Growing deep roots: Increasing Aboriginal authority in contemporary forest governance arrangements

The governance literature highlights a shift away from “government” to new and more complex governing arrangements that involve a greater set of institutions and actors in decision-making processes. According to a number of studies, this shift is ongoing in forestry. This article seeks a better understanding of contemporary forest governance by exploring the emerging role of Aboriginal peoples in the Canadian forest sector. It is well known that Aboriginal participation in forest management is crucial for achieving sustainable forestry. Yet we know little about how Aboriginal communities can induce a change in governing conditions. We examined the various governance arrangements through which the Essipit Innu First Nation in Quebec (Canada) was able to exercise authority over forest management. Using multiple qualitative data gathering techniques, our analysis shows that Essipit innovated in forest governance by creating a partnership with the forest company Boisaco and, thus, gained authority over forest management decisions at the operational level. Our analysis explains that this new governance arrangement is built on growing collaboration and interdependencies between these two parties. Common values, orientations, mechanisms and tools are also necessary conditions. Finally, this research highlights the need for greater cultural understanding.     

Sales recruiting—A major area of underinvestment

How does a firm decide whether the amount now being spent to generate sales force applicants is too much, not enough, or about right? This question can be answered by using information routinely generated by corporate activities and a relatively straight forward decision theory technique. To illustrate that technique, an analysis was conducted for a hypothetical but by no means atypical firm. The results suggest that many corporations could appreciably increase their overall profitability by spending more on sales force recruitment and selection.     

The Tourism Intelligence Network

SUMMARY

This case study examines the organisation of research in Quebec. It presents an example of best practice in tourism research dissemination.     

Cost-utility of celecoxib use in different treatment strategies for osteoarthritis and rheumatoid arthritis from the Quebec healthcare system perspective

Abstract

Objective: To assess the cost-utility of celecoxib in three treatment strategies for arthritis in Quebec, considering both upper gastrointestinal (GI) and cardiovascular (CV) events.

Methods: A Markov analytic framework was used to model patients with osteoarthritis and rheumatoid arthritis at low/average and high risk of GI and CV toxicity over 5 years with monthly cycles. Treatment strategies were modelled in line with Canadian clinical practice. In first-line treatment, patients started on celecoxib; second-line, patients started on a non-selective non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drug (NSAID) and switched to celecoxib after a first GI event; third-line, patients started on a non-selective NSAID, added a proton pump inhibitor (PPI) after a first GI event, and switched to celecoxib after a second GI event (while maintaining the PPI). Model inputs were determined through comprehensive literature searches (MEDLINE and EMBASE) from 1995 to 2006. Included studies evaluated GI (dyspepsia, uncomplicated and complicated ulcers, death) and CV (myocardial infarction, stroke, death) events. Drug and procedure costs were derived from Canadian published sources (Can$2005).

Results: Total costs per patient for celecoxib first-, second-, and third-line treatment were Can$4,790, $3,390, and $3,466, and total quality-adjusted life-years (QALY) were 3.251, 3.231, and 3.230, respectively. In all risk categories, celecoxib second-line was less costly and as effective as celecoxib third-line, producing savings to the healthcare system. Although celecoxib first-line generated incremental expenditures versus celecoxib second-line, it was also more effective. The resulting cost-utility ratio for the high-risk population was Can$54,696/QALY. Based on this analytical approach, a treatment strategy where celecoxib is used before the combination of a non-selective NSAID plus a PPI possesses cost advantages for the Quebec provincial drug programme. One-way sensitivity analysis (varying GI and CV event rates, utilities, and cost) generally showed second-line treatment with celecoxib as the dominant strategy compared with third-line treatment with celecoxib.

Conclusion: Although effectiveness of second- and third-line celecoxib use is similar, total cost is lower for second-line. These results suggest that the use of celecoxib before the combination of a non-selective NSAID plus a PPI is relatively cost-effective in the treatment of arthritis pain and support the full benefit listing of celecoxib in Quebec's drug programme.     

The effects of price and message-sidedness on confidence in product and advertisement with personal involvement as a mediator variable

Attribution of confidence by consumers when the price of the product is known, has already been investigated in previous studies, as has been attribution of confidence from advertisements' sidedness. This study, based on a 2 × 3 × 2 (sidedness × price levels × type of product) factorial design, focuses in the interactive effects of price and message-sidedness, since consumers are rarely exposed to one single variable of the marketing strategy. A model is developped, which is articulated on the central concept of consumer involvement. It is found that under high involvement, high price enhances confidence in the product (but not in the advertisement), two-sided messages increase confidence in the advertisement (but not in the product). It is also shown that two-sided messages bring about higher-confidence in the product when price is at the medium level.     

An assessment of ordinary landscapes by an expert and by its residents: Landscape values in areas of intensive agricultural use

The expert-based approach to landscape assessment developed in North America during the 1970s is still largely used in planning. It has proved its usefulness for the protection and the management of landscapes with remarkable visual attributes. However, facing growing social demands for the quality of surroundings, ordinary landscapes also raise great challenges for planning. But, to what extent is the expert-based approach to landscape assessment able to capture the value of these ordinary landscapes? What might be the more appropriate method for this purpose? This paper addresses these questions through an empirical research project in areas of intensive agricultural use in Quebec (Canada). The aim of this research was to measure and compare the ability of an expert-based approach and of a lay people-based approach, also named experiential approach, to capture the most valued components of ordinary landscapes. These methods were applied to two study areas. The first one has no recognised landscapes in any planning document while the second one has recognised landscapes for regional tourism. Forty-six inhabitants and an expert were invited to evaluate the landscapes of the study areas. The results have allowed comparison of the components valued by the expert and by the inhabitants as well as the criteria used in the assessment. They revealed differences between the expert and the lay people assessment. For inhabitants, the value of ordinary landscapes is based on a set of criteria related to emotion, to everyday experience and to their intimate knowledge of places. Thus, the formal visual criteria used by the expert appear to be clearly less important in the evaluation by lay people. As the expert perspective in landscape assessment is more closely associated to the experience of an individual which cross the territory (ex.: tourist), this paper concludes that to capture the value of ordinary landscapes in a planning perspective, a combination of approaches is necessary.     

Exploring and comparing innovation patterns across different knowledge intensive business services

Using data from a survey of 769 firms, this paper provides empirical evidence of the nature of innovation and its determinants within knowledge intensive business services (KIBS). The aim of the paper is to analyse how KIBS innovate and whether they innovate differently in three Canadian knowledge intensive business industries: Computer System Designs and Related Services; Management, Scientific and Technical Consulting Services; and, Architectural, Engineering and Related Services. There are clear differences in the innovation profiles of the three sectors, which suggest that KIBS cannot be analysed as an undifferentiated group of establishments. However, there are also important within-sector differences that call for further investigation.     

Total factor productivity change in hog production and Quebec's revenue insurance program

Quebec's hog industry is supported by a revenue insurance program that guarantees a minimum price, but it also faces strict environmental constraints. Under price volatility, risk-averse farms may contract their output enough to produce under increasing returns. We show that the subsidy and downside risk reduction effects of the revenue insurance program tend to stimulate output and increase the likelihood of production under increasing returns. Environmental constraints that raise the cost of manure management and limit areas under cultivation also increase the likelihood of decreasing returns. Scale efficiency and technical efficiency measures are obtained through a parametric decomposition of total factor productivity (TFP) obtained from the estimation of an output distance function. As in hog studies pertaining to other countries, we found a TFP average annual growth of 5.2% between 2004 and 2012. Scale efficiency is much lower than in other countries, as per our prior about the program's distortions and environmental constraints. Integrating annual TFP gains into the setting of the minimum guaranteed price could reduce program costs by $12 million per year. About $70–80 million per year could be saved by investing in extension activities that would bring increase the level of technical efficiency of inefficient farms to the provincial average. A metatechnology frontier approach allowing for an endogenous input was also implemented to assess the robustness of the scale efficiency results.     

加拿大魁北克省的土地利用与管理

在对加拿大魁北克省土地利用及管理的历史与现状进行回顾的同时,旨在为改进我国土地资源管理工作提供所需的参考资料。