Bureaucratic Red Tape Research Articles

Unmasking teachers' subjectivities in local school management

Relatively little is known about how teachers are affected by reforms that have moved schools increasingly in the direction of becoming self-managing schools. While there has been much hype about the alleged benefits that flow from more flexible decision making processes shifted closer to the point of learning, the cutting of bureaucratic red tape, and the notion that schools are made more accountable to parents and students - relatively little is known about how this impacts on the way teachers think or act in relation to their work. This paper takes a particular instance of an Australian primary school and examines how teachers' subjectivities are worked on and how teachers' pedagogical selves are being disrupted and fundamentally recast as a consequence of local school management.

WTO Accession, the Changing Competitiveness of Foreign-financed Firms and Regional Development in Guangdong of Southern China

This paper investigates the changing competitiveness of foreign-financed manufacturing firms and its implications for regional development in Guangdong province of southern China in the run-up to World Trade Organization (WTO) accession. It is argued that transnational corporations (TNCs) and some competitive, large-scale, locally-funded firms in Guangdong will triumph after WTO accession. The crowding-out process of small and medium sized enterprises (SMEs) in Guangdong will be accelerated in the near future, as they are competing directly with TNCs, and as their competitive advantages are diminishing, due to bureaucratic red tape and the rigorous enforcement of new government policies. Due to close business linkages with local privately-funded firms, the competitiveness and vitality of foreign-financed enterprises will have profound long term effects on the economic development of Guangdong, before and after WTO accession. Cet article cherche à étudier l'évolution de la compétitivité des entreprises industrielles à capital étranger et les conséquences pour le développement régional en Guangdong dans le sud de la Chine, à la dernière ligne droite avant l'adhésion à l'OMC. On affirme que des sociétés transnationales et certaines grandes entreprises à fonds de proximité compétitives en Guangdong réussiront au lendemain de l'adhésion à l'OMC. En Guangdong, le risque d'éviction des PME va s'accélerer dans un proche avenir, parce qu'elles sont en compétition directe avec les sociétés transnationales et car leurs avantages compétitives diminuent à cause de la bureaucratie et de l'application rigoureuse des nouvelles politiques gouvernementales. En raison des liens étroits commerciaux avec des entreprises à fonds de proximité, la compétitivité et la vitalité des entreprises à capital étranger auront des conséquences profondes à long terme sur le développement économique de Guangdong, avant et après l'adhésion à l'OMC. Dieser Aufsatz untersucht die sich wandelnde Wettbewerbsfähigkeit vom Ausland finanzierter, herstellender Firmen und ihre Implikationen für die regionale Entwicklung in der südchinesischen Provinz Guangdong angesichts des vereinbarten Beitritts Chinas zur WTO. Es wird der Standpunkt vertreten, daß sich TNC und einige wettbewerbsfähige, örtlich finanzierte Großfirmen der herstellenden Industrie in Guangdong nach dem beitritt zur WTO durchsetzen, doch der Verdrängungsprozess der kleinen und mittleren Betriebe in Guangdong bald beschleunigt werden wird, da sie in direktem Wettbewerb mit TNCs stehen, und ihre Wettbewerbsvorteile sich sich infolge von Behördenvorschriften und rigoroser Einhaltung neuer Regierungspolitik verringern. Dank enger Geschäftsverbindungen mit ortsansässigen, privat finanzierten Firmen wird die Wettbewerbsfähigkeit und Beständigkeit vom Ausland finanzierter Unternehmen auf lange Sicht tiefgehende Auswirkungen auf die wirtschaftliche Entwicklung Guangdongs vor und nach dem Beitritt zur WTO haben.

The Russian Far East and Northeast Asia: An Emerging Cooperative Relationship and Its Constraints

This article analyzes the possibilities and constraints of the Russian Far East’s cooperation with Northeast Asian countries. Despite its geographical location and richness in natural resources, the RFE’s efforts to cooperate and integrate further with other Northeast Asian countries have not met with much success. First, foreign investment and other cooperative measures between the RFE and its neighbors have never been satisfactory. Second, economic difficulties in the RFE have aggravated racist and xenophobic attitudes, which in turn have been exploited by local politicians, much to the chagrin of potential foreign investors. Third, the recent financial problems in Japan, South Korea, and other East Asian countries also have had a negative impact on the RFE’s efforts to integrate further. From a long-term perspective, however, if Russia and the RFE abolish irrational business practices and excessive bureaucratic red tape that currently discourage foreign trade and investment, economic conditions in the RFE will improve and its integration with Northeast Asia can be worked out. Furthermore, if the RFE launches international cooperation projects centered on selected areas—such as a triangular type of economic cooperation between Russia and both South and North Korea— their prospects for success will increase.

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.

Comment and Discussion

Local Corruption and Global Capital Flows Shang-Jin Wei The research reported in this paper was inspired by a plane ride I took from China to the United States in 1996. Browsing the newspapers and in-flight magazines, I came across one story about the high level of official corruption in China, and another that extolled the extraordinarily large flow of foreign direct investment (FDI) into China that year.1 Later in the flight, I struck up a conversation with the passenger sitting next to me, an American business executive who had just visited his joint venture firm in China. I asked him whether the corruption problem in China affected him and his business. He said that it did and went on to explain the myriad problems that his firm had encountered in dealing with corruption and bureaucratic red tape. During and after that flight, I reflected on whether corruption has generally worked as a beneficial “grease,” a minor annoyance, or a major obstacle for international investors. In this paper I address three interrelated issues. First, does corruption reduce inward FDI? Second, is China [End Page 303] an exceptional case in which corruption does not do much harm? Third, does corruption distort the composition of capital inflows in a way that might raise the likelihood of a currency crisis? International direct investment reached $3.5 trillion in 1997. A small number of countries in the industrial world account for the bulk—about 68 percent—of this investment.2 Yet international direct investment is especially important for developing countries, for which it is not only a source of scarce capital but also an important conduit for the transfer of technological and managerial know-how.3 The recent currency crises in East Asia, Russia, and Latin America have highlighted the importance of the composition of capital flows for developing countries. Before I attempt to explain the relationship between corruption and the composition of capital inflows, it is worth noting that there are at least two views on the causes of these crises. One increasingly widespread view is that so-called crony capitalism—the misallocation of financial resources to the friends and relatives of government officials—is partly responsible. However, there is so far virtually no systematic evidence to support or reject this hypothesis.4 The other view is that the confidence of international creditors in developing economies is fragile, so that small changes in the outlook can give rise to self-fulfilling expectations of a crisis. These two explanations are typically presented as rivals, but there may be a link between them. The extent of corruption in a country may affect that country’s composition of capital inflows in a way that makes it more vulnerable to shifts in international creditors’ expectations. Corruption here refers to the extent to which firms or individuals need to pay bribes to government officials to obtain permits, licenses, loans, or other government services needed to conduct business in a country.5 [End Page 304] Several studies have shown that the composition of international capital inflows is correlated with the incidence of currency crises.6 They have found that the lower the share of FDI in total capital inflows, or the higher the ratio of short-term debt to reserves, the more likely a currency crisis becomes. One possible reason is that bank lending or other portfolio investment may be driven more by sentiment than direct investment is. Hence a small, unfavorable change in the recipient country’s fundamentals may cause a large swing in portfolio capital flows, from massive inflows to massive outflows. This can strain the country’s currency or financial system sufficiently to cause or hasten its collapse.7 To my knowledge, no studies have examined the connection between corruption (or the intrusiveness of national bureaucracy more generally) and the composition of capital inflows. This paper seeks to fill that void. A small number of previous papers have looked at the effect of corruption on FDI. Combining corruption with twelve other variables to form a composite indicator, Ashoka Mody and David Wheeler failed to find a significant relation between corruption and foreign investment.8 However, this result may have been due to a...

Local Corruption and Global Capital Flows

THE RESEARCH REPORTED in this paper was inspired by a plane ride I took from China to the United States in 1996. Browsing the newspapers and in-flight magazines, I came across one story about the high level of official corruption in China, and another that extolled the extraordinarily large flow of foreign direct investment (FDI) into China that year.(1) Later in the flight, I struck up a conversation with the passenger sitting next to me, an American business executive who had just visited his joint venture firm in China. I asked him whether the corruption problem in China affected him and his business. He said that it did and went on to explain the myriad problems that his firm had encountered in dealing with corruption and bureaucratic red tape. During and after that flight, I reflected on whether corruption has generally worked as a beneficial grease, a minor annoyance, or a major obstacle for international investors. In this paper I address three interrelated issues. First, does corruption reduce inward FDI? Second, is China an exceptional case in which corruption does not do much harm? Third, does corruption distort the composition of capital inflows in a way that might raise the likelihood of a currency crisis? International direct investment reached $3.5 trillion in 1997. A small number of countries in the industrial world account for the bulk--about 68 percent--of this investment.(2) Yet international direct investment is especially important for developing countries, for which it is not only a source of scarce capital but also an important conduit for the transfer of technological and managerial know-how.(3) The recent currency crises in East Asia, Russia, and Latin America have highlighted the importance of the composition of capital flows for developing countries. Before I attempt to explain the relationship between corruption and the composition of capital inflows, it is worth noting that there are at least two views on the causes of these crises. One increasingly widespread view is that so-called crony capitalism--the misallocation of financial resources to the friends and relatives of government officials--is partly responsible. However, there is so far virtually no systematic evidence to support or reject this hypothesis.(4) The other view is that the confidence of international creditors in developing economies is fragile, so that small changes in the outlook can give rise to self-fulfilling expectations of a crisis. These two explanations are typically presented as rivals, but there may be a link between them. The extent of corruption in a country may affect that country's composition of capital inflows in a way that makes it more vulnerable to shifts in international creditors' expectations. Corruption here refers to the extent to which firms or individuals need to pay bribes to government officials to obtain permits, licenses, loans, or other government services needed to conduct business in a country.(5) Several studies have shown that the composition of international capital inflows is correlated with the incidence of currency crises.(6) They have found that the lower the share of FDI in total capital inflows, or the higher the ratio of short-term debt to reserves, the more likely a currency crisis becomes. One possible reason is that bank lending or other portfolio investment may be driven more by sentiment than direct investment is. Hence a small, unfavorable change in the recipient country's fundamentals may cause a large swing in portfolio capital flows, from massive inflows to massive outflows. This can strain the country's currency or financial system sufficiently to cause or hasten its collapse.(7) To my knowledge, no studies have examined the connection between corruption (or the intrusiveness of national bureaucracy more generally) and the composition of capital inflows. This paper seeks to fill that void. A small number of previous papers have looked at the effect of corruption on FDI. …

Endogenous corruption in a neoclassical growth model

The following paper presents a simple neoclassical growth model where corruption is an endogenous result of competition between a public agent and a private agent. The model provides a simple theoretical framework in which the level of corruption as well as the effects of corruption on income, consumption, and growth are identifiable. Bureaucratic red-tape is then added to the model. The results suggest that, a priori, corruption is neither efficiency enhancing nor efficiency detracting with respect to growth but always results in some income redistribution.

México bajo el TLCAN: Información contable en una economía cambiante

México ha implementado con éxito las políticas para comenzar el comercio exterior, estabilizar el peso, controlar la inflación, desregular a las empresas privadas, reducir las empresas del estado, eliminar burocracia y abrir más inversión extranjera. Este proceso comenzó antes de que el TLCAN fuera considerado; sin embargo, el TLCAN ayudó a hacer estos cambios económicos permanentes. Ante un ambiente de negocios más propicio, es pertinente investigar y entender la información financiera informada por las empresas mexicanas. Este trabajo analiza elementos del modelo contable utilizado en esa economía y los compara con las características de la práctica de contabilidad de su contraparte en Estados Unidos. En su conjunto, la práctica contable mexicana ha alcanzado un buen nivel de competencia. En su búsqueda de soluciones a los problemas y las cuestiones no incluidas en sus normas de contabilidad, la Comisión de Principios de Contabilidad de México ha prestado mucha atención a los US GAAP y los principios adelantados por el Comité de Normas Internacionales de Contabilidad. Una nueva ley del mercado de valores ha añadido mecanismos, para garantizar una sana operación del mercado de valores y para aumentar la transparencia de las transacciones y las revelaciones financieras de las empresas cuyos valores cotizan en la bolsa. Todo esto refleja la nueva economía abierta y los mecanismos de libre mercado adoptados por el gobierno mexicano.

レセプト情報の活用を考える会-活動報告-

Background : Health insurance claims contain invaluable data for epidemiological survey. However their use for research purposes has been hampered by both bureaucratic red-tape and technical limitations. These include the lack of legal rationale for disclosure and the lack of electronic data transfer. In response to the recent advancement in these field, such as the governmental policy change to allow disclosure of the claims to patients and a rapid computerization of the claims, researchers interested in health insurance claims held liaison meetings to exchange views and know-hows to facilitate the epidemiological research using health insurance claims.Reports on the Meeting : The liason meetings have so far been held twice as part of Japan Public Health Association annual assembly, at Yamagata in 1995 and at Yokohama in 1997, both sponsored by the author. Fourteen researchers presented their research activities using health insurance claims and discussed with the attendants on their experience to overcome the bureaucratic red-tape and technical limitations. Two of the presenters beside the author were pharmacoepidemiologists : Dr. Hayashi addressed the value and possibilities of the claims as data source for pharmacoepidemiology and Dr. Kubota proposed PEM (Prescription Event Monitoring) using health insurance claims as triggers to complement the present voluntary ADR reporting.Implications : Since the bureaucratic and technical obstacles may be better handled through a coordinated and liaisoned action of the researchers, it is necessary to form a consortium of researchers and professionals who have any interest in health insurance claims regardless of their purposes and make guidelines and recommendations to assure legitimate and appropriate utilization of the potentially sensitive but useful individual information.

Changing structure to improve function: one academic health center's experience.

Academic health centers (AHCs) have been under siege for the past few years, with decreased federal and state funding for educational and research programs and increasing competition in the health care marketplace. In addition, many AHCs are burdened with the bureaucratic red tape of large educational institutions, which makes agility in responding to a demanding health care market difficult. The authors describe the response to these threats by Oregon Health Sciences University (OHSU), an approach that has been different from those of most similar institutions. OHSU chose to change its structure from being part of the state system of higher education to being an independent public corporation. The authors outline the political process of building widespread support for the legislation passed in 1995, the key features of the restructuring, the challenges faced before and after the transition to a public corporation, and lessons learned in this metamorphosis to a new form.

What Planners Do: Power, Politics, and Persuasion.

A study of strategies used by urban planners in city governments of the United States to grapple with the political side of their profession. Hoch focuses on the attitudes of planners toward the compromises they make to accommodate political conflict, budgetary constraints and bureaucratic red tape. The book covers the ways planners utilize research, formulate plans, regulate development, organize political coalitions, cope with racial discrimination, and negotiate with members of business groups, community organizations and government agencies. Throughout, Hoch identifies the pitfalls of common approaches taken by planners and gives examples of helpful alternatives. The analysis features responses from interviews the author conducted with 32 professional planners who share insights and observations about their experiences and describe their reactions to problems encountered on the job, from enforcing building codes to selling a town council on a renovation project.

Bureaucratic Red Tape and Formalization: Untangling Conceptual Knots

Advancements in our knowledge of red tape have been handicapped by a serious neglect in the development of red tape as an organizational concept. Progress has also been hindered by the rather haphazard application of this concept in much of the empirical research. In this paper we examine some of the principal factors that have impeded conceptual development, paying particular attention to the relationship between red tape and bureaucratic formalization. We argue that progress in red-tape research and knowledge requires attention to several issues, including the measurement of red tape, origins and sources of red tape, and the need to consider red tape from the perspective of multiple stakeholders.

Managing federal information technology: Conflicting policies and competing philosophies

Despite congressional initiatives and the Clinton administration's increased attention to information technology (IT) management policy, as part of its reinventing government and National Information Infrastructure (NII) initiatives, it is not evident that current IT policy initiatives will effectively address IT management problems. Nor is it evident that these efforts will result in the IT management improvements required to improve significantly Federal agency performance. This may be true because the government fails to recognize fundamental conflicts in the conceptualization of Federal IT management—conflicts perhaps best exemplified by the National Performance Review's (NPR) simultaneous call for reductions in bureaucratic red tape, reductions in the Federal workforce, limited support for IT education and training, and improved integration and oversight of IT management. After identifying some representative issues related to these program initiatives, the authors offer recommendations to improve Federal management of IT.

Emerging medical technologies: balancing risks and benefits

Medical technology has advanced at an incredible pace during the last fifty years. Physicians and scientists have harvested the fruits of explosive growth in electronics and the material sciences by applying revolutionary advancements in these technologies to medical science. These developments have fed upon one another, creating an environment of synergy and rapid innovation. Unfortunately, the United States' premarket approval system for medical devices now threatens that environment; not just through bureaucratic red tape, but by fundamentally misbalancing the risks that underlie approving, or not approving, a new medical technology. The paper discusses the risks and benefits of medical technology innovation.

Redefining Public Involvement

Public‐involvement requirements have been part of government public‐works programs for at least 20 years. Still, they're often seen as one of the more onerous aspects of project development‐part of the bureaucratic red tape and more an obligation than a productive part of the process. Indeed, decision makers and project staff increasingly find heightened public interest and activism grind projects (and sometimes entire agencies) to a halt. Frustration over an increasing number of controversies arising late in the project‐development process led Montana DOT to develop a process that it hopes will minimize the conflicts that stop projects and erode public trust. MDOT and the Federal Highway Administration formed a task force to find a better way to involve the public. The fruit of their labor is a simple handbook that provides advice on how to hold an informal public meeting, write news releases and letters, limit the use of technical jargon in public presentations and interact with the media. Material from...

Public and Private Adoption: A Comparison of Service and Accessibility

The experiences and practices associated with adoption, as a means of family formation, have changed dramatically in recent years. Two trends have been particularly significant. First, there has been a dramatic decline in the choice of adoption as a pregnancy resolution alternative among pregnant adolescents in both Canada (Sobol & Daly, in press) and the United States (Bachrach, Stolley, & London, 1992). The reasons for, and implications of, this decline have received considerable attention in the research literature (for reviews, see Kalmuss, Namerow, & Bauer, 1992; Sobol & Daly, 1992). The second, and related, trend to affect adoption practice has been the shift from the use of public agencies to private or independent facilitators. Recent research in Canada shows that private practitioners have taken over the process of infant adoptions. In 1981, 22% of all infant adoptions in Canada were facilitated by private practitioners. By 1990, 59% of infant adoptions were carried out in the private domain (Sobol & Daly, in press). Due to problems with the compilation of state records (Flango, 1990), this trend has not been documented over time on a national scale in the United States. However, other reports indicate that there has been an increase in the number of adoptions arranged outside the public agency system (Reitz & Watson, 1992; Wells & Reshotko, 1986). Based on 1987 figures for all state adoptions, the proportion of total adoptions conducted under the auspices of public agencies ranged from a low of 2% to a high of 36% (Flango, 1990). While these figures represent all types of adoption, it is a clear indication that the majority of adoption placements occur within private auspices. Private adoptions are currently allowed in all but six states in the United States (Flango, 1990) and in all but two provinces in Canada (Daly & Sobol, 1993). One of the explanations offered for the prevalence of private adoptions is that the decreasing number of healthy Caucasian babies has escalated their commodity value because the under-supply has made them a scarce resource (Prichard, 1984). The result is a seller's market that is driven by high demand (Reitz & Watson, 1992). In contrast to the considerable attention paid to the decline in infant placements, the shift toward private adoption services has received little attention in the empirical research literature. The literature that does exist tends to focus on legal and ethical questions (Briggs, 1991), program strategies and structures (Wells & Reshotko, 1986), or the advantages and disadvantages of private adoption. With respect to the latter, several authors have outlined the potential pitfalls of private adoption. For the adoptive parents, these include inadequate preparation (Briggs, 1991; Hoopes, 1990), minimal information about biological background, poor long-term support (Hoopes, 1990), and the potential to be charged exorbitant fees or be excluded due to inability to pay (Wells & Reshotko, 1986). For the biological parents, there is a higher potential that they would be pressured to place their child because of the financial nature of the transaction and the possibility that they would not receive adequate counselling for coming to terms with their loss (Wells & Reshotko, 1986). At the same time, private adoptions offer many advantages over public adoption: (a) they are considered to be more expeditious and less encumbered by bureaucratic red tape, (b) there are more children available through private sources with shorter waiting times, and (c) all parties can avoid invasions of privacy (Bluth, 1967; Meezan, Katz, & Russo, 1978; Segal, 1982). Furthermore, private adoptions are perceived to heighten the sense of control over the placement process for both birth parents and adoptive parents (Wells & Reshotko, 1986). Debates about the role of independent facilitators in adoption practice are embedded in a larger debate about the role of the state in child welfare matters. …

Attrition, Burnout, Job Dissatisfaction and Occupational Therapy Managers

At a time when there is growing concern about the person-power shortages in occupational therapy, there is a need to address reasons why therapists leave the job market. Two job-related reasons for attrition are burnout and job dissatisfaction. The burnout phenomenon occurs as a result of personnel shortages, high-stress demands on therapists, the severity and complexity of client's problems, and the therapist's own ''worker personality.'' Bureaucratic constraints, limited advancement, issues related to a profession which is made up predominantly of women, lack of autonomy, and type of management and supervision are factors that contribute to job dissatisfaction. Occupational therapy managers can consider the causes of burnout and job dissatisfaction and initiate resources to retain therapists. Managers can increase the job benefits, such as flexible working hours, take steps to reduce stress in the workplace, offer career laddering opportunities, and promote staff development. By identifying the causes for attrition and by addressing those causes, the threat of losing therapists from the work force may be averted. Respondents (n = 106) to a survey of occupational therapy managers indicated that job dissatisfaction, burnout, and attrition of registered occupational therapists were not major problems in their settings. They reported a variety of strategies to reduce job dissatisfaction, burnout, and attrition. When these problems were present, managers cited bureaucratic red tape, lack of opportunity for advancement, and increasing role demands as contributing factors.

Key Information Systems Management Issues for the Public Sector

The sector has multiple, conflicting, and often intangible goals. It produces public goods for problems that should be solved (like crime and poverty), even though these problems may have no known feasible solutions; and it is heavily impacted by politics and bureaucratic red tape. These and other features of the sector make it potentially a much different setting for IS management than the private sector. This article reports on the first national survey of sector managers identifying their most important IS issues. The survey, covering respondents from federal, state, and local governments, drew upon prior survey research in the private sector and the literature on public/private sector differences.While most of the top sector issues also appear on the top private sector issue lists, the rankings show a lag in IS development as compared to the private sector. Perhaps the most interesting results of the survey, however, are from a deeper analysis. At the main effects-level, we have preliminary evidence that (1) middle-level (instead of top-level) managers are critical for IS technology development; (2) small government agencies are more interested in IS technology transfer than large ones; (3) governments with a lot of red tape tend to have flexible IS; an d(4) local government IS issues are driven by transaction processing while state and federal governments have IS more suitable for their oversight mission.

Private and Public Prisons: A Comparison of Costs, Programs and Facilities

This article compares three privately operated prisons with three publicly operated prisons in an effort to learn which is run more efficiently. Through a comparative cost analysis of private and public prisons the author found that the private prisons provided more services at lower cost than their public counterparts. Factors that may have contributed to this include: increased economies when purchasing goods; less bureaucratic red tape; better control over resources; more flexible manpower usage; and the ability to build prisons quickly. The author concluded from the findings of this study that comparative cost analyses and possible future research on the privatization of prisons will support the argument by proponents of prison privatization that private operation ofprisons is a worthwhile endeavor.

Socialist authority: the Hungarian experience

Introduction The Vs. Imaginary Social Contract Socialist Democracy and Socialist Authority The Rulers and the Ruled Who Gets What for What? Finding Loopholes in the Bureaucratic Red Tape It's Who You Know, Not What You Know The Hedonism of Authority From Traditionlism to Nihilism: The Transformation of the Family and Religion as Institutions Mass Media and Quality of Life New Society With Old Traditions The Hungarian Social Character Bibliography Index