Operating Performance of Privatized Firms in Europe: Organizational and Environmental Factors

This article analyzes the role of organizational changes and contextual factors in explaining the operating performance of European privatized firms. We find that smaller and non-regulated firms and companies privatized by public offer perform better than bigger, regulated, and privatized by private sale companies. Also, privatized Eastern European companies are less profitable than privatized companies from other European countries. Our findings suggest that organizational changes are more difficult to introduce in privatizations by private sale and in bigger and regulated companies. They also suggest that less developed institutional contexts limit performance improvements after privatizations.     

Public Perceptions of Privatization in Ethiopia: A Case for Public Good or Private Gain?

Ethiopia is one of the many countries in sub-Saharan Africa attempting to privatize various state-owned enterprises since 1994. This study examined public perceptions about Ethiopia's privatization policy and procedures. Results support the concerns over the public's inability to know about, be involved in and comment upon public policies affecting Ethiopia's future. Findings also support the literature that a privatization policy is effective only when institutional and technical capacities for proper implementation are in place. Further, findings raise questions about the efficacy of privatization in a national context where interests may be misrepresented.     

Hybrids and Contradictions: Human Resource Management in the Contemporary Public Sector

Public employment is a dynamic field of study, buffeted by the ever-changing and reforming public sector environment and by external events such as changing demographics and the global financial crisis. This first article to the special edition on contemporary public sector human resources provides a broad overview of recent developments, starting with the nature of public sector reforms and proceeding with analysis of the far-reaching effects on public employment. For many western countries, this has led to a hybrid model of old and new practices, with many internal contradictions and a confusing array of accountabilities. The new arrangements led to a de-privileging of public servants through reductions in merit and tenure. They also reduced the institutional capacity of central personnel institutions to co-ordinate and monitor public employment and public management. The article proceeds with a review of the implications of these changes in the face of new challenges such as skills shortages and economic pressures. This overview provides a backdrop for the variety of articles presented in the special edition.

Peter Blunt, Mark Turner, and Henrik Lindroth's “Patronage, Service Delivery, and Social Justice in Indonesia” appears in the International Journal of Public Administration, Volume 35, Issue 3, 2013, pp. 214—220. doi:10.1080/01900692.2011.641050. It is related to this special issue's content.     

Pan-Africanism and communism: the Comintern,the ‘Negro Question’ and the First International Conference of Negro Workers,Hamburg 1930

Abstract

This article charts the history of a now largely forgotten Pan-African gathering, the historic First International Conference of Negro Workers, organised by the Communist International (CI) and held in Hamburg in 1930. The CI had taken an interest in organising Africans and those of African descent in the colonies, and in Europe and the US, from its foundation, but the key factor in developing political work concerned with the ‘Negro Question’ was the founding of the International Trade Union Committee of Negro Workers in 1928 and the activities of black communists. The difficulties experienced in organising the conference in Hamburg suggest that these activists were key to holding this historic event. The Hamburg Conference linked the communist movement with important black trade union and anti-colonial activists in Africa, the Caribbean, the US and Europe and subsequently had a significant influence on the future development of the Pan-African movement.     

Sewing their way up the social ladder? Paths to social mobility and empowerment among Sri Lanka’s global factory workers

Studies on global assembly line workers showcase how gains women make are counteracted by physical, social and psychological problems stemming from long hours of working, low wages and the precarity of work. Few studies analyse these workers’ experiences after they terminate factory work. Using life histories collected over 12 years and in-depth interviews, this article highlights the different paths former workers pursue to achieve social mobility and identifies key work and life experiences that contribute to social mobility and empowerment. I argue that contrary to popular belief global factory work does lead to forms of social mobility and empowerment.