Clustering tales from the Greek construction sector: lessons from experience

The idea of increasing regional and national economic competitiveness through the implementation of cluster strategies is not something new. In each business sector, in each country, the creation of clusters has been used to capitalise on sector characteristics and address country specific productivity needs. While clusters have met with significant success in many context, the Greek context and in particularly the Greek Construction sector has not been so fruitful. This paper, through the development of a conceptual framework, questionnaires with 92 firms and interviews with 10 key firms, sought to investigate the critical success factors for the creation of a cluster within the challenging context of the Greek construction sector. Using evidence of good practicefrom other European countries facing similar challenges and the empirical data, the findings indicated a series of factors which firms could adopt, mitigate against or manage to help improve the potential success of the cluster. The findingstherefore have important implications for interventions not only by the state and local authorities that will encourage construction firms to participate in a cluster, but also by the managers/owners/practitioners for the creation of the required foundations for their participation in an environment where competitors cooperate

Performance measurement systems and metrics: a framework for monitoring oil operations

Oil operations involve high levels of capital equipment and high capacity production processes for which performance measures can assist with monitoring production throughout the oil industry stages. The approach taken in this paper is to utilise the lifecycle approach of asset management as well as organisational resource factors in an integrative manner. This research will examine the use of performance measurement in both private and public oil companies with a focus on Developing Countries. National Oil companies are of national economic importance in Developing Countries. Thus purpose of this paper is to develop a conceptual framework for performance measures of current and future oil operations and the associated asset management for field operations. The approach taken is to recognise the national context and strategic drivers and then to examine within this context the three areas of: Asset Management; Oil Operations (including Technology and Development; Management approaches; Partnerships) and Performance Outcomes

An assessment of Multilevel Governance in Cohesion Policy, 2007-2013

This study offers a thorough overview of Multi-Level Governance in Cohesion Policy in the current programming period of 2007-2013 by examining the evolution of the concept in terms of its definition and conceptual framework, analysing the current processes of implementing Multi-Level Governance in the EU27, as well as describing the advantages and disadvantages of partnerships in policy-making. Moreover, the study aims to formulate strategic and operational recommendations in the context of the preparation of the 2014- 2020 programming perio

Assessing Learning-Centered Leadership: Connections to Research, Professional Standards, and Current Practices

Describes an assessment model designed to evaluate school leaders' performance. Unlike existing tools, this new system will assess both individuals and teams, and focuses specifically on instructional leadership and behaviors that improve learning

Pathways to Accountability II

This report summarises the results of the 2009-2010 review process on the One World Trust Global Accountability Framework and the piloting of the draft framework during 2011, and presents the full One World Trust Pathways to Accountability II indicator framework. Our work in this field work is motivated by a concern about the persisting weakness and insufficient effectiveness of global organisations from all sectors in responding to the challenge of delivering global public goods to citizens and communities, the very people whom they claim to serve and benefit, and who are most often dependent on them

The Use and Abuse of Special-Purpose Entities in Public Finance

States increasingly are raising financing indirectly through special-purpose entities (SPEs), variously referred to as authorities, special authorities, or public authorities. Notwithstanding their long history and increasingly widespread use, relatively little is known or has been written about these entities. This article examines state SPEs and their functions, comparing them to SPEs used in corporate finance. States, even more than corporations, use these entities to reduce financial transparency and avoid public scrutiny, seriously threatening the integrity of public finance. The article analyzes how regulation could be designed in order to control that threat while maintaining the legitimate financing benefits provided by these state entities

The Use and Abuse of Special-Purpose Entities in Public Finance

States increasingly are raising financing indirectly through special-purpose entities (SPEs), variously referred to as authorities, special authorities, or public authorities. Notwithstanding their long history and increasingly widespread use, relatively little is known or has been written about these entities. This article examines state SPEs and their functions, comparing them to SPEs used in corporate finance. States, even more than corporations, use these entities to reduce financial transparency and avoid public scrutiny, seriously threatening the integrity of public finance. The article analyzes how regulation could be designed in order to control that threat while maintaining the legitimate financing benefits provided by these state entities

The regulation of agricultural biotechnology in Poland and the obstacles to EU compliance

Transition and accession have necessitated the establishment of a regulatory framework for agricultural crop biotechnology in Poland. This paper examines the theoretical and practical difficulties of complying with EU requirements. The first part of the study utilises evolutionary theory and path dependency to describe how policy makers interpret the requirements of accession through established conceptual models. Secondly the paper examines how accession programmes may alter path dependent trajectory but is simultaneously introducing or importing models which are fundamentally incompatible with national capabilities. Data presents the preaccession capacity building programmes and the import of German expertise as examples. The final section examines the issue of capacity and in particular, financial capacity, and uses this underlying theme to explore in detail why incompatibilities arise and why EU compliance is presented with certain obstacles

Complexity and control: how do they work in PPPs?

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