title: Global remedies for local needs: Corporate governance and public sector reforms in Fiji

authors: Sharma, Umesh Prasad

subjects: Fiji

abstract: Purpose – This paper aims to extend the literature on public sector reforms in less-developed countries in the Pacific. It seeks to examine the roles of accounting and control systems in the reforming of two public sector organisations in Fiji: a process that was demanded by international financial agencies. The impacts of the reforms on the local population are also considered. 

Design/methodology/approach – The case study method is employed. The empirical evidence is interpreted using Laughlin's, and Greenwood and Hinings's frameworks. The empirics are used to flesh out the skeletal model with specific cultural and political issues particular to Fiji. 

Findings – Empirical evidence from two public sector organisations in Fiji that underwent structural reforms is used to illustrate the difficulties of transformation; and how the Fijian people's needs were not met for the purpose for which the organisations were established. 

Research limitations/implications – Although this study is limited to two public sector enterprises in Fiji, it provides valuable insights into one country's public sector enterprises, and offers a platform for similar studies in other countries. 

Practical implications – The case studies show the limitations of the introduction of private sector managerialism into state-sector organisations. There are implications for state sector organisations in Fiji and elsewhere in the Pacific. 

Originality/value – The paper adds to the literature of developing countries. There are cultural and political influences specific to Fiji that trigger resistance to change from public service values to commercial business norms. Such cultural and political influences may not be so pertinent in western industrialised countries.

text: Global remedies for local needs: Corporate governance and public sector reforms in Fiji Purpose – This paper aims to extend the literature on public sector reforms in less-developed countries in the Pacific. It seeks to examine the roles of accounting and control systems in the reforming of two public sector organisations in Fiji: a process that was demanded by international financial agencies. The impacts of the reforms on the local population are also considered. 

Design/methodology/approach – The case study method is employed. The empirical evidence is interpreted using Laughlin's, and Greenwood and Hinings's frameworks. The empirics are used to flesh out the skeletal model with specific cultural and political issues particular to Fiji. 

Findings – Empirical evidence from two public sector organisations in Fiji that underwent structural reforms is used to illustrate the difficulties of transformation; and how the Fijian people's needs were not met for the purpose for which the organisations were established. 

Research limitations/implications – Although this study is limited to two public sector enterprises in Fiji, it provides valuable insights into one country's public sector enterprises, and offers a platform for similar studies in other countries. 

Practical implications – The case studies show the limitations of the introduction of private sector managerialism into state-sector organisations. There are implications for state sector organisations in Fiji and elsewhere in the Pacific. 

Originality/value – The paper adds to the literature of developing countries. There are cultural and political influences specific to Fiji that trigger resistance to change from public service values to commercial business norms. Such cultural and political influences may not be so pertinent in western industrialised countries.

year: 2009

title: Biography of an ERP: Tracing the fabrication of a virtual object

authors: Lowe, Alan

subjects: ERP (enterprise resource planning)

abstract: This paper provides an account of the way Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) systems change over time. These changes are conceptualised as a biographical accumulation that gives the specific ERP technology its present character, attributes and historicity. The paper presents empirics from the implementations of an ERP package within a single Australasian organisation. Changes to the ERP take place as a result of imperatives which arise during the implementations. Our research and evidence then extends to a different time and place where the new release of the ERP software was being ‘sold’ to client firms in the UK. We theorise our research through a lens based on ideas from ANT ( actor network theory) and the concept of biography. The paper seeks to contribute an additional theorization for ANT studies that places the focus on the technological object and frees it from the ties of the implementation setting. We contrast this approach with Dechow and Mouritsen’s (2005) path dependency. The research illustrates the opportunistic and contested fabrications of a technological object and emphasizes the stability as well as the fluidity of its techno-logic.

text: Biography of an ERP: Tracing the fabrication of a virtual object This paper provides an account of the way Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) systems change over time. These changes are conceptualised as a biographical accumulation that gives the specific ERP technology its present character, attributes and historicity. The paper presents empirics from the implementations of an ERP package within a single Australasian organisation. Changes to the ERP take place as a result of imperatives which arise during the implementations. Our research and evidence then extends to a different time and place where the new release of the ERP software was being ‘sold’ to client firms in the UK. We theorise our research through a lens based on ideas from ANT ( actor network theory) and the concept of biography. The paper seeks to contribute an additional theorization for ANT studies that places the focus on the technological object and frees it from the ties of the implementation setting. We contrast this approach with Dechow and Mouritsen’s (2005) path dependency. The research illustrates the opportunistic and contested fabrications of a technological object and emphasizes the stability as well as the fluidity of its techno-logic.

year: 2007-05

title: Issues in Maori Language Planning and Revitalisation

authors: Harlow, Ray

subjects: Te reo Māori

abstract: All languages which have undergone changes of status in the course of their histories have been the subject of language planning, be this consistent or piecemeal, officially driven or diffuse. In some cases, the processes have been and are still relatively ‘painless’ or even subliminal, at least as far as much of the population speaking the language is concerned. English is an extreme case in this respect, so that Ayto (1983) is able to speak of the ‘failure of language reform’ as a striking characteristic of its history. Many of the issues which could potentially be associated with its position in both the world and in particular countries do not, to all intents and purposes, arise. They have been dealt with by history; the way English works as a lingua franca, as an official language, as an international language in a variety of domains and regions, its spelling systems, its vocabulary, just ‘growed’, with only sporadic help from conscious planning.

text: Issues in Maori Language Planning and Revitalisation All languages which have undergone changes of status in the course of their histories have been the subject of language planning, be this consistent or piecemeal, officially driven or diffuse. In some cases, the processes have been and are still relatively ‘painless’ or even subliminal, at least as far as much of the population speaking the language is concerned. English is an extreme case in this respect, so that Ayto (1983) is able to speak of the ‘failure of language reform’ as a striking characteristic of its history. Many of the issues which could potentially be associated with its position in both the world and in particular countries do not, to all intents and purposes, arise. They have been dealt with by history; the way English works as a lingua franca, as an official language, as an international language in a variety of domains and regions, its spelling systems, its vocabulary, just ‘growed’, with only sporadic help from conscious planning.

year: 2003-02