Continuing on previous research, designed to explore the process of diffusion of project management in Croatian local administration, this paper proposes a discussion on the achieved level of ...development of administrative capabilities. In a way, it represents an attempt to explore the diffusion of innovative organizational practices and managerial techniques that could have an impact in the improvement of the efficiency, and thus of administrative capacity, of the Croatian public administration at city and county level. The paper consists of three parts: context overview, empirical research and discussion. The first part derives primarily from desk research and presents the factors that, to our view, have contributed to shaping the present state of organization of Croatian public administration. This part also provides the basic definitions of administrative capacity used in constructing our research. Considering the complexity (and vagueness) of the term New Public Management, we choose to concentrate our attention on project management as a specific organizational arrangement and method of tasks coordination. In the second part, we present some results obtained through field research. Data was obtained by using structured questionnaires addressed to 42 local government units (10 counties and 32 cities). The questionnaires were structured to provide information on the diffusion of project practices, the dominant areas of conducting project activities and level of formalization of project management. Even though statistic analysis does not offer definite conclusions, it does point out to the fact that new organizational arrangements are rather randomly diffused in Croatian local public administration, which might imply a rather fragmented strategic approach to administrative capacity development and poor and inconsistent system of managing organization development.
Continuing on previous research, designed to explore the process of diffusion of project management in Croatian local administration, this paper proposes a discussion on the achieved level of ...development of administrative capabilities. In a way, it represents an attempt to explore the diffusion of innovative organizational practices and managerial techniques that could have an impact in the improvement of the efficiency, and thus of administrative capacity, of the Croatian public administration at city and county level. The paper consists of three parts: context overview, empirical research and discussion. The first part derives primarily from desk research and presents the factors that, to our view, have contributed to shaping the present state of organization of Croatian public administration. This part also provides the basic definitions of administrative capacity used in constructing our research. Considering the complexity (and vagueness) of the term New Public Management, we choose to concentrate our attention on project management as a specific organizational arrangement and method of tasks coordination. In the second part, we present some results obtained through field research. Data was obtained by using structured questionnaires addressed to 42 local government units (10 counties and 32 cities). The questionnaires were structured to provide information on the diffusion of project practices, the dominant areas of conducting project activities and level of formalization of project management. Even though statistic analysis does not offer definite conclusions, it does point out to the fact that new organizational arrangements are rather randomly diffused in Croatian local public administration, which might imply a rather fragmented strategic approach to administrative capacity development and poor and inconsistent system of managing organization development.
The reforms of the public sector rank among the most complex problems Croatia has to face in the process of transition and accession to the EU. One of the recent reforms, the Customs Service Reform, ...offers insights into some of the achieved improvements and may serve as a guideline for reformers in other areas of public management. This research provides evidence of “customer satisfaction” with the functioning of the Croatian Customs System. Conclusions have been drawn based on the responses of 31 forwarders from Istarska County using a 19-item Likert scale. According to their opinion, services have improved in several aspects during the past few years, and accordingly the results can be interpreted as an indication of success of reform efforts.
Video densitometric and classical slit-scanning determinations of pesticides on thin-layer chromatographic plates were validated for linearity, precision, and detection limit. A comparison of results ...showed that slit-scanning densitometry is more sensitive and more precise than video densitometry. However, according to validation requirements, relative standard deviation for video densitometry is acceptable (3.5-5.3%). Linearities are very good and almost identical for both techniques. The main advantage of video technology is speed (a few seconds, compared with 20 mm with scanning densitometry) Video technology also provides excellent archiving facility. Image and chromatographic data can be stored together, edited, and used for many tasks.
Binding conditions for lead and cadmium on Ionenaustauscher III in relation to medium, complexing ions and temperature were determined. Maximal distribution coefficients were obtained for lead in 1 ...mol/dm-3 HBr at 293 K, and for cadmium in 0.5 mol/dm-3 HBr at 293 K. Satisfactory conditions for separation of lead from cadmium in the mixture were found to be in chloride medium on 303-323 K and in bromide medium at 293 K.
This paper analyses the Croatian public sector and comments on the progress achieved in public administration reforms from a functional and institutional perspective. We conclude the presentation by ...establishing that the present state of organization of the Croatian public sector has historically been shaped by international and Croatian legislative definitions, which are not uniform. This results in a highly non-transparent and presumably inefficient administration of public funds. Therefore, in order to access the effects achieved by public sector reforms so far and in order to plan future reforms, the institutional scope and structure of the Croatian public sector needs to be analyzed in more detail.
This paper analyses the Croatian public sector and comments on the progress achieved in public administration reforms from a functional and institutional perspective. We conclude the presentation by ...establishing that the present state of organization of the Croatian public sector has historically been shaped by international and Croatian legislative definitions, which are not uniform. This results in a highly non-transparent and presumably inefficient administration of public funds. Therefore, in order to access the effects achieved by public sector reforms so far and in order to plan future reforms, the institutional scope and structure of the Croatian public sector needs to be analyzed in more detail.
Economic reform programs in post-communist Eastern Europe since 1989 have been characterized by the slimming down of over-large industrial enterprises. One significant aspect of this has been the ...formation of clusters of small scale production-based enterprises often assisted by those same large enterprises. Using data obtained from an ongoing research project in the Primorska-Goranska region of Croatia, a paper examines the current and potential gains from such a restructuring process in the ship building industry. There are some positive trends emerging in the desire to develop high quality local suppliers, but a number of constraints are also highlighted leading to a call for a larger role to be played by governments in supporting these good intentions.
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