Decentralization Development Research Articles

The knowledge‐incentive tradeoff: Understanding the relationship between research and development decentralization and innovation

AbstractResearch SummaryStrategy scholars view innovation through the lens of knowledge recombination, whereas organizational economics scholars view innovation through the lens of effective incentive design. This sets up a tension regarding how firms should structure their research and development (R&D) units. Namely, decentralization facilitates the effective use of incentives but comes with the cost of reduced intra‐organizational knowledge flows. In this study, I unpack this tension by examining the novelty of inventions that firms create and develop. I argue that R&D centralization facilitates the creation and development of inventions that are more novel, whereas R&D decentralization facilitates the creation of more inventions of lower average novelty and their progression through development. I find support for these arguments in the pharmaceutical industry between 1995 and 2015.Managerial SummaryWhen does the effective use of incentives or a firm's knowledge have a greater impact on a firm's innovation? This has important managerial implications as it shapes whether firms are better off centralizing or decentralizing their R&D units. Centralization enables firms to make better use of their knowledge and decentralization ensures the better use of incentives. More effective use of incentives associated with greater decentralization of R&D is more critical if firms wish to create and develop more inventions that are of lower average novelty. In contrast, more effective use of a firm's knowledge associated with greater centralization of R&D is more critical if firms want to create and develop a lower quantity of inventions that are of greater average novelty.

National sovereignty through decentralization

PurposeThe suggested utility of decentralized development in Iraq and the Palestinian occupied territories is meant to provide policymakers new alternatives to managing and resolving these conflicts. This paper aims to address this issue.Design/methodology/approachThe overall paradigm of decentralization is presented and how participatory development relates within it is described. As the conditions in Iraq and Palestine are then discussed, cited qualities and results of decentralized participatory development are shown to directly address the fundamental issues that perpetuate these conflicts.FindingsThe paper finds that decentralization to local communities of development planning and management reinforces national sovereignty when national governments actively support its implementation. The productive partnerships among government, civil organizations and private groups that can result from decentralization – both vertically and horizontally along administrative tiers – strengthen both local community and national autonomy.Practical implicationsThe decentralization strategy presented – participatory development – has been shown in cases around the world to also generate vital economic, social, and environmental benefits in a more expeditious and at a lower cost than typical development assistance programs. These outcomes, among others, are what is needed to help resolve conflicts in Iraq and between the Israelis and Palestinians – conflicts rooted in matters of sovereignty, development and reconciliation. In Iraq, decentralization of development will give the national government legitimacy, the Iraqis ownership of their own reconstruction, and the opportunity to incorporate reconciliation as part of the process. In the Palestinian occupied territories, decentralized development will bring immediate relief and build socio‐economic self‐reliance in a way that restructures their economy to be less dependent on Israel and help reduce tensions and violence.Originality/valueThere are important theoretical and applied values of this analysis. By explaining how different ideological perspectives (socialism, neo‐liberalism, alternative development and others) relate to the various organizational arrangements of decentralization, a detailed description of the decentralization paradigm is provided. Then by presenting participatory development as a strategy of decentralization and showing how it can be implemented in Iraq and Palestine, it is shown to be a practical tool with outcomes that correspond fittingly to the fundamental requirements for resolving these destabilizing conflicts. The analysis contributes to both the theoretical and applied knowledge of decentralization.

Decentralization of Development and Nation-Building Today: Reconstructing Colombia from the Margins of Bogotá

Responding to an international trend that regards the state as an oversized, unsustainable and uneven jurisdiction that cannot effectively intervene in the economy to promote development objectives, nor impose a proper presence over its territory and population, the reform of the Colombian Constitution in 1991 installed local development as one of the primary strategies to recuperate the nation-building project in Colombia. Bogotá has greatly benefited from the introduction of this normative framework: within the spatial limits of its jurisdiction, Bogotá has been able to achieve a remarkable level of community engagement, measured urban growth and financial stability, as well as high per capita levels of education, health and public utility provision. However, the successful decentralization of state activity in Bogotá has implied an intensification of the systemic violence that traditionally accompanies nation-building projects. Through practices of classification, demarcation and disciplining of space and subjects, Bogotá has used a cartography of legal and illegal urban spaces in order to circumscribe its developmental target. Reflecting upon the contradictions that arise from the encounter between the weaknesses of Colombia's sovereignty and Bogotá's successful development, this paper examines the relationship between development and sovereign consolidation through the multiplication of levels of governance and the creation of increasingly smaller, more accountable sub-national jurisdictions in Third World states.

Paving the way to political change: decentralization of development in the Brazilian Amazon

Abstract Previous research by the authors examined the political consequences of internationally funded, decentralized development programs that target local nongovernmental organizations (NGOs). The Planafloro Community Initiative Projects, sponsored by the World Bank from 1995–1998, had powerful effects on politics, increasing electoral support for the Left in the 1998 presidential race. In this paper, we test whether those effects diffuse across space. Using Exploratory Spatial Data Analysis (ESDA), we find that the diffusion of political change is constrained by infrastructure: political change diffuses from one municipality to the next only when connected by a major highway—an important distinguishing feature in landscapes with difficult terrain. From a methodological standpoint, the study demonstrates the importance of contextual knowledge when performing ESDA. From a practical standpoint, our results imply that programs designed to diffuse information or program benefits in developing areas operate under important physical geographic and infrastructural constraints.

The Innovation of Decentralized Staff Development at Birmingham Polytechnic

This paper notes that although staff development in higher education institutions is promoted by centralized units, the approach has several weaknesses. One institution of higher education, Birmingham Polytechnic, has sought to depart from prevailing practice by promoting decentralized staff development. Early attempts that were made through the appointment of professional and staff tutors were not successful. Subsequently, the adoption and implementation by the Polytechnic of a strategy for extensive change eventually led to the appointment in 1985 of part‐time staff developers for all six faculties. Events leading up to this innovation are described. The successful introduction of decentralized staff development at Birmingham Polytechnic is explained with reference to Lindquist's (1978) model of adaptive development. Each of the five crucial factors in the model is shown as having been influential in the events leading to staff development decentralization. It is concluded that the case of Birmingham Po...

The Decentralization of Development: Impact on Power, Priorities, Faculty Perceptions

The Decentralization of Development: Impact on Power, Priorities, Faculty Perceptions

Decentralization for Development: Experiment in Local Government Administration in Bangladesh

Decentralization for Development: Experiment in Local Government Administration in Bangladesh

Decentralization for Development: Experiment in Local Government Administration in Bangladesh

This paper seeks to analyze the working of the policy of decentralization as a means to improve the local government administration and development in a developing political system. The term local government is used to mean participatory institutions under popular control which are dependent on the national government for resource allocation and utilization. The article is divided into three parts. First, the different interpretations of the concept and practice of decentralization are reviewed. Second, the elements in the Bangladesh approach to decentralization are discussed in the context of the administrative reforms carried out since 1982. Third, an attempt is made to assess the impact of the decentralization process. The interpretations of decentralization discussed in this article are those of Fesler, Conyers and Rondinelli. Fesler views decentralization as a complex issue, both as a concept and in practice; he looks at it from four perspectives: decentralization as a doctrine, as political process in a given political setting, as an administrative problem, and finally as an administrative process involving forced choices and changes in the functional and area-based administration, and between the regulatory (law and order) and development functions of appointed and elected officials.1 Conyers, like Fesler, notes that discussion on decentralization can easily become confused because of analytical problems surrounding the concept