This study is designed to examine the effect of the economies arising from the concentration of economic activity in close geographic proximity on the investment activities of TNCs. Using the eclectic paradigm as the theoretical framework, the study explores the extent and the ways in which...

This paper looks more closely at the sources of patent growth in the United States since 1984. It confirms that the increase is largely due to US patenters, with an earlier surge in Asia, and some increase in Europe. Growth has taken place in all technologies, but not in all industries, being...

We explore the finding of La Porta et al. that differences in Ôlegal originÕ account for part of cross-national diversity in labour regulation and corporate governance. We suggest that the finding needs a better historical grounding and that a mechanism which might explain it has not been...

This paper makes a case for the future development of European corporate law through regulatory competition rather than EC legislation

This study seeks to explain why, in some cases, locationally advantageous countries attract foreign firms, who develop dominant competitive positions in the market, rather than facilitate the development of internationally competitive national firms, as theory suggests. Comparative analyses of...

The paper argues that some of the limitations and problems examined by Darwin and modern biologists in relation to the working of natural selection in the case of speciation may be one aspect of more general rules which have some counterpart in the competitive selection of organisational species...

Over the last ten years, the debate on labour market flexibility has increasingly become polarised between two distinctive and potentially irreconcilable viewpoints. On the one hand, concern over high levels of persistent unemployment and low levels of employment in Europe has led some to argue...

Union recognition procedures are about to be reformed in the UK. Current legislative reform proposes automatic certification. Business prefers mandatory representation votes. Will the choice of union recognition procedure affect certification success? This paper provides empirical evidence on...

There is a protracted stalemate between rich (the North) and poor (the South) countries over the question of minimum labour standards in developing economies. This paper is a sequel to Singh and Zammit (2000). It considers afresh key issues in the controversy. While fully recognizing the moral,...

This paper analyses the role of banks in financing SMEs in Britain and Germany. It applies a sociological institutionalist approach to understand how banks construct and manage risk, relating to SME business. The empirical analysis is based on the results of a comparative survey of a sample of...