Forest Governance: Hydra or Chloris?

Many forest-related problems are considered relevant today. One might think of deforestation, illegal logging and biodiversity loss. Yet, many governance initiatives have been initiated to work on their solutions. This Element takes stock of these issues and initiatives by analysing different forest governance modes, shifts and norms, and by studying five cases (forest sector governance, forest legality, forest certification, forest conservation, participatory forest management). Special focus is on performance: are the many forest governance initiatives able to change established practices of forest decline (Chloris worldview) or are they doomed to fail (Hydra worldview)? The answer will be both, depending on geographies and local conditions. The analyses are guided by discursive institutionalism and philosophical pragmatism. This title is also available as Open Access on Cambridge Core.

COVID-19 Responses of South Korea as Hybrids of Governance Modes

The countries worldwide have adapted diverse governance approaches to the pandemic to suit their contexts. While the diversity of the country-specific governance responses has been widely discussed, the hybrids nature of those governance practices has been explored less. This study analyses the responses toward COVID-19 in South Korea as responsive dialogues of different modes of governance, i.e., consensus-based hierarchy, state-sponsored market, and principle-based network. This study aims to remind us that pandemic governance needs to enable organic and responsive processes for all actors in society. This conceptual discussion of the governance modes illustrates that the pandemic allowed the emergence of the hybrids of governance modes to cope better with the complex realities of the diverse sectors and actors in South Korea. The characteristic of the responses diverges from the conventional governance classification of or market-based. It is a responsive and evolving dialogue of different modes of governance. It would be productive to think beyond the oversimplified understandings of governance modes and embrace flexible and different hybrids of governance modes to be more responsive, effective, efficient, and equitable.

THE CHOICE OF PROJECT GOVERNANCE MODES TO MINIMISE CONTRACTORS’ OPPORTUNISTIC BEHAVIOUR

In this era of globalisation and fierce competition among businesses, contractors in the construction industry often tend to engage in opportunistic behaviour to gain more benefits at the expense of owners. The past researchers have defined contractors’ opportunistic behaviour (COB) as the behaviour of the contractor that is motivated to pursue self-interests at the expense of the client. The researchers in this field have identified project governance (PG), which considered as management of project management can be used to minimise the COB. Trust and formal control are the major PG modes that are used in the global construction industry. However, there is a dearth of research that identified the suitable PG modes to minimise the effects of COB in the Sri Lankan construction industry. Hence, this study aims to investigate the PG modes that can be used to minimise the effects of COB. Accordingly, qualitative research approach was adopted to achieve the research aim. A comprehensive literature review followed by case studies was conducted to investigate the synergy between the concepts. Information gathered were subjected to content analysis. This study revealed that formal control and combination of trust and formal control as the most suitable PG modes for Sri Lankan construction industry. The research further identified the factors that affect the COB namely, contractors focus on revenue maximisation, external uncertainties, contractual complexity, and dynamic complexity. The study further highlighted the importance of minimising COB to help minimise conflicts and reduce the financial losses incur for project stakeholders.

Exploring the determinants of regional health governance modes in the Global South: A comparative analysis of Central and South America

What explains the variation in how states collectively deal with public health challenges across different regions? We tackle this puzzle by comparing the regional health governance efforts pursued within the Central American Integration System (SICA) and the Union of South American Nations (UNASUR). We show that Central America's health governance has been driven by external actors, whereas South America's was driven by states within the region, and remained insulated from external actors’ influence. We argue that the explanation for such variation lies in the interplay of state capacity and regional leadership. In Central America, weak state capacity combined with the absence of a regional leader willing to provide governance resources. This opened up space for external actors to contribute actively to regional health governance, complementing the governance of Central American governments. In South America, Brazil's regional leadership mobilised neighbouring states’ capacities by promoting a South-South cooperation agenda based on intra-regional exchanges among national health bureaucracies, which, however, proved vulnerable to intergovernmental conflicts. Through the comparison of Central and South America, the article bridges the gap between global health governance scholarship and comparative regionalism, providing new insights on the determinants and effects of regional health governance modes in the Global South.

Governance modes in supply chains and financial performance at buyer, supplier and dyadic levels: the positive impact of power balance

PurposeThis study analyzes whether power in the supply chain, based on governance modes and network centrality, explain financial performance at different levels of analysis: buyers, suppliers and dyads.Design/methodology/approachThe study employs a dual macro-micro lens based on global value chain (i.e. market, modular, relational and captive governance modes) and social network analysis (network centrality) to assess the impact of power (im)balance onto financial performance. Different from previous research, this study adopts information reliability techniques – such as information entropy – to differentiate the weights of distinct financial performance metrics in terms of the maximal entropy principle. This principle states that the probability distribution that best represents the current state of knowledge given prior data is the one with largest entropy. These weights are used in TOPSIS analysis.FindingsResults offer insightful reflections to SCM research. We show that buyers outperform suppliers due to power asymmetry. We ground our findings both analyzing across governance modes and comparing network centrality. We show that market and modular governances (where power balance prevails) outperform relational and captive modes at the dyadic level – thus inferring that in the long run these governance modes may lead to financially healthier supply chains.Originality/valueThis study advances SCM research by exploring the impact of governance modes and network centrality on performance at both firm and dyadic levels while employing an innovative combination of secondary data and robust set of techniques including TOPSIS, WASPAS and information entropy.

Global Value Chains and Industrial Relations in the Global South: Social Upgrading Paths in Different Industries

The article compares social upgrading trends in four global value chains (apparel, automobiles, electronics and it services) and six developing and emerging economies (Bangladesh, Brazil, China, India, South Africa and Vietnam). It applies a framework, which combines analyses of industry-specific governance modes with recent theoretical approaches from the field of industrial relations. The empirical results show that prospects for social upgrading within similar segments of a particular value chain considerably depend on the national context. The article thus highlights the importance of integrating the role of national institutions into global value chain analysis in order to better explain variegated upgrading dynamics across different countries and industries.

What Drives Different Governance Modes and Marketization Performance for Collective Commercial Construction Land in Rural China?

The collective commercial construction land (CCCL) reform in China has attracted considerable attention worldwide, but studies on the influencing factors and performance of governance modes for CCCL marketization are still in their infancy. First, by deconstructing CCCL, this study developed a conceptual framework from the perspective of transaction cost economics. Based on a series of surveys, interviews, and closed questionnaires in two pilot areas, this study determined the influencing factors for governance mode choice for CCCL marketization through comparative case studies and compared the performance of the government-led and self-organized modes. This study concluded that asset specificity, uncertainty, and frequency were the main influencing factors for transaction costs, which could influence the choice of governance mode for CCCL marketization. Moreover, the characteristics of the two aforementioned governance modes, transaction costs, and specific revenue distribution resulted in different marketization performances.

Governance capacity and regulatory enforcement: street-level organizations in Beijing’s food safety reform

How street-level organizations enforce regulations carries important governance implications. Through reviewing the regulatory enforcement literature and categorizing it into three broad governance modes, this article discusses the individual and organizational capacity prerequisites for street-level organizations to enact the corresponding government–society relationship and improve governance outcomes. Through analyzing enforcement challenges faced by street-level officers in Beijing’s recent food safety reform, the article also identifies the essential capacities for street-level organizations to regulate under a legal-hierarchical governance mode. The article hopes to inspire further research to uncover specific governance capacity requirements for other administrative organizations under different governance modes.Points for practitionersApart from policy effectiveness, government regulators should also sometimes pay attention to their impacts on governance. Despite frontline regulators’ discretion, street-level organizations may improve governance outcomes by devising and implementing regulatory enforcement programs and strategies in line with the governance mode the government is engaged in as what they do enacts the specific government–society relationship in the governing process. Administrators in charge of street-level organizations may benefit from cultivating capacities essential to actualizing the respective governance mode. Absence of these capacities is likely to undermine governance effectiveness.