Thesis (Ph. D.)--Miami University, Dept. of Political Science, 2007. / Title from second page of PDF document. Includes bibliographical references (p. 136-141).

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This research examines management of public-private partnerships (PPPs) in the two transitional countries of the former Soviet Union - Kazakhstan and Russia. The study focuses on how key PPP actors in Russia and Kazakhstan perceive and adapt to contract regulation, risk allocation and dispute resolution challenges in PPP management. The qualitative study draws on data from 30 in-depth semi-structured interviews with the respondents from four partnership projects, national and regional PPP centres, law firms and the government. Through a qualitative analysis of the interview data, four principal themes have emerged including partner opportunistic behaviour in a PPP; partner interaction; risk management in a PPP; and constraints and impediments to effective PPP governance. Utilising the PPP governance concept as the guiding theoretical framework, the research highlighted partners' opportunistic behaviour. A private partner exhibited its opportunism in a tariff setting and cost increases, whilst the public sector partners demonstrated their opportunistic behaviour by shifting public acceptance risk to a private party, exerting pressure in order to achieve results faster than contracted and framing a private partner's management flexibility. The findings revealed that partners from both sectors tend to downplay the significance of governance structures that would permit them to effectively interact and resolve all kinds of issues including those of risk management. Investigation of tools for dispute resolution between partners showed that this area of collaboration is virtually non-existent. Partners largely disregard formal mechanisms for dispute resolution and excessively rely on informal relations. The research identified a large number of commonalities in PPP management and no major discrepancy between Kazakhstan and Russia with regards to partnership management and PPP critical success factors. In the latter, managing public-private relationship during the entire project term is the principal factor. The study developed a model for more deeply understanding PPP governance in the two countries, which is the thesis' original contribution to knowledge. The model's core is the emergent PPP policy paradigm that the governments in both countries use. The study delineated the paradigm's principal elements and dynamics that contribute to PPP management changes in Kazakhstan and Russia. The research also contributes to knowledge by enhancing opportunism's definition and its application in the PPP setting.

published_or_final_version / Urban Planning / Master / Master of Science in Urban Planning

published_or_final_version / Business Administration / Master / Master of Business Administration

published_or_final_version / Business Administration / Master / Master of Business Administration

published_or_final_version / Business Administration / Master / Master of Business Administration

Prior to 1970 the Saudi Government faced severe socioeconomic problems two of which were: (1) the contribution of the private sector to the Gross Domestic Product was low, and (2) the oil revenues were the main source of the national income. As the oil revenues rapidly increased between 1972 and 1981, the government used every means at its disposal to encourage the private sector. The goal was to diversify the sources of national income in order to decrease the dependency on oil revenues as the main source of national income. To achieve this the government has provided interest-free loans to the private sector which, along with the demand, has increased the gross domestic fixed capital formation of the private sector. The purpose of this study was to theoretically explain the phenomenal expansion of the private sector. Three models were developed from the least to the most difficult. The main principle of the models is that the expansion of the private sector is stimulated because of the low cost of capital in Saudi Arabia. Since oil revenues (the main source of government expenditures) have decreased in recent years questions have been raised concerning the ability of the private sector to support the economy. It is argued that the demand of national and international markets will increase in the future, thus allowing the private sector to expand further. Even though the cost of capital will increase, Saudi companies will be able to compete either nationally or internationally. In addition, the competitiveness of the Saudi capital market may increase which will, in turn, benefit the Saudi economy.

A research report submitted to the Faculty of Commerce, Law and Management, University of the Witwatersrand, in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Management specialising in Innovation Studies Johannesburg, 2015 / It has been stated in literature on National Systems of Innovation, growth theory and competitive advantage, that there has been an emergence of a consensus on the impact of technology on economic prosperity and competitiveness. The systems approach, with its emphasis on knowledge, learning and institutions has stressed the need for institutional change and greater integration between technology policy, industrial policy, and other aspects of public policy. There is also a need for greater coordination and integration between technology and industrial policy, and of employment and income distribution policies on each other. The ability of the government (policy makers and implementers) to achieve this intergration and coherence is key in ensuring achievement of the goals. The study assessed and evaluated the processes set up by the South African government to achieve coherence in the formulation and implementation processes. Research Questions:  Does coherence exist between the Innovation and Industrial Policy? What is the extent of the coherence?  What are the factors hindering or promoting coherence?  What is the impact of coherence or lack thereof on the achievement of goals? The methodology used in this study was document review and analysis, combined with elite interviews of senior managers in the government departments that are custodians of the policies being studied. Having coherent policies leads to achievement of set objectives and priorities. In order to achieve this coherence, there must be political leadership and commitment. It must be a general objective in all action taken by government. In South Africa, the intention is there and the structures have been set up. The evidence of Political leadership is in the Constitution, the highest law of the land. It is stipulated in the Constitution (RSA, 1996) that the policies of the government-of–the day should be executed in a cooperative manner, because in the Republic of South Africa, government is constituted as national, provincial and local spheres that are distinctive, interdependent and interrelated. The Constitution further stipulates that all spheres of government and all organs of state within each sphere must exercise their powers and perform their functions in a manner that does not encroach on the geographical, functional or institutional integrity of government in another sphere, and co-operate with one another in mutual trust and good faith. In order to manage and address the challenges of policy coherence and coordination, the South African Government has established a cluster system. These clusters are called Ministerial Clusters, which were established to foster an integrated approach to governance that is aimed at improving government planning, decision making and service delivery. The main objective is to ensure proper coordination of all government programmes at national and provincial levels. The main functions of clusters are to ensure alignment of government wide priorities; facilitate and monitor the implementation of priority programmes; and provide a consultative platform on cross-cutting priorities and matters being taken to Cabinet (SA Government, 2015). Regulations have been also put in place to foster intergovernmental relations through the Intergovernmental Relations Framework Act, Act No. 13 of 2005. Challenges of capacity and resources exist in the goverment in terms of policy coordination. Monitoring, evaluation and reporting structures have been created in the form of a ministry in the presidency, the Department of Performance Monitoring and Evaluation (DPME). This monitoring is confined to the monitoring and evaluation of the performance of the departments and the clusters against the outcomes stated in the Plan of Action. More reviews need to be undertaken by policy scholars to assess the impacts of the policies on the overall governmental goals.

M.Com in Development Theory & Policy, University of the Witwatersrand / South Africa’s industrial policy is fundamentally aimed at transforming the domestic economy into a labour-intensive growth path in order to create jobs (the dti, 2013a, p. 10). In pursuit of this aim the industrial policy takes a transversal approach to promote particular types of economic activity or particular economic sectors (the dti, 2013a, pp. 15-17; Zalk, 2014, p. 335). Using the case of the automotive sector, this study analyses the role played by the state and how institutional aspects of the industrial policy and investment promotion affected policymaking and the outcomes. The findings were that, due to incoherent institutional support and informational asymmetry, industrial policy has supported export growth in spite of the continued dependence on imports; and did not support employment, because it was biased towards OEMs and did not differentiate between the different categories of components according to job-creation potential. Institutional aspects of industrial policy-making and implementation then – not the ownership power of multinational corporations – has entrenched unequal power relations within the automotive value-chain, which undermines the broader socio-economic goals of industrial policy. Hence, due to both the policy measures and the institutional design South Africa’s industrial policy has not been oriented towards more labour-absorbing activities, especially in the impact on local components manufacturing. The result has been growth in exports with limited integration of local producers into the global value-chains of multinational OEMs, except in the case of vertically integrated multinational component producers, at the expense of local value-addition and job-creation. / MT2017