Public Sector Agents Research Articles

Institutional shaping of CDE implementation in BIM-enabled AEC projects

The common data environment (CDE) for information sharing is one of the fundamental requirements for effective workflow management to harness the potential of building information modeling (BIM). While studies are replete on BIM from a technology adoption perspective, notably lacking in the literature is the understanding of the influence of institutions and their pressures on CDE adoption as an information management platform. This study aims to address this gap. Using the action research approach, a flagship university construction project in India was studied to understand the interplay of institutions and CDE adoption. Institutional theory was used as a theoretical lens to illuminate and analyze the implementation issues of CDE. The findings show that CDE implementation undergoes a series of transformations due to institutional pressures. The responses to institutional pressures are conformance, coupling and decoupling, and mutations. Insights of this study guide practitioners to be aware of the processes through which institutional pressures contextualize and transform the intended change. Accordingly, findings can help managers and public sector agents on aspects related to nudging and shaping the implementation of change through action strategies and tactics. The study extends the BIM adoption/localization literature by highlighting that institutional pressures modify the objectives of CDE. It theorizes the processes through which institutional pressures contextualize and transform a change agenda.

Assessing roles and strategies of public sector stakeholders in an evolving (lifestyle) migration industry: the case of the Dutch Emigration Expo

ABSTRACT This study focuses on local and regional governments using place-branding strategies to attract intra-EU inward migration for demographic and/or economic purposes. This forms an important aspect of contemporary migration industries, whereby the interlinking of lifestyle, work and economic investment is pivotal. Taking the case of the Emigration Expo event in the Netherlands, it draws on interviews with the organizer and with public sector exhibitors to assess their purposes, roles and strategies when participating in the event. In addition, this paper examines to what extent public sector agents perceive this Expo as a viable physical event, contributing to a lifestyle migration industry. Findings suggest a shift in public sector strategies from attracting residents to recruiting skilled workers or lifestyle entrepreneurs and businesses. Exhibitors that maintain a recurring presence at the Expo over several years can build meaningful relations with each other and with prospective migrant visitors, providing practical information and integrated ‘packages’ to promote their destination as an attractive place to work and live. This supports the idea that (e)migration expos remain relevant physical sites of an evolving branch of the migration industry, including public-private partnerships involved in place and relocation branding as part of spatial planning strategies beyond growth.

The New Political Economy of Regulation

The new political economy of regulation is related to the establishment of a balanced regulatory framework that contributes to the synthesis of political and economic aspects. The political economy of regulation also contributes to the establishment of direct governance and controlling processes on economic activities by public sector agents. The aim of the paper is to analyse the new political economy of regulation. Based on a secondary qualitative and detective approach, the article studied the scope and advantages of the new political economy on regulations and its implications within a capitalist structure. A thematic analysis is also conducted to indicate that the new political economy of regulations contributes to establishing a framework for monitoring and distributing wealth, resources and knowledge fairly in all strata of society. Market monopoly is demolished while agricultural and corporate sectors are aligned in their operations to bridge the economic and political gap between the rich and the poor segment of society. Thus, it is concluded that the new political economy provides valuable principles for a balanced and systematising regulatory framework in which capitalist extremism and structural poverty are addressed, contributing to the socialist distribution of resources.

ESTUDO SOBRE A POSSIBILIDADE DE GERAÇÃO DE ENERGIA A PARTIR DE RESÍDUOS DE SANEAMENTO (LIXO, ESGOTO).

A sociedade moderna tem suas cidades um local de desenvolvimento e crescimento econômico e cultural. Porém, estas apresentam grandes problemas sociais e ambientais que aumentam na mesma proporção do crescimento de sua população, da tecnologia e das atividades humanas, por meio do seu alarmante nível de consumo e consequentemente de produção de resíduos sólidos. Tais resíduos muitas vezes são manejados ou depositados em lugares inadequados ou não preparados para recebê-los, como lixões que podem provocar graves problemas socioambientais. Em 02.08.2010 foi aprovado pelo Congresso Nacional a Política Nacional de Resíduos Sólidos. Com a aprovação do marco regulatório do PNRS, estabelecem-se as diretrizes para a elaboração de planos municipais, regionais, estaduais e nacional. A prioridade é coordenar esforços entre os diferentes agentes do setor público para a diminuição da geração de resíduos; a logística reversa; e aproveitamento do subproduto destes resíduos para produção de energia. A ideia deste artigo é uma análise da importância econômica, social e ambiental da introdução da produção de energia, por meio dos resíduos sólidos, na Matriz Energética Brasileira, seja ela elétrica ou térmica, e suas vantagens para o meio ambiente, a sociedade e a economia, por meio a consulta de fontes bibliográficas pertinentes à temática.
 Palavras chaves: Resíduos Sólidos; Biogás; Agroenergia.

The economics of soil C sequestration and agricultural emissions abatement

Abstract. Carbon is a critical component of soil vitality and is crucial to our ability to produce food. Carbon sequestered in soils also provides a further regulating ecosystem service, valued as the avoided damage from global climate change. We consider the demand and supply attributes that underpin and constrain the emergence of a market value for this vital global ecosystem service: markets being what economists regard as the most efficient institutions for allocating scarce resources to the supply and consumption of valuable goods. This paper considers how a potentially large global supply of soil carbon sequestration is reduced by economic and behavioural constraints that impinge on the emergence of markets, and alternative public policies that can efficiently transact demand for the service from private and public sector agents. In essence, this is a case of significant market failure. In the design of alternative policy options, we consider whether soil carbon mitigation is actually cost-effective relative to other measures in agriculture and elsewhere in the economy, and the nature of behavioural incentives that hinder policy options. We suggest that reducing the cost and uncertainties of mitigation through soil-based measures is crucial for improving uptake. Monitoring and auditing processes will also be required to eventually facilitate wide-scale adoption of these measures.

Efficiency assessment of real estate cadastral offices using DEA

This article describes an approach to measuring efficiency of a set of units operating in an administrative public service context, namely real estate cadastral offices, a venue which has not been analysed previously in the reported literature. This study was madepossible thanks to the dataset provided by the Directorate General of Real Estate Cadastral Assessment and includes relevant information on regional cadastral offices in Spain over the time period 2000 to 2005. Data Envelopment Analysis and Malmquist indices were used to estimate the efficiency levels of these units. The results of these analyses revealed the existence of significant differences between average efficiency levels and the identification of efficient units throughout the period under consideration, although it is possible to detect a substantial improvement in technical efficiency for the last two years of the data collection period, when the new regulation about real estate evaluation came into effect. Likewise, the estimation of a second stage model based on bootstrap techniques highlights the importance of collaborating with other public sector agents to enhance efficiency levels. Points for practitioners This article provides an empirical analysis of units providing cadastral services in Spain using Data Envelopment Analysis. This technique is an excellent tool for professionals working in public management and administration since it is easy to implement and allows identifying the best performers among producers operating in a field, which can be considered as benchmarks for other units searching to improve their results. Ourresults confirm that the units collaborating with other public sector agents (mainly councils and notaries) accomplish enhanced performances in terms of efficiency. This evidence can be useful for policy-makers interested in reducing costs and improving the organization of administrative units.

The social economy of trust: social entrepreneurship experiences in Poland

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to explore the notion, and dynamics, of trust between social enterprises and the public sector in two different cultural contexts. The strategy was to ask very simple and broad questions of a number of people in the social enterprise/public sector nexus, and allow them to talk. This talk was recorded and analysed for patterns and insights. This paper looks in detail at one of the insights derived from this wealth of data and makes a startling claim, one that needs further investigation and thought, that in social enterprises, trust precedes performance.Design/methodology/approachThe research is based on grounded theory and comprises a series of semi‐structured interviews based on a common framework undertaken in two countries – the UK and Poland. The interviews were transcribed and then coded by the two teams independently and key insights recorded.FindingsThe research indicated an unsolicited pre‐occupation with trust relationships between the social enterprises and the public sector organisations. The research suggests that trust precedes performance, in that the public sector partner extended a trust relationship before the organisation was able to demonstrate their track record. This challenges EU public procurement rules which require that an organisation demonstrates competency and track record before a contract is let.Research limitations/implicationsGrounded theory by necessity provides insights on which to build theory rather than to prove theory. This research project did not have the resources to develop a questionnaire that could indicate whether the findings are wide spread and therefore robust.Practical implicationsTrust is an under‐theorised resource in the literature on social capital. This research begins to conceptualise trust as an essential resource for social enterprises in the startup, and may prompt social enterprise practitioners to consider trust as a non‐financial resource in their business planning. The insights derived from this field provide some notes of guidance to public sector agents working with social entrepreneurs to understand the trust resources required, and the limits to that trust, and the impact of bureaucratisation on the socially entrepreneurial startup.Originality/valueThis paper builds on existing literature on social capital and inter‐organisational trust but extends it in a unique manner to the body of social entrepreneurship literature.

The Taegeukgi and the Maple Leaf: The Pursuit of South Korean Export Markets by Atomic Energy Canada Limited

In the 1980’s Canada’s nuclear technology company, Atomic Energy Canada Limited (AECL), designed and attempted to sell a next-generation, small-scale nuclear reactor called the Slowpoke Energy System (SES). AECL pursued export markets for the SES, of which the most promising was South Korea. The SES project was forced to compete for funding and this necessitated the formation of partnerships with private and public sector agents in South Korea. AECL’s experience in South Korea suggests that crown corporations are more commercially oriented than established policy scholarship admits, and that in some cases competitive forces work to blunt innovation rather than reward it.

Delegation of Contracting in the Private Provision of Public Services

We use an incomplete-contract approach to compare contracting out by a public sector agency with the delegation of contracting out to a public-private partnership (PPP) that is a joint venture between private and public sector agents. The PPP maximizes a linear combination of profit and social benefit. Such delegation may be desirable to curb innovations that reduce the cost of provision but also reduce social benefit. Delegation may be undesirable for innovations that increase social benefit but also raise costs. Our results are explained in terms of the shadow cost of public funds and the negotiating stance of the PPP.

Towards a theory of the entrepreneurial state

This paper attempts to develop a model of the “entrepreneurial state” based on Schutz’s theory of human action. It aims to improve the understanding of the nature of state action and of entrepreneurial processes in the public sector. From the subjectivist paradigm, this paper argues that the state, like private enterprises, has purposes and public sector agents engage in conscious actions toward chosen goals which can be attended only in the future. In terms of mental constructs, the public entrepreneur’s opportunity identification activities involve four major stages. Using their imagination, they project, select, elaborate on and eventually implement the opportunity ideas. Given structural uncertainty, public sector agents will unavoidably make errors in trying to plan and implement a new project. Over time, with learning and the growth of knowledge, errors are then eliminated. The revision of plans by state agents – the source of policy change – is thus portrayed as a continuous process of learning and experimentation oriented towards the future. Since entrepreneurship implies strategic planning, and the nation needs to formulate development strategies with the aim of building competitive advantage, the last part of the paper discusses entrepreneurial intervention in association with the state’s resource base and capabilities. By referring to the Asian newly industrialised economies, this paper suggests a new approach to understanding state action and government intervention.

Unsolicited Bids for Government Functions

This article develops the case for designing a process to encourage and evaluate unsolicited bids for privatization or contracting out of government functions. The authors argue that conventional government procurement practices are unlikely to uncover or reveal all potentially desirable opportunities for privatization or contracting out, given informational constraints, search costs, and bureaucratic and political disincentives operating on public sector agents. Thus, there is a strong case for reversing the burden of initiative with respect to alternative modes of delivery of public goods or services. The article develops a private sector analogy for unsolicited bids for government functions