Strategic information requirements define which information an enterprise needs to operate and manage its business. These requirements are told "strategic", since they are at a very high abstraction level, and reflect what managers want to know about operations. In an ideal world, managers would simply express their needs in natural language and the analyst will translate them in actual systems. To get close to these ideal results, a key point is to structure requirements and go from a strategic level, suitable for managers but not for IT analysts, from a semantic level, suitable for IT analysts. For this purpose, we here present an approach to strategic information requirements elicitation (SIRE). It includes a meta-model, analysis steps and a software tool. The meta-model describes the information domains of the enterprise. The design steps specify the activities the analyst should perform to go from a strategic level to an engineering level. SIRE is based on some key ideas. First, an enterprise processes information made of universal information domains, which include stakeholders, products, process and contexts. By specializing these domains, the analyst identifies domains specific to individual enterprises. Second, whatever domain includes different information types: Master information that defines structural properties, transaction information that describes events, indicators that describe performances. By crossing information domains and types the analyst identifies strategic information entities (SIE). The method requires few definitions and is readily understood by management and users. Of course, it can be used to design new systems. Additionally, it can be used in information systems planning to assess the coverage of current systems (fill-gap analysis). The tool enables to store high level schemas that can be mapped against real database schemas of commercial software platforms to understand their coverage. 相似文献
In democracies, a constant tension exists between the stability and integrity of the community as a whole, and the desire to ensure minorities a voice in politics. Reserved seats and reduced thresholds are two common means by which ethnic minorities gain legislative seats, though little or no empirical work exists testing their efficacy in this regard. Combining multivariate analysis with in-depth case studies, this article shows that both reserved seats and lower thresholds increase minority representation, though reserved seats accomplish that goal more consistently. Reduced thresholds tend to increase the share of votes and seats won by ethnoregional parties but reserved seats do not. Additionally, Mauritius' unusual best-loser system aids both minorities and ethnoregional parties. 相似文献
AbstractSoutheast Asian food systems are changing rapidly. Populations are growing and urbanising, production and consumption choices are shifting, and food value chains are experiencing a myriad of ripple effects from rural hinterlands to city marketplaces. These systemic changes are inconsistent, however, and variable challenges define key sectors. Distribution chains, wholesaling, food processing, retail and supermarkets, and other midstream and downstream segments of regional food systems are undergoing transformative and largely unhindered change. On-farm modernisation and trade liberalisation are occurring more haltingly. Previous advances in food production technology and methods have lost momentum, and much of the region faces confronting questions about how to produce adequate and appropriate food in light of shifting demographics, environmental stress, land scarcities, market manipulations and other defining regional characteristics. This paper juxtaposes these challenges with remarkable distribution chain evolutions, and focuses upon three impediments to further shifts in regional food systems: (1) the perpetuation of agrarian mythologies, (2) push-back against rice market integration, and (3) regulatory barriers to the adoption of genetically modified (GM) plants. These seemingly disparate dynamics actually have points of convergence, and are unified in their negative overall impacts on regional food security. This paper explores reasons behind the pervasiveness of these impediments and argues for supply-oriented improvements in the regional food systems. 相似文献
African smallholders face few opportunities that can be captured through new technologies alone. Analysis of the institutional context in which they work opens new pathways for innovation. This article synthesises nine studies that attempted such analysis. Using mixed appraisal methods, the studies identify institutional conditions that explain the, often unsatisfactory, outcomes of smallholders, as well as entry points for changing them. Instead of at the farm or community levels, Participatory Innovation System Analysis seeks at higher levels to identify actors, networks and mechanisms that maintain or can change the “pervasive bias against the small farm sector” in SSA.
Défier le « biais omniprésent » à l'encontre des petits cultivateurs africains: identifier les points d'entrée pour les changements institutionnels
Les petits cultivateurs africains ont à leur disposition peu d'opportunités qui puissent être saisies par le seul biais des nouvelles technologies. Une analyse du contexte institutionnel dans lequel ils travaillent ouvre de nouvelles voies pour l'innovation. Cet article synthétise neuf études qui ont tenté une analyse de ce type. À l'aide de méthodes d’évaluation mixtes, les études identifient les conditions institutionnelles qui expliquent les résultats, souvent insatisfaisants, obtenus par les petits cultivateurs, ainsi que les points d'entrée pour les modifier. Au lieu de le faire aux niveaux des exploitations ou des communautés, l'Analyse participative des systèmes d'innovation cherche à identifier à des niveaux supérieurs les acteurs, réseaux et mécanismes qui maintiennent ou peuvent modifier le « biais omniprésent à l'encontre du secteur des petits cultivateurs » en Afrique sub-saharienne.
Cuestionando “el prejuicio persistente” contra los pequeños productores africanos: identificando puntos de abordaje para lograr el cambio institucional
No existen muchas oportunidades de desarrollo dependientes exclusivamente del uso de tecnologías nuevas que puedan ser explotadas por los pequeños productores de África. El análisis del contexto institucional en el que éstos trabajan permite abrir nuevas vías para la innovación. El presente artículo sintetiza nueve estudios que realizaron dicho análisis. A partir del uso de distintos métodos de valoración, dichos estudios identificaron las condiciones institucionales que explican los resultados —a menudo insatisfactorios— obtenidos por los pequeños productores y señalan los puntos de abordaje para mejorar tales resultados. En vez de ser aplicado a nivel de parcela o de comunidad, el Análisis Participativo de Innovación de Sistemas procura identificar a aquellos actores, redes y mecanismos existentes a niveles superiores que pueden mantener o transformar el “perjuicio persistente contra el sector de las pequeñas parcelas” en el África Subsahariana.
Desafiando o “preconceito difundido” contra os pequenos proprietários africanos: identificando portas de entrada para mudança institucional
Os pequenos produtores africanos possuem poucas oportunidades que só podem ser aproveitadas com novas tecnologias. A análise do contexto institucional no qual eles trabalham abre novos caminhos para a inovação. Este artigo sintetiza nove estudos que visaram tal análise. Utilizando métodos de avaliação mistos, os estudos identificam condições institucionais que explicam os resultados, frequentemente insatisfatórios, de pequenos produtores, além de portas de entrada para modificá-los. Em vez dos níveis rurais ou comunitários, a Análise Participativa do Sistema de Inovação busca em níveis mais altos identificar agentes, redes e mecanismos que mantêm ou podem mudar o “preconceito difundido contra o setor dos pequenos produtores rurais” na África Subsaariana. 相似文献
The view of clientelism as an abuse of state power casts doubt on the democratic credentials of highly clientelistic political systems. The question is particularly relevant for the classification of dominant party systems that heavily rely on clientelism to elicit popular support and retain a relatively open structure of participation. Knowing that clientelism is a widespread practice in modern democracies too, how do we evaluate the impact of clientelism on political competitiveness in order to sort out the position of these regimes along the lines of democracy and authoritarianism? This task requires identifying the conditions under which clientelism becomes an essentially authoritarian practice and qualifies these regimes as such. The article puts forward two propositions about the circumstances under which clientelism infringes basic democratic standards under a thin and a thick definition of democracy. Clientelism under one-party monopoly engenders authoritarianism when it thwarts and punishes the contesting voice of citizens by effectively blocking exit from its incentives and sanctions. 相似文献
Czap, Moon, and Mironov have suggested that two regional models for the rural family existed side by side in 19th-century Russia. This article approaches the question by examining the rural family as a statistically describable system occurring in a given economic and institutional context. The material applies to 8 local communities representing central Russia in the 1830s and 11 in the 1890s, the majority being the same communities in both cases. The aim is to determine from the household arrangements, economies, and institutional frameworks of these communities the kind of context in which a certain family system occurred. By relating these conclusions to data on the economic circumstances and social structures of the different parts of central Russia, two regional family systems are identified. Czap's “Eastern European family type” predominated in this area in the 1830s. Because the reforms and reorientation of economic activities in the 1860s brought about changes in household arrangements, however, a pattern characteristic of communities with a substantial degree of social stratification became the norm for most of the area. 相似文献
This paper examines the emergence and development of the ruling New Patriotic Party (NPP) government in the context of a broader examination of the roles of political parties within the Ghanaian political landscape. After describing the political architecture as well as some significant constitutional issues of Ghana's democracy and the roles played by other societal stakeholders, the paper examines the rationale for the formation of the NPP, its manifesto, structure, constituency, power brokers. It then analyses various aspects of the implementation (or not) of the NPP's political and economic objectives since it came to power in 2000 with a message of ‘positive change’. The electoral politics of the campaigns against its major opposition, the National Democratic Congress (NDC), and issues of regionalism, ethnicity and other factors are considered in detail. The paper concludes with some lessons learned and generic recommendations for emerging African political parties in relatively young democracies. 相似文献
The success of Singapore's government‐led and managed economy has allowed it to box above its weight in the international trade and financial arena for decades. However, globalisation and technology are forcing a policy shift. 相似文献