Making Sense of Victim Restitution: A Critical Perspective

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to present a critical viewpoint on the negative aspects of market, price and cost transparencies to consumers in terms of its costs. Design/methodology/approach – It adopts an inter-disciplinary approach from the marketing, economics and accounting literature. The paper explores market transparency in the ever-changing world and uses brand names like Starbucks and iPhone to illuminate instances where imperfect markets are supported by consumers. Findings – Recognizing the role that the Internet plays in promoting price transparency, it espouses how extant information can add costs and risks to the consumer’s value judgement. Finally, the paper advocates that arbitrary judgements existing in cost accounting make it difficult to compare unit cost. This could result in consumers paying extra money to benefit from cost transparency. Practical implications – This paper argues that three main issues may arise in providing unit cost to the consumers. First, transparency entails built-in costs, whether they are in taxes or product prices. Second, in accounting, unit cost information is currently not equitable between businesses. Finally, the paper argues that extra time and effort in making sense of unit cost information lead to questions about the viability of transparent costing. Originality/value – The arguments for transparency have been widely discussed, supported and promoted by many. While negative aspects are known to businesses, few consider the consumer’s perspective. By amalgamating evidence and arguments from different disciplines, this paper lends value, providing a critical perspective where transparent unit cost revelation can be more costly and less viable than what is assumed.

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The spoken (he)art of strategy: A metaphor analysis of the strategy discourse of 10 South African business executives

South African Journal of Business Management ◽

10.4102/sajbm.v36i1.619 ◽

2005 ◽

Vol 36 (1) ◽

pp. 41-54 ◽

Cited By ~ 3

Author(s):

J. Foster-Pedley ◽

D. Bond ◽

R. Brown

Keyword(s):

South African ◽

Business Strategy ◽

Sense Making ◽

Critical Perspective ◽

Metaphor Analysis ◽

Business Executives ◽

Making Sense ◽

New Directions ◽

Metaphor Use ◽

Analytical Frameworks

This paper investigates the importance of metaphor in strategy in several ways. Firstly it considers the problematic nature of ‘strategy’ itself. Next, it outlines some views on how metaphor is used in strategy discourse, with particular emphasis on innovation, emergent processes and sense-making. It is then proposed that not only is metaphor useful in describing or making sense of strategy, but it is also central to ‘doing’ strategy - that strategy is, in important ways, metaphoric.This paper explores the proposition that research methods based on metaphor analysis can provide fundamental and useful insights into how business strategy is performed and understood. It also raises questions about the way strategy is taught. A description follows providing the results of research carried out on ten senior business executives in South Africa. A number of conclusions are derived from this research:(i) metaphor, which is useful in communicating ideas and meanings, appears to emerge as required to emphasize, construct new meaning and persuade rather than as a tool to support any particular dominant interest(ii) metaphor opens up paradoxical space(iii) metaphor is fundamental in articulating strategy(iv) speakers were generally not aware of their use of metaphor, in spite of a frequent richness of metaphor use(v) when the speakers were made aware of their use of metaphor, they were less able to engage in further discussion using metaphor and(vi) when ceasing to use metaphor, they seemed less able to engage in discussion and thought about strategy.Finally, some questions are raised from a more ‘critical’ perspective. The critical analysis in our paper tests a synthesis of the analytical frameworks of Lakoff and Johnson (1980) and Fairclough (1989;1992b) to see what can be 'surfaced’ through this type of metaphor analysis, and consider what implications there may be for management education.Ultimately, the heart of strategy may lie in the art of sense-making and creativity via discourse and conversation. Part of this spoken art lives in and by metaphor, which lightens and eases the paths to new understandings, new directions and to new configurations of individuals, firms and markets.

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Making Sense of Child Sexual Exploitation

10.1332/policypress/9781447333586.001.0001 ◽

2017 ◽

Cited By ~ 1

Author(s):

Sophie Hallett

Keyword(s):

Young People ◽

Sexual Exploitation ◽

Critical Perspective ◽

Children And Young People ◽

Making Sense ◽

Child Sexual Exploitation ◽

Childhood Care ◽

The Social ◽

Experienced Child ◽

The Individual

This important book puts forward the rarely heard voices of children and young people who have experienced child sexual exploitation (CSE) and the professionals who have worked with them. CSE is now high on the social care agenda, but what is child sexual exploitation? How is it different from other forms of child sexual abuse? Hallett takes a critical perspective and argues that we need to use the exchange model - lost in the current focus on grooming - to answer these questions. She considers the problems that arise with conflating ‘child sexual exploitation’ with ‘grooming’ and the implications for the ways in which we respond to CSE and for the individual children and young people caught up in it. Central to the discussion are themes such as youth, childhood, care and power, making for an important sociological contribution to this under-researched field, whilst also providing new and valuable practice and policy relevant insights into this issue. The book challenges the dominant way of thinking about CSE and is essential reading for those working or training to work with children and young people.

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