PLANNING THROUGH RESIDENTIAL CLUBS: HOMEOWNERS' ASSOCIATIONS

Private homeowners' associations now govern over 18% of the American population, enforcing contractual land-use restrictions and providing what would otherwise be municipal services. The rapid spread of these associations in new housing construction is explained by rising land costs, constraints on the ability of local governments to raise property taxes, and consumer preferences. Because these associations resemble club economies in significant respects, they provide an opportunity to test whether these private associations can provide services more efficiently than municipalities. Departures from the assumptions of the club economy model are noted, including the lack of options for consumer choice that undermine the consent-based rationale.     

BUSINESS IMPROVEMENT DISTRICTS: PAST, PRESENT, FUTURE

The article covers the history of Business Improvement Districts (BIDs) in the USA and UK and some of the lessons learnt in the UK after the first year of operation. The authors then consider economic issues raised by the initiative and why BIDs will be the best option for some urban centres.     

THE BUSINESS OF RECONCILIATION: ENTREPRENEURSHIP AND COMMERCIAL ACTIVITY IN POST-CONFLICT RWANDA

In post-conflict Rwanda trade and enterprise are leading to increased levels of co-operation among former enemies. Economic interaction is providing a cost-effective alternative to state-led reconciliation programmes as a mechanism for justice and healing. Governments seeking to provide effective transitional justice and reconciliation should therefore facilitate private-sector efforts by actively working to improve the institutional environment for doing business.     

PLANNING THROUGH INCLUSIVE DIALOGUE: NO ESCAPE FROM SOCIAL CHOICE DILEMMAS

The thrust of the theory of preference aggregation is that it is impossible to design institutions guaranteeing collective decisions that are both consistent and fair. Proponents of deliberative democracy have used this as an argument for decision-making based on dialogue rather than voting. Communicative public planning - producing plans through public participation exercises - is seen as an integral part of deliberative democracy. It is argued here, however, that the inclusive dialogue of this style of planning cannot promise escape from arbitrariness and does not necessarily deliver improved local decision-making.     

PLANNING THROUGH THE EXCHANGE OF RIGHTS UNDER PERFORMANCE ZONING

This article sets out an approach to land-use planning involving the exchange of rights under performance zoning - the setting of performance standards in land use such as the protection of property owners from adverse impacts resulting from the use of nearby land. Performance zoning offers high levels of flexibility to landowners to pursue different uses of their property within the limits of agreed standards and reduces the role of bureaucratic and political processes in the implementation of planning regulations.     

PLANNING THROUGH EXCLUSIVE DIALOGUE: BASIC LESSONS WE CAN LEARN FROM THE PRIVATE ESTATE

Empirical evidence suggests that private estates where land is managed as a multi-tenant property by a single private company with a continuing interest in the value of that property tend to be better run than estates that are subdivided into multiple parcels of separately managed land with the commons managed via some form of political decision-making. Public policy, particularly in the UK, has hindered the growth of successful multi-tenant private estates.     

STRATEGIC AWARENESS, PERSONAL COMMITMENT AND THE PROCESS OF PLANNING IN THE SMALL BUSINESS

This paper is based on detailed study [1], over two years, of sixteen small companies based in the northern region of the U.K. the study was concerned with the way in which the companies pursued different lines of product and market development. the research was characterized by experimental ‘action inputs’ designed to allow observation of the impact of different types of ‘software’(information, counselling, training/education) support on the development process. On the basis of this observation the paper constructs a model of the development process as a basis for evaluation of ‘assistance support’. This model, derived from theoretical concepts, nevertheless has been used in practice by companies for the evaluation of their own specific business development and has also been used for training small firm advisers. Observation of the development process enables a characterization of methods of planning used and evaluation of their influence. This indicates clearly the absence of formal planning models but underlines the importance of the strategic awareness and personal commitment of the owner manager in pursuing particular objectives. Strategic awareness is defined and its relationships with forms of assistance are explored. Implications are then drawn for those who seek to assist small businesses.     

PAYING FOR CROSSRAIL : THE BUSINESS CASE

A new railway is being planned across London. Incremental fares revenue will only pay about a quarter of the £10 billion¹ expected cost, so the Greater London Assembly (GLA) is considering 'alternative funding mechanisms'. These include new taxes on businesses that are presumed to benefit from the scheme. Taxes would deter the very investment Crossrail is supposed to support. The GLA would do better to change the scheme to reduce the need for subsidy and strengthen the business case.     

EQUILIBRIUM BUSINESS CYCLES: THEORY AND EVIDENCE

ABSTRACT. This paper surveys equilibrium business cycles (EBC) theory, which has dominated the business cycle literature since the mid 1970s. It focuses primarily on the real business cycle (RBC) literature the origin of which is traced to the monetary equilibrium business cycle (MBC) model developed by Lucas (1975). RBC and MBC models are themselves related to a wider class of linear stochastic business cycle models which, following Frisch (1933), view the cycle as the result of the propagation, by the economic system, of a series of random shocks. The MBC approach highlighted the importance of monetary shocks but its failure to adequately explain observed fluctuations provided the impetus to the development of the RBC approach, which emphasises the importance of real shocks. This paper also appraises the empirical support for the RBC approach and finds it less than compelling. Given the failure of Keynesian, and equilibrium linear stochastic business cycle models to fully explain economic fluctuations, the Frischian approach to business cycle modelling is called into question. Developments to existing models, which may help to clarify our understanding of business cycle behaviour, are discussed with a view to setting out a research agenda for the 1990s and beyond.     

AUTHORITY: A MONOPOLY RUNNING AMOK IN BUSINESS1

This article show why Authority ‐ in the form of the Competition Commission ‐ produces harmful consequences when it seeks to impose idealised notions of competition on real‐world markets. The recent anti‐trust measures taken against Microsoft are a classic example of such regulatory failure. Paradoxically, monopolistic behaviour is characteristic of the provision of services by the public sector but draws no response from those authorities charged with curbing monopoly power.     

FAMILY FIRM PERFORMANCE OVER THE BUSINESS CYCLE: A META-ANALYSIS

The financial performance of family firms has been widely studied in the literature. Combining the results of 155 primary studies from 35 countries with data about business cycles, we investigate how family firm performance changes over the business cycle. Using meta-analytic estimation methods, we find that family firms outperform nonfamily firms in developed markets, irrespective of economic circumstances. This outperformance, although statistically significant, is very small and practically negligible. With regard to the business cycle, we find evidence for a procyclical effect in which the relative performance of family firms is lower in economically difficult times. Our study extends the literature on how family firm performance depends on macroeconomic factors.     

聚焦2004金融改革：银行业之变

2003年,国内银行业改革不仅范围广,而且力度很大.先有国有银行考核标准的变化,使得上半年的银行信贷超高速增长.这也是几年罕见的情况.而银行业监管委员会的成立、农村金融改革试点启动、央行5号令及121文件的出台,以及利率市场化的深化、国有银行准备上市等都是国内银行改革的大动作.     

GREAT CRASH/CREDIT CRUNCH: FRIEDRICH HAYEK'S BUSINESS CYCLE THEORY

Friedrich Hayek's foreboding of the Great Crash would have been equally relevant for the Credit Crunch. It was based upon precepts that have never been taken up by the economics mainstream. Although Maynard Keynes set no store by quantification, mathematical modelling of the economy and statistical analysis saturate the journals. Thoughtful analysis per se carries little weight if it does not lend itself to econometric confirmation, which means that Hayek's microeconomic analysis of the impact of easy-money policy and the mechanisms that best explain the débâcles of 1929 and 2008 are again likely to be ignored.     

BUSINESSMEN AND BUSINESS SCHOOL FACULTY: A COMPARISON OF VALUE SYSTEMS

Seventeen faculty members at a European business school scored two values tests, L. V. Gordon's S.I.V. and S.P.V. Their scores are compared to those of 372 executive course participants in general, to those of sixteen American participants in particular, and to those of participants who were rated by the faculty as top performers in class. Results show faculty to differ significantly from participants toward more academic values and less will to manage, and this being a role rather than a nationality difference. Results also show that faculty members evaluate most highly participants with value profiles largely similar to theirs, but higher in ‘Leadership’ and relatively low in ‘Independence’. These data are considered as a demonstration of the type of organizational socialization which businessmen undergo when they participate in a campus course.     

ANALYZING CULTURAL STEREOTYPES IN MULTINATIONAL BUSINESS: UNITED STATES AND AUSTRALIA

As U.S. business becomes more international, so does U.S. management education. Executive development programmes offer courses in the U.S. and abroad to managers from many nations. As part of the transfer of U.S. management methods, the concepts, techniques and beliefs taught in these programmes may not be easily accepted, especially by foreign managers. Careful examination of cultural differences in attitudes and opinions is a necessary step in the successful transfer of management technology. This paper compares U.S. and Australian managers' values, attitudes, beliefs and opinions on a wide range of topics using a modified version of Schein's Public Opinion Questionnaire. Our findings suggest that there are common business management views as well as national differences among managers in the U.S. and Australia.     

STRATEGIC PLANNING AND FINANCIAL PERFORMANCE: MORE EVIDENCE*

A recently published meta-analysis of the impact of strategic planning on financial performance omitted a major study of corporate planning practice in Fortune 500 manufacturing firms. This article briefly reviews that study in light of the results of the meta-analysis. Additional analysis examines performance and firm survival over a longer time period than in the original work. the overall conclusion is that a small but positive relationship between strategic planning and performance exists, and persists.