Performance Reporting: Assessing the Annual Reports of Malaysian Local Authorities

There have been calls for Malaysian local authorities to be more transparent and accountable in the discharge of their functional responsibilities. This study empirically evaluates the extent and quality of current performance reporting by local authorities. The disclosure of relevant information for discharging accountability obligations, as defined by a broad range of stakeholders, falls short of best practice. Therefore, the performance of Malaysian local authorities lacks transparency. The findings could assist in the development of more comprehensive guidelines for local authority reporting and raise awareness of information stakeholders expect to be reported in the context of accountability.     

The Correlates of Local Government Responsiveness Under Decentralization: Do Performance Ratings Matter in the Philippines?

To improve local service delivery under decentralization, performance ratings are often introduced. In this article, performance ratings and other correlates of the citizens’ assessment of the responsiveness of their local governments are investigated with a regression analysis of survey data collected during the pilot test of a performance rating scheme in 12 Philippine cities and municipalities in 2001–2003. The local governments in the eight sites where the ratings were announced are assessed less responsive by their own constituents than those in the four control areas by theirs. Possibly, the citizens exposed to the ratings expected better performances from their officials.     

Performance Evaluation in the Arts and Cultural Sector: A Story of Accounting at Its Margins

In this article, I present a review of financial and management accounting literature on the arts and cultural sector. My objective is to understand to what extent this literature is able to offer a critical perspective on the study of performance evaluation practices in arts and cultural organizations, as it is currently missing in the arts management literature. Adopting a critical perspective means shifting the focus of research from the technicalities of evaluation rules and procedures to their embodiment by the different organizational and societal actors of the arts and cultural sector.     

Using the Strategy Tripod to Understand Strategic Management in the “Evaluation-Friendly” Organizations of Cultural and Creative Industries

Abstract

This article provides a new conceptual framework based on the Strategy Tripod to understand challenges and orientation that affect performance evaluation in the organizations of cultural and creative industries (CCI). The analysis is built on a quantitative study carried out in Estonia. Multinomial logistic regression was performed to assess the ability of different variables to predict performance evaluation. The new conceptual framework provides a holistic understanding of the uncertain environment and its impact on strategic management in “evaluation-friendly” organizations in CCIs. It adds new insight into theoretical and managerial discussions on how and why strategic management in CCIs is practiced.     

‘High Resolution’ Indicators in Peacebuilding: The Utility of Political Memory

This article explores the use of political memory in examining, and providing indicators for, everyday processes of peacebuilding in divided societies, using Northern Ireland as a brief case study. Adopting a position critical of many formal peacebuilding indicators, the article argues for the utility of informal, ‘high resolution’ indicators that can be supplied by examining localized and everyday forms of post-conflict memory. In so doing, the article views the ‘dealing with the past’ and reconciliatory paradigm of social memory in identity driven conflicts as being inadequate for this purpose, and instead posits a more nuanced form of examining memory as a political arena. A case study of political memory in east Belfast is introduced to illustrate both the need for nuance in highlighting localized activity, and need to better reflect a complex and ambiguous peacebuilding environment. Suggestions for methodological approaches geared to capturing processes of everyday political memory, and how these processes can inform praxis, concludes the study.     

知识吸收能力对服务创新绩效影响的实证研究——来自服务外包企业的经验证据

知识吸收能力对服务型企业的服务创新绩效有着重要的影响.本文选择企业竞争优势和客户满意度作为衡量企业服务创新绩效的重要指标,从理论上分析了知识吸收能力对企业竞争优势和客户满意度的影响,并以服务外包企业为例,运用结构方程模型进行了实证研究.研究结果表明：知识吸收能力的提高有利于增强服务外包企业的竞争优势和提升客户满意度,进而提高企业的服务创新绩效.     

An Exploratory Analysis of Fertility Differentials in India

The association between improving economic conditions and declining growth of population has led economists and demographers to hypothesise a direct relationship between indicators of economic development and fertility rates. Using recent National Family Health Survey data and the 1991 Census to explore factors contributing to fertility rates in India, we found that economic variables explain 70 per cent of the interstate variations in India's fertility rates. However, several non-economic variables explain an even greater proportion, for example, indicators of female autonomy explain 84 per cent of the variations. Our analysis demonstrates that to successfully explain Indian fertility rates, models must rely heavily on non-economic variables.     

Vice-Premier Li Hsien-Nien gives Banquet in name of Premier Chou En-Lai for Madame Marcos

This article provides empirical light on the debate concerning whether manufacturing firms in China are becoming major innovators. Based on an innovation survey carried out in Jiangsu Province, the article finds that most firms engage in innovative activities but these are mainly of an incremental nature. Radical innovation, as a proportion of sales, is relatively low if compared internationally. Innovation in China is mainly to catch-up and is novel relative to the firm and the domestic market. A small proportion of innovation is new to the world. Intensity and productivity indicators suggest that small, foreign and textile firms are leading innovative efforts. Firms innovate to improve their general competitiveness, including improving product quality and extending market share, obtain income from technology and defend themselves from research and development expenditure by competitors. Innovators value significantly more than non-innovators the range of innovative objectives they seek to achieve. The main obstacles to innovation arise from technical and marketing weaknesses; the perception of these obstacles varies widely between radical innovators and non-innovators. The article concludes that while innovative activities are emerging it will still take some time for China to have a major role in the international division of innovative labour.     

Risky business: Covering slow‐onset hazards as rapidly developing news

The emerging field of risk communication has yet to thoroughly grapple with how the mass media report risk. Through a content analysis of five newspapers noted for their science reporting, newspaper coverage of four environmental hazards is compared to media coverage of more traditional risky events. In general, these slow‐to‐develop stories are reported in much the same way as more traditional disaster stories. News accounts emphasized an event orientation, framed risks in terms of human activity rather than social and political contexts, described risk in terms of harms and benefits, and relied on traditional sources. The authors then explore how this version of mass‐mediated risk might change current definitions of risk communication and how a mediated construction of risk may influence public perception of the political choices these issues raise.     

A Review of Alcohol‐Impaired Driving: The Role of Blood Alcohol Concentration and Complexity of the Driving Task

The operation of a motor vehicle requires the integrity of sensory, motor, and intellectual faculties. Impairment of these faculties following the consumption of alcohol has been studied extensively through laboratory, closed‐course and on‐road driving, and epidemiological studies. The scientific literature was reviewed critically, with a focus on low‐to‐moderate blood alcohol concentrations (BAC ≤ 0.100%), to identify the most reliable determinants of alcohol‐impaired driving. Variables such as age, gender, driving skill, and tolerance were shown to have limited impact on impairment. It was concluded the most relevant variables are BAC and complexity of the driving task. The scientific literature provides a high degree of confidence to support the conclusion that a BAC of 0.050% impairs faculties required in the operation of a motor vehicle. Whether impairment is apparent depends upon the complexity of the driving task, which applies to both study design and actual driving.