Culture-orientated product design

There is little in-depth research that can assist designers to use culture as a catalyst for designing innovative products within Botswana’s context. The concept of culture and design are intertwined, thus modifications stemming from cultural evolution both reflect and determine developments in design. The paper discusses an experimental design approach conducted at the University of Botswana and participants challenge was to transform and encode socio-cultural factors into product design features. The paper concludes by discussing a model which has shown one way concerning how to consciously specify, analyse and integrate socio-cultural factors in the design process.     

Process safety management: A U.K. approach

Process safety in the UK is discussed from both the legal and management standpoints. General safety legislation requires a formal statement of company policy and arrangements for managing safety, but allows freedom for an organization to decide what those arrangements should be. The basis of a company-wide approach to process safety management that meets legal requirements is outlined. Some of the main points requiring attention for effective process hazard recognition, assessment and control on a continuing basis are discussed.     

International legal norms governing development of the orbit/spectrum resource

Resource development is the process of dispersing concentrated values. International law relating to resource development establishes objectives for value dispersion and puts forward rules by which these objectives may be attained. The geostationary orbit and the electromagnetic spectrum are two store-houses of value, or resources, coming under increasingly vigorous international control. The author first describes geostationary satellite communications as the dispersion of values concentrated in the geostationary orbit and in the electromagnetic spectrum. He then addresses the objectives of international satellite communications policy and the relative effectiveness of relevant legal rules in implementing those objectives.     

Policy globalization and the “information society”: a view from Canada

The Canadian example suggests that recent shifts in communication policy frameworks should be understood as a transformation in how technology is organized politically, and not simply as a policy reaction to technological innovation. The process is tracked chronologically in three sections: institutional renewal (1993–1994); accelerated vertical slippage between national, regional and global policy levels (1995–1996); and horizontal dispersal of communication policy into new other sectors (1997). Across these stages, a series of convergences characterized by increased fluidity between territorial as well as sectoral jurisdictions are discussed; implications for the understanding of communication policy frameworks within the context of the “information society” project are identified.     

Food and nutrition policy in Malta

Food and nutrition policy in Malta was officially endorsed by Government in the late 1980s. The urgency stemmed from the increasingly preoccupying health situation of the Maltese population characterized by the higher rates of cardiovascular diseases and neoplasms. Although a small island in the central Mediterranean, Malta does not have a diet that is characteristic of the rest of the Mediterranean region. The main aim of this paper is to outline the main characteristics of Maltese food consumption and the constraints encountered in the process of implementing the food and nutrition policy. The final section provides some recommendations that could also be considered in other Mediterranean countries that are in the process of designing or implementing similar policies. On the eve of the 21st century and in light of Malta's eventual accession in the European Union, several fundamental measures still need to be introduced and enforced, the most important being those concerning food safety and quality.     

不同类型国家对外开放政策的比较

不管是老牌工业化国家还是新兴工业化国家，其工业化过程一般是和经济对外开放过程紧密结合在一起的。由于这些国家在规模、自然资源以及科技水平等方面存在着巨大差异，从而使其所实行的对外开放政策有着很大区别。比较这些差异和区别，分析其对工业化所产生的不同影响，对于正确制定我国的对外开放政策，从而促进我国的工业化进程，有着重大现实意义。     

我国公共政策执行失灵的原因及其矫正探讨

公共政策执行在政策过程中处于十分重要的地位，它直接影响着政策目标的实现。由于许多因素的影响，在政策执行过程中往往会产生失灵的现象，引起经济、政治、社会生活的无序和混乱。文章分析了公共政策执行失灵的原因．并提出了相应的解决对策，以提高公共政策执行的有效一陛。     

Strategic decision analysis: Applied decision analysis and its role in the strategic management process

This paper examines a role for applied decision analysis in the strategic management process. It is argued that decision analysis should be regarded both as a heuristic and a ‘thinking’ algorithm for decision structuring and problem diagnosis and, in addition, as an input to the process of policy dialogue. A policy dialogue paradigm using decision analysis is outlined, in which various viewpoints are reconciled by the questioning of analyses and assumptions. This dialogue paradigm is viewed as being compatible with approaches such as strategic assumptions analysis, which have been suggested in the literature as an aid for the processes of problem finding, formulation and solution.     

The reluctant regulator: The Rural Utilities Service and American broadband policy

Drawing on the increasing body of literature on policy stakeholders and the ever-growing acknowledgement that communication policy is crafted by more than just parliamentarians and formal communication regulators this paper examines the role that another set of regulators plays in communication policy: agriculture regulators. Based on a study of the United States Department of Agriculture's Rural Utilities Service (RUS), this paper explores alternative agents of communication policy. More specifically, through document analysis we examine the way in which the Rural Utilities Service has shaped rural broadband policy in the United States over the last three decades. The implications for this research are wide, as it brings another policy actor into the policy making melee, and pushes communication policy scholars to consider the role that non-traditional communication regulators play in the communication policy making process.     

Measurement of competitiveness in smallholder livestock systems and emerging policy advocacy: An application to Botswana

Farm level cross sectional data of 556 randomly selected livestock producers were used to investigate the competitiveness of smallholder beef farmers in Botswana. The results show the presence of inefficiency, with about 74% of the variation in actual profit from maximum profit (profit frontier) between farms mainly arising from differences in farmers’ practices rather than random variability. Further the mean profit efficiency level of 0.58 suggests that there is a substantial scope to improve beef profitability in Botswana. Significant profit efficiency drivers include, among others, education, distance to market, herd size, access to information and access to income from crop production. Considering the importance of livestock sector for wealth creation and poverty eradication in the rural areas where poverty is more pronounced, there is a need for appropriate development strategies and policies directed towards addressing these factors. In particular there is need to invest in market infrastructure in order to improve market access, hence profit efficiency of smallholder livestock farmers.     

Network policy formation between idealist and strategic models: a political economy perspective from Turkey

Two models of telecom reform, the Idealist and the Strategic, can be applied to the network policy formation process. The Idealist model, which is manifested in the rhetoric of the emerging global governance regime of telecommunication networks, amounts to a policy of exclusion in developing countries not only in the sense of teledensity, but also regarding the network policy formation process as well. The scope of the policy sphere has been reduced to purportedly competitive markets ignoring socio-economic development, the economy as a whole, local production and technology capabilities, research and development, innovation systems and the potential for using markets as instruments. Disconnecting long-range planning of the government and “independent regulator's” policies can be added to the list of excluded possibilities. Based on Turkey's experience, the strategic model is more appropriate both for understanding the formation of network policies and for designing participatory policy formation mechanisms. As the number of agents involved in the policy formation process diversifies and increases in the true sense, outcomes more closely resemble a Strategic approach. Thus, in trying to understand network policy formation, a new dimension should be added to the Strategic/Idealist dichotomy: top–down or participatory.     

近年来厄瓜多尔石油政策演变及风险服务合同要点

自2007年左翼政府上台执政以来,厄瓜多尔的石油资源国有化政策经过临时措施、法理准备和合同变更三个阶段,历时四年,现已完成服务合同谈判.厄政府通过颁布新宪法规定国家对石油等不可再生资源享有唯一管辖权,国家从这些资源的开发利用上获得的收益不能低于任何参与开发的合同者;通过修改石油法,规定风险服务合同为该国主要使用的石油合同模式,建立以每桶服务费率为基础的服务费支付机制,以法律条文形式规定原石油合同转换为服务合同的谈判截止日期;政府利用签订服务合同限定了承包商的收入,彻底消除油价上涨带给承包商的超额收入,同时要求承包商自担所有风险.综合考虑厄石油政策的变更规律,认为其石油政策环境进入一个相对稳定期.在厄发展的石油公司应在把握机会的同时,清醒认识和评估政策风险.     

Can information and communication technologies be pro-poor?

There is over 20 years of accumulated cross-country evidence on the link between telecommunications provision and economic growth. Looking at micro-studies from a range of countries including Bangladesh, Botswana and Zimbabwe, there is also some evidence that provision of telephony has a dramatic effect on the income and quality of life of the rural poor. This paper examines cross-country evidence to discover if teledensity (the number of telephones per capita) has a pro-poor growth impact—fostering increased average incomes while reducing inequality. It also examines the impact of telecommunications rollout on quality of life variables including infant mortality and literacy. It finds that, historically, telecommunications rollout has had a positive and significant impact on increasing inequality and little impact on quality of life variables. A reason for this is tested and preliminarily confirmed that rollout has (historically) only benefited the wealthy. The paper will then turn to emerging evidence on the role of the Internet in poverty relief and statistics on the access gap in provision between rich and poor, suggesting that this new ICT will also be a force for income divergence. Using the results of the cross-country analysis on telecommunications, the paper will conclude with a discussion of potential policy responses (such as sector reform and universal access programs) to turn telecommunications from a source of growth that also increases inequality to a source of growth that diminishes it.     

Adoption and policy implications of Japan’s new corporate governance practices after the reform

In this paper we explain the process and policy implications of Japanese firms’ adoption of recently reformed corporate governance practices. We use a selective adaptation framework in doing so. We present some qualitative predictions about the possible outcome of their adoption process. One advantage of our approach is that we can describe various aspects of the evolutionary process of Japan’s corporate governance reform as a system in a consistent manner, rather than as independent pieces. Our predictions provide policy implications and are empirically testable. Japan’s post-bubble corporate governance reform has been extensive and involves the enactment and revisions of many relevant laws and affected institutions. Japan’s aim has been to install US-like practices (the de facto global standard), with these practices replacing the now tarnished bank-centered practices, and to facilitate Japanese industry in regaining global competitiveness. However, we show that Japanese businesses’ adoption of US practices has been selective and efficiency and other policy implications of such behavior are potentially dysfunctional.     

Food aid and nutrition: The case of Botswana

Food aid is widely used to stimulate and sustain nutrition projects. Christopher Stevens examines the link between the two by reference to a single case study. Botswana has received more WFP food aid per head than any other state, and has used much of it on continuous feeding projects. While the programmes are potentially very important for the poorest groups, they miss many who are in need. Nevertheless, they have achieved a good deal, possibly in ways that are not yet fully recognised, and represent an interesting use of foreign aid to support recurrent expenditure.     

Agricultural policy decisions in the EC : Consequences of institutional imbalance

In almost all developed countries agriculture is protected by state interventions of a differing nature and degree, subject to political decisions. These decisions are determined by the institutional framework of the relevant decision-making process. In this article it is demonstrated that the institutional framework of the EC differs to a large degree from those in most parliamentary democracies. Such institutional peculiarities favour the transformation of political interests of farmers into decisions on farm policy by the Council of Ministers largely because of a lack of countervailing checks.     

Assessing the technological capabilities of firms: developing a policy tool

The development of technological capabilities results from an extended learning process and external policy agents can play an important role in its development. This paper outlines trends in governmental and non-governmental policy initiatives and the use of concepts such as capability and absorptive capacity, which are positioned within generic-staged models of capability maturity. This paper describes the development of a technology capability assessment/audit tool that has been designed to help locate firms within four archetypes based upon their level of maturity on nine key dimensions of the management of technology. The tool is intended to help bridge the gap between our theoretical understanding of the principles of technology management and policy practice – allowing policy makers to design mechanisms that focus resources in areas of greatest need through the appropriate selection of policy mechanisms and the targeted design of policy. The use of this tool in field experiments is described along with the implications for policy making.     

Digital divide in a developing country

Enthusiasm for the benefits of the information revolution is boundless; it promises to provide economic opportunity, growth and democratic communication. Yet, these promises are fulfilled only to those with access and competence to use these new technologies. Stark international and national contrasts exist between those who have access to the information technologies and those who have not. Despite the increasing attention digital divide issues have received in the public arena, in the academic literature, there is no consensus regarding the appropriate policy to implement. This paper draws on the different policy trajectories recommended by the literature of telecommunications development and uses them as an analytical lens to examine the case of a developing country like Mexico. It explores the underpinnings of the digital divide in Mexico and provides the data that substantiates the concept. The argument in this paper is that the Social Capital concept is useful in the design and implementation of a universal access policy. From this standpoint, the focus of the debate moves beyond short-term supply considerations to dynamic issues such as technological adoption in an asset-based community development.