Can Financial Innovations Mitigate Civil and Ethnic Conflict?

March 14, 2013

The failure to align the incentives of self-interested groups in favor of beneficial reform is often considered a major cause of civil conflict and persistent underdevelopment around the world. However, much less is known about strategies that have been successful at overcoming such challenges. This article discusses the role of financial instruments as a means for fostering broad political coalitions that favor beneficial reform and mitigate social conflict, drawing on historical cases in which innovative financial assets, often introduced by technocratic reformers, have succeeded at making politics less conflictual over time.

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Law and the Technologies of the Twenty-First Century

March 14, 2013

By Roger Brownsword & Morag Goodwin

The authors of Law and the Technologies of the Twenty-First Century (Cambridge University Press, 2012) examine both the challenges and opportunities that are arising regarding regulatory frameworks and emerging technologies, looking specifically at: prudence, legitimacy, effectiveness and connection.

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Oil For Food: Big Business in The Middle East

January 14, 2013

By Eckart Woertz

Middle Eastern countries are highly dependent on food imports. They have reacted to the global food crisis of 2008 with various measures to guarantee food security. The main concern of the oil rich Gulf countries is not so much high food prices, but a repetition of export restrictions that food exporters like Argentina, India and Vietnam enacted in 2008. To address this risk, they have increased subsidies and strategic storage, tried to make domestic agriculture more water-efficient and have announced ago-investments abroad. The article takes a look at these measures as the challenges and pitfalls of chosen strategies have become more discernible. The Gulf countries’ ability to adapt to food security challenges will play a major role in the social and economic stability of their states and in the direction of their investment policies both at home and abroad.

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Sistema, Power Networks and Informal Governance in Putin’s Russia

January 14, 2013

By Alena Ledeneva

In her new monograph Can Russia Modernise? Sistema, Power Networks and Informal Governance, Alena Ledeneva seeks to decode and reveal how informal power operates. Concentrating on Vladimir Putin’s system of governance – referred to as Putin’s sistema – she identifies four key types of networks: his inner circle, useful friends, core contacts and mediated connections. These networks serve sistema but also serve themselves. Reliance on networks enables leaders to mobilise and to control, yet they also lock them into informal deals, mediated interests and personalised loyalties. Ledeneva’s perspective on informal power is based on in-depth interviews with sistema insiders and enhanced by evidence of its workings brought to light in court cases, enabling her to draw broad conclusions about the prospects for Russia’s political institutions. The book is available from Cambridge University Press from February 2013.

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Macro-Prudential Supervision in Europe’s Banking Union

January 14, 2013

By Dirk Schoenmaker

Eurozone banking union discussions are full of questions about the scope of Eurozone micro-prudential bank supervision. Yet, this article argues that there is surprisingly little debate on the macro-prudential supervision that is necessary to safeguard the wider European financial system. After all it is macro developments, such as rapidly rising housing prices, that lie at the heart of the ongoing crisis in Europe. To safeguard the financial system, Eurozone macro-prudential tools should be under the ECB, separate from micro-prudential functions, with input from national central banks when differentiation is necessary.

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January – February 2013

January 14, 2013

Technology
Why Information Providers Need To Be Open To Sharing in Their Business Models
Joshua Gans

Enterprise Risk Management. A need to hasten the obliteration of legacy IT systems
Anna DeSimone

Strategy
The Limits to Outsourcing: Beware of the Consequences for Market Success!
Masaaki Kotabe, Michael J. Mol, Janet Y. Murray & Ronaldo Parente

The Oreo Story: How Kraft Turned America’s Favorite Cookie into a Chinese Classic
Michael J. Silverstein, Abheek Singhi, Carol Liao & David Michael

Business
Everyone Leads
Paul Schmitz

A Story About Inspiring A Local Community To Become Entrepreneurial Using Lessons Learnt From IT Management Consultancy
Yiannis Kanellopoulos

Global Tourism and Travel Industry: Performance During the Double-Dip Recession and Recommendations for Transition to a Green Economy
Maharaj Vijay Reddy

Africa
How rapidly should Africa go Green? The tension between natural abundance and economic scarcity.
Paul Collier & Anthony J. Venables

Middle East
Oil for Food: Big Business in the Middle East
Eckart Woertz

Asia
Transport and the Environment in Asian Megacities
Shinya Hanaoka

Canada
Calgary, Canada: A Global Energy and Financial Centre
Paul Paynter & Rachel Yin

Innovation in Canadian Natural Resource Industries: A System-Based Analysis of Performance, Policy and Emerging Challenges
Andrew Sharpe

Europe
Macro-Prudential Supervision in Europe’s Banking Union
Dirk Schoenmaker

Russia
Sistema, Power Networks and Informal Governance in Putin’s
Russia
Alena Ledeneva

Latin America
The Silicon Valleys of Latin America – Searching For “Shared Value” Development Models
Luciano Ciravegna

Transport And The Environment in Asian Megacities

January 14, 2013

By Shinya Hanaoka

This article has addressed two environmental problems whose origins lie in the transport sector: local air pollution and CO² emissions. Globally, the contribution of these impacts in Asian megacities shows an increasing trend, and therefore calls for serious mitigation efforts mainly regulation measures and ways to improve emission intensity. There are good prospects for policy measures to deliver CO² reduction in Asian developing countries as co-benefits rather than as primary benefits and that are politically acceptable, such as mass rapid transit and compact city design, among others.

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The Oreo Story: How Kraft Turned America’s Favorite Cookie into a Chinese Classic

January 14, 2013

By Michael J. Silverstein, Abheek Singhi, Carol Liao & David Michael

When Irene Rosenfeld became CEO of Kraft Foods in June 2006, she became the leader of a company organized in two divisions: North America and International. The international business was a low-growth and Europe-heavy counterpart of the core U.S. business. Most of the international business consisted of German coffee, European cheese, and Milka brand chocolate. In addition, there were numerous orphan businesses – small, one-off country positions. Advertising support was in the low single digits and declining. Profits were erratic, as the commodity-driven portfolio lacked pricing power. Consumer market research was a stepchild.

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Global Tourism and Travel Industry: Performance During the Double-Dip Recession and Recommendations for Transition to a Green Economy

January 14, 2013

By Maharaj Vijay Reddy

This review article outlines the impressive growth of the global tourism and travel industry during the on-going economic slowdown. It briefly addresses the recovery and business status in several geographic regions and countries including a few Small Island Developing States based on policy and statistical reports. The debates linking the climate change threats and the environmental costs are focussed throughout. It points out international initiatives, some of the opportunities and challenges facing a green economy transition as well as a set of recommendations.

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Innovation in Canadian Natural Resource Industries: A System-Based Analysis of Performance, Policy and Emerging Challenges

January 14, 2013

By Andrew Sharpe

Innovation is an important driver of productivity growth, which in turn is a major source of improvement in living standards. Given the growing importance of the natural resources sector in the Canadian economy, innovation in this sector is particularly relevant. This article, based on a much large study, using a systems-of-innovation approach, analyzes the innovation performance of the Canadian natural resources sector by comparing it to that of the Canadian business sector as a whole. The key conclusion of the report is that the overall innovation performance of the Canadian natural resources sector, especially the mining and oil and gas sectors, is strong and has improved in recent years.

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