Some Lessons for Regulation from Recent Bank Crises

Recent bank crises in developed and developing countries have underlined the question of a good “regulatory regime,” which is a wider concept than the set of prudential principles and business rules established by external regulatory agencies. The role of external regulation in fostering a safe and sound banking system is limited. The incentive's structure for private banks and the efficiency of monitoring and supervision have to play a great role. Liberalization of markets can have bad effects in the transitional period, but advantages can be enormous after the system starts to work correctly. The main lesson of recent bank crises is that there needs to be more effective surveillance of financial institutions both by supervisory authorities and by markets. Effective regulation (internal and external) and supervision of banks and financial institutions have the potential to give a major contribution to the stability and robustness of financial system.     

Negative evaluation of conservation agriculture: perspectives from African smallholder farmers

Despite more than three decades of promotion, conservation agriculture (CA) has not been widely adopted by smallholder farmer in sub-Saharan Africa. This low rate of adoption reflects substantial negative evaluation of CA by many smallholder farmers, the causes of which have not been adequately explored in an in-depth, qualitative manner. Hence, we implement the Livelihoods Platforms Approach to explore directly with negatively evaluating farmers the reasons why they chose not to implement CA using semi-structured interviews with 35 farmers from 23 communities in 6 African countries. While there are issues with perceived benefit and relevance, the primary driver of negative evaluation of CA was found to be the feasibility of implementation. The required resources to implement CA (financial, physical, human and informational) are limited by community and institutional constraints which appear unlikely to be overcome through interventions targeted at addressing household resources. More positive evaluation of CA by smallholder farmers requires: (1) development of financially viable CA adoption pathways; (2) incorporation of wider livelihood objectives into a CA ‘package’; (3) re-evaluation of current extension policy; and (4) development of CA-complementary agricultural policies. Without addressing these issues, the potential benefits of CA adoption are unlikely to be achieved in African smallholder systems.     

Controversies and conceptual development Examining public entrepreneurship

The role of entrepreneurship in the public services remains controversial. In this article we present an initial framework for understanding public entrepreneurship based on a typology of entrepreneurship and an initial classification of relevant public service processes and outcomes. Each aspect is illustrated by case study evidence taken from the West Midlands Ambulance Service, and is integrated into the theoretical literature on entrepreneurship. When applied to this case, the framework helps to differentiate two types of entrepreneurial action. The first type is conducted away from the core service and is governed by commercial considerations, the second is linked to the core statutory service and is governed by bureaucratic obedience. We argue a feature of public management is the requirement to operate across differing ‘orderings of life’ where contradictory rules apply. The acceptability of entrepreneurship depends on whether managers can recognize and distinguish between the rules governing these spheres.     

The economics and ethics of Hurricane Katrina

How might free enterprise have dealt with Hurricane Katrina and her aftermath. This article probes this question at increasing levels of radicalization, starting with the privatization of several government “services” and ending with the privatization of all of them.     

Incomes policy: the wider issues

This article summarises some of the more important economic options open to the Government. The author is especially critical of the incomes policy approach and of the exaggerated fears of inflation which exist in many quarters. He suggests alternative policy options and concludes that a certain amount of inflation should be regarded as an integral part of the system, and that it should be institutionalised with appropriate allowance for its interanal and external harmful effects.     

Strategy in the Public Sector: Management in the Wilderness

ABSTRACT The central question addressed in this paper is ‘Why have organizational strategies emerged in the public sector?’ Two broad answers are suggested. First, ‘strategies’ profile the organization through identifying aims, outputs and outcomes. Public services must, now, provide such transparency in order to secure on‐going funding from government bodies. Once ‘strategies’ are being produced, they also offer an organizational vision that potential additional funding agencies can buy into (with both commitment and money). And public services are short of resources. Second, ‘strategies’ signal greater devolved responsibility in the public sector for both acquiring resources and achieving results. They enable the inclusion of managerial priorities and values in setting the direction of public services. And politicians desire more control over the professionals that dominate public services whilst, simultaneously, wanting to make them more responsible for outcomes. This article explores the growth of strategic planning in a particular area of the public sector – the national parks. Strategies as ‘dormant documents’ and strategies as ‘funding pitches’ are discussed. It is suggested that, in the public sector, strategies should be the object of strategy.     

Financial Regulation: A Perspective from the United Kingdom

Many of the papers at this conference focus on regulation and its impact on the structure of the financial system. The objective of this paper is to offer a discussion of some of these, and related, issues from the perspective of the United Kingdom, where the structure and content of regulation is in many important respects in stark contrast to that of the United States. A British perspective on financial regulation might be particularly interesting, given the historical differences in the regulatory regimes in the United Kingdom and the United States as well as the changes occurring in the structure and approach to regulation in the United Kingdom.     

How do medical managers strategize? A strategy-as-practice perspective

ABSTRACT

Strategic planning (SP) is a widely-used practice within public sector organizations. However, SP does not only take place in strategy workshops and senior management levels. This paper explores how medical managers of English hospitals ‘do’ SP in their clinical directorates. The authors investigate the practices, the usage of strategy tools and the implications of medical managers’ strategizing. The paper argues that what makes financial sense to medical managers strategizing in the local circumstances of their directorates does not always equate to value for patients, the hospital or for the public sector as a whole.     

What farmer types are most likely to adopt joint venture farm business structures?

Joint venture (JV) farm structures have the potential to increase the productivity and profitability of traditional family farms. However, such structures are not widely adopted within the farm business community. Furthermore, knowledge on the relative attractiveness of different JV models to farmers is limited. We use a choice experiment to explore what JV structures are preferred by Australian farmers, and how farmers’ socio‐demographic and attitudinal characteristics influence the type of JV structure preferred. A latent class analysis revealed significant unobserved preference heterogeneity amongst the population. We identify four latent classes that differ in their preferences regarding the number of JV partners, access to new machinery, and/or the opportunity for additional annual leave. All classes of farmers displayed positive preferences for operational decision‐making with other JV partners, although they varied in their preferences towards final operational responsibility. The diversity in preferences shows that there is no ‘one size fits all’ JV design, leaving opportunities for a range of JV decision models. Such flexibility in JV design is likely to have advantages when seeking JV partners, with a significant proportion of the sampled population open to collaborative decision‐making models.