THE MANAGEMENT OF NEW OFFICE TECHNOLOGY: CHOICE, CONTROL AND SOCIAL STRUCTURE IN THE INSURANCE INDUSTRY

Amongst the growing literature on the technical and social aspects of microelectronics in work organizations, a considerable portion has direct or indirect pertinence to the question of managerial practice. That segment of the literature relating to new office technology is perhaps especially conscious of this angle — not least because this sphere of innovation has a clear bearing on the managerial role itself. Drawing both on theoretical issues extracted from this literature, and on empirical studies in three insurance companies, it is argued that while control is of crucial long-term importance in shaping the general direction of organizational change using new technology, there are sound sociological reasons why the path which is beaten out in that direction remains a far from straight one. Moreover, while differences in organizational practice between these organizations are found to exist, these appear to be associated only indirectly with the diverse levels of technological sophistication.     

DETERMINANTS OF CITY GROWTH AND OUTPUT IN INDIA

To investigate what determines urban population and economic growth, the determinants of urban population growth and economic output in India are examined empirically. City growth and economic output regressions are estimated using several approaches. Since only growing areas are usually designated as towns, the urban population of districts that are larger geographical areas than cities are estimated. It is found that, at the district level, manufacturing has a positive impact on city size, and proximity to large cities causes nearby cities to be larger, reflecting agglomeration effects.     

INCIDENCE AND DETERMINANTS OF HOUSING UPGRADING IN CAIRO

Cairo is a very high density metropolis, where informal multi-unit housing accounts for a large share of the housing stock. Combined with a low residential mobility rate, this argues for dwelling improvements as a key element by which lower income homeowners can improve their housing circumstances. The article reports the extent of dwelling upgrading for this group and analyzes the determinants separately of both maintenance and major improvements. The analytic model is based on prior work, adjusted to the Egyptian context and available data. The incidence of improvements appears to be lower in Cairo than in more tropical megacities. However, the findings broadly confirm a general similarity in the determinants of housing investments by lower-income Cairene owners with those of lower income owners in more tropical locations. Three factors stand out: tenure security, household income, and the stimulation effects on investment of better infrastructure and poor dwelling conditions.     

FINANCIAL DISTRESS AND INDUSTRY STRUCTURE: AN INTER-INDUSTRY APPROACH TO THE LOST DECADE IN JAPAN

This paper proposes a novel approach to investigating the propagation mechanism of balance sheet deterioration in financial institutions and firms, by extending the input–output analysis. First, we use a unique input–output table augmented by firm size dimension. Second, we link the input–output table with the balance sheet conditions of financial institutions and firms. Based on Japanese input–output tables, we find that the lending attitude of financial institutions affected firms’ input decision in the late 1990s and the early 2000s. Simulation exercises are conducted to evaluate the effects of changes in the lending attitude toward small firms as favorable as that toward large firms on sectoral allocations. We find that output was increased for small firms and reduced for large firms. The change in output was non-negligible, about 5.5% of the initial output of each sector. In particular, it exceeded 20% in textile, iron and steel and fabricated metal products.     

THE DETERMINANTS OF RURAL INDUSTRIAL ESTATE PERFORMANCE IN KOREA

Since the 1980s, a total of 221 small- and medium-sized rural industrial estates have been established primarily to induce economic growth into the rural areas in Korea. Despite a growing interest in the performance of the rural industrial estates, it has not been closely examined. The purpose of this paper is to find the plausible factors that have a significant influence on the performance of the rural industrial estates, thereby providing a general understanding of the structural relationship between the estate performance and its determinants. An econometric modeling approach, called LISREL, is used to carry out this evaluation. Of several influential determinants distinguished, seven variables appear to be of substantial significance. They include the urbanization and industrialization of the estate host community, the accessibility of the individual estates to the major cities, the distances from the estates to the large industrial complexes, the local tax rates, and the government loans and incentives. The findings imply that more favorable are the estates constructed within the labor market boundaries of the major cities and adjacent to large industrial complexes. In addition to the location and environmental factors, financial funds and incentives will continue to remain as an influential factor for the success or failure of the estates.