Public Intermediaries Research Articles

Struggling with the state I am in: Researching policy failures and the English National Health Service

This article examines the tensions between failing when researching policy and researching policy that itself will inevitably tend towards failure. Putting geographic scholarship on policy mobilities into dialogue with recent attempts to reclaim academic failure, I discuss the emotional struggles that can punctuate the geographies of researching, mobilising and critiquing public policy. Supported by diary material as a fixed-term contract policy researcher studying health and care reforms in England, I reflect on failure when working within and beyond the spaces of the local state. With growing pressure on academics to impact policymaking, I emphasise the unsettling ‘betweenness’ of policy mobilities researchers unable to get to grips with power whilst becoming attached to, and part of, policies under investigation. Consequently, I suggest precarious academic researchers are, in more ways than one, occupying uncertain positions within accelerated worlds of fast policy as public intermediaries unable to talk about failure. The article concludes by outlining why this matters in the present crisis.

From ugly ducklings to beautiful swans? The role of local public intermediaries in the revival of the Daegu textile industry

RIS scholarship has paid less attention to how local-based public institutions have been involved in the restructuring process of older industrial regions. In particular, there is a paucity of applications of RIS ideas to the subject of industrial change in old industrial regions in the newly industrialising economies where there remains a legacy of developmentalism even after a period of catching-up. In this paper, we offer an empirical contribution on these neglected issues when focusing on the role of public intermediaries in the revitalisation of the Daegu textile industry in South Korea. Our findings offer not only an update on previous studies but also indicate how local public intermediaries have themselves evolved and have proved pivotal in industry upgrading. The broader implication of this research is that the legacies of developmental state policies and institutions remain strong and present more of a basis for change than is assumed in the literature on the post- or neo-developmental state.

Bridging skills demand and supply in South Africa: The role of public and private intermediaries

ABSTRACTDemand-led skills development requires linkages and coordination between firms and education and training organisations, which are major challenges considering that each represents a ‘self-interested’ entity. The need for a ‘collaborative project’ involving government, firms, universities and colleges, and other bodies is thus increasingly recognised. However, the crucial role of intermediaries has been largely overlooked. The article addresses this gap by investigating the main roles of public and private intermediaries across three case studies: sugarcane growing and milling, automotive component manufacturing, and the Square Kilometre Array sectoral systems of innovation. The research highlights the need for a move towards systemic thinking, to bridge across public and private objectives. It shows that private intermediaries play a larger role than is recognised in policy; that public–private intermediaries play crucial roles in coordination; and the potential for public intermediaries to contribute more effectively to systemic functioning.

The roles of intermediaries and the development of their capabilities in sectoral innovation systems: a case study of Thailand

This paper investigates the roles of both public and private intermediaries in the sectoral innovation systems of developing countries by analysing three case studies in the hard disk drive (high-tech sector), automotive (mid-tech sector), and frozen-food (resource-based sector) industries in Thailand. We make three important findings. First, different sectors require different types of intermediaries who play different roles. In the high-tech sector, government research institutes and international industrial associations have gained the trust of transnational corporations (TNCs) and are able to keep pace with rapid technological change. In the mid-tech sector, public-sector development agencies can act as ‘brokers’ and leverage the knowledge of TNCs to strengthen local suppliers' capabilities, and local industrial associations can act as ‘mediators’ in solving conflicts between local firms. In resource-based sectors, public sectoral development agencies can act as ‘resource providers’ to local firms, and local industrial associations can broker coordinated efforts among members to achieve common goals. Second, the division of labour between public and private intermediaries is crucial; public intermediaries should play a leading role in producing the ‘public goods’ that are necessary to upgrade sectors, whereas private intermediaries should play an active role in producing ‘club goods’ for the sustainability of sectors. Third, different intermediary roles require different underlying capabilities.

The roles of intermediaries in sectoral innovation system in developing countries: public organizations versus private organizations

This paper investigates the roles of intermediaries in the automotive sector of Thailand and observes how institutional settings affect the performance of innovation intermediaries. The study finds that intermediaries play a crucial role in compensating for the shortfall in social capital that hinders the functionality of innovation systems in developing countries such as Thailand. Organizational set-up and budgetary support are crucial for the effectiveness of sector-specific intermediaries. The study identifies a number of tensions with regard to the funding and governance structure of such organizations. To strengthen the role of intermediaries in developing countries, governments should pay attention to the issue of the division of labour and collaboration between public and private intermediaries. Public intermediaries should play an active role in producing public goods necessary for the technological upgrading of firms in the sector while private intermediaries should play active roles in industry and/or firm specific issues. Public and private intermediaries should collaborate and have a mutual understanding of which type of organizations should be leaders on what issues. This has serious implications on government policies that initiate and strengthen the roles and capabilities of intermediaries in the innovation processes.

Intermediaries in environmental offset markets: Actions and incentives

Transaction cost theory and application tells us that when buyers and sellers in a market incur transaction costs, intermediaries may become involved. Specifically, intermediaries influence the cause of the transaction costs to buyers and sellers such that transaction costs are reduced. In this paper we assess if and how this occurs for a number of case study government created and private emergent intermediaries in Australian environmental offset markets. We find that the causes of transaction costs to buyers and sellers in offset markets – asset specificity, uncertainty and transaction frequency are influenced downwards by intermediaries. The degree of influence depends on the nature of the good traded in the offset market. We also assessed if the public intermediaries studied were operating in the offset markets to reduce the incidence of probity hazard (poor transactions) from private intermediaries. We found that this was not the case.

An examination of private intermediaries’ roles in software vulnerabilities disclosure

Software vulnerability disclosure has generated much interest and debate. Recently some private intermediaries have entered this market. This paper examines the effects of such private intermediaries on optimal timing of disclosure policy made by public intermediaries and vendors' reactions. Our analysis of private intermediaries' role suggests that public intermediary's optimal disclosure time does not change with private intermediary's participation. However, a vendor's patch time increases when the probability of information leakage is low, if not non-existent. In other words, private intermediaries' service decreases a vendor's willingness to deliver quick patches. Empirical evidence with 1493 vulnerability observations from CERT/CC and other 326 different vulnerability observations from iDefense provided support for our analytical results.

A survey to examine the extent of public consciousness regarding the legal responsibility to report child maltreatment cases and their investigation by public intermediaries

A survey to examine the extent of public consciousness regarding the legal responsibility to report child maltreatment cases and their investigation by public intermediaries