Government Weakness and Local Public Debt Development in Flemish Municipalities

The Weak Government Hypothesis states that government fragmentation leads to higher public deficits and debt. This relation can be explained by government inaction, common pool problems or the strategic use of debt that arise in coalition governments. Importantly, whereas government inaction models concentrate on the short-term effects of government fragmentation on indebtedness, common pool and strategic debt models imply that such effects will persist in the long term. We test these hypotheses using a large panel of data on municipal debt in 298 Flemish municipalities (1977–2000). We find that there is no long-run effect from weak governments. However, there is general support for the fact that the number of parties in a coalition has a positive effect on the municipality’s short-term debt levels–in line with government inaction models.JEL Code: E62, H72, H74     

Strategic Management Thinking and Practice in the Public Sector: A Strategic Planning for All Seasons?

This paper explores how strategic management thinking manifests itself in strategic management practice in the public sector. Mintzberg's framework of ten strategic management schools of thought is chosen for mapping strategic management thinking. The paper analyses a convenience sample of 35 strategic management processes, observation of an agency's strategy reformulation process and interviews of managers in the public sector in Norway for informing the discussion. Strategic planning is heavily criticised in some of the business strategy literature. The analysis indicates that strategic management in the public sector extensively uses strategic planning, bundled with certain other schools of thought, despite tendencies to downplay formal, mechanistic planning in contemporary strategic management theory.     

The effects of institutional typologies on the performance of state-sponsored local government investment pools

This paper extends the risk-return argument of modern portfolio theory to the institutional typologies with which state-sponsored local government investment pools (LGIPs) operate. By using fixed-effects regression on monthly panel data from 18 LGIPs across seven years, the author found that institutional typologies with which LGIPs operate matter. An LGIP should be structured and managed based on its ability to mitigate risks. The paper contributes to increasing the accountability and fiscal governance over public money and promotes public funds investment laws in the US, UK and internationally.     

Forensic accounting services in English local government and the counter-fraud agenda

ABSTRACT

Fraud is a growing challenge for English local government, yet the resources and support local authorities (LAs) have available to prevent, detect and investigate it are limited. Forensic accounting services (FAS) provided by external specialist private sector firms, particularly those undertaking mandatory external audit, might be one solution. Research reported in this paper suggests, however, that existing English LA users are not all convinced. Nevertheless, better awareness and understanding of what FAS have to offer, perhaps through case studies of successful implementation, would be a valuable contribution to helping local government enhance its counter-fraud capabilities and make informed decisions about how best to meet the increasingly complex fraud challenge.     

New development: Making partnerships work—a local politician's guide to leadership

Local strategic partnerships are non-hierarchical structures requiring facilitative leadership. The authors describe research that shows that facilitation demands acceptability, the development of a shared vision and the ability to deliver it. This implies a plethora of skills and relevant qualities, supported by favourable partners and an enabling political environment, with enough time to get it right.     

Internationalization and employability: the role of intercultural experiences in the development of transferable skills

Policy-makers are increasingly advocating market-based reforms to increase choices for service users and therefore to drive improvement through competition. This article assesses this approach in a hospital trust where there is plenty of scope for patients to choose providers and so for reforms based on a market logic to work. The market had very little impact on the hospital's activities, but demands from the Department of Health and the strategic health authority for the hospital to become more market-oriented were creating the potential for significant dysfunctional consequences.     

The public disclosure of environmental performance information—a dual test of media agenda setting theory and legitimacy theory

This paper documents the results of an empirical study undertaken within Australia of the relationship between the print media coverage given to various industries' environmental effects, and the levels of annual report environmental disclosures made by a sample of firms within those industries. The paper draws upon previous studies in media agenda setting theory and legitimacy theory to develop two testable hypotheses. Nine industries are reviewed across the period from 1981–1994. Drawing upon two theories, it is argued that the media can be particularly effective in driving the community's concern about the environmental performance of particular organisations (from media agenda setting theory). Where such concern is raised, organisations will respond by increasing the extent of disclosure of environmental information within the annual report (from legitimacy theory). The results indicate that for the majority of the industries studied, higher levels of media attention (as determined by a review of a number of print media newspapers and journals) are significantly associated with higher levels of annual report environmental disclosures.     

Do European recommendations impact on sustainability policies by Italian local governments?

Taking the role of a facilitator, the EU has published recommendations to steer sustainability policies in local governments. The authors analysed strategic plans published by Italian local governments and found that the EU’s recommendations had zero effect. The way forward is for local governments to be required to produce sustainability policies.     

地方政府干预、境外战略投资者引入与城市商业银行治理

本文以8家城市商业银行的42份年报作为研究样本,利用主元分析法实证研究了地方政府和境外战略投资者对城市商业银行公司治理的影响,及其作用于城市商业银行的具体机制。研究结果表明,地方政府对城市商业银行治理产生了负面影响,境外战略投资者在一定程度上抑制了地方政府对城市商业银行的干预,促进了城市商业银行治理的改善。为了提升城市商业银行公司治理水平,本文建议地方政府进一步退出城市商业银行,取消城市商业银行中境外战略投资者持股比例监管限制,鼓励外资派驻更多的董事和高管实质性参与城市商业银行的经营管理。     

The role of performance measurement and evaluation in building organizational capabilities and performance

This study examines the processes through which the availability of broad-based strategically relevant performance information impacts on the performance outcomes of organizations. We explore the role of evaluation mechanisms in influencing managers’ use of broad-based performance measurement information for feedback and feed-forward control. We hypothesize that these resultant decision-making patterns impact the exploitation and identification of strategic capabilities within an organization and in turn organizational performance. Using a structural equation model, we find support for a model in which the degree of commonality between measures identified as decision-facilitating and decision-influencing is significantly associated with the use of decision-facilitating measures for both feedback and feed-forward control. In turn, the extent to which decision-facilitating measures are actually used by strategic business unit managers impacts on the strategic capabilities of the organization and subsequently its performance. Overall the results suggest that to encourage managers to use the multiple financial and non-financial performance indicators increasingly incorporated in contemporary performance measurement systems it is imperative that performance evaluation schemes are also designed to reflect these measures. To the extent performance evaluation schemes do not reflect such decision-facilitating measures it is less likely managers will use these indicators to effectively manage performance. The resultant performance implications for the organization arise from the impact of these decision effects on the exploitation of existing capabilities and the search for and identification of new strategic opportunities.     

企业财务战略管理：一个企业能力理论视角

企业能力理论已成为研究企业理论与战略管理理论一个热门领域。企业的本质是知识与能力的集合体。财务战略管理作为企业战略管理的职能管理战略应该立足于企业能力现状,即从企业能力现状出发,进行具体的财务战略谋划;另一方面,财务战略管理应服务于企业能力尤其是竞争优势的培养这一企业能力目标。     

Budgetary Stewardship,Innovation and Working Culture: Identifying the Missing Ingredient in English and Welsh Local Authorities’ Recipes for Austerity Management

Drawing on fieldwork with 70 local authorities in England and Wales, this paper builds on previous studies of austerity management by highlighting the importance of organisational cultures to achieving strategic objectives. It finds that, in line with their prevailing ‘belief system’ of budgetary stewardship, local authorities in both countries are holding down input costs to deal with austerity. However, the scale of funding cuts means that this strategy is unlikely to be successful over the longer term. Instead, they need greater freedom to generate revenue, in order to facilitate innovation and develop more sustainable business practices and service models.     

Diffusion of Management Accounting Practices in Gulf Cooperation Council Countries*

This study examines how management accounting practices (MAPs) have been adopted and diffused by publicly listed firms in the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries. The results of our survey show that the adoption rates for MAPs in the area of cost management and strategy are low while those in the area of performance measurement are moderate. Overall, the respondents favorably perceived their success in implementing MAPs. Power and politics, not economic (or cost–benefit) reasons, were considered to be the most influential reasons for nonadoption of MAPs. The results provide partial support to the view that there is a global convergence of management accounting system designs and ideas and also indicate that the role of cultural differences is diminishing over time.     

Management control systems and strategy: A resource-based perspective

The aim of this study is to examine, from a resource-based perspective, the relationships between the use of management control systems (MCS) and organizational capabilities. More specifically, the study focuses on the diagnostic and interactive uses of one important aspect of MCS, namely performance measurement systems (PMS), and four capabilities leading to strategic choices (i.e., market orientation, entrepreneurship, innovativeness, and organizational learning). Three research questions are investigated in this study: (i) to what extent do the diagnostic and interactive uses of MCS contribute specifically to the creation and maintenance of capabilities leading to strategic choices? (ii) To what extent do the diagnostic and interactive uses of MCS act in combination to produce dynamic tension which contributes to the creation and maintenance of these capabilities? (iii) To what extent does the use of MCS contribute to organizational performance? The results suggest that an interactive use of PMS fosters the four capabilities by focusing organizational attention on strategic priorities and stimulating dialogue. Also, by creating constraints to ensure compliance with orders, the diagnostic use of PMS exerts negative pressure on these capabilities. Furthermore, some evidence suggests the influence of dynamic tension resulting from the balanced use of PMS in a diagnostic and interactive fashion on capabilities and performance.     

An International Comparison of Materiality Guidance for Governments, Public Services and Charities

The annual report is promoted and regarded as the primary medium of accountability for government agencies. In Australia, anecdotal evidence suggests the quality of annual reports is variable. However, there is scant empirical evidence on the quality of reports. The aim of this research is to gauge the quality of annual reporting by local governments in Queensland, and to investigate the factors that may contribute to that level of quality. The results of the study indicate that although the quality of reporting by local governments has improved over time, councils generally do not report information on aspects of corporate governance, remuneration of executive staff, personnel, occupational health and safety, equal opportunity policies, and performance information. In addition, the results indicate there is a correlation between the size of the local government and the quality of reporting but the quality of disclosures is not correlated with the timeliness of reports. The study will be of interest to the accounting profession, public sector regulators who are responsible for the integrity of the accountability mechanisms and public sector accounting practitioners. It will form the basis for future longitudinal research, which will map changes in the quality of local government annual reporting.     

Determinants and outcomes of IT governance in manufacturing SMEs: A strategic IT management perspective

The need to strategically manage IT resources such that they enhance the business value of firms makes IT governance (ITG), in conjunction with IT alignment, an ongoing issue for IS researchers and practitioners. In addressing this issue, the present study aims to validate a research model that relates, within a strategic IT management framework, the firm's ITG and IT alignment capabilities to its IT performance. To do so, a survey of 223 manufacturing SMEs (small and medium-sized enterprises) was realized. Results confirm the hypothesized relationships between the firm's environmental uncertainty, strategic IT orientation, ITG and IT alignment capabilities. They constitute a solid validation of the impact of the strategic management of IT resources and governance of IT on IT performance in the specific context of manufacturing SMEs.     

中资银行与外资机构联盟合作路径分析

从资源整合角度出发,运用资源基础观相关理论和工具对中外银行战略联盟进行分析,显示中外银行战略联盟是基于双方对额外资源需求基础上形成的互利组合,资源渴求程度对于联盟伙伴的选择具有重要意义;由于战略联盟双方拥有不同的资源与能力组合,因而中外银行的合作深度受到双方资源背景的影响;中资银行与外资机构的战略联盟,尤其是深度合作联盟,在一定程度上优化了国内商业银行的股权结构,增加了银行的净利润,提高了银行经营效率。     

EXPLAINING THE UTILIZATION OF RELATIVE PERFORMANCE EVALUATION IN LOCAL GOVERNMENT: A MULTI-THEORETICAL STUDY USING DATA FROM SWEDEN

One of the more lasting imprints that New Public Management (NPM) has made in the public sector is an increase in the popularity of performance measurement. In Sweden, performance measurement has gained popularity in the public sector, not least at the local government level with the use of relative performance evaluation (RPE). Because utilization of RPE is a decentralized and optional mode of governance, a somewhat heterogeneous practice has evolved. The aim of this paper is to examine the causes of this differentiated practice. We jointly examine economic, political and institutional/cultural explanations in order to account for the utilization of RPE. The empirical material consists of archival data and a questionnaire sent to all Swedish municipalities in late 2005. We show that RPE adoption and use partly has different antecedents and that the institutional/cultural perspective appears to have greater explanatory power than economic and political, not least as a consequence of the potential to explain decoupling and the importance of change facilitating capabilities. The investigation contributes specifically to the literature on the utilization of RPE in local governments and more generally to the literature on why and to what extent management accounting practices are utilized.     

Co‐owned Local Government Organisations: Conditions for Strategy Development

Local governments tend to join resources and create co‐owned organisations to solve the supply of public services. From a strategic perspective on local government cooperation, this paper analyses the conditions for strategy development in a co‐owned municipal organisation. The empirical data stem from a longitudinal case study of a Swedish provider of water and sewerage services. We show that difficulties in formulating and agreeing upon strategies are not dependent on the structural form. Instead, there is an intrinsic dilemma when municipalities are to create a joint strategy at the same time as each municipality is sovereign to decide on all local matters.     

注册制下券商定价责任与能力研究

注册制下,券商应承担优化资源配置、服务实体经济、稳定二级市场的责任,围绕承销组织、研究估值、机构销售、信息披露等IPO定价全流程,提升市场化定价效率。监管层面需要完善信息披露管理体系,丰富网下报价方式,优化战略配售和二级市场稳定机制,为券商履职及能力提升提供制度保障。本文还创新性构建了券商IPO定价能力评价体系,提出了包含承销能力、组织能力、项目筛选能力、投价报告质量、估值偏离度、定价偏离度、销售能力以及信息披露能力等指标在内的评价体系。