Hirschmanian themes of social learning and change

Many development strategies assume (or desperately hope) that a country already has the capacity to plan and implement institutional reform or that such institutional reform can be pushed through with the external pressures of aid and conditionalities. In a decentralized reform strategy, developmental change is induced not by government fiat but by releasing and channeling local energies in smaller projects that will in due course spread through links, learning, imitation, and benchmarking. A"Christmas tree"of conditionalities hung on an adjustment loan is generally ineffective in getting a country to develop"ownership"of reform or in generating sustainable change. Development agencies need to work toward client governments genuine commitment to policy reform rather than believe that they can"buy"such commitment with aid money. But how does a country get from here to there? Here is where the Hirschmanian notion of unbalanced growth can be"rediscovered."A country that has already developed a"good policy environment"is like a country that can implement the"balanced growth plans"of the earlier debate. Such a country would be well on its way to development. When the central government lacks such a capability, the Hirschmanian approach is to look for"hidden rationalities"in small areas or on the periphery and then help the small beginnings to spread--using, where possible, the natural pressures of linkages. Rather than try to put all the pieces of a jigsaw puzzle together at once to make it look like the picture on the box, one starts in the small areas where the pieces are starting to fit together and builds outward, using the links between the pieces. the author shows several authors arriving at a similar strategy from different starting points. Similar ideas underlie the Japanese system of just-in-time production based on inventory, local problemsolving, benchmarking, and continuous improvement: Charles Lindblom's theory of incrementalism and muddling through; Donald Schon and Everett Rogers's treatment of decentralized social learning; and Charles Sabel's theory of learning by monitoring.Educational Sciences,ICT Policy and Strategies,Public Health Promotion,Enterprise Development&Reform,Health Monitoring&Evaluation,ICT Policy and Strategies,Health Monitoring&Evaluation,Educational Sciences,Economic Theory&Research,Environmental Economics&Policies

A critical analysis of the taxation of income arising to contractors in relation to the execution of engineering, procurement, construction and installation (‘EPCI') contracts in the oil and gas sector

Globally, the past two years have been successful years in oil and gas exploration with discoveries almost doubling those made in 2017.1 Notwithstanding Africa's endowment in vast natural resources, including substantial oil and gas reserves, one of the most dramatic finds in Africa has been Mozambique's natural gas developments. Mozambique is set to become one of the largest and most dominant natural gas finds in the world. These developments have attracted the attention from countries around the world, the UAE, in particular, taking the lead. Engineering, procurement, construction and installation (“EPCI”) contracts, are a common form of contract in the oil and gas sector, which is used to undertake large scale oil and gas projects. The nature of these contracts consists of significant local (in-country work) and foreign (out-of-country work) elements. Due to the complex nature of EPCI contracts, one of the major areas of dispute in the taxation environment are the uncertainties around the taxation of profits arising to contractors under these contracts. The taxpayer and the Revenue Authorities have different views as to where the income arising from EPCI contracts is to be taxed. The taxpayer takes the stand that only such income from the project as is relatable to activities in the host state, should be taxed in the host state. The Revenue Authorities contend that EPCI contracts are to be considered as one and indivisible, and hence the entire income from the contract is liable to be taxed in the host state. Based on an examination of recent judgments passed by the Authority of Advanced Rulings (“AAR”) and various Tax Courts, currently, there seems to be no certainty regarding the taxation of income arising to contractors under an EPCI contract and this has in turn resulted in a number of contractors having to pay excessive taxes. This dissertation seeks to analyse the tax treatment of income arising to contractors, from supplies and services under an EPCI contract in the context of the oil and gas sector entered into between Mozambique and the United Arab Emirates (“UAE”), in Mozambique. The purpose of this analysis is to determine how these profits should be taxed, in light of the Mozambique-UAE Treaty2 and Mozambican domestic legislation. In other words, the question that this dissertation seeks to answer is, whether profits arising from an EPCI contract in the oil and gas sector, should be taxed as a whole in Mozambique, or per the various components of the EPCI contract. 1 Fuel for thought, Africa oil and gas review, 2019, Current developments and a look into the future, www.pwc.co.za/oil-gas review [November 2019]. 2 Convention between the Republic of Mozambique and the Government of the United Arab Emirates for the Avoidance of Double Taxation with respect to Taxes on Income and Capital (2003). The key finding arising from the research presented in this dissertation is that although an EPCI contract is entered into in Mozambique (consisting of both offshore and onshore elements), this would not make the entire income from that contract to be taxable in Mozambique. Importantly, only such part of the income as is attributable to the operations carried out in Mozambique can be taxed in Mozambique. Following the analysis, as described above, this dissertation finally endeavors to provide recommendations on how contractors should approach and structure EPCI arrangements in order to create the best possible situation for themselves within the limits of what the law allows, and to reduce potential tax litigation. This can serve to inform other developing countries who have oil and gas operations

Revisiting the economy by taking into account the different dimensions of well-being

In standard economic models benevolent governments are the unique actors in charge to tackle the problem of reconciling individual with social wellbeing in presence of negative externalities and insufficient provision of public goods. Some promising practices of grassroot economics suggest however that, even a minoritarian share of concerned individuals and socially responsible corporations which internalise externalities, significantly enhance the opportunities of promoting "sustainable happiness" harmonising creation of economic, social and environmental value.well-being; sustainable happiness; role; ethical and solidarity initiatives

Benefits of BIM technology on construction management

İnşaat projelerinin çok disiplinli ve karmaşık bir yapıda oluşu yönetimsel zorluklarında yanında getirmektedir. Yapım yönetiminde en önemli 2 madde zaman ve maliyet yönetimidir. İnşaat projelerine 7 boyutlu bakma imkanı sağlayan yapı bilgi modellemesi teknolojisi yönetimsel zorlukları ortadan kaldırmaktadır. Yapıların imalatından önce tamamen sanal ortamda oluşturulması hata payını en aza indirmektedir. Tüm yapıda neler olacağı sanal ortamda simüle edilerek gözlemlenme imkanı sağlar. Bu inşaat sektörünün dijital döşümüne olanak tanır. Yapı bilgi modellemesi teknolojisi, yapım yönetimi ekiplerine önemli ölçüde kolaylık sağlayacaktır. Geleneksel yöntemlerle çizilen projeler 2 boyutlu olarak CAD ortamında hazırlanır ve sadece çizgilerle temsil edilir. Yapı bilgi modellemesi ile inşaat projeleri 3 boyutlu olarak akıllı objeler kullanılarak tasarlama imkanı sunar. 4. Boyut olarak zaman yönetimi incelenir ve 5. Boyut olarak maliyet tahmini yapılır. Bu çalışmada BIM sistemlerinin ne olduğu açıklandı. geleneksel yöntemlerle BIM arasında ki farkları gözlemlemek için bir adet vaka çalışması yapıldı. BIM’in Yapım yönetimine olan faydaları incelendi. Yapılan vaka analizi ve literatür taraması sonucunda görüldü ki BIM inşaat sektöründe dijital bir dönüşüm sağlamaktadır. Tüm paydaşlar arasında aynı dili konuşma imkanı sunan ortam hazırlamaktadır

Proceedings of Task Force Meeting "Organizational Structures in Innovation Management", Prague 30 May-3 June, 1983

The papers in this volume are the proceedings of the Task Force Meeting on "Organizational Structures in Innovation Management" held in Prague from 30 May to 4 June, 1983, within the framework of the IIASA Innovation Management Case Study. This study is not primarily the result of IIASA in-house research but is based on collaboration with various organizations from IIASA's National Member Organization (NMO) countries. At present the study has more than 70 collaborators from 17 countries, including 9 international organizations (among them 5 international management organizations), and 14 industrial firms from 9 countries (see Appendix 4). Though there are myriad innovation studies on-going around the world, IIASA has the unique advantage of bringing analysts together in a comparative international setting. The study has been organized as a partial input to a representative final monograph on "Innovation Management in Electrotechnology: Adapting to a Changing Environment". Different issues included in the study are planned to be discussed at separate task force meetings and the proceedings and discussion materials from these meetings will be integrated and used as basic information for a final Vienna conference next year and for preparation of the monograph (see Appendix 5). The first of the above events was held in Leningrad in June 1982 and selected papers from this meeting were published as a IIASA Collaborative Paper CP-83-29. These proceedings are from the second in the series of task force meetings and the program is attached as Appendix 1. This program was used by the participants as a guideline in preparing their papers. A total of 8 countries (4 East and 4 West) were represented by 16 participants from both industry and research. Five Directors from electrotechnical firms were present (from Austria, Bulgaria, Czechoslovakia, Finland and Yugoslavia) delivering papers on the accumulated experience of their companies. Representatives from 5 management organizations, i.e., the Institute of Management in Prague, the Institute for Systems Studies in Moscow, the International Research Institute of Management Sciences in Moscow, and the Department of Business Administration from the University of Gothenburg, also presented papers reflecting the results of their work in the design of management organizational structures. Representatives from 2 additional organizations, the firm "Electrosila" (Leningrad) and the Polytechnical Institute (Leningrad) sent their papers as contributions to the meeting. (For a complete list of participants see Appendix 3). The first report, presented by Prof. Holec, at the first plenary session was a general overview reflecting most of the papers and its object was to describe the trends of development in the organizational structures of the electrotechnical industry. This report helped in focusing the other presentations and discussions on the most important and mutually interesting problems within the framework of organizational structure issues. All other papers are arranged in the same order they were presented at the meeting (see Appendix 2 for the Agenda of the meeting). The discussions are presented in summary form and reflect the character of the productive and creative environment of the meeting. Finally, although we are indebted to many people who contributed towards the success of this meeting, special mention must be made to Helen Vyshinksaya for translating and language editing some of the papers and to Susie Riley who played the crucial roles of administrative assistant, language editor, typist and conscience during all stages of preparation for the meeting and these proceedings

Electronic democracy strategy for Bahrain

This thesis attempts to answer the question ‘What e-democracy strategy, if any, is most suitable for Bahrain?’. Based on a qualitative case study for the country, an e-Democracy strategy is synthesised and presented in this thesis. The literature review includes the forms, ideals and values of democracy. The researcher supports and argues for the assertion that any attempt to implement e-Democracy must not undermine the basic values and ideals of democracy. In the review on Islam and democracy, the author argues that Islam is not against democracy. However it is asserted that e-Democracy implementation must consider the cultural and religious context of Bahrain. The process of democratisation and how it is taking place in Bahrain and Gulf countries are also discussed. A strategy formulation framework is adopted after reviewing literature on how to formulate a strategy. E-Government strategies of reading players in the e-Government are reviewed with an objective of learning lessons prior to formulating e-Democracy strategy. The literature review on e-democracy helped to understand the theory and practice of e-Democracy elsewhere in the world and identify issues that required further investigation. The issues identified from the literature were investigated using empirical data. Data from multiple sources were collected and analysed. The methods included interviews, focus groups and analysis of documents. The results confirm that most of the issues identified as part of the literature review are relevant to the case under investigation. However, there were issues that were not present in the literature. This includes the need to consider democracy’s human, social and cultural aspects as well as factors pertaining to the political divide in Bahrain. This, if not tackled properly, may pose some challenges to the implementation of e-Democracy. The results also disprove the assumption held by the government of Bahrain, as well as by the researcher at the beginning of the study, that e-voting is a more plausible type of e-democracy than other forms. The author adapts and presents an e-Democracy model for Bahrain based on Chadwick and May (2003) along with the e-Democracy strategy for Bahrain. The author also argues that the model and the strategy can be tailored to use in other GCC countries. The study fills a gap in the literature, namely the lack of e-democracy studies pertaining to the Middle East. It also provides a framework and lessons for other countries in the region for the creation of an e-democracy strategy

A novel TODIM based on prospect theory to select green supplier with q-rung orthopair fuzzy set

The authors would like to acknowledge the financial support by the Fundamental Research Funds for the Central Universities (#JBK2001043, and #JBK190969), the FEDER funds provided in the National Spanish project PID2019-103880RB-I00 and also it has been partially supported by grant from the National Natural Science Foundation of China (#71910107002).Green supply chain has developed rapidly due to the advocacy of ecological civilization, and choosing a proper green supplier is a crucial issue. Considering the fuzziness of evaluation information and the psychological states of decision makers (DMs) in selecting process, a novel TODIM based on prospect theory with q-rung orthopair fuzzy set (q-ROFS) is proposed. The novel TODIM concerns both the perceived transformed probability weighting function and the differences in risk attitudes. A new distance, which concerns the herd mentality, is carried out to measure the perceived difference of the q-ROFS. Besides, a new systematic evaluation index system, named as PCEM (Product, Cooperation ability, Environment, Market), has been established. A case related to pork supplier companies is presented and fully demonstrates the effectiveness of the novel TODIM when compared with the extended one, the intuitionistic fuzzy TODIM, the Pythagorean fuzzy TODIM as well as the TOPSIS with q-ROFS. Finally, a series of comparative analyses illustrate the advantages of the proposed TODIM.Fundamental Research Funds for the Central Universities JBK2001043 JBK190969FEDER funds provided in the National Spanish project PID2019-103880RB-I00National Natural Science Foundation of China (NSFC) 7191010700

Knowledge based system development as an engineering process

This thesis was submitted for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy and awarded by Brunel University.Knowledge Based System (KBS) development is a difficult and challenging task, in particular in knowledge intensive domains. The traditional view of knowledge engineering is one of mining experts' knowledge and somehow transforming it into a machine usable form. This process, in general, suffers from insufficient or misconstrued representation of experts' problem solving behaviour. It is also unstructured and unduly biased at an early stage by design and implementation issues - normally in the form of incremental prototyping. We believe that both knowledge acquisition and KBS development for real life applications will require a 'structured' approach. This approach should harness a KBS developer's ability in extracting knowledge and developing systems. The structure should also be sufficiently flexible to allow the knowledge engineer to use his sense of creativity in developing a KBS. This thesis puts forward such a structured approach, in which KBS development is carried out in an engineering fashion. A process in which the worker is provided with an environment for developing knowledge based systems as an engineering process, as opposed to that of an artform or crafting. The main emphasis of this work is that part of the process which deals with the analysis and design phases in developing KBS. The analysis is performed at an 'epistemological' level, not coloured by design or implementation issues. The output of this phase captures both an expert's problem solving capability, and the business constraints placed upon the intended system. This is then used by the design process in order to create an optimal, workable, and elegant design architecture for the ultimate system.Commission for the European Communities' ESPRIT programme (Project Number 1098