MAKE ME BEAUTIFUL

BOTOX, RMB 500 per area, Liposuction, RMB 2,000 per area, Breast Augmentation, RMB 15,000," touts an Ameri- can plastic surgeon s ad to potential clients in Beijing, where he now operates. But since 2003, when a plain Chinese girl named Hao Lulu became a house-     

Use of State Police Services for Local Policing: The Case of New Jersey

All states in the New England and Middle Atlantic regions of the United States provide State Police services without charge to municipalities without full-time local police departments. Efficiency and equity issues have resulted from this tradition and the development of local police departments or shared departments across neighboring municipalities in rural and exurban areas has been discouraged. These problems will diminish in scope as municipalities receiving the State Police subsidy opt out of the program and adopt local policing. We examine this potential by estimating models of the municipal decision to use the State Police for local policing among New Jersey municipalities with less than 15,000 population. We find that the elasticities of the decision to use the State Police for local policing with respect to population and median family income to be −1.1 and −2.3, respectively. If recent income and population trends in New Jersey municipalities using the State Police continue, our upper range estimate is that about 20 of the 90 municipalities using the State Police will opt out of the program in the next decade.     

Liquidating a Chinese Business

With the global economic crisis hitting some businesses in China very hard as export sales dry up, now is a timely occasion to remind executives of affected businesses of their responsibilities when having to     

OVERSEAS, AND BACK

Chinese students are still heading overseas for education - but these days, they're also coming back. THE sea turtle may be one of the animal kingdoms' most endangered species, hut in its allegorical sense, it thrives. Each year, thousands of Chinese set out for distant lands on a hunt for knowledge, and well-worn trails lead to every top university on earth. Some never make it - they're snaffled up by massive competition, financial restraints or bureaucracy before they ever leave their shores. But those that do get through have different instincts than their predecessors - they     

UNDERSTANDING THE MIXTURE OF GOVERNANCE MODES IN KOREAN LOCAL GOVERNMENTS: AN EMPIRICAL ANALYSIS

Governance research in Korea has been limited to literature reviews or case studies, and little quantitative analysis has been performed to examine varying patterns of governance mixture and their underlying variation. This article provides an important addition to governance research by mapping the terrain of governance mixture using quantitative data. The data were drawn from 96 departments in eight comparable district governments in Seoul, Korea. The results showed: first, all three governance modes – hierarchy, market, and network – existed in a combined form across all 96 departments; second, although all three governance modes were present, hierarchy remained the dominant governance mode across all 96 departments; and finally, the three governance modes were situationally mixed contingent upon the distinct departmental tasks. The implications of these findings are discussed.     

INTRODUCTION: DETERMINANTS OF PERFORMANCE IN PUBLIC ORGANIZATIONS

The performance of public organizations is one of the key topics in public administration research and practice. This topic was examined at the 'The Determinants of Performance in Public Organizations II' conference held at the University of Hong Kong in December 2006. The conference was held in association with the Public Management Research Association . In the present symposium we introduce four of the articles presented at conference. The articles explore: network performance (Kenis and Provan), goal ambiguity (Lee et al .), environmental shocks (Meier and O'Toole), and diversity (Pitts and Jarry). Alongside this we spotlight the importance of this field and introduce three research themes—contingency theory, measurement and data, and analysis.