Versenyképesség haloptikával – Helyi gazdaságfejlesztési problémák fejlődő városokban = Competitiveness at short range - Local problems of economic development in medium-sized towns

The aim of our research in the first half of 2011 was to find out what were the administrative, regulative and other problems that were specific obstacles to local economic development and what best practices can be found in local economies. During our research we carried out interviews with leaders and local professionals in five medium size towns of Hungary. We stated that the most obstructive factors were the imperfection of vocational training, the excessively bureaucratic administrative proceedings (supplying of data, acquisition of authority permits, the attitude of the authorities, etc.) and the system of application and finding sources of funds. We think that the most innovative solutions are the good examples of the institutionalized co-operation between local governments and local businesses. We've come to the conclusion that there is a need for reducing administrative burdens for the sake of local economic development.

Az európai villamosenergia-árak központi szabályozásának hatása a fogyasztói árakra (The impacts of the price regulation on the level of retail electricity prices in Europe)

Az Európai Unión belül az elmúlt időszakban megerősödött a vita arról, vajon a Közösség versenyképességének javításához milyen módon és mértékben járulhat hozzá az ipari és lakossági fogyasztók számára kedvező áron elérhető villamos energia. Az uniós testületek elsődlegesen a verseny feltételeinek további javításában látják a versenyképesség javításának fő eszközét, ám egyesek az aktívabb központi szabályozás mellett érvelnek. A jelenleg alkalmazott európai szabályozási gyakorlat áttekintése, a szabályozási modellek és a piaci árak alakulásának vizsgálata hozzásegíthet, hogy következtetéseket vonjunk le a tagállami gyakorlatok tekintetében, vajon sikeresebb-e a központi ármegállapításon alapuló szabályozói mechanizmus, mint a liberalizált piacmodell. ______ There is a strengthening debate within the European Union in recent years about the impact of the affordable industrial and household electricity prices on the general competitiveness of European economies. While the European Institutions argues for the further liberalization of the energy retail sector, there are others who believe in centralization and price control to achieve lower energy prices. Current paper reviews the regulatory models of the European countries and examines the connection between the regulatory regime and consumer price trends. The analysis can help to answer, whether the bureaucratic central regulation or the liberalized market model seems more successful in supporting the competitiveness goals. Although the current regulatory practice is heterogeneous within the EU member states, there is a clear trend to decrease the role of regulated tariffs in the end-user prices. Our study did not find a general causal relationship between the regulatory regime and the level of consumer electricity prices in a country concerned. However, the quantitative analysis of the industrial and household energy prices by various segments detected significant differences between the regulated and free-market countries. The first group of member states tends to decrease the prices in the low-consuming household segments through cross-financing technics, including increased network tariffs and/or taxes for the high-consuming segments and for industrial consumers. One of the major challenges of the regulatory authorities is to find the proper way of sharing these burdens proportionally with minimizing the market-distorting effects of the cross-subsidization between the different stakeholder groups.

The impact of creative organizational climate on the innovation activity of medical devices manufacturing firms in Hungary

The purpose of this study was to empirically investigate the impact of creative organizational climate on the innovation activity of medical devices manufacturing firms in Hungary. We applied a combined qualitative and quantitative research model, focusing on two firm’s case studies that are active in the above mentioned sector and differ to a substantial degree in their innovation activities. The connection between innovative climate and innovation was analyzed by comparing their organizational climate and perceptions of organizational members of innovation activities. Our findings revealed that classical models of creative organizational climate explain only partially the differences, although on the level of individual perceptions of climate and innovativeness we can find some connections. We found one factor that differentiated the two firms in terms of organizational climate in the predicted direction: the amount, quality, sincerity and depth of debates going on in the organization. The level of challenge (high involvement, commitment and challenging goals) and the time devoted to think about new ideas and innovative solutions (idea time) turned out to be contrary to the expectations based on previous research – although these results are less significant statistically. The results trigger further research into the sources of competitiveness in the Hungarian medical devices manufacturing sector.

Development and implementation of a tool to assess the micro/macro elements in an organization

This study examines the congruency of planning between organizational structure and process, through an evaluation and planning model known as the Micro/Macro Dynamic Planning Grid. The model compares day-to-day planning within an organization to planning imposed by organizational administration and accrediting agencies. A survey instrument was developed to assess the micro and macro sociological analysis elements utilized by an organization.^ The Micro/Macro Dynamic Planning Grid consists of four quadrants. Each quadrant contains characteristics that reflect the interaction between the micro and macro elements of planning, objectives and goals within an organization. The Over Macro/Over Micro, Quadrant 1, contains attributes that reflect a tremendous amount of action and ongoing adjustments, typical of an organization undergoing significant changes in either leadership, program and/or structure. Over Macro/Under Micro, Quadrant 2, reflects planning characteristics found in large, bureaucratic systems with little regard given to the workings of their component parts. Under Macro/Under Micro, Quadrant 3, reflects the uncooperative, uncoordinated organization, one that contains a multiplicity of viewpoints, language, objectives and goals. Under Macro/Under Micro, Quadrant 4 represents the worst case scenario for any organization. The attributes of this quadrant are very reactive, chaotic, non-productive and redundant.^ There were three phases to the study: development of the initial instrument, pilot testing the initial instrument and item revision, and administration and assessment of the refined instrument. The survey instrument was found to be valid and reliable for the purposes and audiences herein described.^ In order to expand the applicability of the instrument to other organizational settings, the survey was administered to three professional colleges within a university.^ The first three specific research questions collectively answered, in the affirmative, the basic research question: Can the Micro/Macro Dynamic Planning Grid be applied to an organization through an organizational development tool? The first specific question: Can an instrument be constructed that applies the Micro/Macro Dynamic Planning Grid? The second specific research question: Is the constructed instrument valid and reliable? The third specific research question: Does an instrument that applies the Micro/Macro Dynamic Planning Grid assess congruency of micro and macro planning, goals and objectives within an organization? The fourth specific research question: What are the differences in the responses based on roles and responsibilities within an organization? involved statistical analysis of the response data and comparisons obtained with the demographic data. (Abstract shortened by UMI.) ^

Una sociedad legalista: Abogados, procuradores de causas y la creación de una cultura legal colonial en Lima y Potosí, 1540–1670

This study deals with the formation, reproduction, and the role in litigation of two branches of the legal profession, lawyers and procurators. They were the experts in charge of civil, criminal, and ecclesiastical litigation during the Old Regime. While the lawyers provided erudite legal advice, procurators oriented and drove the procedure as legal representatives of their clients. The European legal revolutions of the twelfth and thirteenth centuries forged a new legal culture in which the lawsuit was reputed to be the best way to settle disputes. Likewise, that legal culture conferred an important place to specialists as legal facilitators of the contending parties. When Castilians exported their legal system to the New World, they spread a complex and bureaucratic framework, contributing to the reproduction of a class of experts in urban spaces. Lima and Potosi, two urban centers created in the sixteenth century, quickly became significant ‘legal cities’. This dissertation explores how the legal markets of these cities operated, the careers of their specialists, their professional options, social images regarding them, and litigation costs. This study examines the careers of 267 facilitators and demonstrates that they constituted a class of distinctive legal professionals. Legal culture embodies the representation and use of law. The closeness of specialists with litigants, in particular of procurators familiarized the parties with litigation and its complex processes. These specialists forged dominant legal discourses and manipulated juridical order. Litigants were not passive agents of their specialists. Caciques and members of the Hispanicized communities appropriated the law in a visible way as the growing litigiousness illustrates. Colonial law (of a pluralistic basis) was an arena of assertion and discussion of rights by different social actors, encomenderos, leading citizens, widows, native chieftains, artisans, and commoners. This study concludes that this struggle and manipulation served to legitimate the role of those legal experts and gave birth to a complex legalistic society in the Andes under Spanish Habsburg rule.

Soviet and Western bloc competition in the less developed world and the collapse of Détente

The purpose of my dissertation was to examine the competition between the U.S.-led Western bloc and the Soviet bloc in the less developed world during Détente. I assessed whether or not the Soviet bloc pushed for strategic gains in the less developed world in the middle-to-late 1970's and whether this contributed to the U.S. decision to abandon Détente in 1979. I made the attempt to test the international relations theory of balance of threat realism (Walt, 1992). I accomplished the test in two ways. First, I measured the foreign aid allocations (military and economic) made by each respective bloc towards the Third World by using a quantitative approach. Second, I examined U.S. archives using the process-tracing/historical method. The U.S. archives gave me the ability to evaluate how U.S. decision-makers and U.S. intelligence agencies interpreted the actions of the Soviet bloc. They also gave me the chance to examine the U.S. response as we evaluated the policies that were pushed by key U.S. decision-makers and intelligence agencies. On the question of whether or not the Soviet bloc was aggressive, the quantitative evidence suggested that it was not. Instead, the evidence found the Western-bloc to have been more aggressive in the less developed world. The U.S. archives also showed Soviet actions to have been defensive. Key U.S. decision-makers and intelligence agencies attested to this. Finally, the archives show that U.S. officials pushed for aggressive actions against the Third World during the final years of Détente. Thus, balance of threat realism produced an incorrect assessment that U.S. aggression in the late 1970's was a response to Soviet aggression during Détente. The evidence suggests structural Marxism and domestic politics can better explain U.S./Western actions. The aggressive foreign aid allocations of the West, coupled with evidence of U.S. decision-makers/agencies vehemently concerned about the long-term prospects of the West, strengthened structural Marxism. Domestic politics can also claim to explain the actions of U.S. decision-makers. I found extensive archival evidence of bureaucratic inter-agency conflict between the State Department and other intelligence agencies in areas of strategic concern to the U.S.

Administrators' perspectives of culture at a multicampus community college

The purpose of this study was to explore how administrators’ perceived the campus and administrative cultures found on a single campus of a multicampus community college system. A review of the literature revealed that the culture found in higher education institutions contains a high degree of human interactions, has a myriad of cultures, and that individuals play a significant role in the maintenance or the evolution of the cultures present. The study site was Neighborhood Campus which is one campus of a large urban community college system containing a total of eight campuses, Urban College. Kuh’s conventional organizational models served to identify the model on Neighborhood Campus, Levin’s cultural definitions described the campus culture, and cultural definitions from Bergquist and Pawlak formed the framework for the administrative culture. The study was guided by the following research questions: What are the administrators’ perspectives of the campus culture on a community college campus and what are the administrators’ perspectives of the administrative culture on a community college campus? A qualitative case study method was used, data collection included interviews, document and videograph reviews, and observations of administrative meetings. The participants for the interview portion of the study included 10 individuals defined as administrators. ^ The study revealed that administrators’ perspectives of these cultures demonstrated five themes (student-centered, size, location, Hispanics, and family) served as contributors to the campus culture. The administrative culture was supported by six themes (size, team, collaboration, open, Inclusion, and rewards and recognition). ^ The findings revealed three of Kuh’s conventional organizational models (rational, bureaucratic, and collegial models) were seen as being in place at Neighborhood Campus. Levin’s traditional and service cultures were seen in the campus culture with the service culture demonstrating dominance. Using Bergquist and Pawlak’s definitions, components of the collegial, managerial, and developmental cultures appear to be present in the administrative culture with the collegial culture serving as the dominant administrative culture. ^ Through an understanding of these cultures and themes, administrators can provide leadership that is sensitive to these cultures, especially if institutional change is required.^

The Everglades Ecosystem and the Politics of Nature

In this article, I offer an institutional history of the ecosystem concept, tracing shifts in its meaning and application as it has become the key organizing principle for the Everglades restoration program in Florida. Two institutional forms are analyzed here: (1) quasigovernmental organizations, a term I use to describe interagency science collaboratives and community stakeholder organizations, and (2) government bureaucracies, which are the administrative agencies tasked with Everglades restoration planning and implementation. In analyzing these knowledge trajectories, I both document the complex networks of relations that facilitate the ecosystem’s emergence as an object of knowledge and examine the bureaucratic claims to authority that circumscribe the ecosystem’s transformation into policy.

The Transitioning Economic Dynamics of the Military in Communist Regimes: A Comparison of Cuba, China and Vietnam [Student's Paper Series]

Several factors can increase or decrease military-economic involvement in communist regimes. This anomalous form of military behavior, labeled as the Military Business Complex (MBC), emerged in various communist regimes in the 1980s. However, in early 2000s, the communist governments of China and Vietnam began to decrease the number of military-managed industries, while similar industries increased in Cuba. This paper explains why military industries in Cuba have increased over the last two decades, while they decreased in the Chinese and Vietnamese examples. This question is answered by comparatively testing two hypotheses: the Communist Party and the Bureaucratic-Authoritarian (BA) Hypotheses. The Communist Party hypotheses helps explain how the historical and current structures of Party oversight of the military have been lacking in strength and reliability in Cuba, while they traditionally have been more robust in China and Vietnam. The BA hypotheses helps explain how, due to the lack of a strong civilian institutional oversight, the Cuban military has grown into a bureaucratic entity with many political officers holding autonomous positions of power, an outcome that is not prevalent in the Chinese and Vietnamese examples. Thus, with the establishment of a bureaucratic military government and with the absence of a strong party oversight, the Cuban military has been able to protect its economic endeavors while the Chinese and Vietnamese MBC regimes have contracted.

Political strategy, leadership, and policy entrepreneurship in Japanese defense policy and politics: A comparison of three prime ministerships

Since the end of the Cold War, Japan's defense policy and politics has gone through significant changes. Throughout the post cold war period, US-Japan alliance managers, politicians with differing visions and preferences, scholars, think tanks, and the actions of foreign governments have all played significant roles in influencing these changes. Along with these actors, the Japanese prime minister has played an important, if sometimes subtle, role in the realm of defense policy and politics. Japanese prime ministers, though significantly weaker than many heads of state, nevertheless play an important role in policy by empowering different actors (bureaucratic actors, independent commissions, or civil actors), through personal diplomacy, through agenda-setting, and through symbolic acts of state. The power of the prime minister to influence policy processes, however, has frequently varied by prime minister. My dissertation investigates how different political strategies and entrepreneurial insights by the prime minister have influenced defense policy and politics since the end of the Cold War. In addition, it seeks to explain how the quality of political strategy and entrepreneurial insight employed by different prime ministers was important in the success of different approaches to defense. My dissertation employs a comparative case study approach to examine how different prime ministerial strategies have mattered in the realm of Japanese defense policy and politics. Three prime ministers have been chosen: Prime Minister Hashimoto Ryutaro (1996-1998); Prime Minister Koizumi Junichiro (2001-2006); and Prime Minister Hatoyama Yukio (2009-2010). These prime ministers have been chosen to provide maximum contrast on issues of policy preference, cabinet management, choice of partners, and overall strategy. As my dissertation finds, the quality of political strategy has been an important aspect of Japan's defense transformation. Successful strategies have frequently used the knowledge and accumulated personal networks of bureaucrats, supplemented bureaucratic initiatives with top-down personal diplomacy, and used a revitalized US-Japan strategic relationship as a political resource for a stronger prime ministership. Though alternative approaches, such as those that have looked to displace the influence of bureaucrats and the US in defense policy, have been less successful, this dissertation also finds theoretical evidence that alternatives may exist.

A prática do enfermeiro da atenção primária à saúde nas consultas ao paciente com tuberculose

This study aimed to analyze the practice of nurses regarding the development of the nursing process in the consultation to the patient with tuberculosis. This is a descriptive study with quantitative approach, performed with 60 nurses of the Primary units of the city of Natal, RN Health. The project was approved by the Ethics Committee of the Federal University of Rio Grande do Norte. To collect data, we used a structured questionnaire, developed from the "Consultation of Nursing," the Nursing Protocol for the Treatment of Tuberculosis Directly Observed in Primary Care, Ministry of Health. The instrument was subjected to pre- -test and contained questions regarding the elements used by the nurse in consultation with the patient with tuberculosis and an open question about the feasibility of implementing the Nursing Process in Primary Health Care. data collection was conducted between September and October 2014, in health units work of each participant. Data were analyzed using SPSS 20. The answers to the open question were analyzed for themes and quantified for analysis. With respect to the elements of nursing process used in consultation with the patient with tuberculosis, were on the history of nursing at the expense of survey nursing diagnosis, action planning, implementation and evaluation. Step in the history of nursing, however, the actions were toward complaints and symptoms of the disease (100% of the nurses always investigating). Social and cultural aspects involved in for tuberculosis, as stigma and difficulties in routine work, were less addressed by nurses (43.3% never investigated suffering stigma; 46.7% sometimes investigating changes in the work routine patient ). The physical examination was focused on measuring patient weight (100% held). To the understanding of nurses on the implementation of the nursing process Primary Health Care, favorable factors were identified, such as that this implementation can promote greater scientific basis for nursing (36.7%); and hindering aspects, such as the understanding that Primary Health Care is pervaded by bureaucratic issues and high demand (13.3%). Be established in consultation with the nurse fragmentations, since elements as identification of nursing diagnoses, action planning and evaluation were not made in full by the professionals. Highlights the need for continuing education for nurses who are included in Primary Health Care, seeking to maximize the autonomy of these professionals in developing a practice grounded in scientific knowledge

Identificação das políticas de incentivo ao desenvolvimento da energia eólica no Rio Grande do Norte (RN)

Energy is a vital resource for social and economic development. In the present scenario, the search for alternative energy sources has become fundamental, especially after the oil crises between 1973 and 1979, the Chernobyl nuclear accident in 1986 and the Kyoto Protocol in 1997. The demand for the development of new alternative energy sources aims to complement existing forms allows to meet the demand for energy consumption with greater security. Brazil, with the guideline of not dirtying the energy matrix by the fossil fuels exploitation and the recent energy crisis caused by the lack of rains, directs energy policies for the development of other renewable energy sources, complementing the hydric. This country is one of the countries that stand out for power generation capacity from the winds in several areas, especially Rio Grande do Norte (RN), which is one of the states with highest installed power and great potential to be explored. In this context arises the purpose of this work to identify the incentive to develop policies of wind energy in Rio Grande do Norte. The study was conducted by a qualitative methodology of data analysis called content analysis, oriented for towards message characteristics, its informational value, the words, arguments and ideas expressed in it, constituting a thematic analysis. To collect the data interviews were conducted with managers of major organizations related to wind energy in Brazil and in the state of Rio Grande do Norte. The identification of incentive policies was achieved in three stages: the first seeking incentives policies in national terms, which are applied to all states, the second with the questionnaire application and the third to research and data collection for the development of the installed power of the RN as compared to other states. At the end, the results demonstrated hat in Rio Grande do Norte state there is no incentive policy for the development of wind power set and consolidated, specific actions in order to optimize the bureaucratic issues related to wind farms, especially on environmental issues. The absence of this policy hinders the development of wind energy RN, considering result in reduced competitiveness and performance in recent energy auctions. Among the perceived obstacles include the lack of hand labor sufficient to achieve the reporting and analysis of environmental licenses, the lack of updating the wind Atlas of the state, a shortfall of tax incentives. Added to these difficulties excel barriers in infrastructure and logistics, with the lack of a suitable port for large loads and the need for reform, maintenance and duplication of roads and highways that are still loss-making. It is suggested as future work the relationship of the technology park of energy and the development of wind power in the state, the influence of the technology park to attract businesses and industries in the wind sector to settle in RN and a comparison of incentive policies to development of wind energy in the Brazilian states observing wind development in the same states under study.

Pesca artesanal entre mudanças socioambientais: estudo de caso na APA Bonfim-Guaraíra/RN-Brasil

Artisanal fishing is one of the important economic activities of Rio Grande do Norte (RN), becoming the main form of survival and income for many families. The southern coast of RN has strong fishing tradition, both in exploitation of fish as in the collection of mollusks on the banks of Guaraíra Lagoon (APA Bonfim-Guaraíra). In recent years, fishing communities have become more vulnerable to outside influences, since the socio-economic and environmental changes are exposed. These changes require adjustments to the fishermen to different environmental conditions, as the social and natural systems are driven by reorganization and upgrading processes. The living conditions in fishing communities are objective and necessary in different ways, according to a selection that is cultural, so adaptable. This study has the general objective to analyze the main environmental changes in fishing communities, based on the understanding of fishermen and mollusk fisherwomen about this problem. The specific objectives searched to: describe the socioeconomic profile, prospects and difficulties of fishermen and mollusk fisherwomen; investigate the major social and environmental changes in the fishing communities of Patané and Camocim (Arez/RN). The methodology was qualitative-quantitative with the techniques of observation in the field and open and semistructured interviews applied to representatives of Cologne fishing, fishermen and mollusk fisherwomen. Between the months of January to July 2014 were applied semistructured interviews with 41 interlocutors in Patané and 23 of Camocim; totaling 64 people. The results indicated that the interlocutors are aged 40 to 60 years; have only completed elementary school level; are married and have children; survive on less than a minimum wage income and they are not receiving employment insurance. The case study also revealed that the socioeconomic and environmental problems reflected in changes in reproduction, organization and social division of labor, which generates adaptive changes of families to external influences, resulting directly from other economic activities and market pressure and indirectly from tourism. Therefore, adaptations to changes scenario presented as favorable to economic aspects and unfavorable to the social and environmental aspects. In short, the fishery develops on technical, bureaucratic and financial obstacles, in the everyday needs of men and women is the determining factor in willingness to continue exercising fishing and shell fishing on Guaraíra Lagoon, space representing relations social, practices and customs transmitted in the course of local history through social memory of the oldest to the youngest.

Avaliação do acesso aos serviços de reabilitação física para vítimas de acidentes de trânsito: caminhos para melhoria da qualidade do sistema de saúde

The Physical Rehabilitation services (PR) are of fundamental importance in combating the global epidemic of Traffic Accidents (TA). Considering the numerous physical and social consequences of the survivors, quality problems in access to PR are a hazard to recovery of victims. It is necessary to improve the management of quality of services, assessing priority dimensions and intervening in their causes, to ensure rehabilitation available in time and suitable conditions. This study aimed to identify barriers to access to rehabilitation considering the perception of TA victims and professionals. The aim is also to estimate the access to rehabilitation and their associated factors. This is a qualitative and quantitative study of exploratory nature developed in Natal / RN with semi-structured interviews with 19 health professionals and telephone survey to 155 victims of traffic accidents. To explore barriers to access the speeches were transcribed and analyzed using the Alceste software (version 4.9). During the interviews used the following guiding question: “What barriers hinder or prevent access to physical rehabilitation for victims of traffic accidents?”. The names of classes and axes resulting from Alceste was performed by ad hoc query to three external researchers with subsequent consensus of the most representative name of analysis. We conducted multivariate analysis of the influence of the variables of the accident, sociodemographic, clinical and assistance on access to rehabilitation. Associations with p <0.20 in the bivariate analysis were submitted to logistic regression, step by step, with p <0.05 and confidence interval (CI) of 95%. The main barriers identified were: “Bureaucratic regulation”, “Long time to start rehabilitation”, “No post-surgery referral” and “inefficiency of public services”. These barriers were divided into a theoretical model built from the cause-effect diagram, in which we observed that insufficient access to rehabilitation is the product of causes related to organizational structure, work processes, professional and patients. Was constructed two logistic regression models: “General access to rehabilitation” and “Access to rehabilitation to public service”. 51.6% of patients had access to rehabilitation, and 32.9% in public and 17.9% in the private sector. The regression model “General access to rehabilitation” included the variables Income (OR:3.7), Informal Employment (OR:0.11), Unemployment (OR:0.15), Perceived Need for PR (OR:10) and Referral (OR: 27.5). The model “Access to rehabilitation in the public service” was represented by the “Referral to Public Service” (OR: 23.0) and “Private Health Plan” (OR: 0.07). Despite the known influence of social determinants on access to health services, a situation difficult to control by the public administration, this study found that the organizational and bureaucratic procedures established in health care greatly determine access to rehabilitation. Access difficulties show the seriousness of the problem and the factors suggest the need for improvements in comprehensive care for TA survivors and avoid unnecessary prolongation of the suffering of the victims of this epidemic.

Gestão educativa gerencial: superação do modelo burocrático?

The study discusses the changes in public management and their impacts on the educational field from the adoption of the flexible model production. It is based on the assumption that the changes incontemporary societies were influenced by the need to reorganize the capital that, in crisis, tried to overcome the Taylor/Ford production model, by implementing a more agile, more flexible one to meet the current demands of the market. For the implementation of the new public management, the Latin American countries started to use strategies based on the business model and the criteria of efficiency, effectiveness and productivity. This new management paradigm advocated replacing the bureaucratic model of management by a decentralized model, with focus on customer service. These guidelines have a broad impact on the educational management and were disseminated by international organizations. Studies show that the management model has been unable to overcome the bureaucratic model of management that existed within the school, which is found in the transformation of a bureaucratic flexibility, consistent with the new model of production.