A contingency theory perspective on the risk management control system within Birmingham City Council

In recent years the topic of risk management has moved up the agenda of both government and industry, and private sector initiatives to improve risk and internal control systems have been mirrored by similar promptings for change in the public sector. Both regulators and practitioners now view risk management as an integral part of the process of corporate governance, and an aid to the achievement of strategic objectives.The paper uses case study material on the risk management control system at Birmingham City Council to extend existing theory by developing a contingency theory for the public sector. The case demonstrates that whilst the structure of the control system fits a generic model, the operational details indicate that controls are contingent upon three core variables—central government policies, information and communication technology and organisational size. All three contingent variables are suitable for testing the theory across the broader public sector arena.     

A literature review on the relationship between risk governance and public engagement in relation to complex environmental issues

Abstract

Over the last two decades demands for greater public engagement have emerged in policy circles and academia, particularly when it comes to risk-related decision-making, or risk governance. However, the literature shows there is a lack of evidence when it comes to the impact of public engagement initiatives and significant questions remain over who to include, what processes to follow and what outcomes to expect. Furthermore, the literature exhibits contradictions in how researchers with different theoretical approaches attempt to answer these kinds of questions. This paper therefore proposes a systematic literature review in order to map the current breadth and variation in the literature and to identify any major variations from previous findings. A methodical search query has been applied to Scopus and Web of Science to search for academic articles. These were subsequently assessed for their suitability through a structured literature selection process. The results identify a number of methodologically different approaches in which knowledge on risk governance and public engagement has been developed. These diverse approaches are eventually grouped into clusters based on similarities in co-citations and references that are identified through bibliometrics and a subsequent content analysis. The proposed clusters have been labeled risk governance; environmental science, policy and governance; disaster risk management; science and technology studies; post-normal science; and public understanding of science. These six clusters are ultimately discussed and differentiated based on their main features which is particularly relevant for researchers and policy-makers seeking to get an understanding of, or broaden their disciplinary engagement with, risk governance and public engagement.     

Common labor market,attachment and spillovers in a large metropolis

In this paper, we extend the home-attachment model to a setting with multiple (more than two) jurisdictions and consider non-cooperative policy making for provision of different types of metropolitan public goods in the presence of a common labor market. Migration and working place choices are independent. We show that the optimal redistributive policy implemented by a central authority always yields equalization of private consumption levels across jurisdictions. This result holds whether or not policy makers are able to anticipate migration responses to their policy choices. In the decentralized leadership games, jurisdictions make choices that fully internalize externalities.     

‘Real without being concrete’: the ontology of public concern and its significance for the Social Amplification of Risk Framework (SARF)

Abstract

Public concern is a pivotal notion in the risk perception, communication and management literature. It is, for example, a central concept with regard to the social amplification of risk, and as a justification for policy attention. Despite its ubiquity, the notion of public concern remains a ‘black box’ presenting a poorly understood state of affairs as a reified matter-of-fact. Paying attention to the deployment and metrics of public concern, and the work it is required to do, will enhance the power of approaches to understanding risk, and policymaking. Thus, the broad purpose of this paper is to unpack the notion of public concern by adopting an ontological yet critical perspective, drawing on a range of literature that considers ontology. We reflect on how publics and public concern have been conceptualised with regard to the dichotomies of individual/social and private/public, given that they imply different levels and dimensions of concern. We draw on empirical work that illuminates the assessment and measurement of public concern and how the public have responded to risk events. Considering public concern through an ontological lens affords a means of drawing renewed critical attention to objects that might otherwise appear finished or ready-made.     

New development: Integrating risk management in management control systems—lessons for public sector managers

Exploring multiple dimensions of management control systems (MCS), this article proposes a new framework to integrate risk management with strategy, MCS and performance measurement systems (PMS). Considering the public sector as a focal point, the article points to some enterprise risk management (ERM) issues and argues that ERM-enabled MCS has potential to improve PMS and strategic decision-making, leading to a more proactive risk management framework and a culture that promotes performance driven accountability. Consequently, the article calls for further research towards solving the public sector’s risk management problems, motivating its managers to adopt best practices, and stimulating suitable policy developments.     

From New Public Management to New Public Governance? Hybridization and Implications for Public Sector Consumerism

This paper examines how variations in the notion of public sector consumerism become embedded in diverse governance practices. To this end, we extend the literature on public governance logics with insights from research on public sector consumerism and hybridization in public sector management reforms. Through a comparative, multi‐level analysis we trace the development of two governance logics largely corresponding to the distinction between New Public Management (NPM) and New Public Governance (NPG) in Swedish transport infrastructure policy. In contrast to research predicting or prescribing a relatively radical shift between such governance logics we show how they partly co‐evolved along two reform paths entailing notable variations in the degree of hybridization and the embedding of consumerist notions in emerging governance practices. In doing so, we draw attention to how the hybridization of governance logics is contingent on the alignment of diverse interests and differences in the process through which such logics are brought together. We discuss the implications of these findings for future research into public sector consumerism and hybridization in public sector management reforms.     

Corporate Governance, Idiosyncratic Risk, and Information Flow

We study the relationship of corporate governance policy and idiosyncratic risk. Firms with fewer antitakeover provisions display higher levels of idiosyncratic risk, trading activity, private information flow, and information about future earnings in stock prices. Trading interest by institutions, especially those active in merger arbitrage, strengthens the relationship of governance to idiosyncratic risk. Our results indicate that openness to the market for corporate control leads to more informative stock prices by encouraging collection of and trading on private information. Consistent with an information‐flow interpretation, the component of volatility unrelated to governance is associated with the efficiency of corporate investment.     

Est in aqua dulci non invidiosa voluptas In pure water there is a pleasure begrudged by none: on ownership,accountability and control in a privatized utility

We explore the proposition that the unitary board structure is defective, as a mechanism of effective corporate governance, in its application in the post-privatization British water industry. Specifically we explore the case of Yorkshire Water plc and a serious crisis that it faced as a result of a severe drought in the summer of 1995. Our contention is that whilst the water company continued to meet its commitment to raising shareholder value, it failed to meet the needs of other stakeholders, and not least its customers. Our analysis of this case is grounded in a discussion of the political-economy and critical accounting literatures relating to private versus public provision and privatization. Following this we outline the nature of governance by unitary board and then turn to Yorkshire Water’s crisis, its failure in service provision and its performance. Based upon this we then lay out the precursors to the crisis and review the role that the unitary board model played in its development. We conclude by proposing that the dual board model may be better suited to the management of the production of essential “public" goods, in order to protect the interests of all stakeholders.     

Risky business—reconceptualizing risk and innovation in public services

This paper explores the relationship between risk and innovation in public services, presenting the state of the literature across different disciplines and the academic and policy literature. It suggests a novel framework to approach risk, emphasising the importance of differentiating between different types of risk and risk management. The paper offers a typology of risk types and management approaches that indicates different effects on the type of public service innovation. It concludes by considering the implications for theory and practice.     

基于组织视角的银行集团并表管理机制研究

并表管理的组织法保障问题属于银行集团公司治理范畴,相关特殊监管规则叠加于企业集团法的一般规则之上,共同形成并表管理的法律框架.在组织机构上,母行董事会宜单设并表管理委员会或将并表管理职权授予既存委员会(对内授权),并通过设立集团管理委员会向管理层授权(对外授权).重置审计委员会的机构归属是消除监事会形骸化的抓手,独立的风险管理部门和首席风险官是并表管理中风险管理的重点.一般企业集团中的间接性管理手段不能迅速有效管控银行集团风险,易导致风险外溢.可以考虑突破附属机构选择权赋予母行直接性管理手段,依据与风险管理的紧密关系及是否涉及公共利益,对直接性并表管理手段进行类型化构建是较为妥当的路径.     

Corruption,growth, and governance: Private vs. state-owned firms in Vietnam

We provide a firm-level analysis of the relation between corruption and growth for private firms and state-owned enterprises (SOEs) in Vietnam. We obtain three different measures of the perceived corruption severity from a 2005 survey among 741 private firms and 133 SOEs. We find that corruption hampers the growth of Vietnam’s private sector, but is not detrimental for growth in the state sector. We document significant differences in the corruption severity across 24 provinces in Vietnam that can be explained by the quality of provincial public governance (such as the costs of new business entry, land access, and private sector development policies). Our results suggest that corruption may harm economic growth because it favors the state sector at the expense of the private sector and that improving the quality of local public governance can help to mitigate corruption and stimulate economic growth.     

会计师事务所的内部治理:理论、原则及其对发展战略的含义

会计师事务所的内部治理是专业人士自主协调核心资源的过程,而品牌资源作为事务所的最核心资源,具有准公共物品属性(竞争性和非排他性),因此事务所内部治理是私人部门中出现的公共治理问题。相应地,本文引入了自主治理理论及其原则作为会计师事务所内部治理的理论基础和应用原则,并讨论了事务所内部治理原则对若干发展战略的含义。     

Determinants of corporate cash policy: Insights from private firms

We provide one of the first large sample comparisons of cash policies in public and private U.S. firms. We first show that despite higher financing frictions, private firms hold, on average, about half as much cash as public firms do. By examining the drivers of cash policies for each group, we are able to attribute the difference to the much higher agency costs in public firms. By combining evidence from across public and private firms as well as within public firms across different qualities of governance, we are able to reconcile existing mixed evidence on the effects of agency problems on cash policies. Specifically, agency problems affect not only the target level of cash, but also how managers react to cash in excess of the target.     

From precautionary inadequacy to participatory risk management

This paper examines the case of mobile telephone infrastructure as an example of a contemporary risk defined by a lack of scientific evidence and consensus as regards potential or future harm. This uncertainty has led to recourse to the precautionary principle at the European, national, regional and local level of EMF risk management. Local risk governance of mobile telephone infrastructures in Catalonia can be seen as an example of a socio-technical complex system linked to risk perception which highlights the limitations of the precautionary principle in a scientifically uncertain context. Active participation of stakeholders and the public in risk management arenas is required if current technocratic risk management strategies are to be superseded by transparent processes of decision-making in risk management spheres.     

Accountability and corporate governance of public private partnerships

Brennan and Solomon (2008) identify six new frontiers in accountability and corporate governance research to stimulate research. This paper contributes to such research by devising a reporting framework and research agenda that relates to Brennan and Solomon's fourth frontier, sectors and context, focusing on the regulated hybrid organisational forms of Public Private Partnerships, which operate at the interface of the public and private sectors.As the framework shows, these organisations are subject to multiple influences and demands. There is a need for more and different reporting than is the norm under the private sector's decision-useful reporting framework. Although the framework focuses on what Mulgan (2000) describes as the core of accountability, it is not only a financial reporting framework but it also seeks to make concrete Kamuf's (2007) argument that accountability might include accounting through narrative as well as the prevailing numeric evaluation.The paper stresses the need for information to be accessible to the public, and in particular argues that a stream of information between the public and private sector partners needs to be developed and disseminated to achieve accountability for public money that is increasingly spent in the private sector.     

我国农村公共产品民营BOT供给模式研究

公共领域治理中出现的多中心治理体制否认了政府作为单中心治理者的合理性,印讧了公共产品供给主体多元化理论的正当性.在农村公共产品供给上实现多主体、多渠道和多方式共存的供给模式是解决我国农村公共产品供给短缺的有效途径.通过对BOT模式的特征和民营BOT模式在我国农村公共产品供给中的优势分析表明:完善我国农村公共产品供给状况的关键在于加强相关制度设计,充分发挥民营BOT在我国农村公共产品供给中的强大作用.     

Credible Pensions*

One of the main problems in pension policy is to develop an institutional framework that guarantees that public and private pensions promises are kept. This paper discusses how the governance of public and private pensions is key to making such promises credible. It argues that credibility concerns undermine the case for earnings‐related pensions run by the state and private defined benefit plans.     

De facto power in a transition economy: The case of China

That firms actively influence public policy to advance private interests is taken for granted in most economies. In China, the activism of public actors in shaping private interests suggests that the public rather than private sector is more influential to the political economy. In this paper, we test the extent to which this is true in among Chinese provinces. We conduct a cluster quasi-experiment using the 2012 anti-corruption campaign. We find that the declining involvement of public actors in economic decisions during the campaign did not result into lower productivity in provinces with higher private sector participation, especially in unregulated industries and those not dominated by state-owned enterprises. De facto political power from 30-years of private wealth accumulation may have helped establish market-driven norms of economic behavior, strengthening the political economy against the vicissitudes of public actors.     

From Government to Regulatory Governance: Privatization and the Residual Role of the State

This article reviews the state of thinking on the governancerole of public ownership and control. Optimal governance systemsdepend on the path of institutional development. Nevertheless,the transfer of operational control over productive assets tothe private sector often yields a desirable governance system,because it may be more difficult for citizens to constrain politicalabuse than for governments to regulate private activity. Inweak institutional environments, however, the process needsto be structured to avoid capture of the regulatory process.The speed of transfer should be matched to progress in developinga strong regulatory governance system, to which certain residualrights of intervention must be vested. After all, "institutions"are simply governance mechanisms with some degree of autonomyfrom both political and private interests. The gradual creationof institutions partially shielded from political power mustbecome central to the development of an optimal mode of regulatorygovernance. The article presents suggestions for establishingaccountability in regulatory governance, in particular by creatingan internal control system based on a rotating board with representativesof users, producers, and civil society, in a process involvingfrequent reporting and disclosure. JEL codes: G38, L33, L51