LSE

The proposed research aims to examine the role of stigma in abortion care and method choice in Ghana. Specific research questions include: i) what role (if any) does stigma play in women's choice of abortion method, and their experiences of abortion methods? ii) how do women's experiences of abortion care influence whether and how they experience stigma, and how can stigma within abortion services be measured? iii) how do providers' attitudes to abortion influence abortion method use? iv) How do interventions that aim to influence provider attitudes and quality of counselling impact use of abortion methods? The research will employ mixed methods, using a selection of the following approaches. Qualitative research with women and providers, using in-depth interviews, focus groups and observation, will investigate how stigma and perceptions of abortion methods interact. A literature review and the findings from qualitative research will inform the development of a scale to measure experiences of stigma in service delivery, for future validation using cognitive and expert interviews and client survey data analysis. Analysis of data from the 2017 Ghana Maternal Health Survey will assess characteristics associated with abortion method use, including socio-demographics, abortion motivations and awareness of legal status. Record linkage of routinely-captured health service data with provider attitudinal surveys will examine associations between provider attitudes and abortion method use. Interrupted time series analysis will be used to evaluate the impact of provider behaviour interventions on abortion method use.

Doctoral Training Partnerships: a range of postgraduate training is funded by the Research Councils. For information on current funding routes, see the common terminology at www.rcuk.ac.uk/StudentshipTerminology. Training grants may be to one organisation or to a consortia of research organisations. This portal will show the lead organisation only.

My project will investigate and analyse the development of Japanese rubber manufacturing between 1909 and 1963. My conceptual framework places Dunlop Japan at the centre of a process of capability formation essential to the development of rubber manufacturing in industrialising Japan. The successful indigenisation of Dunlop's explicit and tacit knowledge led to the emergence of internationally competitive rubber companies such as Bridgestone Tyres (est. 1930) & Yokohama Rubber (est. 1917) in Japan and Hankook Tyres (est. 1941) in South Korea. The year 1909 marks the beginning of 'modern' rubber production in Japan with the establishment of British company Dunlop Rubber's factory in Kobe, which became known as the 'rubber school' in Japan. 1963 marks the year Sumitomo Electric - a lead firm in the Sumitomo group - became the lead shareholder in Dunlop Japan, in so doing changing the company's name to Sumitomo Rubber. My research will answer two primary questions: 1) What were the most important factors in facilitating the indigenisation of Dunlop's expertise and technology which led to the rise of Japanese rubber companies such as Yokohama Rubber and Bridgestone? 2) Did developments in the 1930s and 40s driven by nationalism and militarisation lay the groundwork for the emergence of internationally competitive rubber industries in parts of East Asia in the post-war era? In answering those questions, this project will serve as an empirical study on the ingredients needed in developing countries for local industry to successfully grow out of foreign direct investment (FDI), and on the role of nationalism in the emergence of internationally competitive industries. The key theoretical & historiographical themes my research will engage with at the micro- and meso-level are entrepreneurship, labour-management relationships, and the role of Japanese trading companies. At the macro-level this study will consider the importance of economic nationalism and military demand as facilitators of capability formation. There is currently very little literature in English on the Japanese rubber industry and in Japanese most of the relevant critical literature appears to be consigned to a handful of academic articles focusing on relatively specific. Despite this, there is a wealth of quantitative and qualitative data in the company histories of Bridgestone, Sumitomo Rubber and Yokohama Rubber, and in the largely descriptive three volume history of the Japanese rubber history published by the Nihon Gomu Kogyokai (Japan Rubber Manufacturers Association). On top of making extensive use of the company and industry histories, primary material will be central to this research project. I plan to access the company archives of Sumitomo Rubber, Bridgestone and Yokohama located in Japan, and those of Dunlop located in London. I also aim to make extensive use of the readily accessible Mitsui Bunko in Tokyo. My methodology draws on the approach to business history pioneered by Chandler in 1959 which favours deep historical research to answer clear and compelling research questions. In addition, qualitative analysis such as this will be tested and complemented by drawing on quantitative data from company accounts and the published company & industry histories.

Multinational Enterprises (MNEs) are key ‘tectonic forces’, shaping the ‘mountains’ in a far-from-flat world economic geography. In 2010, MNEs generated value added for approximately US$16 trillion accounting for more than a quarter of world GDP (UNCTAD, 2012). The progessive expansion of firms from emerging economies into multinational enterprises is unprecedented. Outflows of FDIs from developing economies reached the record level of $426 billion in 2012, corresponding to 31% of global outflows, up from 16% in 2007 (UNCTAD, 2013). However, there is no consensus in the academic literature on both the factors able to shape the long-term location decisions of MNEs and, more generally, on the ultimate impact of MNEs on their host economies. This lack of consensus reflects three fundamental gaps in the existing literature. First the omission of some fundamental determinants of MNEs investment decisions in ‘traditional’ national-level analyses. Territorial/spatial factors, MNEs heterogeneity and local institutional conditions have been often overlooked in MNEs location analyses. Second the limited attention to the broader set of impacts of MNEs in their host economies and the role of institutional factors as selective ‘filters’ for these impacts. Third the intimate inter-connection between location motives and impacts has remained unexplored in the grey areas between separate streams of literature. This research project will investigate the location strategies of MNEs and their territorial impacts addressing these three fundamental gaps in the existing literature, shedding new light on the factors shaping the economic geography of MNEs and their impacts and providing policy-makers at all levels with new tools to promote innovation, employment and economic recovery after the current economic crisis.

This proposal aims to explore inequality with regards to consumption of brands and their symbolic value. Noting recent arguments for emerging forms of capital in response to more fluid tastes, and changing role of distinction as a result of this, the project will focus on the use of fashion brands amongst young people in both physical and online spaces in order to answer two key issues: How does branding work to promote social differentiation and distinction? Do cultural practices used to create distinction conform in online spaces? Currently, brands are ignored in much sociological discourse around inequality and distinction but are evidently very linked to consumption and often, omnivorous tastes. As the line between IRL and URL blurs, an ethnographic approach to study through use of participant observation and semi-structured interviews will be used in order to learn more about patterns of interaction with brands among young people both on social media sites and amongst social groups. In order to validate findings and utilise the researcher's market research experience, brand market research data which focuses on consumer use of social media will be accessed to explore how brands are used in online spaces.