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1 – 10 of 908Sharon Mavin, Patricia Bryans and Rosie Cunningham
The purpose of this paper is to highlight gendered media constructions which discourage women's acceptability as political leaders and trivialise or ignore their contribution.
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to highlight gendered media constructions which discourage women's acceptability as political leaders and trivialise or ignore their contribution.
Design/methodology/approach
Media analysis of UK newspapers, government web sites, worldwide web relating to the UK 2010 government election, women MPs and in particular representations of Harriet Harman and Theresa May.
Findings
Media constructions of UK women political leaders are gendered and powerful in messaging women's (un)acceptability as leaders against embedded stereotypes. Being invisible via tokenism and yet spotlighted on the basis of their gender, media constructions trivialize their contribution, thus detracting from their credibility as leaders.
Research limitations/implications
UK‐based study grounded in opportune “snapshot” media analysis during election and resultant formation of UK coalition Government. Focus on two women political leaders, results may not be generalisable.
Practical implications
Raises awareness of the numerical minority status of UK women political leaders, the invisibility‐visibility contradiction and the power of the media to construct women leaders against gender stereotypes. Call for continued challenge to gendered leader stereotypes and women's representation in UK political leadership.
Originality/value
Highlights power of media to perpetuate gender stereotypes of UK women political leaders.
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Karla P. Simmons and Cynthia L. Istook
With the use of 3D body scanners, body measurement techniques can be non‐contact, instant, and accurate. However, how each scanner establishes landmarks and takes the measurements…
Abstract
With the use of 3D body scanners, body measurement techniques can be non‐contact, instant, and accurate. However, how each scanner establishes landmarks and takes the measurements should be established so that standardization of the data capture can be realized. The purpose of this study was to compare body‐scanning measurement extraction methods and terminology with traditional anthropometric methods. A total of 21 measurements were chosen as being critical to the design of well‐fitting garments. Current body scanners were analyzed for availability of information, willingness of company cooperation, and relevance to applications in the apparel industry. On each of the 21 measurements, standard measurement procedure was identified for three different scanners: [TC]2, Cyberware, and SYMCAD. Of the 21 measures in the study, [TC]2 was the scanner that had the most measures identified for the study and also had the capability of producing many more with specific application for apparel.
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This article aims to examine a value creation model employed by Macquarie Bank, a worldwide leader in private infrastructure finance. The Macquarie case is interesting because the…
Abstract
Purpose
This article aims to examine a value creation model employed by Macquarie Bank, a worldwide leader in private infrastructure finance. The Macquarie case is interesting because the firm has internationalized by developing a unique market expertise; transformed this expertise into a set of core capabilities; and leveraged both of these components within a structure of corporate entrepreneurship. As such the Macquarie case may offer a new hybrid model for financial services globalization. However, the turbulent events surrounding the sub‐prime crisis have shown the limits of the model and raise questions about the sustainability of strategies that use leveraging as a central component.
Design/methodology/approach
This is a detailed case study which employs close reading and analysis of secondary data, primarily corporate documents, academic articles and press interviews and reports about the firm.
Findings
Macquarie offers a unique blend of niche marketing and international scale operations. The replicability of its strategy by others is unclear, although some general lessons can be drawn. Some of these are cautionary given the risks inherent in the bank's approach.
Practical implications
The Macquarie experience suggests that inefficiencies in financial markets have been much more common than orthodox financial theory suggests since the firm has advanced by identifying and exploiting such inefficiencies. At the same time, there is the question of what the firm does as these inefficiencies become exhausted.
Originality/value
There have been few academic studies of the Macquarie business model. This article is one of the first.
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What is the cost of corruption and associated financial malfeasance in public transit? The purpose of this paper is to consider this question, focusing on two American agencies…
Abstract
Purpose
What is the cost of corruption and associated financial malfeasance in public transit? The purpose of this paper is to consider this question, focusing on two American agencies: the Metropolitan Transit Authorities (MTA) in both New York and Los Angeles.
Design/methodology/approach
This paper reviews the literature on corruption, mismanagement and malfeasance in the public sector generally and the factors which are believed to lead to these phenomena; and preliminarily assesses the relative presence and cost of such malpractices in their MTAs, and their causative factors in public transit agencies generally.
Findings
Preliminary analysis of reports of corruption and malfeasance in the two MTAs yields cost estimates of over $US200 million in the Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority and over $US1 billion in the New York State Metropolitan Transportation Authority across roughly five‐year periods (periods of analysis not being exactly the same for the two agencies).
Research limitations/implications
The data examined were not comprehensive and costings not final. Thus, the estimates can be considered to be lower than the actual incidence and costs.
Originality/value
By preliminarily quantifying the cost of maladministration in the largest transit agency in the USA and then one of the newest, this paper provides an assessment important in and of itself and also provides an initial methodology which can be used for more precise costing and analysis of such issues in the future. Possible causes of such problems include lack of accountability: the two MTAs are independent authorities with little legislative or executive oversight; and also the fact of these being public monopolies.
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The referendum debate in Ireland on whether voting in favour of the Lisbon Treaty has filled the pages of newspapers and the online media. Several anti-EU campaigns have emerged…
Abstract
The referendum debate in Ireland on whether voting in favour of the Lisbon Treaty has filled the pages of newspapers and the online media. Several anti-EU campaigns have emerged and politicians have shown their own attitudes towards the ratification process. Being our first contact with reality newspapers enable potential readers to better understand their lives and socio-political events (Van Dijk, 1991; Richardson, 2007). It has been argued that newspapers construe public identities for individuals and social groups through specific textual strategies and contribute to our understanding of belonging to a community (Fairclough, 1995a). Some scholars have proved that, in reporting on European matters, British newspapers are mainly Eurosceptic and tend to depict EU leaders in a negative light (Musolff, 2004; Nasti, 2012). It has also been demonstrated that when reporting on European integration newspapers tend to define what it means to be a European citizen by construing their own images of Europe. By doing so, newspapers have the power to support or subvert the feeling of European belonging by showing desired or unwanted scenarios. In his analysis of newspaper discourse, Fowler (1991) points out how transitivity is of great interest in newspaper analysis as it is a potential tool to investigate the same event in different ways, thus providing different views on the social and political events reported.
Against this framework, the present chapter aims to analyse, by combining a quantitative and a qualitative approach, how newspapers construct professional, social and private identity of the European politicians involved in the Lisbon Treaty debate following the features introduced by Fairclough (1995b) and Halliday and Matthiessen (2004) transitivity model. This study also investigates what qualities and features are attributed to EU leaders and to what extent the stereotyped roles of previous studies are also revealed through the analysis of material, mental and verbal processes.
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The paper aims to address the recent debate over the “relevance lost” of business school research and points to the establishment of neoliberal economic policy during the past…
Abstract
Purpose
The paper aims to address the recent debate over the “relevance lost” of business school research and points to the establishment of neoliberal economic policy during the past three decades as an example of social change that has not been thoroughly theorized in business school research.
Design/methodology/approach
The literature on neoliberalism is reviewed and, more specifically, its implications for the financialization of industry and the widespread use of financial theory in corporate governance. The paper outlines some of the consequences of neoliberalism, pointing out the connections between the growth of the finance industry and the 2008 financial crisis.
Findings
The paper demonstrates that the financialization of industry and the institutionalization of finance theory, as the guiding corporate governance model used in the new millennium, have led to a concentration of capital in the finance industry. As a consequence, other productive investments have been postponed. Despite such shifts in corporate governance and economic policy more broadly, neoliberalism is a relatively marginal topic of discussion in business school research.
Social implications
The study stresses the need for broadening the scope of business school research and addressing more long-term institutional changes in economic policy and corporate governance.
Originality/value
The paper emphasizes the need, not only for promoting practitioner relevance in business school research, but also for enacting an ambitious research agenda of broader social relevance.
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