地方化响应的内部力量将是上海发展世界城市的两个重要驱动力。  相似文献   

K–Ar ages from seamount chains in the back-arc region of the Izu–Ogasawara arc     

OSAMU  ISHIZUKA  KOZO  UTO  MAKOTO  YUASA & ALFREDG.  HOCHSTAEDTER 《Island Arc》1998,7(3):408-421

The Izu–Ogasawara arc contains, from east to west, a volcanic front, a back-arc extensional zone (back-arc knolls zone), and a series of across-arc seamount chains that cross the extensional zone in an east-northeast and west-southwest direction and extend into the Shikoku Basin. K–Ar ages of dredged volcanic rocks from these across-arc seamount chains and extension-related edifices in the back-arc region of the Izu–Ogasawara arc were measured to constrain the volcanic and tectonic history of the arc since the termination of spreading in the Shikoku Basin. K–Ar ages range between 12.5 and 1 Ma. Andesitic to dacitic rocks of 12.5–2.9 Ma occur mainly on the western part of the chains. The western part of the chains are the locus of volcanism behind the front which erupted mainly calc-alkaline andesitic lavas. The youngest rocks (< 2.8 Ma), characterized by cpx-ol basalt, occur along the western margin of the back-arc knolls zone. Basaltic rocks of 12.5–2.9 Ma have relatively high concentrations of Na₂O (> 2.0 wt%), Zr (> 50 p.p.m.) and Y (> 20 p.p.m.) and low CaO (< 12 wt%). On the other hand, basalts of 2.8–1 Ma have lower Na₂O (< 1.8 wt%), Zr (< 50 p.p.m.) and Y (< 20 p.p.m.), but significantly higher CaO (> 12 wt%). The age inferred for the initiation of back-arc rifting (∼ 2.35–2.9 Ma: Taylor 1992 ) behind the current volcanic arc coincides with the time that basalt chemistry changed drastically (eruption of the low-Na₂O and high-CaO basalt). This implies that post-2.8 Ma volcanism in the back-arc knolls zone is associated with rifting. Similarly, the change in chemical composition might be explained by a different type of source mantle following rift initiation. Volcanism in the western seamounts ceased after the onset of rifting at ∼ 2.8 Ma.  相似文献   

Evidence for an Hesperian-aged South Circum-Polar Lake Margin Environment on Mars     

James Dickson 《Planetary and Space Science》2006,54(3):251-272

A broad pitted plain and an elongated low rise occur near the south pole of Mars between a region of major cavi (Cavi Angusti) and a regionally smooth and broad valley (Argentea Planum). Viking, Mars Global Surveyor (MGS), and Odyssey data reveal a densely pitted plain covering ∼6750 km², and containing >300 irregularly shaped, steep-walled and flat-floored depressions with a mean diameter of ∼3.5 km. At the southernmost (poleward) extent of this plain are 12 north/south trending linear valleys that are characterized by theater-shaped heads abutting a major cavi within Cavi Angusti. The pitted plain, which abuts Cavi Angusti to the southwest, is separated from the floor of Argentea Planum by a smooth, elongated low rise that extends parallel to the plain for ∼200 km. These unusual features are all found within the Hesperian-aged circumpolar Dorsa Argentea Formation, which has been interpreted by some workers to be an ice-rich glacier-related deposit. We interpret the pitted plain to represent the maximum northern extent of the Angusti lobe ice deposit. The pits are analogous in morphology and distribution to terrestrial kettle holes, which form from the melting of isolated ice-blocks surrounded and partly buried by sediment, to leave hollows. The linear valleys are consistent with sapping valleys formed from the release of an elevated groundwater table, fed by meltwater lakes. On the basis of these characteristics, relationships and analogs, we interpret the marginal facies to represent an ice-sheet/lake contact environment that existed during Hesperian time.  相似文献