Aligning Needs and Capacities to Boost Government Competitiveness

National competitiveness indices are often theoretical underdeveloped, limiting their engagement with academic literature. Because many are based on neoliberal ideology, a new approach is needed to incorporate governance and administration theory, and to enhance relevance to developing countries. This article introduces government competitiveness, a concept that recognizes overlooked factors like the role of social organizations, the use of diverse policy inputs and policy development processes, and the imperative to address human needs at all development stages. The conceptual foundation draws from systems theory, needs theory, and intervention stages theory to inform a comprehensive framework that bridges development scholarship and practice.

     

Corporate governance and management practices: stakeholder involvement, quality and sustainability tools adoption

Local public services are the field in which New Public Management (NPM) and Public Governance issues are most in evidence. The local public services are characterized by the rethinking of the role played by local government in the provision of services. An evolution has taken place. From a traditional configuration in which local public services were managed by local governments they moved to a configuration where a separation has taken place between the local government role (which continues to be the guarantor of the satisfaction of public needs) and the role of local public utilities (LPUs) (responsible for delivering the services). This transformation implies both the delegation of resources and authority to lower organisational levels within the public sector and the reconfiguration of accountability chains between the state institutions and the society. In recent years, an intense debate has developed regarding the introduction of new tools and control systems. Particular attention has been paid to planning and control systems, human resources management systems, and performance management systems, leaving a few pioneers to develop their analysis on corporate governance mechanisms with regard their relationships with both the external (stakeholders) actors and the internal (management) ones. On one hand, the OECD wrote guidelines in order to ensure good corporate governance practices, focusing on relations with stakeholders. On the other hand, the dialogue between corporate governance and stakeholders has been already tackled by a number of International organizations guidelines or principles, following a debate on corporate governance that has progressively combined a stakeholder perspective with a more classic shareholder-maximizing model of governance. This article contributes to the debate on the stakeholder involvement process. By means of both a theoretical discussion and an empirical research conducted on 37 Italian LPUs, this paper attempts to analyse specific management tools which can be used to improve the quality of corporate governance in LPUs, by extending the stakeholder involvement. Some NPM’s tools, such as quality standards and sustainability tools imply an effort to offer new forms of organizational behaviour in the decision-making processes (i.e. the choice of the performance indicators and the reporting tools) and to create a dialogue between the enterprise and its stakeholders. In particular, in our study we focus on the adoption of quality standards (ISO 9000 and Customer Satisfaction) and sustainability tools (sustainability reports and ISO 14000 standard) as NPM’s tools to facilitate the stakeholder involvement practices.     

Governing Diversity: The Impact of Social Heterogeneity on Human Service Delivery

The social environment in which government is embedded has wide implications for public administration. The increasing social heterogeneity in the United States poses various puzzles for the governance structure in public human service programs. Apart from major political and policy changes, contracting out service delivery is considered to be a more appropriate managerial response. Therefore, social heterogeneity in a jurisdiction would be positively associated with the use of contractual networks in service delivery. Using data from a national survey of human service contracting, this study finds that states with higher degrees of social heterogeneity use service contractual networks more often. This further highlights the imperative of capacity building for public administrators when using contractual networks.     

Sound Governance: Engaging Citizens through Collaborative Organizations

This paper addresses governance-citizen relationship and argues for ??sound governance?? and engaging citizens in public administration through collaborative organizations. After reviewing and analyzing the contemporary literature on the importance and various forms of governance, it: (1) argues for a new concept of ??sound governance?? with key dimensions and characteristics, (2) provides an imperative with rationales for engaging citizens in governance and governing in the twenty first century, and (3) offers alternative forms of collaboration and partnership building to engage citizens, enhance governance, and maximize citizen participation in public administration.     

Divide and rule: The effects of diversity and network structure on a firm's sustainability performance

To tackle sustainability, firms often use partnerships with organizations from different industries or societal sectors such as government and civil society. While partnerships show potential for firms to improve their sustainability performance, they not only lead to a potential to learn from diversity but also to tensions due to a lack of unity between partners. In partnerships for sustainability, this unity-diversity tension particularly manifests itself in different views of sustainability. This paper examines how this tension affects the sustainability performance of firms taking part in partnerships for sustainability in developing countries. To address this question, this tension is conceptualized as being the result of differences in organizational frames and institutional logics between a focal firm and other organizations in the partnership. It is also taken into consideration that firms are embedded in an overarching, relational network structure that allows them to manage the diversity in frames and logics. To test the hypotheses, the study analyses 1353 greenhouse gas emission reduction projects of 322 firms from developing countries active in the carbon-offset market from 2007 to 2009. The findings show that if partners hold different frames and belong to different sectors, a firm's sustainability performance improves first due to learning from diversity but after a turning point decreases from a lack of unity. This inverse U-shape relationship is flipped if a firm occupies a brokerage position in its network.     

政府治理、产权偏好与资本投资

本文从投资机会和融资约束视角分析了地方政府治理水平影响企业投资行为的机制,认为地方政府通过提供高质量的公共治理水平,帮助企业获得更多的投资机会和融资渠道,扩大企业投资规模,提高投资效率。以我国2005-2007年间上市公司为研究样本,本文实证检验的结果表明,较高的地方政府治理水平会提高公司的资本投资规模;政府治理影响企业资本投资与投资机会的敏感度在民营企业中更为显著,政府治理对国有企业资本投资的影响随着实际控制人的行政级别提高而降低。进一步研究发现,政府治理能够降低企业的融资约束,提高企业投资效率。     

Governance of sustainable supply chains in the fast fashion industry

This paper examines the impact of corporate social responsibility behavior on the sustainability performance of focal companies and their partners in fast fashion supply chains. The attributes of sustainability and the mechanism of sustainability governance of the fast fashion supply chain are also discussed. From the perspective of strategic corporate social responsibility, we first analyze the motives for adopting sustainability governance in fast fashion supply chains, and identify seven competitive sustainable attributes of the fast fashion product based on sustainable development theory. Then, by establishing a sustainability governance framework, we identify seven factors that affect the sustainability governance decision-making and evaluate the efficiency and legitimacy mechanism of sustainability governance from internal and external perspectives. Finally, we explore the application of the governance mechanisms via a case study based on H&M’s seven sustainability commitments. The findings suggest that the core influence and centrality of a corporation should be strengthened from the perspective of internal governance, and stakeholders should collaborate to achieve sustainability governance throughout the entire fast fashion supply chain from the perspective of external governance.     

Innovation in Strategic Human Resource Management: Building Capacity in the Age of Globalization

This article addresses innovation as a strategic instrument in human resource management capacity building in the age of globalization. To meet the challenges of globalization—negative as well as positive—capacity building is needed in areas of organization, management, governance, and public administration all over the world. Innovation is defined, strategic innovations and innovative strategies are explained, capacity building is delineated, and over 22 areas or realms of innovation are identified, explained, and emphasized as strategic instruments of capacity building. Viewing human resources as human capital and beyond, the article argues that without human resources nothing can be accomplished, and without a well-trained, well-developed, well-appreciated, and well-managed human resources, modern organizations of government and business cannot meet the challenges of the globalization age, which demands a new generation of future-oriented, anticipatory managers who can develop effective visions and manage organizations by riding the high waves of change in the turbulent world.     

Reshaping state/local communities relations in Tunisia: The socio-cultural and institutional challenges of the decentralization project

International development agencies believe that by adopting institutional reforms based on the best practices that have proved effective elsewhere, so-called « developing countries » could take their places in the globalised economy. Based on a case study carried out on the implementation challenges of a decentralization project in Tunisia, I will argue by using an interpretive approach that this thesis is not sustained. This article shows that institutions cannot be reduced to their technical functions but that they are based on particular collective imaginaries that ground what is legitimate or not and structure the relationship of individuals to power and the meaning given to their actions. It encourages the consideration of cultural framework of meaning; these local cultural references structure the governance modalities of a society, understood in terms of the modalities of exercise of power in a given group (state, company, local authority, etc.). It advocates the necessity to move from a technic-prone approach in the implementation of institutional changes towards a socio-cultural approach that integrates the local expectations of what “good governance” should be and on which depends the legitimacy of institutions and their appropriation by local populations.     

Building Public HRM Capacity in Latin America and the Caribbean: What Works and What Doesn't

Public HRM in developing countries in Latin America and the Caribbean is different than in the United States because the development of administrative systems in general (and public personnel systems in particular) in less developed countries tend to evolve along a single track toward the model of increased rationality and transparency valued by international lenders as indicators of effective government and economic development. With respect to public HRM systems, this generally involves a sequential transition from statehood to patronage, from patronage to civil service, and from civil service to a range of alternative personnel systems. Development is a complex process affected more by economic, political and social conditions within each country, and their impact on civic culture, government and public administration. Examination of five examples from Latin America and the Caribbean shows that developing public HRM capacity can be done rightly or wrongly, depending on decision-makers' willingness to remember and learn from history and development management experience.     

突发危机事件网络舆情治理的多情景演化博弈分析

互联网时代，网络媒体已经成为谣言传播的重要载体，严重威胁到我国的网络空间安全和社会和谐稳定，因此加强和创新对网络媒体的监管，妥善治理突发危机事件网络舆情是各级政府面临的重大挑战。针对突发危机事件网络舆情治理的研究，本文运用演化博弈理论构建了网络媒体与地方政府双方演化博弈模型，在引入中央政府惩罚机制基础上，对比分析了网络媒体与地方政府双方行为策略选择的演化稳定均衡，同时采取多案例进行实证研究，并通过数值仿真分析对模型进行多情景推演模拟。研究结果表明：突发危机事件网络舆情传播热度与网络媒体和地方政府双方的策略选择有着直接关系；若地方政府承受突发危机事件网络舆情恶性演化造成的经济损失与信誉损失持续增大，双方演化系统都会出现周期性波动现象；引入中央政府惩罚机制后，其惩罚力度若高于网络媒体消极应对网络舆情所受到的惩罚和地方政府的监管投入成本时，最终系统会演化至良性状态，研究结论为政府部门在面对突发危机事件网络舆情治理方面提供了新思路。     

Strategic approaches to sustainability in fashion supply chain management

Today, the sustainability challenge has become a relevant issue in the fashion industry. However, given that the request for sustainability is relatively new in this industry, empirical research that could guide companies towards supply chain sustainability is lacking. This study aims to deepen the understanding of the main strategic approaches to sustainability used in fashion supply chain management (SCM). Ten case studies were examined in terms of the practices that characterise these approaches. Moreover, contextual factors, drivers and barriers that support or hinder different approaches were identified. To accomplish this goal, both environmental sustainability and social sustainability were investigated, and all the areas of fashion SCM (i.e. new product development, source, make, deliver, retail, return, governance) were considered simultaneously to offer a wide overview of this industry’s sustainability issue.     

Sustainable supply chain management in the fast fashion industry: An analysis of corporate reports

In recent decades, the fast fashion industry has been characterized by widespread operations across both developing and developed countries. Due to the economic, social and environmental problems in developing countries, companies increasingly focus on sustainability and try to ensure the same quality and standards in working and production conditions throughout their supply chains. Although the tension in the exchange of resources between developing and developed countries lies at the heart of current sustainability activities, what these companies are actually doing to manage their supply chain has not yet been explored in depth in the literature. Drawing on the theoretical framework of Seuring and Müller (2008), the current study attempts to fill this void by conceptually mapping the current situation of sustainable supply chain management (SSCM) in the fast fashion industry by analysing reports from 9 companies that use the same reporting guidelines. The results of the study reveal that these companies focus significantly on supplier compliance with their code of conduct, employing further monitoring and auditing activities to prevent production problems in developing countries, improve overall supply chain performance and set sustainability criteria for their suppliers.     

Partnerships as strategic choices in public management

Partnerships are not new phenomena in public administration. However, there is now a more explicit recognition that managing public policy networks involves partnerships within and across policy fields and linking interdependent levels of government nationally and internationally. The aim of this paper is to widen the scope of strategic choice in designing partnerships in public management by developing an alternative approach: the Power-Role Analysis. As the term suggests, Power-Role Analysis uses distinctions between types of power and the roles and relationships corresponding with them to clarify and define different forms of partnership. Power-role analysis provides a basis for considering systematically the problems that arise in managing partnerships of different kinds. It also gives guidance for establishing congruence between forms of partnerships and the results to be expected from selecting one form rather than another. The Power-Role analysis is afterwards performed, its focus being two empirical cases.     

和谐社会背景下的基层治理机制转变

基层政府治理机制转变是构建和谐社会的基本途径,构建社会主义和谐社会,其中很重要的一个方面是要充分发挥基层组织的作用。基层组织也是国家政权的基础和延伸。公众对执政党的执政理念、执政效果以及政治体系合法性、政治制度合理性的认识与认同,相当程度上是通过基层治理行为获得的。只有建立和完善促进经济良性运行、科学发展的基层政府机制,转变政府职能积极为公众和社会提供基本而有保障的公共产品和有效的公共管理、公共服务才能有利于夯实执政的阶级基础和群众基础,从而促进社会和谐发展。     

晋升激励、地域偏爱与企业环境表现:来自A股上市公司的经验证据

晋升激励和地域偏爱是影响地方政府官员决策行为的关键因素。本文以2009-2015年沪深A股上市企业为样本，探讨官员更替对企业环境表现的影响，并分别从晋升激励和地域偏爱两个角度切入分析这种影响背后的机制。研究发现，地方政府换届后，若继任官员来自本地调任，则当地企业的环境表现将得到改善；而若继任官员来自异地调任，则当地企业的环境表现将发生恶化。这一研究结论在解决可能的内生性问题、改变度量指标、考虑滞后反应、进行安慰剂测试、调整样本及控制其他可能的遗漏变量等一系列稳健性测试后仍然成立。进一步研究发现，异地调任的继任官员出于晋升激励的动机而倾向于降低地方环境治理水平；而本地调任官员出于对曾经任职地区的地域偏爱而更重视当地环境治理。本文创新性地从地方官员的晋升激励和地域偏爱视角探讨企业的环境社会责任，为理解地方官员的决策模式和企业环境责任行为提供了新思路。     

The Global Food Industry and “Creative Capitalism”: The Partners in Food Solutions Sustainable Business Model

Rising global food prices have driven 44 million additional people into extreme poverty—and malnutrition—in developing countries since June 2010. Partners in Food Solutions (PFS), a nonprofit social enterprise affiliated with General Mills, is proposed as the conduit for food industry managers, engineers, and scientists to initially advise small‐ and medium‐sized African mills and food processors—and later other developing countries—on improving supply chain management by addressing manufacturing problems, developing products, improving packaging, extending product shelf, and finding new product markets. In this article, the “creative capitalism” model of sustainability and social and environmental responsibility is applied to the food manufacturing industry's efforts supporting PFS. Furthermore, the evolution of the sustainable business model developed by PFS is thoroughly described, explained, and analyzed as a generic model of social enterprise to be “scaled up” by the global food manufacturing industry. A summary of salient points conclude the article.     

Multinationals and Skills Policy Networks: HRM as a Player in Economic and Social Concerns

This paper uses an embeddedness framework to reconceptualize HRM agency over the external labour market, and in so doing bring into focus the societal implications of HRM. Drawing on qualitative data from 53 key informants in two English regions, we identify the ways in which the subsidiaries of foreign multinationals (MNCs) engage with labour market skills actors. Our findings reveal how power structures are mobilized by local economic actors to align labour market skills with MNCs’ demand priorities. We show that multinationals may seek to partially endogenize (i.e. take ownership of) the resources of local labour markets when their competitive value is redefined in social as well as economic terms, and demonstrate that the social structure of sub‐national institutional governance arrangements and firm strategic action on skills creates the conduit through which resource endogenization may occur. Theoretically, this paper identifies the social structure of networks as a casual mechanism to bridge divergent skill interests, which is mobilized when network actors have the capacity to frame fields within the social structure of the network around ideas on economic sustainability and moral interest.     

Corporate Social Responsibility in Developing Countries as an Emerging Field of Study

Given the rising interest in corporate social responsibility (CSR) globally, its local expressions are as varied as they are increasingly visible in both developed and developing countries. This paper presents a multilevel review of the literature on CSR in developing countries and highlights the key differentiators and nuanced CSR‐related considerations that qualify it as a distinctive field of study. This review entails a content analysis of 452 articles spanning two‐and‐a‐half decades (1990–2015). Based on this comprehensive review, the authors identify the key differentiating attributes of the literature on CSR in developing countries in relation to depictions of how CSR is conceived or ‘CSR Thinking’ and depictions of how CSR is practiced and implemented or ‘CSR Doing’. The authors synthesize from there five key themes that capture the main aspects of variation in this literature, namely: (1) complex institutional antecedents within the national business system (NBS); (2) complex macro‐level antecedents outside the NBS; (3) the salience of multiple actors involved in formal and informal governance; (4) hybridized and other nuanced forms of CSR expressions; and (5) varied scope of developmental and detrimental CSR consequences. The paper concludes by accentuating how the nuanced forms of CSR in the developing world are invariably contextualized and locally shaped by multi‐level factors and actors embedded within wider formal and informal governance systems.