A Comment on Salamon and Anheier's “Social Origins of Civil Society”

In this paper we examine Salamon and Anheier's characterization and testing of alternative theories of the size and scope of the nonprofit sector in different countries. We identify various nuances and refinements of these theories, and we suggest ways in which their validation through statistical testing can be extended and improved. Finally, we offer additional avenues of research that could productively exploit the important cross-national data set assembled by the Johns Hopkins Project.     

Rejects reduction in a retail bank using Lean Six Sigma

Lean Six Sigma (LSS) is a majestic process improvement methodology that has been proved to be a powerful management strategy across services. The influential synergy of Six Sigma and Lean aims at improving the processes, focusing on both rapid and robust improvements, reducing waste and variation in the process. LSS generates successful results in key performance indicators (KPIs) based environments, where process data gets measured and leveraged for making essential management decisions. The aim of this paper is to highlight the importance of LSS in banking industry through a real-time process improvement study. The article establishes the literature for the need for LSS in banks detailing on customer facing metrics and process KPIs. An action-research study conducted in a retail bank is presented in LSS DMAIC methodology which reaped a benefit of INR 1.6 million and is a classic example of how LSS can bring bottom-line impact to an organisation, alongside contributing to the process improvement mind-set in employees.     

Public sector delivery of waste management services: cases from the Indian Sub-Continent

This paper discusses the role of public sector institutions in the delivery of urban services, with a particular focus on waste management in the Indian Sub-Continent. Public sector institutions are the major stakeholders in the delivery of urban sevices. They hold the major responsibilities, funds and employ a large number of staff. The public sector institutions are also exposed to political influence and the institutional changes are often politically or donors driven. However, since new institutions such as non-government organisations and private sector are taking important roles in the actual delivery of services, there is a greater need to understand the existing linkages to promote integration. The informal sector also provides services to a large number of population. In order to promote efficient and effective delivery of urban services, it is important to work on the integrated approaches involving key stakeholders.     

论银行业衍生产品交易对手信用风险管理

银行是场外衍生产品市场的主要参与者。在从事场外衍生产品业务时,银行会面临一种特殊的风险———交易对手信用风险。美国次贷危机中,交易对手信用风险的破坏性体现得尤为明显,使参与其中的银行承受了巨大损失。本文厘清了衍生产品交易对手信用风险的定义及特征,总结了全球及中国的衍生产品交易对手信用风险现状,介绍了国外银行业的风险管理经验,最后,提出了我国银行业应采取的风险管理措施。     

全球金融体系变革与中国金融监管体制改革

王俊豪通过对城市公用事业分类研究,发现整个城市公用事业存在许多竞争空间,而在竞争性领域,民营企业通常具有较高的效率。他认为,民营企业进入城市公用事业有巨大的潜在空间,中国城市公用事业改革可实行分类民营化政策。戚聿东、范合君认为,十二五时期要把竞争化改造作为深化垄断行业改革的主攻方向,形成有效竞争格局,同时需要把运营模式改革与竞争模式改革作为着力点。齐兰和郑少华认为,未来全球金融监管具有综合监管、无缝监管、系统性风险监管、国际金融监管合作等新态势,中国金融监管体制必须采取诸如调整金融监管模式、扩大金融监管范围、实施系统性风险监管、加强金融监管国际合作等方面的改革措施。胡亦琴认为,土地的可持续利用是农业可持续发展的基础,创新农地流转及其相关制度、机制,是提高土地要素配置效率、促进土地资源永续利用、进而实现农业可持续发展的重要突破口。     

农地流转制度创新与中国农业可持续发展

王俊豪通过对城市公用事业分类研究,发现整个城市公用事业存在许多竞争空间,而在竞争性领域,民营企业通常具有较高的效率。他认为,民营企业进入城市公用事业有巨大的潜在空间,中国城市公用事业改革可实行分类民营化政策。戚聿东、范合君认为,十二五时期要把竞争化改造作为深化垄断行业改革的主攻方向,形成有效竞争格局,同时需要把运营模式改革与竞争模式改革作为着力点。齐兰和郑少华认为,未来全球金融监管具有综合监管、无缝监管、系统性风险监管、国际金融监管合作等新态势,中国金融监管体制必须采取诸如调整金融监管模式、扩大金融监管范围、实施系统性风险监管、加强金融监管国际合作等方面的改革措施。胡亦琴认为,土地的可持续利用是农业可持续发展的基础,创新农地流转及其相关制度、机制,是提高土地要素配置效率、促进土地资源永续利用、进而实现农业可持续发展的重要突破口。     

陕西省服务业发展研究

服务业现代化程度的测评是目前研究涉及较少的领域。从分析陕西省服务业发展水平和结构入手,首次提出服务业现代化指数概念,并结合2005年经济普查的数据对陕西省服务业各行业的现代化水平及其经济效益进行了初步测评。在定量分析的基础上得出了陕西省服务业内部各行业经济效益参差不齐的结论。从整体上看,其经济效益还较低,因而提高服务业的经济效益应该成为陕西省发展服务业的主要努力方向。     

Scholarly Communication 2.0: Exploring Researchers' Opinions on Web 2.0 for Scientific Knowledge Creation, Evaluation and Dissemination

This paper presents the results of a survey aimed at gauging the potential acceptance of a collaborative and Web 2.0 inspired scholarly communication sector. While this sector has seen the birth of a multitude of innovative initiatives, there is still little empirical evidence of the acceptance of such initiatives by researchers. We received 349 completed questionnaires from researchers of many different disciplines. The results of the survey show that there is a strong positive attitude towards Web 2.0 and open publishing approaches. However, the major challenge still resides in combining free dissemination of results with robust and reliable quality control mechanisms.     

What explains frontline workers' views on poverty? A comparison of three types of welfare sector institutions

The study analysed views on poverty among Finnish frontline workers in three welfare sector institutions. Two different institutional logics, universal and selective, and two sectors, the public and the voluntary, were represented. A nationwide survey among social security officials, municipal social workers and diaconal workers was utilised (N = 2,124). The methods applied included factor analysis, the examination of means and multivariate analysis of variance. Frontline workers were found to support structural reasons for poverty regardless of institutional affiliation. Analyses, however, also revealed significant differences between the institutions, but not of the kind expected. Social security officials, working in a universal institution, were less likely to endorse structural factors and more likely to endorse individualistic poverty explanations than were social and diaconal workers. Type of education and personal political ideology, respectively, were also found to be of significant importance for poverty perceptions, independent of institutional logic.