New development: Competency assessment system and practice in government—the South Korean experience

ABSTRACT

Many advanced countries have introduced competency assessment to define the necessary abilities for effective job performance—linking key human resource management and leadership development activities to ensure organizations have competent employees. Competency management is the subject of considerable attention worldwide, but the concept is not well researched. This article reviews the South Korean government’s competency assessment system and explains how it can be adapted to develop civil servants.     

Employers’ Perceptions of Information Technology Competency Requirements for Management Accounting Graduates

Abstract

Management accountants work in a computerized workplace with information technology (IT) for producing financial ledgers and for reporting. Thus, the role of the management accountant has shifted from capturing and recording transactions to analyzing business issues. The research question is: what IT knowledge and skills do employers require of management accounting graduates? An exploratory field research approach was used; chief financial officers and their subordinates at some of New Zealand's largest firms were consulted. These respondents were consistent in their requirements. They emphasized intermediate proficiency with some Microsoft tools (Excel, Word, PowerPoint, and Outlook) and sufficient familiarity with the structure and navigation of an enterprise resource planning system to process transactions such as accounts receivable. Of those requirements, Excel for analysis was the most important. Our contributions update and augment the literature by clarifying the perceptions of employers regarding the IT competencies required of management accounting graduates.     

FDI and Economic Development: Evidence from China’s Regional Growth

Abstract:

Using China’s provincial data for 1978–2011, we examine the channels through which foreign direct investment (FDI) affects China’s regional growth and inequality. We find that FDI facilitates growth by enhancing physical and human capital accumulation. FDI also has a negative effect on output growth by crowding out domestic investment, reducing local government revenue, and increasing the opportunity cost of technology innovations. The imbalance of FDI inflows among regions widens the interregional growth gap through its effect on physical capital accumulation and technology progress while it narrows the growth gap by affecting the level of higher education, industrial structure, government revenue, degree of openness, and trade surplus.     

Management in the public domain

One of the challenging questions which confronts both academics and practitioners is whether there is a generic concept of management. One way of discovering whether management in public sector organisations has unique features is to examine the ways in which those organisations differ from private sector companies.     

New development: ‘Healing at a distance’—telemedicine and COVID-19

ABSTRACT

In extreme circumstances such as pandemics, the presence of patients in hospital emergency departments becomes untenable. Healthcare professionals and organizations worldwide are leaning on technology as a crucial ally to deal with the COVID-19 outbreak. This article focuses on the positive impact of telemedicine for helping service provision, from enabling virtual triage to mitigating the negative psychological effects of social isolation. The authors discuss the challenges and opportunities to telemedicine practices.     

Local management of schools: The road to privatisation?

The education system has become the central focus for management change in the public sector. Two recent reports—on assessment and testing and local management in schools—have tried to take the argument from generalities to practicalities, but have they succeeded?     

New development: Lessons and recommendations from South Korea’s experiences with integrated financial management information systems

ABSTRACT

The South Korean government has been reforming its public expenditure management system since 2004. During this time, South Korea adopted new budgeting processes (for example mid-term expenditure framework, top-down budgeting, performance-based budgeting) and developed a new integrated financial information management system. In the course of implementing these reforms, South Korea has important insights and lessons to share with developing countries.     

Editorial: PMM,the impact of research on practice,and the emerging Research Excellence Framework

This article discusses the management of public values in local public-private networks established for highly innovative infrastructure projects. It compares six Dutch projects in terms of conflicting public values, trade-offs between public values and preferred modes of management. Some public values were initially more important, but trade-offs changed them over time. Effective management of public values requires a shared culture rather than contracts.     

Time-varying long-run mean of commodity prices and the modeling of futures term structures

The exploration of the mean-reversion of commodity prices is important for inventory management, inflation forecasting and contingent claim pricing. Bessembinder et al. [J. Finance, 1995, 50, 361–375] document the mean-reversion of commodity spot prices using futures term structure data; however, mean-reversion to a constant level is rejected in nearly all studies using historical spot price time series. This indicates that the spot prices revert to a stochastic long-run mean. Recognizing this, I propose a reduced-form model with the stochastic long-run mean as a separate factor. This model fits the futures dynamics better than do classical models such as the Gibson–Schwartz [J. Finance, 1990, 45, 959–976] model and the Casassus–Collin-Dufresne [J. Finance, 2005, 60, 2283–2331] model with a constant interest rate. An application for option pricing is also presented in this paper.     

Core public sector reform in New Zealand and the United Kingdom

Public management reform in New Zealand has been informed by a strong concern for how public money is spent. Devolution linked with firm incentives is viewed as the best way of ensuring value for money. In Britain, the Treasury gives greater emphasis to controlling public expenditure totals and therefore the approach to value for money is rather different.     

Debate: More adult training in Britain; Tax‐farming and BAA; NHS pay review bodies

Strategic planning is often associated with radical organizational shifts. Sometimes, these are in response to rapid changes in the environment. Frequently, however, they are a result of changes in management values and style. There may, however, be circumstances when going for a series of small wins is a more appropriate strategy than going for one big win.     

Innovation in entrepreneurial organisations: A platform for contemporary management change and a value creator

PurposeThis article examines the significance of innovation to organisations following strategies of entrepreneurial orientation. In particular, the study looks at the significance innovation adds to the implementation of contemporary management control systems (MCSs) and to improved performance in these organisations.Design/methodology/approachA quantitative analysis was conducted based on a random sample of Australian manufacturing companies. A structural equation modelling approach was adopted to test the study hypotheses.FindingsResults suggest that innovation mediates the relationships between entrepreneurial strategy and each of participative budgeting, the balanced score card (BSC), total quality management (TQM), just in time (JIT), and organisational performance. The study does not indicate a significant relationship between entrepreneurial strategy and activity based costing (ABC), even when innovation is in place.Originality/valueThe study empirically tests the vital role of innovation in the organisational adaptive cycle to entrepreneurial strategies, described earlier by Miles and Snow (1978). Further, the study validates a multi-dimensional strategy model first suggested by Langfield-Smith (1997).     

Facts & figures: Financing nationalised industries: An international comparison; Continuity and change in industrial support

Public management cannot be reduced to a set of mechanical components. The art of judgment is required to resolve a series of dilemmas concerning equity, rationing, discretion and values. Management and politics are inextricably linked in this process, and divorcing them impoverishes both.     

Accountability for performance in English and Scottish fire and rescue services from 2010 to 2016

ABSTRACT

Using evidence from English and Scottish fire and rescue services from 2010 to 2016, this paper shows how divergent performance management regimes can affect public accountability. Performance management regimes enable agencies and the public to hold public sector organizations accountable by facilitating evaluation of their accomplishments. However, local as opposed to central, control over performance management can have quite different implications for public accountability.     

Facts & figures

The National Audit Office are emerging as a force for change in management reform in the Civil Service. Their pivotal position, poised between Whitehall and Westminster, gives them a responsibility for ensuring that change is informed by the need to retain public support. The Office's validation is important and provides central government with an incentive to get things right.     

National health service

Public sector corporate governance distinguishes itself from its private sector counterpart by the considerable diversity of objectives and management structures in the former. There is a need to address performance as well as conformance issues in public sector governance.     

Mathematical models regarding fire and consequential loss

Abstract

In consequence of the development of risk management, fire insurers often meet a demand for substantial amounts of self retention, especially from large industrial clients.     

The way to economic prescribing

Cost‐consciousness has been a major objective in public management in the 1980s. Others who spend public money may have to develop a similar awareness in the 1990s. A study of general practitioners in Scotland reveals a low level of knowledge about the cost of drugs.     

New development: Implementing and evaluating government strategic plans—the Europe 2020 Strategy

ABSTRACT

This article examines the implementation of the Europe 2020 Strategy. The authors analysed the strategic and management plans of the European Commission’s directorates-general (DGs) to identify the main and dominant discourses in the documents. The supplementing or supplanting of the simple strategy framework of the early years by a political framework after 2014 can be seen as caused by an interaction between rational management evaluation on one hand and political values and will on the other.     

Debate: Increasing the impact of academic research on public policy

Audit committees were perceived as overcoming the difficulties of operating in a political environment. In general, they achieved good ratings for monitoring internal audit but were seen as less effective in engaging with external auditors and risk management. In some key aspects the attitudes of internal auditors differed from those of committee chairs and CFOs.