36,228 research outputs found

    The Digitalisation of African Agriculture Report 2018-2019

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    An inclusive, digitally-enabled agricultural transformation could help achieve meaningful livelihood improvements for Africa’s smallholder farmers and pastoralists. It could drive greater engagement in agriculture from women and youth and create employment opportunities along the value chain. At CTA we staked a claim on this power of digitalisation to more systematically transform agriculture early on. Digitalisation, focusing on not individual ICTs but the application of these technologies to entire value chains, is a theme that cuts across all of our work. In youth entrepreneurship, we are fostering a new breed of young ICT ‘agripreneurs’. In climate-smart agriculture multiple projects provide information that can help towards building resilience for smallholder farmers. And in women empowerment we are supporting digital platforms to drive greater inclusion for women entrepreneurs in agricultural value chains

    Enforcing International Labor Rights through Corporate Codes of Conduct

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    This article first reviews initiatives by the international community to address the linkage between trade and international labor rights and fair labor standards through domestic trade statutes, regional trade agreements and other governmental approaches. It then examines several private sector efforts embracing codes of conduct for labor and employment practices in international commerce. Some are proposed by sources external to multinational corporations as codes by which they can pledge to abide. Others are initiated by individual companies themselves. The authors focus their treatment on codes of conduct issued by Levi Strauss &. Co. and Reebok Corporation as examples of the challenges in formulating, auditing and enforcing labor rights and labor standards by private corporations engaged in international trade

    Studies in Trade and Investment: The Development Impact of Information Technology in Trade Facilitation

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    Section A of this chapter deals with the role of SMEs in exports while section B details evolution in the use of IT for cargo clearance. Section C examines the impact of IT trade facilitation measures on SMEs. Section D presents stakeholder interviews on the impact of information technology automation in trade facilitation. Section E concludes the chapter and proposes some recommendations.Trade facilitation, ICT, IT, SMEs, export, customs, India

    Competitive advantage as a legitimacy-creating process

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    Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to explore how small firms in the tattooing industry actively shape institutional expectations of value for consumers in a changing industry. Design/methodology/approach – The paper draws upon interviews with key actors in the firms under study to explore their experiences with consumers and other constituents in determining how competitive advantage is constructed in this environment. These data are complemented data with interviews with governmental representatives and material from secondary sources. Findings – The results reveal efforts of firms to construct and increase organizational legitimacy through the prominence of discourses of professionalism based on artistry and medicine/public health. These bases of competitive differentiation are not the clear result of exogenous pressure, rather they arise through the active efforts of the firm to construct value guidelines for consumers and other constituents. Practical implications – Strategic management in small firms is a complex and dynamic process that does not necessarily mirror that of large organizations. Constructing competitive advantage is an interacting process between key actors of small firms and various constituents. Originality/value – The paper extends the application of institutional theory in strategic management by illuminating the active role that firms play in creating industry norms, especially in industries where norms are not well established or no longer entrenched. Moreover, exploring an alternative site of study offers a means through which to see well-studied issues in new ways

    Impact of IT related Trade Facilitation Measures on SMEs: An Overview of Indian Experience

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    This paper examine the extent of automation of trade facilitation in India and to assess the impact of automation on SMEs in the country.Impace of Information Techonology, SMEs, India

    Tourism as a driver of economic development: The Colombian experience

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    The current paper analyzes the importance and potentials of the tourism sector for economic development. It is divided into four major parts. After a short introduction, section two presents some theoretical insights into the topic of economic development. Commenting on the most relevant components of the catching-up theory by Abramovitz (1986) and the structural change theory by Baumol (1967) and others, it could be realized that growth and the accompanying structural changes in the distribution of employment and GDP have their sources in the sector industry. But at the moment of incorporating the demand side explanation of structural change, the service sectors offer growth potentials as well. Furthermore, the basic characteristics and importance of the tourism sector for economic development and employment are emphasized, examining the so-called 'social capabilities' and the innovation potential within the process of economic growth of any nation. A short survey of literature concerning the contribution of this sector to economic growth makes clear that tourism should be considered not just from the perspective of the benefits, but also from the costs associated with it. Section three provides an analysis of the economic impact of tourism in a developing country, namely Colombia, based on time-series analysis and data gathered supported on the 'Tourism Satellite Account' Methodology. Some relevant indicators produced by the World Economic Forum through its 'Travel and Tourism Competitiveness Report', are also evaluated. Finally, some conclusions are drawn with respect to the potentialities, as well as the challenges identified for the Colombian case. --structural change,service sectors,social capabilities,economic development,tourism,Colombia

    Making a difference in Massachusetts fiscal year 2008: Boston University's economic and social impact sourcebook

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    This is the archive of an economic and social impact sourcebook for Boston University for fiscal year 2008

    The Impact Of Federal Legislation On Governmental And Special Libraries

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    It has become increasingly obvious that libraries today cannot provide adequate service under conditions of local self-sufficiency. A variety of programs are required on the national level which cannot be provided by individual libraries or combinations of libraries. Few libraries can justify or afford the massive resource development which has been a responsibility of such institutions as the Library of Congress, the National Agricultural Library and the National Library of Medicine. None can finance the very expensive and complex bibliographic services provided by these national libraries. And practically none of our non- governmental libraries are in a position to assume leadership in implementing national bibliographic programs in the years ahead. These are the general reasons why our governmental libraries and the attendant legislative authorization are so critically important to the entire scholarly community. It is not the purpose of this paper to consider the detailed development of our governmental libraries or library legislative history. It would be accurate to say that in the past this development has taken place under uncoordinated circumstances, frequently in response to ad hoc situations. There was certainly no grand design or master plan to shape the future. This does not imply that librarians were limited in their vision or lacked the capability for basic planning. It is more a reflection of the fact that, at the Federal level, there has not been sufficient political support to allow more than one step being taken at a time.published or submitted for publicatio

    Towards a Nex-Gen Cottage Industry in the Digital Age: Insights from an Action Research with Rural Artisans in India

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    Despite the recognition of the significance of the crafts industry for inclusive development, its informal, disaggregated and disenfranchised nature poses several problems for the rural artisans, who are often forced to live in poverty. Extant approaches to address the industry’s problems have involved siloed attempts, wherein interventions were appropriated to resolve issues within parts of the supply chain, resulting in persistence of the issues. Using Self-Help- Group women in rural India as a case in point, the paper adopts a discovery orientation and action research alignment to evolve the design principles of an ICT driven peer-to-peer collaborative, decentralized supply chain model known as Nex-Gen Cottage Industry as a means to organise the industry. The results of a pre-pilot study in a village Kandi have been discussed along with the implications of this research for academia and the society
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