Suchergebnisse

The ruling of the European Commission is that the award of contracts by regional or local authorities for the provision of services of general economic interest must be done by way of competitive tendering. Such contracts must not be awarded to the authority's own public enterprises or to any other enterprise, including by means of unilateral State act, without a call for tenders, a practice that had previously been common in many Member States. Public service concessions are also subject to the competition rules of the EC Treaty. Should the European Commission enact a directive concerning compulsory competitive tendering, this would result, for several Member States, in a serious change of paradigm as regards the awarding of public service concessions. Against this background, this article will attempt to find answers to the following questions:—How is the present relationship of the regional or local authority with its own public enterprise to be considered?—Are there any limits to applying the rules on competition of the EC Treaty to public service concessions?—What kind of positive and negative effects concerning economic efficiency and supply of specific public services result from the awarding of public service concessions and from compulsory competitive tendering?—What kind of, and what amount of, transaction costs result from compulsory competitive tendering and from the awarding of concessions?—Does competitive tendering work properly, and are public tenderers given equal opportunities?—Are there any alternatives to compulsory competitive tendering that would achieve an efficient market performance and provide sufficient supply?

BROOKS INITIATIVE WAS THE SIXTH MAJOR ATTEMPT AT A SOLUTION TO THE NORTHERN IRELAND PROBLEM BY BRITISH STATESMEN SINCE THE INTRODUCTION OF DIRECT RULE IN 1972. IT IS NOTABLE THAT ALL SIX INITIATIVES TOWARDS A SETTLEMENT HAVE ALL BEEN AIMED, IN VARYING WAYS, AT BASICALLY THE SAME SOLUTION. THIS IS THE RE-ESTABLISHMENT OF DEVOLVED GOVERNMENT IN NORTHERN IRELAND, WITHIN THE UNITED KINGDOM, ON A BASIS OF POWER-SHARING BETWEEN REPRESENTATIVES OF THE TWO COMMUNITIES IN THE PROVINCE, AND WITH SOME ALL-IRELAND AND BRITISH-IRISH DIMENSION. IN THIS ARTICLE, THE AUTHOR CONSIDERS THIS SOLUTION, PRIMARILY, BEFORE CONCLUDING WITH A BRIEF REVIEW OF SOME OF THE ALTERNATIVES.

Britain's newspaper and magazine publishing business did not fare particularly well during the 1950s. With leading newspaper proprietors placing their desire for political influence above that of financial performance, and with working practices in Fleet Street becoming virtually ungovernable, it was little surprise to find many leading periodical publishers on the verge of bankruptcy by the decade's end. A notable exception to this general picture of financial mismanagement was provided by the chain of enterprises controlled by Roy Thomson. Having first established a base in Scotland in 1953 through the acquisition of the Scotsman newspaper publishing group, the Canadian entrepreneur brought a new commercial attitude and business strategy to bear on Britain's periodical publishing industry. Using profits generated by a string of successful media activities, in 1959 Thomson bought a place in Fleet Street through the acquisition of Lord Kemsley's chain of newspapers, which included the prestigious Sunday Times. Early in 1961 Thomson came to an agreement with Christopher Chancellor, the recently appointed Chief Executive of Odhams Press, to merge their two publishing groups and thereby create a major new force in the British newspaper and magazine publishing industry. The deal was never consummated however. Within days of publicly announcing the merger, Odhams found its shareholders being seduced by an improved offer from Cecil King, Chairman of Daily Mirror Newspapers, Ltd., which they duly accepted. The Mirror's acquisition of Odhams was deeply controversial, mainly because it brought under common ownership the two left-leaning British popular newspapers, the Mirror and the Herald. Our paper utilises archive sources from the Cabinet Office to explore the political dialogue that enabled the controversial takeover to proceed unopposed by the regulatory authority of the Monopolies Commission. In business terms, it analyses the implication of the successful prosecution of the King-led deal for magazine publishing in Britain: namely, the creation of a virtual monopoly through the formation of the Mirror-controlled IPC Magazines.

Britain's newspaper and magazine publishing business did not fare particularly well during the 1950s. With leading newspaper proprietors placing their desire for political influence above that of financial performance, and with working practices in Fleet Street becoming virtually ungovernable, it was little surprise to find many leading periodical publishers on the verge of bankruptcy by the decade's end. A notable exception to this general picture of financial mismanagement was provided by the chain of enterprises controlled by Roy Thomson. Having first established a base in Scotland in 1953 through the acquisition of the Scotsman newspaper publishing group, the Canadian entrepreneur brought a new commercial attitude and business strategy to bear on Britain's periodical publishing industry. Using profits generated by a string of successful media activities, in 1959 Thomson bought a place in Fleet Street through the acquisition of Lord Kemsley's chain of newspapers, which included the prestigious Sunday Times. Early in 1961 Thomson came to an agreement with Christopher Chancellor, the recently appointed Chief Executive of Odhams Press, to merge their two publishing groups and thereby create a major new force in the British newspaper and magazine publishing industry. The deal was never consummated however. Within days of publicly announcing the merger, Odhams found its shareholders being seduced by an improved offer from Cecil King, Chairman of Daily Mirror Newspapers, Ltd., which they duly accepted. The Mirror's acquisition of Odhams was deeply controversial, mainly because it brought under common ownership the two left-leaning British popular newspapers, the Mirror and the Herald. Our paper utilises archive sources from the Cabinet Office to explore the political dialogue that enabled the controversial takeover to proceed unopposed by the regulatory authority of the Monopolies Commission. In business terms, it analyses the implication of the successful prosecution of the King-led deal for magazine publishing in Britain: namely, the creation of a virtual monopoly through the formation of the Mirror-controlled IPC Magazines.

Britain's newspaper and magazine publishing business did not fare particularly well during the 1950s. With leading newspaper proprietors placing their desire for political influence above that of financial performance, and with working practices in Fleet Street becoming virtually ungovernable, it was little surprise to find many leading periodical publishers on the verge of bankruptcy by the decade's end. A singular exception to this general picture of financial mismanagement was provided by the chain of enterprises controlled by Roy Thomson. Having first established a base in Scotland in 1953 through the acquisition of the Scotsman newspaper publishing group, the Canadian entrepreneur brought a new commercial attitude and business strategy to bear on Britain's publishing industry. Using profits generated by a string of successful media activities, in 1959 Thomson bought a place in Fleet Street through the acquisition of Lord Kemsey's chain of newspapers, which included the prestigious Sunday Times. Early in 1961 Thomson came to an agreement with Christopher Chancellor, the recently appointed Chief Executive of Odhams Press, to merge their two publishing groups and thereby create a major new force in the British newspaper and magazine publishing industry. The deal was never consummated however. Within days of publicly announcing the merger, Odhams found its shareholders being seduced by an improved offer from Cecil King, Chairman of Daily Mirror Newspapers, Ltd., which they duly accepted. The Mirror's acquisition of Odhams was deeply controversial, mainly because it brought under common ownership the two left-leaning British popular newspapers, the Mirror and the Herald. The current paper utilises archive sources from the Cabinet Office to explore the political dialogue that enabled the controversial takeover to proceed unopposed by the regulatory authority of the Monopolies Commission. In business terms, it analyses the implication of the successful prosecution of the deal for magazine publishing in Britain: the creation of a virtual monopoly through the formation of the Mirror-controlled IPC Magazines, and Thomson's hostile response to this new enterprise spearheaded through his ownership of the Sunday Times.

For most of the twentieth century, the publishing of magazines was technologically and organisationally embedded within the printing industry. By charting the origins and evolution of Britain's principal magazine publisher, IPC, this paper demonstrates how these organisational inflexibilities served to constrain new product development and promoted a competitive regime based upon mass production coupled with a low pricing strategy founded on cheap weekly magazines. During the 1980s, however, radical changes in working practices within the printing industry, stemming from the political reforms to trade union power, paved the way for a revolution in publishing technology. The introduction of desktop publishing (DTP) packages after 1985 thus heralded a new competitive phase in the magazine industry, promoting a much greater emphasis on innovation as a competitive weapon and supporting enhanced forms of product differentiation and organisational flexibility.