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Environmental policy and industrial innovation: Strategies in Europe, the US and Japan
formalizing objectives. All in all, the book is well written and its content, structure and layout supports its use as a ready reference source for practitioners. Anecdotes and examples help to bring home the human element to the reader, while there are also more in-depth longer case studies. An example of the former is an anecdote illustrating the need to share the sense of achievement. One project manager likened it to tidying up his garage and adapting the principle involved to providing recognition of achievement at the end of a project. An example of the case study is the description of how introducing a quality system in a complex project, one that networked over 500 computers, helped promote a quality culture and ensured that the system operated successfully within the 12 month project time-flame. Generally, I applaud the authors for meeting their stated aim of offering the reader "a pragmatic approach, emphasising techniques for everyday use". An important question, though, is whether the book would help someone to become a better project manager. I have two doubts in this respect. First, some topics that many would today regard as important are inadequately addressed. An example of this is risk management which many observers cite as a key skill needed in large projects. In this book, it receives a scant 6 pp. My second concern is that the book gives little or no advice on how human and organizational factors should be addressed within the project or in the resultant system. Thus nowhere could I find discussion of user relationships or the impact of systems on jobs and task allocation. While it could be argued that such topics are outside its scope, I would have expected some reference to this facet of the people aspect of projects. Though there was some coverage on how to see the project through the eyes of the user, I distinctly sensed from what was written that the project is done to or for the user, rather than with the user. Perhaps the authors have fallen into the trap of becoming too "project-centric" rather than adopting a more balanced user-project approach. This was a missed opportunity. Despite these reservations the authors have provided a useful compendium for practising project managers, especially those with a technical background who need to broaden their perspectives to the people issues. I hope that it becomes widely read by such people and those systems people who aspire to become project managers. If they take the techniques on offer to heart, the IT fraternity will move a long way towards improving the success rate of their projects. DAVID J. SKYRME
Management Systems Consultant
The Royal Institute of International Affairs (RIIA)/ Earthscan Publications (1995), 282 pp., £14.95 (paper), £32.50 (hard) What can the experience of environmental policy in OECD countries tell us about the types of strategies that maximize innovation in pursuit of environmental goals? In a research project sponsored by the RIIA, DAVID WALLACE studied policy and practice in six countries, with special studies of two industries (automobile and coal production). He paid particular attention to the political context and the historical evolution of policy making, demonstrating how legislation reflects the interaction of a variety of interests over many years. This approach makes it an easy and enjoyable read. I was particularly interested in his accounts of the development of adversarial relationships in US environmental politics, of Californian automobile politics--no action could be taken into curb car use because of the (alleged) impact on the poorest in society, therefore the state adopted the (impossible) Zero Emission Policy--of the lengths the 'Big 3' US auto firms went to in order to avoid pollution control measures, of the powerful role played by Japanese local authorities in initiating action following some severe local tragedies and negotiating environmental agreements with industry. Regarding the economic and political principles that encourage innovation and change towards good environmental practice, WALLACE concludes: O Developing tough environmental standards in one country does not necessarily lead to competitive advantage abroad--"the acid rain experience suggests that international environmental agreements, market structures and technological trajectories are unpredictable". ~3 Taxes and pollution charges do not necessarily provide superior incentives for innovation than do standards-based regulations. D Firms are more comfortable innovating when risks are reduced--which occurs "when environmental policy is stable and credible over the long term, and when regulatory processes are based on open, informed dialogue and executed by competent, knowledgeable regulators". Flexible 'voluntary' agreements and contracts between industry and government, he argues, devolve responsibility to the firms, increase dialogue, encourage innovation, reduce compliance costs and lead to less opposition to environmental policies. Sustainable development will require such politically sustainable environmental policies...
Environmental Policy and Industrial Innovation: Strategies in Europe, the US and Japan, DAVID WALLACE, Book Reviews and Review Briefs
This leads to my criticism: despite some discussion on sustainable economic planning, I wonder has he
Other readings are equally thought-provoking. McGowan and Seabright's account of regulation in the EC highlights the discrepancy between a desired objective regulatory process and the actual muddling ~3 He criticises the electric car (p. 158, p. 171) in through approach borne of national ambitions, histhat it cannot offer the "performance and.., ease of torical perspectives and bureaucratic systems. use.., taken for granted over 50 years". If we are to For students of utility regulation this book offers reach such sustainability targets as suggested by the some useful insights into areas such as the decision UK Environment Council (in their Ecofacts series, making role of the courts, the lost opportunities of the June 1995)--e.g. reduction in fossil fuel con- BT privatization and the effect of asset base and capital sumption in Europe by 75% by 2050--we need to cost calculations on the administrative efficiency of question the 'performance' and 'ease of use' of the utility regulation. car and many other fuel-guzzling products and serWhile providing a rich variety of readings, like most vices. compendiums this suffers from a lack of introductory El And a (perhaps subtler) example: he extols the vir- clarity and cohesive thematic development. The preftues of the Japanese-origin 'continuous improve- ace does little justice to the following pages, whilst ment' concept and the system of 'lean production' the sequence of articles could have been linked more which enables rapid innovation in response to mar- thoughtfully. Some chapters offer summaries, others ket, technological and environmental consider- fail to, compounding the impression that these articles ations. But 'continuous improvement' can also be have been put together at random. Any texts on regulation policy demand a fine balseen as a form of planned obsolescence: new proance between scholarship and readability. In summary ducts which simply 'offer novelties...with the this book scores highly in the former but does itself a aim.., of making all existing products of its type disservice in the latter. appear deficient' (in the words of WOLFGANGSACHS in For the Love of the Automobile, University of JONATHANDAVIES Henley Management College California Press, 1992)
really thought through the longer term implications of sustainable development? Two examples to illustrate my reservation.
A longer-term sustainability critique needs to ask more questions about resource use and what volumes of what type of products and services can be afforded, ecologically. In the meantime, this is a very useful book for the medium to long-term planner. TONY EMERSON
Mary Parker Follett--Prophet of Management: A Celebration of Writings from the 1920s, PAULINEGRAHAM (ed.), Harvard Business School Press (1995), 309 pp., £25.95
South Bank University
The Regulatory Challenge, MATHEWB~SHOP,JOHNKAY and COLINMAYEg,Oxford University Press (1995), 468 pp., £17.99 (paper), £45.00 (hard) Eighteen articles that provide a collective overview of regulatory policy issues in the UK. Readings span a wide range of scenarios including the utilities, Higher Education and the impact of EC regulation. A useful text for those interested in current and future developments of regulatory policy. Alan Maynard's article "Reforming the NHS" is a comprehensive account of how the reforms sought to redress the key problems of resource allocation and cost efficiency. He argues that progress has been limited, making the valuable observation that a radical policy initiative, whilst enabling a shift in power toward the management and consumer end of the spectrum, has lost its bite, due to a "poorly trained and ill informed" human resource base and the inevitable political thinking that looks for quick fixes at the expense of long-term success.
Mary Parker Follett became a business management guru in the 1920s (long before the term was used) when she was in her fifties. This followed a career in management in what would now be termed local government and the voluntary sector and service on the forerunners ofquangos, particularly Wages Boards. This excellent selection of Follett's writings is a reminder, or for many of us a revelation, of the seminal nature of her thinking, her influence (often unrecognised or unacknowledged) on subsequent management thought and practice and her relevance today. The interest and value of this volume is enhanced by a preface by Rosabeth Moss Kanter, an introduction by Peter Drucker, an epilogue by Paul Lawrence and commentaries by, among others, John Child, Henry Mintzberg, Sir Peter Parker and Tokihiko, Enomoto, co-founder of the Mary P. Follett Association of Japan. Professor Enomoto acknowledges the importance of Follett's ideas for the philosophy and development of Japanese management. Follett's work was rooted in the notion that business is a social process both internally within the organization and externally. Chapter 11 is entitled Business in Society, not Business and Society. She believed that Long Range Planning Vol. 29
April 1996
Management Systems Consultant
The Royal Institute of International Affairs (RIIA)/ Earthscan Publications (1995), 282 pp., £14.95 (paper), £32.50 (hard) What can the experience of environmental policy in OECD countries tell us about the types of strategies that maximize innovation in pursuit of environmental goals? In a research project sponsored by the RIIA, DAVID WALLACE studied policy and practice in six countries, with special studies of two industries (automobile and coal production). He paid particular attention to the political context and the historical evolution of policy making, demonstrating how legislation reflects the interaction of a variety of interests over many years. This approach makes it an easy and enjoyable read. I was particularly interested in his accounts of the development of adversarial relationships in US environmental politics, of Californian automobile politics--no action could be taken into curb car use because of the (alleged) impact on the poorest in society, therefore the state adopted the (impossible) Zero Emission Policy--of the lengths the 'Big 3' US auto firms went to in order to avoid pollution control measures, of the powerful role played by Japanese local authorities in initiating action following some severe local tragedies and negotiating environmental agreements with industry. Regarding the economic and political principles that encourage innovation and change towards good environmental practice, WALLACE concludes: O Developing tough environmental standards in one country does not necessarily lead to competitive advantage abroad--"the acid rain experience suggests that international environmental agreements, market structures and technological trajectories are unpredictable". ~3 Taxes and pollution charges do not necessarily provide superior incentives for innovation than do standards-based regulations. D Firms are more comfortable innovating when risks are reduced--which occurs "when environmental policy is stable and credible over the long term, and when regulatory processes are based on open, informed dialogue and executed by competent, knowledgeable regulators". Flexible 'voluntary' agreements and contracts between industry and government, he argues, devolve responsibility to the firms, increase dialogue, encourage innovation, reduce compliance costs and lead to less opposition to environmental policies. Sustainable development will require such politically sustainable environmental policies...
Environmental Policy and Industrial Innovation: Strategies in Europe, the US and Japan, DAVID WALLACE, Book Reviews and Review Briefs
This leads to my criticism: despite some discussion on sustainable economic planning, I wonder has he
Other readings are equally thought-provoking. McGowan and Seabright's account of regulation in the EC highlights the discrepancy between a desired objective regulatory process and the actual muddling ~3 He criticises the electric car (p. 158, p. 171) in through approach borne of national ambitions, histhat it cannot offer the "performance and.., ease of torical perspectives and bureaucratic systems. use.., taken for granted over 50 years". If we are to For students of utility regulation this book offers reach such sustainability targets as suggested by the some useful insights into areas such as the decision UK Environment Council (in their Ecofacts series, making role of the courts, the lost opportunities of the June 1995)--e.g. reduction in fossil fuel con- BT privatization and the effect of asset base and capital sumption in Europe by 75% by 2050--we need to cost calculations on the administrative efficiency of question the 'performance' and 'ease of use' of the utility regulation. car and many other fuel-guzzling products and serWhile providing a rich variety of readings, like most vices. compendiums this suffers from a lack of introductory El And a (perhaps subtler) example: he extols the vir- clarity and cohesive thematic development. The preftues of the Japanese-origin 'continuous improve- ace does little justice to the following pages, whilst ment' concept and the system of 'lean production' the sequence of articles could have been linked more which enables rapid innovation in response to mar- thoughtfully. Some chapters offer summaries, others ket, technological and environmental consider- fail to, compounding the impression that these articles ations. But 'continuous improvement' can also be have been put together at random. Any texts on regulation policy demand a fine balseen as a form of planned obsolescence: new proance between scholarship and readability. In summary ducts which simply 'offer novelties...with the this book scores highly in the former but does itself a aim.., of making all existing products of its type disservice in the latter. appear deficient' (in the words of WOLFGANGSACHS in For the Love of the Automobile, University of JONATHANDAVIES Henley Management College California Press, 1992)
really thought through the longer term implications of sustainable development? Two examples to illustrate my reservation.
A longer-term sustainability critique needs to ask more questions about resource use and what volumes of what type of products and services can be afforded, ecologically. In the meantime, this is a very useful book for the medium to long-term planner. TONY EMERSON
Mary Parker Follett--Prophet of Management: A Celebration of Writings from the 1920s, PAULINEGRAHAM (ed.), Harvard Business School Press (1995), 309 pp., £25.95
South Bank University
The Regulatory Challenge, MATHEWB~SHOP,JOHNKAY and COLINMAYEg,Oxford University Press (1995), 468 pp., £17.99 (paper), £45.00 (hard) Eighteen articles that provide a collective overview of regulatory policy issues in the UK. Readings span a wide range of scenarios including the utilities, Higher Education and the impact of EC regulation. A useful text for those interested in current and future developments of regulatory policy. Alan Maynard's article "Reforming the NHS" is a comprehensive account of how the reforms sought to redress the key problems of resource allocation and cost efficiency. He argues that progress has been limited, making the valuable observation that a radical policy initiative, whilst enabling a shift in power toward the management and consumer end of the spectrum, has lost its bite, due to a "poorly trained and ill informed" human resource base and the inevitable political thinking that looks for quick fixes at the expense of long-term success.
Mary Parker Follett became a business management guru in the 1920s (long before the term was used) when she was in her fifties. This followed a career in management in what would now be termed local government and the voluntary sector and service on the forerunners ofquangos, particularly Wages Boards. This excellent selection of Follett's writings is a reminder, or for many of us a revelation, of the seminal nature of her thinking, her influence (often unrecognised or unacknowledged) on subsequent management thought and practice and her relevance today. The interest and value of this volume is enhanced by a preface by Rosabeth Moss Kanter, an introduction by Peter Drucker, an epilogue by Paul Lawrence and commentaries by, among others, John Child, Henry Mintzberg, Sir Peter Parker and Tokihiko, Enomoto, co-founder of the Mary P. Follett Association of Japan. Professor Enomoto acknowledges the importance of Follett's ideas for the philosophy and development of Japanese management. Follett's work was rooted in the notion that business is a social process both internally within the organization and externally. Chapter 11 is entitled Business in Society, not Business and Society. She believed that Long Range Planning Vol. 29
April 1996