1,297 research outputs found
Displacement and the Humanities: Manifestos from the Ancient to the Present
This is the final version. Available on open access from MDPI via the DOI in this recordThis is a reprint of articles from the Special Issue published online in the open access journal Humanities (ISSN 2076-0787) (available at: https://www.mdpi.com/journal/humanities/special_issues/Manifestos Ancient Present)This volume brings together the work of practitioners, communities, artists and other researchers from multiple disciplines. Seeking to provoke a discourse around displacement within and beyond the field of Humanities, it positions historical cases and debates, some reaching into the ancient past, within diverse geo-chronological contexts and current world urgencies. In adopting an innovative dialogic structure, between practitioners on the ground - from architects and urban planners to artists - and academics working across subject areas, the volume is a proposition to: remap priorities for current research agendas; open up disciplines, critically analysing their approaches; address the socio-political responsibilities that we have as scholars and practitioners; and provide an alternative site of discourse for contemporary concerns about displacement. Ultimately, this volume aims to provoke future work and collaborations - hence, manifestos - not only in the historical and literary fields, but wider research concerned with human mobility and the challenges confronting people who are out of place of rights, protection and belonging
Engagement of Youth in Agricultural Entrepreneurship in Laos
Despite the potential for the agricultural sector to serve as a source of livelihood opportunities, employment and entrepreneurial opportunities for rural youth in developing countries remain limited. The lack of appealing livelihood opportunities is a contributing factor to a reduction of youth involvement in agriculture that poses a major concern for the sustainability of production systems worldwide. The integration of entrepreneurship in agricultural sectors (agripreneurship) in the developing world has been advocated as a powerful tool for promoting the socioeconomic integration of young people and is a key to avoiding rural depopulation.
Obtaining the benefits of youth agripreneurship requires a comprehensive understanding of the circumstances that cause youth to choose this career pathway, the environments that facilitate or hinder this development, and extent of youth agripreneurial career engagement. However, there are insufficient data available to assess these requirements. Although there is increasing interest in the agricultural sector’s potential to provide income generating opportunities for rural youth in developing countries, scientific literature on agripreneurship in developing countries has largely been neglected by the mainstream research on entrepreneurship, with the majority of agripreneurial research focussed on developed countries. Research into characteristics and circumstances that drive young people to engage in agripreneurship in developing economies, and the constraints and opportunities that young farmers face remains scarce, and there is a specific need for research that sheds light on the perspective of the young farmers themselves. This thesis therefore aims to identify demographic, personal and enabling environment factors that encourage or discourage youth engagement in agripreneurship, using Laos as a case study, as it is a developing country in Asia with a highly rural and young population that is transitioning to commercial agriculture, agribusiness and agripreneurship. A review of the literature identified that behavioural sciences has been applied to understand entrepreneurial career decisions, and the motivational antecedents of the intention to choose entrepreneurial careers. By consolidating the dominant frameworks for career decision making in the literature, a novel framework, the AgriPreneurial Career Framework (APCF) was developed to guide this research. Meanwhile, the scientific study of entrepreneurship has emerged as a distinct field that is characterised by research into the establishment and performance of entrepreneurial ventures, including studies that have sought to identify the reasons and goals that motivate individuals to create businesses. Entrepreneurship research may be used to provide meaning from the lived experiences of practicing youth agripreneurs in Laos. In particular, research can identify the phenomena that motivate youth to become agripreneurs. This thesis therefore applies quantitative and qualitative research methods from both approaches to address the following research questions:
RQ1. Which demographic factors influence motivational antecedents of intention regarding agripreneurship amongst Lao youth?
RQ2. To what extent are perceptions about agripreneurship and the enabling environment motivational antecedents that influence intentions to be an agripreneur?
RQ3. What factors previously motivated currently-practicing young agripreneurs in Laos to enter a career as an agripreneur?
RQ4. Is there an enabling institutional and support environment for young agripreneurs in Laos?
RQ5. Do motivational antecedents that influence intention to become an agripreneur amongst Lao youth who have yet to embark on a career reflect the motivations of practicing youth agripreneurs? RQ6. Do the experiences with the enabling environment of practicing youth agripreneurs reflect the perceptions of the enabling environment amongst Lao youth who have yet to embark on a career?
Demographic factors that influence motivational antecedents of intention towards agripreneurship amongst Lao youth (RQ1) were explored by statistical comparison in 298 undergraduate students in Laos. University students are a group of young Laotians who have not yet embarked upon a career, however they have certain characteristics that may differ from youth generally. The demographic factors found to influence intention towards agripreneurship amongst Lao youth were family backgrounds, area of studies and university of enrolment, whilst motivational antecedents of intention, namely Attitudes, Subjective Norms and Perceived Behavioural Control, were also variously influenced by demographic variables. Although commercial agriculture/agribusiness family occupational backgrounds contributed to greater intention to practice agripreneurship, subsistence farming backgrounds did not. Commercialisation of agriculture in Laos therefore requires better engagement of youth from subsistence farming households, as this group predominates in Laos, and is at the greatest risk of missing the benefits of modernisation. This result also provides new insight into demographic origins of perceptions and intentions according to the Theory of Planned Behaviour.
The extent that perceptions about agripreneurship and the enabling environment are motivational antecedents that influence intentions to be an agripreneur (RQ2) was examined by applying a structured equation model, developed according to the APCF, to data obtained from a survey 298 undergraduate students in Laos. Factors that significantly influenced students’ intention strength included perceived feasibility arising from agriculture and business knowledge, access to resources, attitudes towards the outcomes of having a career as an agripreneur, perceived capability in performing a career as an agripreneur, perception of support from government policy, and the importance placed on educational support. The consolidated framework contributes new insights into the determinants of intention towards agripreneurship. These insights can enable decision makers in Laos to target certain beliefs and enabling environment factors for intervention and may provide a point of reference for other emerging economies faced with the need for transitioning to entrepreneurial modes of agriculture. As a theoretical contribution, these results demonstrated that the Theory of Planned Behaviour, the Entrepreneurial Event Model and the “Careership” theoretical frameworks all include factors that significantly influence intention towards agripreneurship amongst Lao youth, but also omit some significant determinants and include non-significant indicators.
A qualitative approach combining content analysis with narrative inquiry techniques was applied to factors that previously motivated currently practicing young agripreneurs in Laos to enter a career as an agripreneur (RQ3). The accounts of 74 young Laotian agripreneurs regarding their entry into agripreneurship showed that despite the characteristics that set agripreneurship in Laos apart from entrepreneurship in general, commonly identified typologies of entrepreneurial motivation, particularly income, extrinsic benefits, and emotional paradigms also motivate Lao youth to become agripreneurs. The application of narrative inquiry has revealed the emphasis that some practicing agripreneurs in Laos place on the attainability of their career that resulted in its practice by both opportunity-driven and necessity-driven entrepreneurs, with implications for the sustainable development in other countries that are in transition to commercial agriculture. Furthermore, conducting this investigation with practicing agripreneurs enabled the research to build on the survey work by investigating if the motivational antecedents that influence intention to become an agripreneur amongst the students reflects the motivational antecedents of practicing young agripreneurs. The motivational antecedents that influence intention to become an agripreneur amongst the students have significant overlap with the motivational antecedents of practicing youth agripreneurs (RQ5); notably, the most influential consideration of students was perceived feasibility, which was frequently reflected by currently practicing entrepreneurs.
The same practicing agripreneurs provided insight into the enabling environment, consisting of institutions, and supporting functions, through a semi-structured interview process (RQ4). Agripreneur perspectives indicated improvements to the enabling environment in Laos that increase their capacity for agripreneurship compared with earlier in their careers. Factors such as infrastructure, and new, digitalised, online-offline platforms for information sharing, banking, marketing, delivery, and logistics were identified as specific areas of improvement. Commercial agricultural policy has resulted in increased food production, income generation and opportunities for technical advice, financial access, market linkages, product development, and farmers’ group/organisation establishment from public, private and (I)NGOs. However, young agripreneurs identified areas in which institutions and supporting functions limited the growth and sustainability of agripreneurship. Limitations included service obstacles, quality of extension staff, coordination, effectiveness of policies for implementation and monitoring, unclear administrative/tax fees, poorly defined research, school values, curriculum design and learning-teaching methods. The investigation demonstrates that institutions and supporting functions have a vital function in enabling agripreneurship by young agripreneurs. However, administrative obstacles and poor implementation of policies carry the risk of having the opposite effect. By comparing the experiences of practicing agripreneurs to the perceptions of Lao youth who have yet to choose their career, it was possible to identify key areas of the enabling environment that are underperforming and subsequently discouraging future agripreneurs from embarking on these careers (RQ6). This thesis applied both quantitative and qualitative social research methodologies to identify factors that influence youth to be agripreneurs. The various analyses presented in this thesis, guided by the APCF, have identified factors regarding individuals, their beliefs and the enabling environments that significantly determine motivational antecedents/factors influencing undergraduate students and young agripreneur engagement in agripreneurial careers in Laos. The commonality of these results across analysis methods and participants, combined with support from the available literature, demonstrates the applicability of the APCF framework for investigating youth perception and intention to engage in small and medium scale agripreneurship in Laos, and potentially other countries in agrarian transition. This research contributes knowledge regarding youth and agripreneurship that is relevant to Laos and other developing countries. This improved understanding of the constraints and opportunities that young farmers face can facilitate the development of an enabling environment for transition from subsistence to commercial agriculture. The findings from this research also assist the promotion of agripreneurship in Laos through these following recommendations (1) Adopt a people-centred approach that recognises the varying influence of demographic characteristics on agripreneurial intention and motivational antecedents, (2) Reduce barriers to finance for subsistence farmers to enable commercialisation, (3) Raise awareness of the benefits and values of agripreneurship, integrate agripreneurship knowledge and address institutional biases in the educational sector, (4) Emphasise the role of motivations and personal capacities rather than resource endowments when promoting agripreneurship, (5) Increase the certainty of interactions with formal institutions by increasing transparency and accessibility of information relating to registration and fees, and (6) Improve the effectiveness of policy support for youth agripreneurship.Thesis (Ph.D.) -- University of Adelaide, School of Agriculture, Food and Wine, 202
Ethnographies of Collaborative Economies across Europe: Understanding Sharing and Caring
"Sharing economy" and "collaborative economy" refer to a proliferation of initiatives, business models, digital platforms and forms of work that characterise contemporary life: from community-led initiatives and activist campaigns, to the impact of global sharing platforms in contexts such as network hospitality, transportation, etc. Sharing the common lens of ethnographic methods, this book presents in-depth examinations of collaborative economy phenomena. The book combines qualitative research and ethnographic methodology with a range of different collaborative economy case studies and topics across Europe. It uniquely offers a truly interdisciplinary approach. It emerges from a unique, long-term, multinational, cross-European collaboration between researchers from various disciplines (e.g., sociology, anthropology, geography, business studies, law, computing, information systems), career stages, and epistemological backgrounds, brought together by a shared research interest in the collaborative economy. This book is a further contribution to the in-depth qualitative understanding of the complexities of the collaborative economy phenomenon. These rich accounts contribute to the painting of a complex landscape that spans several countries and regions, and diverse political, cultural, and organisational backdrops. This book also offers important reflections on the role of ethnographic researchers, and on their stance and outlook, that are of paramount interest across the disciplines involved in collaborative economy research
Systemic Circular Economy Solutions for Fiber Reinforced Composites
This open access book provides an overview of the work undertaken within the FiberEUse project, which developed solutions enhancing the profitability of composite recycling and reuse in value-added products, with a cross-sectorial approach. Glass and carbon fiber reinforced polymers, or composites, are increasingly used as structural materials in many manufacturing sectors like transport, constructions and energy due to their better lightweight and corrosion resistance compared to metals. However, composite recycling is still a challenge since no significant added value in the recycling and reprocessing of composites is demonstrated. FiberEUse developed innovative solutions and business models towards sustainable Circular Economy solutions for post-use composite-made products. Three strategies are presented, namely mechanical recycling of short fibers, thermal recycling of long fibers and modular car parts design for sustainable disassembly and remanufacturing. The validation of the FiberEUse approach within eight industrial demonstrators shows the potentials towards new Circular Economy value-chains for composite materials
Management of socio-economic transformations of business processes: current realities, global challenges, forecast scenarios and development prospects
The authors of the scientific monograph have come to the conclusion that ĐĽanagement of socio-economic transformations of business processes requires the use of mechanisms to support of entrepreneurship, sectors of the national economy, the financial system, and critical infrastructure. Basic research focuses on assessment the state of social service provision, analysing economic security, implementing innovation and introducing digital technologies. The research results have been implemented in the different models of costing, credit risk and capital management, tax control, use of artificial intelligence and blockchain. The results of the study can be used in the developing of policies, programmes and strategies for economic security, development of the agricultural sector, transformation of industrial policy, implementation of employment policy in decision-making at the level of ministries and agencies that regulate the management of socio-economic and European integration processes. The results can also be used by students and young scientists in the educational process and conducting scientific research on global challenges and creation scenarios for the development of socio-economic processes
The Impact of Additive Manufacturing on Supply Chains and Business Models: Qualitative Analyses of Supply Chain Design, Governance Structure, and Business Model Change
Recent global crises like the COVID-19 pandemic challenge traditional global supply chains (SCs). Their disaggregated, “fine-sliced” character comes with a high risk of disruption, and current supply bottlenecks (e.g., the chip shortage in the automotive industry) demonstrate that there is often no quick fix. Firms are increasingly under pressure to react and (re-)design their SCs to increase their resilience. Additive manufacturing (AM) technologies are acclaimed for their potential to foster the shift from global SCs to shorter, decentralized, and more resilient SCs. The key feature of AM technologies lies in their inherently digital and flexible nature. Their specific characteristics are envisioned to enable location-independent manufacturing close to or even at the point of demand and lead to a commoditization of manufacturing infrastructure for flexible outsourcing to local partners. Moreover, AM technologies are expected to revolutionize the way firms do business and put traditional business models at stake.
This doctoral thesis is motivated by the outlined potential of AM and the resulting impact on firms’ supply chain design (SCD) and business model choices. The extant literature raises high expectations for AM. However, concrete and real-world insights from specific application domains are still scarce. This thesis seeks to fill the gap between high-level literature-based visions and currently emerging realistic business models and SCDs for AM. Thereby, AM is understood as a potential intervention emanating from outside firms and requiring them to react by realigning their business models and SC structures to maintain a fit. This thesis aims to build an in-depth understanding of these mechanisms and, hence, of the inner causal processes involved in the AM SCD and business model choices. This concentration on the rationales and underlying behavioral patterns is formalized with primarily exploratory (how and why) research questions that are addressed with qualitative research methodologies, mainly case study research and grounded theory. These methodological practices are applied in the industrial AM context, entailing an embedding of this thesis in challenging industries where AM applications have already started to create value (i.e., in the aerospace, rail, automotive, and machinery and equipment industries). The selected research approaches are mostly inductive and, hence, strongly driven by the data collected from this context (e.g., in interviews, by reviewing documents, and by analyzing websites). Additionally, this thesis relies on grand theories, namely transaction cost economics, the resource-based view, and configuration theory, to discuss the findings in their light and to interpret and distill nuances of these theories for their application in the industrial AM context.
This thesis is cumulative, consisting of four studies that form its main body. These studies are organized in two parts, part A and part B, since two domains of strategic decisions are targeted jointly, the business model development (part A) and AM SCD choice (part B) for industrial AM. Different perspectives are associated with the two parts. Logistics service providers (LSPs) are in a critical position to develop AM business models. Based on the expected shift to decentralized, shorter SCs, the traditional business models of LSPs are at risk, and their inherent customer orientation puts them under pressure to adjust to their customers’ needs in AM. In part A, study A.1 applies a process-based perspective to build a broad understanding of how LSPs currently respond to AM and consumer-oriented polymer 3D printing with specific AM activities. It proposes six profiles of how LSPs leverage AM, both as users for their in-house operations and as developers of AM-specific services for external customers. A key finding is that the initiated AM activities are oftentimes strongly based on LSPs’ traditional resources. Only a few LSPs are found whose AM activities are detached from their traditional business models to focus on digital platform-based services for AM. In contrast to the process-based perspective and focus on business model dynamics in study A.1, study A.2 takes an output perspective to propose six generic business model configurations for industrial AM. Each configuration emerges from the perspective of LSPs and is reflected by their potential partners/competitors and industrial customers. Study A.2 explores how the six generic configurations fit specific types of LSPs and how they are embedded in a literature-based service SC for industrial AM. In combination, studies A.1 and A.2 provide a comprehensive understanding of how LSPs are currently reacting to AM and an empirically grounded perspective on “finished” AM business models to evaluate and refine literature-based visions.
Part B of this thesis is devoted to the mechanism of (re-)designing SCs for AM, which is investigated from the perspective of focal manufacturing firms based on their dominant position in SCs. Two dimensions are used to characterize AM SCDs, their horizontal scope (geographic dispersion) and vertical scope (governance structure). The combination of both dimensions is ideally suited to capture the literature-based vision of shorter, decentralized AM SCs (horizontal scope) with eased outsourcing to local partners (vertical scope). Study B.1 takes a firm-centric perspective to develop an in-depth understanding for AM make-or-buy decisions of manufacturing firms, the outcomes of which determine the SC governance structure. This study elaborates how the specific (digital and emerging) traits of industrial AM technologies modify arguments of grand theories that explain make-or-buy decisions in the “analog” age. In comparison, study B.2 shifts from a firm-centric to a network perspective to rely on both dimensions for investigating cohesive AM SCD configurations. More specifically, study B.2 explores four polar AM SCD configurations and reveals manufacturing firms’ rationales for selecting them. Thereby, it builds an understanding for why manufacturing firms currently have valid reasons to implement industrial AM in-house or distributed in a secure, firm-owned network. As a result, combining both studies provides an understanding of why manufacturing firms currently select specific governance structures for industrial AM and opt for SCDs that differ from the literature-based vision of decentralized, outsourced AM.
Overall, this thesis positions itself as theory-oriented research that also aims at supporting managers of manufacturing firms and LSPs in making informed decisions when implementing AM in their SCs and developing AM-based business models. The three studies A.1, A.2, and B.2 contribute to initial theory building on how and why specific AM business models and SCDs emerge. With their focus on developing an understanding for the causal processes (how and why) and by assuming a process-based and output perspective, they can draw a line from firms’ current reactions to sound reflections on future-oriented, high-level expectations for AM. As a result, the studies significantly enrich and refine the current body of knowledge in the AM business model literature on LSPs and the operations and supply chain management literature on AM SCDs, focusing on their geographic dispersion and governance structure. This thesis further contributes with its context-specificity to building domain knowledge for industrial AM, which can serve as one “puzzle piece” for theorizing on how AM and other digitally dominated (manufacturing) technologies will shape the era of digital business models and SCs. In particular, study B.1 stands out by its focus on theory elaboration and the objective of developing contextual middle-range theory. It reveals that emerging digital AM is a setting where the argumentation of grand theories provides contradicting guidance on whether to develop AM in-house or outsource the manufacturing process. Such findings for industrial AM raise multiple opportunities for future research, among them are the comparison with other industry contexts with similar characteristics and the operationalization of the propositions developed in this thesis in follow-up quantitative decision-support models
Improving approaches to material inventory management in construction industry in the UK
Materials used in construction constitute a major proportion of the total cost of construction projects. An important factor of great concern that adversely affects construction projects is the location and tracking of materials, which normally come in bulk with minimal identification. There is inadequate integration of modern wireless technologies (such as Radio Frequency Identification (RFID), Personal Digital Assistant (PDA) or Just-in-Time (JIT)) into project management systems for easier and faster materials management and tracking and to overcome human error. This research focuses on improving approaches to material inventory management in the UK construction industry through the formulation of RFID-based materials management tracking process system with projects.
Existing literature review identified many challenges/problems in material inventory management on construction projects, such as supply delays, shortages, price fluctuations, wastage and damage, and insufficient storage space. Six construction projects were selected as exploratory case studies and cross-case analysis was used to investigate approaches to material inventory management practices: problems, implementation of ICT, and the potential for using emerging wireless technologies and systems (such as RFID and PDA) for materials tracking. Findings showed that there were similar problems of storage constraints and logistics with most of the construction projects. The synthesis of good practices required the implementation of RFID-facilitated construction management of materials tracking system to make material handling easier, quicker, more efficient and less paperwork. There was also a recommendation to implement Information and Communication Technology (ICT) tools to integrate plant, labour and materials into one system.
The findings from the cases studies and the literature review were used to formulate a process for real-time material tracking using Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) that can improve material inventory management in the UK construction industry. Testing and validation undertaken assisted in formulating a process that can be useful, functional and acceptable for a possible process system’s development. Finally, research achievements/contributions to knowledge, and limitations were discussed and some suggestions for further research were outlined
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