Senior Representatives Research Articles

ШУМЕН ПО ВРЕМЕ НА ВТОРАТА СВЕТОВНА ВОЙНА

This article traces the development of the city of Shumen and partly of the Shumen region during the Second World War. Some important issues of the political, economic and cultural development of the city and the region are discussed. Emphasis is placed on the prosperity of the city of Shumen, which is mainly due to the fact that many of the senior representatives of the executive power were born in this city.

Internationalization and knowledge management strategies of service firms: impact of regulatory environment in regional markets

PurposeThis study aims to the influence and impact of regulations and highlights the barriers to market entry faced by Australian professional service firms in the European Union (EU) and their strategies to manage and transfer tacit knowledge.Design/methodology/approachThe authors collected data by reviewing relevant regulatory documents and conducting semi-structured interviews with key informants from Australian architecture firms and senior representatives from the professional, trade and regulatory bodies in Australia and Europe.FindingsHistorically, Australian professional service firms use the United Kingdom (UK) as their EU base. The mutual recognition of qualifications and prior experiences are barriers to intra-organizational expatriation and knowledge transfer. The study identifies the dual nationality of the architects as a way of circumventing the residency/nationality restrictions.Originality/valueThe study discusses Brexit and how the uncertainty surrounding the UK and EU’s agreement adds to the complexity for non-European firms’ market entry and operations in the region.

Relative age effects in international rugby union: Consequences of changing the cutoff date and exploring youth to senior transitions

ABSTRACT Relative age effects (RAEs) are independent of specific cutoff dates that can vary from country to country. However, the consequences of changing the selection cutoff dates within a national sport organization are unknown. Further, the transition from international youth to senior representation is yet to be explored in rugby union. Thus, the aims of this article were twofold: Study 1 compared the birth quarter (BQ) distributions of the England Rugby Football Union (RFU) under-18 representatives based on September to August and January to December selection cutoff dates. Study 2 explored the BQ distributions within the RFU international development pathway through analyzing the under-18, under-20, and senior representatives, as well as the BQ distributions of youth players who were subsequently capped at senior level. Chi-square analysis was used to compare BQ distributions in each sample against expected distributions. Results revealed a corresponding shift of a skewed birthdate distribution favoring chronologically older players that was mediated by specific cutoff dates (p < 0.05). Moreover, whilst RAEs were present within both youth cohorts (p < 0.05), it was not apparent at the senior level (p > 0.05). Furthermore, during the transition from international youth to senior representation, more chronologically older players were successfully capped.

ВИНИКНЕННЯ ТА РОЛЬ ІНСТИТУТУ ПРЕФЕКТА В КОНТЕКСТІ «ФОРМУЛ» ЄВРОПЕЙСЬКИХ КРАЇН

The article is devoted to the study of the institution of the prefect, its origin, formation and appointment. The role of the prefecture as an institution of legal regulation and as a model on the ground in terms of «formulas» that exist in European practice is analyzed. Doctrinal approaches to the concept of «prefect» are studied. It is found that the origin of the term dates back to ancient Rome, in which the official headed a separate unit of the administration, court or army. It is defined that in the modern sense the word «prefect» has two meanings, namely: as a senior representative of the state at the departmental or regional level (function) and as a rank (specialization), which is divided into several classes with career development. For a more detailed understanding of the concept of «prefect», its functions are listed and characterized, namely: political, administrative and socio-economic. The political direction of the prefect's activity involves representing the government in departments and regions, informing it about the state of affairs, and supervising the rule of law. Administrative functions include coordinating the work of government agencies, operational management of the fire service, police management and control over the activities of local governments. The socio-economic aspect of the prefect's activities is aimed at implementing government programs at the departmental and regional levels. The study also focuses on the «formulas» for the introduction of the prefecture. The French, Italian, Spanish and Polish «formulas» for the introduction of the prefecture institute are analyzed. Their significance and experience for the respective countries are outlined. It is noted that the nature of the origin of prefects as state representatives in the analyzed countries provides for the implementation of executive power on the ground, has a common order of appointment and constitutional consolidation.

The quality management system in libraries’ activities

Active expansion of methods for searching, collecting, processing, storing and providing information, as well as emergence of competitors for libraries, gave rise to the problem of the quality of services provided. To raise the quality of services, it is necessary to form the institutions’ own quality management system (QMS), based on the ISO 9000 series standards.The article considers the main data of a number of libraries of the Russian Federation on the QMS implementation and development. The emphasis is made on the fact that implementation of the quality management system guarantees meeting the requirements and expectations of library users, and hence the implementation of one of the principles of the ISO 9001 standard - customer orientation. The quality management system gives confidence to the management and staff of the library, as well as to consumers in the provision and expectation of products and services that fully meet the requirements of the ISO 9001 quality standard.It is emphasized that the QMS implementation is impossible without the library staff participation. It is important to share responsibilities among the library staff, to create a working group led by a senior management representative, to study customer requirements for the library’s products and services, and prepare and document the organization’s quality management system’ procedures. Continuous perfection of the library’s quality management system contributes to the improvement of the entire organization management activities.The object of this article is to substantiate theoretically the importance of using the quality management system in modern libraries. In accordance with it, the following general scientific methods were applied: system analysis as the main method, content analysis of scientific articles and GOSTs of the 9000 series in the field of quality, terminological analysis.

Attitudes of Modern Youth to the Innovative Activities: Based on the Materials of Sociological Research

Introduction. Orientation of the Russian to innovative way of development requires the provision of the state of human resources – qualified specialists with a certain set of qualities, skills and competencies. Researchers studying the matter, concluded that such a resource is the youth as the most active and creative social and demographic groups. Important components of the innovative potential of young people are the open mindedness, self-interest and involvement in innovative processes.The author carries out a case study, the aim of which is to study the attitudes and engagement of young people of the Ivanovo region in innovation activities.Methodology and sources. The methodological basis of this work is the sociological researches conducted by the author. The subject of these studies were representatives of youth of the Ivanovo region in age from 14 to 30 years. During the research, several sub-groups divided the youth group: senior pupils, students and representatives of working youth. Sampling error does not exceed 5 %, for a given level of significance of 95 %.Results and discussion. The study showed that only half of the youth in the region would like to take part in innovative activities. At the same time over the past 3 years, about 44 % of young people have taken part in some form of innovation activity. Revealed that innovative practices are most common for pupils and students. Young people engaged in professional activities in more than half of the cases had no experience of participation in innovative activities.Conclusion. The results of the author of sociological studies show varying degrees of readiness of youth to innovative activities. Pupils and students largely than older youth, interested in innovative practices, due to its involvement in these processes through the use of new educational technologies. The interest of working youth is determined by the content of the profession.

The strategic significance of the CICPA in the making of a Chinese home-grown public accounting profession

This paper provides a detailed, longitudinal study of the role and strategies of the Chinese Institute of Certified Public Accountants (CICPA) in building a Chinese home-grown public accounting profession since the late 1980s. Drawing on previously unaccessed archive materials and a series of interviews with senior representatives of the Chinese public accounting profession, this paper reveals a more nuanced empirical story of professional accounting development in China, in which the CICPA has had more strategic influence than is currently represented in the extant accounting literature. While the CICPA’s position vis-à-vis the state is a fragile one and necessitates on various occasions following specific state requirements and instructions, it has still been able to pursue its strategic intention of securing a nationalistic approach to professional accounting development. This paper analyses the shifting nature of the CICPA’s capacity for agency across three thematic areas of activities, including the CICPA’s efforts to counter the power and influence of the Big Four in China, promote the growth of indigenous accounting firms and support the establishment of the Communist Party branches in accounting firms.

“Cities go smart!”: A system dynamics-based approach to smart city conceptualization

The world’s population has grown rapidly. Thus, new challenges have arisen in terms of people’s quality of life, natural resources renewal, and urban environment sustainability. The smart city concept was developed to deal with these challenges by incorporating new technologies in order to find solutions that preserve cities’ environment while promoting their residents’ wellbeing. However, for cities to be truly “smart”, they should be evaluated, and, to that end, determinants that facilitate their creation need to be identified. This study thus sought to combine cognitive mapping and the system dynamics approach to find which factors foster smart city success, as well as the cause-and-effect relationships among these determinants. In two groupwork sessions, a panel of experts identified a wide range of smart city determinants and analyzed the dynamics of their relationships. The results were validated by the panel members and senior representatives of Cascais and Évora City Councils, Portugal, who confirmed that the analysis system developed provides a deeper understanding of this research context. The advantages and limitations of the proposed framework are also discussed.

Overcoming Systemic Barriers Preventing Healthy Urban Development in the UK: Main Findings from Interviewing Senior Decision-Makers During a 3-Year Planetary Health Pilot

This paper sets out the main findings from two rounds of interviews with senior representatives from the UK’s urban development industry: the third and final phase of a 3-year pilot, Moving Health Upstream in Urban Development’ (UPSTREAM). The project had two primary aims: firstly, to attempt to value economically the health cost-benefits associated with the quality of urban environments and, secondly, to interview those in control of urban development in the UK in order to reveal the potential barriers to, and opportunities for, the creation of healthy urban environments, including their views on the use of economic valuation of (planetary) health outcomes. Much is known about the ‘downstream’ impact of urban environments on human and planetary health and about how to design and plan healthy towns and cities (‘midstream’), but we understand relatively little about how health can be factored in at key governance tipping points further ‘upstream’, particularly within dominant private sector areas of control (e.g. land, finance, delivery) at sub-national level. Our findings suggest that both public and private sector appeared well aware of the major health challenges posed by poor-quality urban environments. Yet they also recognized that health is not factored adequately into the urban planning process, and there was considerable support for greater use of non-market economic valuation to help improve decision-making. There was no silver bullet however: 110 barriers and 76 opportunities were identified across a highly complex range of systems, actors and processes, including many possible points of targeted intervention for economic valuation. Eight main themes were identified as key areas for discussion and future focus. This findings paper is the second of two on this phase of the project: the first sets out the rationale, approach and methodological lessons learned.

Institutional investor motivation, processes, and expectations for sustainable building investment

ABSTRACT This paper examines strategic motivations, processes and expectations for institutional real estate owners around sustainable improvements and eco-labelling in office buildings. A series of 33 industry interviews with senior representatives of institutional real estate owners (e.g. REITs, Pension Funds, Opportunity Funds, and Investment Managers) were conducted to explore three key research questions. First, what motivates firms to invest in and move towards green technologies and certifications? Second, how do firms choose to implement, manage and maintain green investments and eco-labels? Third, what, if any, are the financial expectations of investing in green labelling and efficiencies? Results from the constant comparison analysis of the transcripts reveal that expected financial outcomes dominate environmental, broader sustainability and governance concerns when making decisions related to sustainability. The perceived value in eco-labelling was found to be widespread. Data collection and benchmarking related to energy and water usage were found to be the new norm for institutional managers and investors. In addition, a range of localized and firm-level policies was identified. A rigorous interview protocol was followed to reduce threats to reliability and validity.

Exploring the differences in ICD and hospital morbidity data collection features across countries: an international survey

BackgroundThe International Classification of Diseases (ICD) is the reference standard for reporting diseases and health conditions globally. Variations in ICD use and data collection across countries can hinder meaningful comparisons of morbidity data. Thus, we aimed to characterize ICD and hospital morbidity data collection features worldwide.MethodsAn online questionnaire was created to poll the World Health Organization (WHO) member countries that were using ICD. The survey included questions focused on ICD meta-features and hospital data collection systems, and was distributed via SurveyMonkey using purposive and snowball sampling. Accordingly, senior representatives from organizations specialized in the topic, such as WHO Collaborating Centers, and other experts in ICD coding were invited to fill out the survey and forward the questionnaire to their peers. Answers were collated by country, analyzed, and presented in a narrative form with descriptive analysis.ResultsResponses from 47 participants were collected, representing 26 different countries using ICD. Results indicated worldwide disparities in the ICD meta-features regarding the maximum allowable coding fields for diagnosis, the definition of main condition, and the mandatory type of data fields in the hospital morbidity database. Accordingly, the most frequently reported answers were “reason for admission” as main condition definition (n = 14), having 31 or more diagnostic fields available (n = 12), and “Diagnoses” (n = 26) and “Patient demographics” (n = 25) for mandatory data fields. Discrepancies in data collection systems occurred between but also within countries, thereby revealing a lack of standardization both at the international and national level. Additionally, some countries reported specific data collection features, including the use or misuse of ICD coding, the national standards for coding or lack thereof, and the electronic abstracting systems utilized in hospitals.ConclusionsHarmonizing ICD coding standards/guidelines should be a common goal to enhance international comparisons of health data. The current international status of ICD data collection highlights the need for the promotion of ICD and the adoption of the newest version, ICD-11. Furthermore, it will encourage further research on how to improve and standardize ICD coding.

“SPRIGHTLY AT EIGHTY-TWO”: GROWING OLD IN AMY HERZOG’S PLAYS

One of the challenges introduced by the contemporary drama is representation of old characters as protagonists on stage. The article tackles the representations of growing old in Amy Herzog’s plays “After the Revolution” and “4000 Miles” relying on the physical and sentimental markers through the examination of the adaptation of the female character to old age. The authors analyze the dramatis personae through the lens of literary gerontology. Growing old in Herzog’s plays is developed from the perspective of intergenerational relationships in both plays. In “4000 Miles”, nonagenarian Vera and young Leo represent a meaningful synthesis of adolescence and late adulthood. In this drama, old age embodies wisdom for younger generation linking grandchildren and grandparents. “After the Revolution” gives another example of intergenerational bond between octogenarian Vera and her granddaughter Emma. Vera’s intervention into Emma’s family case investigation has a positive impact on relationships between them. In addition, Emma gets on well with another senior representative, Morty, Vera’s admirer. There are no prejudices or stereotypes about old age in their conversations, but only Emma’s support and encouragement to undermine the stereotype that old people cannot be involved into romantic relationships. The ways of ageist stereotypes subversion are presented by the extended description of physical process of growing old; using vocabulary rich of aphorisms and slang words to illustrate the elderly’s wisdom and at the same time awareness of the modern language; portraying the elderly as individuals with a wide range of social activities and occupations; older characters are shown as protagonists of the plays, not only minor characters.

Siyasal İndikatörlerin Ermenistan-İran İlişkileri Örneğinde Uygulanması

Since the development of relationships between the subjects of the international system (between states, between states and international organizations, between international organizations, etc.) is necessary and certain evaluation criteria (indicator indicators) should be determined. Researchers, who examine the between various states, often describe the as developing relations if there are no acute(sharp) crises in the chronological framework. However, in cases of serious crisis does not occur, such relationships can develop or weaken due to various factors. In this respect, it is imperative to determine indicators (evaluation indicators of international relations) to evaluate the periods of development and decline of with scientific methods between states, including participants (subjects) of the international system. It is possible to have up to an average of hundred indicators used to evaluate the movement of interstate relations. However, grouping these indicators is one of the important conditions for conducting a systematic analysis. In this sense, it is possible to divide the indicators used to determine the direction of action of interstate into three groups: Political indicators, Economic indicators and Social indicators. For the first time, it has been tried to determine main political indicators in the science of international and to apply them in the example of the between the Republic of Armenia and the Islamic Republic of Iran. For evaluation of the between the two countries an main indicators used the number of reciprocal visits at the level of heads of state and government, the number of meetings held by the senior representatives of the two countries in foreign countries and within the framework of the meetings of international organizations, number and rate of mutual expeditions of managers of institutions responsible for foreign policy and number of disscussing ideas, the number, scope and place of the documents signed between the two countries in the state administration syste and etc. others.

Think Tanks in a Limited Access Order: The Case of Ukraine

This article belongs to the special cluster, “Think Tanks in Central and Eastern Europe”, guest-edited by Katarzyna Jezierska and Serena Giusti. Think tanks outside liberal democracies have distinctive features that go beyond the features of the original concept that emerged within the US context. Departing from this empirical observation, we investigate the sources of the organizational power of think tanks in Ukraine as a case of a limited access order (LAO), a social order where privileged individuals maintain discretionary access to societal resources, functions, and institutions. To accomplish this goal, we apply Thomas Medvetz’s analytical concept of a “boundary organization,” which allows us to highlight the hybridity and flexibility of think tanks and thus understand their methods of gaining political access in an LAO. The analysis of interviews with senior representatives of nongovernmental think tanks in Ukraine in 2016–2017 demonstrates that Ukrainian think tanks are resourceful and find indirect ways of influencing politics. These organizations publish their reports in the media and deliver assessments of Ukraine’s international commitments to the country’s donors, thereby indirectly influencing the policy process in the country. Ukrainian think tanks also comply with the expectations of a boundary organization, accumulating and converting economic, academic, and media capital into political capital, using advocacy and networking as conversion tools. One important difference between the expectations of Medvetz’s framework and our findings is that political capital seems to be the goal of think tank activity, while the three other types are used merely instrumentally.

Psychological Contracting Making Obligations Explicit to Support a Transformative Change Partnership

The psychological contract comprises the implicit perceptions of mutual obligations that two parties hold towards each other. We examine the creation and maintenance of an explicit psychological contract designed to facilitate a new relationship between senior representatives of five hospitals and senior representatives of their regulator. This ‘new deal’ was created to implement new routines and practices with the aim of transforming the quality and efficiency of care delivery in the NHS. A co-created explicit psychological contract clarified the behavioural principles which were to guide the collaboration. We build on Rousseau et al.’s (2018) dynamic phase model of the psycholocial contract, and use a sensemaking and sensegiving lens to explore the processes related to creation and maintenance of the explicit psychological contract. We draw upon 53 hours of observation and 52 interviews, observed over a period of twenty-four months. Our data evidences how events can disrupt the established psychological contract and how subsequently, both parties attempt to use the disruption to reinstate the relationship. We propose that these disruptions occur because the explicit psychological contract has become implicit, thereby a disruption can serve to pull the psychological contract back into the consciousness, reinforcing the values orginally agreed.

Human Capital Evaluation in Private Equity Investment Decisions: Contemporary Practice &amp; Challenges

This paper investigates the processes involved in human capital (HC) evaluation in the investment of organisations by private equity (PE) firms. The significance of this issue relates to both the increasing importance of the PE industry in the wider corporate environment and the increasing recognition, within business and regulatory and financial communities, that the valuation and reporting of HC as a corporate asset requires attention. We examine the issue through the conceptual frame of HC evaluation by PE as an agency problem centred on asymmetric information. Findings are discussed from twenty-three semi-structured interviews with senior representatives of nineteen different PE firms with collective experience of over 3700 investments, to elicit insights into the nature, challenges and consequences of HC evaluation. The findings reinforce the agency perspective and characterise this setting as one featuring an aggravated form of asymmetric information-based agency problem. We find that the commonly employed HC evaluation methods are regarded as suboptimal in their susceptibility to heuristics and biases and to factors such as time pressure and interpersonal dynamics, potentially resulting in flawed judgements and negative investment decisions. We provide an analysis of the most commonly-reported consequences of shortcomings in HC evaluation, and offer recommendations for future research.

COVID-19 and the future of microfinance: evidence and insights from Pakistan

The COVID-19 pandemic threatens lives and livelihoods, and, with that, has created immediate challenges for institutions that serve affected communities. We focus on implications for local microfinance institutions in Pakistan, a country with a mature microfinance sector, serving a large number of households. The institutions serve populations poorly-served by traditional commercial banks, helping customers invest in microenterprises, save, and maintain liquidity. We report results from ‘rapid response’ phone surveys of about 1,000 microenterprise owners, a survey of about 200 microfinance loan officers, and interviews with regulators and senior representatives of microfinance institutions. We ran these surveys starting about a week after the country went into lockdown to prevent the spread of the novel coronavirus. We find that, on average, week-on-week sales and household income both fell by about 90%. Households’ primary immediate concern in early April became how to secure food. As a result, 70% of the sample of current microfinance borrowers reported that they could not repay their loans; loan officers anticipated a repayment rate of just 34% in April 2020. We build from the results to argue that COVID-19 represents a crisis for microfinance in low-income communities. It is also a chance to consider the future of microfinance, and we suggest insights for policy reform.

Perspectives from mainland China, Hong Kong and the UK on the development of China’s auditing firms: implications and a research agenda

Based on gaining privileged access to interview senior representatives of audit firms, regulatory bodies, financial institutions, universities and other organisations in mainland China, Hong Kong and the UK, this exploratory study presents a range of informed views about the rapid development of China’s auditing profession over the last 25 years. It explores the emerging roles of the firms in the 2nd-tier international networks and among the larger stand-alone firms as challengers to the Big 4, nationally and internationally. It identifies national and international institutional interactions that have shaped and are being shaped by this rapid growth, with particular reference to the overarching role of the State’s shifting strategies to create a domestic profession in China that can compete internationally. The potential consequences, given China’s unequalled size and its expanding global influence, could change the nature and structure of the global profession. A significant contribution of this exploratory empirical study has been to deconstruct the continuing conventional political and academic rhetoric that dichotomises firms into ‘foreign vs local’ and ‘Big 4 vs other’. It contributes new voices and alternative perspectives to the emerging literature on the glocalization of large professional services firms and suggests new opportunities for future auditing research.

The UK Equity Release Market: Views from the Regulatory Authorities, Product Providers and Advisors

This study investigates the factors driving the development of the UK equity release market. The results of a thematic review of semi-structured interviews with industry stakeholders (comprising senior representatives of product providers, advice providers and regulators) suggest that the attractiveness of the equity market for insurance companies (the main funders of the market), has diminished following a decline in annuity business and complications around the capital maturity matching requirements under Solvency II. Product costs (interest charges, and the cost of financial advice) are high. Trust in the market has improved, but remains fragile. Increased entry into the market by recognised brand names, (such as the traditional mortgage providers) would increase competition, reduce costs and promote trust. The risk of reputational damage limits the appeal of the market to new entrants. The no negative equity guarantee, a cost in terms of lower than otherwise loan-to-value ratios, promotes demand by way of the protection it affords to customers and their beneficiaries. Equity release is unsuitable for funding long-term care and policymakers advocating it as such damage the market.

COVID-19 and the Future of Microfinance: Evidence and Insights from Pakistan

The COVID-19 pandemic threatens lives and livelihoods, and, with that, has created immediate challenges for institutions that serve affected communities. We focus on implications for local microfinance institutions in Pakistan, a country with a mature microfinance sector, serving a large number of households. The institutions serve populations poorly-served by traditional commercial banks, helping customers invest in microenterprises, save, and maintain liquidity. We report results from ‘rapid response’ phone surveys of about 1,000 microenterprise owners, a survey of about 200 microfinance loan officers, and interviews with regulators and senior representatives of microfinance institutions. We ran these surveys starting about a week after the country went into lockdown to prevent the spread of the novel coronavirus. We find that, on average, week-on-week sales and household income both fell by about 90%. Households’ primary immediate concern in early April became how to secure food. As a result, 70% of the sample of current microfinance borrowers reported that they could not repay their loans; loan officers anticipated a repayment rate of just 34% in April 2020. We build from the results to argue that COVID-19 represents a crisis for microfinance in low-income communities. It is also a chance to consider the future of microfinance, and we suggest insights for policy reform.