Within the development of a human resource (HR) philosophy, the HR function has been elevated to take an active role in business strategic planning processes. It should be co-ordinated and integrated to support the notion of human resources as a source of competitive advantage, and these changes...

An approach to the study of the ‘risks’ of ‘globalization’ that are increasingly the focus of global protest is outlined. By enrolling a blend of Mary Douglas' cultural approach to ‘risk’ and Ulrich Beck's theory of the ‘risk society,’ it is argued that three distinct ‘regimes...

Analysis of the 2003 Australian Survey of Social Attitudes verifies claims that Australia is a share-owning democracy. We show that higher income earners are most likely to own shares and to own shares in a large number of companies, and that the 45-54 and 54-56 year age groups are the peak for...

Although Goffman's work is widely invoked in the study of corporate reputations and of corporate annual reports, its use is often marked by an elision between the embodied self and the corporate 'self'. In re-reading Goffman to clarify that effect, we bracket the assumption of a distinct 'human...

This paper is part of a research programme into corporate annual reports. Reports do provide the information on the past performance, present state and future prospects which investors in listed companies require for the rational choices attributed to them. They also reveal the companies'...

William H Whyte’s concept of organization man is now used in bowdlerised form, shorn of its polemical core. It was an appeal against the situation of people in the big organiations taking shape after World War Two, belonging to the organization rather than simply working for it, earning...

Management of science and related basic research and development by the state is not a new phenomenon. In this paper it is argued, on the basis of recent Australian experience, that the conventional approach which assumes that the research community is a simple system is deeply flawed....

An autopoietic explanation is offered to explain the reluctance of a major international manufacturer of titanium dioxide to adopt a production process that might have enabled it to retain competitive advantage. Alternative explanations which focus solely on economic considerations and...