Discourses of privatisation: the case of South Africa's water sector

The neoliberal offensive incipient during the 1970s matured into a globally hegemonic discourse during the 1990s. Developing countries like South Africa have their own peculiar brand of neoliberalism. This has taken various forms in South Africa, one of which is privatisation. Its discursive origins may be traced to key thinkers and institutions. And while there is a general discourse of privatisation there also exist sub-discourses in particular sectors, such as the water services sector. This paper examines the way a general discourse of privatisation evolved in South Africa and how this discourse has filtered into water services delivery. It argues that key role players and institutions acted as disseminators of a discourse of privatisation in the water services sector.     

From share issue privatisation to non‐tradable share reform: a review of privatisation in China

Privatisation in China has proceeded on a gradual path over 30 years. In this paper, we present a detailed review of China's privatisation programmes from its Share Issue Privatisation (SIP) to its Non‐tradable Share (NTS) reform. The SIP was a primary offering process with state‐owned enterprises (SOEs) issuing new shares to private investors, but after their Initial Public Offering (IPO) approximately two‐thirds of the shares remained non‐tradable and were mainly held by the government. The SIP achieved only limited success because of its partial trading and partial privatisation, which led to the implementation of the NTS reform in 2005. The NTS reform aimed to dismantle the split share structure and provide opportunities for improving corporate governance and further privatisation. The review shows that the NTS reform has yielded greater success in improving firm performance and corporate governance than the SIP.     

Private sector response to stabilization policy: A case study

The problem studied relates to the monetary policy employed by Leslie M. Shaw, Secretary of the Treasury, 1902–1907. Secretary Shaw initiated active intervention in the New York City money market to relieve the pressure on bank reserves and interest rates which accompanied the annual autumn specie drain. The empirical results suggest that the banks anticipated Shaw's policy of depositing government funds into the banks, and made fewer preparations for autumn drain of specie. The deposit policy was not carried out in a timely and adequate fashion in 1907, the banks were not in position to meet the outflow of specie, and thus this paper helps explain the occurrence of the Panic of 1907.     

Alliance for production: Mexico's incentives for private sector industrial development

The paper examines the tax-credit programme incorporated in the Industrial Plan introduced by the Lopez-Portillo administration (1976–1982). It discusses the objectives of industrial planning in Mexico at that time, and in particular the attempt to use fiscal incentives to guide private sector investment into priority areas. It argues that a priori the effectiveness of the tax-credit programme set out in the plan is questionable as a means of achieving this objective. Data on recent industrial developments in Mexico are examined to see the degree to which they cast light on the question.     

The terms of trade between the public and private sector

Summary Budgetary policy mostly deals with the short run, during which period technology and factor endowments change only slightly. In the longer run, however, the capital-labour ratio may rise systematically and the productivity of the resources may increase due to technical progress. Consequently prices and outputs change and the real wage rate will increase. As public services are labour-intensive the relative price of public expenditure will also be leveled up. If, furthermore, the volume of public expenditure grows at the same rate as the national income, an increase of the, relative size of the public sector becomes unavoidable.     

A reapraisal of the capital goods sector in Hong Kong: The case for free trade

This paper was provoked by an earlier one by Fransman (1982) in which he examined the functioning of the capital goods sector in Hong Kong and came to the conclusion that it needed special protection by the government to allow it to reap the benefits of externalities essential for increasing its design and production capabilities. Statistical evidence is provided indicating that the capital goods sector as conventionally defined is prospering. Even following Fransman (1982), and equating the capital goods sector with the machine-producing sector, the latest survey of production indicates considerable dynamism. His case for infant industry protection is further weakened by consideration of the nature of the particular industrial structure of Hong Kong and the quality of the social relations that prevail between entrepreneurs. It is argued that the costs of singling out the capital goods sector for special treatment in terms of the impact of the highly competitive export-oriented manufacturing sector are likely to be high, while the theoretical benefits from externalities are liable to be illusory in a small economy.     

The Botswana Development Corporation: Divestiture policy and citizen participation in the private sector

The Botswana Development Corporation, Botswana's most important agency for industrial and commercial development, assists in the development of viable businesses, with the emphasis on profit‐making and earning acceptable returns on investment. Its policy is to divest from mature and successful ventures, ‐with the aim of raising capital for future investment, encouraging diversification and competition, and promoting citizen participation in private business ventures. The article considers the implementation of the policy with regard to two brewery companies. Its assessment is that the brewery divestments have had a positive but limited effect on economic participation by citizens and it concludes by suggesting policy and strategy reforms that would ensure sustainable private sector development.     

The experience of private investment in the South African water sector: The Mbombela Concession

South Africa is a water-stressed country that over a protracted period has suffered from poor water service delivery. The major problems are inefficient operations, lack of capacity in spending allocated budgets, unclear management structures, and a long-term decline in capital expenditure. Economists have long argued that private investment will bring good fiscal control and efficient structures and will improve service delivery. However, there may be trade-offs between this improved economic efficiency and the necessity to pursue more egalitarian social outcomes. The purpose of this research is to explore the experience of private-sector investment on operational efficiencies and social objectives in the South African water sector in the Mbombela Concession. The study concludes that, in this case, private investment has enhanced service delivery by improving efficiency, technical skills and the capacity to spend allocated budgets without any significant negative impacts on equitable water distribution.     

A model of labour productivity and union density in British private sector unionised establishments

In this paper, a micro theoretic model of the simultaneous determinationof labour productivity and union density is developed and estimatedusing British establishment-level data from the 1990 WorkplaceEmployee Relations Survey. The main empirical finding is thathigher union bargaining power does not necessarily lower labourproductive in union firms, ceteris paribus. Separate bargainingby multiple unions has a negative effect, but productivity ishigher if management recommends union membership. There is alsoevidence that if unions can more effectively provide servicesto their members, and secure management support for union membership,union density may recover.     

Factors affecting the upward mobility of black managers in private sector organizations

Compared to the 1970s blacks made less progress in moving into the managerial occupational category in the private sector during the 1980s decade. This study utilized a model of intrafirm mobility to examine the factors affecting the upward mobility of black managers in private sector organizations. Results indicated that line position experience, company seniority, mentor assistance, organization size, and the rate of job vacancies were the best predictors of management promotions. Implications of these findings for the economic prosperity of the black community are discussed.     

回归“现场主义”:丰田战略转型

2009年中国“逆势上扬”似乎将世界汽车产业拉出金融危机低谷,但这种繁荣不能掩盖其深层危机：能源、环境、安全等束缚着汽车产业的未来。战略转型已成为摆在全球企业面前的严峻课题。金融危机打破了丰田1950年以来58年长期盈利的神话,但它或许也是一种契机。丰田因此彻底反省其战略,大胆转型,回归“现场主义”。以其为基本方针,丰田实施了创建六极体制式全球战略,强化了本部制矩阵式组织,采取了回归与突破等产品战略。     

Children as income-producing assets: the case of teen illegitimacy and government transfers

This paper develops a classical model of the teen fertility decision in the presence of public income transfers. The theoretical model predicts that welfare payments will encourage fertility, holding constant other economic opportunities, and that better economic opportunities will discourage fertility. Considering the possible simultaneity of illegitimacy rates and benefit levels, due to the collective choice process, the authors confirm the theoretical model's predictions with state-level data from 1980 through 1990. The authors find that including fixed effects in the regression to control for unobserved differences between states does not sufficiently control for endogeneity. After controlling for endogeneity, real welfare benefits are strongly and robustly related to teen illegitimacy. The point estimates of the elasticity with respect to changes in the illegitimacy rate are around +1.3 for White teens and +2.1 for Black teens. Real wages for women with a high school education or less are negatively related to teen illegitimacy for White teens, with an elasticity of around -0.4. Finally, male wages appear to have little effect on the illegitimacy rate for White teens but appear negatively correlated with the illegitimacy rate for Black teens in some model specifications.     

Performance signals in the public sector: the case of health care

Although there are no traditional markets and money prices inthe public sector, consumers and providers may respond to signalsof organisational performance. We present a simple dynamic modelof the demand and supply for elective surgery in the UK NationalHealth Service in which waiting time acts as the prime indicatorof performance. The model is tested using a panel of quarterlydata for 123 English health authorities over an eight-year period.We find that supply is increasing and demand is decreasing inmeasures of the previous period waiting time. The results implythat health care systems which are rationed by waiting do respondto indicators of waiting times. The paper adds to the smallbut consistent body of research which demonstrates that publicsector systems respond to important aspects of reported performance.     

Residential renovation in the low income public housing sector: A case study in Merebank

Housing, an important research theme in development studies in recent years, is currently a central focus of concern in South Africa. Largely as a result of the inadequate supply of suitable housing the present trend among Indian households in the public sector in the Durban region is to renovate existing dwellings to suit their residential preferences and aspirations. This paper examines the nature of residential renovation in the public housing sector in order to identify and explain the processes that produce its occurrence, and to determine those factors which can be considered in policy formulation. The study was conducted in Merebank, a low income public housing scheme inhabited by Indians, and situated 15 km south of Durban. Changes in family size and composition, and a shortage of suitable housing, influenced the decision to renovate. The main concern was the addition of more space, especially bedrooms. Most of the renovations were undertaken on a self‐help basis, and financed from personal savings. Some of the problems experienced by renovators included: features of the original dwelling; building regulations; lack of loans; high interest rates; and shortage of materials. Access to finance, encouragement of self‐help improvement efforts, and flexibility in the design of low cost dwellings will help facilitate the residential renovation process.