On shaky grounds: The case for the privatization of the public housing sector in the Netherlands

The research reported on is Project 44 of the STEPRO research program of the Institute of Geographical Research IRO of the University of Utrecht. The project was supported by grant SRO 530-242-016 from the Dutch National Science Foundation ZWO. We want to thank the provincial directorate of the Ministry of Housing, Physical Planning and Environmental Protection in Noord-Brabant for his help. A first draft of this article was discussed at the conference ‘Housing between State and Market’ in Dubrovnik in September 1988.     

Organizational practices that enable and disable knowledge transfer: The case of a public sector project-based organization

Project-based organizations (PBOs) are framed in a dynamic bi-directional interaction between the permanent organization and its temporary units (projects). The study of knowledge transfer in PBOs has focused exclusively on the knowledge transfer practices held at the realm of the temporary units; however, we still need to understand how the permanent organization can enable this knowledge transfer process. Using a deductive-inductive approach and exploring the case of a division managed as PBO in a provincial government agency in Canada, we analyzed how the practices led by the permanent organization enable the actual knowledge transfer across projects. We found that different practices conducted at the level of the permanent organization were enabling or disabling the performance of formal and informal knowledge transfer practices executed at the temporary units. In this work we show how by distorting the goal of the formal knowledge transfer practices the permanent organization pushed the project team members to the use of informal knowledge practices to overcome this flaw. We argue that a balanced deployment of formal and informal knowledge transfer practices not only can boost knowledge transfer but also can reinforce the temporary organizations’ embeddedness within the permanent organization.     

Matrix organizational structure,culture and commitment: a Hong Kong public sector case study of change

This paper reports on the impact of organizational change on a government department in Hong Kong. It focuses on the perceptions of professional personnel of the organizational culture developed in the depart4 ment and its mismatch with their expectations. The commitment of the professionals to their organization was measured, and found to be limited solely to a level of continuance commitment. The results of the study are discussed and explained in part by reference to Hofstede's cultural concepts of power distance and individualism, and by reference to traditional Chinese cultural values.     

The private sector and public space in Dutch city centres

Private sector involvement in the design and financing of urban redevelopment projects has been relatively rare in the Netherlands. The public sector has traditionally played a central role in spatial planning and development. Since the 1980s, however, local authorities have been sharing the responsibility for urban development with the private sector. This article explores the viability of claims drawn from the literature about the effects of private sector involvement in redeveloped public space. Confronting those claims with our empirical material, we expected to find that the participation of the private sector would increase the redevelopment budget but would also lead to restrictions on public access. These two expectations are evaluated in light of the experience in four redeveloped squares in four Dutch cities: Rotterdam, Dordrecht, Enschede and ’s-Hertogenbosch. We found that actors on the public and private sides have different interpretations of what constitutes a direct financial contribution. Those from the private sector believe they have made significant contributions, while those from the public sector see themselves as the sole funders. But they agree on the issue of free access: both public and private actors deny any negative effects of private sector involvement in this respect.     

Urban size and public expenditure: A case study

This paper is concerned with the influence of urban size on the variations of public expenditure per capita in Morocco. The conclusion is that urban size may be considered as an intervening variable and that public expenditure is dependent upon urban wealth. In a dynamic perspective, it is shown that the elasticity of public expenditure in relation to population is negatively linked to population growth, and that the elasticity is independent from urban size.     

Moving on and moving up: The experience of households who resell public sector dwellings

The long‐term consequences of the sale of public sector dwellings to sitting tenants are under‐researched; in particular, the experience of tenant purchasers in the housing market subsequent to purchase is little known. This paper reports research designed to fill this gap in knowledge. Over 200 tenants who had bought their dwelling from the Scottish Special Housing Association and subsequently resold on the open market were traced using the Register fo Sasines and the Land Register and interviewed. Most had made considerable capital gains on resale and had used some of the realised capital to trade up in the housing market. They were, on average, slightly more affluent and younger than sitting tenant purchasers generally; they represented a group of households who were privileged within the public sector through living as tenants in the best stock and who were enabled by the Right to Buy to convert that good luck into hard cash and move into mainstream owner occupation. This good luck compounded the advantaged position vis‐à‐vis other tenants that they enjoyed in the labour market.     

The evolution of prefabricated residential building systems in Hong Kong: A review of the public and the private sector

Prefabricated building components have been adopted in Hong Kong for over two decades for high-rise buildings. In the public sector, prefabrication together with standard modular design was introduced in the Housing Authority's public housing projects in the mid-1980s. Over the years, precasting techniques have significantly evolved in public housing projects. In contrast, prefabrication has only recently been adopted in the private sector. The aim of this paper is to examine the evolution of precasting technology in high-rise residential developments in Hong Kong, and then explore the technological influences in both sectors. A database of 179 prefabricated residential buildings was developed and detailed case studies of five residential developments were conducted. The findings revealed that a greater extent of prefabrication use over the years, in terms of precasting percentage by volume and types of precast elements utilised. Major prefabrication innovations, in both sectors, influenced the technological advancement in prefabrication in Hong Kong.     

Private sector housing in urban China since 1949: The case of Xian

Research on urban housing policies in socialist China and Eastern European countries has concentrated on understanding the production and distribution of state housing. More recently researchers have shifted their attention to the commodification of urban housing and establishment of private housing markets. A very important aspect of socialist housing ‐ the process of nationalisation of privately owned urban housing in the early period of socialist development ‐ has been relatively neglected. Ignoring this aspect of the historical background of socialist urban housing policy may create difficulties in understanding the nature of the public sector and recent privatisation experience.

This paper intends to fill this gap in relation to China by examining both the nationalisation of urban privately owned housing in the early years of socialism and the more recent privatisation and commercialisation of the urban housing sector. This highlights shifting approaches to the urban housing market in different periods of socialist development and helps in understanding recent developments in housing reform. It examines the development of policy and the resultant impacts on the private housing market in Xian, one of the major cities in central China. The pattern of private ownership, the state policy of nationalisation and the more recent commercialisation of urban public sector housing are the main issues examined.     

Value creating construction virtual teams: A case study in the construction sector

The research explores factors influencing knowledge value creation of virtual teams in the construction industry. Collectiveness and conscientiousness emerge as important socio-cultural enablers for value creation. Collectiveness represents the degree of cohesiveness and social relationships between virtual team members and conscientiousness represents an awareness of the situation and avoidance of uncertainty and risk by team members. Moreover, technology assets, human networks, social capital, intellectual capital, and change management are identified as essential ingredients that have the potential to ensure effective knowledge value creation.     

Managing customer relationship management projects: The case of a large French telecommunications company

Customer relationship management (CRM) implementation projects reflect a growing conceptual shift from the traditional engineering view of projects. Such projects are complex and risky because they call for both organisational and technological changes. This requires effective project management across various phases of the implementation process. However, few empirical researches have dealt with these project management issues. The aim of this research is to investigate how a “project team” manages CRM implementation projects successfully, across the different phases of the implementation process. We conducted an in-depth case study of the “Firm-Clients Branch” of a large telecommunications company in France. The findings show that, to manage CRM implementation projects successfully, an integrated and balanced approach is required. This involves appropriate system selection, effective process re-engineering and further development of organizational structures. We highlight the need for a “technochange approach” to achieve successful organisational transition and effective CRM implementation. The study reveals that the project team plays a central role throughout the implementation phases. Furthermore the effectiveness of technochange depends on project team performance, technology efficiency and close coordination with stakeholders.     

Private financing in the dutch public housing sector: The rise and fall of the accumulative loan

The author wishes to thank miss Barbara den Boer for her translation.     

Public sector housing in Urban China 1949–1988: The case of Xian

The literature on housing systems and housing policy in different countries has made an important contribution to the analysis and understanding of key issues relating to the origins and nature of state intervention in housing, and to the interaction of specific social, political and economic forces. The most important initial contributions to this literature referred principally to the advanced industrial economies of Western Europe and North America. This paper aims to broaden the base of comparative research in housing and add to the understanding of public sector housing provision and policy in China. It examines the development of public sector housing in urban areas between 1949 and 1988 through a study of Xian City, and provides detailed analyses of distinctive features of the Chinese urban housing system. The objectives are to fill the gap in the existing literature on housing provision in China through reference to the inland area of the country. This paper concludes that the current urban housing system reflects the particular social, political and economic relationships between the people, the employers and the government. Housing reform in China will not only bring about a major privatisation process, but it will involve a fundamental re‐organisation of the urban society.     

Managing resistance in an organizational transformation: A case study from a mobile operator company

Organizations change. Change can be organized by projects and programs. Relevant environments of a change project or program can have different relationships to the change and may exert resistance. This paper presents a case study of an organizational transformation of a mobile operator company. The objectives of the paper are to discuss and reflect the management of resistance within a change program. Resistance is considered to possibly have positive and/or negative impact on a change, and to be exerted by internal or external environments. Within this change program, resistance is explicitly considered from a risk management perspective. The author therefore draws analogies to risk and discontinuity management and offers a model to manage resistance to change within a change program. The model discusses the identification and evaluation of resistance potentials, the planning of managing resistance, the avoidance and promotion of and the preparation for resistance, the resolution of resistance and the controlling of resistance measures and potentials.     

The contribution of academic-industry interaction to product innovation: The case of New York State's medical devices sector

This note examines the role of academic-industry linkages in the innovation performance of New York State manufacturers of medical devices. Evidence from a pilot survey of 63 specialised producers suggests that innovation rates are higher among firms that exploit university resources. The contribution of the academic sector to industrial innovation is quantified via a series of OLS regressions. These models suggest that geographic proximity to academic resources is less important to the innovation process than the extent of academic-industry interaction (though the two are positively correlated). While the empirical results confirm that close proximity to academic research units is a helpful factor in product development, the data reveal that non-geographic factors play a stronger role overall. Factors of notable significance include in-house R&D effort, investment in academic interaction and the extent of collaborative research with other manufacturing firms. Received: 14 March 2001 / Accepted: 15 June 2001     

Auction procedures and competition in public services: The case of urban public transport in France and London

In many countries, governments are pushing for the introduction of competition in the organization of public services and more broadly in public procurement. The development of public–private partnerships throughout the world is a good illustration of this trend. In order to foster competition, competitive tendering through the use of auctions is now common. Nevertheless, competition for the field must be organized. Depending on the rules of the game chosen, introducing competition for the field may or may not be successful. In this paper we investigate two alternative models for organizing local public services, namely the French and the London models of urban public transport. Few competitors and collusive behaviours, with increasing costs, characterize the French model, while the London model, as far as we have seen, exhibits better results, by using the transparency of auction procedures and the discretionary power of the regulator as two complementary instruments to foster competition and prevent anti-competitive behaviours.