Differentials in urban-rural fertility in the countries of the ESCAP region

Fertility differentials between rural and urban populations are investigated using World Fertility Survey data for Bangladesh, Fiji, Indonesia, Malaysia, Nepal, Pakistan, the Philippines, the Republic of Korea, Sri Lanka, and Thailand. "The fertility measure used in this analysis is the number of children ever born to a woman. An attempt is made first to establish the differential in fertility levels between urban and rural areas after necessary control of the demographic factors..., and then the possible explanation of the differential is sought in terms of socio-economic variables such as education of the respondent, and occupation, work pattern, work status and place of work of the respondent as well as that of the husband." Data concerning the fertility differentials and the associated explanatory variables are presented in tables and charts. "The results tend to show that the countries of Asia are undergoing similar patterns of fertility transition as was experienced in the advanced countries. Perhaps one can graduate the countries in the transition scale as follows: Bangladesh, Indonesia, Nepal, Pakistan and Malaysia are in the initial stage; Fiji, the Philippines, the Republic of Korea, Sri Lanka and Thailand are in the middle stage of transition."     

Accommodating a growing population in Javanese agriculture

An examination of how the island of Java, Indonesia, has accommodated population growth over the past 150 years by a process of agricultural development is presented. A brief review of the literature on the relationship between agricultural development and population growth is first provided. Next, the available data on land area, cultivated area, agricultural production, and employment in Java over the past century are reviewed. The relationship between agricultural development and population growth in Java is then analyzed in terms of the concepts and processes discussed in the theoretical literature.     

The new leader's guide to diagnosing the business

Incoming CEOs and general managers don't have much time to show what they can do to improve a business's performance. (In 2006, for instance, about 40% of CEOs who left their jobs had lasted an average of just 1.8 years--and many of them were ushered out the door.) Within a few years at most, leaders must find ways to boost profitability, increase market share, overtake a competitor--whatever the key tasks may be. But they can't map out specific objectives and initiatives until they have accurately assessed their companies' distinctive strengths and weaknesses and the particular threats and opportunities they face. In this article, Bain consultants Gottfredson, Schaubert, and Saenz provide a diagnostic template to help organizations figure all that out so they can decide which goals are reasonable and where to focus performance-improvement efforts. The template is built on four widely accepted principles. First, costs and prices almost always decline; second, your competitive position determines your options; third, customers and profit pools don't stand still; and fourth, simplicity gets results. Along with each principle, the authors offer diagnostic questions and analytic tools. Of course, each manager will emphasize certain elements of the template and de-emphasize others, based on his or her business situation. This process will show incoming CEOs and general managers where they are starting from (their point of departure) and help them establish their performance objectives (their point of arrival) as well as the change initiatives that will take them where they want to go.     

The uncompromising leader

Managing the tension between performance and people is at the heart of the CEO's job. But CEOs under fierce pressure from capital markets often focus solely on the shareholder, which can lead to employee disenchantment. Others put so much stock in their firms' heritage that they don't notice as their organizations slide into complacency. Some leaders, though, manage to avoid those traps and create high-commitment, high-performance (HCHP) companies. The authors' in-depth research of HCHP CEOs reveals several shared traits: These CEOs earn the trust of their organizations through their openness to the unvarnished truth. They are deeply engaged with their people, and their exchanges are direct and personal. They mobilize employees around a focused agenda, concentrating on only one or two initiatives. And they work to build collective leadership capabilities. These leaders also forge an emotionally resonant shared purpose across their companies. That consists of a three-part promise: The company will help employees build a better world and deliver performance they can be proud of, and will provide an environment in which they can grow. HCHP CEOs approach finding a firm's moral and strategic center in a competitive market as a calling, not an engineering problem. They drive their firms to be strongly market focused while at the same time reinforcing their firms' core values. They are committed to short-term performance while also investing in long-term leadership and organizational capabilities. By refusing to compromise on any of these terms, they build great companies.     

Do UK charities have a lot to learn?

This article discusses the key findings of some recent research carried out into the application of market segmentation in the UK charity sector. 410 of the top performing charities (as ranked by income from voluntary donations) were surveyed to profile their major donor groups. Respondents were also asked to indicate how this data was used for fund-raising purposes both in terms of new donor recruitment and existing donor development. The findings show that with the exception of a very few large organizations, the UK charity sector still has much room for improving the sophistication of its fund-raising techniques.