Strategies and Business Models for Improving Broadband Connectivity in Latin America and the Caribbean: Guidelines for the Planning, Investment, and Rollout of Broadband Networks

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Pau Puig Gabarró ◽  
Antonio García Zaballos ◽  
Enrique Iglesias Rodriguez ◽  
Ana Sepúlveda ◽  
Alex Wong ◽  
...  

Achieving universal and affordable digital connectivity is an essential goal for all countries in Latin America and the Caribbean (LAC). Although significant progress has been made to advance the state of connectivity for the countries in this region, there are still significant challenges ahead (both from the private and public sector perspectives): high financial and operating risks; energy supply issues; poor coordination among regulatory and policy making bodies; lack of public sector capacity and resources, and the absence of a conducive investment and regulatory climate that promotes investment and competitive principles. The objective of this report is to: first, make a compilation and analysis of global business and financial models, best practices, innovations and progresses around the topic of digital infrastructure, including middle and last mile connectivity; and second, serve as a guidance tool for policy makers, regulators, government officials as well as private sector and community leaders in LAC, to better assess alternatives for improving broadband connectivity, and tailor best practices and approaches to their own country's needs.

2022 ◽  
Author(s):  
Carlos Scartascini

Trust is the most pressing and yet least discussed problem confronting Latin America and the Caribbean. Whether in others, in government, or in firms, trust is lower in the region than anywhere else in the world. The economic and political consequences of mistrust ripple through society. It suppresses growth and innovation: investment, entrepreneurship, and employment all flourish when firms and government, workers and employers, banks and borrowers, and consumers and producers trust each other. Trust inside private and public sector organizations is essential for collaboration and innovation. Mistrust distorts democratic decision-making. It keeps citizens from demanding better public services and infrastructure, from joining with others to control corruption, and from making the collective sacrifices that leave everyone better off. The good news is that governments can increase citizen trust with clearer promises of what citizens can expect from them, public sector reforms that enable them to keep their promises, and institutional reforms that strengthen the commitments that citizens make to each other. This book guides decision-makers as they incorporate trust and social cohesion into the comprehensive reforms needed to address the regions most pernicious challenges.


2022 ◽  

Trust is the most pressing and yet least discussed problem confronting Latin America and the Caribbean. Whether in others, in government, or in firms, trust is lower in the region than anywhere else in the world. The economic and political consequences of mistrust ripple through society. It suppresses growth and innovation: investment, entrepreneurship, and employment all flourish when firms and government, workers and employers, banks and borrowers, and consumers and producers trust each other. Trust inside private and public sector organizations is essential for collaboration and innovation. Mistrust distorts democratic decision-making. It keeps citizens from demanding better public services and infrastructure, from joining with others to control corruption, and from making the collective sacrifices that leave everyone better off. The good news is that governments can increase citizen trust with clearer promises of what citizens can expect from them, public sector reforms that enable them to keep their promises, and institutional reforms that strengthen the commitments that citizens make to each other. This book guides decision-makers as they incorporate trust and social cohesion into the comprehensive reforms needed to address the region's most pernicious challenges.


2021 ◽  
Vol 26 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Matt Gardner

With the proliferation of types and business models in incubation and acceleration, a landscape survey commenced nearly a decade ago with innovation professionals running accelerators, incubators, corporate innovation teams, venture studios, and maker spaces. The benchmarking continues under the auspices of the California Business Incubation Alliance. For this paper, a selected set of findings specific to biotechnology have been detailed, including best practices, success measures, outcomes, and economic impact. The perspective of entrepreneurs, innovation executives, investors, and the public sector have been taken into account throughout this exercise.


2017 ◽  
Vol 12 (3) ◽  
pp. 161-172 ◽  
Author(s):  
Dwayne Devonish

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to examine the perceptions of private and public sector managers in Barbados regarding the concepts of mental health and illness at work. It also explored their interactions and experiences with persons with mental illness at work and various forms of support and resources needed to improve the overall management of these persons within the organisational setting. Design/methodology/approach This qualitative study used an exploratory research design based on two focus groups of private and public sector managers. Findings The findings revealed that both private and public sector managers understood the distinction between the concepts of mental health and mental illness. However, managers believed that high levels of stigma and discrimination exist in both private and public sector workplaces due to a lack of understanding of mental illness, cultural norms, and socialisation in Barbados regarding mental illness and negative stereotypes. However, workplace education and promotion, associated workplace policies, and employee assistance programmes (EAPs) were identified as key strategies for effectively addressing issues of mental health stigma and the management of persons with mental illness at work. Research limitations/implications Due to the qualitative approach used and small sample selected based on non-probability sampling, generalising the findings to larger populations is heavily cautioned. Practical implications Organisations in both private and public sectors should emphasise workplace mental health interventions such as mental health education and awareness, the development and implementation of supportive and flexible policies, and EAPs. These strategies are likely to help destigmatisation efforts and enhance managers’ understanding of mental health and the management of persons with mental illness. Originality/value This study provided a rich and in-depth understanding of mental health and illness from the perspective of private and public sector managers in a small developing country in the Caribbean. The Caribbean region possesses a dearth of empirical research concerning issues of mental health and illness at work.


Author(s):  
Ivis García

Along with sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia, Latin America and the Caribbean is among the geographic regions most exposed and vulnerable to the occurrence of disasters. The vulnerability is explained by geography and climate, but also by prevailing poverty and inequality. Year after year, multiple disasters such as landslides, hurricanes, floods, rains, droughts, storms, earthquakes, volcanic eruptions, and tsunamis, among others, threaten the region. Natural disasters reveal the deficiencies of infrastructure and essential services. In particular, they highlight the lack of an institutional framework for effective governance with clearly defined goals of how to prevent, respond to, and reconstruct after a natural catastrophe. One of the priorities of governments in the region is to achieve resilience—that is, to strengthen the capacity to resist, adapt, and recover from the effects of natural disasters. To be able to accomplish this, governments need to prepare before a natural disaster strikes. Therefore, disaster risk management is critical. A fundamental element in the strategy of increasing resilience is good planning in general—that is, to reduce inequality, manage urbanization, and invest in necessary infrastructure such as energy, sewage, and water management. Because climate change increases the risk of disasters, it is generally understood that good governance practices can prevent further global warming. Governments might achieve this, for example, by investing in renewable energy and financing other environmentally friendly initiatives. Unfortunately, most current governance models in Latin America and the Caribbean are characterized by bureaucratic structures that are fragmented into different sectors and whose actors do not have much interaction between them. With technical assistance from organizations, such as the World Bank and the United Nations, stakeholders in Latin America and the Caribbean are learning how to develop plans that encourage the collaboration of multiple sectors (e.g., transportation, housing) and improve the working relationships between various institutions (e.g. local associations, NGOs, private and public organizations). To be adequately prepared for a disaster, it is necessary to establish a network of actors that can engage quickly in decision-making and coordinate effectively between local, regional, and national levels.


2018 ◽  
Vol 13 (2) ◽  
pp. 5-19
Author(s):  
Dupe Adesubomi Abolade

AbstractLayoffs and alternative staffing seem to be a phenomenon in many workplaces, many employees seem uncertain of their continuing in their job as a result of threats that they face on the job which could lead to job loss, and these call for concern. This paper therefore examines some of the factors responsible for job insecurity and employee turnover and the attendant effects of job insecurity on organisation. The study investigates the relationship between job insecurity and organisation performance, as well as relationship between job insecurity and employee turnover. Self-developed structured questionnaire titled ‘Job Insecurity, Organisation Performance and Employee Turnover’ (JIOPET) was used as the instrument to collect data from one hundred and twenty randomly selected respondents from organised private sector (financial institutions) in Akure and public sector (state secretariat) in Ibadan, Nigeria. The data were analysed and the two hypotheses drawn up for the study were tested using Pearson Product- Moment Correlation. The findings establish that job insecurity negatively affect organisation performance and induce employee turnover. It is recommended that organisation policy makers should diligently address the factors that contribute to job insecurity, have training policy and train employees as work procedures are becoming more dynamic with new technologies.


2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Christian Spano ◽  
Paolo Natali ◽  
Charles Cannon ◽  
Suzanne Greene ◽  
Osvaldo Urzúa ◽  
...  

This report evaluates scope 3 emissions along the copper and iron ore value chains and the opportunities that Latin America and the Caribbean (LAC) has to become a low carbon metals and solutions hub. The report presents four carbon emission scenarios that represent different sets of decisions for policy-makers and investors. Two scenarios fall short of aligning with Paris targets: (1) the business as usual (BaU) scenario with no further abatement action; and (2) a BaU scenario with the current level of emission reduction potential from players in the value chain (BaU Possible). The other two scenarios deliver the required carbon reductions to be compliant with the Paris Agreement by 2060, but through different strategies: (3) the BaU Paris scenario. where alignment with Paris targets is achieved by keeping BaU volumes and reducing carbon intensity per tonne of metal; and (4) the Decoupled scenario, where carbon intensity reductions are relaxed and compensated by a reduction in primary supply to align the value chain emissions to a Paris trajectory. All scenarios require LACs leaders to consider investments in low-carbon technology in different degrees. The report argues that, given its competitive position in the cost curve for copper and iron ore and an abundance of enabling factors for low carbon strategies, the region could become a key source of low carbon metals and solutions as long as it is proactive in adopting all the necessary measures from public sector and industry perspectives. Finally, the report concludes that myriad opportunities exist for LAC, including new business models, technologies and products, and that these could yield a greater economic and social contribution to the region than the BaU trajectories.


2020 ◽  
Author(s):  

The LAC Debt Group believes that to have sound regional policy it is important to have valid, comparable, and standardized data on Latin America and the Caribbean (LAC). Therefore, at the core of the initiative is the development of a standardized sovereign debt database to help debt managers, policy makers, and other actors of financial markets, analyze the composition of public debt in LAC. The information presented in this database is provided by the Debt Management Offices of 26 LAC countries in response to a questionnaire specifically created to allow comparability of data. The questionnaire is intended to compile up-to-date standardized statistics to conduct cross-country comparisons over clear, objective, and homogeneous definitions of public debt.


Paradigm ◽  
1998 ◽  
Vol 1 (2) ◽  
pp. 109-120
Author(s):  
Simrit Kaur ◽  
S.P. Jain

In many developing and developed countries, privatization through transfer of ownership from public to the private hands is considered as a cure for most of the problems faced by the public sector enterprises (PSEs.) However, policy makers tend to forget that both the systems – private and public – are imperfect. If market failure necessitates the need for government intervention, then failures associated with the government require more market friendly policies. This implies that at any point of time both systems will coexist i.e. privatization will go hand in hand. The present article attempts to discuss the modalities of privatization options and public regulation adopted by India.


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