Does the World Bank have any impact on human development in the poorest countries? Some preliminary evidence from Africa

In an attempt to better understand the impact of the World Bank on human development in poor countries, we use cross-country data on African countries for the 1990–2002 period to examine this relationship. The coefficient estimates of our parsimonious fixed-effects models indicate that while loans and grants of the Bank have had a positive impact on some relatively short-term indicators of health and education in an average African country, there is little evidence to suggest that such loans and grants have helped these countries to consolidate on the short-term gains.

The political economy of Poland's transition:New Firms and Reform Governments, J. Jackson, J. Klich, K. Poznanska. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge (2005), (xvi+277 pp., £45/$80, ISBN 0-521-83895-9)

Book review

Privatisation, corporate control and employment growth:evidence from a panel of large Polish firms, 1996-2002

Using data on Polish firms this paper examines the relationship between corporate control structures, sales growth and the determinants of employment change. Privatised and de novo firms are the main drivers of employment growth; in the case of de novo firms, it is foreign ownership which underpins the result. Being privatised has a positive impact on employment but this is concentrated within a range of 3–6 years after privatisation. There are no systematic differences in employment response to negative sales growth across the ownership categories. Employment in state firms is less responsive to positive sales growth. From these results we infer that the behaviour of state firms is affected by both insider rent sharing and binding budget constraints.

"Ignorance was bliss, now I'm ignorant and that is far more difficult":transdisciplinary learning and reflexivity in responsible management education

Purpose – The collapse of world economic systems brought the interconnectedness between business and global events sharply into focus. As Starkey points out: “leading business schools need to overcome their fascination with a particular form of finance and economics […] to broaden their intellectual horizons […] (and to) look at the lessons of history and other disciplines”. The purpose of this paper is to provide evidence from three years of research on the Aston MBA suggesting that an emphasis on developing capabilities within a far broader, connected and reflexive business curriculum is what business students and practitioners now recognise as an essential way forward for responsible management education. Design/methodology/approach – This research paper examines the reflective accounts of 300 MBA students undertaking a transdisciplinary Business Ethics, Responsibility and Sustainability core module. Findings – As Klein argues, transdisciplinarity is simultaneously an attitude and a form of action. The student reflections provide powerful discourses of individual learning and report a range of outcomes from finding “the vocabulary or the confidence” to raise issues to acting as “change agents” in the workplace. Originality/value – As responsibility and sustainability requires learners, researchers and educators to engage with real world complexity, uncertainty and risk, conventional disciplinary study, especially within business, often proves inadequate and partial. This paper demonstrates that creative and exploratory frames need to be developed to facilitate the development of more connected knowledge – informed by multiple stakeholders, able to contribute heterogeneous skills, perspectives and expertise.

Attitudes towards and perceptions of entrepreneurs in Central Eastern Europe (Poland, the Czech Republic, and East-Germany)

This paper explores attitudes and perceptions towards entrepreneurs in three Central Eastern European (CEE) countries undergoing transition from planned to market-based economic systems. Entrepreneurs and small and medium-sized enterprises (SME) play a critical role in this transformation process. Study one examines whether governments and general public are perceived as supportive of entrepreneurs. Such perceptions might eventually increase the number of entrepreneurs as it would be seen as a legitimate career choice (cf. Etzioni, 1987). Study two explores whether the concept ‘entrepreneur’ is interpreted in the same way in the three cultures using a student sample. Cross-cultural aspects and support measures for entrepreneurship are discussed.

Syndromes of self-reported psychopathology for ages 18-59 in 29 societies

This study tested the multi-society generalizability of an eight-syndrome assessment model derived from factor analyses of American adults' self-ratings of 120 behavioral, emotional, and social problems. The Adult Self-Report (ASR; Achenbach and Rescorla 2003) was completed by 17,152 18-59-year-olds in 29 societies. Confirmatory factor analyses tested the fit of self-ratings in each sample to the eight-syndrome model. The primary model fit index (Root Mean Square Error of Approximation) showed good model fit for all samples, while secondary indices showed acceptable to good fit. Only 5 (0.06%) of the 8,598 estimated parameters were outside the admissible parameter space. Confidence intervals indicated that sampling fluctuations could account for the deviant parameters. Results thus supported the tested model in societies differing widely in social, political, and economic systems, languages, ethnicities, religions, and geographical regions. Although other items, societies, and analytic methods might yield different results, the findings indicate that adults in very diverse societies were willing and able to rate themselves on the same standardized set of 120 problem items. Moreover, their self-ratings fit an eight-syndrome model previously derived from self-ratings by American adults. The support for the statistically derived syndrome model is consistent with previous findings for parent, teacher, and self-ratings of 11/2-18-year-olds in many societies. The ASR and its parallel collateral-report instrument, the Adult Behavior Checklist (ABCL), may offer mental health professionals practical tools for the multi-informant assessment of clinical constructs of adult psychopathology that appear to be meaningful across diverse societies. © 2014 Springer Science+Business Media New York.

Economic performance in European telecommunications, 1978-1998:a comparative study

The European telecommunications sector is undergoing major structural change in the face of new technology, privatisation and European Commission directives requiring market liberalisation. This study considers the comparative performance of the major European telecommunications operators between 1978 and 1998. This period encompasses an era of state monopolies, market liberalisation initiatives and a number of privatisations. The objectives are to assess: the extent so far to which market liberalisation and privatisation have impacted on the efficiency with which telecommunications services are provided in Europe; and changes in the performance of the different telecommunications operators over time with a view to providing an insight into the comparative efficiency performance of the different telecommunications operators in Europe. Performance is measured in terms of profit margins and labour and total factor productivity.

Nations and organizations:a comparative study of English and Indian work-related attitudes and values in matched manufacturing firms

This thesis reports a cross-national study carried out in England and India in an attempt to clarify the association of certain cultural and non-cultural characteristics with people's work-related attitudes and values, and with the structure of their work organizations. Three perspectives are considered to be relevant to the objectives of the study. The contingency perspective suggests that a 'fit' between an organization's context and its structural arrangements will be fundamentally necessary for achieving success and survival. The political economy perspective argues for the determining role of the social and economic structures within which the organization operates. The culturalist perspective looks to cultural attitudes and values of organizational members for an explanation for their organization's structure. The empirical investigation was carried out in three stages in each of the two countries involved by means of surveys of cultural attitudes, work-related attitudes and organizational structures and systems. The cultural surveys suggested that Indian and English people were different from one another with regard to fear of, and respect and obedience to, their seniors, ability to cope with ambiguity, honesty, independence, expression of emotions, fatalism, reserve, and care for others; they were similar with regard to tolerance, friendliness, attitude to change, attitude to law, self-control and self-confidence, and attitude to social differentiation. The second stage of the study, involving the employees of fourteen organizations, found that the English ones perceived themselves to have more power at work, expressed more tolerance for ambiguity, and had different expectations from their job than did the Indian equivalents. The two samples were similar with respect to commitment to their company and trust in their colleagues. The findings also suggested that employees' occupations, education and age had some influences on their work-related attitudes. The final stage of the research was a study of structures, control systems, and reward and punishment policies of the same fourteen organizations which were matched almost completely on their contextual factors across the two countries. English and Indian organizations were found to be similar in terms of centralization, specialization, chief executive's span of control, height and management control strategies. English organizations, however, were far more formalized, spent more time on consultation and their managers delegated authority lower down the hierarchy than Indian organizations. The major finding of the study was the multiple association that cultural, national and contingency factors had with the structural characteristics of the organizations and with the work-related attitudes of their members. On the basis of this finding, a multi-perspective model for understanding organizational structures and systems is proposed in which the contributions made by contingency, political economy and cultural perspectives are recognized and incorporated.

A comparative study of cationic liposome and niosome-based adjuvant systems for protein subunit vaccines:characterisation, environmental scanning electron microscopy and immunisation studies in mice

Vesicular adjuvant systems composing dimethyldioctadecylammonium (DDA) can promote both cell-mediated and humoral immune responses to the tuberculosis vaccine fusion protein in mice. However, these DDA preparations were found to be physically unstable, forming aggregates under ambient storage conditions. Therefore there is a need to improve the stability of such systems without undermining their potent adjuvanticity. To this end, the effect of incorporating non-ionic surfactants, such as 1-monopalmitoyl glycerol (MP), in addition to cholesterol (Chol) and trehalose 6,6′-dibehenate (TDB), on the stability and efficacy of these vaccine delivery systems was investigated. Differential scanning calorimetry revealed a reduction in the phase transition temperature (T c) of DDA-based vesicles by ∼12°C when MP and cholesterol (1:1 molar ratio) were incorporated into the DDA system. Transmission electron microscopy (TEM) revealed the addition of MP to DDA vesicles resulted in the formation of multi-lamellar vesicles. Environmental scanning electron microscopy (ESEM) of MP-Chol-DDA-TDB (16:16:4:0.5 μmol) indicated that incorporation of antigen led to increased stability of the vesicles, perhaps as a result of the antigen embedding within the vesicle bilayers. At 4°C DDA liposomes showed significant vesicle aggregation after 28 days, although addition of MP-Chol or TDB was shown to inhibit this instability. Alternatively, at 25°C only the MP-based systems retained their original size. The presence of MP within the vesicle formulation was also shown to promote a sustained release of antigen in-vitro. The adjuvant activity of various systems was tested in mice against three subunit antigens, including mycobacterial fusion protein Ag85b-ESAT-6, and two malarial antigens (Merozoite surface protein 1, MSP1, and the glutamate rich protein, GLURP). The MP- and DDA-based systems induced antibody responses at comparable levels whereas the DDA-based systems induced more powerful cell-mediated immune responses. © 2006 The Authors.

A tale of two regions:comparative versus competitive approaches to economic restructuring

In April 2004 Mitsubishi announced the closure of its Lonsdale plant in South Australia. Almost a year later, MG Rover went into administration, resulting in the immediate closure of its Longbridge plant just outside Birmingham, England. Both closures were expected to have a considerable impact on their regional economies through the loss of employment and associated economic activity. However, governments in Australia and England responded in significantly different ways: in England the focus was on competitive advantage through the modernisation of the auto cluster and the diversification of the regional economy into new, high-technology industries. In Australia, the national and state governments introduced policy responses based on the pursuit of comparative advantage. This paper compares and contrasts the two sets of government responses and examines the capacity of each to deliver long-term benefits to their affected communities.

Impact of FDI, ODA and migrant remittances on economic growth in developing countries:a systems approach

This article seeks to investigate the relative contributions of foreign direct investment, official development assistance and migrant remittances to economic growth in developing countries. We use a systems methodology to account for the inherent endogeneities in these relationships. In addition, we also examine the importance of institutions, not only for growth directly, but for the interactions between institutions and the other sources of growth. It is, we believe, the first article to consider each of these variables together. We find that all sources of foreign capital have a positive and significant impact on growth when institutions are taken into account. © 2013 European Association of Development Research and Training Institutes.

Analysis and comparative study of different converter modes in modular second life hybrid battery energy storage systems

The use of ex-transportation battery system (i.e. second life EV/HEV batteries) in grid applications is an emerging field of study. A hybrid battery scheme offers a more practical approach in second life battery energy storage systems because battery modules could be from different sources/ vehicle manufacturers depending on the second life supply chain and have different characteristics e.g. voltage levels, maximum capacity and also different levels of degradations. Recent research studies have suggested a dc-side modular multilevel converter topology to integrate these hybrid batteries to a grid-tie inverter. Depending on the battery module characteristics, the dc-side modular converter can adopt different modes such as boost, buck or boost-buck to suitably transfer the power from battery to the grid. These modes have different switching techniques, control range, different efficiencies, which give a system designer choice on operational mode. This paper presents an analysis and comparative study of all the modes of the converter along with their switching performances in detail to understand the relative advantages and disadvantages of each mode to help to select the suitable converter mode. Detailed study of all the converter modes and thorough experimental results based on a multi-modular converter prototype based on hybrid batteries has been presented to validate the analysis.

Comparative performance between two photogrammetric systems and a reference laser tracker network for large-volume industrial measurement

This paper determines the capability of two photogrammetric systems in terms of their measurement uncertainty in an industrial context. The first system – V-STARS inca3 from Geodetic Systems Inc. – is a commercially available measurement solution. The second system comprises an off-the-shelf Nikon D700 digital camera fitted with a 28 mm Nikkor lens and the research-based Vision Measurement Software (VMS). The uncertainty estimate of these two systems is determined with reference to a calibrated constellation of points determined by a Leica AT401 laser tracker. The calibrated points have an average associated standard uncertainty of 12·4 μm, spanning a maximum distance of approximately 14·5 m. Subsequently, the two systems’ uncertainty was determined. V-STARS inca3 had an estimated standard uncertainty of 43·1 μm, thus outperforming its manufacturer's specification; the D700/VMS combination achieved a standard uncertainty of 187 μm.