This issue of Business and Public Administration Studies touches on four important subjects: policy making, public administration, enterprise management, and problems of cooperation between market participants. It presents various views of authors from Asia, America, and Europe.
The first article, “The Relationship between Local Government Management and Community Autonomy in China,” addresses problems of public administration reform in China. The author conducted research in Nanjing, Shang¬hai and Hangzhou of Yangtze River Delta Re¬gion. The study shows that greater autonomy should lead to greater transparency in local government and the community. However, the author found that this correlation is not automatic and has provided recommendations on how to achieve best effects. The reasons why policy makers should take into account the development of an autonomous system are highlighted in the paper. The article can be used as a guide on how to manage well in local government and as a basis for further research on public administration management.
“The Grounds for Researching Business Network Efficiency” presents preliminary results of studies on the efficiency of business networks. Business networks can be a boost for an enterprise’s marketing strategy. Nowadays it is impossible for an enterprise to survive without building relationships with other market participants. Those relations may lead to long-term cooperation, partnerships, or alliances. Business networks facilitate development of the organization as well as its innovativeness. For this reason, business networks are an important field of scientific research. Researchers attempt to pinpoint the most efficient way of creating, developing, and maintaining these networks. The presented paper is an important contribution to this work. It explores the importance of business networks, the efficiency of collaboration within networks, and the concept of business network efficiency research. The author demonstrates a multi-level approach to network efficiency assessment, which is a basis for development of a full-scale assessment methodology.
The problems of the efficiency of enterprise structure and processes are widely discussed in the literature. However, when it comes to the methodology of their design, the number of publications is much smaller. Studies show that a large number of reorganization projects end in failure. One of the reasons is the wrong methodology of design and implementation. In the article “The Process of Designing a Company’s Organizational System in Light of Empirical Research,” the author shows the results of research on the ways that companies implement changes in their systems. The research was conducted on two groups of respondents – enterprise managers and external consultants. This approach allows the field to be explored from different points of view. The organizational system is characterized by its aims, structure, people, processes and methods. The paper also discusses a theoretical approach to the designing process which can be used by enterprises and experts to develop new, efficient ways of change management.
Finally, in the review of Michael Novak’s “Writing from Left to Right: My Journey from Liberal to Conservative,” the reviewer presents a profile of the author and recounts some of the highlights of Mr. Novak’s years at the American Enterprise Institute. He describes Novak’s fascinating life traveling with several American presidential candidates, writing speeches, and taking part in political life and campaigns.
All the articles in this issue of Business and Public Administration Studies focus on methodological issues as well as empirical aspects of the analyzed problems. The discussed concepts can be considered by practitioners and scientists as a source of ideas for implementation and further studies.
Slawomir Wawak
