scholarly journals Getting a Foot in the Door: Small-Firm Credit and Interest Group Politics in the Netherlands, 1900–1927

2020 ◽  
pp. 1-37
Author(s):  
RUBEN PEETERS
Keyword(s):  
Small Firm ◽  
Small Firms ◽  
Power Structures ◽  
Access To Credit ◽  
Financial Infrastructure ◽  
History Of ◽  
Interest Group Politics ◽  
Group Politics ◽  
The Government

This article explores the link between the history of small-firm associations and the development of Dutch financial infrastructure geared toward small firms. In particular, it tests Verdier’s thesis about the origins of state banking using an in-depth case study of the Dutch small-firm movement. This article shows that Dutch small-firm associations did not simply became politically relevant and use their power to lobby for state banking, but rather used the topic of insufficient access to credit to rally support, mobilize members, and obtain subsidies from the government. During this associational process, they had to navigate local contexts and power structures that, in turn, also shaped the financial system. State banking was initially not demanded by small firms, but arose as the result of failed experiments with subsidized banking infrastructure and a changing position of the government on how to intervene in the economy.

scholarly journals Barriers for Eco-Innovations: A Case Study of a Small Firm in Poland

2013 ◽  
Vol 5 (1) ◽  
pp. 27-32 ◽  
Author(s):  
Andrzej H. Jasiński ◽  
Filip Tużnik
Keyword(s):  
Small Firm ◽  
Small Firms ◽  
Market Competition ◽  
Generation Gap ◽  
Local Administration ◽  
Retirement Age ◽  
Legal Regulations ◽  
Specific Nature ◽  
Innovative Solutions

Abstract This paper is mainly based on a case study of Tuzal Ltd. - a small firm acting in the eco-innovation market in Poland. The main aim of the paper is to analyze main barriers which are being met by enterprises, especially small firms, acting in the eco-innovation market. The following barriers are analysed: problems in convincing customers to innovative solutions; a specific nature of cooperation with local administration units; continuous changes in legal regulations; an increasing market competition; a lack of funds for marketing; a generation gap and a retirement age of the company’s owner.

Empirical Study on Adoption of Islamic Banking System Using Quantitative Method:A Case Study of Afghanistan

10.26414/a169 ◽  
2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Khatera Naseri ◽  
Ashurov Sharofiddin
Keyword(s):  
Diffusion Of Innovation ◽  
Banking System ◽  
Relative Advantage ◽  
Islamic Banking ◽  
Product Knowledge ◽  
Diffusion Of Innovation Theory ◽  
History Of ◽  
The Government ◽  
The Impact

Although the background of the banking system goes back as far as 1933, Islamic finance isstill new in Afghanistan. The history of the firstfull-fledged Islamic bank began asrecently as 2018 with the conversion ofBakhtarBank, a conventional bank, to the IslamicBank of Afghanistan (IBA). There have been numerousstudies done worldwide, but no empiricalstudy has examined the subject of Islamic banking adoption in the specific context of Afghanistan. Therefore, this presentstudy investigatesthe adoption ofIslamic banking in Afghanistan, using a case study of Herat province, based on Rogers’ (1983) Diffusion of Innovation Theory, to determine the impact of awareness,productknowledge,religiosity,relativeadvantage,compatibility, and complexity on the adoption of Islamic banking. A quantitative approach to the stratified convenience sampling method was used in this study. Questionnaires were distributed to 334 bank customers and the responses analyzed using SPSS v22. The multiple regression analysis finding indicated that product knowledge, relative advantage, and religiosity significantly and positively influenced the adoption of Islamic banking. It is suggested that the government and financial institutions should support Islamic banking with beneficial policies and initiatives to enhance the knowledge of the public about the significance of Islamic banking activities.

scholarly journals The Features of the Domestic Political Development of Mauritania during the Reign of Mohammed Ould Abdel Aziz (2009–2019)

2020 ◽  
Vol 12 (4) ◽  
pp. 607-621
Author(s):  
Maria I. Makhmutova ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Civil Wars ◽  
Political Development ◽  
Political Instability ◽  
Political Activity ◽  
Power Structures ◽  
Coup D'etat ◽  
History Of ◽  
The Government ◽  
The Arab Spring ◽  
The Military

This article is devoted to the study of domestic political development of Mauritania during the ten years President Mohammed Ould Abdel Aziz’s reign (2009–2019). The author focuses on the main challenges to the regime supported by the military junta, as well as on the key reasons for its preservation, despite the presence of sharp contradictions within the state. The army, entrenched in power structures, had to face such problems as terrorism from Al-Qaeda, the Arab spring, and the assassination attempt on the president. At the same time, the country’s authorities were able to address these problems through a tough fight against extremism. One cannot fail to note the introduction of the practice of expanding the circle of parties loyal to the president and the national dialogue with the opposition, which not only contributed to the legitimization of Abdel Aziz’s personality, but also continued his political activity. This occurred while most regimes in the Arab East either fell or were faced with lengthy civil wars. In addition, the author notes that the elections and referendum, as elements of democracy, have been used more than once by Abdel Aziz to advance his interests, despite protests and criticism from opposition parties. In fact, in 2017, the country’s leadership was able to rewrite the constitution for itself and subjugate the legislative and judicial branches of the government. It is worth stating that Abdel Aziz became the first head of state who, in the entire modern history of Mauritania, was able to ensure a peaceful transfer of power after the end of the second presidential term. This decision did not force citizens to experience another coup d’état and political instability. In general, the author comes to the conclusion that the rule of Abdel Aziz had two main features: the desire to retain all the levers of power and, if political instability is brewing, to initiate negotiations with the opposition. These contradictions were not resolved, and the pendulum constantly swung depending on the domestic political background in the country.

scholarly journals IMPROVING CHINA’S REGIONAL FINANCIAL CENTER MODERNIZATION DEVELOPMENT USING A NEW HYBRID MADM MODEL

2017 ◽  
Vol 24 (2) ◽  
pp. 429-466 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kuang-Hua HU ◽  
Wei JIANGUO ◽  
Gwo-Hshiung TZENG
Keyword(s):  
Causal Effect ◽  
Multiple Attribute Decision Making ◽  
Multiple Attribute ◽  
Financial Infrastructure ◽  
Financial Center ◽  
The Government ◽  
Using Data ◽  
Set Up ◽  
Network Relationship

The regional financial center is the propeller of regional economic development. Regional financial center modernization, however, has been the predominant propulsion of economic sustainability. Decisions related to regional financial center modernization development are in­herent problems of multiple attribute decision-making (MADM), and strategically important to the government. The purpose of this paper is to set up a regional financial center improvement model for modernization development, as based on a hybrid MADM model, which addresses the main causal-effect factors and amended priorities in order to strengthen ongoing planning. This paper adopts a new hybrid MADM model combined with the DEMATEL technique to construct an influential network relationship map (INRM) and determined the influential weights of DANP. Then, a modified VIKOR method using influential weights is applied to measure and integrate the performance gaps from each criterion into dimensions, as well as the overall criterion for evaluating and improving the modernization development of the regional financial center, as based on INRM. Finally an empirical case study using data from the Guangzhou regional financial center is carried out as an example to demonstrate the suitability of the proposed hybrid MADM model for solving real-world problems. The results show the priorities for improvement, as based on the degree of the effect and impact of the dimensions, as follows: first is making “government policy”, second is enforcing “financial infrastructure and safety”, next is formulating “financial institutions and human resources”, and finally “financial service”.

The privatization process in Argentina: the case of the Buenos Aires subway system

2015 ◽  
Vol 28 (3) ◽  
pp. 309-331
Author(s):  
Luis Sanz ◽  
Francisco A. Leguizamón R. ◽  
Guillermo Edelberg
Keyword(s):  
Buenos Aires ◽  
Private Companies ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Passenger Transportation ◽  
Third Phase ◽  
Subway System ◽  
History Of ◽  
Privatization Process ◽  
The Government

Abstract This case study examines the Argentinian privatization process that occurred in the early 1990s and which marked the start of the third phase of the history of public services in the country. The research focusses on the role played by a group of private companies in the privatization of the Buenos Aires Subway, an icon of the modernization of mass passenger transportation. It explores the background to the process, the alternative selling options available to the government and concerning the degree of public control that would be retained. It examines the effects of privatization on the economy of the country, on government debt and on the workers who lost their jobs as a result of the sale. The paper ends by describing the measures were taken during the transition from a bureaucratic management model to an entrepreneurial one. Resumen El caso examina el proceso de privatización en la Argentina a comienzos de los años 90..s cuando inició la tercera fase en la historia de los servicios públicos de ese país. Se centra en la exploración del proceso de transición hacia un conjunto de empresas privadas del Subterráneo de Buenos Aires, icono de modernización del transporte masivo de pasajeros Explora los antecedentes, las alternativas de venta por parte del gobierno, así como las relacionadas con el grado de control en manos de este último. Explora los efectos sobre la economía del país, la deuda del gobierno y el impacto sobre los trabajadores que no serían contratados luego de la privatización. Termina describiendo los cuidados adoptados en la transición desde una gestión de índole burocrática a otra de carácter empresarial.

scholarly journals Listening to the Public: An Inductive Analysis of the Good Citizen in a Deliberative System

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Katherine Knobloch
Keyword(s):  
Interest Group ◽  
Effective Means ◽  
The Public ◽  
Good Citizen ◽  
Deliberative System ◽  
Significant Research ◽  
Interest Group Politics ◽  
Group Politics ◽  
Conception Of The Good

Significant research has demonstrated that deliberative participation has a number of benefits for participants, leaving them more informed, efficacious, and engaged. Unfortunately, this model of the good citizen may be at odds with both what citizens want out of engagement and what might be most beneficial for self-empowerment. Activism, rather than deliberation, might be a more effective means of influencing public decisions, but traits associated with activism are often considered antithetical to deliberative participation. This paper utilizes a case study to ask what participants want out of engagement and whether their conception of the good citizen aligns with theoretical deliberative norms. Findings suggest that participants in a hybrid model of engagement that blends deliberative discussion with interest group politics want opportunities for public input that center interest formation and recognition, equity, and empowerment. These results suggest a need to better integrate the voices of citizens in normative deliberative theory and research.

scholarly journals Empowerment of Farmers toward Corporate Implementation

2021 ◽  
Vol 232 ◽  
pp. 01032
Author(s):  
Siti Sehat Tan ◽  
Lira Mailena
Keyword(s):  
Human Resources ◽  
Agricultural Sector ◽  
Relevant Literature ◽  
Secondary Data ◽  
Institutional Development ◽  
Government Programs ◽  
History Of ◽  
The Government ◽  
Group Association

During the last few years, farmer empowerment has been the main agenda of government programs to achieve the agricultural sector revitalization, which focuses more on human resources and farmer institutional development. Further, through the Minister of Agriculture, the government program with a target of establishing 350 farmer corporations by 2024 is a necessity if farmer groups are built with the support of the skilled and market-oriented. The assessment used a qualitative approach that focuses on data related to the assessment problem. Secondary data were obtained from various relevant literature to explore the correlationbetween empirical facts and government programs and regulations. The case study was conducted in October 2019 at Gapoktan Sidomulyo in Godean District, Yogyakarta Province. The results of the study showed that empirically, Gapoktan Sidomulyo is the advanced Farmer Group Association that successfully managed the farmer institution since it was supported by its history of formation and skilled human resources who were always market-oriented. On the other hand, the management of Gapoktan Sidomulyo still did not want to transform the Gapoktan into a legal business entity because it was considered more complicated and did not provide benefits.

Japan: Interest Group Politics, Foreign Policy Linkages, and TPP

2019 ◽  
pp. 573-591
Author(s):  
Christina L. Davis
Keyword(s):  
Foreign Policy ◽  
Regional Integration ◽  
Economic Restructuring ◽  
Trade Agreement ◽  
Economic Statecraft ◽  
The Face ◽  
Interest Group Politics ◽  
Group Politics ◽  
The Government

After years of reluctantly opening its markets in the face of pressure from abroad, Japan led the campaign to save the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP). This chapter evaluates the agreement from the perspective of Japan to investigate why the government chose to join TPP negotiations after years of delays, and why it became one of the first members to ratify the agreement even as US support for the agreement wavered amidst a fraught presidential campaign. TPP represents by far the most ambitious free trade agreement undertaken by Japan. It has been subject to tremendous resistance from farm groups and other interests, and moderate advocacy from industry. Against this backdrop, the value of the agreement as part of a geopolitical strategy was essential to Japanese support of TPP. The chapter argues that foreign policy interests were necessary to overcome domestic obstacles to liberalization. But the role of geopolitics in Japanese trade policy has moved beyond reaction to US pressure for liberalization. In the proactive use of economic statecraft, Japan seeks to deepen regional integration in East Asia and balance against China. Changes in the administrative process within the Japanese government and the decision to position the international trade agreement within the framework of policies for domestic economic restructuring further strengthened the resilience of Japanese commitment to the agreement and show how megaregulation can be embedded within domestic political reform agendas.

scholarly journals Growing a small firm; experiences and managing difficult processes

2020 ◽  
Vol 16 (4) ◽  
pp. 1445-1463 ◽  
Author(s):  
Maria Tunberg ◽  
Alistair R. Anderson
Keyword(s):  
Small Firm ◽  
Small Firms ◽  
Growth Process ◽  
Firm Growth ◽  
Social Phenomenon ◽  
Internal Development ◽  
The Moment ◽  
Narrative Forms ◽  
Output Indicators

Abstract Contrary to a simple model of small firm growth where increased inputs produce greater outputs, we consider growth is a complex and difficult process. Accordingly, the paper is concerned with how small firms grow, especially how they make sense of the growth process. We collected narratives of the experiences of small firm growth in an extended case study to draw out how growth is understood and managed. We saw how owners became entangled in the process of growing, especially where a change in one aspect led to problems in other dimensions of growth. Their narratives were about trying to make sense, and give some sense to the complexity of growth and some direction to what they should manage. We identified a repertoire of narrative forms: Growth is understood through output indicators, growth is treated as the internal development of the firm and finally, growth is taken to be inevitable - a necessity to which the firm has to conform. These illustrate how growth can be understood as processes of growing, bound up in the context, created in space and time, and contingent on how growth is understood and experienced. Far from a smooth trajectory, enacting growth reflects the experience of the moment, it is shaped by reactions rather than strategy and it is messy rather than ordered. This study contributes to the literature by complementing the functionalist and output oriented view by understanding firm growth as a social phenomenon constructed and reconstructed in the interactions between people and experiences of context.

Corrosive Effects: Environmental Ethics and the Metaphysics of Acid Mine Drainage

2001 ◽  
Vol 31 (1) ◽  
pp. 156-172
Author(s):  
Robert Frodeman
Keyword(s):  
Acid Mine Drainage ◽  
Environmental Ethics ◽  
Mine Drainage ◽  
Drainage Water ◽  
Environmental Philosophy ◽  
Mining Activities ◽  
Acid Mine ◽  
Interest Group Politics ◽  
Group Politics

AbstractEnvironmentally we seem to be both the victims and the perpetrators of a type of bait and switch: lured into the discussion by one set of intuitions, our interests become redescribed in terms that are intellectually more respectable. Our deepest concerns with the environment are converted into foreign discourses, as we strain to make the languages of science, economics, and interest group politics express our intuitions. The circumscription of environmental philosophy within environmental ethics is one manifestation of this process of bait and switch. 'Corrosive Effects' critiques this process through a case study of acid mine drainage-water pollution resulting from mining activities. An analysis of acid mine drainage reveals the metaphysical and theological roots of many of our environmental problems.

Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document