Suchergebnisse

As a developing country, China still lacks many of the institutions, policies, and enforcement mechanisms that are needed to foster technology transfer and environmental protection.

International audience ; In this communication, we present the results of an extensive survey of more than 1000 SMEs in the Canadian province of Quebec in order to identify the principal obstacles likely to have a negative impact on their competitiveness over the next two years. For the particularly challenging obstacles, the enterprises were also questioned on their need for outside help and, if so, the type of aid hoped for. The results show that the SMEs indeed do need outside help, and the types of aid most often mentioned are financial help from the government, tax credits, and training. Moreover, the obstacles to competitiveness that confront the SMEs as well as the kinds of external assistance hoped for vary in accordance with the various dimensions that characterize their heterogeneity, in particular the size of the enterprises and their location, i.e., if they are situated in urban, central, or outlying areas. These conclusions confirm that government intervention is hoped for in order to permit SMEs to take up the challenges of globalization, but that this help must be tempered to take into account the particularities of SMEs.

What role do children play in education and stratification? Are they merely passive recipients of unequal opportunities that schools and parents create for them? Or do they actively shape their own opportunities? Through a longitudinal, ethnographic study of one socioeconomically diverse, public elementary school, I show that children's social-class backgrounds affect when and how they seek help in the classroom. Compared to their working-class peers, middle-class children request more help from teachers and do so using different strategies. Rather than wait for assistance, they call out or approach teachers directly, even interrupting to make requests. In doing so, middle-class children receive more help from teachers, spend less time waiting, and are better able to complete assignments. By demonstrating these skills and strategies, middle-class children create their own advantages and contribute to inequalities in the classroom. These findings have implications for theories of cultural capital, stratification, and social reproduction.