Enterprise Behavior and Privatization of the Large Enterprises in the Russian Federation

The Economic Transition and Integration (ETI) Project at IIASA has built on the institute's tradition of promoting collaborative research between East and West. The ETI Project's proven ability in dealing with issues pertaining to the transformation from central planning to market economics has been valuable for policy-makers and scientists alike. As a result, the government of the Russian Federation turned in 1992 to the ETI Project to organize a series of seminars and provide reports on topics of concern to the government. The Ford Foundation and the Pew Charitable Trusts have generously provided financial support for the seminar series. This report summarizes the contributions of participants at two related seminars held at the request of the Russian government at IIASA in the summer of 1993: Enterprise Behavior under Conditions of Economic Reform and Privatization of Large State Enterprises, both in the Russian Federation. Enterprise behavior, particularly of the large state enterprises that continue to dominate the Russian industrial and service sectors, is a crucial factor determining the success of economic reform. Somewhat surprisingly, the changing economic conditions have as yet to be accompanied by similarly sweeping alterations in firm behavior. The first of the two summer seminars focussed on why and how managerial attitudes and objectives, enterprise relationships, financial issues and taxation, foreign trade, and social welfare were significant in explaining present trends in enterprise behavior. Seminar participants searched out alternatives that would make these factors more conducive to promoting economic recovery and growth, and also compared the behavior of Russian enterprises with experiences in Poland and the Czech Republic. Privatization of large state enterprises is an integral part of the Russian economic transition. Vice Premier Anatoly Chubais opened the second workshop by reviewing the economic and political history of Russian privatization efforts, summarizing recent developments, and outlining future plans. Potential and actual privatization influence managers' and firms' behavior before and after the process is undertaken. Further discussions were devoted to the legal and institutional environment, the restructuring and privatization interface, and a review of privatization techniques and experiences from Central and Eastern Europe. Once again, the seminar revealed an intense willingness of experts from Russia, Central and Eastern Europe, and the West to share their valuable experiences in an effort to find approaches to more optimally encourage the successful transition to a market economy

Science and Sustainability: Selected Papers on IIASA's 20th Anniversary

IIASA celebrated its twentieth anniversary in May 1992 with its fourth general conference: "IIASA '92: An International Conference on the Challenges to Systems Analysis in the Nineties and Beyond." The conference focused on the relations between environment and development and on studies that integrate the methods and findings of several disciplines. The papers selected for inclusion in this volume deal with environmental issues and the role of science in addressing such problems, as well as to some extent creating them

Potential impacts on ecosystem services of land use transitions to second-generation bioenergy crops in GB

We present the first assessment of the impact of land use change (LUC) to second-generation (2G) bioenergy crops on ecosystem services (ES) resolved spatially for Great Britain (GB). A systematic approach was used to assess available evidence on the impacts of LUC from arable, semi-improved grassland or woodland/forest, to 2G bioenergy crops, for which a quantitative ‘threat matrix’ was developed. The threat matrix was used to estimate potential impacts of transitions to either Miscanthus, short-rotation coppice (SRC, willow and poplar) or short-rotation forestry (SRF). The ES effects were found to be largely dependent on previous land uses rather than the choice of 2G crop when assessing the technical potential of available biomass with a transition from arable crops resulting in the most positive effect on ES. Combining these data with constraint masks and available land for SRC and Miscanthus (SRF omitted from this stage due to lack of data), south-west and north-west England were identified as areas where Miscanthus and SRC could be grown, respectively, with favourable combinations of economic viability, carbon sequestration, high yield and positive ES benefits. This study also suggests that not all prospective planting of Miscanthus and SRC can be allocated to agricultural land class (ALC) ALC 3 and ALC 4 and suitable areas of ALC 5 are only minimally available. Beneficial impacts were found on 146 583 and 71 890 ha when planting Miscanthus or SRC, respectively, under baseline planting conditions rising to 293 247 and 91 318 ha, respectively, under 2020 planting scenarios. The results provide an insight into the interplay between land availability, original land uses, bioenergy crop type and yield in determining overall positive or negative impacts of bioenergy cropping on ecosystems services and go some way towards developing a framework for quantifying wider ES impacts of this important LUC

IIASA Reports, IIASA Conference '80 - Applied Systems Analysis: From Problem through Research to Use

"IIASA Conference '80," which took place 19-22 May l980, was the second such meeting in the life of the Institute, the first having taken place in l976. Since this meeting occurred during the Institute's eighth year, it celebrated the growing maturity of the research program by centering its attention on the theme "Applied Systems Analysis: From Problem through Research to Use." The Conference included presentations of IIASA's work both in summary and detail; descriptions of IIASA's linkages to other international and national institutions; discussions of uses of IIASA work; and various informal interactions between attendees and members of the IIASA staff. Major technical papers presented include: -- Roger E. Levien, "Applied Systems Analysis: From Problem through Research to Use;" -- Wolf Haefele, "Putting the Results of the IIASA Energy Systems Program to Work;" -- Ferenc Rabar, "Food and Agriculture Systems: Global and National Issues;" -- Andrei Rogers, "Migration, Urbanization, and Development;" -- Murat Albegov, "Regional Development: From Cases to Generalization;" -- Janusz Kindler, "Toward Integrated Policies for Water-Resources Management;" -- Rolfe Tomlinson, "Systems Approaches to Industrial Problems;" -- Andrzej Wierzbicki, "The Challenge of Applied Problems;" and -- Hugh J. Miser, "The Evolving Craft of Systems Analysis.