Editor's Notes
| DOI | http://doi.org/10.1002/j.1099-162X.1967.tb00295.x |
| Date | 01 July 1967 |
| Published date | 01 July 1967 |
Editor's Notes
DEVELOPMENT
ADMINISTRATION
is primarily concerned with the major
problems arising in developing countries faced with
the
need to achieve a
rapid increase in productivity
and
in standards
of
living. In many such
countries anational plan places
upon
the public sector the main responsibility
for large scale economic development; invariably this involves
the
creation
of
new organizations (c.g, public corporations) and places an added
burden
on the governmental infrastructure and strains the administrative capacity
of
the government machine to implement
the
plan efficaciously. Faced by a
political decision which emphasises
the
part
to be played by the public
sector, the immediate administrative problem is to transform the govern-
mental machine into an effective
instrument
for development.
We are therefore particularly glad to publish in this issue
Mr.
Chi-
Yuen
Wu's
article on Public Enterprise as an
Instrument
of
Development; while
the
study
is specially directed to Asia
and
the
Far
East
and
therefore to
the World's most populated region, it is
of
very relevant concern to all
developing countries.
The
reader is reminded
that
'the
entire history
of
Western industrial
growth in the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries has been one
of
taking great risks and many failures': adeveloping country embarking on a
public enterprise should not therefore be over-cautious,
nor,
on the other
hand, should it take risks unless they are calculated
and
based on
the
best
available
up-to-date
information.
Mr.
Wu
emphasises
that
the final outcome, the success or failure
of
any
public enterprise, depends more on management
than
on any
other
factor.
He provides avaluable broad picture
of
the place, organization
and
control
of
public enterprise in the economy
of
developing countries
and
concludes
with a call for an inter-disciplinary approach by economists
and
admini-
strators: they should build an integral framework where
public
enterprises
an: the declared
instrument
for plan implementation; governments arc urged
to ensure
that
the problems
of
public enterprise
are
related to the general
problem
of
national development (not
'buried
under
studies on narrow
techniques
and
detailed administrative procedures'
...
)
and
'to
approach
all questions from the viewpoint
of
improving the effectiveness
of
public
enterprise as an
instrument
of
coherent
and
co-ordinated national develop-
ment'.
We publish the first
of
two articles being contributed by
Mr.
S. S. Richardson before his final
departure
from Zaria after anotable
tenure
of
office at
the
Institute
of
Administration. He discusses
the
trends
in
Africa over
the
past three years in relation to training Institutes conducted
respectively as
independent,
University
and
government establishments.
He
stresses
that
wherever
the
training, there
the
national objectives for
social
and
economic development
must
be
furthered;
otherwise development
administration in an emergent country would remain no more
than
asophisti-
cated catch-phrase.
147
IJ
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