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11 – 20 of 37Irene Muller and Johann Tempelhoff
– This paper aims to outline the benefits of using resilience assessment instead of command and control mechanisms to evaluate sustainable campus environments.
Abstract
Purpose
This paper aims to outline the benefits of using resilience assessment instead of command and control mechanisms to evaluate sustainable campus environments.
Design/methodology/approach
An exploratory mixed-method design was followed for the purposes of the project. During the first qualitative phase, a historical timeline of the focal system was created. In the quantitative phase, the resilience assessment guided the investigation. To collect data, the case study research strategy included a heuristic process of collecting and reviewing documents, semi-structured interviews, observations and the systematic implementation of the resilience assessment approach.
Findings
Based on the resilience assessment approach, it is argued that the environmental status of university campuses can be considered relevant to the local community and immediate environment. Knowledge of the finite resources and their capacity in the context of the social-ecological system may increase the resilience of a campus.
Originality/value
This research study explores the use of an alternative approach to environmental practices at university campuses. The resilience assessment is usually performed on large ecosystems. By applying this approach to a small ecosystem, the study fills a gap in the applicability of the resilience approach.
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Keywords
Josée St-Pierre, Pierre-André Julien and Nazik Fadil
In a context of greater environmental uncertainty, understanding the practices and strategies adopted by the SME owner-manager to deal with it is an important topic.
Abstract
Purpose
In a context of greater environmental uncertainty, understanding the practices and strategies adopted by the SME owner-manager to deal with it is an important topic.
Design/methodology/approach
Based on a questionnaire survey of 583 SME owner-managers, a cluster analysis based on the degree of perceived uncertainty was conducted.
Findings
A statistical differences across a continuum with regard to entrepreneurial orientation, information gathering, management and absorption practices, innovation and internationalization was observed. These results show that the behaviors, and strategies deployed by SME owner managers are adapted to the degree of uncertainty these individuals perceive. Moreover, these results are not linked to their individual profiles nor to those of their companies.
Practical implications
The results show how SME owner-managers can increase their capacity to face uncertainty by collecting different types of information from different sources, by traveling abroad, by hiring personal with diverse profiles and by dealing with situations outside their norms. Public authorities in economic development interested to promote entrepreneurial decisions are invited to produce and diffuse valuable information to reduce uncertainty perceived by owner managers to support SMEs.
Originality/value
This research is original in that no study has holistically examined the link between uncertainty and the strategic and organizational practices of SMEs. It also responds to political and managerial concerns to effectively support SMEs under conditions of uncertainty – contexts that are increasingly important these days.
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Cristiano Codagnone, Athina Karatzogianni and Jacob Matthews
THAT the intransigence of a minority, maybe, but a very forceful minority of workers in Britain is slowly but surely strangling the economy and with it, their own future may be…
Abstract
THAT the intransigence of a minority, maybe, but a very forceful minority of workers in Britain is slowly but surely strangling the economy and with it, their own future may be hard to believe; but incontrovertible evidence is there for all to see.
Marcos Roque da Rosa, Clodis Boscarioli and Kátya Regina de Freitas Zara
This study aims to identify how literature has addressed sustainability reporting in universities over time and determine traceable patterns and trends.
Abstract
Purpose
This study aims to identify how literature has addressed sustainability reporting in universities over time and determine traceable patterns and trends.
Design/methodology/approach
A comprehensive systematic review protocol of the Emerald Insight, Web of Science, Science Direct, Scopus, Springer Link and Wiley Online Library databases was performed for the studies published during the past decade. The following steps were involved in this study: search and collection of literature, study selection, quality assessment, data extraction and data analysis. A total of 40 articles met the inclusion criteria and the quality assessment.
Findings
The results demonstrated that the most used tools to assist sustainability reporting in universities are the global reporting initiative framework and the graphical assessment of sustainability in universities. However, the adoption of the integrated reporting framework is encouraged. The level of reporting is not yet high, and social and educational indicators are being disclosed in the following areas: community, services and transfer; curriculum and teaching; operation; and research.
Originality/value
This study provides a recent overview of sustainability reporting worldwide. By discussing the findings, the authors presented the practical implications of starting a sustainability report at the university and the associated difficulties and benefits.
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Grzegorz Leszczyński, Tibor Mandjak, Tihamér Margitay and Marek Zieliński
This paper aims to introduce the concept of business paradigm to conceptualize and explain differences in business interaction patterns in the IMP research.
Abstract
Purpose
This paper aims to introduce the concept of business paradigm to conceptualize and explain differences in business interaction patterns in the IMP research.
Design/methodology/approach
The concept of the interaction and the concepts related to and driven from it describe the business at both a general level. At the same time, the IMP points out the uniqueness of business interactions. This paper addresses the specific lies between the general and the particular by referring to various patterns of interactions. To close that gap, this paper implies the Kuhnian philosophy of science to conceptualize the business paradigm.
Findings
The business paradigm is a socially constructed collective term. It simultaneously captures the cognitive (what business is and what rules it has) and social (business community) dimensions of the actor’s behavior and actions. It has two interdependent dimensions: cognitive and social. It determines how the actors view and do business, and it explains the variations of interactions.
Research limitations/implications
Not applicable as it is a conceptual paper.
Practical implications
Not applicable as it is a conceptual paper.
Social implications
Not applicable as it is a conceptual paper.
Originality/value
The concept of the business paradigm is a theoretical extension of the IMP actor’s theory. The dimensions of the business paradigm capture the psychological and sociological characteristics of the business actor. The business paradigm application provides an opportunity to find that business can be different because actors in various communities have various views on what business is and how it should be properly run. Adding the business paradigm concept to the IMP theory implies strengthening the theory explanation power because the interaction explains the business’s general characteristics. The business relationship explains the business’s unique features, and the business paradigm explains the various interaction patterns.
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Alicia Orea-Giner, Francesc González-Reverté and Laura Fuentes-Moraleda
This research explores the consequences of a health crisis provoked by a pandemic scenario on music festival impacts considered by the stakeholders involved. The purpose of this…
Abstract
Purpose
This research explores the consequences of a health crisis provoked by a pandemic scenario on music festival impacts considered by the stakeholders involved. The purpose of this paper is to identify the perceptions from the stakeholders' point of view (host community, public and private sector) and to identify the impacts generated before and after a health crisis regarding the celebration of a festival.
Design/methodology/approach
The study offers a holistic insight into impact research by music festivals. The methodology implemented is based on qualitative techniques. By conducting 20 in-depth interviews with essential stakeholders, it is possible to determine their perceptions of the impact of the event and the effects of a health crisis.
Findings
The results allow detecting a gap between internal and external stakeholders due to poor communication and planning of the event. The results show that a health crisis provokes negative impacts on the economic benefits of events' organisation. However, the cultural city's identity suffers an important damage that it is difficult to overcome. The community and visitors are the stakeholders that suffer a detrimental impact on their experience when attending the festival, considering the security measures. Moreover, results allow us to identify practical implications for event management and planning in a health crisis scenario.
Originality/value
The most important contribution of this research is the theoretical model proposed to analyse stakeholders' perception of the event celebration in a context of a health crisis. The model also considers different moments of the social exchange. The theoretical approaches considered theory of social exchange (SET) and Visitor, Industry, Community and Environment (VICE) models allow analysing the stakeholder's perception of a case study of a music festival (Viña Rock Festival, Spain). The emerging and central role of the cooperation between stakeholders constitutes another notable contribution to the literature.
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This is a morale booster for Kyiv, but a lengthy accession procedure, likely vetoes from pro-Russian or Ukrainian-neutral governments, and uncertainty over the war’s course will…
Details
DOI: 10.1108/OXAN-DB284211
ISSN: 2633-304X
Keywords
Geographic
Topical
Guy Major and Jonathan Preminger
Both the academic literature and practitioners have long noted the need for an equity investment mechanism for worker-controlled firms that alleviates investor anxieties without…
Abstract
Purpose
Both the academic literature and practitioners have long noted the need for an equity investment mechanism for worker-controlled firms that alleviates investor anxieties without undermining internal workplace democracy. The purpose of this paper is to outline one such possible mechanism.
Design/methodology/approach
The proposal locks together the interests of workers and external investors, via non-voting shares with dividends set by a pre-agreed value-added sharing formula. Each worker is paid a base wage, with the average across the firm being a pre-defined multiple of the national minimum wage. Any additional surplus is split into a number of equal “slices”, with each share receiving one slice as its dividend, and the average worker receiving a pre-agreed number of slices as a bonus.
Findings
Workers have an incentive to maximise their own incomes, and in so doing, will also automatically maximise the dividends received by investors, obviating the need for the shares to have normal voting rights. Working on this principle of aligned interests, the authors also discuss reinvestment, worker ownership of non-voting shares and possibilities for a secondary share market. The authors show how this proposal will be a significant step in aligning the interests of investors with owner-workers in a democratic, negotiated way that shares both risk and returns, thus making worker-controlled firms more attractive to equity investment.
Originality/value
In light of the recognised problem of underinvestment in worker-controlled firms and the risk of their degeneration, this paper will interest both academics and practitioners in employee ownership, co-operatives and various forms of workplace democracy.
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