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1 – 10 of 16Jan Rotmans, René Kemp and Marjolein van Asselt
Transitions are transformation processes in which society changes in a fundamental way over a generation or more. Although the goals of a transition are ultimately chosen by…
Abstract
Transitions are transformation processes in which society changes in a fundamental way over a generation or more. Although the goals of a transition are ultimately chosen by society, governments can play a role in bringing about structural change in a stepwise manner. Their management involves sensitivity to existing dynamics and regular adjustment of goals to overcome the conflict between long‐term ambition and short‐term concerns. This article uses the example of a transition to a low emission energy supply in the Netherlands to argue that transition management provides a basis for coherence and consistency in public policy and can be the spur to sustainable development.
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Binh Tran-Nam, Cuong Le-Van, Van Pham-Hoang and Thai-Ha Le
This paper contends that, contrary to conventional wisdom, it may be rational to manage translation exposure. Accounting procedures for the translation of foreign currency…
Abstract
This paper contends that, contrary to conventional wisdom, it may be rational to manage translation exposure. Accounting procedures for the translation of foreign currency accounts influence the reported income of a multi‐national firm. With non‐zero agency costs, reported income impacts real costs. In such cases, therefore, it may be rational to hedge translation exposure. Empirical evidence of agency costs and the managerial tendency to report higher levels of translated income, based on the early adoption of Financial Accounting Standard No. 52, is presented.
The paper aims to rediscover the subtle heart and discuss its importance in relation to conversations regarding sustainability.
Abstract
Purpose
The paper aims to rediscover the subtle heart and discuss its importance in relation to conversations regarding sustainability.
Design/methodology/approach
Based on the imaginal approach of the author’s doctoral research, this paper is informed by the discourse of transpersonal psychology, attempting to open a space through which it becomes possible to perceive the heart differently.
Findings
This paper discusses the idea that knowledge as generated through the heart has been rendered subservient to knowledge generated through the mind/brain through a dominant/medical narrative (Bound Alberti, 2012). This means that the heart’s wisdom and the heart’s benevolent qualities cannot gain traction at the level at which decisions are made in society.
Research limitations/implications
While the heart is not unproblematic, and can carry notions of moral superiority, this paper is written as an appeal to create safe enough spaces to bring the heart back into conversation at the level of political discourse.
Practical implications
This paper suggests that it is the approach of the heart, the qualities and characteristics that the heart embodies, and the different way of being in the world that the heart makes possible, which could play an important role in guiding us towards a more sustainable world. When taken seriously, the heart offers a way of engaging with, and thinking about, ideas of relationship, wholeness and interconnection – all of which have been identified as important by numerous scholars in relation to engaging with global challenges (de Witt, 2016).
Social implications
This paper suggests that it is the approach of the heart and the different way of being in the world that the heart makes possible, which could play an important role in guiding humanity towards a more sustainable world.
Originality/value
Since the late 1900s, scholars have been calling for creative thinking in relation to engaging with the myriad of issues facing our planet, and this paper is written as a response to that call – creating a platform for the heart to speak and making a case for its importance in conversations relating to sustainability.
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Examines how French teenagers have reacted to the replacement of France’s national currency by the euro, comparing their attitudes six months before the change with those…
Abstract
Examines how French teenagers have reacted to the replacement of France’s national currency by the euro, comparing their attitudes six months before the change with those afterwards. Aims to show how a new social representation is built up from individual attitudes shared by many, referring to the work of Durkheim, Moscovici, and more recent theoretical approaches. Concludes that the introduction of the euro in France and simultaneously in 11 other member countries of the European Union has produced a much wider feeling of territoriality, a change in socialisation which appears as a European feeling of belonging.
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The purpose of this paper is to deepen our understanding of the philosophical and scientific pedigree of the concept of “common sense”, and explore the implications for managerial…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to deepen our understanding of the philosophical and scientific pedigree of the concept of “common sense”, and explore the implications for managerial decision‐makers.
Design/methodology/approach
After examining the management literature on this topic, a brief history of the notion and philosophy of common sense is followed by a review of recent findings in cognitive science and other fields and a discussion of implications for managerial decision‐making.
Findings
The notion of common sense has a stable perceptual basis in the makeup of the human mind, as has been shown by philosophers and scientists. Common sense intuitions serve as the basis for making sense of the world: visual perception, scientific reasoning, language, psychology, mathematics, and moral judgments are all rooted in “mental hardware” of common sense. While it is a necessary element of human cognition, common sense can nevertheless lead us astray if we are unaware of its contours and limitations, which are outlined in this paper.
Practical implications
Understanding that the mind comes equipped with a host of common sense mental instincts will have an impact on both one's own decision‐making processes, and how decision‐makers attempt to influence others.
Originality/value
Based on original research as well as literature from a variety of disciplines, this paper provides a comprehensive understanding of the philosophical and scientific pedigree of “common sense” and its implications for decision‐makers.
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Gore supports IT Will the next Vice President of the United States push information technology to the forefront of America's domestic policy? It may well happen because Al Gore…
Abstract
Gore supports IT Will the next Vice President of the United States push information technology to the forefront of America's domestic policy? It may well happen because Al Gore has played a leading role in the Senate as Chairman of the Sub‐committee on Science, Technology and Space and as a leading member of a group of Democratic Senators that believe investment in IT is one way out of the country's current economic doldrums.
“Since films attract an audience of millions, the need and appetite for information about them is enormous.” So said Harold Leonard in his introduction to The Film Index published…
Abstract
“Since films attract an audience of millions, the need and appetite for information about them is enormous.” So said Harold Leonard in his introduction to The Film Index published in 1941. The 1970's has produced more than enough — too much — food to satisfy that appetite. In the past five years the number of reference books, in this context defined as encyclopedias, handbooks, directories, dictionaries, indexes and bibliographies, and the astounding number of volumes on individual directors, complete histories, genre history and analysis, published screenplays, critics' anthologies, biographies of actors and actresses, film theory, film technique and production and nostalgia, that have been published is overwhelming. The problem in film scholarship is not too little material but the senseless duplication of materials that already exist and the embarrassing output of items that are poorly or haphazardly researched, or perhaps should not have been written at all.
WE do not apologize for devoting space this month to the Scottish Government Report on Libraries. It is, as our writers affirm, an important document and many themes for debate…
Abstract
WE do not apologize for devoting space this month to the Scottish Government Report on Libraries. It is, as our writers affirm, an important document and many themes for debate may emerge from it. If a reading circle of young librarians were formed in any district it could consider this document page by page with much profit. It is, for an official document, interesting in style. It starts many old ideas, it has the verve and certainty which we look for in the amateur rather than the professional writer. To some of its statements, for example its assertion that “libraries have reached or are approaching a temporary limit to their usefulness, because the schools have not yet given adequate training in the use and power of books,” librarians may well ask “why?” in relation to the second part of this statement; and they certainly refuse to admit or believe the first part of it. In fact, the use of libraries in such universal manner is largely the result of the work of modern libraries for children. The librarian teaches children what to read. We have not reached any such limit as is affirmed ; we are indeed only on the margin of our possibilities.