What are the main contents of "Modern Meteorological Business System"
Research on Several Issues of Modern Meteorological Service System
Tang Xu*, Zhang Hongguang
(China Meteorological Administration, Beijing 100081)
Abstract: On the basis of analyzing the practices of relevant countries in establishing a modern meteorological service system and combining with the actual situation of my country's meteorological service work, the basic concept of a modern meteorological service system and the necessity and urgency of establishing a modern meteorological service system in my country are put forward, and the modern meteorological service system is The operating mechanism, organizational structure, technical support and how to establish a modern meteorological service system were discussed and studied.
Keywords: Research on Meteorological Service System Issues
CLC Number: P451 Document Identification Code: A Article Number: 1007-9033(2001)04-0005-04
Meteorological service issues have always been the core issue of meteorological work. In order to adapt to the rapid development of science and technology, promote the sustainable development of social economy, and improve the efficiency of government investment in public welfare institutions, many national meteorological departments are actively exploring meteorological service systems under the new situation. In particular, countries' re-understanding of the role and status of national meteorological departments under market economy conditions, as well as their awareness of the diversification of traditional public welfare meteorological services, has made it necessary to establish and develop new meteorological service systems that keep pace with the times. An important trend in the reform and development of meteorological undertakings in various countries in the era of economic globalization and informationization. In order for meteorology to truly integrate into society and the economy, it is necessary to build production relations that adapt to the requirements of social and economic development and the development of meteorological "productivity". One of the important aspects is the establishment of a modern meteorological service system. This article focuses on analyzing the practices of relevant countries in establishing modern meteorological service systems, and discusses some issues of modern meteorological service systems based on the actual situation of meteorological service work in my country.
1 Understanding of the modern meteorological service system
What is the modern meteorological service system? The author believes that the modern meteorological service system is under the conditions of the socialist market economy, adapts to the new needs of new technology, new economy and society, and is based on the relationship established by stable service suppliers and service demanders (including corresponding economic relationships). , organizational relationships, operating mechanisms and technical methods, etc.) complete system.
What is closely related to the modern meteorological service system and fundamentally determines the development strategy of the modern meteorological service system should be the concept of modern service, or the guiding ideology for establishing and maintaining new service relationships. Only focusing on economic relationships and ignoring the correct service concept will inevitably make it difficult for service work to penetrate into all walks of life and truly play a role, thus affecting the healthy development of the service business itself. Some developed countries attach great importance to the concept of meteorological services. After the completion of its modernization construction, the US Weather Bureau proposed a "seamless" forecast service strategy, raising its external services and culture to a new level. The Canadian Meteorological Service takes service work as the starting point for all work, puts service demand research in the first place, and takes demand forecasting as a key component of decision-making. These can be considered commitments to the public and users. Similar commitments include the Civil Aviation Department’s commitment to “provide seamless services to any passenger at any time, arriving at any location” and the “first choice, first alert” commitment proposed by the U.S. Environmental Weather Prediction Center. The new commitment means making major adjustments to traditional service methods, service organizations, business structures, and the relationship between service providers and service demanders. It reflects high efficiency and high quality, and ultimately reflects the adaptation to the characteristics of society in the information age and the trend of diversified sources of meteorological information. Therefore, whether it is a public welfare meteorological service or a commercial meteorological service, we must pay attention to users and their needs. How to transform needs into the determination of relationships, the formation of mechanisms, and the organizational form that matches the needs requires us to think and design strategically.
The most essential difference between the modern meteorological service system and the traditional meteorological service system lies in the operating mechanism, which depends on the establishment of new service concepts and economic relationships. Scientific and reasonable economic relationships can, on the one hand, correctly evaluate the value of meteorological service products through economic returns and solve the problem of financial support for the healthy development of the entire meteorological industry; on the other hand, through the constraints and incentive mechanisms contained in economic relationships, they can also promote The improvement of meteorological service quality makes services more targeted. Stable and reasonable economic relations have become an important basis for countries to adjust the integration point between meteorological work and social economy. In recent years, some countries in Europe and the United States with relatively developed market economies have conducted fruitful explorations in the operation mechanism of modern meteorological services. A typical example is the partnership proposed and currently in operation by the UK Met Office's inter-governmental professional services fund (Trading Fund) and some other European countries and the Canadian Meteorological Service. Partnership refers to a long-term and stable relationship, including economic relationships, established with important users with special needs. One of its main purposes is to solve the problem of payment settlement between government departments. Similar to the owner-responsibility system implemented in my country in terms of capital construction, the cost of paying the meteorological department to serve other departments of the country is no longer directly allocated by the central government, but is reflected in the budgets of other departments.
The interdepartmental settlement method makes it economically possible to monitor the quality and efficiency of meteorological services. The main partners of the Canadian Meteorological Service include the Department of National Defense, provincial and local governments, the Coast Guard, and aviation companies. The Danish Meteorological Office's partners (important service users) include the Ministry of Defense and the Air Force, government coastal authorities, traffic and road authorities, airport authorities and aviation service companies, media, etc.
Why should we establish a modern meteorological service system? We have noticed that, on the one hand, with the establishment and improvement of the socialist market economy, the government's way of managing the economy and the fiscal and economic system will inevitably undergo fundamental reforms, and it is impossible for finance to continue to take over all public institutions. On the other hand, affected by the increasing demand in the domestic meteorological service market and the continuous development of commercialization of international meteorological services, meteorological services themselves are also diversifying and diversifying. These two aspects together form the main external factors that promote profound changes in the meteorological service system. For a long time, due to the relative weakness of the meteorological service system, the service methods and organizations for various users, and the operating mechanisms adapted to the market economic system have still been constrained by the planned economy model. The energy of the national meteorological department has been too much involved in how to change from The finance needs more money, how to obtain more returns from the market and how to protect its own interests. This to a certain extent reflects the helplessness of solving the lack of business funds when new economic relations have not been established. The long-term efforts and practices of meteorological departments at all levels reflect the urgency and reality of establishing a new meteorological service relationship on the one hand, and also show that we have a certain foundation in establishing a modern meteorological service system.
The establishment of a modern meteorological service system is both a challenge and an opportunity. From the perspective of the meteorological system, the formation of the modern meteorological service system will inevitably affect the reform of the entire meteorological management system and business technology system, and the meteorological business technology system in turn restricts the establishment and improvement of the modern meteorological service system; from the entire socio-economic system From a perspective, the enhancement of the status and role of the national meteorological department, as well as the improvement of its image and efficiency, all depend on the establishment of a modern meteorological service system.
2 About the operating mechanism of the modern meteorological service system
Certain economic relationships are determined by certain meteorological service categories and properties, and certain economic relationships must also be related to specific users. correspond. Therefore, it is necessary to explore the economic relations and operating mechanism issues of the modern meteorological service system from a development perspective through the subdivision of service objects. Based on the objects of my country's meteorological services and the characteristics of my country's financial economy, we are conducive to objectively determining the economic value of meteorological work and all outputs; conducive to the national meteorological department obtaining stable and good economic input; conducive to promoting the improvement of meteorological departments Working methods, improving work efficiency and other principles, and proposing various relationships and corresponding mechanisms that should be established in the future modern meteorological service system.
(1) Government (including the government actions of the country). Meteorological infrastructure belongs to national infrastructure, and meteorological data is a national resource. Therefore, it must be clear that the state has the primary responsibility for meteorological infrastructure and the accumulation of basic data. Decision-making service is the main connotation of meteorological services with Chinese characteristics. Providing meteorological services for relevant decision-making of governments at all levels is the primary task of my country’s meteorological departments. Governments at all levels are also users of meteorological services. As beneficiaries, each level of government has corresponding financial support responsibilities for meteorological services. The operating mechanism of meteorological services for government decision-making should mainly be clarified through regulations. Mutual economic relations shall be determined in the form of long-term special services and such funds shall be included in the fiscal budgets at all levels.
(2) Important partners. Departments sensitive to meteorology, such as civil aviation, transportation, agriculture, environment, military, etc., are important users of meteorological services. Drawing on foreign experience, we call them "partners" and the relationship with them is called partnership. The so-called partnership refers to a mutually beneficial, long-term and stable interdependent relationship. This relationship needs to be guaranteed by a certain operating mechanism. The obligatory provision of services by the meteorological department to other departments has shifted to the payment of fees to the meteorological department by the beneficiary partners. The application business of relevant departments (such as civil aviation, etc.) is "outsourced" to the meteorological department. Establishing partnerships is an objective requirement to adapt to the reform of the national financial investment system, making financial investment in undertakings more transparent and easier to manage. Financial accounting among departments is also conducive to promoting the meteorological department to improve the service system, enhance the pertinence of services, improve service quality, and maximize the benefits of services. Therefore, the concept of partnership is feasible in my country's modern meteorological service system.
(3) The public. It is difficult for meteorological services to establish direct economic relations with the public, and to a large extent they are indirect economic relations. Public meteorological services are inseparable from the media, and the relationship with public services is to some extent transformed into the relationship between meteorological services and the media. In view of the fact that public services rely on mass media, meteorological services for the public can be carried out based on the reform and reorganization of the radio and television industry (that is, the separation of acquisition, editing, production and broadcasting). For meteorological information services, collection and editing refer to basic information processing and forecast product production; production refers to the packaging and corresponding processing of service products; and dissemination refers to the use of media. In the modern meteorological service system, meteorological services for the public should develop a technical system focusing on "production", and at the same time establish and develop stable, good, and mutually beneficial economic relations with the media.
In accordance with the principle of separation of production and broadcasting, the production of meteorological service products (including film and television products) is relatively independent. Judging from the situation, the meteorological service products provided by the media will only be bundled or additional products of the media. The public will still obtain them for free, but media companies must make appropriate returns for the value-added benefits brought by them. This economic relationship with the media also puts forward higher requirements for meteorological business technology, so a relatively independent entity must be established for specialized production.
(4) Market users. The economic relationship with business users is market-oriented. Internationally speaking, the competition in the future meteorological service market will still be the competition of products, information and information sources, the core of which is personalization - vividness, continuous updating - freshness, accuracy - authority. Therefore, a strong relationship with market users must be based on the quality of meteorological service products. Since the service objects are relatively specific, if the economic benefits of the service can be quantified and understood by users, establishing an economic relationship with corporate users guaranteed by a specific service contract is a more effective way.
By establishing long-term and good economic relationships with governments, partners, media and corporate users, seeking common development will ultimately greatly promote the improvement of service quality and pertinence, and will also be beneficial to Form diversified and stable investment channels.
3 About the organizational structure of the modern meteorological service system
An important issue in the modern meteorological service system is what kind of services should be undertaken by what kind of organization. The organizational structure of modern meteorological services should mainly include national meteorological departments, non-profit organizations and commercial meteorological service enterprises. Looking at the development history of meteorological services, even in countries with a relatively high degree of marketization, the national meteorological department is still the leading force in meteorological services, but it is not enough to handle all meteorological services. Under the influence of macroeconomic policies and institutional reforms, while adjusting the internal structure of the meteorological industry, it also needs to directly face the development requirements imposed by the economic and social environment and cultivate and develop diversified service entities. In the organizational structure of the modern meteorological service system, the national meteorological department is no longer a stand-alone organization. At the 53rd Executive Committee meeting of the World Meteorological Organization, the United States proposed to discuss the role of the media and private meteorological agencies, and suggested that relevant content be included in the revised draft of the World Meteorological Organization Convention. This fully shows the development and change trend of meteorological service entities.
As for the division of labor in services, what has been highlighted in our country is whether the national meteorological department can engage in commercial meteorological services. In Europe, some countries with relatively developed market economies, such as Canada and Australia, national meteorological departments are allowed to engage in commercial meteorological services, but some issues involving fair competition have also been exposed, making the relationship between national meteorological departments and private meteorological agencies more difficult to deal with. , friction occurs from time to time. It is indeed difficult to find practical solutions in this regard. If the various economic relationships in the modern meteorological service system can be established, it will be supplemented by the reform of fund management methods (such as the "anticipated results-based system" being piloted by government agencies in some developed countries and international organizations such as the United Nations and the World Meteorological Organization). "Budget Management Measures"), classifying management according to government behavior, non-profit behavior and for-profit behavior, this problem may be easier to solve. After all, no service entity can solve all meteorological service problems and meet all meteorological service needs. Whether it is a national meteorological department or a private meteorological agency, they must ultimately determine key service areas based on their own characteristics and advantages. For example, the national meteorological department focuses on developing fixed users and large users (such as government and "partner" users) to produce special products. Non-profit and for-profit meteorological organizations focus on developing small and medium-sized users and producing personalized products.
4 Regarding the technical support of the modern meteorological service system
This issue is the relationship between the modern meteorological service system and the service technology system in the new generation business technology system. The meteorological service technology system is an important part of the new generation of meteorological business technology system. The meteorological service technology system refers to the information reprocessing and organization of meteorological information from product generation to user service. The service technology system has technical processes that conform to its own laws, while the meteorological service system is more about studying the economic and structural relationships between service suppliers and service demanders. From the perspective of meteorological service work, the meteorological service technical system is the technical support of the meteorological service system, but it is only a part of it. The relevant meteorological service technical method system has been elaborated in the "Research on the New Generation of Meteorological Operation Technical System" organized by the China Meteorological Administration.
5 About how to establish a modern meteorological service system
The modern meteorological service system is an important development issue, which includes many social, economic and scientific and technological issues. Its establishment and improvement It requires joint efforts from all aspects.
First of all, at the national level, on the one hand, it is necessary to reform the financial system and management methods in accordance with the ideas of the modern meteorological service system, and fundamentally promote the formation and development of various economic relationships in the modern meteorological service system. Improve and implement it from a policy perspective; on the other hand, the government’s responsibilities and obligations for developing meteorological undertakings must be clarified in the form of laws and regulations, and the national financial burden on meteorological business service system infrastructure (such as observation station network, information transmission system, national earth Environmental database) construction, international meteorological exchanges, basic research on meteorological science, and meteorological government behavior will be fully invested and formally included in the corresponding financial channels. In addition, the state should also protect economic interests through laws and regulations, establish a market system, and protect national industries.
Secondly, at the level of the national meteorological department, on the one hand, it is necessary to accelerate the leap-forward development of the meteorological business technical system in accordance with the requirements of the modern meteorological service system, and lay the technical foundation for the establishment and development of the modern meteorological service system. Base. The China Meteorological Administration is studying the reform of the operational and technical system for 30 years. Among them, in-depth research was conducted on the technical system including meteorological services. In our formulation of the "China Meteorological Development Outline (2001-2010)" for the entire industry, as well as the "Meteorological Development Plan (2001-2015)" mainly formulated from the perspective of the meteorological department itself, we have laid out the requirements for the establishment, development and Perfecting the meteorological service technical system and improving service capabilities were specially elaborated. At present, it is necessary to speed up the top-level design of specific business and technology system reform plans. On the other hand, it is necessary to carry out institutional innovation and improve management methods. It is necessary to carefully study the national reform and development dynamics, especially several important trends related to the establishment of a modern meteorological service system, such as the corporate governance of the national meteorological department and the diversification of funding sources. Adapting to these changes will inevitably involve adjustments and innovations in organizational structure, operating mechanisms and management methods. In terms of operating mechanisms, we must take the diversified funding system implemented by the national organization as an opportunity, use cost accounting as a link, and follow the legal approach to establish a meteorological service quality evaluation mechanism and funding investment mechanism.
In addition, at the level of other service entities, the relationship between competition and cooperation must be correctly handled. In terms of cooperation, it includes cooperation between service providers and users and cooperation between service providers. The aforementioned partnership is an example of cooperation between service providers and users. Cooperation among service providers is also required, in which national meteorological services play an important role.