The pribumi entrepreneurs of Bali and Central Java (or how not to help indigenous enterprise)

Fostering indigenous (pribumi) entrepreneurs remains a major aim in Indonesia. The history of the Central Javanese batik industry shows, however, that affirmative action programs in pursuit of that aim can be counter-productive if they undermine entrepreneurial skills–innovation in relation to products, markets, technologies and management–and instead encourage cultivation of political and bureaucratic contacts. The batik industry cloth subsidy did this by rewarding well-established and well-connected firms for continuing to do what they had long been doing, while discriminating against new and innovative firms. On the other hand, the emergence and rapid expansion of the Balinese garment industry showed that pribumi are capable of successful entrepreneurship in a favourable environment without any extraordinary government assistance. The challenge for policy makers determined that pribumi play a larger role in business, therefore, is to design policies that encourage the development of pribumi entrepreneurial skills, rather than causing them to atrophy.     

Equity with growth in Taiwan: How ‘special’ is the ‘special case’?

This paper reviews some of the major findings of recent research on income distribution in Taiwan, presents some of the policy conclusions which emerge from that analysis, and comments on the possible transferability of the lessons of the Taiwan case to other developing country situations. In particular, the paper treats the question of why the so-called inverse U-shaped or Kuznets effect was apparently avoided in Taiwan during a period 3f unusually rapid growth - as a counter-example to the dominant school of ‘trade-off pessimists’.The issue of transferability is discussed with reference to more ‘typical’ LDC conditions such as those of Colombia and the Philippines - ‘Colphil’. At a more general level, the author considers the relevant differences and similarities between Taiwan and ‘Colphil’ and the extent to which these can or cannot be overcome by policy actions.     

Job insecurity and intent to leave the nursing profession in Europe

To determine the occupational factors affecting nurses' decision to leave their profession before reaching retirement age, a large epidemiological study (Nurses' early exit study – NEXT)1 1. EU-financed project QLK6-CT-2001-00475. was carried out in ten European countries. Altogether 32,037 registered nurses answered a questionnaire, covering, for example, questions on job insecurity and intention to leave nursing work. The data were analysed statistically using Chi² test and binary logistic regression models.

Concern about becoming unemployed and difficulties to find a new job if laid off was reported by 40% of the respondents. More than half of the respondents were worried about their qualitative job security (being transferred to another job or changes in work schedule), while less than 40% had concerns about becoming unable to work. Thoughts about leaving the profession were reported by 15% of the respondents.

The hypothesis, that nurses will show higher intention to leave if they experience high levels of job insecurity, was partly supported by the results of the study. The concern about the qualitative aspects of job security correlated positively with intent to leave nursing in almost all the participating countries; most strongly among the Finnish and Norwegian nurses. The relationship between the concern about employment security and intent to leave varied from country to country, probably due to differences in the labour market situation. The correlation was positive for the Dutch and British nurses while, for the Polish and German sample, nurses who reported worry about their employment security appeared to be less willing to leave the profession than those who were not too worried. The concern about being unable to work correlated positively with intent to leave in several countries, reflecting the demands of the profession.

The effects of job insecurity can be reduced if nurses feel that they are important to the health care institution they work for, and that the institution cares about them, and values their opinion.