Can increasing expenditure on research and development really be justified?

1997 ◽  
Vol 211 (2) ◽  
pp. 87-96
Author(s):  
R. A. Bryson
Keyword(s):  
United Kingdom ◽  
Research And Development ◽  
Adam Smith ◽  
The United States ◽  
Published Data ◽  
Sales Growth ◽  
The United Kingdom ◽  
Development Expenditure ◽  
Commercial Research ◽  
National Economies

Economists since Adam Smith have recognized the contribution of innovation to profitability and growth. The relationship between corporate research and development and subsequent sales growth, both across and within industries, has been examined by many authors. Results have been varied showing at best no more than the suggestion of a causal relationship between research and development input and growth. These results are reviewed together with the various theories which have been developed in an attempt to explain the connection between technical innovation and growth. Starting with an examination of various national economies, the rate of commercial research and development expenditure has been compared to the rate of national growth. A number of industries in the United Kingdom, Germany, Japan and the United States of America were also examined, taking the automotive industry as a particular case. In addition to using published data a survey of smaller vehicle manufacturers in the United Kingdom was conducted. Although positive correlation was found at an international and industry level, no association between research and development expenditure and sales growth was found at a company or project level in the United Kingdom.

Strike Ballots, Democracy, and Law

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Breen Creighton ◽  
Catrina Denvir ◽  
Richard Johnstone ◽  
Shae McCrystal ◽  
Alice Orchiston
Keyword(s):  
United Kingdom ◽  
The United States ◽  
International Labour Organisation ◽  
Human Right ◽  
Strike Activity ◽  
Legal Rules ◽  
Worked Example ◽  
The United Kingdom ◽  
Democratic Rights ◽  
The Right

The purpose of the research upon which this book is based was empirically to investigate whether the ballot requirements in the Fair Work Act do indeed impose a significant obstacle to the taking of industrial action, and whether those provisions are indeed impelled by a legitimate ‘democratic imperative’. The book starts from the proposition that virtually all national legal systems, and international law, recognise the right to strike as a fundamental human right. It acknowledges, however, that in no case is this recognition without qualification. Amongst the most common qualifications is a requirement that to be lawful strike action must first be approved by a ballot of workers concerned. Often, these requirements are said to be necessary to protect the democratic rights of the workers concerned: this is the so-called ‘democratic imperative’. In order to evaluate the true purpose and effect of ballot requirements the book draws upon the detailed empirical study of the operation of the Australian legislative provisions noted above; a comparative analysis of law and practice in a broad range of countries, with special reference to Canada, South Africa, the United Kingdom and the United States; and the jurisprudence of the supervisory bodies of the International Labour Organisation. It finds that in many instances ballot requirements – especially those relating to quorum – are more concerned with curtailing strike activity than with constructively responding to the democratic imperative. Frequently, they also proceed from a distorted perception of what ‘democracy’ could and should entail in an industrial context. Paradoxically, the study also finds that in some contexts ballot requirements can provide additional bargaining leverage for unions. Overall, however, the study confirms our hypothesis that the principal purpose of ballot requirements – especially in Australia and the United Kingdom – is to curtail strike activity rather than to vindicate the democratic imperative, other than on the basis of a highly attenuated reading of that term. We believe that the end-result constitutes an important study of the practical operation of a complex set of legal rules, and one which exposes the dichotomy between the ostensible and real objectives underpinning the adoption of those rules. It also furnishes a worked example of multi-methods empirical, comparative and doctrinal legal research in law, which we hope will inspire similar approaches to other areas of labour law.

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