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This chapter seeks to explore the continuities and changes in the aims and scope of Compare over the past 46 years. While making explicit its development focus, and concern for human wellbeing in a context of growing inequalities, it has nevertheless remained open to the diversity in research questions, problems, methodologies and approaches in the study of educational policies, practices and systems, within a comparative framework. While describing the changes in the aims and scope of the journal, in light of emerging priorities, the chapter also focuses on innovations that have sought to make the journal inclusive of a multitude of different voices, breaking to some extent artificially imposed hierarchies of ‘whose voice counts’ within the academe.

This volume of the International Perspectives on Education and Society series examines the development of the World Bank's Education Strategy 2020 ¹ (http://www.worldbank.org/educationstrategy2020). The Executive Summary of this strategy is reprinted in this volume for easy reference. Prior to the release of the Education Strategy 2020, a World Bank concept note was developed and consultations about the new strategy took place around the world. To document and analyze this process of education strategy development by the World Bank, this volume brings together a diverse array of voices and responses to the Bank's strategy for education in the developing world. As discussed in the introductory chapter, this volume primarily focuses on the World Bank's strategy development, and attempts to bridge the dichotomy between critics and advocates by providing relevant scholarship to influence both the World Bank's practice and the research and critiques that focus on the Bank's education strategies, policies and activities. The unique character of this volume is that it follows a significant shift in the World Bank's education policy as it was taking place and immediately following its development by using the unique approach of simultaneously documenting and analyzing the Education Strategy 2020 development.

The academic literature on emerging market multinational corporations (EMNCs) has classified several strategic options that EMNCs can adopt as part of their internationalization process. Although this research stream does include examples of Indian companies, it has not adequately identified specific strategic practices followed by them as part of their internationalization process. Therefore, this article aims to identify specific firm competencies, home country advantages and strategic practices that Indian EMNCs adopt to achieve foreign market entry and internationalization.

The article adopts a multiple case study methodology supported by unstructured interviews to answer the research question. Using a combination of in-depth interviews and secondary data related to the case study in question, strategic practices of three Indian companies operating in different industry segments are identified and evaluated.

The results highlight that as part of their internationalization process, EMNCs from India adopt a combination of strategic practices that include strategic alliances, acquisitions, entry into targeted geographic markets, localized and innovative product offerings and niche market focus. This mix of strategic practices, in combination with high levels of corporate parenting, plays an important role in the ability of Indian EMNCs to internationalize successfully.

This study contributes to the international business field by developing a better understanding of the internationalization process followed by emerging market multinational firms. In addition, as the article adopts a case study approach, specific business strategies adopted by Indian firms as part of their internationalization process are identified. The study, therefore, provides a strategic roadmap for firms from emerging countries on how to internationalize successfully.

The purpose of this paper is to examine the influence of cognition on knowledge sharing between members of the acquiring and acquired organisations in the post-acquisition integration process. It specifically analyses differentiation between in-groups and out-groups, the perception of organisational identity and interaction among members of the acquired and acquiring organisations and how these three factors affect knowledge sharing.

The authors develop theoretical propositions and conduct an explorative pilot study on the basis of original interview data conducted with ten respondents in four Indian IT companies that have acquired firms abroad.

The authors find evidence for supporting the negative effect of in- and out-groups differentiation and the positive effect of interpersonal interaction on knowledge sharing among employees of the acquired and acquiring organisations. There was indicative, but less compelling, evidence for the negative influence of inter-group competition and the positive influence of perceived shared organisational identity on knowledge sharing. Different from the established view, the authors find that when Indian firms acquire firms abroad, they immediately initiate knowledge flows from the targets rather than going through a long period of integration prior to acquiring knowledge from the targets.

The paper contributes to the scholarly conversation on cognition and knowledge sharing and argues that firms that are located in developing economies and that acquire firms abroad behave in a way somewhat different from what Western literature postulates. This invites for further studies, both theoretical and empirical, to shed light on this phenomenon. The present paper is focused only on one country, India, and on a single industry, the IT industry. It is limited in its empirical part, mainly due to enormous difficulties in getting access to the field.

The study demonstrates how central individuals are to the process of knowledge sharing and the accomplishment of organisational objectives in a post-acquisition context. Managers should understand that the knowledge their employees possess is a strategic asset, and therefore how they use it is influential in attaining organisational goals in general, and acquisition integration objectives in particular. The creation of task- and project-related communities or groups can help in establishing a shared organisational identity, especially after the turbulent event of one company acquiring another one. The creation of communities or groups where socialisation is encouraged can lead to employees interacting with one another and developing a sense of belongingness with the community or group. Over time, this belongingness can translate into a shared organisational identity, which is beneficial for the organisation. The findings suggest that the creation of task- or project-oriented communities and groups is a powerful way to achieve that.

The contribution of the paper is fourfold. First, while macro orientation dominates literature on the growth of the Indian IT industry, this study is conducted at the individual level of analysis, by focusing on managers in acquiring Indian IT firms. Second, whereas studies that have examined cognition and knowledge sharing have done so mainly through social capital lenses, this paper focuses on factors that are based on the inherent tendency of human beings to categorise themselves and other individuals. Third, the paper examines the links between cognition and knowledge sharing in an exciting context, namely, post-acquisition integration. Finally, while research on both post-acquisition integration and knowledge sharing is biased towards a Western context, this study investigates knowledge sharing and post-acquisition integration in the context of a major non-Western emerging economy.

This study aims to examine the association between minimum dietary diversity (MDD) and the concurrence of stunting and overweight (CSO) among children aged 6–23 months.

A cross-sectional study was conducted in Sedayu Subdistrict, Bantul District, Daerah Istimewa Yogyakarta. The authors assessed the concurrence of stunting (height-for-age Z-score below −2 standard deviations SD) and overweight/obesity (Body mass index BMI-for-age Z-score above +2 SD) among a total of 189 children aged 6–23 months as the primary outcome. The authors defined MDD as consuming at least four out of seven food groups using a single 24-h recall. The authors also included other covariates, including sociodemographic characteristics, exclusive breastfeeding history and complementary feeding practices. To identify the factors associated with CSO, this study conducted multiple logistic regression across the study variables using STATA 16.1.

In the adjusted model, children who met the MDD criterion were associated with a reduced risk of CSO (adjusted odds ratios [OR]: 0.14; 95%confidence interval CI: 0.03–2.43). Compared to boys, girls were more likely to experience CSO (adjusted OR: 5.23; 95%CI: 1.02–26.9). Middle economic status was a protective factor for CSO (adjusted OR: 0.10; 95%CI: 0.01–0.98). This study did not find a significant relationship between CSO and the child’s age, low birth weight, exclusive breastfeeding, energy intake, protein intake, parental education and parental occupation.

This study suggests future programs and policies that promote dietary diversity to reduce the risk of CSO.

This study reveals the association between MDD and the coexistence of stunting and overweight.

The ISHM CAN‐AM Chapter recently organised a half‐day programme of paper presentations followed by a tour of a local hybrid facility. The event took place on 26 April at the Holiday Inn, Montreal (Pointe Claire), Quebec, with the theme of the papers concentrating on advances in hybrid manufacturing processes and some coverage of SMT.

The purpose of this study was to investigate the effect of a dietary probiotic on the growth performance and survival rate of Litopenaeus vannamei shrimp. Furthermore, the microbial quality of shrimp was evaluated.

Shrimp were divided into treatment and control groups (each group containing 45 shrimp). They were fed for four weeks with a control diet alone or supplemented with a commercial probiotic (Protexin®). At the end of the trial, they were assessed for survival rate, weight gain, average daily gain and specific growth rate. Samples of tail meat were also provided aseptically from peeled shrimp for bacteriological analysis including the count of Staphylococcus aureus, enterococci, Clostridium perfringens, fecal coliform, Salmonella, Escherichia coli, Listeria monocytogenes and total bacterial count.

The growth performance of the probiotic-treated group significantly (p < 0.05) increased at the end of the experimental period. However, no significant differences were observed for the survival rate between the groups (p > 0.05). The count of C. perfringens and the total bacterial count in shrimp supplemented with the probiotic were significantly lower than those of controls (p < 0.05). The count of coliforms and S. aureus was not significantly different between the groups (p > 0.05).

It could be concluded that the probiotic bacteria have the potential to stimulate the growth performance of L. vannamei. They can also be used for biological control of food-borne pathogens and improve the microbial quality and safety of shrimp at the farm level.

Climate change impacts tend to coalesce with everyday vulnerability and affect different socio-economic groups in different ways. In this regard, this study aims to contribute to studies that make gender critical to understanding the way that climate change is experienced. Socially constructed gender differences have a bearing on the extent of exposure to climatic shocks, leading to various patterns of vulnerability to these shocks.

This study uses both qualitative and quantitative methodologies to collect data.

The study finds that there is an inherent potential within the study area for equal opportunities for both men and women to address levels of vulnerability to climatic shocks and, by implication, potential to challenge patriarchal structures that tend to characterize these study areas. The contextualization of gender analysis remains elusive in the face of increasingly shifting gender roles that traditionally defined women as victims to everyday vulnerability and more recently in conjunction with climatic shocks.

In this regard, this research contributes to emerging perspectives on the potential role of ‘woman as heroine’ and challenges the perception of ‘woman as victim’ in environmental management. Considerations for mainstreaming adaptation responses to climate change do not necessarily have to consider women as a special social group in isolation but, rather, implications for both men and women and caution that embeddedness remains key for gender considerations in any rural context.