ATP’s impact on accelerating development and commercialization of advanced technology

One of ATP’s legislated mandates is to accelerate industry’s development and commercialization of new technologies. This survey of 28 projects funded in 1991 found that ATP helped cut technology development cycle time by 50% in most cases. Slightly more than half of the interviewees provided quantitative estimates of the economic value of reducing cycle time by a single year. Most interviewees expected the positive impact on cycle time experienced in the applied-research stage to flow through to later stages in the technology development cycle allowing them to enter the marketplace more quickly. Cycle-time improvements in other technology development projects were attributed by the companies to their ATP project. Two types of acceleration were implied: (1) overcoming delays in starting technology development projects, and (2) speeding up performance of research once it is under way. This paper is based on work performed by the author when she was serving as an industry consultant to the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST). The author acknowledges the contributions of Rosalie Ruegg, Richard Spivack, Ernesto Robles, and Gregory Tassey, all of NIST, to the study. In addition, she expresses appreciation to the 28 company representatives who participated in the project interviews.     

Factors affecting the transfer of technology from industry/university cooperatives to sponsoring companies

This paper illuminates the technology-transfer process by identifying the factors affecting the implementation decisions of sponsor companies with regard to eight projects conducted at two industry/university cooperative-research centers. Telephone interviews with corporate-sponsor representatives provided the data. The factors reported most often as influential in the decision of whether or not to use research results were relevance of the project, researcher's ability to demonstrate the usefulness of the results, and the quality of communication with the researcher. When results were not used, lack of company support and lack of communication within the company also appeared to be influential. The end result of these analyses is a model depicting the factors that affect the implementation decision.     

Toward a Theory of Performance Reporting to Achieve Public Sector Accountability: A Field Study

Governments in many countries are implementing performance reporting systems. Many advocates claim that performance reporting results in accountability and effectiveness. There is no theory to justify these claims and guide implementation. This paper presents five field studies of five performance‐reporting systems to begin building theory. Four locations are optimistic; one is not. Mere adoption of performance reporting is not effective. Broad involvement across all government levels is important. Communication and integration with strategic planning and agency management are essential. Two theoretical streams, accounting in organized anarchies and the constitutive role of accounting, are useful theoretical bases.     

Turnout in recent American presidential elections

The well-noted decline in the participation of Americans in presidential elections since the early sixties reversed in the 1984 election, although only slightly. An improved national mood appears to have contributed little to increasing turnout. However, the gap in participation between the wealthier and poorer widened, while that between men and women narrowed and reversed direction, and belonging to a group associated with an identity affected participation more powerfully. Taken together, these findings indicate shifts in patterns of turnout corresponding to shifts in the lines of politicized interests. Analysis of the participation of blacks finds little evidence for electoral mobilization by the Rainbow Coalition in 1984.     

Equity under and state responses to the Superfund Amendments and Reauthorization Act of 1986

A difficult problem facing states with significant commercial hazardous waste treatment and disposal capacity is the inflow of waste into the state for disposal. The states with commercial capacity allege that other states are reluctant to aggressively pursue siting facilities, and in fact may be impeding development through restrictive siting provisions. Likewise, capacity states are frustrated with the Environmental Protection Agency for its perceived inaction in reviewing state siting standards. Equity discussion abounds at the state level. Capacity states hoped that equity would be elevated to federal debate through Section 104(k) of the Superfund Amendments and Reauthorization Act of 1986. I examine equity and review hazardous waste management in a federalism context to discern the relationship between EPA and the states. I focus on the different roles EPA and the states perceived for the other during implementation of Section 104(k). I conclude with an evaluation of how equity was handled under the new legislation and what remains to be done.Research for this article was supported by the Tennessee Department of Health and Environment and the Waste Management Research and Education Institute at the University of Tennessee. I appreciate the comments provided by David L. Feldman and the anonymous Reviewers. The research assistance of Susan Bohm Seylar is gratefully acknowledged.     

Communication publique et processus démocratique

Sommaire: Aux différents paliers de gouvernement, les services de communication publique ont vu leur fonction et leur rôle se modifier pour prendre, dans certains cas, une place importante dans le processus décisionnel des administrations publiques. Cet article analyse les raisons d'une telle évolution en regard du processus de gestion des affaires publiques et s'interroge sur l'impact qu'elle peut avoir sur le processus démocratique dans son ensemble. Après avoir analysé d'une part les relations diverses qu'entretiennent les administrations privées et publiques avec leur environnement, et d'autre part la transposition du modèle de marketing aux activités gouvernementales, on tente de situer les fonctions de communication des administrations publiques au sein d'un système d'interactions incluant l'exécutif gouvernemental, l'environnement public et les médias. Selon le sens de circulation et les flux d'informations, les services de communication exercent plus ou moins une fonction traditionnelle de diffusion vers l'environnement ou une fonction conseil auprès des décideurs. L'importance croissante de cette dernière fonction, s'appuyant sur l'analyse des attentes des administrés, minimise la légitimité des choix politiques des élus et mène à une nouvelle forme de démocratie. Ces considérations s'appuient principalement sur les énoncés de politiques de communication exprimés par les divers paliers de gouvernements, et sur les entretiens non-directifs menés par les auteurs auprès de dix responsables des communications des gouvernements fédéral, provincial, municipaux et scolaires.     

Rethinking the marketing of World Heritage Sites: Giving the past a sustainable future

Despite significant global prestige and a strong brand presence, UNESCO World Heritage Sites remain underfunded with many unable to self-sustain. Increasing government budget constraints have further restricted funds and UNESCO's “World Heritage Fund”—UNESCO's sole source of financial assistance available to sites—has fallen to approximately $3M USD per annum. Few sites are able to fully offset these budget constraints through tourist revenue alone, and those able to do so often require additional repairs due to damage from visitors exceeding the site's capacity. Although this situation is widely acknowledged within the heritage literature, few papers have proposed long-term strategic solutions beyond marketing and management plans for individual sites. The authors address this pressing issue by questioning whether World Heritage Sites in general are currently being marketed in an optimized manner and proposing a new framework for creating stronger and more appropriate relationships between visitors and sites using Berthon et al.'s the Aesthetics and Ontology model. The authors argue that clarifying and optimizing the marketing of World Heritage through this lens with its focus on the consumption experience of visitors and other stakeholders will yield positive results for both the management of the sites and for their impact on surrounding communities. Furthermore, the authors recommend that policies surrounding the management of these valuable resources and sources of tourist revenue be modified to reflect these findings.