Public capital and convergence in the Spanish regions

This paper discusses the preconditions and strategies of local development and turnaround in difficult surroundings such as peripheral rural communities. Its key premise is that local decision makers' beliefs of how such small economies function and of ‘proper’ interventions are critical. Such thought patterns were studied among Finnish rural municipality directors (RMDs), using comparative cause mapping. The findings show that while private initiative, entrepreneurship, is regarded as key for development, prevalent views of entrepreneurship, especially firm formation, are unsophisticated, stressing personal traits and social factors such as supportive cultures and role models. Paralleling these views, the current developmental doctrine is indirect, focused on resource provision and implying passive waiting for entrepreneurs to emerge before developers ‘can’ act. Considering their bleak perspectives, the paper argues that communities with weak autonomous turnaround capabilities need more interventionist strategies than those built-in the dominant paradigm, whereas current resource-providing models may be suitable in more benevolent environments. To augment the dominant thinking, the paper suggests an initiating ‘business-based development model’ as a parallel approach for a more effective local economic development in difficult surroundings.     

Exploring the relationship between media coverage and participation in entrepreneurship: Initial global evidence and research implications

Using a set of variables measured in the Global Entrepreneurship Monitor (GEM) study, our empirical investigation explored the influence of mass media through national culture on national entrepreneurial participation rates in 37 countries over 4 years (2000 to 2003). We found that stories about successful entrepreneurs, conveyed in mass media, were not significantly associated with the rate of nascent (opportunity searching) or the rate of actual (business activities commenced up to 3 months old) start-up activity, but that there was a significant positive association between the volume of entrepreneurship media stories and a nation’s volume of people running a young business (that is in GEM terminology, a business aged greater than 3 but less than 42 months old). More particularly, such stories had strong positive association with opportunity oriented operators of young businesses. Together, these findings are compatible with what in the mass communications theory literature may be called the ‘reinforcement model’. This argues that mass media are only capable of reinforcing their audience’s existing values and choice propensities but are not capable of shaping or changing those values and choices. In the area covered by this paper, policy-makers are committing public resources to media campaigns of doubtful utility in the absence of an evidence base. A main implication drawn from this study is the need for further and more sophisticated investigation into the relationship between media coverage of entrepreneurship, national culture and the rates and nature of people’s participation in the various stages of the entrepreneurial process.

Success factors of university-spin-offs: Regional government support programs versus regional environment

In recent years entrepreneurship research has increasingly interpreted new firm emergence in the light of the context the potential or real founder is living and working in. This is especially true for university spin-offs, a type of new firms that gives rise to great hopes for policymakers and technology transfer institutions. The aim of this paper is to analyze what is more influential: specific characteristics of the regional environment of the spin-off founder or public programs to support university spin-offs. Based upon a unique data set covering 11 years of data collection we were able to apply a control group approach with two different government support programs in two regional contexts. The results based upon ordinal regressions suggest that the regional context in which an individual starts a firm, has an impact on start-up success, but the fact that he/she had received government support has a lesser impact. To summarize: site specific factors matter, government support programs per se do not.     

Output and productivity growth in the education sector: comparisons for the US and UK

This paper considers the measurement of performance in public service provision in an international context by examining outcome-based measures for the education sector. It first sets out the measurement issues in general terms. The paper then applies these methods to comparing the UK experience with that in the US over the period 1979–2002. The results show higher labour productivity growth in the UK education sector than in the US over this time period, so that the UK eliminated the productivity gap with the US by the end of the Century.

Efficiency evaluation for higher education institutions in China considering unbalanced regional development: A meta-frontier Super-SBM model

The development of higher education institutions (HEIs) is related to the future overall development of higher education in China. Studying the efficiency of provincial HEIs in China has great significance in deepening the reform of higher education evaluation, promoting coordinated regional development, and building a country powerful in its higher education. Based on the Super-SBM method, this paper creatively integrates meta-frontier theory and an index of international exchange and cooperation into an evaluation system for higher education efficiency. Taking 2011–2020 as the sample period, this study conducts a dynamic assessment of the higher education efficiency in 30 mainland Chinese provinces. It explores the differences in production technology in the eastern, central, and western regions, analyzing the environmental factors that affect the efficiency of higher education. The results show that during the sample period, the overall efficiency of higher education in China improved steadily. Efficiency Change is the main driving force. The three regions have significantly different technology gap ratio, and the structure of resource allocation significantly impacts efficiency. Therefore, this study's main recommendations are that the Chinese government should not only deepen the coordinated development of higher education between regions but also pay more attention to solving the problem of unbalanced development between China's geographical regions. At the same time, educational authorities should expand the number of ordinary colleges and universities in the central and western regions, develop non-financial funding sources, and improve the level of refined management of HEIs.     

欠发达地区城市新区的开发价值与发展方略——以南阳新区为例

大规模进行城市新区开发已成为当前中西部欠发达地区谋求跨越式发展的重要途径。如何有效支撑地区的跨越式发展,响应地区发展态势与环境变化,带动城市结构的大尺度转换,定位地区时空变迁方向,是当前城市新区开发面临的现实问题。本文以南阳新区开发为例,试图从地区协同、产业支撑、服务引领、特色驱动等方面,探讨欠发达地区城市新区的发展动力、开发价值和发展方略。     

Opportunity identification for sustainable entrepreneurship: Exploring the interplay of individual and context level factors in India

Sustainable entrepreneurship is becoming an increasingly established topic within the entrepreneurship literature. The phenomenon of businesses incorporating social and environmental agendas within their core activities has gathered an increasing academic interest. However, few empirical studies have explored the stage of opportunity identification in the sustainable entrepreneurship process in a more systematic manner, even more so in non-Western contexts such as India. We structure our analysis using a framework situated in the conventional entrepreneurship literature and the literature on National Business Systems (NBS). We conduct a qualitative study to explore the motivations of Indian sustainable entrepreneurs in two sectors: sustainable energy and ethical clothing. While we find that the conventional entrepreneurship based framework provides crucial insights to understand opportunity identification within sustainable entrepreneurship, we also observe a number of features unique to sustainable entrepreneurship in the Indian context—including the personal backgrounds of the participants as well as prioritization of motivational factors. Importantly, we find notable within-country variation in the contextual factors that appear to shape motivational dynamics. In the words of one participant, “there are many Indias” rather than one monolithic approach to sustainable entrepreneurship in India.     

Innovation in cultural and creative industries firms with an academic origin (CCI-USOs): The role of regional context

Previous literature has focused on either the direct or indirect contribution of cultural and creative industries (CCI) firms to the innovation capability of the wider economy, while the reverse approach, that is, the effect of region on CCI firms’ innovation, has been completely neglected. In this paper, it is argued that the innovative performance of CCI firms with an academic origin (CCI-USOs) may be influenced by the regional context where they operate. In so doing, it is defended that the study of innovation in CCI firms can be advanced through the development of a more integrative framework. Relying on a sample of 92 Spanish CCI-USOs over the period 2001–2010 and applying multilevel modelling, this study sheds light on how regional and firm level factors simultaneously impact on CCI-USOs’ innovation. The findings show that the regional context determines the innovative performance of CCI-USOs. In addition, firm age has a negative effect on the probability of having patent activity, while firm size and venture capital exerts a positive influence on innovative performance. On the basis of these results, some policies for fostering innovation in CCIs are proposed.     

Exploring resistance in collaborative forms of governance: Meaning negotiations and counter-narratives in a case from the Danish education sector

This paper addresses resistance in studies about collaborative forms of governance. Although the literature discusses collaborative challenges, issues related to resistance are largely unexplored and mostly regarded as destructive. However, we argue for understanding resistance more dynamically – as a co-constructive aspect of collaboration. Drawing on extant resistance studies, we combine concepts of meaning negotiation and counter-narrative to examine power-resistance relations in a case study of collaborative forms of governance in the Danish education sector. The findings elucidate how resistance complicates, yet also co-constructs collaboration in governance processes; discursive struggles over meanings of collaboration and a quality model invoke power-resistance relations that destabilize a dominant narrative and enable counter-narratives, which influence future collaborative processes. Hence, we suggest understanding resistance as a constitutive feature in collaborative forms of governance, rather than a destructive obstacle. This contributes with empirical and theoretical insights into the complex role of resistance in collaboration and governance processes.     

National skill-creation systems and career paths for service workers: hotels in the United States,Germany and the United Kingdom

Creating sufficient opportunities for individuals to develop their capabilities and earn a living wage is one of the central challenges facing all countries. However, some types of vocational education and training (VET) institutions may be more effective than others in promoting the development of career-enhancing ‘transferable’ skills. In order to investigate the links between national skill-creation systems and individual career paths, this study focuses on three countries with very different VET systems: the United States, the United Kingdom and Germany. The comparison is based on closely matched samples of three- and four-star hotels. The results suggest that individual career development and outcomes, such as wages and turnover rates, are strongly influenced by the interplay of three key elements – the breadth, relevance to employment and degree of standardization – of national initial VET systems. Our analysis identifies strengths and weaknesses of the different systems and key lessons for improvement.     

昆明市呈贡大学城失地农民的安置问题研究——以柏枝营、郎家营小区为例

呈贡大学城建设是云南省政府作出的建设现代新昆明的重大战略决策。这一战略的实施,将从根本上解决目前昆明城市中发展的问题,改善人文居住环境,提高城市的综合实力。本文以昆明市呈贡新城在建立大学城过程中所面临失地农民的安置问题为背景,结合呈贡新城的实际情况提出对策建议,力求在云南省经济的发展、社会的安定及新农村的建设方面具有一定的参考价值。     

Basel III liquidity rules: The implications for bank lending growth in Africa

This paper examines the possible loan growth effect of the Basel III NSFR and LCR requirements in Africa and seeks to determine whether the different regions of the continent are affected differently. The paper also offers what is possibly the first investigation of how the interaction between the performance of loan portfolios and the new Basel III liquidity requirements might shape bank loan growth rates. Using a dataset of 361 commercial banks across 38 African countries over the 2005–2015 period, our static and dynamic panel analyses show that both the NSFR and the LCR exert significant positive effects on bank loan growth rates. The results also reveal that the NSFR reduces the impact of the negative effect of poor performance of loan portfolios on bank loan growth rates. Compliance with the Basel III liquidity rules in Africa is therefore likely to have beneficial impacts on policies intended to increase bank lending in the continent.