Governance challenges in the global games industry

Current governance challenges facing the global games industry are heavily dominated by online games. Whilst much academic and industry attention has been afforded to Virtual Worlds, the more pressing contemporary challenges may arise in casual games, especially when found on social networks. As authorities are faced with an increasing volume of disputes between participants and platform operators, the likelihood of external regulation increases, and the role that such regulation would have on the industry – both internationally and within specific regions – is unclear. Kelly (2010) argues that “when you strip away the graphics of these [social] games, what you are left with is simply a button [...] You push it and then the game returns a value of either Win or Lose”. He notes that while “every game developer wants their game to be played, preferably addictively, because it’s so awesome”, these mechanics lead not to “addiction of engagement through awesomeness” but “the addiction of compulsiveness”, surmising that “the reality is that they’ve actually sort-of kind-of half-intentionally built a virtual slot machine industry”. If such core elements of social game design are questioned, this gives cause to question the real-money options to circumvent them. With players able to purchase virtual currency and speed the completion of tasks, the money invested by the 20% purchasing in-game benefits (Zainwinger, 2012) may well be the result of compulsion. The decision by the Japanese Consumer Affairs agency to investigate the ‘Kompu Gacha’ mechanic (in which players are rewarded for completing a set of items obtained through purchasing virtual goods such as mystery boxes), and the resultant verdict that such mechanics should be regulated through gambling legislation, demonstrates that politicians are beginning to look at the mechanics deployed in these environments. Purewal (2012) states that “there’s a reasonable argument that complete gacha would be regulated under gambling law under at least some (if not most) Western jurisdictions”. This paper explores the governance challenged within these games and platforms, their role in the global industry, and current practice amongst developers in the Australian and United States to address such challenges.

Not learning from the past: Adaptive governance challenges for Australian natural resource management

Australia’s governance arrangements for NRM have evolved considerably over the last thirty years. The impact of changes in governance on NRM planning and delivery requires assessment. We undertake a multi-method program evaluation using adaptive governance principles as an analytical frame and apply this to Queensland to assess the impacts of governance change on NRM planning and governance outcomes. Data to inform our analysis includes: 1) a systematic review of sixteen audits/evaluations of Australian NRM over a fifteen-year period; 2) a review of Queensland’s first generation NRM Plans; and 3) outputs from a Queensland workshop on NRM planning. NRM has progressed from a bottom-up grassroots movement into a collaborative regional NRM model that has been centralised by the Australian Government. We found that while some adaptive governance challenges have been addressed, others remained unresolved. Results show that collaboration and elements of multi-level governance under the regional model were positive moves, but also that NRM arrangements contained structural deficiencies across multiple governance levels in relation to public involvement in decision-making and knowledge production for problem responsiveness. These problems for adaptive governance have been exacerbated since 2008. We conclude that the adaptive governance framework for NRM needs urgent attention so that important environmental management problems can be addressed.

Strengthening community roles in aquatic resource governance in Uganda

Lake Victoria fisheries face severe environmental stresses. Stocks are declining in a context of increasing population and growing demand for the lake’s resources. Rising competition between users is putting conservation goals and rural livelihoods at risk. While Uganda’s co-management policy framework is well-developed, key resources for implementation are lacking, enforcement is poor, and the relations between stakeholders are unequal. Poor rural resource users face significant challenges to effectively participate in fisheries decision-making. This case study demonstrates the progress that can be made using a collaborative approach to catalyze community-led actions linking public health, sanitation and environmental conservation in difficult circumstances, even over a relatively short time period. Multistakeholder dialogue can bring to light the sources of conflict, pinpoint governance challenges, and identify opportunities for institutional collaboration to address community needs. At the same time, the process can help build trust, confidence in collective action and public accountability.

Deviations of Governance In IT Multi-Sourcing: A Case Study

IT outsourcing (ITO) refers to the shift of IT/IS activities from internal to external of an organization. In prior research, the governance of ITO is recognized with persistent strategic importance for practice, because it is tightly related to ITO success. Under the rapid transformation of global market, the evolving practice of ITO requires updated knowledge on effective governance. However, research on ITO governance is still under developed due to the lack of integrated theoretical frameworks and the variety of empirical settings besides dyadic client-vendor relationships. Especially, as multi-sourcing has become an increasingly common practice in ITO, its new governance challenges must be attended by both ITO researchers and practitioners. To address this research gap, this study aims to understand multi-sourcing governance with an integrated theoretical framework incorporating both governance structure and governance mechanisms. The focus is on the emerging deviations among formal, perceived and practiced governance. With an interpretive perspective, a single case study is conducted with mixed methods of Social Network Analysis (SNA) and qualitative inquiries. The empirical setting embraces one client firm and its two IT suppliers for IT infrastructure services. The empirical material is analyzed at three levels: within one supplier firm, between the client and one supplier, and among all three firms. Empirical evidences, at all levels, illustrate various deviations in governance mechanisms, with which emerging governance structures are shaped. This dissertation contributes to the understanding of ITO governance in three domains: the governance of ITO in general, the governance of multi-sourcing in particular, and research methodology. For ITO governance in general, this study has identified two research strands of governance structure and governance mechanisms, and integrated both concepts under a unified framework. The composition of four research papers contributes to multi-sourcing research by illustrating the benefits of zooming in and out across the multilateral relationships with different aspects and scopes. Methodologically, the viability and benefit of mixed-method is illustrated and confirmed for both researchers and practitioners.

Governance and community capitals : understanding how governance has worked in three faith-based schools in the Western Highlands of Papua New Guinea

This thesis, titled Governance and Community Capitals, explores the kinds of practical processes that have made governance work in three faith-based schools in the Western Highlands of Papua New Guinea (PNG). To date, the nation of PNG has been unable to meet its stated educational goals; however, some faith-based primary schools have overcome educational challenges by changing their local governance systems. What constitutes good governance in developing countries and how it can be achieved in a PNG schooling context has received very little scholarly attention. In this study, the subject of governance is approached at the nexus between the administrative sciences and asset-based community development. In this space, the researcher provides an understanding of the contribution that community capitals have made to understandings of local forms of governance in the development context. However, by and large, conceptions of governance have a history of being positioned within a Euro-centric frame and very little, if anything is known about the naming of capitals by indigenous peoples. In this thesis, six indigenous community capitals are made visible, expanding the repertoire of extant capitals published to date. The capitals identified and named in this thesis are: Story, Wisdom, Action, Blessing, Name and Unity. In-depth insights into these capitals are provided and through the theoretical idea of performativity, the researcher advances an understanding of how the habitual enactment of the practical components of the capitals made governance work in this unique setting. The study draws from a grounded and appreciative methodology and is based on a case study design incorporating a three-stage cycle of investigation. The first stage tested the application of an assets-based method to documentary sources of data including most significant change stories, community mapping and visual diaries. In the second stage, a group process method relevant to a PNG context was developed and employed. The third stage involved building theory from case study evidence using content analysis, language and metaphorical speech acts as guides for complex analysis. The thesis demonstrates the contribution that indigenous community capitals can make to understanding local forms of governance and how PNG faith-based schools meet their local governance challenges.

Fiduciary Duty and the Atmospheric Trust

This book explores the application of concepts of fiduciary duty or public trust in responding to the policy and governance challenges posed by policy problems that extend over multiple terms of government or even, as in the case of climate change, human generations. The volume brings together a range of perspectives including leading international thinkers on questions of fiduciary duty and public trust, Australia's most prominent judicial advocate for the application of fiduciary duty, top law scholars from several major universities, expert commentary from an influential climate policy think-tank and the views of long-serving highly respected past and present parliamentarians. The book presents a detailed examination of the nature and extent of fiduciary duty, looking at the example of Australia and having regard to developments in comparable jurisdictions. It identifies principles that could improve the accountability of political actors for their responses to major problems that may extend over multiple electoral cycles.

Towards a global carbon integrity system : learning from the GFC and avoiding a GCC

This paper examines some of the central global ethical and governance challenges of climate change and carbon emis-sions reduction in relation to globalization, the “global financial crisis” (GFC), and unsustainable conceptions of the “good life”, and argues in favour of the development of a global carbon “integrity system”. It is argued that a funda-mental driver of our climate problems is the incipient spread of an unsustainable Western version of the “good life”, where resource-intensive, high-carbon western lifestyles, although frequently criticized as unsustainable and deeply unsatisfying, appear to have established an unearned ethical legitimacy. While the ultimate solution to climate change is the development of low carbon lifestyles, the paper argues that it is also important that economic incentives support and stimulate that search: the sustainable versions of the good life provide an ethical pull, whilst the incentives provide an economic push. Yet, if we are going to secure sustainable low carbon lifestyles, it is argued, we need more than the ethical pull and the economic push. Each needs to be institutionalized—built into the governance of global, regional, national, sub-regional, corporate and professional institutions. Where currently weakness in each exacerbates the weaknesses in others, it is argued that governance reform is required in all areas supporting sustainable, low carbon versions of the good life.

Role Ambiguity and conflicts: A study of company secretaries and two-tier boards in the Netherlands

Recent research suggests that company secretaries are increasingly involved in governance responsibilities in addition to traditional administrative tasks. Little is known in the literature, however, about company secretaries' changing governance role, and their daily challenges in liaising with boards and other stakeholders. In addition, few studies have been able to gain access to learn firsthand how company secretaries operate. This exploratory study fills this void by gaining access to the opinions of about one hundred company secretaries in the Netherlands who operate in the two-tier board system. Our findings indicate that company secretaries significantly influence an organisation's governance framework, while they face a number of practical challenges with directors, employees and management in fulfilling their diverse roles and responsibilities.

Indigenous Intellectual Property: A Handbook of Contemporary Research

Taking an interdisciplinary approach unmatched by any other book on this topic, this thoughtful Handbook considers the international struggle to provide for proper and just protection of Indigenous intellectual property (IP). In light of the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples 2007, expert contributors assess the legal and policy controversies over Indigenous knowledge in the fields of international law, copyright law, trademark law, patent law, trade secrets law, and cultural heritage. The overarching discussion examines national developments in Indigenous IP in the United States, Canada, South Africa, the European Union, Australia, New Zealand, and Indonesia. The Handbook provides a comprehensive overview of the historical origins of conflict over Indigenous knowledge, and examines new challenges to Indigenous IP from emerging developments in information technology, biotechnology, and climate change. Practitioners and scholars in the field of IP will learn a great deal from this Handbook about the issues and challenges that surround just protection of a variety of forms of IP for Indigenous communities. Preface The Legacy of David Unaipon Matthew Rimmer Introduction: Mapping Indigenous Intellectual Property Matthew Rimmer PART I INTERNATIONAL LAW 1. The United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples: A Human Rights Framework for Indigenous Intellectual Property Mauro Barelli 2. The WTO, The TRIPS Agreement and Traditional Knowledge Tania Voon 3. The World Intellectual Property Organization and Traditional Knowledge Sara Bannerman 4. The World Indigenous Network: Rio+20, Intellectual Property, Indigenous Knowledge, and Sustainable Development Matthew Rimmer PART II COPYRIGHT LAW AND RELATED RIGHTS 5. Government Man, Government Painting? David Malangi and the 1966 One-Dollar Note Stephen Gray 6. What Wandjuk Wanted Martin Hardie 7. Avatar Dreaming: Indigenous Cultural Protocols and Making Films Using Indigenous Content Terri Janke 8. The Australian Resale Royalty for Visual Artists: Indigenous Art and Social Justice Robert Dearn and Matthew Rimmer PART III TRADE MARK LAW AND RELATED RIGHTS 9. Indigenous Cultural Expression and Registered Designs Maree Sainsbury 10. The Indian Arts and Crafts Act: The Limits of Trademark Analogies Rebecca Tushnet 11. Protection of Traditional Cultural Expressions within the New Zealand Intellectual Property Framework: A Case Study of the Ka Mate Haka Sarah Rosanowski 12 Geographical Indications and Indigenous Intellectual Property William van Caenegem PART IV PATENT LAW AND RELATED RIGHTS 13. Pressuring ‘Suspect Orthodoxy’: Traditional Knowledge and the Patent System Chidi Oguamanam, 14. The Nagoya Protocol: Unfinished Business Remains Unfinished Achmad Gusman Siswandi 15. Legislating on Biopiracy in Europe: Too Little, too Late? Angela Daly 16. Intellectual Property, Indigenous Knowledge, and Climate Change Matthew Rimmer PART V PRIVACY LAW AND IDENTITY RIGHTS 17. Confidential Information and Anthropology: Indigenous Knowledge and the Digital Economy Sarah Holcombe 18. Indigenous Cultural Heritage in Australia: The Control of Living Heritages Judith Bannister 19. Dignity, Trust and Identity: Private Spheres and Indigenous Intellectual Property Bruce Baer Arnold 20. Racial Discrimination Laws as a Means of Protecting Collective Reputation and Identity David Rolph PART VI INDIGENOUS INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY: REGIONAL PERSPECTIVES 21. Diluted Control: A Critical Analysis of the WAI262 Report on Maori Traditional Knowledge and Culture Fleur Adcock 22. Traditional Knowledge Governance Challenges in Canada Jeremy de Beer and Daniel Dylan 23. Intellectual Property protection of Traditional Knowledge and Access to Knowledge in South Africa Caroline Ncube 24. Traditional Knowledge Sovereignty: The Fundamental Role of Customary Law in Protection of Traditional Knowledge Brendan Tobin Index

Government Laws, Regulations and Policies: Small Fish in a Big Pond

Global development has, in recent years, been shaped by the rise of transnational capital. This has implications for the quality and effectiveness of those national laws, regulations and policies in place to monitor transnational capital, ensure that multi national organisations assume responsibility and hold them accountable should they fail to do so. In balancing these objectives, contrasting issues come to the fore, such as the fear of capital flight; an issue especially profound in small open economies where the balance may tip in the favour of retaining, as opposed to regulating, foreign capital.
This paper can be considered in three parts. First, the paper addresses the shift in global leadership from national governments to multinational corporations (with particular reference to the rise of the Transnational Capitalist Class). This shift will incorporate the connotations of the Third Way. In considering this ideology, it will propose the Third Way as a transition phase to a stage when government is more the “third wheel” than an equal partner in governance structures. Second, the implications of the changing nature of governance on the capacity of nation states to develop effective laws, regulations and policies is discussed which leads on to the third aspect of the paper which identifies the challenges for governments, business and society in reimagining the governance structure pertaining to law, regulation and policy and the need to reconsider existing structures in light of global shifts in power structures.
A new leadership structure, both within the national and international governance system has far reaching implications. Boundary constraints no longer an issue, the potential for equality and global democracy is huge. Instead, a post recessionary world faces new governance challenges in the shape of; legitimacy; accountability and responsibility. Capitalism has invaded government and the primary challenge will be in avoiding the same issues that have dogged our financial markets for the last number of years. The challenge then to laws, regulations and public policy is huge, especially considering that the governments regulating are smaller than those dictating agenda on a global level

What can the Stakeholder Theory Learn from Enron?

Roughly speaking, Enron has done for reflection on corporate governance what AIDS did for research on the immune system. So far, however, virtually all of this reflection on and subsequent reform of governance has come from those with a stake in the success of modern capitalism. This paper identifies a number of governance challenges for critics of capitalism, and in particular for those who urge corporations to voluntarily adopt missions of broader social responsibility and equal treatment for all stakeholder groups. I argue that by generally neglecting the governance relation between shareholders and senior managers, stakeholder theorists have underestimated the way in which shareholder-focused governance can be in the interests of all stakeholder groups. The enemy, if you will, is not capitalists (shareholders), but greedy, corrupt or incompetent managers. A second set of governance challenges for stakeholder theorists concerns their largely untested proposals for governance reforms that would require managers to act in the interests of all stakeholders and not just shareholders; in other words to treat shareholders as just another stakeholder group. I suggest that in such a governance regime it may be almost impossible to hold managers accountable to anyone – just as it was when state-owned enterprises were given “multi-stakeholder” mandates in the 1960s and 1970s.

Governing the clean development mechanism: global rhetoric versus local realities in carbon sequestration projects

Global agreements have proliferated in the past ten years. One of these is the Kyoto Protocol, which contains provisions for emissions reductions by trading carbon through the Clean Development Mechanism (CDM). The CDM is a market-based instrument that allows companies in Annex I countries to offset their greenhouse gas emissions through energy and tree offset projects in the global South. I set out to examine the governance challenges posed by the institutional design of carbon sequestration projects under the CDM. I examine three global narratives associated with the design of CDM forest projects, specifically North – South knowledge politics, green developmentalism, and community participation, and subsequently assess how these narratives match with local practices in two projects in Latin America. Findings suggest that governance problems are operating at multiple levels and that the rhetoric of global carbon actors often asserts these schemes in one light, while the rhetoric of those who are immediately involved locally may be different. I also stress the alarmist’s discourse that blames local people for the problems of environmental change. The case studies illustrate the need for vertical communication and interaction and nested governance arrangements as well as horizontal arrangements. I conclude that the global framing of forests as offsets requires better integration of local relationships to forests and their management and more effective institutions at multiple levels to link the very local to the very large scale when dealing with carbon sequestration in the CDM.

A regional reserve fund for Latin America

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