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Mass Business Report, College Of Management, University Of Massachusetts Boston

Financial Services Forum Publications

Welcome to the College of Management, UMASS – Boston, Financial Services Forum’s Fall 2009 report on the Massachusetts economy. The Forum is a source of current information and commentary about critical issues facing the industries in Boston and at the national level, as well as the health of financial services in general.

Emerging Leaders Program Team Projects In Collaboration With Boston World Partnerships: 2009 Agenda/Executive Report, Patricia Neilson

Emerging Leaders Program Team Projects

Eight teams of Fellows from the Emerging Leaders Program (ELP) provided their input and ideas to the newly launched Boston World Partnerships (BWP), from February through July 2009. Last year, our 2008 Fellows learned about the new thinking in corporate social responsibility: get professionals involved by having them contribute their skills to non-profit organizations. Our 2009 Fellows contributed their skills as “thinking partners” with BWP – in the areas of strategic planning, market outreach, competitive analysis, and information technology. The Fellows met regularly with Dave McLaughlin, Yoon Lee, and Eric Schoenfeld from Boston World Partnerships.

Promoting Rapid, Sustainable Operational Change In Business Organizations, Michael Lihon

Critical and Creative Thinking Capstones Collection

The dual purpose of this position paper is to communicate both the kinds of thinking needed to make rapid operational changes in business organizations and the kinds of thinking needed to sustain these while further changes are being incorporated. Promoting sustainable change in business operations is a process of adaptation characterized by strategic steps taken by an organization to stay competitive in the global business environment. Specifically, this paper focuses on industries that involve complex manufacturing or production operations that need improvement. It is directed to managers, supervisors and technicians who wish to incorporate efficient sustainable change in production. It …

Florida Boating Access Facilities Inventory And Economic Study, Including A Pilot Study For Lee County: A Report To The Florida Fish And Wildlife Conservation Commission, Urban Harbors Institute, University Of Massachusetts Boston, Bordner Research, Inc., Recreational Marine Research Center Of Michigan State University, Center For Urban And Environmental Solutions Of Florida Atlantic University, Environmental Economics, Inc., Planning And Zoning Center Of Michigan State University, Resource Economics Research, Llc

Urban Harbors Institute Publications

This report describes the work program and results of the "Statewide Boating Access Facilities Inventory and Economic Study Including a Pilot Study for Lee County, Florida" commissioned by the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission (FWC) in 2005. The study was funded in part by a grant to the FWC from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and by Lee County. The scope and objectives of the study are summarized in the introduction, and the subsequent sections report on the various components of the study.

For many years, Florida has been among the fastest growing states in the nation, which …

Green Pond Harbor Management Plan (Draft), Urban Harbors Institute, University Of Massachusetts Boston

Urban Harbors Institute Publications

Green Pond is one of a number of coastal ponds in Falmouth. It covers over 135 acres and is an important natural and recreational resource for the people of Falmouth and visitors. Most of the area around the pond is private residential property interspersed with a few commercial businesses and open space. As with other areas of Massachusetts, the tidelands around the pond fall within the jurisdiction of Chapter 91 (the Massachusetts Public Waterfront Act). Through Chapter 91, the Commonwealth seeks to preserve and protect the rights of the public, and to guarantee that private uses of tidelands and waterways …

A Final Assessment Of Stages Theory: Introducing A Dynamic States Approach To Entrepreneurship, Jonathan Levie, Benyamin B. Lichtenstein

College of Management Working Papers and Reports

Stages of Growth models were the most frequent theoretical approach to understanding entrepreneurial business growth from 1962 to 2006; they built on the growth imperative and developmental models of that time. An analysis of the universe of such models (N=104) published in the management literature shows no consensus on basic constructs of the approach, nor is there any empirical confirmations of stages theory. However, by changing two propositions of the stages models, a new dynamic states approach is derived. The dynamic states approach has far greater explanatory power than its precursor, and is compatible with leading edge research in entrepreneurship.

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 …

Issues In Developing A Common Framework On Informal Employment, Françoise Carré, James Heintz

Center for Social Policy Publications

This paper has been written to stimulate discussion on the definition and measurement of informal employment in developed economies. Much has been written on the definitions of informal employment and the informal sector in the context of developing countries, and these definitions have been applied in collecting and analyzing data from labor force, multi-purpose household, and enterprise surveys. It is less common that the recommendations and techniques for measuring informal employment and informal sector have been applied in developed countries.

In high-income economies, it is more common to speak of ‘nonstandard’ or ‘atypical’ employment. The two concepts of ‘informal employment’ …

Controlling The Cost Of Municipal Health Insurance: Lessons From Springfield, Robert L. Carey

Edward J. Collins Center for Public Management Publications

The study finds that, by joining the Group Insurance Commission (GIC), Springfield cut increases in its health care costs an estimated $14 million to $18 million over two years. It saved an additional $5 million per year by requiring eligible municipal retirees to enroll in Medicare Part B as a precondition of receiving supplemental health coverage from the City. These two actions, together, reduced increases in the City’s health care costs an estimated 15-19% annually, on average, with savings growth each year due to compounding. Furthermore, the study estimates that if the GIC continues its past pattern of keeping its …

Case Studies: Employment Data Systems: Florida's Agency For Persons With Disabilities, Allison Cohen Hall, Jean Winsor, John Butterworth

Case Studies Series, Institute for Community Inclusion

The increasing emphasis on government accountability at the state and federal levels has increased interest in and use of outcome data. Moreover, research has found that high performing states in integrated employment generally have a clear and visible data collection system that provides individual outcome data (Hall et al, 2007). But what are the most important elements in designing and using a system? Stakeholders have raised questions regarding creating effective data collection systems, identifying variables with the most utility for influencing policy, and using data as a strategic planning tool. This series is intended to shed light on the successes …

Moving Far From Far-From-Equilibrium: Opportunity Tension As The Driver Of Emergence, Benyamin B. Lichtenstein

College of Management Working Papers and Reports

Complexity scholars have identified two distinct drivers of emergence: (1) Far-from-equilibrium dynamics that trigger order creation, and (2) adaptive tension (McKelvey, 2004) which can push a system toward instability, leading to the emergence of new order. In this paper I suggest that both are true but incomplete. For example, when drawn out to the extreme, a far-fromequilibrium framework generates a contradiction by suggesting that the most dynamic organizations are the ones farthest-from-thermodynamic equilibrium – like Exxon or GE for example. Adaptive tension portrays the effect of a dynamic push without identifying the cause. I suggest “Opportunity Tension” as an alternative, …

Immigrant Workers In The Massachusetts Health Care Industry: A Report On Status And Future Prospects, Ramon Borges-Mendez, James Jennings, Donna H. Friedman, Malo Hutson, Teresa Eliot Roberts

Center for Social Policy Publications

Given the vital picture of foreign-born health care workers, this study has the following objectives:

1. To document the labor market position of foreign-born workers in the sector at various levels (national, statewide, sub-regional) including patterns of occupational concentration during the last decade or so, prospects for occupational mobility, wages, geographic concentration, employment by type of establishment (hospitals, community health centers, etc.) and workforce development opportunities;
2. To document, whenever possible, the socio-economic and demographic characteristics of foreign-born workers in the sector, including country of origin and gender among others;
3. To document the qualitative contribution of foreign-born workers in the health care …

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.

Smes And Competitiveness: The Role Of Information Systems, Pratyush Bharati, Abhijit Chaudhury

Management Science and Information Systems Faculty Publication Series

In this introductory article for the special issue on “SMEs and Competitiveness—The Role of Information Systems,” we provide a review of the current state of research on information systems and SMEs. A framework is provided that illustrates where the research has been concentrated and which areas are just beginning to be explored. The six articles that constitute this special issue are described in terms of this framework. A brief review of the articles is provided in which we indicate the question addressed, the factors taken into account, the nature of the research, and the dominant theory and perspective used in …

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 …

Nepali Female Migrants And Informalization Of Domestic Care Work: Service Or Servitude?, Shobha Hamal Gurung

Institute for Asian American Studies Publications

Nepali female migrants are among the fastest-growing immigrant workforces in the South Asian community, particularly in service and domestic work in big cities of the United States. However, there has not until now been a study investigating the work experiences of Nepali immigrants/migrants employed in the service and domestic sectors in these cities. This article investigates the work experiences of Nepali female migrants who work in service and domestic/child care work in Boston and New York, focusing on examining the type and nature of women's work, labor practices, work and living conditions, women's experiences and views about their work, and …

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.