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on Project, Program and Portfolio Management |
| By: | Heli Koski |
| Abstract: | The private-collective business models that involve both private investment incentives and the production of public goods are not well understood. This empirically oriented research uses the unique data from the software industries of five European countries (Finland, Germany, Italy, Portugal and Spain) to illuminate the patterns of private, entrepreneurial provision of software placed in the public domain. The estimation results strongly suggest that the highly restrictive GPL (General Public License) works as an efficient coordination mechanism for the (leading) developers of the OSS community and spreads particularly via the firms that have participated in the OSS development projects. The software companies supplying the OSS, instead, tend not to aim at using the GPL to coordinate the further development of their own OSS. The firms are rather the origin of more flexibly licensed OSS products though gener-ally the software firms’ OSS business strategies relate to the restrictive licensing strategy choices |
| Keywords: | Open Source software, licensing, business strategies |
| JEL: | D21 D23 L23 L86 |
| Date: | 2007–05–02 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:rif:dpaper:1091&r=ppm |
| By: | Rodolfo, Ceferino S. |
| Abstract: | The Business Process Outsourcing (BPO) sector has experienced unprecedented global growth. This has greatly benefited the Philippines, where BPO has five main segments: call centers, medical transcription, animation, software development, and shared services. High population level, cultural affinity with the major markets, and advanced telecoms infrastructure are the key advantages of the Philippines. Political stability, on the other hand, is its main weakness. To ensure the sustainability of BPO sector growth in the Philippines, supply- and demand-side issues were examined. From the supply-side, BPO companies are increasingly finding it difficult and costly to attract, recruit, and retain qualified BPO professionals. The Government—both at the national and local levels—has partnered with the BPO industry and with academic institutions in addressing this issue. From the demand-side, on the other hand, critical developments in the United States—the main market for BPO services—highlighted potential threats to sustained BPO growth. First, the uncertain performance of the U.S. economy has led to increasingly vocal U.S. constituencies that demand protection for American workers. Second, heightened security precautions of the US have made it difficult, in general, to obtain visa. This has affected BPO professionals who need to travel to the US for technical, marketing, and human relations requirements of offshore projects. And third, there is an increasing need for data privacy and security especially in emerging BPO segments—health care and financial services. Should negotiations for the proposed RP-US Free Trade Agreement commence, it is recommended that the Philippine Government incorporate discussions on these potential threats to the sustainability of BPO sector growth. |
| Keywords: | competitiveness, investment, intellectual property rights, electronic commerce (e-commerce), market access, national treatment, business process outsourcing, cross-border trade in services, temporary entry of business persons, most favored nation, local presence, standards and certification |
| Date: | 2006 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:phd:dpaper:dp_2006-10&r=ppm |
| By: | Singh, Satyajit |
| Abstract: | This paper looks at the different paradigms of decentralization for drinking water supply in the Philippines and its effectiveness in poverty alleviation. As centralization and decentralization are not definitive concepts but defining features, there are bound to be different pathways to decentralization. Indeed, within a defined national path, there could be different ideological constructs of decentralization. These different paradigms create different institutional arrangements that are situated in the specific ideological construct of the time and place of its creation. With a shift in paradigm, say from one that can be classified as deconcentration to another that can be called democratic devolution, there would be key changes in the institutional designs for service provision. These different institutional designs of decentralization have different outcomes in the common quest for poverty alleviation. Empirical evidence points out that while new institutions would come up for fresh projects, the existing programs and projects that were crafted from an earlier paradigm continue at the same time. If the paradigm change has moved forward on the decentralization axis, then the adoption of newer institutions would have a better outcome in poverty alleviation. This paper calls for due attention of policymakers to address the concern of institutional transformation as one moves toward more progressive decentralization paradigms. The empirical evidence is provided from the Central Visayas Water and Sanitation Project from the province of Oriental Negros. |
| Keywords: | decentralization, drinking water, Oriental Negros, paradigms of decentralization, decentralization and service delivery, institutions and development, institutional design for decentralization, linkages between drinking water and poverty, politics of decentralization |
| Date: | 2006 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:phd:dpaper:dp_2006-19&r=ppm |
| By: | J Carlos Dominguez (QEH) |
| Abstract: | This work studies how different social mobilisation processes have influenced policy processes in Latin America (2000-2003) and vice versa. Studying these interrelations includes three issues of empirical and theoretical importance. First, it explores under what conditions an investment project or policy initiative that is strongly supported by a democratically elected government on the basis of economic and technical arguments may trigger the emergence of a social movement; and under what conditions a social movement may successfully preclude the implementation of such project or policy initiative. Second, this work explores if these social movements have actually compensated for the absence of channels of participation and representation that work to influence the institutional policy process. Third and final, it studies if the influence and impact of these social movements have contributed to improve the design and implementation of public policies in the medium term and to promote the democratic consolidation in the region. Although the work is based on evidence from many countries in the region, there are mainly two case studies presented with more detail: the 'Water War' in Cochabamba, Bolivia (2001-2002) and the conflict triggered by the project to build a new airport in Mexico City (2001-2002). The 'Gas War' of Bolivia (2003) is also explored with less detail. |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:qeh:qehwps:qehwps145&r=ppm |
| By: | Bert Hoffmann (GIGA Institute of Latin American Studies) |
| Abstract: | As the 'Washington Consensus' reforms are losing momentum in Latin America, the Inter- American Development Bank (IDB) is calling for shifting the focus from the content of policy choices to the political process of their implementation. As this paper studies the paradigmatic case of telecommunications reform in Costa Rica it underscores the importance of these 'politics of policies'. The analysis finds, however, that the failure of repeated liberalization initiatives was not only due to policy-makers' errors in steering the project through 'the messy world of politics' (IDB); instead, as liberalization remained unpopular, policy content indeed mattered, and only the interaction of both explains the outcome. Particular attention is drawn to the political feed-back effects, as the failed reform, precisely because it had been backed by bi-partisan support, became a catalyst for the disintegration of the country's long-standing two-party system. |
| Keywords: | Liberalization, privatization, telecommunications, public enterprises, Costa Rica, development model, Inter-American Development Bank |
| JEL: | E61 E65 H42 L33 L96 |
| Date: | 2007–04 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:gig:wpaper:47&r=ppm |