White Workers and the American Civil War

From the firing on Fort Sumter in April 1861 until the Confederacy surrendered in the spring of 1865, workers—North and South—labored long hours under often trying conditions at wages that rarely kept pace with wartime inflation. Though many workers initially voiced skepticism of plans for sundering the nation, once Southern states seceded most workers rallied round their rival flags and pledged to support their respective war efforts. The growing demand for war material opened employment opportunities for women and men, girls and boys, across the Union and Confederacy. Yet workers were not always satisfied with a job and appeals to back the boys in blue and gray without question. They often resisted changes pressed on them in the workplace—new technology, military discipline, unskilled newcomers—as well as wages that always lagged behind rising prices. Protests and strikes began in 1861 and increased in number and intensity from 1863 to the war’s conclusion. Labor unions, in decline since the depression of 1857, sprung back to life, especially in the war’s later years. Employers sometimes countered their employees’ increasing organization and resistance with industry associations that tried to break strikes and blacklist those who walked off their jobs. While worker discontent and resentment of “a rich man’s war and a poor man’s fight” were common across the sectional divide, Northern workers exercised greater coordination of their resistance through citywide trade assemblies, national trade unions, traveling organizers, and labor newspapers. Southern workers tended to fight their labor battles in isolation from shop to shop and town to town, so they rarely built a broader labor movement that could survive the hardships of the postwar era.

Plans will raise China's profile in standard-setting

Significance They establish a framework for building China’s influence in the standard-setting realm over the next 15 years. China has developed a considerable presence in standards development organisations, both at the international level and in industry associations primarily based in the United States and Europe. However, its influence in these forums remains low relative to its ambitions. Impacts China will allow market-driven multistakeholder standards associations a greater role in a process so far coordinated mainly by the state. The Communist Party will maintain an overall leadership role in driving China’s standardisation work. China-led regional forums and China-based multistakeholder associations may in the long term displace US-based forums in specific areas. Environmental protection and 'green development' feature heavily in the guidelines, offering concrete areas for international cooperation. China will look to gain competencies in accreditation, certification, inspection and testing, where it has historically lagged.

Emeritus Professor Reginald Paul (Reg) Coutts (1949–2021)

This obituary celebrates the many contributions of Emeritus Professor Reg Coutts (1949–2021) to telecommunications, to ICT innovation and to the Australian industry associations in which he had key leadership roles. The article quotes comments from many of Reg’s co-workers at different stages of his multi-faceted career.

Power and precariousness in the expert hierarchies of the US hydrocarbon industry

Drawing on ethnographic research in Houston, Texas, I explore how oil and gas experts negotiate social power and precariousness within the US hydrocarbon sector. In an industry long associated with corporate power, the careers of experts are precariously balanced on rising and falling hydrocarbon prices. This makes the social power these experts wield as fluid as the commodities they are premised on. I show that informal social networks solidified by industry associations can buffer this precariousness by opening new employment opportunities and allowing them to maintain their connection to elite industry circles through periods of unemployment and uncertainty. For many working in the industry, precariousness defines the US hydrocarbon sector as much as the wealth that it is known to generate. Precariousness, I argue, is not just experienced by specific groups of people but rather is a general characteristic of capitalism that touches all but a select few.

An analysis of Industry 4.0 implementation-variables by using SAP-LAP and e-IRP approach

PurposeIn today’s uncertain business environment, Industry 4.0 is regarded as a viable strategic plan for addressing a wide range of manufacturing-related challenges. However, it appears that its level of adoption varies across many countries. In the case of a developing economy like India, practitioners are still in the early stages of implementation. The implementation of Industry 4.0 appears to be complex, and it must be investigated holistically in order to gain a better understanding of it. Therefore, an attempt has been made to examine the Industry 4.0 implementation for the Indian manufacturing organization in a detailed way by analyzing the complexities of relevant variables.Design/methodology/approachSAP-LAP (situation-actor-process and learning-action-performance) and an efficient interpretive ranking process (e-IRP) were used to analyze the various variables influencing Industry 4.0 implementation. The variables were identified, as per SAP-LAP, through a thorough review of the literature and based on the perspectives of various experts. The e-IRP has been used to prioritize the selected elements (i.e. actors with respect to processes and actions with respect to performance) of SAP-LAP.FindingsThis study ranked five stakeholders according to their priority in Industry 4.0 implementation: government policymakers, industry associations, research and academic institutions, manufacturers and customers. In addition, the study also prioritized important actions that need to be taken by these stakeholders.Practical implicationsThe results of this study would be useful in identifying and managing the various actors and actions related to Industry 4.0 implementation. Accordingly, their prioritized sequence would be useful to the practitioners in preparing the well-defined and comprehensive strategic roadmap for Industry 4.0.Originality/valueThis study has adopted qualitative and quantitative approaches for identifying and prioritizing different variables of Industry 4.0 implementation. This, in turn, helps the stakeholder to comprehend the concept of Industry 4.0 in a much simpler way.

Analysis of Entrepreneurial Motivation on Entrepreneurial Psychology in the Context of Transition Economy

This study aims to explore the connotation of entrepreneurial motivation in the context of a transitional economy. The actual situations of 135 young entrepreneurs are investigated based on questionnaire surveys and case analyses. The influences of different entrepreneurial motivation factors on entrepreneurial psychology are analyzed. Results demonstrate that the item of “gain wealth” on the entrepreneurial motivation scale has the highest score of 3.98 points. In contrast, the scores of opportunity motivation and survival motivation are basically the same, with great differences between different individuals. The dimensions of policies, regulations, and government functions on the entrepreneurial environment scale have high ranks and levels, while the support of industry associations needs to be strengthened. Generally, the entrepreneurial psychology scale has high scores; most of the items score above 3.45 points, indicating that entrepreneurship not only improves the quality of work and life for young entrepreneurs but also promotes the personal growth of entrepreneurs. The multiple stepwise regression analysis reveals significant correlations between survival and opportunity motivations of young entrepreneurs and their subjective psychology and social psychology. The results can provide experimental and useful reference materials for the following investigations.

Creating Regulatory Harmony: The Participatory Politics of OECD Chemical Testing Standards in the Making

In recent decades, the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) has become a powerful forum for trade liberalization and regulatory harmonization. OECD members have worked to reconcile divergent national regulatory approaches, applying a single framework across sovereign states, in effect determining whose knowledge-making practices would guide regulatory action throughout the industrialized world. Focusing on US regulators, industry associations, and environmental groups, this article explores the participatory politics of OECD chemical regulation harmonization in the late 1970s to early 1980s. These efforts were conditioned by differential institutional access and resources among stakeholders who sought to shape regulatory knowledge rules. Facing competing European and US approaches to chemical data—a minimum “base set” of test data versus case-by-case determinations—OECD members chose the European approach in 1980. However, US regulatory politics shifted with the election of President Reagan, prompting industry associations to lobby the US government to block the agreement. Examining the micropolitics of these standards in the making, I demonstrate that while long-term structures advantaged industrial actors, ideological alignment with the US government precipitated their decisive influence. The case illustrates the importance of attending to the distinctive politics of international harmonization and the effects on transnational knowledge-making and regulatory intervention.

Taiwan

iTaiwan’s automotive development strongly supports the proposition that capable institutions are crucial to helping firms in developing countries undertake industrial upgrading. Research institutes, testing and certification centers, training programs, industry associations, and government-supported corporate alliances have flourished for decades. Though modest in size and little known abroad, Taiwan’s leading auto companies export high-quality cars, design and engineer their own models, invest abroad, and export a wide variety of auto parts and car electronics. The success of Taiwanese firms is all the more striking in light of Taiwan’s small and stagnant domestic market. The government embarked on a course of gradual liberalization in the 1980s. Yet it never relinquished the goal of fostering domestically -owned companies capable of making their own vehicles, and simultaneously supported the activities of small and medium-sized firms that have achieved striking success in exporting automotive parts, especially bumpers, body panels, and other accessories for the after-sales market.