Big Players Research Articles

High Potential Employees – Building it Right

In today’s international market place, the widely accepted grim reality remains as if it is going to stay. Competition for the best talents is at its peak. Even in a trailing economy where the supply far exceeds the demand, the crunch is felt for the ‘best fit’ or ‘top talents. Over the next two decades, 10,000 baby boomers will turn 65 everyday, leaving a cavernous hole in the talent market. As the economy continues its slow path to recovery,34% of companies globally report having trouble filling vacancies due to talent shortages. This statistic isup from 30% in 2009, indicating that as the economy improves, the war for talent will become even morefierce.With the convergence of an amplified focus on growth and a graying workforce, the strain on theavailable pool of talent will be immense. This crisis is global in scope and currently affects employers all over the world. (White Paper, AON Hewitt, January 2013) The shortage of skilled talent will be felt more and more in the years to come. Although the supply seemingly gives a cushion, in reality employers are battling with the mismatch between available candidates and the needed technical expertise.We are all aware that the oil and gas industry is going through the rough tide of price war. Nevertheless the need for skilled engineers are on the rise. Big players will continue to expand their production as well the small ones. Then the fight for talent will be even more worse. Progressive leaders understand that a solid talent bench is quite literally thelifeline to their future success. The factors cited above and more have created an urgency for organisations to focus on identifying, developing and retaining the best talent. Thus, developing high potentials is a crucial component of a company’sbusiness strategy, as it directly feeds or depletes the collection of talent capable of filling impendingsenior leadership vacancies. The question here then is ‘How many of those organisations out there are focusing on building the right people to be their next generation leaders? How many of those line managers are investing their time in identifying their High Potentials and help them in their career?.

Selling all good: how small new entrants can compete

Synopsis Chris Morrison and two partners introduced the first Fairtrade bananas in New Zealand in a bid to improve the social and environmental impacts of banana consumption. The trio started All Good Bananas in 2010. Using social media as a key marketing tool, the startup had grown to take a 5 percent market share in a fiercely competitive industry dominated by big players. In 2012, the entrepreneurs needed to decide the best way to increase sales of ethically sourced products under the All Good brand. Should they expand their share of the banana market or diversify into drinks? Research methodology The case is primarily based on tape-recorded interviews by the authors with the founding entrepreneur and three employees of All Good from May to July 2012 and an analysis of the company’s website and social media activities. Other publicly available information sources were drawn upon, and a discussion held with a New Zealand national grocery chain CEO. Relevant courses and levels This case has been written for use in classes in undergraduate and graduate level entrepreneurship, strategic management and sustainability. The case can be used to illustrate how very small resource-constrained startups can compete in an industry dominated by large multinational corporations, and how Fairtrade might provide a worthy differentiation focus. It is open to a consideration of judo economics. While several of the questions ask students to consider the New Zealand context in which this case is set, knowledge of New Zealand and the various industries beyond what is offered in the case is not necessary. Theoretical bases At a broad level the case illustrates how a small, resource-constrained startup can compete against much, much larger players through a niche Fairtrade product focus and the use of alternative marketing strategies such as guerrilla marketing and social media. In relation to the competitive dynamics within an industry, this case can be used to illustrate the concept of judo economics (also referred to as judo strategy). Both the utility and potential limits of judo economics can be demonstrated through the case by considering current activities and potential future dynamics.

Waste processing: new near infrared technologies for material identification and selection

The awareness of environmental issues on a global scale increases the opportunities for waste handling companies. Recovery is set to become all the more important in areas such as waste selection, minerals processing, electronic scrap, metal and plastic recycling, refuse and the food industry. Effective recycling relies on effective sorting. Sorting is a fundamental step of the waste disposal/recovery process. The big players in the sorting market are pushing for the development of new technologies to cope with literally any type of waste. The purpose of this tutorial is to gain an understanding of waste management, frameworks, strategies, and components that are current and emerging in the field. A particular focus is given to spectroscopic techniques that pertains the material selection process with a greater emphasis placed on the NIR technology for material identification. Three different studies that make use of NIR technology are shown, they are an example of some of the possible applications and the excellent results that can be achieved with this technique.

How do we talk about fashion in Italy? The big players and independent publishers from 2000 to today: Transformations and orientations

Abstract The article wants to shine a light on new orientations in contemporary fashion media in order to begin to understand the new playing field for the journalistic system from the point of view of the publishing economy. In the face of a global redefinition of the language, which has changed thanks to the entry into the press and publishing market of new subjectivity and communication platforms, the media shifts lead fashion journalism and publishing increasingly towards hybridization with contemporary audio-visual languages. The examples we will set out concern publishing projects that are being reconfigured as multimedia systems that hybridize the language of cinema, television, advertising, video games and interactive platforms. This article will begin by analysing how fashion, commerce and consumption have changed, acknowledging the transformation and evolution of the concept of Made in Italy since the mid-1990s to today and will focus on large and small players, independent publishing, praiseworthy online-only projects and the recent Italian experimentation of shoppable magazines, sponsored platforms and the return of house organs, which lead large and small publishers and brands to increasingly define themselves as media companies.

Does corporate governance beget firm performance in Fortune Global 500 companies?

PurposeThis paper aims to determine the impact of corporate governance practices on the financial outcomes of Fortune Global 500 Companies, thus covering impact of geographical differences (USA and non-USA) as well.Design/methodology/approachThe study is a quantitative research based on a positivist paradigm using deductive reasoning and secondary data collection. Data collection has been done from secondary sources (annual reports, Edgar submissions and financial statistics from renowned financial databases such as yahoo.finance, Bloomberg, Ycharts statistics and Morningstar. Data were collected for 8 years (2005-2012).FindingsThe study found a strong positive relationship between corporate governance and firm performance. Smaller board sizes are found to generate better firm performance in Fortune Global 500 Companies. Frequency of board meetings have also been found to have inverse relationship with firm performance. The study supports board independence to improve transparency in board decision-making process. CEO compensation has been found to have inverse relationship with firm performance. The robustness of our results has been measured with the usage of three dependent variables, and we have found same results with varying significance level.Research limitations/implicationsDue to selection of globally broad sample set qualitative aspects of corporate governance could not be covered. Nevertheless, there is a need to go beyond the quantitative techniques (secondary data) of measuring corporate governance mechanisms.Practical implicationsThe population set is unique combination of big players and global diversification. Hence, the corporate governance practices of these firms as understood from the results of this study can be bench-marked for emerging corporates of varying global context.Originality/valueThe research is original and unique as it significant and globally diverse population of Fortune Global 500 Companies over a period of 8 years for 11 variables of interest. Results are helpful in bench marking for the rest of market players.

Shift Towards Next Generation Networks (NGNs) for Sustainability

This paper examined the shift towards the Next Generation Networks (NGNs) like 4G from 2G and the role of technology for sustainable development in the telecommunication sector of Pakistan. WARID was one of the four cellular companies of Pakistan. All the big players in the market had auctioned for 3G/4G licenses but WARID remained distant from the process of spectrum auction. The paper investigated issues and decisions involved when WARID decided to launch 4G/LTE nationwide due to its technology neutral license. It was also studied that how this decision was necessary and beneficial for all internal and external stakeholders of the organization in terms of sustainability, customer satisfaction, technological advancements etc. The study used secondary data as well as unstructured interviews where interaction with the management/employees of the organization was deliberated to stimulate discussions and opinions.

Understanding Financial Instability: Minsky Versus the Austrians

Abstract Although Minsky’s interpretation of Keynes’s macroeconomics and essential message clashes with authoritative alternative interpretations, it has become increasingly influential during the years following the Global Financial Crisis, even in mainstream circles. This paper offers a critical evaluation of Minsky’s Financial Instability Hypothesis from the perspective of the alternative Austro-Wicksellian paradigm. Although some of the similarities and/or analogies between Minsky’s approach and that of the Austrian School suggest a more than merely superficial affinity between the two theoretical frameworks and although some scope for cross-fertilization between both approaches can be found, both theoretically and empirically, at a fundamental conceptual level both theories remain incompatible and difficult if not impossible to reconcile, in particular in terms of fundamental causality and in terms of policy conclusions and prescriptions. Despite the fact that Minsky’s policy conclusions are multifaceted and somewhat eclectic, they manifest a lack of familiarity with the conclusions of the Austrian analysis of the problems of central planning by Big Players such as Big Bank and Big Government. Both approaches also offer contrasting interpretations of the historical experience of the Global Financial Crisis.

Retail Online Kirana Stores

Background of the Study: Internet has tremendously changed the face of business arena including e-commerce. Till recent times, ecommerce is confined to only few services like airline tickets, railway tickets, hotel bookings, online mobile recharge etc. Recently E-commerce is emerged into retail and moreover kirana sector also. Objectives of the Study: This paper tries to find the relationship between the age of a person and his or her convenience to buy online and whether there is a relationship between the sex of person and his or her preference to home delivery. This paper also observes the relationship between the perception of quality of products and the type of products they buy. Methods and Analysis: Various data tools are adopted to analyse the data such as Means of the parameters, OnewayAnova and T-test etc appropriately. Sampling is Random Sampling: A sample of 100 is collected. Findings: Many people of the age 20 to 30 are comfortable with buying online. Most of the female customers prefer buying online because they are home delivered. The perception of quality of products effects the buying decision of the products whether it is vegetables, groceries or both. It is also found that the prices in the internet are much cheaper than the prices in local stores. Though we can bargain in the local stores but there are huge discounts and price gap between the stores and the online portals. Applications: E-commerce is trying to consolidate all the suppliers and buyers at a platform to make the market place more comprehensive. Even the big players like Flipkart and Snapdeal are also now encouraging the local kirana players to sell through their web portals. Scope for Further Research: This paper can be further researched on the concepts of mobile e-commerce, e-commerce in food sector, food chains etc.

Rent Seeking and Institutional Evolution within the California Water Game

When directives rather than contracts determine rights to water flows, agents will substitute away from securing water rights by contract toward securing them through political directives. Especially when they are legitimated by court rulings, such directives alter the rules that govern social interaction. While farmers are able to secure water under different institutional arrangements, alterations in those arrangements through legislation and regulation can induce changes in organizational and allocative patterns of resource usage. In particular, we explore evolution in agricultural organization in California in response legislative and regulatory changes in traditional water law. To this end, we analyze the relationship between Big Players in the California Water Game and the reorientation of a water rights regime in light of legal precedent and actions from existing regulatory bodies.

Ten Years of Japan's Net Neutrality Policy: A Review of the Past and Recommendations for the Future

Because broadband is widely believed to be a precondition for economic prosperity and social progress, many governments are working hard for the speedy realization of a broadband society. However, increasing penetration of broadband Internet and higher resolution digital content have resulted in network capacity constraints to become readily apparent; hence, network congestion is now an everyday problem for ordinary users in developed as well as developing nations. Since this situation allows dominant Internet service providers (ISPs) to behave anti-competitively in the market, it cannot be assumed that the market dynamism can always come up with strategies for mitigating the capacity constraints efficiently and fairly, or “neutrally,” without proper governmental interventions.For nearly a decade, the above situation has been widely discussed by telecom regulators under the name of “net neutrality,” which (in its most basic form) requires “equal” treatment for all Internet traffic. Due to the differences in the broadband ecosystem and existing regulatory framework of each country, there is no one-size-fits-all solution. Indeed, the policy treatments that are actually adopted vary among nations. For example, in the United States, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) has to micromanage the behavior of ISPs due to a lack of competitiveness in the market. On the contrary, in Japan, the telecom authority, the Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications (MIC), concluded in 2007 that no special policy treatments are needed because the fixed ISP market seems to be sufficiently competitive.Since then, almost ten years have passed. In a broadband ecosystem with a timeline measured by dog years, a period of 10 years is too long for the same policy treatments to remain efficient. The MIC’s data show that ordinary users mostly use their mobile phones to access the Internet, in which case the market is virtually oligopolized by three big career ISPs. In addition, since NTT East and NTT West started providing wholesale fiber-optic services in 2015, these mobile giants have accelerated bundling their services with fixed broadband in order to control the overall Internet experience of end users. One of them is even bundling its mobile broadband services with selected content/applications. These changes require the MIC to reconsider its approach to net neutrality.In this study, the author reviews the changing market conditions in Japan since 2006 and evaluates two possible policy sets for the MIC: one is a structural set that aims to restore the competitive market, and the other is a behavioral one to control the behavior of the big players. Considering its unsuccessful track record of promoting mobile broadband competition, the author believes that the MIC should swiftly adopt a United States-like behavioral approach coupled with a European Union-like minimum quality of service (QoS) requirement in order to deal with the broadband ecosystem of 2016.

Re-imagining Television Audience Research: Tracing Viewing Patterns on Twitter

Re-imagining Television Audience Research: Tracing Viewing Patterns on Twitter

Small Genetic Circuits and MicroRNAs: Big Players in Polymerase II Transcriptional Control in Plants.

RNA Polymerase II (Pol II) regulatory cascades involving transcription factors (TFs) and their targets orchestrate the genetic circuitry of every eukaryotic organism. In order to understand how these cascades function, they can be dissected into small genetic networks, each containing just a few Pol II transcribed genes, that generate specific signal-processing outcomes. Small RNA regulatory circuits involve direct regulation of a small RNA by a TF and/or direct regulation of a TF by a small RNA and have been shown to play unique roles in many organisms. Here, we will focus on small RNA regulatory circuits containing Pol II transcribed microRNAs (miRNAs). While the role of miRNA-containing regulatory circuits as modular building blocks for the function of complex networks has long been on the forefront of studies in the animal kingdom, plant studies are poised to take a lead role in this area because of their advantages in probing transcriptional and posttranscriptional control of Pol II genes. The relative simplicity of tissue- and cell-type organization, miRNA targeting, and genomic structure make the Arabidopsis thaliana plant model uniquely amenable for small RNA regulatory circuit studies in a multicellular organism. In this Review, we cover analysis, tools, and validation methods for probing the component interactions in miRNA-containing regulatory circuits. We then review the important roles that plant miRNAs are playing in these circuits and summarize methods for the identification of small genetic circuits that strongly influence plant function. We conclude by noting areas of opportunity where new plant studies are imminently needed.

The Constitutionality of State Law Triggering Political Committee(-Like) Burdens and the Current Circuit Splits

Recognizing that political speech is at the core of what the First Amendment protects, the Supreme Court has applied constitutional scrutiny and established the two-track system under which government may regulate political speech.Under Track 1, government may under some circumstances – and subject to further inquiry – trigger Track 1, political-committee or political-committee-like burdens. While Citizens United v. FEC, inter alia, strikes down a ban on spending for political speech, it does not change the Buckley v. Valeo tests, which address not a speech ban but instead whether government may trigger Track 1, political-committee(-like) burdens when speech occurs. Under Track 2, apart from whether government may trigger Track 1, political-committee (-like) burdens, government may – subject to further inquiry – require Track 2, attributions, disclaimers, and non-political-committee reporting for: Independent expenditures properly understood, and Federal Election Campaign Act (“FECA”) electioneering communications.The Supreme Court has allowed government to regulate only these two types of political speech with Track 2 law. If government, working within Track 2, wants to regulate political speech beyond how current case law allows, government must prove the law survives scrutiny.Some law – such as state laws that Wisconsin Right to Life, Inc. v. Barland (“Barland-II”), Minnesota Citizens Concerned for Life, Inc. v. Swanson (“MCCL-III”), and New Mexico Youth Organized v. Herrera (“NMYO”) strike down – regulates spending for political speech only by triggering Track 1, political-committee(-like) burdens.States are free to make that choice, yet when they do, only Track 1 analysis applies.This article examines when it is constitutional for government – particularly state government – to trigger Track 1, political-committee(-like) burdens. The First Amendment limits when government may trigger Track 1, political-committee(-like) burdens.Such law often does not discourage the well-heeled few from engaging in political speech triggering Track 1, political-committee(-like) burdens, because the well-heeled few can afford to hire professionals to help them comply with such law. When others cannot afford such help, such law often has the effect of shutting them out of – and leaving the well-heeled few with less competition in – the marketplace of ideas. Indeed, the most insidious aspect of such law is the extent to which it protects big players at the expense of little players. Those who advocate or defend such law beyond First Amendment boundaries are in effect protecting the well-heeled few. They are in effect protecting big players at the expense of little players. While big players and little players have the same First Amendment rights, big players have no right – none – to political-speech law protecting them at the expense of little players. The First, Second, Fourth, Fifth, Seventh, Eighth, Ninth, Tenth, and Eleventh circuits have addressed state law triggering Track 1, political-committee(-like) burdens. No circuit’s holding coincides with any other circuit’s, and the circuit splits on these issues have become ever more complex circuit chasms. The problem is especially acute given the circuit splits over whether Citizens United pages 366-71/914-16 allow state governments to trigger Track 1, political-committee(-like) burdens.To borrow a phrase, “Enough is enough.” Constitutional law on political speech can unite people from across the political spectrum. Courts in general, and the Supreme Court in particular, can solve the problem by holding that – regardless of the scrutiny level and regardless of whether the challenge is to the political-committee(-like) definitions or burdens – government may trigger Track 1, political-committee(-like) burdens only for organizations that are “under the control of a candidate” or candidates in their capacities as candidates or for organizations having “the major purpose” under Buckley. And even when government clears the Buckley hurdle, government must still clear the Sampson v. Buescher hurdle: Government may not trigger Track 1, political-committee(-like) burdens for organizations having the Buckley major purpose but engaging in only small-scale speech.Meanwhile, under constitutional law, the FEC v. Wisconsin Right to Life, Inc. (“WRTL-II”) appeal-to-vote test – once known as “the functional equivalent of express advocacy” – cannot be a form of express advocacy. Furthermore, after Citizens United, the appeal-to-vote test no longer even affects whether government may ban, otherwise limit, or regulate speech. Moreover, under WRTL-II, the appeal-to-vote test is vague as to speech other than FECA electioneering communications. After Citizens United, what remains from WRTL-II regarding the test is the conclusion that the test is unconstitutionally vague, even vis-a-vis FECA electioneering communications.The version of this article in the Regent University Law Review is significantly shorter than the version available here, principally because the law review's convention is to limit the number of string cites and instead cite fewer sources with the signal e.g. For the convenience of readers seeking the additional cites, the longer version remains here.

Physical Characteristics and Performance of Japanese Top-Level American Football Players.

Yamashita, D, Asakura, M, Ito, Y, Yamada, S, and Yamada, Y. Physical characteristics and performance of Japanese top-level American football players. J Strength Cond Res 31(9): 2455–2461, 2017—This study aimed to compare the physical characteristics and performance between top-level nonprofessional football players in Japan and National Football League (NFL) Combine invited players and between top-level and middle-level players in Japan to determine the factors that enhance performance in international and national competitions. A total of 168 American football players (>20 years) in Japan participated in an anthropometric (height and weight) and physical (vertical jump, long jump, 40-yard dash, pro-agility shuttle, 3-cone drill, and bench press repetition test) measurement program based on the NFL Combine program to compete in the selection of candidates for the Senior World Championship. All players were categorized into 1 of the 3 position groups based on playing position: skill players, big skill players, and linemen. Japanese players were additionally categorized into selected and nonselected players for the second tryout. The NFL Combine candidates had significantly better performance than selected Japanese players on all variables except on performance related to quickness among the 3 position groups. Compared with nonselected players, selected Japanese skill players had better performance in the 40-yard dash and bench press test and big skill players had better performance in the vertical jump, broad jump, and 40-yard dash. Selected and nonselected Japanese linemen were not different in any measurements. These results showed the challenges in American football in Japan, which include not only improving physical performance of top-level players, but also increasing the number of football players with good physical performance.

Real Estate Exposure and Bank Share Price Synchronicity

Executive Summary. Opaque assets can affect the stock price dynamics of banks due to the lower amount of information available in the market. Real estate is considered an opaque asset but there is no evidence of the impact of real estate exposure on stock price dynamics. In this paper, we evaluate the effect of real estate exposure on bank price synchronicity for lenders with different exposures in real estate lending. The results show that exposure in the real estate sector can negatively affect the degree of synchronicity, but the risk of losses is lower for real estate banks even if the exposure to crash risk is almost the same with respect to other banks. If we consider diversified portfolios, investors more interested in real estate banks reduce their risk exposure by investing only in big players.

Electricity and Natural Gas Interdependency: Comparison of Two Methodologies for Coupling Large Market Models Within the European Regulatory Framework

Power generation growth based on natural gas fired power plants (NGFPPs) has lead to increasing interactions between electric power and natural gas industries. More companies are progressively and simultaneously participating as big players in both markets. However, each company has traditionally been settled in one side, holding a particular competitive advantage: electric power generation companies mainly know how to operate their generation assets, whereas gas companies mainly know how to manage their gas supply contracts and make use of often regulated gas assets. Multi-product energy companies have even created independent departments which decisions are usually taken uncoordinatedly. In any case, companies (or departments) usually support their decision-making process in mathematical tools which represent each market with detail. This paper presents two methodologies for coupling two interdependent electricity and gas market models formulated as optimization problems. Each methodology fulfills different department wishes. The “electricity-perspective” methodology maximizes electricity market profits after calculating equivalent gas contracts with the gas market model. In contrast, the “gas-perspective” methodology minimizes gas operation costs after obtaining the relationship between the marginal revenue and the gas consumption with the electricity market model. This coordinated solution would allow companies to obtain synergies, resulting in a competitive advantage over other companies that operate uncoordinatedly in both markets

Spies and Diplomats in US Soviet Policy

Spies and Diplomats in US Soviet Policy Jörn Happel Mark A. Bradley, A Very Principled Boy: The Life of Duncan Lee, Red Spy and Cold Warrior. 348pp., illus. New York: Basic Books, 2014. ISBN-13 978-0465030095. $29.99. Lorraine M. Lees and William S. Rodner, eds., An American Diplomat in Bolshevik Russia: DeWitt Clinton Poole. 332pp., illus., map. Madison: University of Wisconsin Press, 2014. ISBN-13 978-0299302245. $26.95. DeWitt Clinton Poole (1885–1952) stands in the center of a group of men and women dressed in fur coats and fur hats. Leaning on his cane, he gazes directly into the camera through his thin glasses. While some people of the group are smiling, he has a rather serious look in his eyes. The American diplomats together with their consul Poole had their picture taken in front of a representative building in Arkhangel´sk in midwinter 1918/19. The photograph is impressive.1 It adorns the front as well as the back cover and is also prominent in the memoirs of DeWitt Clinton Poole, published by Lorraine M. Lees and William S. Rodner. The confident look and posture, standing in the midst of his colleagues, and the respect shown to him capture one of the pioneers of American Soviet Union policy on his best behavior. His memoirs, laid out in this fine edition for review, cover the years 1917–20 in the young Soviet Union. The source of the memoirs is Poole’s interviews, recorded as part of Columbia University’s Oral History Project just before he died in 1952. Poole’s thoughts offer an apt analysis of the circumstances in revolutionary Russia, plagued by civil war. There is great merit in commemorating this important pioneer with the publication of his writings. The American spy [End Page 918] Duncan Lee also emerges in A Very Principled Boy, by Mark A. Bradley, which describes the life of a Cold War agent. Despite the differences between Poole and Lee, their lives give us an inside take on how US government offices perceived Lenin’s and Stalin’s empire, how the Cold War started, and how it changed the living environments of numerous experts on the East. DeWitt Clinton Poole is a well-known figure in the emergence of the Cold War. In contrast to other cold warriors, Poole as yet has no biography based on archival documents, although he played an important role in the development of the United States’ Soviet policy after 1917/18 and after 1945. He knew what was right and how to fight the Soviet antagonist. From another perspective, Duncan Lee exemplifies the problems of fighting for the “right thing”—for leftist ideas but against Soviet communism—and of working as a spy against the US motherland to create a better world based on a communist outlook. In summary, Poole’s memoir and Bradley’s study of Lee help us understand how to learn about the Soviets.2 Lee was one of thousands of European and American idealists who made pilgrimages to experience the Soviet Union in the 1930s.3 But unlike many of the others, he was ready to spy for the Soviet Union after World War II. In contrast to the diplomat Poole, who recognized during his years in Russia that the Soviet regime was an antagonist of every democratic government, Lee believed in communist ideas. For many years, historians focused on the big players in US diplomacy, such as George F. Kennan or Charles E. Bohlen.4 Alternatively, scholars had only to look for the history of popular spies at the beginning of the Cold War: Igor S. Gouzenko, Klaus Fuchs, Harry Gold, David Greenglass, Ethel and [End Page 919] Julius Rosenberg.5 What we learn from Poole’s memoirs and from the biography of Duncan Lee lies beyond the often told story of how Russia became a Bolshevik enemy after the revolution and how leftists became involved in the Cold War spy game. These two studies offer new insights into the history of the Russian Revolution, US involvement in the Russian Civil War, and early American domestic troubles in fashioning a Soviet policy during and after World War II.6 It...

A Contrived World by Jung Young-Moon

Christos Ikonomou. Something Will Happen, You’ll See. Trans. Karen Emmerich. Brooklyn. Archipelago Books. 2016. 250 pages. Christos Ikonomou’s award-winning second collection, Something Will Happen, You’ll See, is a thoughtful glimpse into the flawed and sometimes-comic existence of the working-class men and women living at the periphery of Greece’s capital. In the opening tale, “Come On Ellie, Feed the Pig,” a woman molds halva into the likeness of an estranged lover and proceeds to eat him. In “Placard and Broomstick ,” a grocery clerk mourns the death of his childhood friend, carrying a blank sign through the streets in protest because he’s “filled with an incredible emptiness.” An unemployed dockworker in “For Poor People” watches a strange woman paint an expression of a choking face onto a bollard , where a rope is tied from a boat like a noose. In the closing story, “Piece By Piece They’re Taking My World Away,” a couple spends their final days in an old house as the unique stones of its foundation are looted by neighbors and the government moves to expropriate the property. This collection is a kind of Dubliners for the postcrisis generation and a lament for the marginalized inhabitants of neighborhoods around the shipping district of Piraeus. Ikonomou succeeds at immersing the reader, through a panoramic streamof -consciousness method of narration, into fifteen lives where “pain and fear come later, when the wound cools.” Characters are increasingly preoccupied with memories or daydreams even as hardship envelops them. An undefinable dread lingers and builds steadily over the course of the book, leaving you feeling that the worst hasn’t even started yet, despite occasional glimpses of hope or closure. Where there’s fault to be found with the book, it’s most noticeable in occasionally rigid efforts at Faulknerian tangents where the sentences struggle to find their footing at the expense of flow, though it’s unclear if that’s on Ikonomou or the limits of the translation. Still, the collection mostly shines, particularly in its clever symbolism and living characters. Ikonomou is an author of substance as much as style, and Something Will Happen, You’ll See is a stunning, if somewhat bleak, sketch of a country in flux. Michael Kazepis Portland, Oregon Jung Young-Moon. A Contrived World. Trans. Jeffrey Karvonen & Mah Eunji. Victoria, Texas. Dalkey Archive Press. 2016. 163 pages. A writer once told me that each work of fiction teaches you how to read its world. The novel A Contrived World is at once a world and no world. Based on the writer Jung Young-Moon’s real-life visit to California , it follows the narrator through actual experiences. A plot summary of A Contrived World, however, reveals nothing about the novel. The word “contrived” immediately telescopes to readers that they are entering Carlos Labbé Loquela Trans. Will Vanderhyden Open Letter Alternating narratives construct this mystery novel that also comments on writing itself and its power to transport and comfort but also deceive. Experimenting in genres and perspectives, the clear and crisp prose retains the ability to send the reader on philosophical journeys in fantasy cities and to illuminate small human interactions. Alexander Kluge 30 April 1945 Trans. Wieland Hoban Seagull Books Those familiar with this particular date in history might feel as if they already know the story of the day Hitler committed suicide, but Kluge weaves a tale of all the events large and small that occurred concurrently. From the momentous political occasions to small tragedies, the examination of one single day demonstrates compellingly how the effects of war radiate out from the big players. Nota Bene WORLDLITERATURETODAY.ORG 93 an invented world designed by the author, which comments on creating a reality out of words: the illusion of fiction itself. The narrative follows a sensibility more than a plot line; a simple plot gives way to thought, wonder, and wordplay. In one such early scene, the protagonist is with his girlfriend after sex, talking “about nothing in particular” and “rolling a few pebbles down a slope.” This leads him to wryly consider the origins of his peculiar habit of rolling pebbles and childhood memories of rolling such pebbles down...

Triadic Motifs in the Partitioned World Trade Web

One of the crucial aspects of the Internet of Things that influences the effectiveness of communication among devices is the communication model, for which no universal solution exists. The actual interaction pattern can in general be represented as a directed graph, whose nodes represent the “Things” and whose directed edges represent the sent messages. Frequent patterns can identify channels or infrastructures to be strengthened and can help in choosing the most suitable message routing schema or network protocol. In general, frequent patterns have been called motifs and overrepresented motifs have been recognized to be the low-level building blocks of networks and to be useful to explain many of their properties, playing a relevant role in determining their dynamic and evolution. In this paper triadic motifs are found first partitioning a network by strength of connections and then analyzing the partitions separately. The case study is the World Trade Web (WTW), that is the directed graph connecting world Countries with trade relationships, with the aim of finding its topological characterization in terms of motifs and isolating the key factors underlying its evolution. The WTW has been split based on the weights of the graph to highlight structural differences between the big players in terms of volumes of trade and the rest of the world. As test case, the period 2003-2010 has been analyzed, to show the structural effect of the economical crisis in the year 2007.

Moderating firm growth: The small size strategy

Strategic paradigms include an assumption: growth ambition feeds a firm’s strategy. This paper inductively investigates the management’s cognitions of the Italian electronics firm Majestic. Without doubting the general validity of paradigms developed through the traditional economics and strategy approaches, this paper shows that those cognitions are the de facto developers of strategies and their analysis provides a complementary firm view, according to which some firms are not predisposed to increase their size. Majestic’s management aims to occupy declining segments that larger companies are no longer interested in. These segments do not require to grow and they allow Majestic to not face the competition of bigger and stronger players surviving with a small size. In addition, Majestic just need few resources and a limited innovation capacity to benefit from the declining markets which are not attractive for the bigger players but they are still profitable for small firms. The Majestic’s business vision...