Abolishing the Audit Commission: Framing,Discourse Coalitions and Administrative Reform

The abolition of the Audit Commission in England raises questions about how a major reform was achieved with so little controversy, why the agency lacked the institutional stickiness commonly described in the literature on organisational reform and why it did not strategise to survive. In this paper, we apply argumentative discourse analysis to rich empirical data to reveal the pattern and evolution of storylines and discourse coalitions, and the ways in which these interact with and affect the practices of Parliament, the media and the Audit Commission itself. Our analysis shows that the politics of administrative reform are as much about discursive framing and the ability of pro-reformers to gain discursive structuration and institutionalisation as they are about the material resources available to a newly elected government and its ministers. Questions of technical feasibility are unlikely to derail a reform initiative once its promoters gain discursive ascendency.     

上市公司费用粘性对公司绩效的影响

在管理会计中,期间费用应随业务量上升时的增加额,要大于业务量等额度减少时期间费用的减少额。但费用粘性概念的提出,动摇了成本习性假设的基础地位。在对费用粘性相关文献进行综述的基础上,总结分析了费用粘性的特征、费用粘性的形成原因、以及可能产生的经济后果。通过理论分析及借鉴已有研究结论,得出上市公司管理费用率与公司下一期绩效并不具有统计意义上的相关性。     

规则是如何形成的——从哈耶克的“自发演化”论开始

哈耶克的“自发演化”论是分析规则形成的重要范式之一。然而,在现实场景中,自发形成之规则的粘滞性、非帕累托效率性,以及浓厚的“地方性知识”色彩导致其无法证成自身的充分合理性;更重要的是,由于难以成就一个以交织紧密之群体为支撑的记忆机制,个体日益疏离化的现代工商社会无从提供规则自生的理想土壤。反观历史,规则往往不是单一自发演化的产物,它的形成是包括权力在内的诸要素纠缠交结的混生过程。在当下中国社会情境急剧变动、分工深入推进的约束性条件下,权力可以发挥“产出”规则的比较优势。