The economics of performance management in nonprofit organizations

This article analyzes whether and how private‐sector notions of performance management apply to nonprofit organizations. To this end the author shows that each concept of performance management used in the private sector is based on a specific economic theory of the firm and its environment. Before transferring concepts and tools derived from a certain model of the firm and its environment to nonprofit organizations, one must determine whether the assumptions underlying this model are also adequate for nonprofit organizations. Otherwise, one must first adjust those assumptions and analyze whether the derived concepts and tools are still meaningful in the new context; if not, one must determine how to modify them accordingly. The analysis elaborates on the differences between for‐profit and nonprofit organizations that are important for applying performance management concepts. Moreover, the author discusses the practical implications for the use of balanced scorecards in nonprofits.     

Pathological gambling and criminal culpability: An analysis of forensic evaluations presented to German penal courts

In Germany penal courts and expert witnesses are being confronted with an increasing number of offenders claiming that their criminal behavior had been caused by an irresistible urge to gamble. In 48 of 56 evaluated cases the defendants were diagnosed as pathological gamblers. However, diminished culpability (§ 21 German Criminal Code) was granted in only 32 cases. In these cases the illegal activity to get money could be classified as primarily gambling related.This Article is a revised version of a paper presented at the 9th International Conference on Gambling & Risk-Taking, Las Vegas, Nevada. May 31st–June 3rd, 1994.     

Re/Formierung des Österreichischen Pflichtschulwesens im Kontext neoliberaler Gouvernementalität

The goal of my article is to develop a critical point of view about the reforms and developments of the Austrian school system over the last 30 years by analysing their inherent elements of neo-liberal governance from Michel Foucault’s governmental perspective. The following issues will be elaborated:

1. The neo-liberal (re)formed schools not only have to be organized according to this rationality and to succeed within a framework of increasing school autonomy, but, in addition, they have to promote the enforcement of this rationality into the thinking of all parties hereto, especially of the pupils and teachers. That is why the school itself becomes a motor of neo-liberal transformation processes of society.
2. The school’s forming in the context of neo-liberal governmentality is a synonym for withdrawing, modifying and transforming established disciplinary practices, ways of acting and structures of thinking in school. It implies liberating and subordinating elements. Within these arrangements newly formed, subjective liberties converge with their own restrictions.

     

Sufficiency of variables in discrete discriminant analysis

In discrete discriminant analysis the high dimensional estimation problem makes it necessary to restrict oneself to the most effective variables. Conditions are derived to determine whether subsets of variables yield the same optimal allocation rule as the original set. In the discrete case the conditions turn out to be sufficient but not necessary. Tests are derived in the framework of log-linear models. Based on the concept of adequate (α) discriminant sets two variable selection procedures are considered.     

Technological change and energy consumption in US iron and steel manufacturing

This paper examines the extent to which the rising relative energy prices of the past decade have influenced managerial decisions in U.S. iron and steel manufacturing. Efforts at energy conservation, as well as opportunities for short-run substitutions among energy sources, were constrained mainly by existing process technology. The actual pattern of substitution can be explained to a large extent by changes in techniques. Decisions concerning such investments were guided by many factors, among which considerations of energy savings played only a minor role. This observation can be explained by the fact that, although the industry in the aggregate is a prodigious consumer of energy, energy costs at any one production stage are but a small fraction of total variable costs. Integrated greenfield plants embodying state-of-the-art technology would achieve much higher levels of energy efficiency than are currently realized, but such new plants are unlikely to be built in the United States, under the current conditions of global excess capacity.     

El discurso literario como análisis social. El ejemplo de Nieve de Orhan Pamuk

Orhan Pamuk's novel Snow 1 1. English version by Maureen Freely (2004). View all notes uses fiction as an instrument of social analysis. It attempts to comprehend the complicated situation contemporary Turkish society is exposed to in consequence of its persisting efforts on behalf of modernization, which is a key condition for its future integration into the European Community. This process, initiated almost 90 years ago by Kemal Atatürk, finds itself opposed to the tenacity of both an ethnically multiform traditional culture and religious fundamentalism as strong ideological elements of distortion and violence within changing social relations and structures. The first part of the article discusses the sociological interest in a hermeneutic analysis of the contents and structures of communication as they are reflected in some of the most significant dialogues between Pamuk's actors. The text highlights the conflictive background of the cultural drama in the bosom of Turkish society. The second part interprets the literary treatment based on the political and sociological analysis by S.N. Eisenstadt (1987) and Gokhan Bacik (2003), which focused on the present situation of the Kemalist movement and its discourse in spite of the transformation of Muslim identity in Turkey.     

Rationalizing Policy Functions by Dynamic Optimization

We derive necessary and sufficient conditions for a pair of functions to be the optimal policy function and the optimal value function of a dynamic maximization problem with convex constraints and concave objective functional. It is shown that every Lipschitz continuous function can be the solution of such a problem. If the maintained assumptions include free disposal and monotonicity, then we obtain a complete characterization of all optimal policy and optimal value functions. This is the case, e.g., in the standard aggregative optimal growth model.