Changes In Governance Structures Research Articles

Globalization and Local Governance: Implications from Wal-Mart's Expansion

This article focuses on one set of examples where globalization and relocalization have proven strong and determined political, economic, and cultural forces. By examining Wal-Mart's efforts to site a new store in Colchester, Connecticut, we paint a local political mosaic where globalization (in the form of Wal-Mart and its corporate culture) met head on with the forces working to preserve the local. At its broadest level, this case highlights some of the ways in which globalization necessitates changes in governance structures and processes—local and beyond—as communities attempt to navigate the impacts of globalization. The concluding section discusses a number of policy lessons and implications that can be drawn from this case.

Governance Structure Changes and Product Market Competition: Evidence from U.S. Electric Utility Deregulation*

Electric utility deregulation associated with the 1992 Energy Policy Act represents a natural experiment for observing linkages between governance structure changes and product market competition. This study finds that governance structures of utilities are enhanced in their ability to control owner‐manager agency conflict post‐1992, but not by as much as comparable industrial firms. Incomplete utility deregulation leads to competition increases that are not as great as those of industrial firms. Governance structure enhancements of utilities lag behind those of industrial firms. Further deregulation is expected to stimulate competition, leading to governance structures that provide greater control of owner‐manager agency conflict.

Resettling Musqueam Park

Musqueam Park, an affluent residential subdivision located on an Indian reserve in Vancouver, British Columbia, became the site of an intense five‐year struggle when the Musqueam Indian Band tried to collect higher land rents from its nonindigenous tenants. In late 2000, the Supreme Court of Canada ruled that Indian land was significantly less valuable than other privately held forms of property and discounted leasehold rents owed to the Band by 50 percent. In this article, I examine Musqueam Park's historical emergence as a desirable area for nonindigenous homeowners and its shifting boundaries and inscriptions in light of the Musqueam attempt to collect higher rents. I argue that embedded in this political and legal dispute are a series of factors that landscape Musqueam Park. These include (1) how settler anxieties about shifting power dynamics between indigenous and settler societies, including concerns about changing structures of governance, access to land, and resource allocation, shape the discursive content of the dispute; (2) how the historical underdevelopment of reserves in general, and the Musqueam reserve in particular, sets the stage for contemporary battles over valuable residential property; and (3) how colonial relations, especially in terms of property, continue to shape public and legal discourses in British Columbia.

In pursuit of global regulation

PurposeIFAC, a Swiss‐registered non‐governmental organization, is emerging as an important international (auditing) standard setter amongst a powerful group of regulators, including the World Bank, the International Organisation of Securities Commissions (IOSCO) and the European Commission (EC). The purpose of this paper is to focus on the changing governance and accountability structures within IFAC, the way such changes are shaping, or re‐shaping, its “public interest” commitments and the resulting strategic implications for processes of auditor regulation and public oversight in the global financial arena.Design/methodology/approachThe material and analysis presented in the paper derives from an extensive review of official reports, consultation documents and related responses, a range of other information available on IFAC's web site (www.ifac.org) or those of other key regulatory players in the global financial arena.FindingsThe paper analyzes how IFAC is succeeding as an international standard setter with an established place in the global financial infrastructure. From analysis of the recent establishment of a Public Interest Oversight Board (PIOB) and the changing nature of representation on IFAC's Public Interest Activity Committees (PIACs), the paper reveals a growing reliance on governance by experts together with a growth in influence of the large, multinational accounting firms. Governance of auditors has become a matter of global importance and governance structures are being reconfigured.Practical implicationsBy highlighting the changes that have taken place within IFAC's governance system, the paper establishes the importance for public policy of further study and debate concerning the nature and practical operation of such a system, particularly given IFAC's position within a complex but developing global governance arena.Originality/valueIFAC is becoming an integral player in global financial governance processes and yet has not been subject to any substantial academic accounting research. This paper seeks to rectify this by focusing on the structures and processes underpinning both the development of IFAC's International Standards on Auditing (ISAs) and its own global strategy for advancement.

Treading through Trade-Through: A Law and Economics Analysis of SEC Proposed Regulation NMS

The Note, being the first comprehensive critique of the SEC's Reproposed Regulation NMS, tries to evaluate the core Trade-Through Rule from an interdisciplinary perspective, expose some of the problems that can arise as a consequence of the rule and expound on certain approaches which may offer better alternatives. To be sure, the newly reproposed Regulation NMS scores many strong points in making regulations more align with the evolving market realities. Even the much criticized trade-through rule reflects laudable efforts by the SEC to reconcile divergent interests of various market constituents. Nevertheless, the unbalanced competitive strengths of NYSE, which holds the largest liquidity pool and offers best opportunities for price improvement but lags behind in terms of fast execution and other dimensions of execution quality, would make SEC's balancing act of engrafting flexible exceptions on a rigid best price rule untenable to improving liquidity and price discovery, and unappealing to electronic markets competing on multiple dimensions of execution quality. In light of a new environment where investors now demand more than low execution costs and markets compete not just on the basis of price, an all encompassing standard of best execution would be better suited, to balancing multidimensional needs of investors with a necessary degree of uniformity in regulating a broker's duty to seek best price across markets. The bottom line is that a piecemeal approach within the confine of the old NMS framework and without the recognition of changing governance structures and evolving economic function of stock exchanges will never prove to be satisfactory and the time has ripened to a point where the SEC should reassess its role in market regulation before articulating a new set of guidelines for the future of U.S. securities market.

Confronting the Coffee Crisis: Can Fair Trade, Organic, and Specialty Coffees Reduce Small-Scale Farmer Vulnerability in Northern Nicaragua?

This paper links changing global coffee markets to opportunities and vulnerabilities for sustaining small-scale farmer livelihoods in northern Nicaragua. Changing governance structures, corporate concentration, oversupply, interchangeable commodity grade beans, and low farm gate prices characterize the crisis in conventional coffee markets. In contrast, certified Fair Trade and organic are two alternative forms of specialty coffee trade and production that may offer opportunities for small-scale producers. A research team surveyed 228 farmers to measure the impact of sales on organic and Fair Trade markets. The results suggest that participation in organic and Fair Trade networks reduces farmers’ livelihood vulnerability.

Quality of Place and the Rescaling of Urban Governance: The Case of Toronto

Globalization is best described as a complex process embodying conditions of instant communication and the rapid movement of people, goods, and ideas. Aligned with this process is a reorganization of state and society that some geographers have referred to as “rescaling”—a reconfiguration of the spatial scales at which governance occurs. The emerging landscapes of a rescaled global economy reveal not a diminishing role for the local, but rather the resurgence of place—cities—as deterritorialized centres of global control. The prominence of these command and control nodes within a global post-industrial economy is increasingly being linked to discourses of economic efficiency. Using the case of Toronto, Canada, the authors interpret changing governance structures as evidence of a rescaling process that has seen resources and responsibilities move in opposite directions, to the detriment of the quality of place in the city. Rhetorical calls for global competitiveness have led to a withering of the state’s role in providing the context for the emergence of locally enriched social and cultural environments. The case of Toronto reveals a spatial paradox where changes in governance aimed at enhancing global competitiveness have actually diminished the local qualities cities depend upon to sustain such advantage. None the less, economic competitiveness and quality of place need not necessarily work in opposition, and we advance a general planning framework to balance these desires.

Testing Governance: Partnerships, Planning and Conflict in Waterfront Regeneration

This paper explores issues of urban governance through a case study of a major, waterfront regeneration project in an English city (Bristol). The first part of the paper sets the development of this project within the broader theoretical context of urban regime theory and changing structures of governance in the city. The paper then outlines the attempts to build a city-wide consensus in Bristol around a viable development project in a situation marked by strongly conflicting views and contrasting visions of urban space. Political and planning processes are explored in some detail to identify the strengths and weaknesses of local governance structures. The paper concludes with some comments on the relevance of the case study for debates on urban regime theory.

Changing governance structures and the environment: economy–environment relations at the local and regional scales

Two substantive bodies of research have developed in recent years, both of which have a focus upon local and regional scales. First, there has been the development of work on changing forms of local and regional governance. This has drawn on a range of theoretical perspectives, including notions of institutional capacity, urban regime theory and neo-regulationalist accounts. Second, a body of research has developed into environmental policy and sustainable development, but this has largely been normative and undertheorized. While these two bodies of literature have developed separately, we believe there is merit in bringing the insights from each together. A focus on local environmental policy helps to broaden our understanding of local governance and problems of after-Fordist regulation. Such a project also helps to illuminate problems in implementing policy on the environment and sustainability. The examination of changing local and regional forms of governance allows us to identify new state spaces, which may provide opportunities for the strategic insertion of environmental objectives into economic development policies. This paper seeks to theorize such environment–economy relations and emerging multi-scalar forms of environmental governance, drawing upon case study research work in six UK local authority areas. Copyright © 2002 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Economic aspects of sustainable water use: evidence from a horizontal comparison of European cities

This paper addresses the economics of sustainable water use. It focuses on the possibilities for pricing instruments, privatisation and liberalisation to contribute to a (more) sustainable water use. The paper starts with a theoretical discussion analysing the principles of an optimal tariff system, the responsiveness of consumers to price changes, the four principles of an optimal tariff system, concepts such as social and full cost recovery, and the possibilities and desirability of changing governance structures taking into account the specific characteristics of the water sector. Next, the key issues derived from the theoretical analysis are illustrated on the basis of an empirical study on five European metropolitan areas. For these cities, tariff structures and governance structures will be described and analysed in order to assess the degree of sustainability. The comparison of the cities ultimately results in policy recommendations for improving the sustainability of water use in urban areas.

People and Processes Around the Board Room: A Contingency Approach from the Italian Listed Companies

The development of codes of practice for public corporations and the formal regulation essentially imply a standard governance structure regardless of the nature of the corporate business. This seems to be consistent with the 'agency cost' framework, where the board of directors is seen as a mono-dimensional device and the attention is focused thoroughly on the 'monitoring behavior' whereas the cooperation processes within the board are completely neglected. This paper provides new insights into the changes in governance structure as a multiple dimension phenomenon and not only limited to the exogenous institutional environment in which companies operate. The study aims to determine some endogenous variables that have a role in distinguishing between groups of firms with different corporate directing. More precisely, it is analyzed the causal connection between some economic features of the firm and the phenomenon referring to the separation of the roles of Chairman and Ceo, considered one of the most important requirements in the corporate governance arrangements. The above phenomenon, apart from the recent policy statements, could be the outcome of the strategic behavior of the firm and of the market-firm relationship. Therefore, itis possible to characterize a set of factors that will determine the likelihood of a dual Ceo and Chairman in the board.

On a hiding to nothing? Assessing the corporate governance of hospital and health services in New Zealand 1993-1998.

In New Zealand the governance of public sector hospital and health services has changed significantly over the past decade. For most of the century hospitals had been funded by central government grants but run by locally elected boards. In 1989 a reforming Labour government restructured health services along managerialist lines, including changing governance structures so that some area health board members were government appointments, with the balance elected by the community. More market oriented reform under a new National government abolished this arrangement and introduced (1993) a corporate approach to the management of hospitals and related services. The hospitals were established as limited liability companies under the Companies Act. This was an explicitly corporate model and, although there was some modification of arrangements following the election of a more politically moderate centre-right coalition government in 1996, the corporate model was largely retained. Although significant changes occurred again after the election of a Labour government in 1999, the corporate governance experience in New Zealand health services is one from which lessons can, nevertheless, be learnt. This paper examines aspects of the performance and process of corporate governance arrangements for public sector health services in New Zealand, 1993-1998.

On a hiding to nothing? assessing the corporate governance of hospital and health services in New Zealand 1993–1998

In New Zealand the governance of public sector hospital and health services has changed significantly over the past decade. For most of the century hospitals had been funded by central government grants but run by locally elected boards. In 1989 a reforming Labour government restructured health services along managerialist lines, including changing governance structures so that some area health board members were government appointments, with the balance elected by the community. More market oriented reform under a new National government abolished this arrangement and introduced (1993) a corporate approach to the management of hospitals and related services. The hospitals were established as limited liability companies under the Companies Act. This was an explicitly corporate model and, although there was some modification of arrangements following the election of a more politically moderate centre-right coalition government in 1996, the corporate model was largely retained. Although significant changes occurred again after the election of a Labour government in 1999, the corporate governance experience in New Zealand health services is one from which lessons can, nevertheless, be learnt. This paper examines aspects of the performance and process of corporate governance arrangements for public sector health services in New Zealand, 1993–1998. Copyright © 2001 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Gender politics in global governance

Prof. Hernandez-Truyol reviews book Gender Politics in Global Governance from editors Mary K. Meyer and Elisabeth Prugl. Given emergence of multilateral institutions in this century, mobilization of women against male supremacy has taken an internationalist turn; it seeks to shape the agendas of international organizations and normative practices of global governance. In an effort to understand and analyze this movement and its impact, editors have compiled a volume drawing new research together exploring gender politics in global governance that is also attentive to historical and contemporary modes of women's organizing from local to global levels to effect change in governance structures and practices that oppress women.

The implications for tourism of shifts in British local governance

Using a case-study approach this article explores the impact the radical changes in British local governance over the last 15 years or so have had for tourism development at the local level. The expectation that tourism development would both be among the triggers for, and one of the beneficiaries of, changes in governance structures is shown to be misplaced. The paper concludes with a discussion, in the light of its findings, of what might be the most appropriate agencies for promoting tourism development. Copyright © 1998 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

The implications for tourism of shifts in British local governance

Using a case-study approach this article explores the impact the radical changes in British local governance over the last 15 years or so have had for tourism development at the local level. The expectation that tourism development would both be among the triggers for, and one of the beneficiaries of, changes in governance structures is shown to be misplaced. The paper concludes with a discussion, in the light of its findings, of what might be the most appropriate agencies for promoting tourism development. Copyright © 1998 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Governing the Spaces of Difference: Regulation and Globalisation in London

This paper sets out a research agenda for using regulation theory to analyse local governance in the global city. It initially considers results from the 1991 census to explore social inequalities in London, and investigates how these differ from inequalities in other British metropolitan areas. The paper then looks at the changing nature of local governance in London, examining the notion of post-Fordist local governance as well as the idea of local governance in a post-Fordist society. Finally, the paper examines the ways in which the recent emergence of London as a global city articulates with the changing structures of governance. Whilst on the surface there appears to be a good fit between the restructuring of local governance and the globalisation of London's key economic sectors, the paper argues that there are both empirical and theoretical grounds for rejecting the claim that we are moving towards a new mode of regulation in the global city.

Changes in governance structure of czech enterprises: 1989 - 1995

Properties rights and governance structures of the Czechs enterprises are often criticize by the Czech political opposition as well as by some foreign experts and managers. The optimistic macroeconomic results for the Czech economy (inflation, budget surpluses) are still not reflected in the present condition of enterprises. Changes in enterprises are accomplished much slower and they are much less visible in comparison to the macroeconomic miracle directed by Mr. Václav Klaus. However, one must not overlook (and avoid) the coming significant false conclusions. One must realize that substantial changes have taken place in this area. Czech managers are more competent and creative than was expect, or even hoped for. (Also market may be more powerful than projected.) Results of management's are admirable in many respects. Also real structural and technological changes are more significant than they are reflected by some critical comments of aggressive Czech reformers.

Turbulence at the Top: A New Perspective on Governance Structure Changes and Strategic Change

Organizational theorists have traditionally focused attention on the relationship between chief executive officer (CEO) succession and strategic change. This study extends that perspective and explores the effects of changes in an organization's management, ownership, and board of directors on the process of strategic change. The results of this research suggest that changes in ownership and board have significant independent and interactive effects on strategic change.

The Impact of Faculty Unions on Higher Education: A Reconsideration

Few faculty members and college administrators deny the fact that unions are a permanent fixture in higher education. Even in a climate that has been hostile to the formation of unions at colleges and universities, they have survived. The real question for both faculty and administrators is the impact that unions have had on institutional policies and practices—has it been positive or negative? Most research on unions in higher education has focused on compensation (salary, vacation, health plans, merit, retirement, etc.), and neglected other areas. This article, in addition to addressing financial gains, focuses on the impact that unions have in other areas of higher education. It is especially concerned with changes in governance structures that can be attributed to the influence of unions.