Business and Public Administration Studies (E-Journal, Washington Institute of China Studies - WICS)
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A Critique of Precision Poverty Alleviation: Does China Approach Adequate Policy Tools?
Full text linkChina has achieved laudable progress in poverty reduction since its reform and opening in 1978 Its current precision poverty alleviation program may however encounter challenges and possibly even fail, if the intrinsic weaknesses in its design and difficulties in its implementation re not addressed soon enough. It is pointed out that perfect targeting is not impossible, personalized interventions will not solve structural problems and rapid interventions have little effects on chronic poverty or poverty trap. It is argued that extreme poverty in China cannot be eradicated once and for all by the end of 2020. As with many great goals, time overrun may occur. Some effective countermeasures must be in place to fend off the unfavorable consequences of that policy and to prevent the poor people from getting worse after 2020
Methods of service quality assessment in managing the property insurance market
Full text linkPolish business insurance market may now be characterised as a dynamically developing segment of the financial market. One of the reasons for this state of affairs may be the organizational and legal system, the origin of which was the package of insurance laws of2003 in response toPoland’s accession to the European Union (EU). On the one hand, the growing number of insurance institutions (insurers) increase competition [Bednarczyk 2011, pp. 100-103; Owsiak, 2015, pp. 246-291; Ronka-Chmielowiec 2016, (ed.), pp. 26-30; Cycoń, Jedynak, Strupczewski, (eds.), 2017, pp. 10-11] while, on the other hand, according to the Author of this monograph, it has increased the standards that should be met in order to achieve a competitive advantage [2013, pp. 148-158]. The competition among insurance institution is one of the main prerequisites of growing expectations of the buyers [Jędrzejczyk, 2013, pp. 25-42]. Customers possess more and more knowledge and, consequently, the awareness of what surrounds them; therefore, they expect that insurance institutions will fulfil their needs. Otherwise, there is a risk that an insurance institution may lose its market share in favour of its competition. Long-term relations between insurance institutions and their customers prove that insurers endeavour to offer high quality services which meet customers’ requirements. Moreover, customer behaviour is an important contribution to improving financial results of insurance institutions. Therefore, it is essential that insurers focus their strategy on improving the quality of their services and, consequently, on meeting their customers’ needs. “High service quality results in customer satisfaction” [Karatepe, Yavas, Babakus, 2005, p. 373] which, to a large extent, “increases their loyalty” [compare: Lenka, Suar, Mohapatra, 2009, p. 47] and, consequently, helps insurance institutions to “improve their efficiency” [Yeung, Chew, Ennew, 2002, pp. 24-33]. Thus, high service quality leads to an increase in competitive advantage because buyers feel satisfied, i.e., they are more inclined to continue buying the services of the insurance institution and to recommend it to others. Therefore, it is necessary to systematically measure property service quality and to establish the areas in need of improvement.
Medida Provisória 881: The Empowerment Of Brazilian Entrepreneurship and The Hope For Less Bureaucracy In Business
Full text linkWith the assumption of Jair Bolsonaro to the Presidency of Brazil the new president is looking to overhaul key com-ponents of the economy. Influenced by conservative thinker Olavo de Carvalho and supported by a team of like-minded free-market aficionados such as Paulo Guedes and Paulo Uebel, President Bolsonaro has issued an executive medida provisória to stimulate business development in Brazil by eliminating costs and bureaucracy for Brazilian businesses. The Medida Provisória 881 is already being considered a hallmark of legislation that is quintessential for the economy and the nation. This historic bill is often referred to as an “economic bill of rights”
Books that are noteworthy
Full text linkThis Is Marketing: You Can\u27t Be Seen Until You Learn to See. Seth Godin. 288 p. 2018. The Human Advantage: The Future of American Work in an Age of Smart Machines. Jay W. Richards. Crown Forum, 2018. 261 pages
Regulatory Barriers to Women in Business
Full text linkReducing gender inequality in the workplace is one of the most widely discussed global challenges. This paper inves-tigates empirically the impact of regulations on female participation in the private sector using panel data for a large sample of countries. The metrics examined include female ownership of businesses and female share of employment in non-agricultural sectors of the economy. The findings indicate that regulatory constraints tend to place a dispropor-tionate burden on women and shed new light on the interconnections between business regulations, firm creation, and women in the workforce.The views expressed by this article are those of the authors and do not reflect the official policy or position of the Na-tional Defense University, the Department of Defense, or the U.S. Government. The research was supported by a grant from the Charles Koch Foundation
Editorial
Full text linkAs we enter the New Year and the new decade the current issue of Business and Public Administration Studies (bpastudies.org) provides an expanded range of topics and some welcome new authors. We start with the tourism piece written by an intently and passionately ambitious student of tourism at the Hainan University. I had a joy and a privilege of teaching at the Hainan Island in Haikou last summer, 2019.Hainan is the southernmost province of China and is also the smallest in terms of land area. Until 1988 it was part of Guangdong province. I invited all of my many students (there where three cohorts of some 30 plus students in each) to submit their papers for review and possible publication. Only one responded and I congratulate him for his efforts.
Can FIR-led Technologies be Game-Changers in the Fight against Corruption?
Full text linkThe world has been witnessing a rapidly-evolving technological disruption for over more than half a century. As scientific advancements, social cohesion dynamics and globalization trends have been shaping behavioral patterns within societies during recent decades, the emergence of new technologies has been representing a catalytic role for systemic change.Scholars and practitioners from various disciplines have been approaching the prospective effects of technologies arising in the twenty-first century. They have conceptualized the so-called Fourth Industrial Revolution (FIR) and Globalization 4.0 (G4.0) as forthcoming technological revolutions implying potential multidimensional disruptions in economic, social and political relations between and within countries and world regions.Costs and benefits have come along with every industrial revolution developed throughout history. Policy-makers, business leaders, civil society advocates, academics and citizens alike have commonly acknowledged that ‘corruption’ is the most pressing challenge facing the vast majority of nations across the globe
What Does Automation Really Mean for the Future of Work?
Full text linkThis paper demonstrates how existing research regarding automation and the future of work employs analysis tech-niques which are far too vague or biased to lead to a meaningful scholarly debate. The paper begins by analyzing exist-ing literature regarding automation and the future of work, dividing this literature into three categories: the optimistic literature, the pessimistic literature and the nuanced literature. The paper then discusses how these categories of litera-ture have resulted from biases held by existing scholars and from a lack of data regarding ongoing developments in the technology space as it relates to the workforce. The paper concludes by recommending that in order to clarify the debate around automation and the future of work, scholars engage in more widespread empirical analysis going forward
Service Quality Measures in the Life Insurance Sector in Poland and the USA: Preliminary Comparative Assessment
Full text linkThe article presents the method of measuring the bancassurance quality of life insurance service offered to individual customers residing in Poland and in USA in the years 2018 and 2019. There exist inherent discrepancies between per-ceptions and expectations regarding the level of the service offered. Moreover, this study presents both pros and cons of this method. It is extremely important to know this service quality method in the context of systematically changing customer requirements and expectations. The popularity of this method makes it widely used. On the basis of the re-search conducted, we can conclude that it is possible to measure the level of customer satisfaction. High insurance ser-vice quality is a condition necessary to retain customer loyalty and satisfaction
Books that are noteworthy
Full text linkCapitalism, Alone: The Future of the System That Rules the World by Branko Milanovic. Belknap/Harvard University Press, 387 pages, 2019.
People, Power, and Profits: Progressive Capitalism for an Age of Discontent, by Joseph Stiglitz, W.W. Norton & Co., 371 pages, 2019