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Supporters of globalization highlight a major increase in the standard of living for many workers in China while critics argue that the amazing economic growth has led to an increase in pollution and harsh labor conditions in the country. The purpose of this research is to investigate policy variations of multinational enterprises (MNEs) labor practices in China.

The empirical research is based on a questionnaire survey that collected data from MNEs in China.

This study finds that both Hong Kong/Taiwanese and US/European MNEs comply with minimum wages, benefits, health insurance, and legal requirements in China, but do not go beyond meeting or exceeding Chinese standards. This study also finds that US/European MNEs tend to make better decisions in dealing with safety in the workplace and environmental pollution.

It appears that as firms expand globally and have more overseas experience, they approach issues of ethics with caution and try to avoid business practices that would hurt their images.

The paper offers insights into policy variations of MNEs' labor practices in China.

User engagement is critical for online health Q&A communities. Financial incentives, which vary across different communities and reward schemes, are expected to motivate such contribution behaviors. Even though financial incentives have been extensively examined in prior studies, the impact of newly designed contingent financial incentives of a new pay-for-answer reward scheme has not been empirically examined in any online health Q&A community. Given this research gap, our study aims to perform an exploratory investigation of the effects of contingent financial incentives on user engagement in terms of knowledge contribution and social interactions.

Based on expectancy-value theory and equity theory, a research model was developed to reflect the influences of contingent financial incentives on user engagement. A unique dataset was gathered from a large online health Q&A community utilizing this contingent financial incentive reward structure, and the Heckman selection model was applied using a two-step procedure to test these hypotheses. Possible endogeneity issues were also addressed in the robustness check.

Our results demonstrate that the effect of contingent financial incentives on answer quantity and quality is quadratic. Additionally, our study reveals that this contingent financial incentive enhances both comment and emotional interactions among users.

Our study enriches the literature on financial incentives, knowledge contribution and user engagement by revealing the nuanced effects of financial incentives within a novel pay-for-answer scheme. This study also offers significant implications for practitioners involved in online community incentive design.

This chapter presents a typology, a comprehensive overview and a deconstruction of food counterfeits. In this chapter, common targets, defined by type of commodity, supply chain (node) and location, are identified based on incident reports and vulnerability assessments in global food supply chains. As a second step, the effects of counterfeiting on brand owners, consumers and governments are detailed, which is followed by the characterisation of the groups of buyers and suppliers. To comprehend the counterfeiting process and its most important factors in greater detail, counterfeiting is disassembled into and analysed for existing motivational drivers, opportunities and control measures. Lastly, various strategies are proposed to deter counterfeiting and disrupt these practices.

This chapter introduces how the built environment and walking are connected. It looks at the interrelationships within the built environment, and how those are changing given planning and policy efforts to facilitate increased walking for both leisure activity and commuting. Using a broad review and case-based approach, the chapter examines this epistemological development of walking and the built environment over time, reviews the connections, policies and design strategies and emerging issues. The chapter shows many cases of cities which are creating a more walkable environment. It also reveals that emerging issues related to technology and autonomous vehicles, vision zero and car-free cities, and increased regional policy may play a continued role in shaping the built environment for walking. This dialogue provides both a core underpinning and a future vision for how the built environment can continue to influence and respond to pedestrians in shaping a more walkable world.

Continuity of care and access to primary care have been identified as important contributors to improved health outcomes and reduced reincarceration among people who are justice-involved. While the disproportionate burden of health concerns among incarcerated populations is well documented, less is known about their health service utilization, limiting the potential for effective improvements to current policy and practice. This study aims to examine health status and health care utilization among men recently released from a superjail in a large metropolitan area to better understand patterns of use, risk factors and facilitators.

Participants included adult men (n = 106) matched to a general population group (n = 530) in Ontario, Canada, linked to medical records (88.5% linkage) to examine baseline health status and health utilization three-months post-release. The authors compared differences between the groups in baseline health conditions and estimated the risk of emergency department, primary care, inpatient hospitalization and specialist ambulatory care visits.

Superjail participants had a significantly higher prevalence of respiratory conditions, mental illness, substance use and injuries. Substance use was a significant risk factor for all types of visits and emergency department visits were over three times higher among superjail participants.

This empirical case is illustrative of an emerging phenomenon in some regions of the world where emergency departments serve as de facto “walk-in clinics” for those with criminal justice involvement. Strategic approaches to health services are required to meet the complex social and health needs and disparities in access to care experienced by men released from custody.

The purpose of this paper is to study the dynamic vibrations of the tethered satellite system (TSS).

The energy principle and the variational approach are used to establish the dynamic equations of the TSS. By introducing new generalized coordinates, the equations are transformed into the Hamiltonian system. Then, the symplectic Runge-Kutta (SRK) method is used to solve the canonical equations.

The influence of the tether length on the dynamic behavior of the TSS is very important.

The dynamic responses of the TSS are obtained by using the SRK method.

The purpose of this paper is to analyze the consequences that brand alliances have on a new and unknown online brand in terms of attitude to its web site, brand trust, brand equity and consumer's willingness to engage in online transactions.

A sample of 367 subjects participated in an online experiment of buying a travel package from an unknown travel agency which is allied with other known and well‐reputed brands. The information provided by the participants in different online designs of brand alliances was used to test the theoretical model proposed in the paper. This model was tested and compared with other alternative models using conventional maximum likelihood estimation techniques.

The results show that attitude toward brand alliance represents a strategic marketing opportunity to help an unknown online brand to leverage a favourable first impression from consumers in terms of brand trust and attitude toward the brand's web site. Furthermore, online brand trust does not exert a fully‐mediated role between the brand alliance's evaluation and subsequent consumers' reactions to the online brand.

The limitations of the study are those typically applied to the experimental methodology. Specifically, a single product category was used which limits the generalizability of the results. No actual behaviour was measured but just intentions and perceptions.

Partnering with well‐known and reputed brands improves the equity of the new online brand which, in turn, enhance consumers' disposition to engage in online transactions with the online brand.

Despite the popularity of brands as a symbol that can build trust and enhance the perception of value and quality, to date, the authors have not found research about the use of well‐known and reputed brand names as a mechanism of helping new and unknown online brands to persuade consumers to engage in online transactions. The results of this paper add to the growing literature on brand alliance which has been generally focused on an off‐line context.

Gives an in depth view of the strategies pursued by the world’s leading chief executive officers in an attempt to provide guidance to new chief executives of today. Considers the marketing strategies employed, together with the organizational structures used and looks at the universal concepts that can be applied to any product. Uses anecdotal evidence to formulate a number of theories which can be used to compare your company with the best in the world. Presents initial survival strategies and then looks at ways companies can broaden their boundaries through manipulation and choice. Covers a huge variety of case studies and examples together with a substantial question and answer section.