Quality management requires increasing employee involvement, with the aim of attaining improved employee and customer satisfaction. However, although it may lead to increasing job demands and intensification, the evidence of an association between employee job satisfaction and quality management remains mixed and narrow. This study investigates this link in the wider economy, and addresses the role of human resource management practices that target direct employee participation (job enrichment and high involvement management) in this relationship.

Having redefined strategic sourcing and discussed what operational flexibility and supply chain agility entail, Dr. Canan Kocabasoglu-Hillmer now considers how companies can utilise strategic sourcing to increase the agility of their supply chain. This is the fourth and latest entry in our series on supply chain agility.

Despite the post-2008 financial crisis economic fallout, demand for skilled employees outstrips supply in various locations. What might assist organisations in tight labour markets better understand how prospective employees choose the jobs they apply for? Signaling theory explains how job seekers are attracted based on the information and signals they receive (directly and indirectly) about organisations. There is evidence that Corporate Social Responsibility is one of the signals that can motivate and retain workforces. Our study examines the extent to which job choices are influenced by CSR issues (a company's legal, ethical, philanthropic responsibilities) as compared to traditional job characteristics (salary, prospects, location, company type). Our focus is on the Greater China Region.

In collaboration with its research partners, Credit Suisse and Ernst & Young, the M&A Research Centre (MARC) at Cass Business School provides its second annual report (July 2012) on the maturity for M&A purposes of countries worldwide. The Cass MARC Maturity Index illustrates each country's ability to attract and sustain M&A activity, as well as identifying areas where improvement is needed. The index rates 148 countries according to their regulatory and political, economic and financial, technological and socio-economic environments, as well as their level of assets and infrastructure. It looks at the attractiveness of each country for domestic and inward deals and does not address external acquisitions for companies based in that country.