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on Project, Program and Portfolio Management |
| By: | Manalili, Nerlita M.; Yaptenco, Kevin F.; Manilay, Alessandro A. |
| Abstract: | The Philippine government's postharvest loss reduction programs entail significant investments (manpower, facilities, and equipment) and their impacts need evaluating. Thus, the Philippine Institute for Development Studies and the National Economic and Development Authority commissioned NEXUS Agribusiness Solutions to undertake the "Rapid Appraisal of Selected Postharvest Facilities in the Philippines". The postharvest facilities (PHF) selection process considered at least one each for Luzon, Visayas, and Mindanao, and for the following PHF categories: 1. equipment and facilities required immediately after harvest; 2. processing and storage facilities; and 3. market infrastructure and transport facilities. Selected were four rice processing centers, established through a Korean International Cooperation Agency grant, in Pangasinan, Davao del Sur, Bohol, and Iloilo. Using these sites as hub, other nearby PHF such as food terminals, flatbed dryers, and threshers were included for evaluation. In the context of upgrading value chains, reducing postharvest losses and improving economic outcomes for smallholder farmers, selected PHF were characterized and assessed. Recommendations centered on project management enhancement (timeliness of preparatory activities, participatory planning, etc.) and on operational improvements (capacity utilization, viability, and sustainability). |
| Keywords: | Philippines, postharvest loss, postharvest facility, value chain, agricultural marketing, rapid appraisal |
| Date: | 2015 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:phd:dpaper:dp_2015-31&r=ppm |
| By: | Suhasini Shastri |
| Abstract: | As per The Companies Act 2013, compulsory spending on socially responsible activities is now a matter of debate and discussion among the industrialists, social activists, Government, managers, researchers and various institutions. In today’s scenario social responsibility is not merely a concept of charity or donation but organizations are trying to go beyond this concept and executing the whole CSR project as a need based phenomena. Awareness of this term of CSR is actually very less among the common people. Good number of government organizations and private organizations are serving to the society under this head. Involvement of all stake holders is essential part in every CSR activity. More or less every stake holder in every organization is associated with responsible activities. It is a humble duty of the owner of the company to nurture its organization and employees on the basis of values and to create a culture where employees engage themselves with the organization positively and have respect for the same. Top level management of the company should channelize CSR activities in co ordination with the employees of the department and try to make them work in socially responsible way. Key words: Corporate Social Responsibility, stake holders, social development, society, industry and organizations |
| Date: | 2015–06 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:vor:issues:2015-06-15&r=ppm |
| By: | Contreras, David Osuna |
| Abstract: | The main focus of this study was the transactional and collaborative nature of the engineering consultant – client relationship. The aim of the study was to determine the extent to which each one of these approaches describes real life business relationships in the engineering consulting context. The study revealed that, in New Zealand, relationships between engineering consultants and their clients were mostly of a collaborative nature. However, collaborative trust-based relationships were held between individuals, not between companies. Even though clients and consultants also engage in transactional relationships, the extent of this type of relationship was significantly low. It was also found that confrontational relationships do not constitute a third framework to in understanding client-consultant relationships. This type of relationship corresponds to a circumstantial context that is more common in transactional scenarios than in collaborative ones. The decision on whether a relationship evolves depended on the client’s and consultant’s interests. Regardless of how a relationship started, whether it is a transactional or collaborative beginning, its evolution was determined by the levels of trust that were built up over time. The challenge for consulting companies lies in taking the personal relationship between consultants and their clients to a state in which the individual expertise sought by clients was transferred to the company brand. A collaborative approach had direct implications on other elements of the consulting business model such as value proposition, customers, costs and revenue. Similarly, collaborative relationships were the essence of the “key partners” element of a client’s business model. Due to the highly tailored nature of engineering consulting businesses in New Zealand, it is considered to be a type of business which is very difficult to scale. Only transactional relationships offer the option to take advantage of economies of scale as these are easier to fit into standardised procedures. It is therefore considered that collaborative relationships will not fit a business model based on economies of scale. The following recommendations are provided should either party want to nurture a collaborative relationship: • Both clients and consultants should see each other as equally powerful while working together, as power imbalances of any kind can have negative consequences for the results of consulting projects. It is also suggested to establish a clear division of roles and responsibilities as this is a critical success factor in consulting projects. • It is important that both client and consultant have as much shared input as possible during the scope of work definition. If there are any modifications to the scope of work during the project, these should be discussed with the stakeholders in order to ensure that the revised scope of work meets the expectations of both parties. • The interaction between parties during the problem solving process should be kept as open as possible to maximise the two-way flow of ideas. For clients, it is suggested to allocate as much time as possible to the technical discussion with the consultant. • If there are contracting teams involved in the negotiation process, it is important to differentiate their role from any existing relationship between individuals. • An idea is a network. Building up collaborative networks with people from different backgrounds creates the right environment for the formation of innovative ideas. It is highly recommended to use collaborative interaction as the start of a client-consultant dynamic to foster the creation of new ideas and solutions. |
| Keywords: | Client consultant relationship, Transactional relationship, Collaborative relationship, |
| Date: | 2014 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:vuw:vuwmba:4408&r=ppm |
| By: | Tomba Chingthem; Laimayum David Sharma |
| Abstract: | The present study attempts to explore the attitude of parents towards private tuition and its causes, effectiveness of private tuition and the problems on the lives of parents. From the result of the research the causes of increasing trend of private tuition are – overcrowded classroom and lack of individual attention in the school, heavy stress on academic performance, frequent bandhs, general strikes or blockade and other social issues, ineffective classroom teaching and rigid curriculum, examination oriented school culture, influence of family members, relatives and friends, an alternative means to help weak children, insufficiency of academic guidance for the future in the family, to keep children gainfully occupied in their studies and means for minding children and keeping them attach with their books. While studying the problems of private tuition in the lives of the parents, the problem are – large amount of money spend on children’s private tuition, socially accepted culture to improve the learning and academic performance, wealthy households are capable of spending more money than poor households and has created a serious socio-economic division in the society, put parents in the society into financial burden and exhaustion, parents to pay less attention to their professions as they are confined in attending their children in private tuition centres on daily basis, resulted a negative backwash in the society by robbing the thinking power, creativity and problem solving skills of the children, parents are compelled to send their children to private tuition under the pressure and influence of their family, friends and relatives, parents as a whole are not proportionately benefitted in terms of the results of their children academic performance as to the money they have spent on private tuition and spending most of the time in attending children private tuitions affects physical and mental health. The findings may help to improve the present education system and to enable eradication of private tuition in our society. Key words: Parents’ attitude, private tuition, factors of private tuition, problems of private tuition, Imphal, Manipur. |
| Date: | 2015–06 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:vor:issues:2015-06-07&r=ppm |
| By: | Mojmir Mrak; Sandor Richter (The Vienna Institute for International Economic Studies, wiiw); Tamás Szemlér |
| Abstract: | Summary This study analyses the key patterns of cohesion policy within the overall framework of the EU budget, viewed from the perspective of the new Member States of Central and Eastern Europe. In more specific terms, the main objectives are, first, to analyse past trends of cohesion policy and the attitude of various groups of countries towards this policy; second, to assess the position of cohesion policy within the 2014-2020 medium-term financial framework of the EU; and third, to discuss alternative options for cohesion policy within the framework of the EU budget in the post-2020 period. In methodological terms, the conceptual parts are based primarily on a qualitative analysis of the literature while empirical inputs were provided first of all through an expert questionnaire survey and country case studies. The research results convey the important message that the feasibility of scenarios other than maintaining the ‘status quo’ will most probably not depend on the behaviour of the new Member States. Despite their strong and explicit interest in securing ample resources from cohesion policy funds for themselves, the new Member States’ administrative and academic experts with their non-negligible influence on the political decisions of their governments cannot be seen as a stumbling block in the way towards reforms for a modernised and more rule-based EU budget. A resolute shift towards increased EU budgetary support for projects with more European value added and stronger future orientation than today, and a fair and transparent distribution of net financial positions will be far more determined by the outcome of multifaceted interest reconciliation among the ‘major players’ of the ‘old’ EU-15. |
| Keywords: | European Union, new Member States, EU budget, Multiannual Financial Framework, cohesion policy, net financial positions |
| JEL: | F15 F36 F42 F53 H19 H39 H49 H87 |
| Date: | 2015–05 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:wii:rpaper:rr:400&r=ppm |
| By: | Aristide MABALI; Moundigbaye MANTOBAYE |
| Abstract: | In 2003, Chadian authorities passed the Law N° 001/PR/1999, establishing rules for allocating and managing the expected oil royalties from the Doba Oil project. The oil producing region’s share amounts to 5% of oil revenues under this law in addition to other benefits related to its status in order to mitigate negative effects of the oil project. Many field studies attempted to assess poverty situation in this region. Yet, no rigorous method of impact assessment has been employed. The goal of this paper is to evaluate the poverty profile in this region, by combining a double difference estimator with propensity score matching methods. Using data from the «Survey on Consumption and the Informal Sector in Chad» carried out in 2003 and 2011, our results tend to show that the monetary poverty increased in the oil producing region compared to control regions. We find no evidence that the nonmonetary poverty decreased in the producing region, as the important investments in social infrastructures could have implicitly suggested. In addition, we notice that household expenditures for temptation goods increased in this region compared to the others. Finally, we observe that there are spillover effects. Especially the neighboring regions of the oil producing region are more likely to experience poverty. These results raise the issue of the efficiency of the law and of its enlargement to newly discovered oil fields. |
| Keywords: | oil resources, Poverty, Impact evaluation, and Chad |
| JEL: | C22 I32 |
| Date: | 2015–06 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cdi:wpaper:1694&r=ppm |
| By: | Piret Tõnurist; Rainer Kattel; Veiko Lember |
| Abstract: | While innovation labs (i-labs) are increasingly popular in the public sector, there is almost no systematic academic overview of these organizations. This article is a first comprehensive attempt to map and analyze such labs globally. We have identified 35 such organizations all over the world. The research is based on a two-step approach: first, a comprehensive survey was carried out followed by an extensive in-depth interview with the managing figures of i-labs; 11 i-labs responded. The survey is based on longterm and large-scale research into public sector organizations in Europe (COBRA project); we have significantly updated it to fit our purposes. In this article we report our first findings. I-labs are rather unique organizations and diverse in their mission, expected to act as change agents within public sector and enjoy large autonomy in setting their targets and working methods. I-labs are typically structurally separated from the rest of the public sector and expected to be able to attract external funding as well as ‘sell’ their ideas and solutions within the public sector. I-labs tend be small structures, specializing on quick experimentations and usually lack the capabilities and authority to significantly influence up-scaling of the new solutions or processes. The main capabilities of i-labs are their ability to jump-start or show case user-driven service re-design projects. Interestingly, IT capabilities seem to be not that prominently present in the studied i-labs. In sum: i-labs, although prominent in many modern public management strategies, are yet far from becoming organic parts of public sector, which is paradoxically both their weakness and strength. |
| Date: | 2015–06 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:tth:wpaper:61&r=ppm |
| By: | Francisco Lupiañez-Villanueva (Open Evidence); Anna Sachinopoulou; Alexandra Theben (Open Evidence) |
| Abstract: | In 2003 Oulu was already a technology city and had set a target of becoming a pioneer in the development of technological well-being products and services. One of the most successful services is the Oulu Self-Care, which was planned, implemented and piloted in the Kasio Project (2007-2009). The aims of the project were to develop self-care services along with an environment for new product and service testing with the participation of citizens and professionals. The Self-Care platform was opened to all citizens in 2010 as an internet-based portal. It focuses on life style and disease prevention. It also includes self-care services for chronically ill patients, which implement the Chronic Care Model developed in another project called PISARA with the cooperation of other municipalities in Finland. |
| Keywords: | SIMPHS, eHealth, Remote Monitoring, ageing, integrated care, independent living, case studies, facilitators, governance, impact, drivers, barriers, integration, organisation |
| JEL: | I11 I18 O33 O38 |
| Date: | 2015–06 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ipt:iptwpa:jrc94492&r=ppm |
| By: | Stephanie Carretero (European Commission – JRC - IPTS); Csaba Kucsera (European Commission – JRC - IPTS) |
| Abstract: | This report elaborates five case studies of good practices of technology-enabled services for independent living of older adults at home from the 14 obtained in the deliverable 1 of the ICT-AGE project. The aim is to obtain policy lessons studying a group of variables related with the creation and implementation of these services by public long-term care systems, such as business case and models, training actions, scaling and market creation, evaluation process and organisation change, among others. A case study is provided per each good practice on the basis of the variables analysed. |
| Keywords: | long-term care, social investment, social return, information and communication technologies, active and healthy ageing, quality of care, productivity, carers, financial sustainability, care, savings, ageing in place, social innovation |
| JEL: | I00 I18 |
| Date: | 2015–06 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ipt:iptwpa:jrc94633&r=ppm |