Local Government Modernization: UK and Comparative Analysis from an Organizational Perspective

This article analyses three strands of local government modernization. The first takes an overview of the development of 'modernization' and 'improvement' of local government in the UK under the Labour government since 1997 and the overall programme of reform. We discuss both the shifts and the continuities with the previous decade and a half of the 'new public management' of Conservative administrations. We examine the implicit assumptions about how to achieve organizational and cultural change, arguing that much modernization is premised on a mechanistic metaphor of organizational change. The second section of the article examines other metaphors and theories of organizational change, arguing for the need to consider institutional and organizational perspectives in analysing local government modernization. The third section of the article then applies some organizational concepts to the comparative analysis of local government modernization.     

房价,地方政府与经济人行为逻辑

房价持续快速上涨的原因是多方面的,地方政府的行为值得认真分析,本文认为借助经济人假设能很好地分析地方政府表现出的房价助推行为是为了自身利益的最大化,因此对中央政府的宏观调控不会认真对待.解决这一问题,也应该重视经济人行为逻辑,进行体制改革.     

债务率、偿债压力与地方债务的经济增长效应

研究目标：中国地方政府债务对于经济增长的门限效应。研究方法：基于债务率,即债务存量与地方政府综合财力的比值的视角,利用中国30个省份2010~2014年年底的地方债务余额数据,对地方债务的经济增长效应进行了实证研究。研究发现：中国地方债务存在明显的经济增长门限效应：当债务率高于112%左右之后,原本正向显著的经济增长促进作用基本趋近于无,而其作用渠道可以明确为如下传导机制,债务率高企带来地方政府偿债压力从而影响经济发展导向的财政支出。研究创新：引入债务率指标并基于偿债压力视角分析了地方债务对于经济增长的作用机制。研究价值：对于我国地方政府债务的管控治理和风险防范,具有重要的参考价值。     

耕地保护、地方政府道德风险与土地管理体制变革

地方政府道德风险在土地管理制度中起着关键性作用.地方政府道德风险造成地方政府土地管理行为变异而使中央政府保护耕地的政策目标难以实现.不彻底的土地垂直管理体制变革并不能有效防范地方政府道德风险的发生.现实的对策是改变政绩导向,彻底改革土地管理制度.     

Organizational Ambidexterity at the Local Government Level: The effects of managerial focus

Abstract

The aim of this article is to explore how managerial focus influences organizational ambidexterity in different organizational forms at the local government level. An entrepreneurial, leadership, or stakeholder managerial focus will each find reflection in the simultaneous pursuit of exploration and exploitation of resources, and the influence will differ with the organizational form, i.e. whether a local government administration (LGA), or a local government corporation (LGC). Hypotheses are tested on Swedish public organizations operating in the waste management and water and sewerage industries. The findings indicate that LGCs have higher levels of organizational ambidexterity, and that the determinants differ from those in LGAs.     

The Government Service Delivery Project: A Case Study of the Push and Pull of Central Government Coordination

Fragmentation and the lack of appropriately coordinated government services are widely considered to be costly problems impeding effective and efficient government service provision. Moreover, there is a growing realization that many modern social issues have developed into meta-problems that cannot be resolved by the traditional single agency approach. Coordination of services through more cooperative and collaborative networks of relationships between government agencies has become a preferred strategy for many public administrators. This article gives an account of a public sector initiative aimed at enhancing service provision through the formation and management of interdepartmental networks of coordinative and cooperative action. It concludes that although networks are a useful mechanism of social coordination, their inherent benefits may be jeopardized when network management issues make them vulnerable to pressures from the centre.     

The Non-Profit Sector,Government and Business: Partners in the dance of change - an Irish perspective

The relationship between the Irish non-profit sector and the two other key sectoral actors in Irish society - government and business - forms the focus of this paper. It commences with an overview of the Irish non-profit sector, providing insights into its long rich history and current status. Next, the relationship between non-profits and the public sector is considered, charting the changes which have occured over time. Moving to the corporate sector, the concept of corporate social responsibility is explored briefly and information is provided on the extent of business support for Irish nonprofits. The discussion then broadens to examine the patterns of interaction between these three sectors and explores how their relationship can be enhanced in the future.     

Finding a Bowling Partner: The Role of Stakeholders in Activating Civil Society in Germany,Spain and the United Kingdom

An 'activism index', combining data on membership of civil associations and societies and the level of activism suggests that, notwithstanding cultural differences, civil activism in European countries could be a great deal higher than its current level. If higher civic participation is to be achieved, each stakeholder group within local governance can play an 'activation' role in relation to citizens, both as individuals and in relation to the voluntary organizations which represent citizens in their collective activities. In practice, different stakeholder groups play this role in widely differing ways in the contexts of Germany, Spain and the UK. In the future, we can expect the lead role in activating civil society in each country to be taken by different stakeholders, depending on the trust currently placed in them by other stakeholders in the community and by the resources which they command.     

The Context of Entrepreneurial Judgment: Organizations,Markets, and Institutions

The economics and management literatures pay increasing attention to the technological, competitive, and institutional environment for entrepreneurship. However, less is known about how context influences the judgment of entrepreneurs. Focusing on the emerging judgment‐based approach to entrepreneurship, we argue that economics can say much about how the organizational, market, and institutional context shapes entrepreneurial judgment. We describe entrepreneurs as individuals who deploy scarce, heterogeneous resources to service customer preferences at a profit. Because of uncertainty, this process is essentially experimental, and context influences the experimental process. Thus, entrepreneurs will seek to design the internal organization of the firm so that it facilitates internal experimentation. Moreover, the market or task environment determines the need for experimentation (e.g., how fast do consumer preferences change, how does technology evolve, which assets are available at which terms, etc.). Finally, the institutional environment influences, for example, the transaction costs of acquiring and divesting assets as firms adjust their boundaries through ongoing commercial experimentation.     

Sovereign wealth funds,productivity and people: The impact of Norwegian Government Pension Fund‐Global investments in the United Kingdom

Sovereign wealth funds have an increasing presence in the global financial ecosystem, principally through their investments in equities, which, in turn, may influence HRM. This study examines the influence of the world's largest sovereign wealth fund, the Norwegian Government Pension Fund‐Global (NGPF‐G), on employment in its U.K. investee firms. We find that firms with NGPF‐G investment are significantly less likely to reduce their demand for labour, more specifically in the immediate aftermath of the 2008 financial crisis. When a drop in the demand for labour does occur, it is less extreme when compared to similar organisations without a NGPF‐G shareholding, and this is evident even in the case of relatively small NGPF‐G investments. These findings are in line with the fund's objective of promoting corporate sustainability and Norwegian values. We draw out the key implications of our findings for HR practice.     

Efficiency in Third Sector Partnerships for Delivering Local Government Services: The role of economies of scale,scope and learning

Abstract

Third sector partnerships are under pressure to change in the light of the increasing cost pressures on local public services. The literature throws doubt on the level of economies of scale and suggests that more attention should be given to economies of scope and learning. The common conflation of economies of size with economies of scale has led policymakers to overemphasize larger scale providers and has distorted the strategies which third sector organizations have adopted, pushing them towards mergers and consortia based on scale.     

The Spatial Effects of Wage or Property Tax Differentials, and Local Government Choice between Tax Instruments

This paper considers the spatial effects (on wages, employment, and business capital as functions of location) of a localized differential in source-based wage tax rates or business property tax rates between (for example) a central city and the surrounding suburbs. A simple model is used in which business production uses only labor and capital inputs. Consumers have fixed residential locations but may commute to work. Wage and property tax differentials have effects that are similar in some ways but different in other ways. If given a choice, a local government would choose to set its business property tax rate equal to zero and use only a wage tax.     

Work stress and leadership development: The role of self-leadership, shared leadership, physical fitness and flow in managing demands and increasing job control

Leaders work in highly stressful environments, yet few leadership development efforts have focused on managing work stress. We posit that self- and shared leadership practices can help leaders manage high job demands and increase long-term job control. We examine the effects of high-strain jobs; identify the outcomes of active jobs, and highlight physical fitness as a key strategy of, and flow as a natural outcome of self- and shared leadership. We argue that self- and shared leadership, and the consequent and entailed fitness and flow benefits, support healthful regeneration and increased engagement and are thus vital to the leader's ability to manage work stress and create an active work environment. Our multi-disciplinary model offers a proactive way for leaders to manage the stressful demands of today's work environments.     

产权配置、地方政府干预与上市公司资产剥离——基于同属管辖交易视角的研究

本文以2004-2005年沪深A股上市公司资产剥离事件为研究对象,基于同属管辖交易的视角,研究地方政府如何借助产权的配置(不同的产权属性与层级),影响上市公司资产剥离的交易行为以及这种交易行为的财富效应。研究发现,财政分权导致的地方政府干预是形成上市公司资产剥离同属管辖交易行为的一个主要因素,不同产权下资产剥离的同属管辖交易行为呈现显著差异,相对于中央政府控制和非政府控制的上市公司而言,地方政府控制的上市公司更倾向于进行资产剥离同属管辖交易;市场给予上市公司资产剥离的整体反应是消极的,且同属交易与非同属交易公司在资产剥离交易宣告期间的财富效应不存在显著差异。     

VE/VM的理论发展:困惑、机遇和挑战(Ⅱ)——国外VE/VM的理论和应用研究进展

在国外,VE/VM理论研究进展的一个主要方面就是将现有的VE/VM与当今新出现的一些创新管理理念和方法结合起来,这些理论和方法包括:环境成本生命周期分析方法(Life Cycle Environmental Cost Analysis,LCECA)、信息支持思维方法(Information Support Process-based Thinking,ISP/T)、6 Sigma管理方法、组织和团队理论、创造性问题解决策略(Creative Problem Solving Strategies,CPSS)、发明性问题解决(Theory of Inventive Problem Solving,TRIZ)方法、复杂生产系统(Complex product systems,CoPS)、战略管理、系统方法论(SM)、等。通过这种结合,开阔了VE/VM原有的思维模式和视野。同时在提升VE/VM的应用绩效上比较明显。     

International Comparisons of Labour Productivity in Transport and Communications: The US,the UK and Germany

We construct benchmark estimates of labour productivity covering the transport and communications sectors for the US, UK and Germany for 1992 and 1993. The US lead is substantial in rail and trucking, even after adjusting for differences in stage length, but Britain leads in air transport and all three countries have similar productivity levels in local transport. In telecommunications and postal services the US enjoys a large lead over both the UK and Germany. We compare these estimates based on industry data with ones derived from the national accounts and find them similar in communications but not in transport. For 1973–96, and also 1989–96, productivity was growing slower in the US, hence some of the gap has been closed.     

The choice of tax base by local authorities: voter preferences, special interest groups, and tax base diversification

We analyze local jurisdictions’ behaviors when selecting the type of tax levied in support of local services. Our analysis focuses on taxes that must be approved by voters. Taxes differ in their incidence; thus, even when proposed revenue amounts are held constant, voting patterns and the aggregate level of voter support differ among potential revenue sources. We use a general model of political cost minimization to derive three hypotheses about local tax authorities’ behaviors. Using Ohio school district data, we find that the expected probability of passage is a highly important determinant of tax choice. Further, there is evidence that special interest groups wield influence greater than their direct impact on voting behavior, and evidence that tax authorities attempt to diversify their tax structure.