Changes in european defence procurement and industrial capabilities

The impact of defence procurement on a country's industrial and technological base can be considerable—among NATO countries, the USA, Britain and France stand out in this regard. Equally, concern is also often expressed about how to safeguard the civil technology base as a necessary foundation for security, broadly conceived. This article examines the changes taking place in the UK, and more broadly in Europe, regarding defence procurement: first, by examining arguments and events regarding defence R&D; and second, through analysing procurement issues relating especially to industrial structures and strategies. Much strategic repositioning by firms is currently taking place, often encouraged by governments, who seem to lack adequate means of regulating the restructuring, thereby creating unintended problems.     

HIGH AND LOW BIDS IN TENDERS: STRATEGIC PRICING AND OTHER BIDDING BEHAVIOUR IN PUBLIC TENDERS OF PASSENGER RAILWAY SERVICES

ABSTRACT ** :  An important component in the deregulation of the public sector in the European Union is public procurement of services and products. This article studies the bidding behaviour of firms participating in public tenders of passenger railway services in Sweden. In a theoretical part of the article we discuss the various possible reasons behind high and low bids in tenders, linked to a discussion on pricing strategies and continuous and discontinuous economies of scale regarding costs of production. Detailed data on bids and bidders in Swedish tenders of railway services are then analyzed. 37 tenders taking place between 1989 and 2005 are included.     

Technology management view of conversion from defence to civil production: experiences from southern california

This paper examines from a technology management perspective the prospects for conversion within the US military industrial complex from defence to civil production. After the introduction, the second section establishes a theoretical framework for the analysis, and the concept of conversion is critically examined. This section concludes, among other things, that firms can be perceived as a function of their core skills and their strategic alliances. In the next section, US defence production is discussed from a technology management perspective. Then there is an examination of three firms strategies to develop a competitive advantage in civil commercial markets: edploitation of the defence technological base; organizational and institutional changes; initiatives to affect the socio-economic framework. The success criteria for coping with reduced defence spending are established at frim, individual, local and national levels, and the firms performance with respect to these success criteria are evaluated. A major conclusion is that elements of industrial restructuring constitute an essential—although not sufficient—part of a successful transition to an economy less devoted to defence.     

USING COMMERCIAL DISCIPLINE TO IMPROVE AUSTRALIAN DEFENCE PROCUREMENT: MISPLACED ENTHUSIASM?

Australia, like other democracies, has long sought to improve the efficiency and effectiveness of procurement for national defence. A recent review exhorted Defence procurement managers to exert greater “commercial discipline.” Similar calls have been made in other countries. This paper tests such public sector emulation of commercial practice by comparing the relative effectiveness of procurement via in‐house arrangements; a public procurement agency detached from Defence; and privatized provision. We show that what matters is not public or private ownership but how ownership and management are integrated and what incentive structures are applied. (JEL H44)     

The defence industry as a locomotive for technological renewal in Russia: are the conditions in place?

This article examines the extent to which the conditions for successful military to civilian technological spin-offs are in place in Russia. This is important because Russian authorities use the potential for such spin-offs as one of several arguments for justifying large defence expenditure. Six conditions are identified, all of which are derived from the theoretical literature on the transfer of technology from the military to civilian sector. We conclude that despite some government efforts to generate spin-offs by providing technology brokering, and despite some joint military–civilian technological development taking place within defence industry enterprises, most of the conditions required to generate substantial technology transfer from the military to civilian sector are not present in Russia.     

The Russian budgetary process and defence: finding the ‘golden mean’

Abstract

In Russia the budgetary process for defence is broadly similar to that for other sectors but is characterised by a considerable degree of secrecy, limiting the role of parliament and any form of effective social control. The article examines the main actors and features of the defence budgetary process, the system of state secrecy, and explores the issue that generates the most conflict between the ministries of finance and defence, namely the long-term state armament programme.     

东北老工业基地振兴基础研究

东北老工业基地拥有丰富的自然资源、巨大的存量资产、良好的产业基础和明显的科教优势，是极富后发优势的地区。但东三省市场化程度低，国有经济比重高，企业设备和技术老化。资源型城市主导产业衰退，经济发展活力不足。实施东北老工业基地振兴战略，将其调整改造、发展成为新型产业基地，对于促进地区经济社会协调发展、保障国防安全，具有重要的战略意义。     

Capabilities, strategy and environment: the adaptation of the UK military aircraft industry to the Post-Cold war environment

This paper examines how companies in the UK' military aircraft industry have responded to the post-Cold War environment of reduced defence budgets. Giwen the substantial devline in levels of global defence spending since 1989, it is perhaps surprising that few companies have attempted to diversift out of defence markets. This paper considers the extent to which defence market environment has influenced the organizational capabilities possessed by companies potentially limiting their relevance to other markets, thus constraining the diversification opportunities available. The explanation suggested here is largely neo-Schumpeterain, where a company's interaction with, and interpretation of, its market environment results in it possessing rather specific and non-general capabilities. However, the natue of organizational capabilities was not found to be an adequate explanation on its own for the company strategy observed. Rather, strategy was as much influenced by the corporate focus on short-term economic considerations and the policy of central government towards both defence procurement changes and the lack of support given to diverisifications.     

Identification of industrial complexes from the input-output tables of Canada and the USA: Some empirical tests

In large disaggregated input-output tables the conventional practice of triangularizied hierarchy of industries may not always work. Very often there are sets of industries which are mutually related by backward and forward linkages such that they represent coherent groups that are unrelated to the remaining industries in terms of transactions taking place in the input-output tables. To identify such coherent sets or blocks of industries which we call industrial complexes in the input-output tables has been the major objective of this paper. An algorithm is designed to meet this objective that also avoids the irrelevance and complications of the multivariate analyses that are usually applied to such a search.Some empirical tests are then performed to discover the industrial complexes from the input-output tables of Canada, 1961 and 1966, and the US, 1963.     

制造业产业升级视角下低碳技术创新机制研究

以低碳技术创新促进制造业产业升级是我国减少碳排放、应对全球气候变暖及产业结构升级的客观需要。在对低碳技术创新机制进行分析时,将其分为动力机制、技术主体选择机制、扩散机制、倒逼机制和保障机制,以此为基础构建了制造业产业升级低碳技术创新机制模型,并以黑龙江省装备制造业为例,运用协同理论对其运行效果进行实证分析。结果表明：目前制造业产业升级低碳技术创新仍然处于被动发展阶段;从短期看,倒逼机制和扩散机制的作用最显著;从长期看,主体选择机制作用的发挥更有利于创新机制良好、持续地运行;在变被动为主动的过程中,政府宏观调控发挥了重要作用。     

Sources and directions of technological accumulation in France: a statistical comparison with FR Germany and the UK

Technological activities are an important determinant of national economic performance. Data on R&D and on the national origins of patenting in the USA show that, compared to those of FR Germany and the UK, French technological activities have the following characteristics: (1) a relatively high rate of growth over the past 20 years in aggregate activity; (2) concentration of technological strength in sectors dominated by state procurement and related R&D funding, rather than in “core” technologies; (3) stronger performance in fast-growing technologies in defence, electrical products and fine chemicals, than in electronics and motor vehicles; (4) a relatively stable and speialized sectoral pattern of technological strengths and weaknesses; and (5) sectoral patterns of trading strengths and weaknesses that broadly reflect those in technology. These characteristics of France's technological activities cannot be explained by their greater or lesser concentration, which is very similar to that found in both FR Germany and the UK, both in aggregate and in specific sectors. As in the other two countries, a few large firms have a major influence on national technological activities, especially in R&D-intensive sectors and automobiles. These results are on the whole consistent with the recent assessment by INSEE and CEPII of France's competitive position in international markets. However, they do show a strong Franch “niche” in technologies linked to state markets, and they do suggest certain advantages in long-term stability, rather than rapaid change, in technological priorities.     

An Interactive Economic Policy Approach to Manage Structural Change: The case of industry conversion in the German state of Bremen

The present paper deals with (1) the regional experience of a severe and sudden structural change sometimes faced by regions and cities which display considerable industrial specialisation, and (2) a proactive regional economic policy response: it offers a theoretical explanation of this policy and discusses the basic philosophy behind it, the agents involved, the instruments it employs and its effects. The German state (Land) of the Free Hanseatic City of Bremen is a port and industry centre that has not only had considerable experience of industrial decline, but also of proactive industrial policy involvement. In addition, being the centre of the defence industry in northern Germany, Bremen experienced dramatic structural change due to the disarmament process that occurred during the 1990s. Bremen's industrial defence conversion approach has been widely considered as a case for further developing network forms of regional economic policy and for a managed industrial diversification strategy. It has indeed developed as a way to manage industrial change during the last ten years. This paper will discuss (1) the basic industrial problem; (2) some background conditions needed for success; (3) the approach and instruments developed; (4) the results obtained; and (5) a theoretical consideration on the basis of the experience.     

黑龙江省老工业基地产业调整中金融支持的对策分析

黑龙江省是全国重要的老工业基地,长期积累的结构性、机制性矛盾比较突出。在产业结构调整中需要得到各方面的支持,特别是金融的扶持。在延伸传统产业链条、发展接续中,应针对黑龙江省经济发展的特殊属性,借鉴国外老工业基地改造中资金筹集经验和融资模式,制定产业结构优化的金融政策、设计支持产业调整的金融体系模式、构建产业调整中的金融支持系统。     

面向科技创新中心建设的产业知识基础评析

产业知识基础发展现状评析是科技创新中心发展决策的重要依据。在对解析型、综合型、符号型3类产业知识基础进行分类辨析的基础上，分析了不同类型产业知识基础对科技创新中心的推进路径及其发展策略，并以北京科技创新中心为例，对北京产业知识基础进行分类测算和评析。研究结果显示：解析型知识基础与城市经济发展水平有较强关系，符号型知识基础与其它类型产业知识基础的相关性较弱，一般需要转型的城市相对来说综合型知识基础水平较高。相对于全国大多数城市，北京综合型、解析型和符号型3类知识基础均较强，1998-2014年呈现出逐渐上升态势，但仍需继续强化解析型知识基础和符号型知识基础产业。     

Public procurement policy and the Czech industry

The aim of this paper is to specify the extent of buy-national policies of the Czech Republic and the impact of opening its public procurement market to domestic production and employment due to the Europe Agreements of 1995. Two series of indicators are proposed for measuring the impact of Czech buy-national policies. The first series outlines the behavior of the public sector vis-à-vis domestic production and imports. The second series sketches the industrial structure of the sectors which, following the above analysis, seem to be protected by preferential public procurement. The interaction of both series of indicators can provide information about the level of protection in terms of public procurement on a sectoral level. This paper is part of the Phare Program of Action for Cooperation in Economics, a research project launched by the Commission of the European Union. The authors gratefully acknowledge contributions by Andrew Cox and anonymous project referees. The authors are responsible for any remaining errors.     

高校政府采购中的风险及其防范

作为政府采购的重要组成部分,高校政府采购在其发展过程中面临着更多的风险,如时间风险、预算风险、信息风险、价格风险、腐败风险等。因此,分析这些风险形成的成因,采取灵活多样的采购方式,强化预算编制,提高信息透明度,辅之以加强监督检查,才能更有效地强化对高校政府采购风险的控制与管理。     

International Trade, Technological Development, and Agglomeration

The paper focuses on how localized dynamic external economies of scale may cause uneven technological development internationally, and encourage regional agglomeration of industries. Location-specific technological progress depends on the absolute number of local innovating firms, and the relative number of innovating firms; i.e., the share of economic activity in a region that takes place within the innovating sector. The creation of industrial clusters contributes to explaining regional specialization, factor prices and welfare, and it appears that the critical size of a region regarding its ability to sustain an industrial cluster depends on whether factors of production are internationally mobile.     

振兴东北老工业基地与内蒙经济发展区域协作的基本思路

东北三省和内蒙古东部组成的东北经济区,是我国最早形成并在结构上相对完整的大经济区,有着区域经济协作的天然条件和深厚基础。在振兴东北老工业基地的战略规划和实施中,要以区域经济一体化思想为指导,站在地区分工与协作的高度,分析和研究振兴东北老工业基地与内蒙古经济发展的相互关系,区域协作的阻滞性因素、协作的主体领域以及推进三省一区区域经济协作的总体措施,以实现要素区域间优化配置,从而加快振兴东北老工业基地的进程,使东北大经济区成为我国第四经济增长极。     

Patient care automation: the future is now. Part 5. The role of technology

A number of technical issues have been considered in this article; such issues need to be considered in a patient care systems procurement after the philosophic base of the system has been established.     

培育经济发展新动能的技术、产业、政策机理研究

伴随着国际、国内经济形势发生深刻变化，我国经济过去主要依靠投资、劳动力、自然资源投入的粗放型发展模式已经难以为继，急需培育促进经济实现高质量发展的新动能。现有成果主要围绕技术基础、产业载体及政策制度等培育经济发展新动能的丰富内涵和多样化模式展开，针对内在机理的探讨较少。从新兴技术对产业结构优化起基础支撑作用、新兴产业载体释放经济新动能、市场与政府相结合的政策制度助力经济高质量发展三大维度论述基本原理，系统梳理新兴技术聚合迸发新动能、传统产业升级培育新动能以及政策制度创新生成新动能3种主要模式。最后，提出以推动技术引领发展、促进产业调整升级和出台政策“靶向支撑”为核心的“创新链-产业链-政策链”对策建议。