The Evolving Narratives of Public Management Reform

Abstract

This paper compares five key UK public management reform white papers spread over a period of 41 years. It adopts a narrative approach to analyse the scope, dominant themes, proffered solutions, evidence base, key assumptions and style and presentation of these core documents. This longitudinal narrative framework reveals both changes and continuities in UK reform rhetoric. The UK has now experienced four decades of unceasing administrative reform, and has often claimed to be a world leader. This paper offers an original analysis of the official story of this epoch.     

Insights and anatomy of brand experience in app-based retailing (eRBX): Critical play of physical evidence and enjoyment

A unique brand experience (BX) is vital for marketers to create differentiation for their brands in a hyper price sensitive e-tail industry. While BX as a concept evolved in a physical-retailing environment, only a few studies extended the same in the e-tailing environment. Using ISM (interpretive structure modeling) and the MICMAC (Matrix Impact Cross-Reference Multiplication Applied to a Classification) approach, this study attempts to address this gap by investigating the factors which form the BX in an app-based online retail environment (eRBX) and by highlighting insights on this. A literature review on BX and a collection of responses from 33 domain experts led to the identification of 20 factors and the showcasing of a multilevel interpretive relational structure of eRBX. Value for money and marketing communication emerged as first-order factors for eRBX in line with existing research. The authors' original contribution lied in finding two new multi-dimensional concepts of Physical Evidence (PE), and Enjoyment (E) in BX research. Ten critical influencing factors (CIF) were under PE, and five hygiene factors (HF) were under E for eRBX. Both these multi-dimensional concepts are further framed into an alternative paradigm of etailscape. This study can help practitioners to understand the insight and anatomy, for creating sustainable eRBX, and prioritize marketing investments accordingly.     

资质过剩感、证明目标导向与越轨创新：未来关注的视角

已有研究关注到了资质过剩感对个体的消极影响，忽视了资质过剩个体的价值寻求与冗余资质的角色外创新转化。研究基于自我验证理论，探讨资质过剩感对员工越轨创新的作用过程，以及证明目标导向的中介效应和未来关注的调节效应。两阶段的483份数据分析显示：资质过剩感正向影响越轨创新；证明目标导向在资质过剩感对越轨创新的作用过程中起中介作用；未来关注正向调节了证明目标导向与越轨创新的作用关系，同时正向调节了证明目标导向在资质过剩感与越轨创新之间的中介作用。研究关注到个体为过剩资质寻求肯定性反馈和价值证明的心理机制，从资质过剩的视角对自我验证理论做出边际贡献，为引导资质过剩感的创新转化提供了理论启发和实践建议。     

The clash of managerial and professional logics in public procurement: Implications for innovation in the health-care sector

This article addresses the enactment of public procurement and its influence on adoption and diffusion of innovation, using a case study of public procurement of a low-tech medical device innovation in Swedish healthcare. Based on interviews and documentation, the article illustrates the various perspectives of the different professions involved in the complex task of setting the requirement specification for the tender. The technology identities of the medical device (innovation) are constructed and negotiated by the actors: procurement administrators, health-care professionals and suppliers within the adoption space. Examining the enactment of the procurement process as part of the adoption space is a way to deepen our understanding of the social component within public procurement.     

制度视角的家族治理与企业绩效研究——来自中德上市家族企业的对比证据

家族集中所有权、控制权和家族涉入管理对企业绩效到底有利还是有弊？相对于发达资本主义国家的企业,处于转型经济中的中国企业面临的外部不确定性更高,上述关系在不同经济体之间是否有区别？企业的治理效果取决于内外两种机制,内部的家族治理系统是对外部制度环境的不完善的补充。我们选取处于成熟市场经济的德国上市家族企业与处于转型经济中的中国上市家族企业进行实证对比,从制度的视角来探讨上述问题。研究结果显示两国上市家族企业的家族治理与企业绩效之间的关系是不一样的。结论表明治理结构并不一定对企业绩效产生直接影响,不同的制度环境会导致不同的作用机制产生。     

自主创新与优势产业选择的实证研究——以河南省工业行业为例

自主创新与优势产业选择之间存在着紧密的关系。文章通过构建二者之间的互动模型,分别从自主创新和优势产业选择两个方面对河南省工业行业进行了独立分析和联合分析。结果发现,自主创新能力较强的行业与选择的优势产业之间存在着较大差异。有色金属冶炼及压延加工业虽然联合分析排名第一,但应注意提升自主创新能力;装备制造业相对创新能力较强,但应在总量、质量和效率上进行努力。     

Auditing process safety management in four levels

An audit must have a defined structure, an understood purpose, and enough details to assure completeness. It should be divided into discrete levels with specific topics so that the auditor can fully identify and understand the degree to which each facility or company complies with the requirements. Each of these levels should also be designed to analyze different types of information, implementation actions, and infrastructure. This article proposes and discusses a four-level approach to conduct a comprehensive and complete audit. The four levels are as follows:

• 1 Recognition and acknowledgment of the need to comply with a specific set of rules or regulations,
• 2 An implementation strategy and infrastructure,
• 3 Evidence of compliance, and
• 4 Quality assessments.

The content and purpose of each level as well as the interaction between levels is discussed and explained in this article. © 2009 American Institute of Chemical Engineers Process Saf Prog, 2009     

Food demand studies in Sub-Saharan Africa: a survey of empirical evidence

The recent empirical food demand studies on Sub-Saharan Africa show significant advances in demand specification and methodology, especially in the application of less restrictive and theoretically consistent flexible functional forms. The findings to date establish some broad patterns on effect of income, household demography and life cycle, location, and prices on food demand patterns. However, the numerical values of the demand estimates are less generalizable because of an insufficient number of data points to separate the true demand component from other confounding factors, which are linked to differences in modeling and estimation of demand relations. The priority for future research is to generate sufficiently detailed demand estimates that have a high utility for disaggregated policy analysis, but are based on a theoretically consistent and comparable methodology.     

我国房地产上市公司绩效评价——基于D-S广义模糊软集合理论

参考《企业绩效评价标准值2010》、结合中国房地产上市公司财务数据的可得性来构建企业绩效评价指标体系,运用信息熵理论得到指标权重。将D-S广义模糊软集合理论引入企业绩效评价,对2010年我国沪深两市的部分房地产上市公司的业绩进行了综合评价,并利用D-S广义模糊软集合及其相似度对样本公司绩效进行分类。实证分析结果表明了所构建评价方法的客观合理性。     

农民工培训效果的评估模型与应用

为解决农民工的就业问题,国家加大了对农民工培训的政策支持力度,农民工培训市场日益蓬勃。但目前我国的农民工培训市场良莠不齐,因而对农民工培训效果进行科学评估显得尤为重要。根据现实条件,运用Kirkpatrick的四级评估法以及D—S证据理论,可以对农民工培训效果进行较为合理、科学的评价,并及时发现培训中和培训机构存在的问题。