Month: January 2013

Author: Virginia Doellgast Publisher: Cornell University Press Book Review by: Sonu Chandiram This book is based on field research by the author in the United States in 2003 involving 427 call centers, and in Germany in 2004 on 154 call centers (in both places, randomly sampled), comparing the state of management-labor relations in the two developed economies. She interviewed nearly 300 key informants such as managers, workers and union representatives in these two countries. The basic differences found were the following: German call center employees were paid higher salaries than those in the U.S. German employees had more control...

Editors: Jeremy A. Greene and Elizabeth Siegel Watkins Publisher: The Johns Hopkins University Press Book Review by Nano Khilnani This is a compendium of 10 articles on issues relating to prescription of medicines in the United States. Each article consists of a chapter. The editors named above have each written a chapter plus jointly, the Introduction. Eight other people have written one chapter each. In addition, because the issue of prescriptions in the U.S. healthcare sector is so complex and detailed with so many private and public agencies playing different roles, I am not surprised at all, that there...

Author: Caitrin Lynch Publisher: Cornell University Press Book Review by: Sonu Chandiram The author Caitrin Lynch worked for almost five years on the factory shop floor of the Needham, Massachusetts-based Vita Needle Company, the focus of this extraordinary book. This stainless steel needle manufacturer is a family-owned business that began operations in 1932. Its president is from its fourth generation and most senior management positions are held by members of the fifth generation. The firm has about 50 employees, about 40 of whom work on the production floor and are typically in their retirement years, aged 65 to 80-plus...

Author: Huey Perry Publisher: West Virginia University Press Book Review by: Sonu Chandiram Huey Perry, a successful entrepreneur, has a diverse background. He has been a farmer, (having being born into a farming family), a student and civic leader, a volunteer in numerous charitable activities and projects, a compassionate teacher, a fearless author and an astute business owner, though not necessarily in that chronological order. Seeing and reading about him on www.HueyPerry.com, we find a man who went through extreme poverty and family financial struggles in his earliest years in life and developed a strong, admirable character with enduring...

Editor: Irwin D.S. Winsboro Contributors: Abel A. Bartley, Gregory W. Bush, Marvin Dunn, Leonard R. Lempel, Connie L. Lester, Paul Ortiz, Lise M. Steinhauer, and Amy Sasscer Publisher: West Virginia University Press Book Review by: Paiso Jamakar Many casual readers and serious students as well, of the history of the American Civil Rights Movement (1955-68) seem to have formed the impression (without a close look at particular historical events) that Florida was more temperate in its relations with civil rights leaders than other southern states; that it was tolerant of, and did not resist, Blacks’ demands for equal rights....