Complexities of large-scale technology project failure: A forensic analysis of the Seattle popular monorail authority

“Being stuck in traffic doesn’t have to be a way of life.” This beautiful prologue came from the Elevated Transportation Company (ETC) board’s letter in the ETC Seattle Popular Monorail Plan, one of the largest public works projects ever proposed in the city of Seattle. Three years after this proposal, the Seattle Monorail Project (SMP) was shut down by voters on November 8, 2005. This paper critically analyzes the SMP through the lens of stakeholder theory. This perspective provides valuable insights into the failure of the SMP. We theorize that SMP’s failure might have been avoided had its leadership recognized the many stakeholders that had power over the plan and, more importantly, the dynamic changes in relationships between the stakeholders. Failure might also have been avoided by managing conflicts in stakeholders’ expectations. Specifically, we use stakeholder theory to develop four propositions that are relevant in the context of large-scale technology projects. One, organizations are more likely to succeed when have effective mechanisms for monitoring and evaluating interactions between stakeholders and changes in their positions in relation to their strategic innovation projects. Two, organizations are more likely to succeed when they tradeoff the conflicts in expectations and interests that stakeholders hold. Three, organizations are more likely to implement complex technology projects by understanding stakeholders’ expectations and the interplay between stakeholders. Four, organizations are more likely to achieve their innovative projects when they define stakeholders in terms of their power over their strategic objectives. The paper makes a contribution both to the research and practice of major technological infrastructure projects, strategic innovations, and government technology management

Fallacies, Collapses, Crises. Now What?

The current crisis has been seen as the result of a “few bad apples”. The paper argues that the crisis is systemic and based on fallacies and misconceptions in the design and function of the economic – corporate system. Organizational and economic theories are based on hypotheses that lead to faulted decisions on how the system should be regulated and designed. The paper proposes that a new theory is needed. Disjoint approaches of the current situation are not suitable. Law, Organization theory, Economics, Finance and Accounting need to converge in order to formulate a theory that encompasses all factors and it is holistic. Introduction of corporate governance systems that are as dynamic as the organizational, ownership, product and capital market are, are necessary in order to create a stable and effective corporate environment

Partnership, ownership and control: the impact of corporate governance on employment relations

Prevailing patterns of dispersed share ownership and rules of corporate governance for UK listed companies appear to constrain the ability of managers to make credible, long-term commitments to employees of the kind needed to foster effective labour-management partnerships. We present case study evidence which suggests that such partnerships can nevertheless emerge where product market conditions and the regulatory environment favour a stakeholder orientation. Proactive and mature partnerships may also be sustained where the board takes a strategic approach to mediating between the claims of different stakeholder groups, institutional investors are prepared to take a long-term view of their holdings, and strong and independent trade unions are in a position to facilitate organisational change

Mobile Value Added Services: A Business Growth Opportunity for Women Entrepreneurs

Examines the potential for mobile value-added services adoption by women entrepreneurs in Egypt, Nigeria, and Indonesia in expanding their micro businesses; challenges, such as access to digital channels; and the need for services tailored to women

A Roadmap to Reduce U.S. Food Waste by 20 Percent

The magnitude of the food waste problem is difficult to comprehend. The U.S. spends $218 billion a year -- 1.3% of GDP -- growing, processing, transporting, and disposing of food that is never eaten. The causes of food waste are diverse, ranging from crops that never get harvested, to food left on overfilled plates, to near-expired milk and stale bread. ReFED is a coalition of over 30 business, nonprofit, foundation, and government leaders committed to building a different future, where food waste prevention, recovery, and recycling are recognized as an untapped opportunity to create jobs, alleviate hunger, and protect the environment -- all while stimulating a new multi-billion dollar market opportunity. ReFED developed A Roadmap to Reduce U.S. Food Waste as a data-driven guide to collectively take action to reduce food waste at scale nationwide.This Roadmap report is a guide and a call to action for us to work together to solve this problem. Businesses can save money for themselves and their customers. Policymakers can unleash a new wave of local job creation. Foundations can take a major step in addressing environmental issues and hunger. And innovators across all sectors can launch new products, services, and business models. There will be no losers, only winners, as food finds its way to its highest and best use

Does Corporate Social Responsibility Reduce the Costs of High Leverage? Evidence from Capital Structure and Product Market Interactions

Research on capital structure and product market interactions shows that high leverage is associated with substantial losses in market share due to unfavorable actions by customers and competitors. We examine whether corporate social responsibility (CSR) affects firms’ interactions with customers and competitors, and whether it can reduce the costs of high leverage. We find that CSR reduces losses in market share when firms are highly leveraged. By reducing adverse behavior by customers and competitors, CSR helps highly leveraged firms keep customers and guard against rivals’ predation. Our results support the stakeholder value maximization view of CSR

Circular business strategies and supply chain finance in the Aruba waste sector : a case study of a small island jurisdiction

This paper focuses on possibilities and obstacles for a circular economy in the waste management sector in Aruba. The authors describe the Aruban economy and the consequences of its SIDS characteristics. The article defines concepts in the field of circular economy and presents a conceptual model for research in this area. Based on multimethod research, the paper argues that small and medium-sized firms (SMEs) in the waste sector in Aruba determine their financial needs partly on the opportunities offered by the international market and price developments. Financing often takes place from own resources or via a local bank. No examples of circular chain financing were identified. Chain cooperation takes place with partners within the existing holding or with international partners, whereby performance and hedging contracts are concluded to guarantee quality and delivery and to mitigate business risks such as price fluctuations on the world market. During the research, it became obvious that limitations resulting from Aruba’s small scale and ‘islandness’ – such as the limited goods flow, limited quantities of feed waste materials and financing facilities offered by the local banking sector, as well as insufficiently stimulating legislation and regulations, coupled with faltering knowledge circulation and social awareness – seriously hamper the development of circular entrepreneurism in Aruba. The article offers policy recommendations to mitigate the bottlenecks for sustainable development in Aruba.peer-reviewe

Tanzania Country Climate Risk Profile Series, Kilolo District

The agricultural sector in Tanzania has been exposed to high climatic risks for the past several decades (Arce & Caballero, 2015). Experts and farmers assert that climatic risks including unpredictable rainfall, prolonged drought, and increased incidences of pests and diseases have resulted in declining agricultural productivity. Concomitantly, the rivers, streams, soils, and forests from which the rural poor build their livelihoods are on the verge of depletion. The situation has been further exacerbated by unstable commodity prices. Future climatic projections show that the climate trends are likely to worsen in the coming years. For instance, mean annual temperatures in Tanzania are predicted to increase by up to 2.7°C by 2060, and by close to 50% by 2090 (Irish Aid, 2018). Similarly, day and night temperatures are also expected to increase. Rainfall will become increasingly erratic both locally and regionally, with both floods and droughts growing in intensity and frequency. Smallholder farmers have the poorest access to resources such as land tenure, water resources, crop and livestock insurance, financial capital, and markets, and thus are the least risk-resilient. Women farmers in particular suffer systematic discrimination in terms of access to these resources. Women are also culturally expected to execute the most laborious agricultural tasks in addition to their household responsibilities of caregiving, preparing meals, and collecting fuel and water. Meanwhile, men tend to be responsible for tasks involving financial exchange, such as land acquisition, sourcing capital for production, purchasing and applying chemicals, and identifying buyers. This cultural norm is reinforced by the tenure system, which assigns land ownership almost exclusively to men. These factors make women the most vulnerable sub-group of smallholder farmers (Irish Aid, 2018). The national government, donor community, private sector, and development partners have invested in helping households prepare for such climate scenarios. A number of policies, strategies, programmes, and guidelines have been documented with the goal of boosting the adaptation capacity of vulnerable groups. Prominent among these are the National Agricultural Policy (NAP 2013), the National Climate Change Strategy (NCCS 2012), the National Adaptation Programme of Action (NAPA 2007), and the Climate-Smart Agriculture implementation guideline. Despite these efforts, several issues remain unaddressed due to a lack of coordination among relevant actors. The development of a local Climate-Smart Agriculture Profile can support the clarification of roles and crucial points of coordination to assist in this effort. This Kilolo District profile thus underscores the climate-smart agriculture (CSA) investments undertaken by farming households in the region. This profile is an output of the CSA/SuPER project on Upscaling CSA with small scale food producers, organized via the Village Saving and Lending Association (VSLA) Project, and implemented by Cooperative Assistance and Relief Everywhere (CARE International), the International Center for Tropical Agriculture (CIAT) (now part of the Alliance of Bioversity International and CIAT), Sokoine University of Agriculture, and Wageningen University and Research. Both qualitative and quantitative methods were used to gather the information herein, in accordance with the methodology employed by Mwongera et al. (2015). Secondary information was collected through an extensive literature review. Primary information was collected from interviews with agricultural experts, farmer focus group discussions, stakeholder workshops, and farmer interviews in Kilolo District. This profile is organized into six major sections based on the analytical steps of the study. The first section describes the contextual importance of agriculture to Kilolo livelihoods and households. The second describes historic and future climatic trends. The third section highlights farmers’ priority value chains. The fourth section addresses the challenges and cross-cutting issues in the sector. The fifth section details climate hazards experienced by farmers, as well as the current and proposed adaptation strategies. Finally, the sixth section outlines the policies related to CSA and the institutions that facilitate implementation of climate change initiatives

Adoption of "eco-advantage" by SMEs: emerging opportunities and constraints

Purpose: A recent study has asserted that businesses need to adopt “eco-advantage”. This paper aims to explore the viability of small and medium enterprises (SMEs) achieving “eco-advantage” by exploring their understanding of sustainability issues, how they adopt and innovate in terms of sustainability and the benefits and obstacles they face. Design/methodology/approach: The research approach is exploratory, comprised of 15 SME embedded cases based in the UK. The cases are participants in short interventions in sustainable product and process design as a part of a university knowledge transfer project, representing the overall case. Cases are based on interviews with company participants and collaborating academics, supplemented by documentary and observational evidence. Findings: The results build on the work on “eco-advantage” found in a recent study, highlighting marketing, rather than compliance issues as a catalyst for change. The newly aware SME enters a development process which involves cumulative capabilities, gaining a nascent inner confidence, which includes espousing wider sustainable values. Research limitations/implications: The results reveal the scope and challenges for SMEs to adopt more sustainable practices, encompassing innovations and a broad set of capabilities. Further research points to the need to monitor benefits as well as inputs in evaluating sustainability improvements and to consider longitudinal business sustainability issues. Originality/value: The paper informs the emerging debate on sustainability in SMEs, providing a rich source of data to enhance the provision of business support and knowledge transfer activities, where a more holistic and customised approach is required to realise the real environmental and economic benefits accrued from implementing sustainable improvements