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MANAGING PROJECTS

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Projects represent nonroutine business activities that often have long-term strategic ramifications for a firm. In this chapter, we examined how projects differ from routine business activities and discussed the major phases of projects. We noted how environmental changes have resulted in increased attention being paid to projects and project management over the past decade. In the second half of the chapter, we introduced some basic tools that businesses can use when planning for and controlling projects. Both Gantt charts and network diagrams give managers a visual picture of how a project is going. Network diagrams have the added advantage of showing the precedence between activities, as well as the critical path(s). We wrapped up the chapter by showing how these concepts are embedded in inexpensive yet powerful software packages such as Microsoft Project. If you want to learn more about project management, we encourage you to take a look at the Web site for the Proj...
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Employment Relations in Emerging Economies: China and India

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The chapter situated the analysis of employment relations in China and India in a comparative capitalist framework, incorporating its critique by critical perspectives. It identified the similarities and differences in the economic patterns of development in the two economies with respect to each other as well as compared with other industrialised economies. It outlined the comparative capitalism approach and its critique before focusing on the challenges and advantages of applying it to China and India. Finally, it reviewed recent research in the ‘second wave’ of comparative capitalist tradition and how this has evaluated and augmented the comparative institutional analysis with respect to China and India.
The section on China explored the historical pattern of the development of the Chinese institutional context in which the state-party dominates the economy through SOEs and stateowned banks. Weak corporate governance structures are supplemented by institutions of family and guanxi and patron-client relations between political power and capital. In the context of a deeply segmented labour market along the rural-urban line which is institutionalised through dual citizenship, employment relations in China are undergoing a gradual change: from lifelong employment and comprehensive social security to a more flexible labour market, towards a contributory social security fund, and increased exploitation of rural migrant workers in the new model of socialist market economy. As Chinese capitalism interacts with global capitalism, the influx of MNCs and the transfer of HR policies and practices reveal a complex picture where traditional and Maoist values and practices in employment relations persist parallel to the introduction of novel and innovative practices by MNCs in China.
The section on India outlined the Indian institutional context where a formerly interventionist state is withdrawing from direct involvement in the economy as it transitions to a marketoriented one. Institutions of family and social networks define the distinctive form of private firm in India, i.e. the business group, governed by both formal and informal institutions in corporate governance mechanisms. Formal–informal labour market segmentation reflects advanced specialisation and therefore high skill levels in industries such as IT and computing alongside a vast pool of low-skilled surplus informal labour without any social security cover. In this context, employment relations in India are being reshaped by liberal labour reforms, which have increased the flexibility of labour and weakened the bargaining power of workers and unions. This has resulted in new forms of union and new union strategies, for example, a decline in political unionism and the rise of enterprise unions and informal worker organisations. State provision of skilling infrastructure is being replaced by individualised or firm-based training. Regional variations of industrial relations models and local state-capital relations in India shape different employment dynamics. A peculiar feature of Indian capitalism as it interacts with global capitalism lies in the advanced industry and skills in certain sectors such as services and IT as well as prominent Indian MNCs.
From a comparative institutional perspective, the section emphasised two significant dimensions that need to be included within any analysis of the two capitalisms: subnational forms of governance and informal labour and labour agency. Further, comparative advantages as well as challenges faced by the two economies were discussed.

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