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on Project, Program and Portfolio Management |
| By: | Rabah Arezki; Amadou Sy |
| Abstract: | This paper studies the appropriate financing structure of infrastructure investment in Africa. It starts with a description of recent initiatives to scale up infrastructure investment in Africa. The paper then uses insights from the literature on informed vs. arm’s length debt to discuss the structure of infrastructure financing. Considering the differences in investors’ preferences that Africa faces, the paper argues that continent’s success to fill its greenfield and hence risky infrastructure gap hinges upon a delicate balancing act between development banking and institutional long-term investment. In a first phase, development banks which have both the flexibility and expertise should help finance the riskier phases of large greenfield infrastructure projects. In a second phase, development banks should disengage and offload their mature brownfield projects to pave the way for a viable engagement of long term institutional investors such as sovereign wealth funds. In order to promote an Africa wide infrastructure bond markets where the latter could play a critical role, the enhancement of Africa’s legal and regulatory framework should however start now. |
| Keywords: | Africa, Infrastructure Finance, Development Banks, Long-term Investors |
| JEL: | H49 H54 G30 G38 |
| Date: | 2016 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:oxf:oxcrwp:173&r=ppm |
| By: | Asian Development Bank (ADB); Asian Development Bank (ADB) (South Asia Department, ADB); Asian Development Bank (ADB) (South Asia Department, ADB); Asian Development Bank (ADB) |
| Abstract: | This publication reports the results of an exploratory study on civil society organization (CSO) engagement—particularly nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) and community-based organizations (CBOs)—in ADB operations. The focus is on South Asia and the starting point of inquiry is on 33 projects that illustrate the roles and forms of NGO and CBO engagement in Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Nepal, and Sri Lanka. The report includes a section on ADB technical assistance and grant projects. Another section presents other potential areas of CSO engagement such as in project planning stages, development and evaluation of the sector and country partnership strategies, and corporate policy and strategy discussions. The concluding section puts forward challenges and areas of innovation that may be considered in collaborating with NGOs with the aim of enhancing the quality of ADB development efforts. |
| Keywords: | civil society organization, cso, community-based organizations, cbos, nongovernmental organizations, ngo engagement, cso engagement, south asia, development efforts, community interaction, mobilization, social services |
| Date: | 2015–12 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:asd:wpaper:rpt157648&r=ppm |
| By: | Elisabetta Marinelli (European Commission – JRC - IPTS); Susana Elena Pérez (European Commission – JRC - IPTS); Josep Alias (ACUP (Catalan Association of Public Universities)) |
| Abstract: | Regional Smart Specialisation Strategies (RIS3) are aimed at developing nation-al/regional competitive advantages following a vertical prioritisation logic based on the bottom-up identification of a limited set of priorities where regions believe they have potential to obtain a comparative advantage. Priorities are identified and pursued through the interaction of stakeholders across the quadruple helix of government, industry, academia and society at large. This is because entrepreneurial knowledge is most often distributed across a regional system. This cyclical and recursive process of identification and prioritisation is referred to as an Entrepreneurial Discovery Process (EDP). In this context, universities and regions have a unique opportunity to form partnerships, together with the business sector, to maximise the use of European Structural and Investment Funds (ESIF), and particularly the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF), hence contributing to the local knowledge-based development. Although universities are placed in a good position to contribute significantly to the process of local development, it is difficult to evaluate whether and how such potential can be untapped (Kempton et al., 2013). This report, which is based on collaboration between the JRC-IPTS and the Catalan Association of Public Universities (ACUP), contributes to this debate by exploring universities’ role within RIS3 in the case of Catalonia. The paper first assesses the role of universities in the overall design and implementation of the Catalan RIS3 and EDP, and then goes in depth into one of its key instruments, namely the RIS3CAT Communities. Catalonia’s Smart Specialization Strategy (RIS3CAT) lays the framework under which the Government of Catalonia carries out RDI (Research Development and Innovation) policies in the current programming period (2014-2020) and supports the generation and development of innovative projects aiming to further develop the region. RIS3CAT establishes that the sectors defined as strategic for Catalonia are structured into RIS3CAT Communities. Each community is expected to carry out initiatives to facilitate collaboration among sectorial stakeholders, to improve competitiveness and to generate solutions to society’s changing needs. These communities will be one of the key tools through which universities and other stakeholders in strategic sectors are able to apply for ERDF-funded grants. The case of Catalonia is particularly interesting as the region is home to several public universities displaying remarkable differences in terms of size, scientific specialisation and relationship to the territory. In this respect Catalonia provides the opportunity to test how different types of Higher Education Institutions (HEIs) can respond to the RIS3. |
| Keywords: | universities, smart specialisation strategies, instruments |
| Date: | 2016–05 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ipt:iptwpa:jrc101214&r=ppm |
| By: | Arturs Zeps (Riga Technical University); Leonīds Ribickis (Riga Technical University); Juris Iljins (Riga Technical University) |
| Abstract: | This article explores the importance of internationalization and valorization in technical Universities as one of core priorities for achieving international excellence and strengthening university – industry collaboration. The World is becoming more interconnected and Higher Education institutions can no more act on their own – they are motivated and even forced to become international. But an important topic for management of each University, especially technical, is to strengthen the collaboration with business in global environment. Valorization or creation of new products and services through innovation process is an important task for all technical Universities that want to maintain strong bond with the industry and capitalize on this process. This article is based on research conducted between technical Universities in Baltic States, where different processes in university internationalization and valorizations have been distinguished as main driving forces of institutional development. The conducted research shows that this task can be achieved by increased international research, student mobility, large scale jointly managed projects and other international activities. After internationalization and valorization processes have been analyzed, establishing the most critical key elements for fostering both of these processes, authors present an evaluation of Riga Technical University’s case as an example on how internal Information Systems provide the possibility for management to both implement strategic settings of the University and accelerate valorization within the University. This can be achieved trough correct strategy development based on key elements of valorization and internationalization, effective strategy implementation, monitoring and creating of appropriate incentive mechanism where IT support pay an important role. |
| Keywords: | Internationalization, valorization, strategy, information system |
| JEL: | O32 I23 M15 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:sek:iacpro:3606332&r=ppm |
| By: | Shrimali, Gireesh; Konda, Charith; Farooquee, Arsalan Ali; Nelson, David |
| Abstract: | Auctions for renewable energy are gaining popularity around the world. In this context, we examined 20 renewable energy auctions in India and elsewhere to answer two questions: first, have auctions been effective; and second, how can they be designed to achieve India’s renewable energy targets? We found that auctions are almost always cost-effective, with savings up to 58% from baseline feed-in tariffs. However, auctions have not resulted in adequate deployment, with only 17% of the auctions with greater than 75% deployment. We then examined how to best design auctions by assessing seven major risks, and found the following: first, for every 1% increase in total risk, deployment effectiveness decreased by 2 percentage points; second, project specific risks have 60% greater impact than auction specific risks; and third, deployment effectiveness is most affected by auction design, completion, and financial risks. We also found that right policy design can lower these risks to improve both deployment and cost effectiveness. |
| Keywords: | Renewable energy auctions, competitive bidding, electricity auctions, effectiveness of auctions |
| JEL: | Q4 Q5 |
| Date: | 2015–05 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:71211&r=ppm |
| By: | Asian Development Bank (ADB); Asian Development Bank (ADB) (Sustainable Development and Climate Change Department, ADB); Asian Development Bank (ADB) (Sustainable Development and Climate Change Department, ADB); Asian Development Bank (ADB) |
| Abstract: | A study of how PPPs have been employed by ADB developing member countries in Asia and the Pacific identified seven initiatives that adopted the underlying principles of PPP in developing and delivering ICT for education services. Public-private partnerships (PPPs) have generated a lot of interest from governments around the world for leveraging private sector involvement in developing and sustaining public infrastructure and services. Initially, PPPs were favored by transport, energy, and other large infrastructure-intensive sectors. More recently, the concept has been expanded to include social sectors such as education. |
| Keywords: | education, public-private partnerships and education, communications technology and education, PPP and education, PPP and ICT, ICT and education |
| Date: | 2015–11 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:asd:wpaper:abf157760-2&r=ppm |
| By: | Carolin Haeussler; Henry Sauermann |
| Abstract: | Even though teams have become the dominant mode of knowledge production, little is known regarding how they divide work among their members. Conceptualizing knowledge production as a process involving a number of functional activities, we first develop a conceptual framework to study the division of labor in teams. This framework highlights three complementary perspectives: (1) individual level (the degree to which team members specialize vs. work as generalists), (2) activity level (the degree to which activities are concentrated among few team members vs. distributed among many) and (3) the intersection between the two (e.g., which activities are performed jointly by the same individual). We then employ this framework to explore team-based knowledge production using a newly available type of data – the disclosures of author contributions on scientific papers. Using data from over 12,000 articles, we provide unique descriptive insights into patterns of division of labor, demonstrating the value of the three complementary perspectives. We also apply the framework to uncover differences in the division of labor in teams of different size, working in novel vs. established fields, and on single vs. interdisciplinary projects. Finally, we show how division of labor is related to the quality of teams’ research output. We discuss opportunities for extending and applying our framework as well as implications for scientists and policy makers. |
| JEL: | J24 O31 O32 |
| Date: | 2016–05 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:nbr:nberwo:22241&r=ppm |
| By: | Andrea Bonilla Bolaños (Université de Lyon, Lyon, F-69007, France ; CNRS, GATE Lyon St Etienne,F-69130 Ecully, France) |
| Abstract: | Although economic literature about regional integration is substantial, its definition remains controversial. For instance, it is common nowadays for the terms regional integration and regional economic integration to be used interchangeably in spite of the importance accorded by literature to non-economic factors of integration, particularly to political ones. Inspired on the South American integration project, this paper revisits the theory of regional integration and proposes a novel approach for evaluating regional integration initiatives that include not only political but also physical aspects. More specifically, this article proposes to analyze any regional integration project from three complementary angles: economic integration, political integration, and physical integration. Moreover, it argues that political and physical integration constitute a preliminary, or contemporaneous, step toward economic integration, and not a final stage, as the current debate suggest. In other words, it is argued that a zero-stage in (Balassa, 1961)'s theory of economic integration is needed to enable the long-term sustainability of a regional bloc. |
| Keywords: | Economic integration, Physical integration, Political integration, Regional integration, South America, Survey |
| JEL: | F02 F15 |
| Date: | 2016 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:gat:wpaper:1617&r=ppm |