Large Firms and Catch-up in a Transitional Economy: The Case of Shougang Group in China*

This study examines the possibility of catch-up of the Chinese steel industry, in particular the Shougang Group, with the leading global steel giants. Shougang is one of the four steel companies that have been selected by the Chinese government to constitute the core of the future Chinese steel industry. The contract system at Shougang, which operated from 1979 to 1995, unleashed an extraordinary entrepreneurial energy in the formerly traditional state-run steel plant. In the post-contract system, Shougang's range of decision-making independence in respect to the purchase of inputs, its production structure and product marketing has increased substantially compared to the contract system, when the government still controlled many of the key decisions. As a result of institutional constraint, the low value-added steel products dominate Shougang's portfolio. To challenge the established giants in the steel industry, Shougang has to divest the loss-making non-core businesses, slowly downsize employment in the core business, raise capital on the stock market and generates the resources for continued upgrading of its steel technology and diversifying its product portfolio.     

Conducting Heat

IT'S not immediately associ- ated with China but SMIC (the Semiconductor Manufacturing International Corporation), one of the leading semiconductorfoundries in the world, is a young Chi- nese miracle. Established in 2000, the Shanghai-based firm's customer base already spans the world. Eight-inch wafers produced at its plants in Shang- hai and Tianjin are the meat-and-po- tatoes of computer manufacturing but early in 2005 SMIC, seeking greater things, added a factory for 12-inch wafers …     

Driving Development from Below: The Advantages and Limitations of Vernacular Politics in the Bolivian Altiplano

Anthropologists studying the Andean community politics have increasingly emphasised the role of pragmatic, informal ‘vernacular’ political strategies in achieving material and political empowerment of the poor. However, while the concept of vernacular politics marks an advancement over binary and often polarised discussions of the role of local communities in development processes, studies have not fully explored the full range of implications of vernacular strategies on development processes. While researchers have demonstrated the substantial agency that local community actors have to influence development processes, the extent to which this influence effectively resists or reinforces the logic of public policy implementation has not been studied. This article explores the techniques used by rural communities in their interactions with public institutions in rural Bolivia. It shows that community organisations' vernacular political strategies have mixed outcomes: on the one hand, they allow the rural poor to assert their own agendas vis‐à‐vis the state so that they can benefit from public spending, while on the other hand, their tactics have the potential to entrench the influence of local power brokers and perpetuate inefficient uses of public funds. Copyright © 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

The Structure of Indigenous Food Crop Markets in sub-Saharan Africa: The Rice Market in Uganda

Using data obtained from a series of nation-wide market surveys in Uganda, this article attempts to document and assess the domestic rice market at all stages in the post-harvest marketing chain from the farm gate to metropolitan area retail outlets. The criteria used are quantities marketed, prices, marketing margins, marketing costs and net returns to traders. The results show that the regional rice markets are integrated into the national market and that on average little surplus is left for rice traders at all market stages if marketing costs are accounted for. The spontaneously developed indigenous crop market works reasonably well.     

Foreign Direct Investment and Investment Environment in Dongguan Municipality of Southern China

Based on 26 case studies, this paper investigates the socio-economic causes of the inflow of FDI and its policy implications in Dongguan. The favourable factors for foreign investors in Dongguan can be categorised under the Dunning's OLI (ownership, locational and internalisation advantages) framework. This paper argues that factors other than policy incentive, such as sub-contractual and pseudo integration, are playing more important roles in attracting the inflow of FDI and maintaining the high level of economic growth in Dongguan. This finding questions the effectiveness of policy incentives, such as tax-breaks, implemented by the Government as a means to attract FDI in Dongguan. The existence of 'Chinese crony capitalism' calls for further improvement in the implementation of laws and regulations in Dongguan and the reduction of bureaucratic red-tape by the central and local governments.     

Shifting Priorities: Participatory Budgeting in New York City is Associated with Increased Investments in Schools,Street and Traffic Improvements,and Public Housing

ABSTRACT

In participatory budgeting (PB), residents instead of public officials decide how public money is spent. PB may reveal that residents prioritize different investments than public officials, which could lead to more socially just spending. However, little research has examined whether and how PB shifts spending priorities. This study leverages publicly available records on New York City council districts’ capital project allocations over ten years (2009 through 2018), comparing spending within and across PB and non-PB districts. Multi-level regression models show that, on average, when council districts adopted PB, greater proportions of their discretionary capital budgets were allocated to schools, streets and traffic improvements, and public housing. PB was associated with decreases in spending on parks and recreation projects and housing preservation and development projects. The article shows that priorities shift when residents are directly involved in budgeting. Implications for equity and community well-being, and directions for future research are discussed.     

Alleviating rural poverty through agricultural growth

The article examines the role of agricultural GDP growth in alleviating rural poverty in LDCs. Cross‐sectional regression analysis indicates that GDP growth by itself takes a very long time to reduce poverty significantly. It suggests that decreases in land concentration could have a more immediate impact on reducing rural poverty; the budgetary and other costs of implementing such changes are not, however, considered. The preferred approach is a combination of equitable growth and redistributive measures.     

Small Islands versus Big Cities: Lessons in the Political Economy of Regional Development from the World’s Small Islands

Population, employment and economic capacity continue to concentrate in and around large urban centres. If geography (measured as proximity to large centres of population) increasingly matters in the knowledge economy, then there may be no future for periphery locations. This paper critically reviews and refutes this hypothesis by looking at the world’s small islands. Handicapped by size and distance, they are unable to generate scale dynamics nor to regularly access any neighbouring, large metropolitan centres. Nevertheless, jurisdictional resourcefulness resulting from sovereignty or sub-national autonomy fosters compensatory policy capacity. Demand for niche-technology manufactures and craft-based, labour-intensive or place-specific services is likely to persist. Cyclical migration strategies allow islanders seeking work or education off island to tap the metropole and re-inject resources to reinvigorate the periphery. Remittances, aid, bureaucracy and other “rents” can provide significant fiscal resources necessary for survival.