Why ‘Good Governance’ Fails: Lessons from Regional Economic Development in Colombia

By critically reviewing different strands of literature on institutional change and development, this essay argues that, in order to fully understand subnational economic development, we need to move away from ‘good governance' explanations in which geography‐specific analyses of power structures and elite interests are largely absent. Using findings for Colombia and insights from economic geography and heterodox political economy theories, this essay gives theoretical and conceptual guidelines and approximations for future studies on regional economic development. The contribution provides a place‐based discussion of how the historically evolved distribution of power balances, context‐specific elite interests, and the interaction between place‐bound actors and place‐less dynamics affect subnational institutional arrangements shaping policies and development outcomes. The conclusions drawn are not limited to Colombia and will prove beneficial to researchers studying regional economic development in subnational contexts elsewhere in the world.     

‘Derivative’ firms,agency and economic integration

This paper proposes a ‘derivative’ firm model that emphasizes the decisions to invest in productive assets and to contract with firm managers. Contemporary examples of derivative firms include joint ventures and LBOs. The traditional joint venture is recast as a derivative firm with the model pointing out why managerial contracts and asset investment decisions should be made simultaneously for optimal shareholder wealth.     

‘Fog in the Channel,continent isolated’: Britain as a model for EU social and economic policy?

A discourse on British ‘exceptionalism’ is currently developing according to which the UK's apparently ‘flexible’ economy should serve as a model for the rest of the EU. This is explored through two case studies concerning the transmission of regulatory practices from the continent to Britain (working time) and vice versa (takeover regulation). We suggest that a UK model of the firm constructed around shareholder value and untrammeled managerial prerogative is unlikely to have much resonance for other European systems, in which the term ‘flexibility’ has different connotations.     

Patent statistics: deciphering a ‘real’ versus a ‘pseudo’ proxy of innovation

Patent statistics have fascinated economists concerned about innovation for a long time. However, fundamental questions remain as to whether or not patent statistics represent the real state of innovation. As Griliches pointed out, substantial questions involve: What aspects of economic activities do patent statistics actually capture? And, what would we like them to measure? He pointed out that these statistics can be a mirage appearing to provide a great number of objective and reliable proxies for innovation.This paper aims to address some of these questions by making a comparative evaluation of the representability of patent statistics in four levels of the innovation process, using as examples research and development (R&D) in Japan's printer and photovoltaic solar cell (PV) industries over the last two decades. Furthermore, this research provides a new set of patent statistics which could be considered a more reliable proxy for innovation.     

‘Sameness’ and ‘Difference’ Revisited: Which Way Forward For Equal Opportunity Initiatives?

Recent interest in ‘managing diversity’ has reopened debates about forms of equality in the workplace. Approaches to equality developed in the 1970s and 1980s have been characterized as an attempt to ensure that if individuals bring the same abilities to work, or perform in the same way, they should receive the same access to jobs and employment benefits, regardless of social group membership. Managing diversity appears to be about a more positive valuing of difference. Benefits are seen to derive from different perspectives and approaches and these should be nurtured and rewarded rather than suppressed. Feminists have long argued about the extent to which women are the same as, or different from, men, and about the political consequences of adopting these positions. Recent theoretical developments have led to some novel solutions to this dilemma. These include asserting claims to both ‘sameness’ and ‘difference’, the deconstruction of ‘difference’, and the reconstruction of ‘sameness’ on women's terms. This paper explores approaches to equal opportunities through both established and novel theoretical perspectives. It argues that existing practice cannot be fitted neatly into the conventional distinctions between ‘sameness’ and ‘difference’, and explores the potential characteristics and strengths and weaknesses of equality initiatives based on the new theoretical perspectives.     

‘Repeat commercializers,’ the ‘habitual entrepreneurs’ of university–industry technology transfer

Among academic faculty, is there a class of ‘repeat commercializers’ who account for a disproportionate share of commercialized technologies arising from university research? In a survey of 172 engineering, mathematics, and science faculty members from a major Canadian university, we found evidence that a class of repeat commercializers does exist. Further, we found that the 12% of the faculty who are repeat commercializers account for 80% of the commercialized innovations. Interviews with repeat commercializers in the same faculties at the same university suggest that repeat commercializers parallel habitual entrepreneurs in that they have the ability to commercialize (i.e. the ability to generate and identify commercializable inventions and the ability to acquire resources for the commercialization of their inventions) and the aspiration to do so (i.e. commercialization-friendly attitudes). Since repeat commercializers account for such a large percentage of commercialization activity, it is important that programs and policies associated with technology transfer address the needs of this subpopulation of the faculty.     

The ‘New Competition’ and Working Time

Jill Rubery, who is Senior Lecturer at the Manchester School of Management, and Sara Horrell, Lecturer in the Faculty of Economics, University of Cambridge, draw on a study for the Equal Opportunities Commission to discuss the significance of the competitive conditions said to lie behind changes in working time. They argue that the existing approaches to understanding these changes – they are ‘determined’ by the ‘market/technology’ or relate to a redefinition of power relations within the workplace – are both inadequate. What is required, they suggest, is a more complex analysis of competition which takes into account both the factors that shape market conditions and the factors inside the organisation that influence responses to them.     

‘Meeting need: Successful charity marketing’

Ian Bruce (ICSA/Prentice Hall (Charities Management Series), Hemel Hempstead, UK; 1994; ISBN 1 872860 58 3; 292 pp; paperback; £17.95; hot line ordering No. +1442 881883)     

From ‘start-up’ to ‘re-boot’: Product lifecycle strategies and competitive advantage in the computer industry

The PC sector, following the packaging and car manufacturing industries, will increasingly be forced to acknowledge and account for its product base throughout the commodity's life, and beyond. The environmental problems being posed by electronic waste have been recognized and both the EU and the individual Member States are discussing solutions which may or may not include legislative action. In anticipation, product take-back programmes are beginning to emerge within the industry and the economics and logistics of re-use and recycling are at the forefront of this debate. The issues in store for this sector are examined and specific initiatives by organizations considered. It is asked whether a ‘closing of the product loop’ will generate a competitive advantage for these companies and what impact an industry-led ‘consortia’ initiative may have.