Purpose – This paper aims to examine the role of the Japanese state in the development of budgets within “special companies” in the transportation sector between 1928 and 1945. Design/methodology/approach – Using evidence contained in the archives of “closedown institutions” this...

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to determine if there are positive microeconomic effects from a state‐funded loan participation program on farm productivity and investment behavior. Design/methodology/approach – The authors take the approach that access to credit solves a liquidity...

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to provide a big picture of the current context of Chinese economy, the government policies on agriculture, and the role of agricultural risks and risk management against this background. Design/methodology/approach – The new Chinese economic challenges...

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to address the issues of how business people perceive the business environment, how government policies impact the environment and how the environment impacts the establishment processes and position development of new firms in the Eritrean market. The...

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to review how the role of the local authority archive service in the UK has developed, and the implications of the requirement for public sector bodies to demonstrate value in relation to concepts such as social capital, for the way in which services are...

Purpose – The purpose of the paper is to review UK government policy on public libraries since 2003, and to examine its relationship to other forms of demand for public libraries Design/methodology/approach – The published literature from government and professional bodies is reviewed,...

Purpose – The objective of this study is to develop a model for analyzing the relative importance of facilitating and constraining factors that determine changes in the structure of distribution channels as a country progresses along the path of economic development....

Purpose – This paper aims to bring greater clarity to the debate on the merits (or demerits) of relative performance evaluation through a broad assessment of current UK National Health Service (NHS) benchmarking. It seeks to examine whether benchmarking is being used dynamically to disseminate...

Purpose – The study deals with institutional factors that have impact on the operation of east‐west alliances. Applying Kostova and Roth's terminology of institutional and relational contexts, this paper aims to address how alliance relationship based on resources, learning and performance...

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to examine best practices of worldwide country web sites, evaluated in 2003, 2005 and 2008 by the United Nations (UN). Design/methodology/approach – The paper employs statistical analysis to determine whether the electronic innovation (digitized...