The public administrator's dilemma: Containing conflict

The public sector is in the same situation that labor-management relations was in during the middle thirties—but one big difference is this: in the 30s, the government pressured business leaders to choose the road to accommodation; in the 70's, it is pressuring public administrators to exert more force and authority to keep students, minorities, welfare clients and other groups out of the decision-making orbit.     

The Weaknesses of Civic Territorial Organizations: Civic Engagement and Homeowners Associations in Urban China

China's massive transformation in urban governance, which is characterized by breaking the link between workplace and residence and consolidating state territorial agencies at the grassroots level, has profound implications for urban residents. While community building is employed as a deliberate (top‐down) approach to restore a governable urban society, the establishment, development and problems of bottom‐up civic territorial organizations — homeowners associations — are garnering increased attention from academia. Based on field research conducted in Guangzhou, Shenzhen and Meizhou in Guangdong Province from 2009 to 2011, we show that civic engagement, a necessary condition for the development of homeowners associations, is inadequate across urban communities. To understand why, we identified and analyzed three elements — lack of awareness of partitioned property ownership, the hidden costs of civic engagement and deficiency in social capital — as factors that impede civic engagement across urban communities. These elements also provide yardsticks for scholars to evaluate why, whether and how homeowners (dis‐)engage from neighborhood affairs.     

Community Inclusion under Systemic Inequality: How For-Profit Businesses Pursue Social Purpose

In countries where systemic inequality is pervasive, purposeful businesses that assume wider societal responsibilities try to counteract its effects by including marginalized social groups in their value creation processes. While current research documents a variety of business approaches for community inclusion, the nature, drivers and effectiveness of these inclusionary practices are not fully understood. We develop and empirically validate a framework of community inclusion that explicates the mechanisms through which purposeful businesses generate civic wealth – or economic and social benefits – to disadvantaged community groups. We differentiate between commercial practices that recast existent firm-centric processes towards creating value for marginalized groups and collaborative practices that aim to devise novel, participatory processes for engaging marginalized groups. Analysis of primary data from a sample of 430 small businesses in seven African countries confirms that the effect of social purpose on civic wealth is partially mediated by the two inclusionary practices. Businesses are more likely to extend the scope of their inclusion through collaborative practices when they receive favourable external validation and when institutional voids are low. We contribute to the literature by documenting the role of social purpose in motivating the pursuit of community-level goals and by unpacking the specific inclusionary practices used to achieve them.     

Manuel Castells’The City and the Grassroots

Castells’ definition, developed in The City and the Grassroots, of urban social movements as movements which combine struggles over collective consumption with those for community culture and political self‐determination, reflects the dynamics of movements in the 1960s and 1970s — which have since undergone a series of transformations. In spite of these transformations and fragmentations, Castells’ analysis remains relevant to contemporary studies of urban movements. One of its legacies is the identification of the conflict lines along which, still today, the major urban contestations take place, even though most of the individual movements no longer converge in one multi‐class actor intent on urban social change. The issue of collective consumption is more topical than ever in the current conjuncture, as public infrastructure and services are curtailed, and as local as well as supra‐national manifestations of the anti‐globalization movement are zeroing in on the neoliberalization of the public sector. Also, Castells’ highlighting of the contesting of state power has proved prophetic, not only in the continued presence of autonomous strands in the varied protests against commercialization, privatization, surveillance and exclusion, but also because it implies a sharp critique of the limitation of the civic engagement discourse currently in vogue.     

Do all institutions benefit from leadership training? Challenging tradition through systems inquiry

There is a fascination in the business community with leadership. There is an endless stream of training and development programs on how to become effective leaders to the extent that leadership training is now a big business. But the fascination is not restricted to the business community. People are enthralled by the idea of leadership, search for more information on it, and truly believe that by becoming a leader, they can reach a more desirable future. The purpose of this article is to demonstrate that all organizations do not benefit universally from their investment in employees' leadership training. After reviewing the leadership literature and systems concepts, it is recommended that the redesign of an organization in a social systemic framework will lead to optimization of benefit from leadership training.     

The effects of employee engagement and self-efficacy on job performance: a longitudinal field study

Abstract

Self-efficacy’s influence on individual job performance has been well documented in laboratory studies. However, there have been very few rigorous field studies of self-efficacy’s relationship with objectively measured individual job performance in organizational settings. This research history might account for the low take-up of self-efficacy within the business literature as well as within business itself. When it comes to studies of employee engagement, the same lack of rigorous individual studies applies, although several organizational-level studies link employee engagement to organizational performance, while its claimed benefits have been widely discussed in the business literature. Finally, the degree to which employee engagement and self-efficacy have independent and additive effects on individual-level job performance remains unknown. In order to address these issues, a longitudinal field study was undertaken within an Australian financial services firm. Using survey data linked to objectively measured job performance, we found the additive effects of self-efficacy and employee engagement explained 12% of appointments made and 39% of products sold over and above that explained by past performance. This finding suggests human resource management (HRM) practitioners should address both self-efficacy and employee engagement in order to boost job performance while encouraging HRM scholars to incorporate both measures when conducting job performance studies.     

上海社区商业的发展模式研究

社区商业无论是功能还是商品都有别于商业中心。社区商业是以一定地域的居住区为载体,以便民利民为宗旨,以不断提高社区居民生活质量为目标的属地型商业。建设社区商业并不仅仅是注重商业网点分布,而是要立足于引导社区居民新型的生活消费。随着上海经济的迅速发展,上海的社区建设出现了新的飞跃。而作为现代服务业组成部分的社区商业也日益凸显其重要性,这就要求上海既有繁荣繁华的中心商业,又要有便民利民的社区商业。基于此,在对上海社区商业现状和定位分析的基础上,提出了发展上海社区商业的两类模式,希望以此促进上海社区商业的健康发展。     

For the greater good: business networks and business social responsibility to communities

Business networks (co-operative arrangements between independent business organizations) may be the signature organizational form of the contemporary global economy. Many policy-makers and local leaders advocate business network membership as an alternative development strategy for regional economic vitality. The extant literature on business networks has focused on their association with business success. However, little is known about their impact on other aspects of community life. The purpose of this paper is to elaborate the role of network membership on one non-economic dimension of the business community interface. We examined the relationship between business network membership and business social responsibility to communities, defined as the provision of leadership and support for community betterment projects. Data were gathered from telephone interviews with a random sample of 460 non-metro small business operators in the USA. Independent t-tests and ordinary least squares regression analyses controlling for theoretically important variables were conducted. Findings show that networked businesses provide more leadership and support for their communities than non-networked businesses. However, networked businesses were no more likely than non-networked businesses to use local suppliers of goods and services.     

Primary-school class composition and the development of social capital

We study the development of social capital through adult civic engagement, in relation to social capital exposure having occurred during childhood based on experiences outside the family at primary school. We assume that the types of classmates in attendance at a child's school would have influenced her/his social capital. To identify the types of classmates, we take advantage of the heterogeneity in the ability levels of British primary-school classes during the 1960s. At that time, some schools were practicing a method of streaming, whereas others were not. Using British National Child Development data, we construct a single score of civic engagement and evaluate the effect on adult civic engagement of attending homogeneous-ability classes versus nonhomogeneous-ability classes and being in high-, average- or low-ability classes when enrolled in streamed schools. Our results show that children who were grouped in homogeneous-ability classes developed a lower interest in civic engagement than their peers who attended mixed-ability classes (nonstreamed schools). Moreover, among children who attended streamed schools, a lower attitude toward civic engagement was observed among low-ability students. Thus, streaming appears to be detrimental to social capital development, especially for low-ability individuals.     

COUNTERING THE ASSAULT ON CAPITALISM

Capitalism is the most efficient system for solving problems and for advancing human welfare. Yet it faces opposition both from intellectuals and those with vested interests in big government. If business leaders would push for ‘liberate to stimulate policies’, they might succeed in creating a freer tomorrow and solving more of humanity's problems.     

我国商业银行中间业务的发展对策

文章分析了我国由于政策、市场和银行自身等因素影响,导致了中、外资商业银行中间业务的巨大反差,这种反差在一定程度上正说明了我国商业银行中间业务发展中的问题所在,并提出制度创新、市场创新、管理创新等是解决这些问题的有效对策。     

Adam Smith's Analysis of Bounties as an Early Example of the Concept of Noneconomic Objectives

A bstract .   Smith uses his analysis of bounties to form one aspect of his overall critique of the mercantile system. He stresses the fact that the system of bounties has not promoted the development of the English economy. However, Smith also stresses that, as destructive as the system of export bounties is to public welfare, these bounties are not significant enough to greatly retard the growth of the English economy, which has more to do with secure property rights and securing investors their return on their investments.     

Impact at the ‘Bottom of the Pyramid’: The Role of Social Capital in Capability Development and Community Empowerment

Rooted in the notion of inclusive capitalism, the Bottom‐of‐the‐Pyramid (BoP) approach argues for the simultaneous pursuit of profit and social welfare by creating markets for the poor. This idea has been both celebrated and criticized in the literature. We do neither in this paper. Instead, by leveraging insights from Amartya Sen's work on capability development and the literature on social capital, we offer a more socially embedded and community‐centric BoP approach. By redefining poverty not just as a lack of income, but also as a lack of ‘capabilities’ in Sen's sense that can be developed through leveraging social capital, we offer a systemic framework for understanding the societal impact of business‐driven ventures in the BoP and empowering BoP communities through these ventures. Specifically, we argue that any business initiative in the BoP ought to be evaluated on the basis of whether it advances capability transfer and retention by (a) enhancing the social capital between a particular community and other more resource rich networks, and (b) preserving the existing social capital in the community.     

也议自产产品用于非货币性福利的会计处理

企业以自产产品作为非货币性福利发放给职工的会计处理在业界存在多种处理方法,使得会计工作人员在处理该业务过程出现疑义,因此对该业务的探讨显得更加重要。本论文主要采用理论综述和多角度对比分析的方法,对自产产品用于非货币性职工薪酬的经济业务进行深入分析。表达一些观点,希望能对会计核算理论有点帮助。     

An examination of the effects of rescue workers meaning transfer,attitudes and subjective norms towards being voluntarily involved in civic activities on civic engagement intention

The present investigation used the transfer‐meaning model to assess the influence of rescue workers meaning after a major catastrophic event. Specifically, we examined the influence of rescue workers meaning on subjective norms and attitudes towards being voluntarily involved in civic activities and the influence of these on online and offline civic engagement intention. 300 Mexican undergraduate and graduate students completed a battery of questionnaires assessing meaning transfer, subjective norms, attitudes and behavioural intentions towards offline and online civic engagement. Results showed a significant positive effect of rescue workers meaning on subjective norms and attitude towards being voluntarily involved in civic activities. In addition, subjective norms and attitudes were significant antecedents of offline and online civic participation intention. The theoretical and managerial implications of our results were discussed.     

When Did Equality Become a Noneconomic Objective?

A bstract .   This brief survey begins with a suggested procedure for determining whether a given economist viewed a particular goal as an economic or noneconomic objective. Roughly speaking, the approach rests on whether that economist attempted a serious analysis of the tradeoffs between the goal in question and some measure of value. In this view, noneconomic objectives, for any school, include all those objectives that, while recognized as potentially legitimate, are not analyzed in terms of commensurable value measures. Three points to notice about the definition: (1) For any economist, economic objectives should be distinguished from a class of intermediate goods valued largely for their predicted positive impact on production; (2) Some objectives may be altogether dismissed by a school, either as beyond the expertise of economic analysis or as downright harmful; (3) Simply acknowledging the existence of a "cost" to achieving a goal leaves that goal as noneconomic since no attempt at valuation has been made.
The paper goes on to sketch three viewpoints toward income equality—that of the classical school as summarized in the work of J. S. Mill, that of the early neoclassicists as represented by Marshall and Pigou, and that of the "new welfare economics" as developed by Kaldor and Hicks. The classical economists valued the relief of poverty, but explicitly attacked anything but the most basic redistributional efforts because of expected dire effects on production. The early neoclassicists built equality implicitly into a utilitarian social welfare function. The "new welfare economics" doubted economists' ability to assess the value of equality, although perhaps not their ability to measure its opportunity cost. Thus the basic argument: both the classicists and the early neoclassicists saw equality as an economic objective, while the new welfare economics was largely built on denying this status to equality.     

Dynamic gains from North American free trade in an equilibrium model of the current account

The benefits of economic integration in North America are explored by quantifying the gains that the two small open economies of the region can obtain from free trade in financial assets as a vehicle to smooth consumption. Numerical simulations of a stochastic intertemporal equilibrium model are used to estimate the effects of free financial asset trading on economic activity and welfare. The results suggest that in Mexico, where business cycles have been larger and access to world markets has been more limited, free asset trading would produce more benefits that in Canada, where the risk of business cycles is smaller.     

THE ECONOMIC THEORY OF VERTICAL RESTRAINTS

Abstract.  The types of contracts arising in a typical vertical manufacturer–retailer relationship are more sophisticated than a simple uniform price. In addition to setting per unit prices, manufacturers and retailers also revert to non-linear pricing and non-price instruments. These instruments or contracts are referred to as vertical restraints and can take the form of franchise fees, resale-price maintenance, exclusive dealing, exclusive territories and slotting allowances. The use and the effects of one type of instrument versus another depend crucially on specific market assumptions upstream and downstream and on the division of bargaining power between manufacturers and retailers. This paper surveys the industrial organization literature on retail pricing and shows that vertical restraint instruments have important effects on producer and consumer prices, market structure, efficiency and welfare.     

How Does a Covenantal Approach to Developing Organizational Leadership Affect Innovation?

As organizations grow, they become more hierarchical and less adaptive; thus, innovation and intrapreneurship suffer. A covenantal approach to organizational behavior and leadership can facilitate organizational flexibility and adaptability to foster further innovation by engendering empowerment and deeper, more meaningful engagement among leadership and followers. A covenant is a morally informed agreement among two or more parties who commit to care for one another and protect one another's rights. Noncentralization, participative decision making, active dialog and big picture thinking are all encouraged by a covenantal approach, which in turn helps to foster innovation.     

Welfare indicators for public facility investments in urban renewal areas

To evaluate the effects of alternative public investment policies in terms of the welfare status of human beings thereby affected, we must have a clear delineation of social, economic, or other roles that such investment is intended to play. This paper defines a role for public facility investment in urban renewal areas that is based on analysis of both the intrinsic characteristics of these investments and the policy environment—defined by a set of renewal objectives—in which they are made. Benefits and costs are seen to accrue to society—individuals, households, business, or the community-at-large—from appropriately defined categories of public facility investment impact. A set of welfare indicators, comprised of benefit-cost measurements related to the categories of investment impact, emerges from our analysis to provide a basis for re-evaluation of certain aspects of renewal policy.