On the Job, Off the Books: Organizing Against Worker Misclassification in the Neoliberal Era

Worker misclassification is a form of precarious employment in which employers illegally designate their employees as ‘independent contractors’ to cut labor costs. Non-standard employment arrangements and the emergence of the misclassification problem are expressions of neoliberal economic reform and attendant shifts in managerial strategy. Although scholars and government statisticians have documented the prevalence of worker misclassification, extant research on labor-organizing campaigns in response to this practice is lacking. This paper presents case studies of two successful organizing campaigns against worker misclassification: (1) a United Brotherhood of Carpenters and Joiners of America (UBCJA) effort in the Northeastern construction industry and (2) a Teamsters campaign focused on the West Coast port trucking industry. Both campaigns employ similar frames highlighting competition, free markets, and the necessity of industrial change to achieve these ideals. We conclude with a discussion of the prospects and limitations of these organizing strategies given the countervailing political and economic headwinds posed by neoliberal restructuring.

Exploring the impact of sustainability (ESG) disclosure on firm value and financial performance (FP) in airline industry: the moderating role of size and age

This study aims at exploring the impact of ESG scores on the value and FP of firms in the airline industry. The potential moderating role of firm size and age has also been studied in an effort to disentangle their relationships in this context. In particular, the analysis involves interaction effects for two types of firms: full-service and low-cost carriers. Based on the collected data from 38 airlines worldwide for the period 2009 to 2019, we observed that contributions to governance initiatives improve a firm’s market-to-book ratio. We also found that a firm’s participation in social and environmental activities is positively and significantly rewarded by a higher level of financial efficiency. Additionally, firm size is the relevant moderator for the association between sustainability disclosure and both firm value and FP in the air transport industry. We therefore propose that a managerial strategy of participating in these initiatives may adapt them based on their total assets as proxy of firm size. In regard to firm age, we did not find it to be a significant moderator.

Low-Cost Carrier Passengers’ Willingness to Pay for the Seat Preselection Service: A Case Study on the Taiwan-Japan Route

Due to the rising of consumer awareness, consumers not just pay more attention to leisure activities but also demand more on the related service quality. In recent years, low-cost carriers (LCCs) have continued to expand their routes, and traditional aviation is no longer the only choice for travel abroad. Different from the traditional way of operation, LCCs focus on reducing nonessential expenses. The concept of payment by service offers passengers the options for relatively low ticket price. To continuously operate in the highly competitive aviation industry, most airlines have introduced distinctive “value-added additional services” to attract air passengers. This study discusses the seat preselection, value-added service, and behavior of Taiwanese passengers who take low-cost flights to Japan. The results indicate that passengers who have experienced purchasing preselected seats are more willing to purchase this additional service and spend higher amount of money for that service. In addition, the result also indicates that younger people are more willing to accept novel services. These findings could be used as an importance reference for LCCs to guide managerial strategy in the future.

Coastal Zone Development Strategy as Tourism Object: A Case Study of Tapandullu Beach, Mamuju Regency

This study aims to determine the Coastal Zone Development Strategy as a Tourism Object in Mamuju Regency. This type of research is qualitative research using the exploratory method. In the selection of research, informants were carried out deliberately (purposive sampling) with as many as 7 informants. Data analysis with an interactive model consists of three stages of data reduction, data presentation, drawing conclusions. The results showed that the policy in developing the coastal area as a tourist destination in the Mamuju Regency area by increasing the promotion of regional tourism in Mamuju Regency, developing environmentally-based productive tourism, growing the active role of the community to participate in building the tourism sector, and increasing the role of local government, Private sector and society in tourism development in Mamuju regency. Factors that influence the development of tourism, namely the supporting factors in the management of tourist objects, namely the potential of the area and the active role of the community so that they can develop and build a tourist attraction for Tapandullu Beach that is better and can attract the attention of tourists. While the inhibiting factors in Tapandullu Beach Tourism Governance are inadequate facilities and infrastructure and limited budget so that it hinders the process of developing the Tapandullu Beach tourism object. The managerial strategy for developing tourist beach tourism is realized in the form of strengthening the mass tourist market segment and developing the tourism market segment to optimize the development of coastal tourism destinations.

Strategic Management

The material presented in this chapter aims to capture some particularities of the strategic management of the company in managing risks and threats, to detect some interference between the managerial strategy and the organizational culture, and to bring to attention the correlations between the vision of the business, the strategic segmentation, and the corporate strategies through which strategic management ensures the behavioral change of the company on the market. The sustainable economy has put in front of the company's strategic management two directions of responsibility: the motivation of the change or the disappearance of the market.

Work–family policies and the transformation triangle: women, organizational culture and managerial strategy

Purpose This research addresses how companies develop a process of transformation to a more family responsible behaviour and the role that women play in this process. This paper aims to propose a model in which a female workforce is seen as contributing to the development of the family responsible firm. The model includes two paths for transformation, the supportive work–family culture and the managerial strategy for work–family using a mediation model. The analysis was performed in a sample of 1,048 Spanish firms. Design/methodology/approach The hypotheses are tested using Baron and Kenny’s (1986) mediated regression technique, the Sobel’s test (1982) and a bootstrap re-sampling with 5,000 and 10,000 iterations to determine the significance of the mediation. Findings The results confirm the impact of the proportion of women in the workforce on organizational culture and managerial strategy, factors that lead to a real increase in the accessibility of work–family policies. The mediation effect is total. Research limitations/implications Limitations stemming from the survey used and from the cross-sectional data. Practical implications The role of women, the culture and managers in promoting work–family policies appears clear. The need for the active reinforcement of the supportive work–family culture in companies and managerial strategy, diffusion, planning and involvement are all key factors in the development of work–family policies. Social implications Governments and society as a whole should urge firms to use all means at their disposal to guarantee the formal adoption of work–family policies. Originality/value Research that analyses the way in which work–family culture and the managerial strategy for work–family generate change does not usually incorporate the female component of the labour force as an explanatory element.

Improvement of the Production Quality of the Textile Industries in Madagascar by the Knowledge Engineering

The textile industry in Madagascar has a very important weight for the Malagasy economic situation. It is the sector that contributes the most to job creation as well as to export. There are two main categories of factories: free zone companies that are moving towards export and small and medium-sized units who produce for local consumption. The lack of technical competence of the majority of the employees constitutes a common block for the two factories category. The failure is related to the low employee’s education level. This gap questions the competitiveness of textile enterprises in Madagascar at national and global level. Moreover, quality is one of the critical success factors that must be mastered by textile companies to be able to dominate the world of competition. This paper suggests a managerial strategy, the Knowledge management, as lever of quality production improvement. It has as objective the capitalization, enhancement and improvement of the company's knowledge while placing at the center the human resources. These are the sources of knowledge and the challenge is to formalize and share expert is know-how. Nonaka’s model has been exploited to achieve knowledge transfer. MASK method is used to rationalize Nonaka's knowledge management cycle. It is recommended that textile companies in Madagascar integrate knowledge management into their management system in order to optimize production quality, productivity and stimulate innovation.

Exploring SMEs’ qualitative growth and networking through formalization

Purpose This paper aims to analyze the role of networking through formalization, namely, the adoption of specific contractual forms, in triggering small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs’) qualitative growth. The paper adopts an approach to SMEs’ growth that stresses the multi-dimensionality nature of the concept, which includes not only size but also relationship and capability growth. Design/methodology/approach A qualitative methodology is used, based on the study of cases of SMEs from an Italian fashion district, connected by a specific contractual form – the so-called “network contract” (NC) – promoted by the national government. Two cases of NCs are presented, a vertical and a horizontal network. Findings The paper highlighted the positive influence of NCs, intended as a managerial strategy not only aimed at collaboration, on the growth paths of SMEs but also stressed that the influence of NCs cannot be isolated, but acts virtuously together with other variables. Such variables include entrepreneurs’ and managers’ individual traits, the context – industrial district in the two cases under study – in which SMEs operate, the presence of an external actor that stimulates the adoption of NCs. Originality/value The focus on qualitative growth, which can be triggered by the formalization of business relationships through contractual forms, contributes to the debate on the nature and content of SMEs’ growth. The awareness of the variables that contribute to SMEs’ growth is crucial for both entrepreneurs and institutional actors who want to create the conditions to undertake paths of qualitative growth.

Rise of the Black Campus Movement

This chapter looks at the rise of the black campus movement. University of Michigan (UM) leaders were not ready for black campus activism; they took comfort in the fact that black activism was still something unfolding off campus. That all changed in the late 1960s. Black activism that took over buildings and shut down classes threatened university operations. The black campus activists also offered more radical visions of inclusion than federal bureaucrats had. They wanted to create an institution that saw racial justice as the driving force of its mission. A new president led the University of Michigan through these protests. Arriving at the university in January of 1968, Robben Fleming introduced a new managerial strategy to co-opt activism. His efforts worked briefly to stem the tide of black student protests in the late 1960s, but they ultimately failed when Fleming did not provide the types of policies and initiatives that would satisfy activists. By 1970, black student activists organized the most successful student strike in the university's history, calling into question whether UM leaders could retain control of the meaning and character of racial inclusion.