Revisiting Capitalist and Socialist Efficiency: Applications and Extensions

Top management team (TMT) play key roles in many industries and firms. Human resources is continuously developed and considered to be a competitive advantage. Traditional research on TMT has, however, paid scant attention to the human capital capabilities of TMT needed for firms. Furthermore, traditional work on TMT of firms pays limited attention to its specific traits in complex products and systems (CoPS) innovation. In the present paper, we explore the development of human capabilities of TMT observed in CoPS innovation firms. We developed a model for analysis the human capital capabilities of TMT for CoPS Innovation, and suggested that a dynamic interplay between the development of human capital capabilities of TMT and the changing CoPS innovation environment, and human capital capabilities of TMT for CoPS innovation could be developed through team learning. And we formulated an empirical research framework for the analysis of factors affecting the human capital capabilities of TMT for CoPS innovation. Four key factors were identified and extracted by using factor analysis, and these resulting factors were related to the performance of CoPS innovation by using a multiple regression analysis method. The proposed framework identified four blocks of human capital capabilities of TMT for CoPS innovation, namely technology innovation management, risk management, organization management and relationship network management. The paper argues that TMT for CoPS innovation firms are only able to effectively harness and develop their human capital capabilities by team learning and integrating these four building blocks within the team.

Big Data and Digitization are among the most talked about concepts of the last years. Whereas Big Data has more and more concrete outcomes, Digitization is still seen as far away future. Nowadays, however, the question is not anymore how to prepare for the upcoming Digitization. The question companies and organizations have to ask themselves is how to adapt to and in today's Digitizing World. A correct translation of this strategy is equally important. It requires a dynamic silver lining, compatible with interactive work clusters and a hybrid organization. Typically, this results in a new way of working and an appropriate approach to power this way of working. The way of working needs to be adapted to the redefined borders between reactivity and proactivity, the need for real-time service and contextual adaptation. It needs to be designed for agility. To provide value, an organic compromise has to be found that answers the need for creative freedom, and the need for a solid structure where guidance, management, and development of human capabilities is possible in a structured way.

Quality of Work Life (QWL) is a multi-dimensional concept that covers employees’ feelings about various dimensions of work. The current study focused on QWL that can contribute to the mental health status and Organisation-Based Self-Esteem (OBSE) of employees in context of sport organisation in Iran. In this descriptive–correlative study, data was collected using three standard questionnaires: Goldberg’s (1978) General Health Questionnaire (GHQ-12), Pierce, Gardner, Cummings and Dunham's (1989) OBSE scale, and Walton’s (1975) QWL questionnaire. The statistical sample of the study consisted of 67 (53 male, 14 female) employees of sport and youth organisations of the Northern Khorasan Province of Iran. The alpha value for mental health, OBSE and QWL questionnaires were, respectively, 0.82, 0.80, 0.79. QWL was significantly correlated with mental health status and self-esteem of employees. Thus, it can be concluded that mental health and self-esteem of employees depend on how these employees perceive QWL in organisations. Among QWL subscales, fair and adequate pay along with growth opportunities were the strongest predictors of mental health; growth opportunities along with development of human capabilities were the strongest predictors of self-esteem of employees. Our study adds to the growing body of research on mental health status in relation to factors such as QWL. In view of our findings, we hope that improving work environment as a means of improving one’s mental health status will be more emphasized by organisation managers.

Purpose – This editorial builds on the distinction between soft and hard economics and discusses dominant explanations for the development challenges of Sub-Sahara African (SSA) countries. It also seeks to offer a backdrop for the papers in the present volume of AJEMS. The paper aims to discuss these issues. Design/methodology/approach – It is based on a review of a selection of literature that highlights the dominant perspectives in neoclassical economics and competing streams of research that provide alternative perspectives. Findings – The review suggests the emergence of a competing paradigm that focuses attention on the human factor in economic growth process – i.e. the development of human capability as a foundation of sustainable inclusive growth. The competing streams of research seem to co-exist today, but there are potentials for paradigmatic criss-crossing in future research. Originality/value – It provides directions for future research into issues of economic growth and poverty alleviation in SSA.

This study examines the application of Maqashid Shariah within the financial performance framework of Islamic Rural Banks (BPRS) in Indonesia by evaluating the extent to which profitability, operational efficiency, liquidity management, and credit risk influence Maqashid Shariah outcomes. Using panel data from 2015–2024 and employing the EViews regression approach, the research integrates both financial indicators and the Maqashid Shariah Index to measure the alignment of BPRS operations with the objectives of Shariah, including the preservation of wealth, promotion of justice, development of human capability, and enhancement of social welfare. The findings show that profitability significantly improves Maqashid Shariah performance, demonstrating that financial strength enables banks to invest more extensively in welfare-oriented initiatives. Liquidity efficiency, measured through Financing to Deposit Ratio (FDR), also displays a positive influence, indicating that productive financing contributes to community empowerment and financial inclusion. Conversely, operational inefficiency and high non-performing financing reduce the bank’s ability to deliver Shariah-driven outcomes, reflecting the importance of cost management and risk governance. Overall, the results highlight that financial sustainability and Maqashid Shariah are mutually reinforcing rather than competing objectives. The study underscores the need for BPRS to strengthen governance, improve risk management, and adopt strategic innovations to optimize their contribution to ethical and welfare-driven economic development. The findings have implications for policymakers, regulators, and practitioners seeking to enhance the role of Islamic rural banks in advancing Shariah-compliant socio-economic transformation. Keywords: Maqashid Shariah, BPRS, financial performance, Islamic banking, welfare outcomes.

With the sweeping progress of services technology and crowdsourcing, individuals are offering their capability as a service and companies are orchestrating them for problem solving over the web. As a consequence, recent years have witnessed a rapid development of a human service ecosystem. In contrast to web service ecosystem, human service ecosystem is more complicated by the fact that humans grow capability overtime and their collaborations typically imply human involvement. It is thus worthy to understand the modeling of evolution of human capabilities and collaborations for optimization and more effective management. This paper proposes a three-layer time-aware heterogeneous network model, and based on it, a novel method is developed to study how human service providers and consumers develop their service provision and orchestrating capabilities as well as how they collaborate with each other. Exploratory analysis uncovers some evolution patterns which open a gateway for building possible applications such as human service recommendation for consumers, human capability development, and mechanism design for platform management.

The Fourth Industrial Revolution (Industry 4.0) is transforming industries worldwide through advanced technologies such as cyber-physical systems, big data analytics, cloud computing, robotics, 3D printing, and augmented reality. This study examines the relationship between Industry 4.0 adoption, human skill capabilities, and organizational performance. Using quantitative research design and survey-based data collection, the research investigates how technological integration and workforce competencies contribute to business outcomes. Findings reveal that Industry 4.0 technologies significantly enhance organizational performance, particularly in efficiency, productivity, and cost-effectiveness. However, the study also emphasizes that technological advancements alone are insufficient; skilled human capital is critical for effective implementation and management. Competent employees are essential to address challenges, optimize the use of new technologies, and sustain organizational growth. The results highlight the need for organizations to balance investments in technology with workforce development, ensuring employees can adapt to rapid changes in the industrial landscape. This study contributes to both theory and practice by demonstrating that aligning technological progress with human capability development is vital for organizations to enhance performance and maintain competitiveness in the Industry 4.0 era.

A comparative study of appropriateness and mechanisms of hard and soft technologies transfer

The paper argues that there is a fundamental tension in the work of Martha Nussbaum between its implicit materialist foundations in what John McMurtry calls life-value, and her political liberalism. The genuinely universal values of life-requirement satisfaction and human capability development that form the core of Nussbaum's ethics cannot be fully and coherently realized, I will argue, within the framework of liberal-capitalist society, whose surface problems she criticizes but whose depth social dynamics and normative justifications her work leaves intact. The problems particular to Nussbaum's position are of general importance in so far as they expose the structural limitations of liberalism as a critical social theory.

In this article I begin by noting a certain jouissance in Beiruti urban culture that co-exists with an ongoing history of intercommunal conflict and the failure of centralized planning. I then examine the irreverent celebration of this ‘outside-the-law’ culture by a group of middle-class immigrants who have returned to Beirut to enjoy its free spaces. I argue that these outside-the-law spaces are characterized by a particular form of sociality that I define as ‘negotiated being’. It is a dyadic and horizontal relation typified by a permanent state of relating and being attuned to the other without involving the law as a mediating third party. This makes for a more particularist and libidinal sociality that explains the forms of jouissance emanating from it.

Since the early 2000s, several analyzes and intepretations of Brazil have been carried out under the most diverse theoretical perspectives, which among then one that stood out both in the academic sphere and for its ability to transpose itself into political discussion, is the socalled poulantzian interpretations. These interpretations is based mainly on the analysis of Brazil in the 1990s, and especially in the 2000s and 2010s, through the use of two concepts developed by Nicos Poulantzas, which are the power bloc and the domestic bourgeoisie. However, these interpretations, when using these concepts, does not mediate with a view of the differences in the trajectory of social formations, and the context that serves as the basis for their development, in comparision with the trajectory of Brazilian social formation and the context for which they are used in their analyses, as well as the emphasis given in only one representative entify of economic sectors that supposedly are part of the domestic bourgeoisie, the abscence of counterfactuals, and the lack of empirical elements that could support this argument. In this sense, this work aims to realyze a presentation on the way which these concepts are presented in “Political Power and Social Classes” and “Classes in Contemporary Capitalism”, works originally published by Poulantzas in 1968 and 1974 respectively, how they are used in the analyzes of the aforementioned decades by a group of authors classified by poulantzian intepreters of Brazil, such as Armando Boito Júnior, Danilo Martuscelli, Décio Saes, and Luiz Filgueiras, therefore to defend that certain elements placed by this interpretation may be subject to criticism, under the understanding that theirs are limited and insufficient for the understanding of the Brazilian reality from the mentioned concepts. To this end, a bibliographic review of the two books by Poulantzas that originated the referred concepts of power bloc and domestic bourgeoisie, and which are the most citted by the aforementioned interpreters, was carried out, as well as the texts authored by these poulantzian interpreters from recente Brazil.

Beyond the income inequality hypothesis: class, neo-liberalism, and health inequalities

The reemergence of formal democracy in Latin America during the 1980s and 1990s was but one step in the most recent attempts at constructing democracy. Beyond the creation of formal democratic institutions lies the more difficult task of democratic consolidation, which involves the extension of substantive social, political, and civil rights to the entire population. This outcome does not easily follow from the institutionalization of electoral competition. A critical dimension of democracy-the presence of autonomous and empowered citizens-is often undermined by clientelist social relations. Indeed, clientelism has historically coexisted with a variety of social and political forms, from a formal system in feudalism to more subtle forms in contemporary democracies. In the Third World, clientelism began most forcefully with incorporation into the expanding international economy. As capitalism expanded and new regions were incorporated as primary-product producers, the process inhibited industrialization and the growth of an organized working class. As a result, subordinate-class enfranchisement and political participation were often initiated and constrained by segments of the dominant classes competing for control of the state. In Latin America, the principal forms of political participation have continued to follow this logic. Embedded in contemporary Latin American societies are rituals of marginality whereby the relations between the dominant capitalist class and the popular classes are expressed in the favor-producing exchanges of patron-client relations. These relations, through which goods and services are exchanged between classes of unequal power, serve to maintain unequal power relations. Organizing and mobilizing the subordinate classes in order to undermine clientelism and prioritize the needs and interests of the majority have proved

Metropolitan cities all over the world are engines of economic growth. In the course of their transformation from small trading centres serving the rural hinterland or places having specialised functions, to primate cities with diversified economic bases, they affect and modify the ecosystem of the region. The experience of metropolitan cities in India indicates lack of understanding at all concerned levels about the inevitable link between the carrying capacity of supporting ecosystems and the pattern of metropolitan development. The urban development model as adopted in Calcutta is a collection of disjointed sectoral projects with different gestation periods, devoid of any understanding regarding their ecological consequences. The city image is associated with severe overcrowding, illegal settlements, loss of bio-diversity, filling up of tanks and wetlands, poor drainage and water pollution. The site of old Calcutta was surrounded by marshes, tidal creeks, mangrove swamps and wetlands. The landscape of the seventeenth century has changed radically with the growing might of colonial power and due to unregulated urbanisation. However, the legacy of vandalism of nature need not continue to plague the city or guide its future growth and development. In order to sustain Calcutta, the ecological constraints within which it has developed need to be understood and respected. This chapter attempts to provide a brief description of the changes in the basic life support system of the metropolis, the east Calcutta wetlands, as a result of market-driven urbanisation. An assessment is made regarding the ecological impact of the planning and development efforts pursued in the last couple of decades. The chapter recommends a reorientation of the planning strategy based on understanding of regional ecosystems and integration of social and natural science for sustainable metropolitan living.

This paper takes Friedrich Engels 200th birthday on 28 November 2020 as occasion to ask: How relevant are Friedrich Engels’s works in the age of digital capitalism? It shows that Engels class-struggle oriented theory can and should inform 21st century social science and digital social research. Based on a reading of Engels’s works, the article discusses how to think of scientific socialism as critical social science today, presents a critique of computational social science as digital positivism, engages with foundations of digital labour analysis, the analysis of the international division of digital labour, updates Engels’s Condition of the Working Class in England in the age of digital capitalism, analyses the role of trade unions and digital class struggles in digital age, analyses the social murder of workers in the COVID-19 crisis, engages with platform co-operatives, digital commons projects and public service Internet platforms as concrete digital utopias that point beyond digital capital(ism). Engels’s analysis is updated for critically analysing the digital conditions of the working class today, including the digital labour of hardware assemblers at Foxconn and Pegatron, the digital labour aristocracy of software engineers at Google, online freelance workers, platform workers at capitalist platform corporations such as Uber, Deliveroo, Fiverr, Upwork, or Freelancer, and the digital labour of Facebook users. Engels’s 200th birthday reminds us of the class character of digital capitalism and that we need critical digital social science as a new form of scientific socialism.