The Food Bank Fix: Hunger, Capitalism and Humanitarian Reason

Drawing on a five-year institutional ethnography of Humanitarian Food Networks (HFNs) in West Virginia, this dissertation explores the moral, political and economic place of the food bank in the corporate environmental food regime. I develop the concept of the food bank fix to theorize the paradoxical relationships between the state, the shadow state, food corporations, local charities and food banks that tie HFNs across the United States together through humanitarian reason. I argue that food banks damp the grinding contradictions of a society awash in food surpluses even as a significant proportion of the population remains at risk of hunger. To buttress this argument, I analyze the geographic process through which the moral impulse of those working to address hunger at the local level is subordinated to institutional logics that resolve crises of overproduction and manufactured food scarcity for a globalized and increasingly integrated food system. I demonstrate how diffuse powers from across this system become concentrated and negotiated at the food bank scale, where an awkward combination of altruism, profit seeking, compassion and rulemaking maintains humanitarian feeding lines in place and linked across space. Theorizing the food banking fix shines a light on one of the glaring contradictions in our food system, namely that regulating food surpluses is itself generative of the food scarcity essential to market rationalities

San Diego’s Options for Alternate Sources of Water: A comparative analysis of water recycling and desalination as alternative methods to importing water

This paper describes the processes, methods, backgrounds, and economic challenges, of Desalination and Water Recycling and provide current examples of both. To create a baseline with which to compare the two methods, I will also delve into the history of California water policy. This complicated past is the reason water importation into Southern California remains the main method of obtaining water. Yet, as the current drought continues and technology advances, the need for imported water will become obsolete as the methods for recycling and desalinating water become less expensive, more convenient and more equitable. In the conclusion, all the methods will be compared and I will give suggestions on potential solutions for solving San Diego’s water dependence

Six degrees of early-stage ventures

Private markets investment volume and valuations exceed the level of the dot-com bubble (PwC and CBInsights, 2019). The available amount of capital surges as investors announce new multi-billion dollar funds (Kruppa, 2019). Even large, institutional funds in the Silicon Valley, who are used to investing in later stages, move upstream to invest in fledgling firms to achieve higher ownership and returns (Clark, 2019a). Despite the high private market liquidity, standing out from the crowd is critical and has become more difficult to achieve, even for innovative entrepreneurs (Planko et al., 2017). Curiously, venture capitalists who expect the latest technology and innovation from new ventures, did not themselves significantly innovate in their approach, including methods of evaluating ventures (Kupor, 2019). Few investors came up with new, differentiated investment strategies, one such example being data-driven investing (Pitchbook, 2018). Although venture capitalists seek to invest in firms which benefit substantially from the notion that “data is the new oil”, few practice to leverage data for their investment process (Parkins, 2017; Dance et al., 2018; Arroyo et al., 2019; Gompers et al., 2020). Instead, the overwhelming majority adheres to the motto “picking investments is an art, not science” and relies primarily on its networks as the most valuable resource (Bell, 2014; Huang and Pearce, 2015; Gompers et al., 2020). Venture capitalists’ focus on their social networks could not only negatively affect investment decisions and returns, but also promote group-think and stifle the progression of their investment thesis (Wuebker et al., 2015). Reviewing the previous works on entrepreneurship, venture evaluation, and venture capital revealed a significant gap in the literature. While investors and entrepreneurs depend heavily on their social networks, these networks play an insignificant role in venture evaluation. The existing frameworks are inadequate to accurately assess early-stage ventures and thus a rethink of methodology is needed to better capture the networked nature of today’s ventures (Miloud et al., 2012; Dusatkova and Zinecker, 2016). This thesis suggests a new perspective for early-stage venture evaluation, with particular focus on formalising the ventures’ social networks. Contributions made by this thesis are fourfold and relevant to entrepreneurs, investors, and academic theorists. Firstly, existing theories that explain venture fundraising success are expanded by adding a social network perspective. Secondly, this research provides a comprehensive overview of stakeholders’ roles and their constellation in social networks around the entrepreneurs and their ventures. Thirdly, for entrepreneurs, different modes of leveraging their social networks for critical business functions are identified. Lastly, an evaluation tool for venture capitalists to the investability of early-stage ventures is developed. In summary, results provide new insights into entrepreneurial strategies for leveraging social networks to enhance operations, differentiate from competitors, send positive signals to investors, and ultimately improve the venture’s assessment by the private market.EPSRC Doctoral Training Partnerships (DTP

Chasing impact - how hybrid new ventures shape markets for sustainability

This study contributes to the market-shaping research in the field of business-to-business marketing. Market shaping refers to the purposeful efforts of actors to change market characteristics or to construct new markets. Existing research has focused on incumbent firms or collectives striving to improve their commercial viability through market shaping. However, few studies focus on market shaping undertaken explicitly for the renewal of existing markets towards sustainability. Moreover, we have scant understanding of how market shaping is conducted by hybrid new ventures despite the unprecedented opportunities that digitalization is providing for small actors to exercise their agency. Hybrids refer to entrepreneurial ventures designed from start to equally pursue commercial and sustainability goals, and who seek to drive industrial and/or societal change. This thesis thereby sets out to explore how the two processes of market shaping and hybrid new venture development are interrelated. To gain a holistic understanding, I draw from research on market shaping, hybrid entrepreneurship, and new venture development. The research process is abductive, iterating between theory and empirical data. Empirical knowledge is acquired through qualitative inquiry from a follow-up case study in the market for Guarantees of Origin (GO) for renewable electricity. As the main theoretical contribution, this study presents a process model of the intertwinement of hybrid new venture development and market shaping. The model shows this intertwinement as driven by four continuous, interrelated, and reciprocal subprocesses: visioning, legitimizing, engaging, and equipping. The findings illustrate that market shaping extends to the early stages of hybrid new ventures, and that their initial market shaping actions are taken long before they become legal business entities. Furthermore, the study extends current knowledge on the content of market shaping (i.e., what it is exactly that market shapers strive to shape and how) and provides a more nuanced understanding of the market shaping activities taken by the focal actor. The study also produces important implications for entrepreneurs and managers, enabling them to make more informed decisions related to their market shaping and to better navigate complex institutional environments.-- Markkinoiden muokkaamisella tarkoitetaan toimijoiden määrätietoista pyrkimystä muuttaa markkinoiden ominaisuuksia tai rakentaa uusia markkinoita. Nykytutkimus yritysten välisen markkinoinnin alalla on keskittynyt vakiintuneiden yritysten pyrkimyksiin parantaa kilpailullista asemaansa, jättäen huomiotta markkinoiden muokkauksen, jonka päämääränä on olemassa olevien markkinoiden uudistaminen kestävämpään suuntaan. Lisäksi ymmärrämme vain vähän siitä, kuinka uudet hybridiyritykset muokkaavat markkinoita, vaikka digitalisaatio luo ennennäkemättömiä mahdollisuuksia pienten yritysten muutostoimijuudelle. Hybrideillä tarkoitetaan uusia yrityksiä, jotka tavoittelevat sekä kaupallisia, että kestävään kehitykseen liittyviä päämääriä ja jotka myös pyrkivät ajamaan teollista ja/tai yhteiskunnallista muutosta. Tämän tutkimuksen tarkoituksena onkin ymmärtää, kuinka markkinoiden muokkausprosessi ja hybridiyrityksen kehitysprosessi ovat sidoksissa toisiinsa. Kokonaisvaltaisen ymmärryksen saamiseksi työssä hyödynnettiin markkinoiden muokkaamista, hybridiorganisaatioita ja uusien yritysten kehittämistä koskevaa tutkimusta. Tutkimusprosessi oli abduktiivinen, liikkuen iteratiivisesti teorian ja empiirisen aineiston välillä. Empiirinen aineisto kerättiin osana laadullista tapaustutkimusta, jossa seurattiin reaaliajassa uusiutuvan sähkön alkuperätakuiden markkinoita muokkaamaan pyrkivää hybridiyritystä. Tärkeimpänä teoreettisena kontribuutiona tutkimus esittää prosessimallin uuden hybridiyrityksen kehittämisen ja markkinamuokkauksen yhteen nivoutumisesta, jota edistää neljä jatkuvaa ja vastavuoroista osaprosessia: visiointi, legitimointi, sitouttaminen ja varustaminen. Tulokset osoittavat, että markkinoiden muokkaaminen alkaa jo uuden yrityksen alkuvaiheista. Lisäksi tutkimus laajentaa nykyistä ymmärrystä markkinamuokkauksen sisällöstä (eli mitä toimijat tarkalleen ottaen pyrkivät muokkaamaan ja miten), sekä tarjoaa monimuotoisemman käsityksen päätoimijan toteuttamista markkinoiden muokkaustoimista sekä niihin vaikuttavista kontekstuaalisista tekijöistä. Tutkimuksen tulokset auttavat myös yrittäjiä ja yritysjohtajia tekemään tietoisempia päätöksiä pyrkiessään muokkaamaan markkinoita ja luovimaan monimutkaisissa institutionaalisissa ympäristöissä

Financial Bootstrapping as Relational Contract : Linking resource needs, bootstrapping behaviors, and outcomes of bootstrapping exchanges

The aim of this thesis is to develop a conceptual model for understanding conditions for and outcomes of bootstrapping behaviors. Recent literature on financial bootstrapping in new firms acknowledges the necessity to consolidate and conceptualize the existing knowledge. Yet, the focus and findings of current research remain dispersed and at times contradictory, which might indicate the need for consolidation and conceptualization. Bootstrapping to date has been mostly studied cross-sectionally, with the help of quantitative methods and with reliance on theoretical concepts borrowed from disciplines that poorly describe a new firm’s reality. In this thesis, I develop the understanding of bootstrapping exchanges as relational contracts between the entrepreneur and resource-providing stakeholders, and demonstrate the process-bound nature of norms, conditions, and gradually emerging outcomes of bootstrapping behaviors. My longitudinal study employs a qualitative, case-within-a-case approach, offering a methodological contribution to upcoming research. This study also contributes with comprehensive literature studies of bootstrapping and relational contracting knowledge, comprising the systematic reviews and bibliometric analysis. The study offers contribution for practicing entrepreneurs by discussing the gradually emerging, fine-grained outcomes of bootstrapping behaviors that may lead to larger implications, for instance for a firm’s growth and possibilities for attracting external financing. Thus, the main contribution to policy actors and entrepreneurial practice is presenting the practical, multi-stakeholder perspective on bootstrapping exchanges, conditions for bootstrapping behaviors, and their outcomes

ERP implementation methodologies and frameworks: a literature review

Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) implementation is a complex and vibrant process, one that involves a combination of technological and organizational interactions. Often an ERP implementation project is the single largest IT project that an organization has ever launched and requires a mutual fit of system and organization. Also the concept of an ERP implementation supporting business processes across many different departments is not a generic, rigid and uniform concept and depends on variety of factors. As a result, the issues addressing the ERP implementation process have been one of the major concerns in industry. Therefore ERP implementation receives attention from practitioners and scholars and both, business as well as academic literature is abundant and not always very conclusive or coherent. However, research on ERP systems so far has been mainly focused on diffusion, use and impact issues. Less attention has been given to the methods used during the configuration and the implementation of ERP systems, even though they are commonly used in practice, they still remain largely unexplored and undocumented in Information Systems research. So, the academic relevance of this research is the contribution to the existing body of scientific knowledge. An annotated brief literature review is done in order to evaluate the current state of the existing academic literature. The purpose is to present a systematic overview of relevant ERP implementation methodologies and frameworks as a desire for achieving a better taxonomy of ERP implementation methodologies. This paper is useful to researchers who are interested in ERP implementation methodologies and frameworks. Results will serve as an input for a classification of the existing ERP implementation methodologies and frameworks. Also, this paper aims also at the professional ERP community involved in the process of ERP implementation by promoting a better understanding of ERP implementation methodologies and frameworks, its variety and history

Journalism as usual: The use of social media as a newsgathering tool in the coverage of the Iranian elections in 2009

The Iranian elections of June 2009 and the ensuing protests were hailed as the 'Twitter revolution' in the media in the United Kingdom. However, this study of the use of sources by journalists covering the events shows that despite their rhetoric of the importance of social media in alerting the global community to events in Iran, journalists themselves did not turn to that social media for their own information, but relied most on traditional sourcing practices: political statements, expert opinion and a handful of 'man on the street' quotes for colour. This study shows that although the mythology of the Internet as a place where all voices are equal, and have equal access to the public discourse continues – a kind of idealized 'public sphere' – the sourcing practices of journalists and the traditions of coverage continue to ensure that traditional voices and sources are heard above the crowd

Quarantine interceptions & transparency in horticultural supply chains: causes and outcomes in Uganda, a qualitative case study

The horticultural industry in sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) has witnessed unprecedented growth in recent years, fuelled by increased demand for temperate fruits and vegetables in the European market. In Uganda, the introduction of Non-Traditional Agricultural Exports (NTAEs) in the post-civil war era (mid 1980s onwards) as an export diversification strategy was met with limited success attributed to agronomical, logistical, and institutional challenges that resulted in a relatively small and fragile horticultural industry, serving a limited market specialised in the ethnic/exotic food trade. However, in recent years, increased demand from the diaspora has created new opportunities for Uganda´s ethnic/exotic horticultural exports in a buoyant industry that has increased fourfold over the last two decades. Meanwhile, this renewed opportunity is threatened by EU/UK legislation targeting the introduction and spread of organisms considered harmful to the environment. The threat is manifested in the interception and destruction of consignments found to be infested by (regulated) organisms (notably the false coddling moth (FCM)). While being common to all SSA countries infested by the FCM, interceptions have been particularly high for Uganda over the last seven years, a period coinciding with the boom in its horticultural industry. Based on an instrumental case study design consisting of semi-structured interviews, document reviews, and participant observations, this research investigates the cause of interceptions in the Ugandan Horticultural Export Supply Chain, (fresh fruits & vegetables) and their relationship to the concept of transparency, which is increasingly core to agri-food chains. In line with the Global Value Chain (GVC) approach (Gereffi, 1999; 2005), it examines the response and outcomes resulting from attempts to comply with international public standards governing agricultural supply chains. Findings indicate that a combination of environmental (e.g., regulatory), people (e.g., literacy levels of Outgrowers), process (e.g., bureaucracy) and technological (e.g., lack of IT infrastructure) factors working together as inhibitors of transparency are to account for the rising wave of interceptions. Uganda´s response to interceptions, described in this study as the regulated integration (backwards) of supply chain relationships through the mandatory registration of producers is yielding results. This is in terms of enhanced capability development and supply chain transparency in a process described by the GVC literature as process upgrading. In so doing, the research contributes to the literature on supply chain transparency while suggesting a renewed focus of GVC research on the role of public standards (as opposed to private governance) in the upgrading and integration of developing countries in the world economy. The research is limited by the lack of a quantitative approach to validating findings that are essentially qualitative in nature. Future research involves the validation of transparency inhibitor matrix for the prioritisation of improvement initiatives in a quantitative study as well as an investigation of opportunities for improving Uganda´s phytosanitary certification process with distributed ledger technology

Essays on product and process management for new ventures over digital platforms

New ventures face operational, financial, and marketplace challenges after introducing their first products but before fully transforming into established firms. Recent examples of new ventures pursuing rapid growth strategies that ultimately lead them to collapse under their own weight has raised two questions: (1) how are survival and growth for new ventures related, and (2) how can new ventures pursue data validated growth strategies associated with product and process development over digital platforms? We examine these questions by setting up three studies. In our first study, we conducted a cohort analysis of new ventures to examine the dynamics of survival and growth. Our results show at least two stages for new ventures, a learning stage where survival and growth are independent outcomes, and a commercialization stage where survival and growth are intertwined. We observe that the transition between these two stages is not cleanly delineated and involves a prolonged period of product refinement and validation via market-based experimentation. In follow-on studies, we focus on product development over digital platforms in the tabletop gaming industry to look deeper at these transitions. Our second study examines the customer contexts new ventures must consider to process knowledge available on social media platforms using the transactional memory system (TMS) theory. Our analysis shows that new ventures must extend conventional TMS by accounting for how knowledge structures are affected by customer identity on a social media platform and how the scope of knowledge flows enlarges over time as more customers provide input. Our third study further assesses product and process choices by examining how self-expression can be used to leverage backers over a crowdfunding platform. Results show that incorporating self-expression as an input mechanism can not only increase backer participation which can contribute to product validation, but crowd driven selection mechanisms can also ease process coordination burden.2022-04-15T00:00:00