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Attempts to benchmark corporate governance practices have focused primarily on developed capital markets, whereas cross‐country comparisons remain difficult for emerging markets. Given the growing importance of emerging markets as an asset class, this paper attempts to shed some light on the quality of governance practices in a large sample of countries and the extent to which that quality may offset perceived weaknesses in the institutional framework in which companies operate.

In the absence of comparable data for many emerging markets, the paper employs new survey evidence from the World Economic Forum's Global Competitiveness Report.

The analysis suggests the following: first, legal institutions play a key role for corporate governance, but other factors, such as politics and cultural and historical roots, matter too. While corporate governance practices in emerging markets tend to be weaker than in developed capital markets, several emerging markets have already made substantial progress in upgrading their practices and, as their institutions continue to emerge, the existing quality gap looks set to narrow further. There are several countries whose companies on average appear to follow better practices than the quality of their legal and regulatory environments would suggest.

Good corporate governance at the company level need not be tied or constrained by its local environment. That good company practices may at least partly offset weak framework conditions and could have important implications for the mode of entry foreign investors choose, an issue to be left for further research.

Overall, the paper's main contribution lies in its novel approach to disaggregate different levels of corporate governance, thus allowing a more textured assessment of corporate governance risk.

Blended solutions for training are growing in popularity, but are they more than just a combination of a range of “real” learning techniques? Is it a learning approach in its own right? Clerical Medical put the new approach to the test. Attracted by the possibility of shortening face‐to‐face training time by delivering basic factual work via CBT or other learning delivery mechanism, the company included a detailed feedback process in the course design to discover levels of effectiveness and delegate responses to the approach. These results were to impact Clerical Medical’s future use of blended training.

This book is a policy proposal aimed at the democratic left. It is concerned with gradual but radical reform of the socio‐economic system. An integrated policy of industrial and economic democracy, which centres around the establishment of a new sector of employee‐controlled enterprises, is presented. The proposal would retain the mix‐ed economy, but transform it into a much better “mixture”, with increased employee‐power in all sectors. While there is much of enduring value in our liberal western way of life, gross inequalities of wealth and power persist in our society.

We live in the Age of Knowledge, which is impelling us towards the Age of Imagination. The technological wave rises and with it rises a wave of change that will affect both the economy and society. When these two waves will reach the coast where knowledge meets ignorance, and how to ride them, are questions that require us to imagine the future. We must, therefore, embark on the vessel of imagination, leaving behind us the baggage of what we know and understand. Imagination is not just the springboard for ideas; it also acts to connect ideas in different ways that may blossom in the garden of an entrepreneurial renaissance. Symbols, metaphors and concepts that belong to our tacit knowledge come to light in our memory. It is from here that the imagination draws its lifeblood, broadening our horizons, inducing us to interact with others who may be the bearers of other cultures. Are we ready to engage in an imaginative learning process to join business with innovation and art? Are we prepared to design a wide-open white space where the actors of entrepreneurship, innovation and art can generate a constructive tension that will sweep away what appears to be mutual antagonism or incompatibility?

Common ownership on the Scott‐Bader model is probably the aspect of employee participation that is least understood and least talked‐about. In part this is due to the fact that it has been, in the past, mainly confined to small firms: only the John Lewis Partnership, with over 23000 employee‐members, a sales income of £440m per annum and more than 80 supermarket and department stores outlets, can claim to be in the big league.

The present paper is a phenomenological study of capital inflow, economic growth and financial crisis in the Southeast Asian countries in general and Malaysia in particular. The paper seeks to explain how unregulated capital inflow in an open economy leads to unsustainable growth It comes to the broad conclusion that although capital inflow is conducive to economic growth, it may also generate the problem of macroeconomic vulnerability and unsustainability, and in such a situation, the occurrence of financial crisis may not be an uncommon possibility.

March 1989 has been designated Library Promotion Month with the intention of promoting the positive side of the library service at a time when it might be said to be under threat from more negative forces. The idea is to involve as many people as possible — library workers, councillors, authors, trade unionists, and the general public, of course — in activities and events at local, national, and regional levels. These would include theme days on specific subjects (local history, services for the under‐fives etc.), lobbying, letter‐writing campaigns, public meetings and so forth. What we would hope for is that this combination of activities will focus the eyes and ears of the nation on the potential of libraries (or the potential that exists given a positive approach on the part of those in control of the coffers). We are given to understand that the Minister's long‐awaited response to the Green Paper and the comments it has provoked will be due round about the same period. With this in mind we want to be sure that libraries are higher up the agenda than usual when the Parliamentary implementation of whatever it is the Minister has in mind for libraries begins its process. (At the time of writing — Christmas Eve 1988 — it seems that enabling legislation will be tacked on to the next Housing Bill with secondary legislation in the form of Statutory Instruments being put before Parliament in the autumn. In other words, there is no time to lose.)

Notes that the New Testament provides a classic case of international marketing strategies in conflict, as well as clues to modern international management. Looks at the development of the organization left behind by Jesus Christ in terms of characters such as Peter and Saul and factors such as ethnic niching and the rise of the organization as a multinational. Considers historical events from the New Testament in terms of modern management thinking and concludes that the analogy is helpful in determining modern international management strategy.

Marketing should draw lessons from the world‐wide success of Christianity, which is seen as an international marketing achievement based on local knowledge and adjustment to domestic target markets. The relevance of Paul's localised approach to international marketing strategy is highlighted by an examination of the factors which led to his success in this field. Applying contemporary business concepts to the rival launches of Mithraism and Christianity shows the deficiencies of both globalisation and the attempt to appeal to a circumscribed target market.