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Book part
Publication date: 27 February 2009

Ina Horlings, Pieter Tops and Julien van Ostaaijen

Purpose – The chapter answers the question if urban regime theory (URT) can provide a useful framework to understand and solve problems of cooperation in regional processes in…

Abstract

Purpose – The chapter answers the question if urban regime theory (URT) can provide a useful framework to understand and solve problems of cooperation in regional processes in rural–urban areas.

Methodology/approach – The chapter is a theoretical discussion on problems found in contemporary rural spatial governance.

Findings – URT can provide a framework for understanding the obstacles encountered in regional development and is a promising perspective for the analysis of regional processes. A solution for problems in regional cooperation can be found in so-called ‘vital coalitions’, forms of vital interaction between regional actors, based on energy and productivity, that can create a ‘capacity to act’ in regions that have become ‘gridlocked’ by current procedures and regulations.

Research limitations/implications – A modern URT, applied in a regional context:(1)Can point out ‘how power is organised to act’;(2)Analyses informal networks between actors as bases for cooperation and vitality, and as a possible starting point for new (cultural) counter-regimes and(3)Offers insight into regional complexity and cooperation and into emergent regimes.

Practical implications – Vital coalitions are forms of self-governance, that introduce new agendas and function as forms of niche-innovation in regions. This can lead to the forming of new ‘cultural regimes’ in which the motives and values of civilians are a key element.

Originality/value of the chapter – The value of the chapter lies in the use of concepts in regions from a fresh new perspective, by translating the URT from a local, urban context to a regional rural–urban perspective.

Details

Beyond the Rural-Urban Divide: Cross-Continental Perspectives on the Differentiated Countryside and its Regulation
Type: Book
ISBN: 978-1-84855-138-1

Book part
Publication date: 14 September 2010

Alexandra Ioannidou

Education and education policy have been set up and run under the control of the nation-state since the origins of modern education systems. Thus, national education systems have…

Abstract

Education and education policy have been set up and run under the control of the nation-state since the origins of modern education systems. Thus, national education systems have been exposed to strong political and normative control from the very beginning. The analytical perspective on issues concerning political regulation and governance of education systems was for a long time state centered and norm oriented. Even if this is still true to a varying extent in many countries, we recently witness a shift in the examination of issues concerning educational governance. This chapter examines educational governance with respect to the topical discourse in Germany and identifies significant actors, governance instruments, and governance practices. It points out that the appearance of new instruments of educational governance coincides with and supports an emerging governance model in the educational field: evidence-based education policy. Drawing on empirical findings from an international comparative project at the University of Tuebingen,11The international comparative project was partly funded by the Hans-Böckler Foundation. The project goals were to reconstruct the concept of lifelong learning with respect to its political and empirical aspects and to examine its implementation into national and international monitoring and reporting systems on education and training. The project was based on the theoretical approaches of path-dependent development and actor-centred institutionalism both emanating from political science. Using this theoretical framework, OECD's and EU's educational policies and activities with respect to monitoring lifelong learning have been analyzed and compared to demonstrate their adoption among differently structured national systems (Germany, Finland, and Greece) and to comment on their influence upon the evaluation, design, and governance of national education systems. The methods applied were document analysis, expert interviews, and meta-analysis of educational monitoring and reporting systems. Germany, the chapter focuses on educational monitoring and reporting as new instruments of educational governance, reveals their impact, and claims that the new governance instruments are based on knowledge and expertise.

Details

International Educational Governance
Type: Book
ISBN: 978-0-85724-304-1

Book part
Publication date: 14 February 2008

Leslie Kern and Gerda R. Wekerle

In the post-industrial economies of large urban centers, redevelopment has become the primary engine of economic growth. Redevelopment projects are designed to encourage…

Abstract

In the post-industrial economies of large urban centers, redevelopment has become the primary engine of economic growth. Redevelopment projects are designed to encourage investment, attract tourism and bring new residents to the city. This form of city building is driven by a neoliberal urban agenda that embraces privatization, and is controlled by the economic interests of private business. In this chapter, we argue that city building under a neoliberal rubric is also a gendered political process, the outcome of which is the redevelopment of urban space in ways that reflect a masculinist and corporatist view of city life. Moreover, both the form of redevelopment and the process itself function to limit public participation in the life and growth of cities, particularly for women and other marginalized groups. In the first section of this chapter, Gendered spaces of redevelopment, we examine how the results of such a process are made manifest in the built form of Canada's largest city, Toronto, with a population of 2.5 million. The city is experiencing a major process of redevelopment and city building that is evident in a massive wave of condominium construction. We suggest that condominium projects, as a particular form of redevelopment, create privatized spaces and encourage privatized services that articulate neatly with a neoliberal urban agenda.

Details

Gender in an Urban World
Type: Book
ISBN: 978-0-7623-1477-5

Book part
Publication date: 3 December 2018

Madhu Viswanathan, Arun Sreekumar and Roland Gau

The authors look back and forward in terms of challenges and opportunities for marketing, viewed from the vantage point of the subsistence marketplaces stream. The authors discuss…

Abstract

The authors look back and forward in terms of challenges and opportunities for marketing, viewed from the vantage point of the subsistence marketplaces stream. The authors discuss how marketing can evolve and expand to address the scale and scope of challenges that lie ahead. By way of challenges, the authors discuss the confluence of uncertainties, such as inherent in the Base of the Pyramid (BoP) contexts, in environmental issues, and in the arena of technological solutions, as well as the confluence of unfamiliarities among managers, students, and researchers. The authors discuss opportunities for marketing through a bottom-up approach and argue for evolving marketing with rapidly changing reality in BoP markets, a harbinger and an innovation laboratory for all contexts.

Details

Bottom of the Pyramid Marketing: Making, Shaping and Developing BoP Markets
Type: Book
ISBN: 978-1-78714-556-6

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 3 June 2019

Joyce Liddle and Gerard McElwee

The interest in entrepreneurship in the public sector is recognized as an emergent phenomenon in the field of entrepreneurship. Existing theoretical work is limited in helping…

Abstract

Purpose

The interest in entrepreneurship in the public sector is recognized as an emergent phenomenon in the field of entrepreneurship. Existing theoretical work is limited in helping understand how entrepreneurship in public agencies occurs. The paper aims to discuss this issue.

Design/methodology/approach

This is a conceptual paper which develops the literature.

Findings

Building on the work of Klein et al. (2010) this paper contributes to theoretical development by providing an overview of public sector entrepreneurship (PSE). Although, there are similar features shared by private and PSE, it is proposed that there are significant differences between them, particularly in that public sector enterprise can be seen as entrepreneurship without entrepreneurs.

Research limitations/implications

As a conceptual paper on PSE the literature is predominantly UK based.

Practical implications

This paper brings entrepreneurship from the periphery to the core of the theoretical debates, as it is an under-researched area. Moreover, theoretical development has implications for policy and practice as existing research is disparate.

Originality/value

The paper considers how entrepreneurship and enterprise in the public sector is formulated. The significance of the paper is to highlight the importance of public entrepreneurs in working alongside a multitude of stakeholders to deal with numerous global and internal environment forces ethically amongst on-going budgetary and fiscal constraints. The contribution is the highlighting of the difficulties and concerns when uniting the discourse of market-based entrepreneurship and the discourse of public sector service provision.

Details

International Journal of Entrepreneurial Behavior & Research, vol. 25 no. 6
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 1355-2554

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 8 November 2011

Jem Bendell, Anthony Miller and Katharina Wortmann

This paper seeks to provide an overview and context for the emerging field of public policies for scaling voluntary standards, or private regulations, on the social and…

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Abstract

Purpose

This paper seeks to provide an overview and context for the emerging field of public policies for scaling voluntary standards, or private regulations, on the social and environmental performance of business and finance, to promote sustainable development; in order to stimulate more innovation and research in this field.

Design/methodology/approach

The paper takes the approach of a literature review of texts from intergovernmental and non‐governmental organisations, to develop a synthesis of issues, before literature review from management studies, development studies and international relations, to revise the synthesis and identify policy relevant future research.

Findings

Governance at all levels but particularly the international level involves corporations and their stakeholders. Together they have created non‐statutory corporate social responsibility (CSR) standards which now influence significant amounts of international trade and investment, thereby presenting new benefits, risks and challenges for sustainable development. Governments around the world are now innovating public policies on these standards, which can be categorised to inform policy development: governments prepare, prefer, promote and prescribe CSR standards. Therefore, a new dimension to collaborative governance is emerging and would benefit from research and technical assistance. As concepts and practices of regulation and governance are moving beyond state versus non‐state, mandatory versus voluntary approaches, so issues about transparency, accountability and democratic participation remain important for any new manifestation of regulation or governance.

Originality/value

By contextualising public policy innovations on CSR standards within new theories of governance, including “private regulation” and “collaborative governance”, the paper helps to clarify a new agenda for policy making and related research.

Details

Sustainability Accounting, Management and Policy Journal, vol. 2 no. 2
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 2040-8021

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 1 March 2011

Martin Jones and Joyce Liddle

As many states recognise the need to enter into new relationships with the third sector, strategic commissioning of services has moved up the political agenda. The establishment…

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Abstract

Purpose

As many states recognise the need to enter into new relationships with the third sector, strategic commissioning of services has moved up the political agenda. The establishment of the Office of the Third Sector in the UK Cabinet Office heralded a commitment to engage the “voice” and “choice” of third sector organizations in designing, delivering and measuring public service delivery. This paper seeks to report on the findings gathered from a series of workshops and other data collection on public sector commissioning of third sector service delivery, and to highlight some tensions and emerging issues in this policy field.

Design/methodology/approach

Qualitative data from workshops were supplemented with observations, interview data, existing research, and secondary data from a number of government agencies and third sector representative organizations.

Findings

The findings from the workshops and other data collection methods will feed into future design and development of training programmes for public sector and third sector officers. They should also inform the policy debate and enhance understanding of some of the tensions and problems facing practitioners in this policy field.

Originality/value

Little research exists on third sector or public sector commissioning, and this work will be of value to policy makers, practitioners and academics concerned with strategic commissioning. The paper augments existing theory on state and non‐governmental relationships and the contribution of third sector agencies to public service delivery.

Details

International Journal of Public Sector Management, vol. 24 no. 2
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0951-3558

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 2 March 2023

Ratka Čolić, Danijela Milovanović Rodić and Josefine Fokdal

This paper aims to explore the effects of collaborative innovation (CI) in urban planning practice by investigating the influence of a platform for collaboration between academia…

Abstract

Purpose

This paper aims to explore the effects of collaborative innovation (CI) in urban planning practice by investigating the influence of a platform for collaboration between academia and external partners (practitioners and community groups). Unlike previous research on learning outcomes from the perspective of students (Fokdal et al., 2020), the aim of this article is to investigate the transformative learning (TL) experience from the perspective of the external partners.

Design/methodology/approach

The outcomes of the TL experience were assessed through four elements: disorienting dilemma; critical reflection; engagement in discourse; and reflective and critical taking action.

Findings

The claim that collaboration with multiple actors through TL processes can help promote innovative ways to view and practice planning outside of academia has to a certain extent been confirmed. This paper provides evidence that such transformative processes can have an impact on the individuals involved and shows the importance of individuals acting as change agents – or drivers of innovation. In addition, the importance of a collaborative platform – acting as an intermediary – in facilitating TL processes in planning practices is highlighted in the context of Serbia.

Originality/value

This paper is a continuation of existing research on educational initiatives that attempt to integrate sustainability into the curricula and bring innovation to urban planning practice; showcase outcomes of the TL experience for sustainable development, especially when addressing the innovative ways that planning is practiced outside of academia; and push for change toward a more sustainable future not only within and but also outside of academia.

Details

International Journal of Sustainability in Higher Education, vol. 24 no. 7
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 1467-6370

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 1 August 2005

Siddhartha Menon

The primary purpose of this paper is to explore the importation of the convergence idea into the Indian regulatory and institutional context.

Abstract

Purpose

The primary purpose of this paper is to explore the importation of the convergence idea into the Indian regulatory and institutional context.

Design/methodology/approach

The objectives of this paper were largely achieved by utilizing textual or policy document analysis. This methodological technique involves an analysis of primary and some secondary sources including: statements from policy makers and direct quotations from policy documents. In theoretical terms, this inquiry is grounded in institutionalism.

Findings

Barriers to achieving real convergence are not merely a function of perceptual flaws in regulatory measures or shortcomings of the industries involved, but are endemic to unrealistic conceptualizations of the phenomenon in the literature.

Research limitations/implications

More quantitative metrics could be added. However, if more quantitative methods are added the paper needs to be re‐written to accommodate them. Also a comparative perspective could be added, but then again the paper would have to be re‐designed.

Practical implications

This paper offers numerous concrete and practical applications for those in government and industry who are struggling with the convergence issue. For policymakers it provides insights for how governments and consultants may impact the progress of convergence. The paper also illustrates structural factors that industry will face in India in rolling out converged or multi‐media services.

Originality/value

Convergence in the Indian case is greatly under researched. While there has been considerable research into regulatory issues of the nation's telecommunications and broadcast industries, few if any studies have addressed convergence among distinct mediated communication forms. Inquiry into role the regulatory role of consultant firms is particularly lacking.

Details

info, vol. 7 no. 4
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 1463-6697

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 11 January 2011

Richard C. Mitchell

The purpose of this paper is to prepare for a campus sustainability audit at the main campus of Brock University, St Catharines, Ontario, Canada.

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Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to prepare for a campus sustainability audit at the main campus of Brock University, St Catharines, Ontario, Canada.

Design/methodology/approach

An inductive, qualitative approach was undertaken with data comprised of analyses of key stakeholder interviews, a review of literature, and a systematic collation of campus‐based sustainability initiatives taking place in 2008‐2009.

Findings

The study offers qualitatively analyzed evidence that even smaller and mid‐size Canadian campuses with limited budgets can successfully move forward with sustainability initiatives in multi‐systemic, synergistic partnerships that cross‐professional and disciplinary boundaries. Furthermore, inductive methodologies should not be overlooked in this process. While most of the sample of interviewees in this exploratory study agreed to be involved in current and future sustainability initiatives, interestingly, there were also concerns that discovery of any negative findings could cast a shadow on “green” efforts already underway. The findings also indicate a number of leading edge initiatives taking place at Brock University including a co‐generation power plant, and “green” construction of new buildings as well as those in the planning stages. Without a formal governance structure or a common theoretical framework in place, a broad spectrum of definitions on “sustainability” from key stakeholders was found ranging from an environmental focus to those based solely upon economics, and a combination of the two were prevalent. The absence of any systemic, coordinated and comprehensive approach on the university's main campus was the main negative finding – one that previously hampered growth of synergistic partnerships.

Originality/value

Owing to its geographical location in the Canada's Niagara Escarpment as one of UNESCO's World Heritage Biospheres and its recent emergence as a comprehensive university, it is apparent that Brock University is well placed with potential for a leadership role in promoting ethical and green consumption practices on its campuses and within the region. This qualitative study provides a contemporary, interdisciplinary conceptual framework for understanding how important synergies may be brought to bear in this new policy arena within and beyond academia.

Details

International Journal of Sustainability in Higher Education, vol. 12 no. 1
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 1467-6370

Keywords

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