MODUL University Vienna - Public Governance Research Blog

Faculty highlight - Dr. Harvey Goldstein

Stewart — Mon, 06 Jun 2011 11:17:47 +0000

Hot off the heels of rubbing elbows with Bill Clinton at the first annual CDGC meeting, Prof. Dr. Harvey Goldstein is one of MODUL University Vienna's most distinguished academics. He holds the position of as Professor and Dean of the Program in Public Governance and Management.

His research has spanned many dimensions of regional economic development, regional labor markets, innovation, entrepreneurship, industrial clusters, governance of development, and technology policy. He has conducted research and served as a consultant over the past 20 years on the role and effectiveness of universities in the creation of local and regional economic health and sustainability. Within this field Dr. Goldstein has evaluated science and technology parks as instruments of regional economic development for the Ford Foundation and the U.S. Economic Development Administration. He is currently initiating research on the obstacles and barriers to universities creating spin-off companies in Austria.

Other research has included the development of methods and models for forecasting regional employment by industrial sector and for assessing the degree of fit between a region’s knowledge assets in institutions of higher education and its industry strengths as a way to target the most competitive knowledge-based industry clusters.

Dr. Goldstein has served as an adviser to a number of international and U.S. government agencies on knowledge-based economic development policies and strategies. Prior to moving to his current position in Austria, he served as a professor on the faculties of Columbia University and the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. He has received numerous awards for his research and teaching including a Senior Fulbright Scholarship in 2000 and selection as a Kauffman Entrepreneurship Faculty Fellow in 2006. Goldstein completed his undergraduate education at Columbia University and earned two masters degrees and a Ph.D. from the University of Pennsylvania.

An avid climber in his spare time, Dr Goldstein has scaled mountains in Alaska, Peru and Switzerland to name a few. He is currently undertaking a campaign to read all the classics of world literature.

MU welcomes new faculty member in Public Governance and Management

Hamilton — Tue, 31 May 2011 09:34:36 +0000

The staff and faculty of MODUL University Vienna are thrilled to introduce their newest faculty member, Dr. M. Graziano Ceddia, Associate Professor at the Department of Public Governance and Management. He holds a BSc, from the University of Siena, Italy and MSc and PhD degrees from the University of York, UK.

Dr. Ceddia comes to MU after serving as program director for the MSc in Agricultural Economics at the School of Agricultural Policy and Development at the University of Reading, UK which boasts an esteemed history as a top research institute on both the national and international levels. There he lectured on applied economics and furthered his own research and teaching interests which focus on ecological, resource, public, health, and agricultural economics, as well as applied microeconomics.

Prior to his position in England, Dr. Ceddia worked as a post-doctoral researcher at the Institute for Prospective Technological Studies in Seville, Spain, one of the seven scientific institutes of the European Commission’s Joint Research Center. He is also part of several ongoing research initiatives, including a US-funded working group for synthesizing and predicting infectious diseases.

Over the past several years, Dr. Ceddia’s engagement in research and academic activities across Europe has awarded him extensive knowledge which will be invaluable for MODUL University’s students. In addition to teaching courses in the BBA and MSc programs, some students will have the opportunity to work directly with him as a supervisor for both master’s and bachelor’s theses.

MU Vienna is delighted to welcome Dr. Ceddia at a time when the university is enjoying tremendous growth in research and scholarship. His expertise will be highly beneficial to the continuing development of MU’s academic programs and strengthening its impressive academic team.

Landscape of the Year Network

Glaser — Thu, 11 Nov 2010 13:39:41 +0000

The Danube Delta, the Lesachtal, the Lubusz country and the Slovak Karst – Aggtelek Karst have some things in common: They are European cross border regions with important natural heritages and each of them has been designated as ‘Landscape of the Year’ by the International Friends of Nature. Naturefriends International and MODUL University Vienna among others are partners in a project which aims at creating a network of these regions with a particular focus on tourism. The implementation and promotion of sustainable tourism and raising the regions’ competitiveness are among the main objectives of this project. For more information please refer to the project website: www.landscapeoftheyear.net

Contact

The Use and Valuation of Journals in Planning Scholarship: Peer Assessment versus Impact Factors

Glaser — Wed, 29 Sep 2010 12:05:00 +0000

Harvey Goldstein, head of the Department of Public Governance and Management at MODUL University Vienna, and Gunther Maier from WU-Wien have published an article in the Journal of Planning Education and Research that examines whether the subjective value of journals by scholars in the field of planning is related to journal impact factors. Impact factors are based upon incidence of citations of the articles published in a given journal. Goldstein and Maier found that there is no statistical relationship, and urge university administrators to be cautious in using journal impact factors for making personnel decisions and for evaluating the scholarly productivity of academic departments. The article has already attracted a lot of commentary; the journal's editor is devoting a section of the following issue to publishing commentaries on the Goldstein/Maier piece. There will also be a special session at the World Planning Schools Congress in Perth, Australia in July 2011 devoted to the discussion of the article.

To read the article klick on the following link (PDF):

http://jpe.sagepub.com/content/30/1/66.full.pdf+html

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Universities as Facilitators of Sustainable Regional Development: The Role of Knowledge, Leadership and Governance

Sedlacek — Mon, 16 Aug 2010 11:51:00 +0000

The question of how universities can support policy processes for sustainable development was addressed by Sabine Sedlacek, member of the Department of Public Governance and Management of MODUL University Vienna, during the 50th European Congress of the Regional Science Association International, which took place in Jönköping (Sweden) in August 2010. The goal was to filter factors enhancing sustainable development as well as obstacles and barriers.

Numerous studies focusing on innovation and entrepreneurship also assess how universities stimulate regional economic development. In these studies universities are seen as important actors within regional innovation systems (RIS). Within these RIS universities fulfill a knowledge production and transfer function besides their training and education (human capital) function. Studies on sustainable regional development are additionally focusing on governance issues and the role of different stakeholders within governance networks and their ability to contribute to a more sustainable development at the regional level. Universities are important governance stakeholders, since their administrators and faculty members are eligible partners for regional governments. Especially within the European Union, the role of institutions in fostering sustainable development at the regional level gained major importance through a multi-level governance approach in European regional policy. The focus on institutional cooperation and how this network cooperation leads to a more effective implementation of sustainable development is the subject of several research agendas focusing on governance for sustainable development. There is a lack of knowledge and expertise with respect to the links between certain institutions and the broader society, and hence their ability to foster sustainable regional development. In this regard universities can serve as facilitators between societal and other institutional actors. Sabine Sedlacek introduced an analytical framework which allows testing hypotheses extracted from existing theoretical and empirical literature about universities as key actors in advancing sustainable development.

Central Europe toward Sustainable Building

Sedlacek — Wed, 28 Jul 2010 09:15:00 +0000

At the "Central Europe toward Sustainable Building" conference, which took place in Prague in June/July 2010, Sabine Sedlacek from the Department of Public Governance and Management presented two studies about the effectiveness of regional councils for sustainable building. Results from an online survey about governance aspects of sustainable building councils provide a valuable insight in their structures, their working processes and the role they play in regional governance settings. The question “Do green building councils make sense?” was subsequently assessed.

The presented papers resulted in two publications:

Sedlacek, S. , "Governance aspects of sustainable building councils - results from a survey", CESB 10 - Central Europe towards sustainable building , Prague, Czech Republic, Grada Publishing for Department of Building Structures and CIDEAS Research Centre, pp. 723-726, 30/06/2010.

http://www.modul.ac.at/governance-aspects-sustainable-building-councils-...

Abstract

The sustainable building sector is rapidly changing recently. Under the umbrella of the World Green Building Council (WGBC) many countries have already or are starting to set up regional councils which will be analyzed within this paper. For such an analysis the following questions will be addressed: What types of organizational structures and settings suit best? What kind of different stakeholder constellations can be found? What role does policy play? What role does industry play? What are the main purposes of these organizations? In order to answer these types of questions we will conduct an online questionnaire based survey focusing on the WGBC regional councils on a global scale (i.e. Europe, Asia Pacific, South, Central & Latin America, countries outside regional jurisdiction). The survey will help us to identify the differences of stakeholder constellations, organizational settings, partnership models, and the different roles of policy and industries within the different regional councils. Besides the international implications the survey allows us to conduct special analyses for Central Europe and to report on the current developments and progresses in this particular geographical area.

Sedlacek, S., Maier, G. , "Do green building councils make sense? - An economic analysis", CESB 10 - Central Europe towards sustainable building , Prague, Czech Republic, Grada Publishing for Department of Building Structures and CIDEAS Research Centre, pp. 681-684, 30/06/2010.

http://www.modul.ac.at/do-green-building-councils-make-sense-economic-an...

Abstract

Stimulated by the rapid development of Green Building Councils (GBCs) over recent years, this paper asks the question, whether or not such organizations make sense economically. Do they provide a service that is economically valuable to the construction and real estate industry? The answer to this question is of utmost importance also to GBCs, because only when they provide such a service will they be supported by that industry in the long run.We develop a simple model of real estate developers and investors and identify an information problem between them that locks them into a prisoners’ dilemma (often called “circle of blame”). This seems to be an important factor that can explain the current popularity of GBCs as well as the strong involvement of industry in these initiatives. The model also allows us to apply some concepts from institutional economics in order to derive additional results for the organization of GBCs. Most importantly, only when they choose to provide instruments for overcoming the prisoners’ dilemma deadlock will they be valuable for industry and thus be able to secure its support in the long run.

Triple C - Establishing a Climate Change Collaboratory

Sedlacek — Wed, 16 Jun 2010 08:37:00 +0000

The departments of Public Governance and New Media Technology of MODUL University Vienna have launched a common research project with other research institution to establish a Climate Change Collaboratory. The collaboratory aims to strengthen the relations between Austrian scientists, policy makers, educators, environmental NGOs, news media and corporations - stakeholders who recognize the need for adaptation and mitigation, but differ in worldviews, goals and agendas. It manages expert knowledge and provides a platform for effective communication and collaboration. It assists networking with leading international organizations, bridges the science-policy gap and promotes rich, self-sustaining community interaction to translate knowledge into coordinated action. Innovative survey instruments in the tradition of “games with a purpose” will create shared meaning through collaborative ontology building and leverage social networking platforms to capture indicators of environmental attitudes, lifestyles and behaviors.

Further Information

http://www.modul.ac.at/nmt/triple-c

12th Winelands Conference on Public Leadership for Added Citizen Value

Glaser — Tue, 30 Mar 2010 06:24:00 +0000

In March 2010, the 12th Winelands Conference on Public Leadership for Added Citizen Value took place at the University of Stellenbosch in South Africa. The public governance department of MODUL University Vienna had the honor to present two research papers about the role of universities in the governance of (sustainable) local and regional development. Sabine Sedlacek’s presentation focused on actual and potential roles of universities in fulfilling educational functions, governance and economic development functions, and facilitative and mediating functions to enhance sustainable development. A set of obstacles and barriers that are hindering the sustainable policy implementation process at the regional level was identified and the question how this process could be supported by universities acting in partnership with other institutional actors was addressed.

The second presented paper titled “Universities in Governance Roles: The Case of Utrecht and the Governance of a Knowledge-Region”. It is the result of a common study conducted by Karin Glaser and Harvey Goldstein about Utrecht University’s contribution to the governance of the knowledge region Utrecht. The paper is based on the assumption that universities can bring to bear their unique assets – knowledge and know-how – for regional problem solving as well as leadership and a certain moral authority to help bring about consensus on visions and strategies among stakeholder groups with divergent interests. It explores if there is a shift from hierarchical to heterarchic modes of governance and it tests hypotheses about the incidence, structure, and process of university involvement in the governance of local and regional development.

Contact

Dr. Sabine Sedlacek, MODUL University Vienna
Department of Public Governance and Management, Am Kahlenberg 1, 1190 Vienna, Austria
sabine.sedlacek@modul.ac.at | www.modul.ac.at

Mag. Karin Glaser, MODUL University Vienna
Department of Public Governance and Management, Am Kahlenberg 1, 1190 Vienna, Austria
karin.glaser@modul.ac.at | www.modul.ac.at

Prof. Harvey Goldstein, MODUL University Vienna
Department of Public Governance and Management, Am Kahlenberg 1, 1190 Vienna, Austria
harvey.goldstein@modul.ac.at | www.modul.ac.at

MODUL University Vienna on Facebook

Koeltringer — Tue, 23 Jun 2009 15:48:00 +0000

MODUL University Vienna has just recently launched three fanpages on the social networking platform Facebook. Besides a general representation of the University on Facebook, there is a page for the Bachelor of Business Administration in Tourism and Hospitality Management and the Master of Business Administration in New Media Technology and Management programs. In order to show their commitment, community members "become fans" and share their interest in MODUL University Vienna with their social network. According to Facebook, its mission is to give people the power to share and to make the world more open and connected. Millions of people use Facebook everyday to keep up with friends, upload photos, share links and videos, and learn more about the people they meet.

If you feel committed to MU Vienna, its students, the study programs, values, researchers & lecturers, research activities ... we would be happy if you would "become a fan". This enables you to keep up with the latest news and events taking place at the University and is the sure way to get and keep in touch with MODUL University's network.

Contact
Clemens Költringer, MODUL University Vienna, Department of Tourism and Hospitality Management, Am Kahlenberg 1, 1190 Wien, Austria
clemens.koeltringer@modul.ac.at | www.modul.ac.at/koeltringer

Facebook is a registered trademark of Facebook Inc., which provides a development system that allows building social applications and interacting with its more than 80 million active users.

Prof. Roger Mesznik explains the financial crisis: Are we on the way out?

Glaser — Wed, 27 May 2009 14:37:18 +0000

Roger Mesznik talks about the financial crisis
MODUL University Vienna had the pleasure to host a presentation by Prof. Roger Mesznik, an expert in finance from the Graduate Business School of Columbia University, New York, who has more than twenty five years of experience in lecturing on corporate finance, financial markets and instruments and financial strategy and planning. Prof. Mesznik, who is also a consultant to corporations and multi-national and international institutions such as PriceWaterhouseCoopers, the U.S.-U.S.S.R. Trade and Economic Council, IBM, and the World Bank, has shared his insight into the current financial crisis with an audience of about eighty students, scholars, politicians and businessmen and women. He explained that the crisis, which started as a seemingly unexpected and sudden implosion of some elements of the financial system in the US, is now threatening the economic wellbeing of the globe and the core of our existence as we know it. In the light of rising unemployment, shrinking economies, vast amounts of lost wealth, and very large deficits, he explored whether the responses of governments and international bodies observed to date were adequate, appropriate, and sufficient. He identified the readiness of most central banks and some governments to intervene in time and the good cooperation and coordination among central banks as significant factors that saved us from the breakdown of the financial system. In order to halt the roll towards the abyss, he suggested that the governments should save firms and jobs, support social expenditures and borrow as much money as needed to achieve these results, “because borrowing is better than a collapse”. He considers it necessary to “create now the superstructure to credibly repay the huge debt once conditions improve”, but he also pointed out that this will require new taxes. “A clear program is within sight for avoiding a depression,” he stated, but “I am not
sure we have a good plan for repaying what we owe ourselves and our
children”.