Journal articles on the topic 'Success in business – United States – Case studies'

Studies of lobbying try to determine the influence and power of non-governmental actors on public policy. Although influence is very difficult to measure empirically, many continue to push for better research design to solve the problem. Through case studies of business-government relations in the United States and the European Union, this article argues that the difficulties with power and influence concern not only their operationalisation, but they also reflect conceptual confusions. Trying to determine the ‘winners’ and ‘losers’ of a policy issue can be misleading, since power also structures apparently harmonious exchange relationships. The perceived success of business lobbying in the cases studied depended on the governments' receptiveness to their demands, which in turn depended on strategic advantages they saw for themselves in international negotiations. Even when business appears to lead the dance, it is more promising to look at resource distribution and the interdependence of both sides, instead of assuming the domination of business power over policy outcomes.

Utilizing a survey of defense contractors in the New England region, this study explores the effect of social networks on business performance—measured by annual employment growth and market diversification—during a time when defense spending in the United States was contracting. In contrast to prevailing literature focusing on entrepreneurial firms, this study offers insights on how social networks function in defense contractors, which tend to be mature firms. The main conclusion is that having more network connections is associated with faster short-term employment growth (from 2014 to 2015) for defense contractors, but there is a limit to that benefit. The analysis also shows that social networks do not aid market diversification for defense contractors. This poses an interesting challenge for defense contractors, as they need to balance the priorities of short-term growth and long-term success.

Abstract This is a case study of the cross-ethnicization and globalization of an ethnic food by entrepreneurial Korean Chinese. Korean Chinese (also referred to as Joseonjok or Chaoxianzu) in China came from a strong agricultural background with little tradition of commerce and no tradition of consuming lamb meat. However, when Xinjiang-style barbecue-lamb skewers were introduced to their community in the early 1980s, Korean Chinese fell in love with this exotic food. Soon, Korean Chinese entrepreneurs began opening their own barbecue-lamb-skewer restaurants. Within the next two decades, they transformed this humble street food into a luxurious gourmet food through various innovative measures. They also globalized the barbecue-lamb-skewer business by expanding it to other cities in China, South Korea, Japan, the United States and beyond. Based on fieldwork conducted in Korean Chinese communities in China, South Korea and Japan, we found that their transnational coethnic networks were the key behind this intriguing success in ethnic entrepreneurialism. This paper explores how the Korean Chinese developed their transnational coethnic networks, and how these networks contributed to this formerly non-coethnic lamb-skewer business.

As the number of mobile phone subscriptions has rapidly expanded in developing countries, so too has the use of mobile phones to facilitate small-scale financial transactions around the world. Microfinance experts have recognized these mobile banking services as a means for expanding access to financial services among poor and low-income populations. Innovations over the past few years have proven that mobile network operators and banks can cooperate to create successful business models for mobile banking services. Recognizing this success, this paper further explores the ways in which private sector, public sector, and non-profit sector actors can and should collaborate to meet the financial service needs of the poor through innovations in mobile banking. Case studies from Kenya, the Philippines, the United States, Haiti, and India provide relevant lessons on how these collaborations have succeeded or failed in the past.

In recent years, employer-centered explanations of welfare state development have begun to challenge conventional labor-centered and state-centered explanations. These new explanations suggest that sector-specific business interests and cross-class alliances propelled the adoption and expansion of social programs (the business interests thesis). This article presents a novel explanation of differences in business support for welfare state expansion based on a diachronic analysis of the German case and shadow case studies of Sweden and the United States. The article suggests that when looking at changes in employers’ positions across time rather than across sectors, political constraints turn out to be the central factor explaining variation in employers’ support for social reforms (the political accommodation thesis). The article identifies two goals of business intervention in welfare state development: pacification and containment. In the case of pacification, business interests propel social policy expansion; in the case of containment, they constrain it. Business chooses pacification when revolutionary forces challenge capitalism and political stabilization thus becomes a priority. Business chooses containment when reformist forces appear likely to succeed in expanding social protection and no revolutionary challenge exists. The article shows that changes over time in the type of political challenges that business interests confront best explain the variation in business support for labor-friendly social reforms.

PurposeThis research investigates procedures and effective practices on staffing needs and utilization for successful implementation of alternative contracting methods (ACMs) in the United Sates, including design–build (D–B) and construction manager/general contractor (CM/GC) delivery methods.Design/methodology/approachThe review of published empirical studies, a national survey of transportation agencies and case studies of highway agencies form the basis of the conclusions in this research. In addition to the national survey, with 46 of 50 agencies participating, the research presents case studies from five highway agencies in the United States including the following: California, Florida, Georgia, Minnesota and Virginia. These five case studies were selected from agencies that have extensive experience in delivering ACM projects. The case studies involved a thorough procedural review and structured interviews of agency personnel. The agencies then validated the results and conclusions.FindingsThe results showed that implementing ACM projects requires different knowledge, skills and management and coordination efforts than traditional design–bid–build (D–B–B) projects. The study found that the key success factors of implementing ACMs are the following: (1) establishment of an ACM champion; (2) active involvement of key staff throughout the ACM project development process; (3) appropriate use of consultants and (4) ACM training and staff development.Research limitations/implicationsThe issue on how to attract and retain talented staff and a committed core workforce with appropriate skills and competences for ACM implementation is vital for highway agencies, but it lacks information and guidance. The chief limitation of this research is that the primary data were collected from highway agencies in the United Sates. Any future research should include more data to enhance the validity of this study outside of the public transportation sector.Practical implicationsDeveloping a sustainable level of core staff plays an important role in implementing an ACM program. The result of this research will help transportation agencies and other public owners to develop effective staffing strategies for successful implementation of ACMs. The findings of this research also address the appropriate use of consultants to supplement core staff with regard to delivery of ACM projects.Originality/valueThis research is the first attempt to examine the staffing needs and utilization for ACM projects.

Theory about what constitutes entrepreneurial success is explored using case studies of the 2003 Ernst & Young Entrepreneur of the Year Award winners for Australia and New Zealand. Findings suggest the need to more equally emphasize what theory presents as elements of successful entrepreneurship, and importantly, incorporate ethics as a key dimension. Further, the analysis offers insight into how business awards processes in general might be conducted.Entrepreneurship has long been considered an important economic activity. The past twenty years has witnessed an explosion of research into entrepreneurs and their actions (Venkatarman 1997; Hannafey 2003) with considerable emphasis on the elements that constitute successful entrepreneurship. However, there has been little empirical work substantiating these elements or exploring the extent to which they appear to be considered when judgements are made about entrepreneurial success. Additionally, some entrepreneurs that are judged successful, such as Monty Fu who won an entrepreneur of the year award in the United States, are later shown to be unsuccessful along a number of elements. It may be that some elements are more emphasized when judging entrepreneurial endeavours, than are others. For these reasons, the current paper focuses on the construction of successful entrepreneurship. It addresses the following research questions: Are there some elements of entrepreneurship that appear to be more emphasized than are others when judgements are made about successful entrepreneurs? Would recourse to theory help decide successful entrepreneurship?

Theory about what constitutes entrepreneurial success is explored using case studies of the 2003 Ernst & Young Entrepreneur of the Year Award winners for Australia and New Zealand. Findings suggest the need to more equally emphasize what theory presents as elements of successful entrepreneurship, and importantly, incorporate ethics as a key dimension. Further, the analysis offers insight into how business awards processes in general might be conducted.Entrepreneurship has long been considered an important economic activity. The past twenty years has witnessed an explosion of research into entrepreneurs and their actions (Venkatarman 1997; Hannafey 2003) with considerable emphasis on the elements that constitute successful entrepreneurship. However, there has been little empirical work substantiating these elements or exploring the extent to which they appear to be considered when judgements are made about entrepreneurial success. Additionally, some entrepreneurs that are judged successful, such as Monty Fu who won an entrepreneur of the year award in the United States, are later shown to be unsuccessful along a number of elements. It may be that some elements are more emphasized when judging entrepreneurial endeavours, than are others. For these reasons, the current paper focuses on the construction of successful entrepreneurship. It addresses the following research questions: Are there some elements of entrepreneurship that appear to be more emphasized than are others when judgements are made about successful entrepreneurs? Would recourse to theory help decide successful entrepreneurship?

Within the discipline of international business, institution-based theories on strategic management concentrate on how foreign firms conform to their local operating environment. One of the leading theories extending from such research is the idea that a foreign firm’s success in a given country rests on the firm’s ability to “bridge” the institutional (or structural) distance between the firm’s home country and host country, whether that distance be cultural, regulatory, political, cognitive or any given number of possible structural measures. The greater the gap between home and host country, proponents of institutional distance claim, the more challenging it will be for the firm to be successful in the host environment. In this article, we develop the concept of institutional distance through a single qualitative case study of a junior mining firm, Frontier Mining, initially headquartered in the United States and listed on the London Stock Exchange, but with the vast majority of its operations located in Kazakhstan. We approach Frontier and the concept of institutional distance less through the lens of international business and more through the interdisciplinary lens typical of regional studies: how Frontier conforms to the local Kazakh environment is equally telling for those interested in strategic management as it is for those concerned with the intersection of the international political economy and the domestic political economy of a post-Soviet state in transition.

This paper discusses the differences and similarities between the attitudes of entrepreneurs in four distinctly different localities of the world, with regard to the traits they believe to be important to their success as entrepreneurs. Over four hundred entrepreneurs were studied in four different countries: The United States, Singapore, Russia, and Kazakhstan. The US represents a more developed and established training environment. Singapore is one of the exciting "Tiger" countries and is embarking on a major thrust aimed at developing indigenous entrepreneurs. Russia and Kazakhstan are countries struggling to develop entrepreneurship as they attempt to enter the international market economy. Kazakhstan, though a much smaller country, is making far better progress in developing entrepreneurship than is Russia. The findings reveal the differences in attitudes and traits of entrepreneurs in differing ambiences of experience, economic development, and cultural experiences. In the increasingly smaller global business climate of today, this is important information to consider. As is the case with the authors of this study, business owners and entrepreneurs are all interacting with entrepreneurs in other countries of the world, and we must discover how we are similar, and how we differ, if we are to successfully interact and build a powerful entrepreneurial economic future.

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to assess the employee suggestion scheme of three organizations based in the United Arab Emirates. A framework that consists of five sustainability factors identified based on an empirical study has been applied. The sustainability factors identified through this study include leadership and organizational environment, system capability, system effectiveness, organizational encouragement and system barrier. The paper draws conclusions about the key practices necessary to foster sustainability of the employee suggestion system. The paper then presents a final framework that the organizations can apply to assess their suggestion schemes and to develop potential change strategies. The study findings reveal the importance of five factors, and with more cases, future research can be conducted to identify further practices relevant to specific industry. More levels of maturity for sustainability suggestion system could also be defined with future research. Design/methodology/approach – The assessment framework was developed drawing on a thorough review of the literature and data collected and analyzed using various statistical tools. The developed assessment framework was validated using case study method. Semi-structured interviews were used to elicit relevant information during the case study. Findings – An assessment framework comprising five major factors for sustainability of suggestion scheme of has been presented. The five factors include: leadership and work environment, system capability, system effectiveness, organizational encouragement and system barriers. Sustainability of a suggestion system can be understood as a three-stage model comprising three stages: the initial stage, the developmental stage and the advanced stage. The key practices associated for each of these stages are discussed in detail. Research limitations/implications – The framework has taken into consideration the critical success factors, and critical success factors emerged from the literature review conducted for this study. The framework therefore could be further refined by conducting more case studies and can propose maturity levels. Originality/value – The paper has developed a framework that can be used to assess the sustainability of the suggestion scheme in an organization. This model has been applied to assess the individual schemes and draw upon potential change strategies.

The essence, main tendencies of asymmetries and disproportions of development of territorial communities are considered. The basic mechanisms of activation of the internal potential of their revival are outlined. The purpose of the study is to substantiate management decisions regarding choice of business model that provides socio-ecological and economic development in its location. As a result of the research the following tasks were solved: 1) determination of social and ecological problems of the territory and the main priority life needs of its population; 2) justification of the mechanism for implementing the goals of entrepreneurship bases on the creative approach activation to innovation management decisions under the condition of balanced development of territories with appropriate motivation of both managers and employees and increasing their potential. The object of the study is the process of managerial decision making by business leaders on an innovation and investment bases. The research was conducted inductively (by collecting and analyzing qualitative data) and deductively (through generalization of theoretical questions based on a systems approach), which was made possible by analyzing of synergetic transformations of nonlinear self-organized dynamical systems such as society, economy and ecology. Measurement of variables was performed on the basis of sociological survey data. In 2013–2017, 15 small and medium-sized businesses in the northern, central and southern regions of Ukraine were surveyed in order to identify factors of their socio-economic development. The cluster sampling method was used to select the settlement. Socio-economic data was collected using verbal socio and psychological methods using unstructured and semi-structured approaches. The great flexibility of the method allows to obtain comprehensive information about the socio-psychological causes of behavior (for example, methods of management, motivation). Studies of the theory and practice of business management, development of social and industrial infrastructure are illustrated from the standpoint of their impact on small businesses and could be implemented in to the educational process and development strategy of the region. It is generally recognized accepted that the key factors for success in business are trend analysis, market research, long-term goals, business modeling, resource management, team building, and marketing planning, subject to appropriate staffing of business processes. The UN's proclaimed strategy for sustainable development outlined seventeen priority goals for the formation of society, which were reflected in the formation of corporate social responsibility of business entities. It needs to coordinate all activities of society with the surrounding space as a whole determine the level of organization of the business structure as components of smart-organization. Ensuring the sustainable development of the organization is based on the concentration of efforts of participants on the practical goals of the organization and the practice of understanding by management and employees of companies of the tasks facing it. People, their activities, enthusiasm and development is the basis of success of the organization. As a result of the introduction of the system of resource exchange, mainly due to the activation of human capital and attraction of innovation and investment potential in the form of technologies generated by individuals for communities, in particular in rural areas, the mechanism of internal institutionalization becomes involved. It is most active now in ancestral homesteads and ancestral settlements, which are founded by initiative educated youth (the average age of initiators of reverse urbanization is 35 years, 82 % of whom have higher education and activate the average investment flow to rural areas in the amount of 4 thousand US dollars annually per hectare). Thus, the entrepreneurial potential of the territory, estimated by the share of national wealth per capita for poor countries is 59 %, its activation through innovation, creativity and creative technologies can increase the share of human capital in national wealth to 80 %. The corresponding increase in human capital due to the development of tribal settlements will encourage an increase in the capitalization of the territory annually (in the case of revival in each region of one settlement with adjacent territories with an average area of 500 hectares, where 250 families will live) by 3.28 million dollars of United States, which is the source of the development of the newly formed united territorial communities.

In this issue of Journal of Disaster Research, we introduce nine papers on societal responses to recent catastrophic disasters with special focus on long-term recovery processes in Japan and the United States. As disaster impacts increase, we also find that recovery times take longer and the processes for recovery become more complicated. On January 17th of 1995, a magnitude 7.2 earthquake hit the Hanshin and Awaji regions of Japan, resulting in the largest disaster in Japan in 50 years. In this disaster which we call the Kobe earthquake hereafter, over 6,000 people were killed and the damage and losses totaled more than 100 billion US dollars. The long-term recovery from the Kobe earthquake disaster took more than ten years to complete. One of the most important responsibilities of disaster researchers has been to scientifically monitor and record the long-term recovery process following this unprecedented disaster and discern the lessons that can be applied to future disasters. The first seven papers in this issue present some of the key lessons our research team learned from the studying the long-term recovery following the Kobe earthquake disaster. We have two additional papers that deal with two recent disasters in the United States – the terrorist attacks on World Trade Center in New York on September 11 of 2001 and the devastation of New Orleans by the 2005 Hurricane Katrina and subsequent levee failures. These disasters have raised a number of new research questions about long-term recovery that US researchers are studying because of the unprecedented size and nature of these disasters’ impacts. Mr. Mammen’s paper reviews the long-term recovery processes observed at and around the World Trade Center site over the last six years. Ms. Johnson’s paper provides a detailed account of the protracted reconstruction planning efforts in the city of New Orleans to illustrate a set of sufficient and necessary conditions for successful recovery. All nine papers in this issue share a theoretical framework for long-term recovery processes which we developed based first upon the lessons learned from the Kobe earthquake and later expanded through observations made following other recent disasters in the world. The following sections provide a brief description of each paper as an introduction to this special issue. 1. The Need for Multiple Recovery Goals After the 1995 Kobe earthquake, the long-term recovery process began with the formulation of disaster recovery plans by the City of Kobe – the most severely impacted municipality – and an overarching plan by Hyogo Prefecture which coordinated 20 impacted municipalities; this planning effort took six months. Before the Kobe earthquake, as indicated in Mr. Maki’s paper in this issue, Japanese theories about, and approaches to, recovery focused mainly on physical recovery, particularly: the redevelopment plans for destroyed areas; the location and standards for housing and building reconstruction; and, the repair and rehabilitation of utility systems. But the lingering problems of some of the recent catastrophes in Japan and elsewhere indicate that there are multiple dimensions of recovery that must be considered. We propose that two other key dimensions are economic recovery and life recovery. The goal of economic recovery is the revitalization of the local disaster impacted economy, including both major industries and small businesses. The goal of life recovery is the restoration of the livelihoods of disaster victims. The recovery plans formulated following the 1995 Kobe earthquake, including the City of Kobe’s and Hyogo Prefecture’s plans, all stressed these two dimensions in addition to physical recovery. The basic structure of both the City of Kobe’s and Hyogo Prefecture’s recovery plans are summarized in Fig. 1. Each plan has three elements that work simultaneously. The first and most basic element of recovery is the restoration of damaged infrastructure. This helps both physical recovery and economic recovery. Once homes and work places are recovered, Life recovery of the impacted people can be achieved as the final goal of recovery. Figure 2 provides a “recovery report card” of the progress made by 2006 – 11 years into Kobe’s recovery. Infrastructure was restored in two years, which was probably the fastest infrastructure restoration ever, after such a major disaster; it astonished the world. Within five years, more than 140,000 housing units were constructed using a variety of financial means and ownership patterns, and exceeding the number of demolished housing units. Governments at all levels – municipal, prefectural, and national – provided affordable public rental apartments. Private developers, both local and national, also built condominiums and apartments. Disaster victims themselves also invested a lot to reconstruct their homes. Eleven major redevelopment projects were undertaken and all were completed in 10 years. In sum, the physical recovery following the 1995 Kobe earthquake was extensive and has been viewed as a major success. In contrast, economic recovery and life recovery are still underway more than 13 years later. Before the Kobe earthquake, Japan’s policy approaches to recovery assumed that economic recovery and life recovery would be achieved by infusing ample amounts of public funding for physical recovery into the disaster area. Even though the City of Kobe’s and Hyogo Prefecture’s recovery plans set economic recovery and life recovery as key goals, there was not clear policy guidance to accomplish them. Without a clear articulation of the desired end-state, economic recovery programs for both large and small businesses were ill-timed and ill-matched to the needs of these businesses trying to recover amidst a prolonged slump in the overall Japanese economy that began in 1997. “Life recovery” programs implemented as part of Kobe’s recovery were essentially social welfare programs for low-income and/or senior citizens. 2. Requirements for Successful Physical Recovery Why was the physical recovery following the 1995 Kobe earthquake so successful in terms of infrastructure restoration, the replacement of damaged housing units, and completion of urban redevelopment projects? There are at least three key success factors that can be applied to other disaster recovery efforts: 1) citizen participation in recovery planning efforts, 2) strong local leadership, and 3) the establishment of numerical targets for recovery. Citizen participation As pointed out in the three papers on recovery planning processes by Mr. Maki, Mr. Mammen, and Ms. Johnson, citizen participation is one of the indispensable factors for successful recovery plans. Thousands of citizens participated in planning workshops organized by America Speaks as part of both the World Trade Center and City of New Orleans recovery planning efforts. Although no such workshops were held as part of the City of Kobe’s recovery planning process, citizen participation had been part of the City of Kobe’s general plan update that had occurred shortly before the earthquake. The City of Kobe’s recovery plan is, in large part, an adaptation of the 1995-2005 general plan. On January 13 of 1995, the City of Kobe formally approved its new, 1995-2005 general plan which had been developed over the course of three years with full of citizen participation. City officials, responsible for drafting the City of Kobe’s recovery plan, have later admitted that they were able to prepare the city’s recovery plan in six months because they had the preceding three years of planning for the new general plan with citizen participation. Based on this lesson, Odiya City compiled its recovery plan based on the recommendations obtained from a series of five stakeholder workshops after the 2004 Niigata Chuetsu earthquake. <strong>Fig. 1. </strong> Basic structure of recovery plans from the 1995 Kobe earthquake. <strong>Fig. 2. </strong> “Disaster recovery report card” of the progress made by 2006. Strong leadership In the aftermath of the Kobe earthquake, local leadership had a defining role in the recovery process. Kobe’s former Mayor, Mr. Yukitoshi Sasayama, was hired to work in Kobe City government as an urban planner, rebuilding Kobe following World War II. He knew the city intimately. When he saw damage in one area on his way to the City Hall right after the earthquake, he knew what levels of damage to expect in other parts of the city. It was he who called for the two-month moratorium on rebuilding in Kobe city on the day of the earthquake. The moratorium provided time for the city to formulate a vision and policies to guide the various levels of government, private investors, and residents in rebuilding. It was a quite unpopular policy when Mayor Sasayama announced it. Citizens expected the city to be focusing on shelters and mass care, not a ban on reconstruction. Based on his experience in rebuilding Kobe following WWII, he was determined not to allow haphazard reconstruction in the city. It took several years before Kobe citizens appreciated the moratorium. Numerical targets Former Governor Mr. Toshitami Kaihara provided some key numerical targets for recovery which were announced in the prefecture and municipal recovery plans. They were: 1) Hyogo Prefecture would rebuild all the damaged housing units in three years, 2) all the temporary housing would be removed within five years, and 3) physical recovery would be completed in ten years. All of these numerical targets were achieved. Having numerical targets was critical to directing and motivating all the stakeholders including the national government’s investment, and it proved to be the foundation for Japan’s fundamental approach to recovery following the 1995 earthquake. 3. Economic Recovery as the Prime Goal of Disaster Recovery In Japan, it is the responsibility of the national government to supply the financial support to restore damaged infrastructure and public facilities in the impacted area as soon as possible. The long-term recovery following the Kobe earthquake is the first time, in Japan’s modern history, that a major rebuilding effort occurred during a time when there was not also strong national economic growth. In contrast, between 1945 and 1990, Japan enjoyed a high level of national economic growth which helped facilitate the recoveries following WWII and other large fires. In the first year after the Kobe earthquake, Japan’s national government invested more than US$ 80 billion in recovery. These funds went mainly towards the repair and reconstruction of infrastructure and public facilities. Now, looking back, we can also see that these investments also nearly crushed the local economy. Too much money flowed into the local economy over too short a period of time and it also did not have the “trickle-down” effect that might have been intended. To accomplish numerical targets for physical recovery, the national government awarded contracts to large companies from Osaka and Tokyo. But, these large out-of-town contractors also tended to have their own labor and supply chains already intact, and did not use local resources and labor, as might have been expected. Essentially, ten years of housing supply was completed in less than three years, which led to a significant local economic slump. Large amounts of public investment for recovery are not necessarily a panacea for local businesses, and local economic recovery, as shown in the following two examples from the Kobe earthquake. A significant national investment was made to rebuild the Port of Kobe to a higher seismic standard, but both its foreign export and import trade never recovered to pre-disaster levels. While the Kobe Port was out of business, both the Yokohama Port and the Osaka Port increased their business, even though many economists initially predicted that the Kaohsiung Port in Chinese Taipei or the Pusan Port in Korea would capture this business. Business stayed at all of these ports even after the reopening of the Kobe Port. Similarly, the Hanshin Railway was severely damaged and it took half a year to resume its operation, but it never regained its pre-disaster readership. In this case, two other local railway services, the JR and Hankyu lines, maintained their increased readership even after the Hanshin railway resumed operation. As illustrated by these examples, pre-disaster customers who relied on previous economic output could not necessarily afford to wait for local industries to recover and may have had to take their business elsewhere. Our research suggests that the significant recovery investment made by Japan’s national government may have been a disincentive for new economic development in the impacted area. Government may have been the only significant financial risk-taker in the impacted area during the national economic slow-down. But, its focus was on restoring what had been lost rather than promoting new or emerging economic development. Thus, there may have been a missed opportunity to provide incentives or put pressure on major businesses and industries to develop new businesses and attract new customers in return for the public investment. The significant recovery investment by Japan’s national government may have also created an over-reliance of individuals on public spending and government support. As indicated in Ms. Karatani’s paper, individual savings of Kobe’s residents has continued to rise since the earthquake and the number of individuals on social welfare has also decreased below pre-disaster levels. Based on our research on economic recovery from the Kobe earthquake, at least two lessons emerge: 1) Successful economic recovery requires coordination among all three recovery goals – Economic, Physical and Life Recovery, and 2) “Recovery indices” are needed to better chart recovery progress in real-time and help ensure that the recovery investments are being used effectively. Economic recovery as the prime goal of recovery Physical recovery, especially the restoration of infrastructure and public facilities, may be the most direct and socially accepted provision of outside financial assistance into an impacted area. However, lessons learned from the Kobe earthquake suggest that the sheer amount of such assistance may not be effective as it should be. Thus, as shown in Fig. 3, economic recovery should be the top priority goal for recovery among the three goals and serve as a guiding force for physical recovery and life recovery. Physical recovery can be a powerful facilitator of post-disaster economic development by upgrading social infrastructure and public facilities in compliance with economic recovery plans. In this way, it is possible to turn a disaster into an opportunity for future sustainable development. Life recovery may also be achieved with a healthy economic recovery that increases tax revenue in the impacted area. In order to achieve this coordination among all three recovery goals, municipalities in the impacted areas should have access to flexible forms of post-disaster financing. The community development block grant program that has been used after several large disasters in the United States, provide impacted municipalities with a more flexible form of funding and the ability to better determine what to do and when. The participation of key stakeholders is also an indispensable element of success that enables block grant programs to transform local needs into concrete businesses. In sum, an effective economic recovery combines good coordination of national support to restore infrastructure and public facilities and local initiatives that promote community recovery. Developing Recovery Indices Long-term recovery takes time. As Mr. Tatsuki’s paper explains, periodical social survey data indicates that it took ten years before the initial impacts of the Kobe earthquake were no longer affecting the well-being of disaster victims and the recovery was completed. In order to manage this long-term recovery process effectively, it is important to have some indices to visualize the recovery processes. In this issue, three papers by Mr. Takashima, Ms. Karatani, and Mr. Kimura define three different kinds of recovery indices that can be used to continually monitor the progress of the recovery. Mr. Takashima focuses on electric power consumption in the impacted area as an index for impact and recovery. Chronological change in electric power consumption can be obtained from the monthly reports of power company branches. Daily estimates can also be made by tracking changes in city lights using a satellite called DMSP. Changes in city lights can be a very useful recovery measure especially at the early stages since it can be updated daily for anywhere in the world. Ms. Karatani focuses on the chronological patterns of monthly macro-statistics that prefecture and city governments collect as part of their routine monitoring of services and operations. For researchers, it is extremely costly and virtually impossible to launch post-disaster projects that collect recovery data continuously for ten years. It is more practical for researchers to utilize data that is already being collected by local governments or other agencies and use this data to create disaster impact and recovery indices. Ms. Karatani found three basic patterns of disaster impact and recovery in the local government data that she studied: 1) Some activities increased soon after the disaster event and then slumped, such as housing construction; 2) Some activities reduced sharply for a period of time after the disaster and then rebounded to previous levels, such as grocery consumption; and 3) Some activities reduced sharply for a while and never returned to previous levels, such as the Kobe Port and Hanshin Railway. Mr. Kimura focuses on the psychology of disaster victims. He developed a “recovery and reconstruction calendar” that clarifies the process that disaster victims undergo in rebuilding their shattered lives. His work is based on the results of random surveys. Despite differences in disaster size and locality, survey data from the 1995 Kobe earthquake and the 2004 Niigata-ken Chuetsu earthquake indicate that the recovery and reconstruction calendar is highly reliable and stable in clarifying the recovery and reconstruction process. <strong>Fig. 3.</strong> Integrated plan of disaster recovery. 4. Life Recovery as the Ultimate Goal of Disaster Recovery Life recovery starts with the identification of the disaster victims. In Japan, local governments in the impacted area issue a “damage certificate” to disaster victims by household, recording the extent of each victim’s housing damage. After the Kobe earthquake, a total of 500,000 certificates were issued. These certificates, in turn, were used by both public and private organizations to determine victim’s eligibility for individual assistance programs. However, about 30% of those victims who received certificates after the Kobe earthquake were dissatisfied with the results of assessment. This caused long and severe disputes for more than three years. Based on the lessons learned from the Kobe earthquake, Mr. Horie’s paper presents (1) a standardized procedure for building damage assessment and (2) an inspector training system. This system has been adopted as the official building damage assessment system for issuing damage certificates to victims of the 2004 Niigata-ken Chuetsu earthquake, the 2007 Noto-Peninsula earthquake, and the 2007 Niigata-ken Chuetsu Oki earthquake. Personal and family recovery, which we term life recovery, was one of the explicit goals of the recovery plan from the Kobe earthquake, but it was unclear in both recovery theory and practice as to how this would be measured and accomplished. Now, after studying the recovery in Kobe and other regions, Ms. Tamura’s paper proposes that there are seven elements that define the meaning of life recovery for disaster victims. She recently tested this model in a workshop with Kobe disaster victims. The seven elements and victims’ rankings are shown in Fig. 4. Regaining housing and restoring social networks were, by far, the top recovery indicators for victims. Restoration of neighborhood character ranked third. Demographic shifts and redevelopment plans implemented following the Kobe earthquake forced significant neighborhood changes upon many victims. Next in line were: having a sense of being better prepared and reducing their vulnerability to future disasters; regaining their physical and mental health; and restoration of their income, job, and the economy. The provision of government assistance also provided victims with a sense of life recovery. Mr. Tatsuki’s paper summarizes the results of four random-sample surveys of residents within the most severely impacted areas of Hyogo Prefecture. These surveys were conducted biannually since 1999,. Based on the results of survey data from 1999, 2001, 2003, and 2005, it is our conclusion that life recovery took ten years for victims in the area impacted significantly by the Kobe earthquake. Fig. 5 shows that by comparing the two structural equation models of disaster recovery (from 2003 and 2005), damage caused by the Kobe earthquake was no longer a determinant of life recovery in the 2005 model. It was still one of the major determinants in the 2003 model as it was in 1999 and 2001. This is the first time in the history of disaster research that the entire recovery process has been scientifically described. It can be utilized as a resource and provide benchmarks for monitoring the recovery from future disasters. <strong>Fig. 4.</strong> Ethnographical meaning of “life recovery” obtained from the 5th year review of the Kobe earthquake by the City of Kobe. <strong>Fig. 5.</strong> Life recovery models of 2003 and 2005. 6. The Need for an Integrated Recovery Plan The recovery lessons from Kobe and other regions suggest that we need more integrated recovery plans that use physical recovery as a tool for economic recovery, which in turn helps disaster victims. Furthermore, we believe that economic recovery should be the top priority for recovery, and physical recovery should be regarded as a tool for stimulating economic recovery and upgrading social infrastructure (as shown in Fig. 6). With this approach, disaster recovery can help build the foundation for a long-lasting and sustainable community. Figure 6 proposes a more detailed model for a more holistic recovery process. The ultimate goal of any recovery process should be achieving life recovery for all disaster victims. We believe that to get there, both direct and indirect approaches must be taken. Direct approaches include: the provision of funds and goods for victims, for physical and mental health care, and for housing reconstruction. Indirect approaches for life recovery are those which facilitate economic recovery, which also has both direct and indirect approaches. Direct approaches to economic recovery include: subsidies, loans, and tax exemptions. Indirect approaches to economic recovery include, most significantly, the direct projects to restore infrastructure and public buildings. More subtle approaches include: setting new regulations or deregulations, providing technical support, and creating new businesses. A holistic recovery process needs to strategically combine all of these approaches, and there must be collaborative implementation by all the key stakeholders, including local governments, non-profit and non-governmental organizations (NPOs and NGOs), community-based organizations (CBOs), and the private sector. Therefore, community and stakeholder participation in the planning process is essential to achieve buy-in for the vision and desired outcomes of the recovery plan. Securing the required financial resources is also critical to successful implementation. In thinking of stakeholders, it is important to differentiate between supporting entities and operating agencies. Supporting entities are those organizations that supply the necessary funding for recovery. Both Japan’s national government and the federal government in the U.S. are the prime supporting entities in the recovery from the 1995 Kobe earthquake and the 2001 World Trade Center recovery. In Taiwan, the Buddhist organization and the national government of Taiwan were major supporting entities in the recovery from the 1999 Chi-Chi earthquake. Operating agencies are those organizations that implement various recovery measures. In Japan, local governments in the impacted area are operating agencies, while the national government is a supporting entity. In the United States, community development block grants provide an opportunity for many operating agencies to implement various recovery measures. As Mr. Mammen’ paper describes, many NPOs, NGOs, and/or CBOs in addition to local governments have had major roles in implementing various kinds programs funded by block grants as part of the World Trade Center recovery. No one, single organization can provide effective help for all kinds of disaster victims individually or collectively. The needs of disaster victims may be conflicting with each other because of their diversity. Their divergent needs can be successfully met by the diversity of operating agencies that have responsibility for implementing recovery measures. In a similar context, block grants made to individual households, such as microfinance, has been a vital recovery mechanism for victims in Thailand who suffered from the 2004 Sumatra earthquake and tsunami disaster. Both disaster victims and government officers at all levels strongly supported the microfinance so that disaster victims themselves would become operating agencies for recovery. Empowering individuals in sustainable life recovery is indeed the ultimate goal of recovery. <strong>Fig. 6.</strong> A holistic recovery policy model.

In this critically insightful and highly readable book of political ethnogra- phy, Aisha Ahmad, a political scientist at University of Toronto, seeks to explain how and why Islamist movements continue to militarily prevail and politically succeed in forming proto-states, over clan, ethnic, and/or tribal based competitions, amidst the chaos and disorder of civil wars across the contemporary Muslim world, from Mali to Mindanao. To this end, Ahmad seeks to go beyond the usual expositions that center the explanatory power of Islamist ideologies and identities, which dominate the scholarly fields of political science, international relations, security studies as well as the global public discourse shaped by journalists, politicians, and the punditry of shouting heads everywhere. Through a deep, immersive study of power in Afghanistan and Soma- lia, Ahmad demonstrates the profoundly symbiotic relationship between Islamists and the local business class. While recognizing the interconnec- tions between violent conflict and illicit trade is nothing new, Ahmad’s explication of the economic logics of Islamist proto-states furnishes a nov- el two-stage dynamic to explain the indispensability and ubiquity of this Islamist-business alliance in conflict zones. The first is the gradual social process of conversion of the business class’ worldview and practice to align them with Islamist identity formations, which is “aimed at mitigating un- certainty and improving access to markets” (xvii). Alongside this long-term socialization is a second, short-term political-economic dynamic of rapid shift in the business class’s collective patronage of a new Islamist faction, based on the assumption that it will lower the cost of business. The for- midable alliance between business class interests and Islamist institutions brings forth the new Islamist proto-state. Chapter one of the book adum- brates this two-stage argument and offers justifications for the two case studies, namely the Taliban in Afghanistan and the Islamic Courts Union in Somalia. The second chapter unpacks the two-stage dynamic in detail. We learn that in modern civil wars across the Muslim world, business communi- ties intentionally adopt ardent Islamist identities as a practical means to- ward building trust and lowering cost. Islamist factions, aspiring toward hegemony, offer the possibility of economic relationships that transcend the ethnic boundaries which limit rival factions rooted in clan, tribal, or ethno-linguistic social formations. This leads to the second, faster conver- gence of business-Islamist interests, wherein the Islamist groups leverage their broader social identity and economic market to offer stronger secu- rity at a lower cost. This development of an economy of scale leads the local business elites to throw their financial support behind the Islamists at a critical juncture of militant competition. Once this threshold is met, Islamist factions rapidly conquer and consolidate territories from their rel- atively socially constrained rivals to form a new proto-state, like the Taliban regime and the Islamic Courts Union (ICU). When we look at the timeline of their development (the Taliban in 1994 and the ICU in 2006), we notice a similar length of gestation, about 15 years of war. This similarity may be coincidental, but the political-military threshold is the same. Both societ- ies, ravaged by civil war, reached a stalemate. At this critical juncture the positional properties of Islamist formations in the field of civil war factions gives the Islamists a decided economic (cost analysis) and social (trust building across clan/tribal identities) advantage. Chapters three to six examine each of the two processes for the se- lected sites of inquiry. Thus chapters three and five, respectively, explore the long-term Islamist identity construction within the smuggling industry in the Afghanistan-Pakistan borderland, and the Somali business elites’ gradual convergence with Islamists. In chapter four, Ahmad explores the second dynamic in the context of rising security costs during the Afghan civil war. Mullah Omar’s Taliban provided the order and security across the borderland that had previously eluded the variety of industries. This allowed the Taliban to expand on the backs of voluntary donations, rather than extortions like their rival tribal warlords, which in turn allowed them to recruit and retain more disciplined fighters (81). The source of these donations was the business class, especially those involved in the highly lucrative transit trade, which, before the rise of Taliban, paid immense op- portunity cost at the hands of rapacious local and tribal warlord fiefdoms and bandits. Instead of the multitude of checkpoints crisscrossing south- ern Afghanistan and the borderlands, the Taliban presented a simplified administration. While the rest of the world took notice of their repressive measures against women’s mobility, education, and cultural expression, the men of the bazaar appreciated the newly acquired public safety to ply their trade and the lowered cost of doing business. Chapter six, “The Price of Protection: The Rise of the Islamic Courts Union,” demonstrates a similar mutually beneficial Islamist-business relationship emerging out of the incessant clan-based militia conflicts that had especially plagued southern Somalia since the fall of the last national government in 1991. Businesspeople, whether they were tycoons or small business owners, had to pay two types of tax. First was what was owed to the local racket or warlord, and the second was to the ever-fragmenting sub-clan militias and their checkpoints on the intercity highways. Unlike their rival, the Transitional Federal Government (TGF), ICU forged their supra-clan institutional identity through a universalist legal discourse and practice rooted in Islamic law and ethics. They united the courts and their associated clan-based militias, including al-Shabaab. Ahmad demonstrates, through a synthesis of secondary literature and original political ethnogra- phy, the economic logics of ICU’s ability to overcome the threshold of ma- terial and social support needed to establish the rule of law and a far-reach- ing functioning government. If the Taliban and the ICU had solved the riddle of creating order and security to create hegemonic proto-states, then what was their downfall? Chapter seven gives us an account of the international interventions that caused the collapse of the two proto-states. In the aftermath of their de- struction, the internationally supported regimes that replaced them, de- spite immense monetary and military aid, have failed to gain the same level of legitimacy across Afghanistan and Somalia. In chapter eight, Ahmad expands the scope of analysis to North/Western Africa (Al-Qaeda in the Is- lamic Maghrib: AQIM), Middle East (Islamic State in Iraq and Syria: ISIS), and South Asia (Tahrik-i Taliban-i Pakistan: TTP). At the time of this book’s publication, these movements were not yet, as Ahmad posits, closed cases like the Taliban and the ICU. Thus, the data from this chapter’s comparative survey furnishes suggestive arguments for Ahmad’s larger thesis, namely that Islamist proto-states emerge out of a confluence of economic and security interests rather than mere ideological and identity politics. The epistemic humility of this chapter signals to this reader two lines of constructive criticism of some aspects of Ahmad’s sub- stantiation of this thesis. First, the juxtaposing of Islamist success against their clan-/tribal iden- tity-based rivals may be underestimating the element of ethnic solidarity in those very Islamists’ political success. The most glaring case is the Taliban, which in its original formation and in its post-American invasion frag- mentations, across the Durand Line, was more or less founded on a pan- or-tribal Pashtun social identity and economic compulsions relative to the other Afghan ethno-linguistic communities. How does one disaggregate the force of ethnic solidarity (even if it is only a necessary condition, rather than a cause) from economic calculus in explaining the rise of the Taliban proto-state? The second issue in this juxtaposition is that when we compare a suc- cessful Islamist movement against socially limited ethnocentric rivals, we discount the other Islamist movements that failed. Explanations for those Islamists that failed to create a proto-state along the lines of the ICU or the Taliban, such as al-Ittihad al-Islamiyya (Somalia) or Gulbuddin Hekmat- yar’s Hezb-e Islami (Afghanistan), needed to be more robustly taken into account and integrated into the substantiation of Ahmad’s thesis. Even in the section on ISIS, it would have been helpful to integrate the case of Jabhat al-Nusra’s (an al-Qaeda affiliate in Syria) inability to create a proto-state to rival ISIS. We must ask, why do some Jihadi Islamist movements prevail against each other and why do others fail? Perhaps some of these Islamist movements appear too early to scale up their operation (i.e., they precede Ahmad’s ‘critical juncture’), or they were too embroiled and too partisan in the illicit trade network to fully leverage their Islamist universalism to create the trust and bonds that are the first part of Ahmad’s two-stage dy- namic. Possible answers would need to complement Ahmad’s excellent po- litical ethnography with deeper quantitative dives to identify the statistical variations of these critical junctures: when does the cost of warlords and mafias’ domination outweigh the cost of Islamist-Jihadi movements’ social- ly repressive but economically liberating regimes? At which point in the social evolution of society during an unending civil war do identities forged by the bonds of blood give way to those imagined through bonds of faith? These two critical suggestions do not diminish Ahmad’s highly teach- able work. This book should be read by all concerned policy makers, schol- ars in the social sciences and humanities, and anyone who wants to go be- yond ‘culture talk’ historical causation by ideas and identity and uncover structuralist explanations for the rise of Jihadi Islamist success in civil wars across the Muslim world. It is especially recommended for adoption in cog- nate courses at the undergraduate level, for its combination of erudition and readability. Maheen ZamanAssistant ProfessorDepartment of HistoryAugsburg University

In this critically insightful and highly readable book of political ethnogra- phy, Aisha Ahmad, a political scientist at University of Toronto, seeks to explain how and why Islamist movements continue to militarily prevail and politically succeed in forming proto-states, over clan, ethnic, and/or tribal based competitions, amidst the chaos and disorder of civil wars across the contemporary Muslim world, from Mali to Mindanao. To this end, Ahmad seeks to go beyond the usual expositions that center the explanatory power of Islamist ideologies and identities, which dominate the scholarly fields of political science, international relations, security studies as well as the global public discourse shaped by journalists, politicians, and the punditry of shouting heads everywhere. Through a deep, immersive study of power in Afghanistan and Soma- lia, Ahmad demonstrates the profoundly symbiotic relationship between Islamists and the local business class. While recognizing the interconnec- tions between violent conflict and illicit trade is nothing new, Ahmad’s explication of the economic logics of Islamist proto-states furnishes a nov- el two-stage dynamic to explain the indispensability and ubiquity of this Islamist-business alliance in conflict zones. The first is the gradual social process of conversion of the business class’ worldview and practice to align them with Islamist identity formations, which is “aimed at mitigating un- certainty and improving access to markets” (xvii). Alongside this long-term socialization is a second, short-term political-economic dynamic of rapid shift in the business class’s collective patronage of a new Islamist faction, based on the assumption that it will lower the cost of business. The for- midable alliance between business class interests and Islamist institutions brings forth the new Islamist proto-state. Chapter one of the book adum- brates this two-stage argument and offers justifications for the two case studies, namely the Taliban in Afghanistan and the Islamic Courts Union in Somalia. The second chapter unpacks the two-stage dynamic in detail. We learn that in modern civil wars across the Muslim world, business communi- ties intentionally adopt ardent Islamist identities as a practical means to- ward building trust and lowering cost. Islamist factions, aspiring toward hegemony, offer the possibility of economic relationships that transcend the ethnic boundaries which limit rival factions rooted in clan, tribal, or ethno-linguistic social formations. This leads to the second, faster conver- gence of business-Islamist interests, wherein the Islamist groups leverage their broader social identity and economic market to offer stronger secu- rity at a lower cost. This development of an economy of scale leads the local business elites to throw their financial support behind the Islamists at a critical juncture of militant competition. Once this threshold is met, Islamist factions rapidly conquer and consolidate territories from their rel- atively socially constrained rivals to form a new proto-state, like the Taliban regime and the Islamic Courts Union (ICU). When we look at the timeline of their development (the Taliban in 1994 and the ICU in 2006), we notice a similar length of gestation, about 15 years of war. This similarity may be coincidental, but the political-military threshold is the same. Both societ- ies, ravaged by civil war, reached a stalemate. At this critical juncture the positional properties of Islamist formations in the field of civil war factions gives the Islamists a decided economic (cost analysis) and social (trust building across clan/tribal identities) advantage. Chapters three to six examine each of the two processes for the se- lected sites of inquiry. Thus chapters three and five, respectively, explore the long-term Islamist identity construction within the smuggling industry in the Afghanistan-Pakistan borderland, and the Somali business elites’ gradual convergence with Islamists. In chapter four, Ahmad explores the second dynamic in the context of rising security costs during the Afghan civil war. Mullah Omar’s Taliban provided the order and security across the borderland that had previously eluded the variety of industries. This allowed the Taliban to expand on the backs of voluntary donations, rather than extortions like their rival tribal warlords, which in turn allowed them to recruit and retain more disciplined fighters (81). The source of these donations was the business class, especially those involved in the highly lucrative transit trade, which, before the rise of Taliban, paid immense op- portunity cost at the hands of rapacious local and tribal warlord fiefdoms and bandits. Instead of the multitude of checkpoints crisscrossing south- ern Afghanistan and the borderlands, the Taliban presented a simplified administration. While the rest of the world took notice of their repressive measures against women’s mobility, education, and cultural expression, the men of the bazaar appreciated the newly acquired public safety to ply their trade and the lowered cost of doing business. Chapter six, “The Price of Protection: The Rise of the Islamic Courts Union,” demonstrates a similar mutually beneficial Islamist-business relationship emerging out of the incessant clan-based militia conflicts that had especially plagued southern Somalia since the fall of the last national government in 1991. Businesspeople, whether they were tycoons or small business owners, had to pay two types of tax. First was what was owed to the local racket or warlord, and the second was to the ever-fragmenting sub-clan militias and their checkpoints on the intercity highways. Unlike their rival, the Transitional Federal Government (TGF), ICU forged their supra-clan institutional identity through a universalist legal discourse and practice rooted in Islamic law and ethics. They united the courts and their associated clan-based militias, including al-Shabaab. Ahmad demonstrates, through a synthesis of secondary literature and original political ethnogra- phy, the economic logics of ICU’s ability to overcome the threshold of ma- terial and social support needed to establish the rule of law and a far-reach- ing functioning government. If the Taliban and the ICU had solved the riddle of creating order and security to create hegemonic proto-states, then what was their downfall? Chapter seven gives us an account of the international interventions that caused the collapse of the two proto-states. In the aftermath of their de- struction, the internationally supported regimes that replaced them, de- spite immense monetary and military aid, have failed to gain the same level of legitimacy across Afghanistan and Somalia. In chapter eight, Ahmad expands the scope of analysis to North/Western Africa (Al-Qaeda in the Is- lamic Maghrib: AQIM), Middle East (Islamic State in Iraq and Syria: ISIS), and South Asia (Tahrik-i Taliban-i Pakistan: TTP). At the time of this book’s publication, these movements were not yet, as Ahmad posits, closed cases like the Taliban and the ICU. Thus, the data from this chapter’s comparative survey furnishes suggestive arguments for Ahmad’s larger thesis, namely that Islamist proto-states emerge out of a confluence of economic and security interests rather than mere ideological and identity politics. The epistemic humility of this chapter signals to this reader two lines of constructive criticism of some aspects of Ahmad’s sub- stantiation of this thesis. First, the juxtaposing of Islamist success against their clan-/tribal iden- tity-based rivals may be underestimating the element of ethnic solidarity in those very Islamists’ political success. The most glaring case is the Taliban, which in its original formation and in its post-American invasion frag- mentations, across the Durand Line, was more or less founded on a pan- or-tribal Pashtun social identity and economic compulsions relative to the other Afghan ethno-linguistic communities. How does one disaggregate the force of ethnic solidarity (even if it is only a necessary condition, rather than a cause) from economic calculus in explaining the rise of the Taliban proto-state? The second issue in this juxtaposition is that when we compare a suc- cessful Islamist movement against socially limited ethnocentric rivals, we discount the other Islamist movements that failed. Explanations for those Islamists that failed to create a proto-state along the lines of the ICU or the Taliban, such as al-Ittihad al-Islamiyya (Somalia) or Gulbuddin Hekmat- yar’s Hezb-e Islami (Afghanistan), needed to be more robustly taken into account and integrated into the substantiation of Ahmad’s thesis. Even in the section on ISIS, it would have been helpful to integrate the case of Jabhat al-Nusra’s (an al-Qaeda affiliate in Syria) inability to create a proto-state to rival ISIS. We must ask, why do some Jihadi Islamist movements prevail against each other and why do others fail? Perhaps some of these Islamist movements appear too early to scale up their operation (i.e., they precede Ahmad’s ‘critical juncture’), or they were too embroiled and too partisan in the illicit trade network to fully leverage their Islamist universalism to create the trust and bonds that are the first part of Ahmad’s two-stage dy- namic. Possible answers would need to complement Ahmad’s excellent po- litical ethnography with deeper quantitative dives to identify the statistical variations of these critical junctures: when does the cost of warlords and mafias’ domination outweigh the cost of Islamist-Jihadi movements’ social- ly repressive but economically liberating regimes? At which point in the social evolution of society during an unending civil war do identities forged by the bonds of blood give way to those imagined through bonds of faith? These two critical suggestions do not diminish Ahmad’s highly teach- able work. This book should be read by all concerned policy makers, schol- ars in the social sciences and humanities, and anyone who wants to go be- yond ‘culture talk’ historical causation by ideas and identity and uncover structuralist explanations for the rise of Jihadi Islamist success in civil wars across the Muslim world. It is especially recommended for adoption in cog- nate courses at the undergraduate level, for its combination of erudition and readability. Maheen ZamanAssistant ProfessorDepartment of HistoryAugsburg University

This case study examines The Brownie Baker, which makes gourmet and specialty baked goods, from an operations management perspective. Its product line includes brownies, muffins, Danishes, cookies, cakes, and Hispanic pastries. Located in Fresno, California, the bakery distributes its products across much of the United States. The Brownie Baker was acquired by president and CEO, Dennis Perkins, in 1990. What started with four or five employees and $180,000 in annual sales has grown to 80 employees and more than 10 million dollars in sales in 2007. Perkins down-to-earth, receptive management style coupled with product innovations and productivity improvements have been key ingredients in the companys successful growth. Perkins himself was named the Small Business Administrations Central California Business Person of the Year in 1999, and The Brownie Baker was awarded the Small Business Administrations Western Region Choice Award in 2004. This case details the operations strategies and management techniques that have led to these accomplishments.

Small business and entrepreneurship have been at the heart of Pakistan's economy for almost 60 years, yet little (if any) research has been conducted that identifies factors crucial for small business success in Pakistan. In the past, studies identifying factors crucial for small business success have focused primarily on the United States and Western Europe. This paper presents survey results from 265 small business owners located in and around Karachi, the largest city and hub of economic activity in Pakistan. The survey was designed to identify the internal and external factors that Pakistani small businesspersons believe are critical for success.

The Labatt brewery of London, Ontario, just 200 kilometres from the Canada–United States border, was the first Canadian brewery to attempt a strategic expansion into the United States. The paper examines the reasons why John Labatt decided to expand into the United States at the end of the nineteenth century. It analyzes both the “push” and “pull” factors that caused him to attempt to sell his ales, porters, and stouts in Chicago. The paper argues that while entrepreneurial factors played a central role in Labatt’s geographic expansion into the United States, structural factors were more important as a factor in the ultimate inability of Labatt to capture a share of the Chicago market.

Public–private partnerships (PPPs) can be an effective and advantageous way to accomplish extension and outreach objectives in plant pathology. The greatest opportunities for extension-focused PPPs may be in response to large-scale or emerging disease management concerns or in addressing complex issues that impact agriculture, such as climate change, digital technology, and public perception of science. The most fertile ground for forming PPPs is where the needs and strengths of the public and private sectors are complementary. Developing PPPs depends as much on professional relationships as on technical skills or contracts. Defining and making room for the success of all partners, identifying and addressing barriers to success, and earning and maintaining trust are components that contribute to the effectiveness of PPPs. Case studies in plant pathology demonstrate the positive impact PPPs can have on partners and stakeholders and provide guidance on the formation of PPPs in the future.

Immigrant businesses in the United States are a vibrant and growing part of the economy, and their similarities and differences to other family businesses in the U.S. are worthy of investigation.This paper examines two elements of Korean immigrant businesses in Metro-Atlanta: characteristics (ethnic business, general family business, ownership and succession planning, strategic planning, and conflict and communication) and key success factors. There were 93 respondents in this exploratory study. This paper discusses the results and implications of the study.

Since 1994, a course in international business writing has been taught simul taneously at institutions in Belgium, Finland, and the United States. The course, which grew out of earlier, shorter-term activities involving Belgian and U.S. students, has three components: (a) instruction; (b) a simulation, in which students exchange business documents internationally; and (c) case studies of business people who communicate internationally in writing.

This study mainly focused on investigating the critical success factors of unit trusts using a case study approach. Countries that were part of the case study analysis include South Africa, Zimbabwe, Malaysia, United Kingdom and Singapore. Very few studies have so far focused on the critical success factors of unit trusts. Although some empirical studies have revealed the conditions under which unit trusts can be said to be viable, it appears the literature on the critical success factors on unit trusts is very scant. Lambrechts (1999), Woodlin (2003) and Nicoll (2005) are some of the few empirical researchers who explained unit trusts viability or success. However, the absence of focus on critical success factors of unit trusts among previous empirical studies prompted this study. This study revealed the following as critical success factors of unit trusts. These include unit trusts public education, better disclosure standards, government support, effective unit trusts products distribution channels, deregulation of unit trusts industry, stringent and prudent unit trusts regulation, deregulation of service charges and management fees, absence of trustee monopoly, relaxed exchange control regulations, unit trusts differentiation strategy, fund management specialization, financial sector liberalization, improved unit trusts regulation and favourable tax incentives. The study recommends that authorities should ensure these critical success factors are in place and well implemented to ensure the viability of unit trusts in their countries

Purpose Because procurement policies are one of the means of redressing discrimination and economic exclusion, the US Government has targeted 23 per cent of its annual half-trillion dollar spend to small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) and 5 per cent of its spend to women-owned businesses. Design/methodology/approach The research framework is informed by two theoretical paradigms, feminist empiricism and entrepreneurial feminism, and uses a secondary analysis of survey data of active federal contractors. Findings Empirical findings inform the extent to which certifications are associated with bid frequency and bid success. The results indicate that none of the various certifications increase either bid frequency or bid success. The findings are consistent with entrepreneurial feminism and call for federal accountability in contracting with women-owned supplier firms. Research limitations/implications The findings are consistent with entrepreneurial feminism and call for federal accountability in contracting with women-owned supplier firms. Practical implications Recommendations include the need to review the impact of consolidated tenders on designated (as certified) SME vendors and to train procurement personnel about the economic contributions of women-owned businesses. Originality/value This research studies the efficacy of various certifications, with particular reference to that of women-owned, on the frequency with which SMEs bid on, and succeed in obtaining, US federal procurement contracts.

ABSTRACT Recent marine casualty events in the United States and overseas, involving vessels that are not carrying oil as their primary cargo, have once again highlighted potential problems faced by response personnel when attempting to transfer heavy (high viscosity) oils such as marine fuel oils (MFOs) (Figure 1). During such operations, dealing with the high viscosities typically encountered with these products is an important aspect of the operation's planning, direction and overall success. The problem is not a new one and oil transfer specialists have, over the years, developed equipment and techniques for handling these products (Figure 2). This paper will elaborate upon some of those techniques by presenting two case histories where transfers of heavy oils was successfully accomplished under adverse conditions.

This research looks at attempts by Arab Gulf states to lobby the US government effectively. It explores aspects of their lobbying behaviour in order to identify the factors that lead to success and those that lead to failure from their lobbying endeavours. In this respect, it utilizes two case studies: one in which Arab Gulf state lobbying was successful, and another in which lobbying failed. For each case study, the different elements involved in lobbying are analyzed and factors that lead to success as well as to failure are inferred. In tandem with an analysis of the strategies, or lack of them, behind Arab Gulf states’ lobbying, the research examines additional relevant factors such as the organization and activism of the US Arab American community, the strategic value of the Arab Gulf to the United States, and the negative image of Arabs in America. The research considers the obstacles facing the establishment of an effective Arab Gulf lobby in the United States, mainly the absence of a grassroots base of Arab Americans that is committed to foreign policy issues.

The black American struggle in the United States continues to occur in the political, cultural and economic spheres with some measure of success. Regarding the economic sphere as the most critical because it is the source of real power in this country, and business ownership as the ultimate manifestation of economic liberation, this article examines black Americans’ business ownership and factors facilitating it. Defining successful business ownership in terms of: (1) increasing business formations by black Americans, (2) survival/longevity of the formed businesses, (3) their creation of jobs, and, (4) their profitability, this article identifies three factors facilitating it. The facilitating factor types are: (1) individual-specific, (2) group-specific, and (3) environment-consequent. It is suggested that the complex interaction of elements of these factors at any time, most likely determines the proportion of black ownership of American businesses.

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to draw from data collected as part of the International Successful School Principalship Project (ISSPP) and present cases of democratic and heroic leadership from three countries, discussing to what extent successful school principals in each of their research sites (Melbourne, Australia; Umeå, Sweden; Arizona and Texas in the USA) carry old and new perspectives of heroism in their leadership. In particular the paper explores two questions: first, how do school principals describe aspects of heroic and post-heroic leadership in their practices? and second, how do these heroic and post-heroic leadership practices meet contemporary demands such as accountability standards and build inclusive and collaborative school communities in challenging contexts? Design/methodology/approach – Multiple-perspective case studies involving semi-structured individual and group interviews with principals, teachers, students, parents and school board members were used to understand the contribution of principals and other leadership to school success. Findings – The definitions of heroic and post-heroic leadership are inadequate in defining successful principal leadership. The Australian, Swedish and American principals showed characteristics of both heroic and post-heroic leadership. They showed heroic qualities such as: inspiring and motivating others; challenging the status quo; showing integrity in conflicting situations; putting duty before self; taking risks to champion a better way; showing courage to stand up to those in authority; advocating for students in struggling neighbourhoods under the scrutiny of both district and public expectations; and, showing uncommon commitment. Yet our principals showed post-heroic leadership such as involving others in decision making and recognising that school success depended on collective effort, and being sensitive to community needs through a deep respect for the local culture. Originality/value – The research shows that we may need to redefine and recast our images of who school principals are today, and what they do to generate academic success for students. Both heroic and post-heroic images of leadership are needed to explain successful school leadership.

International trade has taken place for thousands of years. One might assume that with such a long history, those involved with international business would have learned how it is done. For the most part, the major players are sensitive to cultural differences and how important it is to conduct business within the boundaries of the prevailing culture. However, there are hundreds of examples of cultural faux pas. This paper focuses on some of the top trading partners with the United States and the business opportunities that they represent. It also addresses general business etiquette guidelines that should be understood and applied when working with the key trading partners. Several cultural business missteps are presented to illustrate that the simplest decision can lead to embarrassment or worse, major economic loss. The need to research foreign cultural and language differences is just as important as researching the market for sales opportunities. In the global marketplace, the players who are aware and sensitive to the culture of their trading partners have a greater probability of success, than those who do not.

In this case study, Dr. French examines the responses to overcapacity in a mass production industry and traces the development of oligopolistic competition. Previous studies have emphasized technology and the growth of “big business,” but here the author argues that the structure of the U.S. tire industry must be understood in terms of large, medium, and small firms. He finds, moreover, that the extent of competition and cooperation was significantly influenced by the nature of the tire market. Dr. French provides new evidence on the relationships between structural factors and the dynamics of business policy, and points to the need for a more comprehensive account of the evolution and nature of oligopolistic competition.

Based on empirical material in the form of case studies prepared at Harvard Business School and Kozminski University, the article analyses the content of teaching materials in the field of business history. The Harvard case studies served as a model for the Polish ones. In contrast to the United States, at Kozminski University and in other Polish business schools, business history is not taught as a separate subject. The article puts forward the thesis that history education could provide an opportunity for future managers to broaden their knowledge of the social environment in which they will operate and to shape attitudes of responsibility for the social consequences of decisions made. However, this opportunity remains largely untapped in both the United States and Poland. American teaching materials are still influenced by the Chandlerian paradigm, and therefore they focus on the evolution of structures and changes in the strategy of large multinational corporations. These materials present students with role models of successful entrepreneurs and companies. Their social environment is presented in a sketchy manner, and questions about the motivations of human actions or hierarchies of values are rarely asked. The teaching materials also shy away from questions about the social consequences of managerial decisions. This is so, despite the fact that scientific publications are moving away from concentrating solely on the centre of global capitalism, the history of the largest corporations, and the treatment of the social environment as a variable on which the entrepreneur or company have no influence. Business history as a scientific discipline in Poland is still at an early stage of development. However, one can notice a gap between research and teaching similar to the one that exists in the USA: there are works critically analysing the period of transformation and showing the peripheral character of Polish capitalism as well as the social consequences of this peripheral nature that are completely ignored in teaching.

Under what conditions do young precarious workers join unions? Based on case studies from France, Germany, the United Kingdom, and the United States, the authors identify targeted campaigns, coalition building, membership activism, and training activities as innovative organizing approaches. In addition to traditional issues such as wages and training quality, these approaches also featured issues specific to precarious workers, including skills training, demands for minimum working hours, and specific support in insecure employment situations. Organizing success is influenced by bargaining structures, occupational identity, labor market conditions, and support by union leaders and members. Innovative organizing tends to happen when unions combine new approaches with existing structures.

Abstract Japanese food first became the focus of serious attention in the United States during the Russo-Japanese War (1904–1905), when Japan’s victory over the Russian empire signaled that nation’s arrival as a new world power. This newfound interest had nothing to do with gastronomy. The conviction driving it was that diet and preventative health care in the Japanese military, which had been critical to its unexpected success, could serve as models for the United States. Military doctors, home economists, dietitians, businesses, vegetarians, and physical fitness fans joined this discourse, each with their own agendas. Many participants were women whose advocacy linked the supposed innate feminine propensity for nurturing and care giving with a shared faith in science to solve the problems facing the modern world. All believed Japan’s rice, vegetable, and fish-based diet contributed to the exceptional physical strength and stamina of the Japanese people because, unlike their own, “it was plain, rational, and easily digested, metabolized and assimilated.” More enthusiasm than knowledge in their claims, but this mattered little since the goal was not to popularize Japanese culinary culture, but to reform U.S. eating habits. This article examines the American discourse on Japanese food and health and how it shaped and reflected domestic political, social, and economic priorities in the 20th Century’s first decade.

Using data collected from Ghanaians living in the United Kingdom, and the USA; this research examined the motives that drive the performance of transnational entrepreneurship, the mobility involves and why such businesses normally fail. The study was conducted in 2013-2017; with a population size of 120 Ghanaians living in the UK and the USA. The objective was to find out what really drives the performance of these entrepreneurs who operate in a condition where costs may be known but rewards are uncertain, yet they are motivated. The research employed both deductive and exploratory approach and the methods were both primary and secondary. The study focused on small-scale entrepreneurs who run their businesses through personal social connections.The general results show that though individuals motives for seeking self-employment are diverse and numerous; and differ on certain points. However, there are some basic motives common to all and that is majority of the respondents with the average score of 63.3% supported that Economic Mobility, Financial Independence, Success Perspective, and Social Factors, are the most driven factors for the engagement in transnational entrepreneurship. We discovered that in a small-scale business, where most often do not have the needed managerial capabilities to engage in corporation, trust can be used to avoid loses that might come as a result of someone’s misconduct. We also discovered that the successes of these entrepreneurs are based on attitudinal; the degree of embededdness in the home country; personal and the institutional regulations of the destination countries. The results found that Ghana Transnational Entrepreneurs (GTE) are more into Merchandising Business with (59.21%) as compared to Service Business (34.21%) and Manufacturing Business (10.53%); and such businesses are managed and run mostly by their families (59.21%). Ashanti Region of Ghana was spotted to be more involved in doing business with 52.63%. Int. J. Soc. Sc. Manage. Vol. 4, Issue-3: 210-222

In light of the increasing pressure on freshwater resources, good governance of rivers is key in meeting the challenges ahead. Integrated river basin management has been advocated both in the European Union and the United States. This paper will adopt a comparative approach to the analysis of river basin management by scrutinizing the legal regimes governing the Scheldt River in the EU and the Delaware River in the US. Based on these case studies, in combination with literature review, the article will set forth Critical Success Factors for integrated transboundary river basin management.

Service Learning is a form of education where students are assigned to participate in a variety of activities that combines what was learned in the classroom with community service projects. It requires knowledge, skills and passion from the faculty, students and community members that all work together in the real world. In recent years, service learning has been included in many academic disciplines throughout the United States. This paper examines three case studies to explain how service learning was designed for student success at The University of Akron.

The growth machine (GM) perspective has long guided urban research. Our study provides a new extension of this perspective, focusing on local business actors’ influence on communities across the United States. We question whether GM–oriented business actors remain widely associated with contemporary local economic development policies, and further, whether these actors influence the use of limited–government austerity policies. Conceptually, we extend the GM framework by bringing it into dialogue with the literature on urban austerity policy. The analysis draws from the urban–quantitative tradition of large–sample studies and assesses localities across the nation using the empirical case of county governments. We find local real estate owners, utilities, and other business actors broadly influence U.S. localities’ economic development policies. We also find some evidence that these actors’ influences in local governance are related to the use of such cutback policies as hiring freezes, capping of social services, expenditure cutbacks, and sale of public assets. Local Chambers of Commerce are particularly associated with cutback policies. Overall, the findings suggest that where local GM actors are influential, communities are more likely to adopt business–oriented economic development policies, limit the growth of social services for the less affluent, and scale–down the public sector.

Latin American telenovelas, like the Australasian soap operas, have been globally successful. It is a remarkable feature of this success that it has reversed the flow from the centres of production in Europe and the United States. I argue that we should assess these products from the ‘periphery’ in their own terms, and not through the lens of the industries of the heartland. I lake the Mexican case as a specific example, and turn then to comparisons between the Australasian soap industry and that in Latin America.

Over the last few years, shareholder activism has gained relevance, with new players increasingly looking to get involved in corporate influence and control. Born in America in the 1980s, with corporate raiders, the act of giving a voice to shareholders has spread from the United States to Europe. The aim of this research is to map this trend in the Italian territory, understanding the major current regulations, the biggest players involved, the target companies, the most frequently required objectives, and the overall success rate of such requests compared to other European countries’ neighbours. An analysis of the differences in terms of legal framework and minorities protection is provided as part of this paper, to give the reader the theoretical underpinnings for the subsequent analysis. Considerations on Italian activism follow, from the interpretation of data retrieved from Activistmonitor and Factiva that helped creating a database of 534 analyses of open and closed campaigning by activists throughout the European region since 2010. Italy turns out to be the fifth country in Europe per number of campaigns, with a few large international hedge funds and several smaller niche players. Campaigns tend to target mid and large capitalisation companies, mainly asking for changes in representation boards and having a success rate of over 50%. These findings suggest potential political implications for a successful Italian recovery in the post-COVID era. Further research on this topic and how activism impacts the performance of Italian firms would be invaluable

Traffic signs play a major role on the national highway system because they provide users with important information such as warnings, regulations, and directions. To ensure sign visibility at night, the Manual on Uniform Traffic Control Devices (MUTCD) requires transportation agencies to meet minimum sign retroreflectivity levels through a sign maintenance program. To better understand current trends, the researchers conducted an extensive literature search that showed that expected sign life and nighttime inspection are the most used methods, followed by blanket replacement. The literature does not typically discuss how these methods are implemented. Thus, the research team also contacted three of the four largest state-maintained highway systems in the United States (North Carolina, Virginia, and South Carolina) to discuss sign maintenance programs, implementation issues, and best practices. The authors describe in this article the findings and conclusions drawn from these case studies that may help other agencies improve their sign maintenance practices.

The United States offers a challenging case for the comparative study of philanthropic foundations. Depending on definition, foundation numbers total 80,000 or 130,000. They hold comparatively large assets per capita, though they vary enormously in assets; most are quite small, and compared with government and profit-seeking business, their wealth and their influence are very limited. Public controversies shape and confuse much of the discussion about them: the increasing inequality in the distribution of wealth, the continuing subordination of people of color and women, the impact of money on elections and on public policies and international relations, the prominence of the largest endowed, nonprofit universities and hospitals. Seeking to evaluate the critiques as well as the foundations’ positive contributions, the U.S. researcher encounters all “the combined complexities” that bedevil comparative international studies of foundations. Deriving their corporate charters from the states, they operate under diverse legal environments and vary in self-understanding and operations. American foundations prize their autonomy, though regulation denies them the privacies and choices available to business firms and the superrich. Historically close affiliations with religion brings many funds under constitutional provisions that restrict public access to information. Although the data are incomplete and superficial, high-quality nonprofit websites and archives do provide much federally mandated and other data. Focusing more on change and the protection of values than on relief of basic need, they underwrite highly diverse and competing purposes; many of them promote the leading universities, hospitals, and arts organizations in their home regions. Recent donors, determined to achieve defined outcomes, have increasingly used community foundation or commercial advised funds rather than independent foundations. Finding that their resources are too limited to advance favored policy or social changes, a number of celebrated funds have recently sought to increase their influence through expertise, collaboration with communities and other organizations including businesses, supplementing grants with loans, and other initiatives.

Oviposition strategies and mechanisms of host selection in parasitoids may be crucial for the success of parasitization and parasitoid production. These aspects are far less known in tachinid parasitoids than in hymenopteran parasitoids. Depending on the species, parasitoid flies may adopt direct or indirect oviposition strategies. The ‘direct type’ females lay eggs on or, in relatively a few species, inside the host body. This review describes cues involved in host selection by tachinid parasitoids and their oviposition strategies and presents 2 case studies in more detail, focusing on Exorista larvarum and Exorista japonica. These 2 polyphagous parasitoids of Lepidoptera lay macrotype eggs directly on the host cuticle. Both species have been used as biological control agents in inoculative release against the gypsy moth Lymantria dispar in the Northern United States. Improved knowledge of the mechanisms involved in host selection and oviposition strategies may increase the possibility of eliciting oviposition by these tachinids on target lepidopterous hosts (and even artificial substrates), thus facilitating their rearing and ultimately making their exploitation as regulators of target insect pests more feasible and efficient.

Cross-national comparative analysis of tobacco control strategies can alert health advocates to how opportunities for public health action, types of action, and probabilities for success are shaped by political systems and cultures. This article is based on case studies of tobacco control in the United States, Canada, Britain, and France. Two questions are addressed: (a) To whom were the dangers of smoking attributed? and (b) What was the role of collective action—grassroots level organization—in combating these dangers? Activists in Canada, Britain, and France moved earlier than the United States did to target the tobacco industry and the state. Locally based advocacy centered on passive smoking has been far more important in the United States. The author concludes that U.S.-style advocacy has played a major role in this country’s smoking decline but is insufficient in and of itself to change the corporate practices of a wealthy and politically powerful industry.

Although the full economic impact of foodborne diseases has yet to be measured, preliminary studies show that the cost of illness, death, and business lost is high indeed. This impact is probably greatest in developing countries, but few facts are known. For the United States, preliminary estimates are 12.6 million cases costing $8.4 billion. These may seem excessive but other authors have postulated even higher case and dollar figures. Microbiological diseases (bacterial and viral) represent 84% of the United States' costs, with salmonellosis and staphylococcal intoxication being the most economically important diseases (annually $4.0 billion and $1.5 billion, respectively). Other costly types of illnesses are toxoplasmosis ($445 million), listeriosis ($313 million), campylobacteriosis ($156 million), trichinosis ($144 million), Clostridium perfringens enteritis ($123 million), and E. coli infections including hemorrhagic colitis ($223 million). Botulism has a high cost per case ($322,200), but its total impact is only $87 million because relatively few cases occur (270). This is because the food industry has been able to introduce effective control measures. Salmonellosis, however, is much more widespread (2.9 million cases) and affects all sectors of the food industry.

The strategic role of human resource (HR) management should be seen as an integral element of a company’s overall success in accomplishing its mission and business strategy. The paper will demonstrate how the decisions of a company’s HR department are essential for a company’s long-term success. In other words, strategic planning will not be presented solely as a company’s objective, but a human resource imperative as demonstrated through the Euro Disney case. In the case of Euro Disney, strategic HR management was simply missing, which caused the company’s initial strategy not to be successful in Europe. While analyzing the case and what the situation could have been with the exercise of HR’s strategic role, emphasis is placed on the importance of cultural awareness. For the purpose of further clarifying the importance of cultural awareness, a comparison is drawn between the United States and France as some of the most important lessons both for Disney and other multinational enterprises are outlined.

Many small business owners in the United States dream about getting a large contract with the federal government, feeling that their lives would be easier if they did. Ironically, there have been numerous occasions where small businesses have gone out of business after being overwhelmed by a government contract. This case study addresses how small businesses can improve their survival and success rate in the public sector with a strategic approach to their operations. It begins by discussing the preparation that goes into federal contracting by small businesses. Case examples of four American companies involved in contracting with the Department of Energy are evaluated. Data collection is achieved through qualitative analysis. The application of these conclusions could increase the survival rate of small businesses operating in an unstable public environment. The study is significant because this research widens contemporary assumptions about strategic thinking for small businesses engaged in government contracting.

TimberWest Forest Corporation became Canada's only publicly traded private timberland investment vehicle in 1997. In addition to private lands, the company holds two renewable Tree Farm Licenses and other public tenures. Revenues from logging represent 80% of the company's total revenue. The company has outperformed its industry peers in Canada and the United States. This success is attributed to the predominance of private lands in the company's business mix and to its ability to export logs off these lands. A case is presented for privatization of some, if not all, commercial forest land in British Columbia. Key words: log exports, privatization, coastal forest industry, industry restructuring