Privatised provision of essential plant breeding infrastructure*

As private plant breeding replaces public programs, the efficient provision and utilisation of key enabling technologies for crop breeding, which are largely knowledge based and provide the foundation for variety improvement, might be at risk. Typically, such inputs are non‐rival in use and are therefore termed essential plant breeding infrastructure (EPBI). Specific threats include the possibility of wasteful duplication in production, under‐production, under‐utilisation of produced EPBI because of price rationing, and anticompetitive outcomes in plant breeding and downstream markets. The likely level of under‐investment in hypothetical molecular‐marker technology by a profit‐maximising monopoly producer, charging uniform prices for access, is analysed using results from the published literature on excludable public goods.     

Structural change under New Labour

The paper examines specific features of structural change inthe UK since 1997, contrasting the decline in industrial jobswith the rise in a variety of service jobs. It examines theproximate causes of structural change, in particular whetherthe chronically slow growth of manufacturing output in the 1980shas persisted. The implications of this structural change areconsidered, particularly the effects on the balance of paymentsand regional employment patterns. The paper suggests that themain impact of government policies on regional employment mayhave been through the direct and multiplier effects of publicexpenditure.     

Public and Patient Engagement in Commissioning in the English NHS: An idea whose time has come?

Abstract

Public and patient engagement (PPE) has a limited record of achievement in the English National Health Service (NHS), and this has been further complicated by the split between commissioning and providing remits. The passage of the NHS and Social Care Act 2012 has opened up new possibilities for enhancing PPE in the commissioning of health care. This article outlines the new context, describes a conceptual framework for locating different sorts of PPE activity, and provides some practical illustrations. It argues for greater conceptual clarity and clearer understandings on the purpose of PPE as prerequisites to change.     

Pre-disciplinary and Post-disciplinary Perspectives

David Kang, Crony Capitalism: Corruption and Development in South Korea and the Philippines (Cambridge University Press, 2002)

Vivek Chibber, Locked In Place: State-Building and Late Industrialization in India (Princeton University Press, 2003)

Yongping Wu, A Political Explanation of Economic Growth: State Survival, Bureaucratic Politics, and Private Enterprises in the Making of Taiwan's Economy, 1950–1985 (Harvard University Press, 2005)     

Getting Trapped in the Suppression of Exploration: A Simulation Model

The benefits of strategically balancing exploitation and exploration are well documented in the literature. Nonetheless, many firms tend to overemphasize exploitation efforts, a situation commonly referred to as the ‘success trap’. Previous studies have attributed this behaviour to managerial incompetence or myopia. However, some management teams appear to adequately recognize the exploration need, while not being able to bring about the required strategic change. We draw on system dynamics modelling to investigate this phenomenon. A simulation model is developed and then the behaviour of a selected firm is replicated to uncover the underlying processes. As such, we develop a process theory of the success trap at the managerial level, coined the ‘suppression process’. This process theory describes and explains how the interplay between top managers, board members, and exploitation–exploration activities can trap the firm in the suppression of exploration.     

日新月异：传送技术新进展

传送系统以及传送技术在过去五年里发生了翻天覆地的变化。但是由几个滚轴和几条皮带组成的机器能变到哪儿去呢？不就只是运运箱子吗？如果您是指小厂房、小型配送中心那种简单的滚轴传送带，嗯，可能是这样。不过与此同时新一代传送系统和传送控制技术也已被应用，以迎合现今日益复杂的和自动化的生产配送环境。以较少的设备投资换取更大的处理量以及对节能和可持续性的重视都是这些变化的重要动因，但是除此之外还有很多其他的影响因素需要考虑。     

文化差异、价值观与不完全契约的治理

通过分析差异文化下的交易困境,认为文化的经济功能除了对违约行为形成约束外,还通过形成一些基本价值判断标准,规定了不完全契约的"剩余"分配的可接受比例,降低了交易的不确定性。但不同的文化价值观的判断标准是不同的,因此也造成了差异文化之间的交易"壁垒"。认为实现从封闭秩序文化向开放秩序文化的转型对我国现阶段的经济建设具有重要的推动作用。