Business Commons^™

Latinos In The Labor Force, Phillip Granberry

Gastón Institute Publications

In 2018 a financial news and commentary website, 24/7 Wall St., ranked Massachusetts as the state with the largest economic and social disparities between Latinos and non-Latino whites. For example, median household income was shown to be slightly above $80,000 for whites and just under $40,000 for Latinos. Even more starkly, the rates of homeownership were shown as 69.3% and 26.0%, respectively.

The present report offers an in-depth look at one aspect of the disparity, namely, the difference between the median wage income of Latinos and non-Latinos (a great majority of whom in Massachusetts are non-Latino white). In 2017 …

Money And Morality: Pathways Toward A Civic Stewardship Ethic (2012), Marcy Murninghan

New England Journal of Public Policy

Based on a plenary presentation made at the Ninth Harvard University Forum on Islamic Finance, held at Harvard Law School in 2010, less than two years after the 2008 financial crisis, this article argues for the restoration of ethical values and civic commitments in capitalism and economic enterprise, drawing on traditional religious, theological, and philosophical principles regarding the civic moral obligations associated with building and managing wealth. The article is divided into three main parts. It begins with an overview of reform measures emanating from the financial debacle, including the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act, and an …

Corporate Civic Responsibility And The Ownership Agenda: Investing In The Public Good (1994), Marcy Murninghan

New England Journal of Public Policy

This article seeks to provoke broader public discussion about ways in which human and ecologic dignity, prosperity, and the civic ideal can be advanced through a revitalized and principled ownership agenda that features greater levels of corporate accountability and civic virtue. It draws from portions of what then was called an “Occasional Paper,” part of a series emanating from the early days of the University of Massachusetts Boston’s McCormack Graduate School of Policy and Global Studies. Written in 1994, it introduces a new paradigm for corporate governance called the “corporate covenant,” which casts ownership within the framework of citizenship. These …

Equity Culture And Decent Work: The Case Of Amazon (2017), Marcy Murninghan

New England Journal of Public Policy

Every year, publicly traded companies hold annual meetings at which management presents a summary of the year’s accomplishments and shareholders vote on a slate of ballot issues, referred to as “proxy resolutions,” that are placed there by either management or shareholders. As in public life, in theory this form of corporate governance relies on a division of authority and checks and balances among shareholders, the board of directors, and company management. In theory, shareholders function much like registered voters, boards serve as their elected representatives, and management operates much like the executive branch to carry out the mandates accorded to …

The Strategic Potential Of Community-Based Hybrid Models: The Case Of Global Business Services In Africa, Stephan Manning, Chacko G. Kannothra, Nichole K. Wissman-Weber

Management and Marketing Faculty Publication Series

As a latecomer economy, Africa faces persistent difficulties with catching up in global markets. This study examines the strategic potential of community-based hybrid models, which balance market profitability with social impact in local communities. Focusing on the global business services industry in Kenya and South Africa, and the practice of ‘impact sourcing’ – hiring and training of disadvantaged staff servicing business clients – we find that while regular providers struggle to compete with global peers, hybrid model adopters manage to access underutilized labor pools through community organizations, and target less competitive niche client markets. We further identify key industry, institutional …

Getting The Most Out Of Your 401(K), Emily G. Brown Jd, Jeanne Medeiros Jd

Pension Action Center Publications

Planning for your retirement is an active and ongoing endeavor. It requires a certain amount of diligence and knowledge to ensure you have an adequate amount of financial stability at retirement. In order to safeguard your economic security, it is important to know if you are getting the most out of your 401(k) retirement savings account. This factsheet provides basic information about enrolling in a 401(k) retirement savings account and important items to keep in mind once you are enrolled.

Massachusetts On The Move: The Intersection Of Talent, Transportation, And Housing, Richard Boyajian, Juleen Freitas, David Mahoney, Karen Ng, Robert Woods

Emerging Leaders Program Team Projects

The Massachusetts Business Roundtable (MBR) collaborated with a team from the Emerging Leaders Program (ELP) from the University of Massachusetts Boston to interview business leaders to explore the important intersection of talent, transportation, and housing on the state’s economy. The ELP Team obtained the insights of 15 key business leaders, industry experts as well as public policy organizations on these important issues and their impact across the Commonwealth. This research seeks to capture the views of stakeholders throughout Massachusetts. The ELP Team surveyed the landscape by reviewing trends and current research on these policy issues.

Creative Economies: Using Arts To Revitalize Post-Industrial Cities And Towns In Massachusetts, Anna Price

Honors College Theses

During my senior year in the Honors College at UMass Boston, I became involved in the yearlong Creative and Social Entrepreneurship Fellowship program. During this program, I interned alongside other UMass Boston students at a local creative non-profit organization, providing the staff with assistance as they worked towards achieving their goals. This internship was funded by the Creative Economy Fund (CE Fund) from the University of Massachusetts President’s Office. My involvement in this program sparked an interest in pursuing an Honors thesis investigating the CE Fund and how the awarded projects are benefitted by that fund.

After looking through all …

Would Women Leaders Have Prevented The Global Financial Crisis? Teaching Critical Thinking By Questioning A Question, Julie A. Nelson

Economics Faculty Publication Series

Would having more women in leadership have prevented the financial crisis? This question, raised in the popular media, can make effective fodder for teaching critical thinking within courses such as gender and economics, money and financial institutions, pluralist economics, or behavioural economics. While the question, as posed, demands an answer of 'Yes - sex differences in traits are important' or 'No - gender is irrelevant', students can be encouraged to question the question itself. The first part of this essay briefly reviews literature on the sameness-versus-difference debate, noting that the belief in exaggerated behavioural differences between men and women is …

Would Women Leaders Have Prevented The Global Financial Crisis? Teaching Critical Thinking By Questioning A Question, Julie Nelson

Julie A. Nelson

Would having more women in leadership have prevented the financial crisis? This question, raised in the popular media, can make effective fodder for teaching critical thinking within courses such as gender and economics, money and financial institutions, pluralist economics, or behavioural economics. While the question, as posed, demands an answer of 'Yes - sex differences in traits are important' or 'No - gender is irrelevant', students can be encouraged to question the question itself. The first part of this essay briefly reviews literature on the sameness-versus-difference debate, noting that the belief in exaggerated behavioural differences between men and women is …

Upham’S Corner Main Street: Developing Ideas For Promoting Arts And Businesses In Upham’S Corner, Werner Kunz, Barbara Lewis, Upham's Corner Main Street

Office of Community Partnerships Posters

Dorchester’s Upham’s Corner neighborhood is home to a diverse mix of neighborhood residents, many historical landmarks, and a commercial district. At one point, Upham’s Corner was one of the top five market hubs for New England. It was because of this market history that the Strand Theater was built as a community home, as a community connection, and as a network. UMass Boston’s College of Management undergraduate students have developed ideas for promoting the arts and bringing businesses to the Upham’s Corner neighborhood. Assistant Professor of Marketing, Werner Kunz, coordinated the project with students in his “Services Marketing” class to …

Review Of Proposed Zoning Bylaw Amendments & Concept Plan For 129 Parker Street, Maynard, Ma, Edward J. Collins, Jr. Center For Public Management, University Of Massachusetts Boston

Edward J. Collins Center for Public Management Publications

The Edward J. Collins, Jr. Center for Public Management was hired by the Town of Maynard to analyze the proposed amendment to the Neighborhood Business Overlay District (NBOD) of the Maynard Zoning Bylaw and associated concept plan for the property located at 129 Parker Street in Maynard. The bylaw amendment and concept plan have been proposed by Capital Group Properties, LLC, the developer of the site. Specifically, the Center was tasked with preparing the following materials:

• Task 1 – Economic Development and Impact Study;
• Task 2 – Traffic Peer Review and Analysis; and,
• Task 3 – Recommendations on proposed bylaw …

Not-So-Strong Evidence For Gender Differences In Risk, Julie Nelson

Julie A. Nelson

In their article "Strong Evidence for Gender Differences in Risk Taking," Gary Charness and Uri Gneezy (2012) review a number of experimental studies regarding investments in risky assets, and claim that these yield strong evidence that females are more risk averse than males. This study replicates and extends their article, demonstrating that its methods are highly problematic. While the methods used would be appropriate for categorical, individual-­‐level differences, the data reviewed are not consistent with such a model. Instead, modest differences (at most) exist only at aggregate levels, such as group means. The evidence in favor of gender difference is …

New Silicon Valleys Or A New Species? Commoditization Of Knowledge Work And The Rise Of Knowledge Services Clusters, Stephan Manning

Management and Marketing Faculty Publication Series

This paper explores knowledge services clusters (KSCs) as a distinct and increasingly important form of geographic cluster, in particular in emerging economies: KSCs are defined as geographic concentrations of lower-cost skills serving global demand for increasingly commoditized knowledge services. Based on prior research on clusters and services offshoring, and data from the Offshoring Research Network (ORN), major properties and contingencies of KSC growth are discussed and compared with both high-tech clusters and low-cost manufacturing clusters. Special emphasis is put on the ambivalent effect of commoditization of knowledge work on KSC growth: It is proposed that KSCs attract most projects if …

An Alternative To Temporary Staffing: Considerations For Workforce Practitioners, Linda Kato, Françoise Carré, Laura E. Johnson, Deena Schwartz

Center for Social Policy Publications

As the national economy inches toward recovery, risk-averse employers are increasingly turning to temporary workers to fill their hiring gaps. In fact, the temporary staffing industry has been a fixture of the US economy for decades. But the industry added a striking 557,000 jobs from June 2009 to November 2011 — more than half of the jobs created during that period. Growth is likely to continue: A 2011 McKinsey survey of 2,000 firms of differing sizes and across various sectors found that more than a third foresaw their companies increasing their use of temporary workers over the next five years. …

Low Wage Earners And Low Wage Jobs In Greater Boston, Anneta Argyres, Brandynn Holgate, Susan Moir

Susan Moir

Anybody who has ever been employed can readily list the qualities of a good job. Some are easily identified factors, such as good wages, health benefits, paid sick and vacation time, and a pension plan. Others are harder to measure, such as job security, reasonable workloads, flexible work schedules, workplace safety and health, or being treated with respect. In either case, it’s clear that job quality is something to which every working person pays attention. We should also be concerned about job quality as a society. A society that is characterized by jobs with family sustaining wages and benefits will …

Arguments For A Living Wage In The United States: Prospects For Persuasion And Expansion, Corinne Bazzinotti

Honors Thesis Program in the College of Management

This thesis explores the living wage, and in particular the varied arguments that support the adoption and spread of the living wage. A “living wage” is a decent wage. “It affords the earner and her or his family the most basic costs of living without need for government support or poverty programs,” and takes into account a, “complete consideration of the cost of living.” The topic is timely, as the economy in the United States remains in decline, and now more than ever the American workforce is struggling to stay afloat, along with businesses across the country.

I want to …

National Contexts Matter: The Co-Evolution Of Sustainability Standards In Global Value Chains, Stephan Manning, Frank Boons, Oliver Von Hagen, Juliane Reinecke

Management and Marketing Faculty Publication Series

In this paper, we investigate the role of key industry and other stakeholders and their embeddedness in particular national contexts in driving the proliferation and co-evolution of sustainability standards, based on the case of the global coffee industry. We find that institutional conditions and market opportunity structures in consuming countries have been important sources of standards variation, for example in the cases of Fairtrade, UTZ Certified and the Common Code for the Coffee Community (4C). In turn, supplier structures in producing countries as well as their linkages with traders and buyers targeting particular consuming countries have been key mechanisms of …

Securing Access To Lower-Cost Talent Globally: The Dynamics Of Active Embedding And Field Structuration, Stephan Manning, Joerg Sydow, Arnold Windeler

Management and Marketing Faculty Publication Series

This article examines how multinational corporations (MNCs) shape institutional conditions in emerging economies to secure access to high-skilled, yet lower-cost science and engineering talent. Based on two in-depth case studies of engineering offshoring projects of German automotive suppliers in Romania and China we analyze how MNCs engage in ‘active embedding’ by aligning local institutional conditions with global offshoring strategies and operational needs. MNCs thereby contribute to the structuration of field relations and practices of sourcing knowledge-intensive work from globally dispersed locations.Our findings stress the importance of institutional processes across geographic boundaries that regulate and get shaped by MNC activities.

Dice Or No Dice: The Casino Debate In Massachusetts, College Of Management, University Of Massachusetts Boston

Financial Services Forum Publications

The debate on casinos has intensified over the last few years. Governor Deval Patrick tried to get approval for three casinos back in September 2008, which was rejected by the then Speaker Salvatore Dimasi. However, two years ago, the Governor stood in the way of casinos by vetoing the bill passed by the House and the Senate.

With the economy still recovering from the aftermath of the “Great Recession”, there are talks about job creation and consumer spending all over Massachusetts. Currently, the three most critical players in the government of Massachusetts - Governor Deval Patrick, House Speaker Robert DeLeo, …

Film And Television Production In Massachusetts: The Beginning Of Hollywood East?, Pacey C. Foster, David Terkla

Economics Faculty Publication Series

After declining in the 1990s (laubacher, 2006), the Massachusetts film and television industry reached a nadir with the closing of the Massachusetts film office in 2002. To revitalize this once-thriving local creative industry, in 2005 the state legislature passed a tax incentive plan that provided a bankable tax credit for qualifying motion picture and television productions in Massachusetts. As updated in 2007, the Massachusetts film tax credit (FTC) provides a refundable/transferrable tax credit for 25% of qualifying wage and non-wage production expenses and a sales tax exemption for qualifying in-state spending. Massachusetts joined, at the maximum, 43 other states in …

The Stability Of Offshore Outsourcing Relationships: The Role Of Relation Specificity And Client Control, Stephan Manning, Arie Y. Lewin, Marc Schuerch

Management and Marketing Faculty Publication Series

Offshore outsourcing of administrative and technical services has become a mainstream business practice. Increasing commoditization of business services and growing client experience with outsourcing have created a range of competitive service delivery options for client firms. Yet, data from the Offshoring Research Network (ORN) suggests that, despite increasing market options and growing client quality and cost efficiency expectations, clients typically renew provider contracts and develop longer-term relationships with providers. Based on ORN data, this paper explores drivers of this phenomenon. The findings suggest that providers promote contract renewal by making client specific investments in software, IT infrastructure and training, and …

Ethics, Evidence And International Debt, Julie A. Nelson

Economics Faculty Publication Series

The assumption that contracts are largely impersonal, rational, voluntary agreements drawn up between self-interested individual agents is a convenient fiction, necessary for analysis using conventional economic methods. Papers prepared for a recent conference on ethics and international debt were shaped by just such an assumption. The adequacy of this approach is, however, challenged by evidence about who is affected by international debt, how contracts are actually made and followed, the behavior of actors in financial markets, and the motivations of scholars themselves. This essay uses insights from feminist and relational scholarship from several disciplines to analyze the reasons for this …

Ethics, Evidence And International Debt, Julie Nelson

Julie A. Nelson

The assumption that contracts are largely impersonal, rational, voluntary agreements drawn up between self-interested individual agents is a convenient fiction, necessary for analysis using conventional economic methods. Papers prepared for a recent conference on ethics and international debt were shaped by just such an assumption. The adequacy of this approach is, however, challenged by evidence about who is affected by international debt, how contracts are actually made and followed, the behavior of actors in financial markets, and the motivations of scholars themselves. This essay uses insights from feminist and relational scholarship from several disciplines to analyze the reasons for this …

A Response To Bruni And Sugden, Julie A. Nelson

Economics Faculty Publication Series

An article by Luigino Bruni and Robert Sugden published in this journal argues that market relations contain elements of what they call ‘fraternity’. This Response demonstrates that my own views on interpersonal relations and markets – which originated in the feminist analysis of caring labour – are far closer to Bruni and Sugden's than they acknowledge in their article, and goes on to discuss additional important dimensions of sociality that they neglect.

Brokering Up: The Role Of Temporary Staffing In Overcoming Labor Market Barriers, Françoise Carré, Brandynn Holgate, Helen Levine, Mandira Kala

Center for Social Policy Publications

Alternative Staffing Organizations (ASOs) are social-purpose businesses created by community-based organizations and national nonprofits to “broker up” job seekers, starting with temporary assignments and forming bridges to better jobs. Funded by the C. S. Mott Foundation, the Alternative Staffing Demonstration examined four ASOs around the country for a three-year research project, with 18 months of close monitoring, exploring, and assessing the ASO model. The Center for Social Policy studied how ASOs structure the services they provide, handle day-to-day management issues, and sell their services. We found the ASO model was variously adapted to generate short-term employment, build work experience, provide …

Public-Private Partnerships: Lessons Learned From A Partnership: Consolidated Contractors Company And The Morganti Group Inc. (Ccc/Morganti), Al-Balqa’ Applied University (Bau)/Al-Huson University College (Ahuc) And The Usaid Jordan Economic Development Program, Hussien Al-Wedyan, Terry S. Lane, David Lowther, Gwen El Sawi

Center for Social Policy Publications

This paper describes a Public-Private Partnership that brings together: Al-Balqa’ Applied University/Al-Huson University College (AHUC); Consolidated Contractors Company and the Morganti Group Inc. (CCC/MORGANTI); Al-Huson Career Development Center (CDC); and USAID Jordan Economic Development Program (SABEQ). The Partnership enhances CCC/MORGANTI with its corporate responsibility initiative in Jordan as well as addressing CCC/MORGANTI’s labor force needs from Jordan and in the MENA Region. The lessons learned from the process of developing this partnership may be applied to other potential and emerging partnerships in other sectors. The paper draws on principles and best Education and Training Public/Private Partnerships Improved Workforce Demand-Driven Skills …

Gaming In Massachusetts: Can Casinos Bring 'Good Jobs' To The Commonwealth?, Marlene Kim, Susan Moir, Anneta Argyres

Labor Resource Center Publications

This study examines the quality of jobs in the United States gaming industry and analyzes enabling legislation in five states that have legalized gaming. The authors find that the gaming industry -- particularly the unionized sector of the casino hotel industry -- provides good jobs with good wages and benefits for workers with less than a high school degree. The authors conlcude that workforce development efforts in Masschusetts must include strategies to address improving the quality of entry-level jobs.

The State Of New England: Economic Slowdown And Recovery After The Dotcom Bust, Arindam Bandopadhyaya, College Of Management, University Of Massachusetts Boston

Financial Services Forum Publications

What follows is an analysis of the key macroeconomic trends in the six New England states. Using data publicly available in 2007, we examine trends in GDP growth, population, personal income and unemployment rate in each state. We provide a breakdown of each state by GDP category and provide an overall weighting by super sectors.

The Rise Of Asian-Owned Businesses In Massachusetts: Data From The 2002 Economic Census Survey Of Business Owners, Michael Liu, Paul Watanabe

Institute for Asian American Studies Publications

Asian-owned businesses are following a very rapid growth trajectory in Massachusetts. In fact, Asian-owned firms increased by 44 percent in Massachusetts from 1997 to 2002. This growth is nearly double the national gain of 24 percent for all Asian-owned firms in the United States. Moreover, during the same time period, the number of all firms in the state expanded by only five percent. Similar comparisons can be made when looking at sales and receipts and number of paid employees. From 1997-2002, Asian-owned businesses in Massachusetts experienced an increase in sales and receipts of 20 percent. This was over three times …