What motivates companies to invest in corporate social responsibility (CSR)? Analysing CSR in the global sportswear industry, this paper advances the hypothesis that the campaigning activities of human rights activists pushed industry leaders Nike and adidas to incorporate labour norms in their...

This study examines labor standards enforcement and compliance in two Asian economies (Bangladesh and Cambodia) that have amongst the lowest labor costs in the world but are experiencing strong pressures to improve the price competitiveness of their textile and garment exports. Analysis of...

Using a longitudinal case study approach this study examines the approaches to international industrial relations (IIR) in eleven Chinese multinational corporations MNCs. It reveals that the Chinese MNCs adopted an integrative approach to IIR, combining both the home and host country industrial...

This paper studies the effect of foreign direct investment (FDI) on environmental policy stringency in a two-country model with trade costs, where FDI could be unilateral and bilateral and both governments address local pollution through environmental taxes. We show that FDI does not give rise...

Should inputs such as bank finance affect innovation in BRICS vs. developed countries similarly? Arguably these elasticities may depend on a country's economic progress (Gerschenkron, 1962; Liu and White, 2001). Applying a combination of DEA and Tobit to a sample of 22 countries, we show how...

BRICS, the 15-year-old alliance of Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa, has emerged as an important actor on the global political and economic stage, not least by expanding its membership to include middle-power states Egypt, Ethiopia, Iran, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates in...

We study economic growth in four emerging economies - Brazil, Russia, India, and China (BRIC). Questions addressed are: (a) How do medium term growth determinants differ from short term determinants? (b) What are differences between growth effects of aggregate versus disaggregated exports? And...

This paper offers a legal and an economic analysis of collective dismissals procedures. First, it explains the economic rationale for having collective dismissal procedures in place, in light of the fact that labour markets are not perfect. Second, it overviews the international labour standards...