Business & Economics

Is restructuring an underhanded way to make the rich richer and the poor poorer? Or is it necessary, although bitter, medicine for an ailing economy?
In The Ethics of the New Economy: Restructuring and Beyond, professionals from the fields of philosophy, ethics, management, as well as those representing the groups affected by restructuring, tackle thorny ethical issues. Referring to concrete case studies, these timely essays discuss a variety of topics, including justified and unjustified restructuring; employers’ obligations during the restructuring process; equity issues; the rise of part-time employment; the effects of restructuring on communities; the internal risks faced by restructuring corporations; deprofessionalization in health care; the consequences of restructuring in the developing world; philanthropy and cause-related marketing; corporate “judo” and restructuring; and responsible and irresponsible restructuring.

Tonga, the South Pacific island kingdom located east of Fiji and south of Samoa, is one of the world’s few remaining constitutional monarchies. Although Tonga has long been linked to the world system through markets and political relationships, in the last few decades emerging regional and global structures have had particularly intense and transformative effects. Today, because of greatly increased labour migration, people, money, and resources are in constant circulation among Tonga, New Zealand, Australia, and the United States.
In Persistence of the Gift, Evans provides a detailed ethnographic and historical analysis of how, in spite of superficial appearances to the contrary, traditional Tongan values continue to play key roles in the way that Tongans make their way in the modern world. But this ethnography is neither that of a timeless “ethnographic present” nor of a remote coral atoll. Instead, like the inhabitants of Tonga themselves, the monograph begins in the islands, and works outward, tracing how Tongans seek to meet their own, culturally specific goals, within the constraints, challenges, and opportunities of the world system.
Tongan culture, like our own, continues to transform in the face of global change, but the changes experienced by Tongans everywhere are patterned and managed by the values of Tongan agents. Both creative and conservative, the emerging transnationalist system continues to be discernibly and proudly Tongan.

Co-published with the Institute of Communication Agencies

Every few years, business is galvanized by a new concept. Accountability is the latest idea in the spotlight. It’s a huge topic, and in the broadest sense embraces ethics, corporate governance, and all the issues spawned by the recent spate of business scandals. Vulcans, Earthlings and Marketing ROI deals with a more pragmatic aspect: the accountability behind the question “Are our investments in marketing and advertising sensible and successful, short and long term, from a business point of view?”

In Part 1 the authors establish that finance, marketing, and advertising share common ground in the value of brands. Part 2 reviews the evidence for the business impact of marketing and advertising, summarizing key research and practical experience. Part 3 outlines what it takes to build an accountability culture and profiles some techniques that are useful for framing and measuring the business impact of marketing and advertising investment. The book is intended for anyone with an interest in accountability as it applies to short- and long-term marketing effort.