Non-business Sectors Research Articles

The Circular Economy Transition in Australia: Nuanced Circular Intermediary Accounts of Mainstream Green Growth Claims

Australia has recently declared its commitment to a Circular Economy. Policy and initiatives to date have focused on recycling and waste management and research to date has highlighted the need for more ambitious policy, clearer definitions, collaboration, and consensus on goals. There are also calls from some government and non-business sectors for more inclusive, circular models, including Doughnut Economics. In the context of a competing mainstream Circular Economy and inclusive circular society discourses, circular intermediary organizations and their representatives are key to achieving change. Compared to the green growth business narrative of policy and industry media, intermediary representatives are aware of the diversity of challenges and solutions for Australia. Based on semi-structured interviews with twenty representatives of circular intermediaries in Australia and thematic discourse analysis, this study finds Circular Economy, circular society, and de-growth discourses informing themes about government, business, growth, consumers, society, and policy present and future. Arguing for a more nuanced view of the discursive and practice-based complexities of the circular transition, the study concludes with recommendations for a more holistic policy and practice beyond the current circularity for circularity’s sake.

Financial Autonomy in Vietnamese Public Health Service Units: A Study in Ho Chi Minh City

In the renovation of the public non-business sector, the financial renovation is a particularly important content, which is a key condition for autonomous non-business units to improve the quality of public services as well as the efficiency of state budget spending. Renovating the financial mechanism of public non-business units has been identified as one of the breakthroughs of the Vietnam Finance Strategy until 2020 [Prime Minister, (2012)]. Implementing the financial autonomy mechanism has created the initiative for non-business units to manage financial expenditures effectively and mobilize the contribution of society for the development of non-business activities. In this process, public healthcare has been and will be an area focused in Vietnam and most provinces of Vietnam, including Ho Chi Minh City. Base on the theoretical framework for the autonomy mechanism, this article focuses on analyzing the actual situation of implementing the financial autonomy mechanism of the public health service units in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam for the period 2012-2018. Since then, it indicates the achieved results, limitations, causes, and some recommendations to promote the implementation of the financial autonomy mechanism of public health service units in the context of world economic integration.

Enterprise Cloud Computing Project for Connecting Higher Education Institutions: A Case Study of the UAE

The new cloud computing technology is very much in the business and economic horizon, extending its horizons to non-business sectors like education. This study is a study of the need and applicability of the fast spreading business enterprises’ external cloud computing technology, to the higher educational institution in the United Arab Emirates (UAE), the educational hub of the MENA region, in terms of three premier higher educational institutions—Zayed University (ZU), Higher College of Technology (HCT), and the UAE University (UAEU) for their collaboration services for better educational services. Employing the interview method to a sample of administrators, it was found that the institutions were lacking in cloud computing (CC) resulting in delays in student services, such as inter-university transfers of students. The administrators, however, were convinced of CC technology for inter-institutional collaboration. For this, it is suggested to establish a platform of cloud computing services, with required staff training and motivation for efficient and collaboration functioning of the HEIs in the UAE, which is evolving into a global educational center. As this is not the end of the problem, there is a need for further research in the problem, such as staff exchange, and research cooperation as it is a modest but worthwhile contribution to the educational dimension of cloud computing for educational efficiency.

Opportunities to observe and measure intangible inputs to innovation: Definitions, operationalization, and examples

Measuring the value of intangibles is not easy, because they are critical but usually invisible components of the innovation process. Today, access to nonsurvey data sources, such as administrative data and repositories captured on web pages, opens opportunities to create intangibles based on new sources of information and capture intangible innovations in new ways. Intangibles include ownership of innovative property and human resources that make a company unique but are currently unmeasured. For example, intangibles represent the value of a company’s databases and software, the tacit knowledge of their workers, and the investments in research and development (R&D) and design. Through two case studies, the challenges and processes to both create and measure intangibles are presented using a data science framework that outlines processes to discover, acquire, profile, clean, link, explore the fitness-for-use, and statistically analyze the data. The first case study shows that creating organizational innovation is possible by linking administrative data across business processes in a Fortune 500 company. The motivation for this research is to develop company processes capable of synchronizing their supply chain end to end while capturing dynamics that can alter the inventory, profits, and service balance. The second example shows the feasibility of measurement of innovation related to the characteristics of open source software through data scraped from software repositories that provide this information. The ultimate goal is to develop accurate and repeatable measures to estimate the value of nonbusiness sector open source software to the economy. This early work shows the feasibility of these approaches.

Is a Mid-Sized Town Enough for the Generation Z? What is Needed to Keep the Young People in Their (Home)Town?

My research focuses on the settlement aspects of nonbusiness marketing. It highlights a problem, which today many domestic and rural communities are struggling with: the out-migration of young people. This long-lasting problem in the rural environment has continued in the 2010s and affects not only villages, also small towns. Many research results indicate that retention of young workforce is a generic problem in Hungary today, almost in every settlement. In my empirical research, I take into account actors that act in a non-profit-making way but in the direction of social interests; that is to say, what can the non-business sector (local government, municipal government, public utilities, civil spheres, educational units) make in terms of marketing in order to accommodate talented young people. The interviews partly focused on the identity of the leaders, their impressions about the town, and party on the percept characteristics of Generation Z; they also emphasized what such a non-business institution can do in order to keep them in the town. My research is given by two seemingly distinct areas whose relationship is nevertheless undisputed. The exploration of the characteristics and values of the Z generation is essential in order to find the proper way of communicating with them and to shape the future of a town that offers them a perspective. With it, you cannot avoid the migration of young people in the capital; however, it can offer an option for rural towns to slow down this process.

Az EU tagállamok innovációs és versenyképességi klaszteresedése 2013-ban

In the era of the innovation economy it is natural that innovation is one of the key definitions, because of its literature is excessively far-reaching: global, micro and macro level, in connection ofthe business and non-business sector, it’s also defined in social context. The literary backgroundof this essay shows a historical overview of the development that occurred in the definition ofinnovation and its different interpretations. After exploring the literary background a quantitative, descriptive and explanatory statisticanalysis will be written in a monothetic and deductive approach. In this phase of my researchI will make macro level international comparative analyzes with the help of the EU and theWEF (World Economic Forum) data base (Innovation Union Scoreboard, illetve Global Competitiveness Index), and the SPSS software. This essay’s goal is to determine whether there is aconnection between innovation processes and the forming of competitiveness on a macro leveland if there is how it can be interpreted. Later with a similar goal and methodology I would liketo make international micro level comparative analyzes and then by combining the macro andmicro level results, I will determine how the macro level innovation policy influences the microlevel innovativeness and competitiveness. Using all of these results I would like to determine thespecial features of the national innovation policy and the chances for optimalization.

Enterprise education in pharmacy schools

Purpose– The purpose of this paper is to investigate implementation of enterprise education (EE) through experiential learning, and its relevance to pharmacy education in the UK Higher Education Institutions.Design/methodology/approach– The paper characterises the state of pharmacy EE using Fayolle’s (2013) generic teaching model in EE and Kolb’s (1984) experiential learning theory as underlying conceptual and theoretical frameworks. The paper focuses on how EE takes place through approaches employed within experiential learning to develop graduates’ enterprise skills, and investigate the challenges faced within institutional contexts. The paper draws on qualitative empirical approach using the social constructionist paradigm to investigate experiences of pharmacy academics.Findings– The study identifies four Aspects of Experiential Learning in the context of EE (AELEE), which extend both Fayolle’s and Kolb’s frameworks.Research limitations/implications– The research focuses solely on views of academics in UK pharmacy schools, and is of qualitative nature. This could limit the generalisability of results, yet also offer deeper sector-specific insight into EE.Practical implications– Findings provide insights into the difficulty of positioning EE in non-business schools and the hurdles academics face. Findings are expected to encourage enterprise educators to design EE programmes that consider the institutional context.Originality/value– The research makes a significant contribution to existing EE literature with its non-business sector specificity and its focus on academics. Hence, the study responds to Fayolle’s (2013) call for more research into EE with focus on the educator, and deeper connections between EE and education literature.

The Role of Transferring Knowledge in Case of Non-Business Sector Projects

The Hungarian-Slovenian-Croatian cross-border region, whose disadvantageous situation and hardship was dealt with by several authors, is placed in the focus of our research. Being aware of these facts it is conceivable that the subsidies from various proposal sources are of high importance for the cross-border region, especially those that support co-operation and region development and these proposals can become one of the primal movers of development. In our study the projects implemented in the concerned Hungarian, Slovenian and Croatian counties were involved in the Hungary-Croatia IPA Cross-border Co-operation Programme 2007-2013 and in the Slovenia-Hungary Cross-border Co-operation Programme 2007-2013 as well as the knowledge transfer methods in the managing organizations were analyzed. Each of the studied organisations belongs to the non-business sector as local government, school, foundation or association. It was characteristic of these studied organizations that in the 7-year cycle of the given programmed period they were involved in implementing several projects; therefore, the transfer of the managerial and professional knowledge gained in certain proposals could be of crucial importance in case of further projects. As a result, the aim of the research was to assess the correlation between knowledge transfer within these non-business organisations and the success of the projects. The analysis is timely and fills a gap since both studied programmes were closed in 2013 and the financed projects were finished in 2014; therefore, it explores significant information and correlations with regard to the projects of the programmed period to be closed for both the Joint Technical Secretariats and the Intermediate Bodies as well as for the applicants.

Aplicaciones emergentes de inteligencia competitiva en las universidades

Different authors have pointed out the importance of applying competitive intelligence (CI) to non-business sectors (public administration, universities, non-governmental organizations, etc.). Besides, universities increasingly apply management tools and techniques coming from the business field. On the other hand, in recent years universities have perceived an environmental pressure as a consequence of a) their implication in regional development where they are located, and b) their need to reform their program offerings according to the needs of society and the requirements of the labour market, as well as a result of the process of adapting their degrees to the European Higher Education Area (Bologna process). This paper describes and characterises CI practices in the universities and analyses the CI contribution to the design of degree courses. The research is based on qualitative methods, and data were collected through interviews. Results suggest that the use of CI in universities is mainly reactive, and addressed only to organisational tactics.

Non-business E-Commerce in Malaysia: An Investigation of Key Adoption

Problem statement: Non-business EC is a relatively new research niche in the general e-commerce stream. Application of e-commerce by profit oriented organization already become bread and butter but still limited applied in non-business sectors such as academic institutions (as in the present study), non-profit organizations, religious organizations and government agencies. Nowadays e-commerce becomes crucially essential in reducing their expenses and improving their operations. Therefore, application of this new innovation should enhance to no non-business sectors to be livelier. Understanding the key factors of facilitating and adopting the e-commerce in non-business are still need to enrich in particularly within Malaysian context. A field survey was conducted to determine key factors that facilitate the adoption of non-business EC in Malaysian Universities. Approach: One main focus of IT implementation research has been to determine why people accept or reject new technology. The current research will explore why Non-business institutions will accept or reject e-commerce. Since e-commerce adoption decision is a strategic one, a comprehensive list of potential facilitators and non-facilitators for the strategic use of information technology was derived from past research. Thus factors used as the basis for collecting data from 65 schools, centers and units from 5 public universities in Kota Kinabalu and Kuala Lumpur. These data were factor-analyzed to determine the key underlying dimensions of facilitators. On the basis of the resulting 5 dimensions namely, relative advantage, network orientation, information efficiency, innovativeness and competitiveness, regression analysis was done to determine the impact of the 5 dimensions on adoption. Results: They suggest that relative advantage, network orientation and information efficiency are the most important facilitators to the used of e-commerce in non-business sectors. Inhibitors were not estimated eventually, as there were no non-users among the respondents. Conclusion: The results implies the non-business sectors should look into advantages, network orientation and information efficiency as a strategic based for implementing e-commerce in more effective manner to achieve their goals.

Potential Output and Output Gap: Some Estimates for France (in French)

This Study and Research Paper is devoted to different estimates of the French economy's potential output and output gap. Several methods, which are presented in detail, are put forward to measure these indicators. The first two sections of the paper profile statistical univariate approaches: smoothing using the Hodrick-Prescott filter; and estimation of a trend, potentially including breaks. The next two sections extend the discussion on statistical techniques to multivariate cases. To be precise, they involve the analysis of structural VAR models and unobserved component models. The final section proposes a structural method for estimating potential output, where business sector output is described by a Cobb-Douglas function, while that of the non-business sector is assumed to be exogenous. For this structural method, the NAIRU has to be calculated before estimating the short to medium-term level of potential output.

Three Primary Trust Pathways Underlying Ethical Considerations

The role of trust pathways in achieving a competitive advantage is becoming increasingly important for effective ethical consideration policies in all business and non-business sectors. This paper argues that there are three primary trust pathways of rational choice, rule-based trust, and category-based trust that underscore the basis of trust relationships. The implementation of these primary trust pathways is strongly influenced by expertise level, incomplete information, rapidly shifting environments, and/or time-pressure. The refinement of the interaction of information exchange and framing of problems can produce three secondary higher-level trust pathways of third party-based trust, role-based trust, and knowledge-based trust. These six different trust pathways that guide ethical consideration issues are discussed with a Throughput Modeling theoretical approach.

Entrepreneurship: A Perspective and Strategic Dimensions

This article deals with many pertinent facets of the entrepreneurial community stressing that ‘entrepreneur’ is yet to be fully defined in the emerging outlook of business and non-business sectors combined, together with a common denominator of innovation. How to sow entrepreneurship in the Indian context, inculcate entrepreneurial culture and bridge sub-regional imbalances on this score are the highlights of this article. It revisits entrepreneurship while strategising for managing small businesses through appropriate technology option, resource mobilization, planning initiatives and gearing up with market realities. “The entrepreneurs sustain the world. In their careers, there is little of optimizing calculation, nothing of delicate balance of markets. They overthrow establishments rather than establish equilibria. They are the heroes of economic life”. George Gilder (‘The Spirit of Enterprise’)

Japanese Energy Security Revisited

Facing the surge of “resource nationalism” in energy-producing countries and the rapid growth of energy demand in China and India, the Japanese government has decided to play an active role in securing its energy import, which decision seems to have received the solid support of the people. Effective support by the government to business, needless to say, is welcomed. However, experience teaches that excessive intervention in energy procurement by non-business sectors would do no good and a lot of harm for Japan's stable energy supply in the future. Furthermore, foreseeing a future energy balance in Japan, the country should refrain from engaging in the so-called “scramble for energy” occurring globally. This paper sets out in detail the argument that it is in Japan's best interests to eliminate to as great an extent as possible any political dimension from an energy product such as oil in order to reduce its importance as a strategic commodity and strengthen its characteristics as a market commodity.

Silent accounting harmonisation: Towards the presentation of cash flow models in the local government and business fields in Norway

In most countries around the world there are differences in the systems of accounting in the business and non-business sectors. In recent years, however, the governments in some countries have started to apply the accrual-based accounting principles that are used in the business field. In Norway, however, another development can be noted. In the later 1980s business organisations and local governments both started independently to move towards a cash flow reporting system. It is thus suggested here that a silent accounting harmonisation process is taking place in Norway between business and local government. The purpose of the article is to describe and discuss this process, and the harmonised financial statements themselves. Suggestions for further research are also made.

The Total Incomes System of Accounts

Conventional measures of national income and product and its components have proved enormously useful as indexes of economic activity and as the empirical foundations of much of macroeconomic analysis. Robert Eisner's The Total Incomes System of Accounts (TISA) brings critical new dimensions to those measures. It offers systematic extensions and expansions in an effort to count all of the output that goes into economic well-being, now and in the future. Eisner counts nonmarket as well as market production, including vast amounts of services produced by housewives and others in the home, capital formation by government and households as well as business, human and intangible capital invested in education, R&D, and health care, as well as tangible capital. He offers measures of net revaluations of tangible assets, redefines the critical boundaries between final and intermediate outputs, and presents separate sector accounts for business, nonprofit institutions, government, government enterprises and households, which make clear the major contributions of nonbusiness sectors to our total national income. For these and other extensions, Eisner's TISA offers detailed and comprehensive income and product accounts in current dollars and product accounts in constant dollars for all of the years from 1946 to 1981, along with measures of capital stocks. Estimates of consumption, investment, and production functions with the new data sets, a review of other sets of extended accounts, and a detailed description of sources and methods are also provided.

The total incomes system of accounts

Conventional measures of national income and product and its components have proved enormously useful as indexes of economic activity and as the empirical foundations of much of macroeconomic analysis. Robert Eisner's The Total Incomes System of Accounts (TISA) brings critical new dimensions to those measures. It offers systematic extensions and expansions in an effort to count all of the output that goes into economic well-being, now and in the future. Eisner counts nonmarket as well as market production, including vast amounts of services produced by housewives and others in the home, capital formation by government and households as well as business, human and intangible capital invested in education, R&D, and health care, as well as tangible capital. He offers measures of net revaluations of tangible assets, redefines the critical boundaries between final and intermediate outputs, and presents separate sector accounts for business, nonprofit institutions, government, government enterprises and households, which make clear the major contributions of nonbusiness sectors to our total national income. For these and other extensions, Eisner's TISA offers detailed and comprehensive income and product accounts in current dollars and product accounts in constant dollars for all of the years from 1946 to 1981, along with measures of capital stocks. Estimates of consumption, investment, and production functions with the new data sets, a review of other sets of extended accounts, and a detailed description of sources and methods are also provided.

Knowledge accumulation and technological advance: The case of synthetic rubber

The paper analyses the nature of the process of knowledge accumulation in synthetic rubber (SR) which has resulted in the advancement of SR technology. The contribution to knowledge from inventive and innovative activities of both the business sector and the non-business sector is examined. The significance of the integration and interaction of knowledge building activities among these sectors and within each sector to the advancement of SR technology, is highlighted. Within the business sector this interaction is among producers and users of synthetic rubber and producers of related inputs to the rubber production and rubber goods manufacturing industry. The industries within the sector are defined as the ‘rubber complex’ and its is observed that the inventive and innovative activities of the complex follow the same direction, namely, of advancing the technology for the production and application of synthetic rubber as an industrial raw material. The non-business sector has no vested interest in the production or utilisation of synthetic rubber. Nevertheless their contribution to new knowledge on the raw material rubber, also follow the same trend as that established by the business sector. The overall result is a process of knowledge accumulation which specifically enhances the use of SR in rubber goods manufacture, as against the use of the traditional raw material natural rubber.

THE EVOLUTION AND CURRENT STATE OF FINANCIAL ACCOUNTING CONCEPTS AND STANDARDS IN THE NONBUSINESS SECTOR

This article presents a condensed history of significant post 1900 developments in nonbusiness financial accounting practices and standards, and highlights some of the major issues in the recent increase in interest and activity in nonbusiness accounting. It includes consideration of federal, state, and local government units along with various types of nongovernmental nonbusiness entities. The initial section of the article traces both the development of fund accounting techniques and the discovery of their inadequacies. Next, the article discusses developments in standard-setting and the search for a sound theoretical foundation. Finally, it presents a current profile of nonbusiness accounting. The article implies that nonbusiness accounting can no longer be treated as a secondary consideration. The nonbusiness sector is a major component of the environment that requires sound financial accounting and reporting standards and practices.