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The paper is based on the idea that management of a national economy is a complex cybernetic system. By considering the Romanian economy the author postulates that the relations between socio‐economic macro‐systems should be expressed in terms of national income. On the basis of the model thus established future developments in various macro‐systems are predicted, e.g. in production, technology, population, labour force, etc. The author then describes a system for the prognosis of social and economic developments in Romania up to the year 2000. In order to achieve this object a Control Commission for Prognosis has been established under the chairmanship of Mr. Nicolae Ceauşescu, the President of Romania.

This article offers a conception of the learning organization. From this model, we discuss ways in which organizational development can now be used to create learning organizations and ways in which organizational development theory and practice might change to create learning organizations. We consider three ways OD may contribute to the learning organization: supportive systems of interaction, guiding values, and a sense of structural alternatives. We look at contributions learning organizations make to OD, in terms of changing conceptions of dialogue, system diagnosis focused on learning, intervention focused on long term empowerment, and measurement at the macro system level.

Over 60% of armed conflicts re-occur; the seed of future conflict is sown even as a peace agreement is signed. The cyclical nature of war calls for a focus on youth who can disrupt this pattern over time. Addressing this concern, the developmental peace-building model calls for a dynamic, multi-level and longitudinal approach. Using an innovative statistical approach, this study aims to investigate the associations among four youth peace-building dimensions and quality peace.

Multi-level time-series network analysis of a data set containing 193 countries and spanning the years between 2011 and 2020 was performed. This statistical approach allows for complex modelling that can reveal new patterns of how different youth peace-building dimensions (i.e. education, engagement, information, inclusion), identified through rapid evidence assessment, promote quality peace over time. Such a methodology not only assesses between-country differences but also within-country change.

While the within-country contemporaneous network shows positive links for education, the temporal network shows significant lagged effects for all four dimensions on quality peace. The between-country network indicates significant direct effects of education and information, on average, and indirect effects of inclusion and engagement, on quality peace.

This approach demonstrates a novel application of multi-level time-series network analysis to explore the dynamic development of quality peace, capturing both stability and change. The analysis illustrates how youth peace-building dimensions impact quality peace in the macro-system globally. This investigation of quality peace thus illustrates that the science of peace does not necessitate violent conflict.

The importance of culture is often emphasized for continuous learning and quality improvement within health care organizations. Limited empirical evidence for cultivating a culture that supports continuous learning and quality improvement in health care settings is currently available.

The purpose of this report is to characterize the evolution of a large division of physical therapists and occupational therapists in a pediatric hospital setting from 2005 to 2018 to identify key facilitators and barriers for cultivating a culture empowered to engage in continuous learning and improvement.

An ethnographic methodology was used including participant observation, document review, and stakeholder interviews to acquire a deep understanding and develop a theoretical model to depict insights gained from the investigation.

A variety of individual, social, and structural enablers and motivators emerged as key influences toward a culture empowered to support continuous learning and improvement. Features of the system that helped create sustainable, positive momentum (e.g., systems thinking, leaders with grit, and mindful design) and factors that hindered momentum (e.g., system uncertainty, staff turnover, slow barrier resolution, and competing priorities) were also identified.

Individual-level, social-level, and structural-level elements all influenced the culture that emerged over a 12-year period. Several cultural catalysts and deterrents emerged as factors that supported and hindered progress and sustainability of the emergent culture.

Cultivating a culture of continuous learning and improvement is possible. Purposeful consideration of the proposed model and identified factors from this report may yield important insights to advance understanding of how to cultivate a culture that facilitates continuous learning and improvement within a health care setting.

Equity crowdfunding offers a wide audience – the crowd – the possibility of financing a business project by choosing the beneficiary in accordance with the positive impact of the investment on society or the environment. This new funding mode may be located between venture capital and microcredit. In Africa, the phenomenon is embryonic but could find its place in the microfinance system since it is based on the widespread traditional model of “tontines.” We first observed the crowdfunding platforms dedicated to Africa and conducted interviews in Gabon with microfinance institutions and small business owners. This empirical work then led us to mobilize new institutional theory to suggest a conceptual broadening of the participatory financing system, with a view to enhancing local economic development in Africa.

There is an apparent disconnect between the understanding of best practice and service delivery in the support of people with learning disabilities at risk of behaviours that challenge. We suggest, is a problem of implementation. The purpose of this paper is to explore reasons why this might be the case: a failure to recognise the collective works of successive generations of research and practice; and a failure to address the macro-systems involved and systems changes needed to support implementation.

This paper reviews the consensus that exists in respect of best practice. Drawing upon ideas from implementation science the paper highlights the complexities involved in the implementation of all evidence-based practices and uses this as a framework to propose ways in which an infrastructure that facilitates the delivery of services in the learning disabilities field might be built.

This paper highlights core recommended practices that have been consistent over time and across sources and identifies the systems involved in the implementation process. This paper demonstrates that many of the necessary building blocks of implementation already exist and suggests areas that are yet to be addressed. Critically, the paper highlights the importance of, and the part that all systems need to play in the process.

In the absence of any generalised implementation frameworks of evidence-based practice in the learning disabilities field, the paper suggests that the findings may provide the basis for understanding how the gap that exists between best practice and service delivery in the support of people with a learning disability at risk of behaviours that challenge might be closed.

East European marketing progress has followed a series of economic reforms in different countries of the region. Changing marketing systems in these countries can be depicted as a move away from an authoritative to an integrative macro system. Most of the countries are at different points on this particular spectrum. Marketing reforms are more specifically related to both economic and managerial decentralisation. Most marketing decisions are beginning to be made at the enterprise level rather than at the central governmental level. U.S. and other Western practitioners must understand these changes so that they can expand their business with this potentially large market.

This paper aims to present a discursive and evaluative analysis of Energy + Illawarra, an Australian Government Low Income Energy Efficiency Program (LIEEP) funded interdisciplinary social marketing energy efficiency programme. Energy + Illawarra was a community programme working with low-income older people in Australia and involving social marketers, human geographers and engineers. The paper aims to identify how ecological systems theory can inform social marketing, and what practicalities there may be in doing so. The paper also aims to assess whether a social marketing programme that draws on ecological systems theory can have a positive impact on people’s thermal comfort.

First, the paper uses critical discursive analysis to examine the use of various elements of a social marketing energy efficiency programme in relation to the different levels of ecological systems theory. Second, a longitudinal cohort survey study design is used to evaluate the programme’s influence on people’s perceptions of thermal comfort and satisfaction with thermal comfort in their homes.

The study found that ecological systems theory could be an effective framework for social marketing programmes. The evaluation study found that the intervention had a positive impact on participant’s perceptions of thermal comfort, satisfaction with thermal comfort and attitudes towards energy efficiency. However, the paper identifies some potential tensions in using ecological systems theory and suggests that issues of power, representation, agenda setting, the need for reflexive practice and consideration of unintended consequences are important considerations in social marketing programmes.

The work presented here suggests that multi-level social marketing programmes that draw on ecological systems theory can make a useful contribution to social change as demonstrated by the evaluation survey finding positive impacts on thermal comfort and attitudes of participants. However, issues of power, representation, agenda setting, the need for reflexive practice and consideration of unintended consequences should be considered in social marketing programmes.