Conclusions: Liberalism’s local logic

The concluding chapter brings together the central themes of the book, emphasising that policing and licensing were local, discretionary tools of government. The central contention is that the developments in licensing exemplify the localism – a localism of the pub and street corner – at the heart of British liberalism. As definitions of, and indeed the spaces associated with, problem drinking change, the book concludes by asking whether licensing can respond to contemporary challenges.

Examining Institutional Content of the Balanced Scorecard: Logics and Translations in Ukrainian Business Environment

This study examines institutional definitions and meanings Ukrainian managers attach to one of the most popular management concepts – the Balanced Scorecard. Socially constructed discourses, that is, beliefs, understandings, expectations, interpretations, collective cognitions and meanings beyond initial technical purposes of the BSC are treated as an institutional content that infuses and distorts technical aspects of the practice. Results confirm that technical foundations of this practice have been infused with institutionally constructed meanings and understandings generated from the local dominant institutional order, constructing the meaning of the BSC as a coercive, command-and control management system. Gathering information from local sources of information and strengthening them with collective understandings, the BSC has been infused with new meanings and beliefs, dramatically changing the original technical core of the concept. The study shows how the meaning of the management concept changed in the new institutional context under the dominance of the local logic. Specifically, the study contributes to the individual-level research on the impact of institutional logics on actors’ actions by showing the process of individuals’ responses to two macro-level meaning systems materialized in the BSC – prototypical and home institutional logics.

Poder Local, Participação Popular e Clientelismo / Local Power, Popular Participation and Clientelism

ResumoO artigo traz em questão a valorização do poder local como campo para a tomada de decisões políticas eficientes, em um tempo em que os governos atuais necessitam estar atentos ao desenvolvimento social. Ressalta-se o tratamento dado ao Município pela Constituição Federal de 1988, que o elevou à categoria de ente federado, o que tornou promissora a possibilidade de uma gestão compartilhada entre poder público e sociedade civil em âmbito local. Entretanto, o clientelismo é um problema político e social a ser enfrentado no país e que só poderá ter alguns de seus efeitos superados mediante aumento da accountability social e da participação por meio de iniciativas locais. Procura-se assim, analisar a democratização promovida pela lógica local, em que as decisões públicas ocorrem de forma descentralizada e mais próximas da população, como controladora das práticas clientelistas. O estudo justifica-se pelo imperativo de respostas céleres e eficazes às necessidades mais elementares da sociedade, sendo que a gestão local tende a ser o meio ideal para atender às demandas sociais. AbstractThe paper brings into question the appreciation of the local government as a field for making effective policy decisions at a time when the current governments need to be aware of the social development. It is noteworthy the treatment given to the municipality by the 1988 Constitution has raised to federal entity, which made it even more promising the possibility of a shared management between political society and civil society at the local level. However, patronage is still a political and social problem facing the country and overcome with increased accountability and increased performance of regulatory agencies, particularly social control. Wanted so seize the democratization promoted by the local logic, in which public decisions occur in a decentralized and closer to the population so, could curb this practice. The study is justified by the need for rapid and effective answers to the most basic needs of society, and the local management tends to be the ideal way to meet these demands. Keywords: Patronage; Municipality; Popular participation; Local power.

Organizational Change under Institutional Logics: Family Control of Corporate Boards in Taiwan

We examine how family ownership affects the changing composition of board members in Taiwan. We suggest that the association between family ownership and board composition should be understood in the institutional context in which a firm is situated. We find not only that family-owned firms embedded in the local capital market exhibit greater family presence on the board but also that this effect becomes weaker for those exposed to foreign capital markets. The strong association between family ownership and board control is maintained when the firm is embedded in a local logic of governance but significantly weakens when the firm or its affiliated group is exposed to a global logic of governance. Our research suggests that organizational change in corporate governance practices is contingent upon the institutional logics in which a firm’s governance and control mechanisms are situated.

The demographic revolution is changing the reproductive strategy of Homo sapiens

The demographic revolution (demographic transition) is changing the reproductive strategy of the species Homo sapiens. The whole evolution of life on Earth, including social evolution since the beginning of human society, has led to this triumph of theK-strategy of reproduction. This universal revolution has a crucial importance for the present stage of human history. The cause-and-effect relationship between economic, social and demographic changes is discussed, the interpretation of changes in the mass reproductive or family behavior as primarily a direct consequence of economic, social or cultural shifts is contested. Such explanations are redundant since the main changes in demographic behavior are a response to the necessity of restoring the demographic equilibrium upset by an unprecedented decline in mortality. At the same time, such explanations lead to an underestimation of the impact of demographic change on economic, social and cultural dimensions of the development of modern societies. The demographic transition theory in its present form hinders the vision of this transition as an integral stand-alone process that has its own internal determinants and at the same time has a powerful impact on all social processes, including processes at the global level. The global logic of demographic transition theory is opposed to the widespread local logic, according to which this theory must be justified by the experience of each state. An attempt is made to overcome the current fragmentation in the description of the demographic transition and its splitting into multiple “transitions” and “revolutions”, and to consider it as a cohesive process, that is, a sequence of inevitable major stages of a single global “chain reaction” initiated by an enormous decline in mortality.