Constructing a strategy on the creation of core competencies for African companies

A growing number of studies on economic development have relied on the premise that international technology transfer provides a mechanism for developing competitive advantages for companies of developing countries, and Africa in particular. In this article, we focus on the explicit nature of technology transferable to LDCs to argue that conventional technology transfer alone cannot create core competencies for African companies that lead to the sustainable economic development of the continent. Drawing on insights from the resource-based view and the knowledge based perspective, we develop a conceptual framework for constructing core competencies for African companies. More specifically, we explore the under-researched linkage between core competencies and knowledge management. By examining the roots of core competency in the resource-based view and knowledge-based perspective, we identify the knowledge underpinning core competencies. We then reconcile diverse knowledge management models to propose an integrative approach towards generating such critical knowledge, based on which we further argue that African companies should build their strategy on the creation of core competencies rather than solely relying on conventional international technology transfer

Penguatan Modal Manusia dan Peningkatan Literasi Ekologi melalui Pedagogi Spesifik Materi:pengembangan Model dalam Pembelajaran Ekologi melalui Penelitian Ekofisiologi Tikus Sawah

Education for sustainable development emphasizes on the effectiveness of diffusion of environmentally friendly knowledge and skill to people to have positively environmental attitude in the human-environment interface. In scholarly activities, such transfer of knowledge and value involves particular strategy of transfer ensuring that the given knowledge has impacted on the affective and action. Indeed, theories in environmental psychology suggest that appropriate education changes people's environmental attitude and behavior. Theories, approaches, strategy and models of learning are available and can be scrutinized to provide the best way in teaching of ecology in particular concept. Here, the eco-physiological research towards rice-field rats is used as the learning material. Borg and Gall method of research and development can also be used guiding the methodological steps in this review

An African-European network of design universities fostering the goal of sustainable energy for all

This paper presents the intermediate results of the Learning Network on Sustainable Energy Systems (LeNSes) an African-European multi-polar network for curriculum development on Design for Sustainability (DfS) focused on Distributed Renewable Energy (DRE) and Sustainable Product-Service Systems (S.PSS). The paper discusses the convergence between the S.PSS and DRE models as promising approaches to provide sustainable energy solutions for all by increasing its access and improving efficiency in use. Currently, the project partners are collaboratively developing new curricula focused on these combined approaches. The paper examines the S.PSS and DRE models and how they can be used to develop and implement sustainable energy solutions for all within the African context. The research hypothesis is that S.PSS could be applied to DRE to offer a range of benefits such as: economic, environmental and socio-ethical. The paper describes some of the project activities that includes: development of a new modular and adaptable package of learning resources focused on DRE and S.PSS for the design discipline; implementation of pilot courses at African Higher Educational Institutions (HEIs) targeted at undergraduate and graduate students, practitioners and companies; and development of an open web platform for distributed production and transfer of knowledge and know-how in this area. The innovation of the project described in the paper is twofold, firstly by developing unique curricula based on design for sustainability focused on S.PSS and DRE applied to the African contexts, and secondly by delivering it through an open platform for free and in copy-left. This will equip design students in African universities with a broad knowledge base, as well as effective methods and tools with which to play an active role in the development and diffusion of sustainable energy systems

Cooperative game theory and its application to natural, environmental, and water resource issues : 1. basic theory

Game theory provides useful insights into the way parties that share a scarce resource may plan their use of the resource under different situations. This review provides a brief and self-contained introduction to the theory of cooperative games. It can be used to get acquainted with the basics of cooperative games. Its goal is also to provide a basic introduction to this theory, in connection with a couple of surveys that analyze its use in the context of environmental problems and models. The main models (bargaining games, transfer utility, and non-transfer utility games) and issues and solutions are considered: bargaining solutions, single-value solutions like the Shapley value and the nucleolus, and multi-value solutions such as the core. The cooperative game theory (CGT) models that are reviewed in this paper favor solutions that include all possible players and ignore the strategic stages leading to coalition building. They focus on the possible results of the cooperation by answering questions such as: Which coalitions can be formed? And how can the coalitional gains be divided to secure a sustainable agreement? An important aspect associated with the solution concepts of CGT is the equitable and fair sharing of the cooperation gains.Environmental Economics&Policies,Economic Theory&Research,Livestock&Animal Husbandry,Education for the Knowledge Economy,Education for Development (superceded)

The impact on development of technology and knowledge transfer in Chinese MNEs in sub-Saharan Africa: the Ghanaian case

The presence of Chinese multinational enterprises in Africa brings with it new technology and knowledge. Yet there is a lack of research on the impact of this on development in African countries. China's recent industrial development may be more appropriate for Africa's development than Western models, and the adoption of technological knowledge from Chinese firms may provide a more sustainable path to Africa's future development because of cultural, institutional, social and historical synergies. However, there may be major barriers to transferring appropriate technology and knowledge. Findings from our study in the construction industry in Ghana suggest an absence of specific technology and knowledge transfer policies and strategies, with human resource development practices, language and some cultural issues also creating barriers. Bidding practices of Chinese firms investigated also appear to militate against successful technology and knowledge transfers to local partners and staff. Yet there appears unrealised potential that has not been addressed by firms. We suggest measures that may be taken to realise this potential and point to implications for policy and future research on the development potential of China in Africa

Knowledge and Technology Transfer in Latin American University Contexts

Latin American regions face great challenges to improve their competitiveness and economic progress due to their dynamic, complex and emerging conditions, which demand new technological practices, innovation systems and new knowledge. For this reason, the process of knowledge transfer through collaborative university-business-state relations becomes a key to accessing the international market, competitiveness and sustainable local development. The objective of this study is to analyze the perspective of technology and knowledge transfer in Latin American university contexts, from the heterogeneity and diversity characteristic of developing countries, through a documentary review of the most successful transfer models worldwide. Currently, universities are making a great effort to establish collaborative research relationships from emerging, diverse and homogeneous countries, which makes this region a natural scientific field to create and disseminate new knowledge aimed at territorial, regional and sustainable development

From Aurora Borealis to Carpathians. Searching the Road to Regional and Rural Development

This paper aims at analysing the current regional and rural development tools available for Romania and Finland, as well as common encountered problems and differences in the local realities. The theoretical framework covers contemporary concepts typical for regional development and for rural development, such as learning regions, knowledge creation, social networks, innovation, bottom-up versus top-down approaches, and social, cultural and economical sustainable development. References to the specific problems encountered in remote areas or related to the communities with limited access to various resources are made and the existing policy trends are compared. Rural reality embraces very particular characteristics both in Romania and Finland. However, the history trends have been different and the actual situation of countries’ economy indicates a potential of learning in case of Romania and available solutions to similar problems in case of Finland. Still, transferring models and solutions is not an easy task and the particular challenges encountered in Nordic knowledge transfer projects are mentioned as a starting point helping to formulate assumptions related to the impediment to be expected in such a transfer case. Project Cycle Management in its newest version is brought in the discussion in an attempt to asses in what extent its recommendation could be useful and applied in the case of rural development programmes. The potential quality increase and the high technicality of the used terms are some of the analysed features of project Cycle Management. The concrete examples used in the paper are based on the interviews carried on by the authors in different and common research and evaluation projects in Finland and Romania. The paper brings into discussion the lacks existent in rural and regional development policy in an EU country and a accession one, as they appear using the initially proposed theoretical framework. Recommendations to be followed in the coming year are suggested in this paper evaluating comparatively some of the existent problems affecting local development

<Material>Japan\u27s Official Development Assistance : Promoting Sustainable Development

Official Development Assistance (ODA) is a technical term defined by the OECD. One of the main categories of Japan ODA is bilateral grants which facilitate transfer of technology, skills and knowledge. These transfers, though complex, are a necessary requirement of the technology transfer cycle necessitated by social challenges brought about by new technology. Therefore, it is essential for provision of new technology to be associated with continued professional interaction and training. Developing countries continue to rely on ODA due to various country specific social and developmental setbacks. Therefore, the technology transfer process should be country specific, not based on any preset models or ideologies, and should have support from all the relevant stakeholders. The author is currently undergoing technical or counterpart training facilitated by the Japan International Co-operation Agency (JICA) and Kawasaki University of Medical Welfare. This paper was written to highlight the importance of capacity strengthening to both institutions and individuals. The case for Kenya Medical Research Institute (KEMRI) is to provide encouragement to general public and support to its staff for this kind of successful form of ODA towards sustainable development

University and the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development: processes and prospects

L’educació superior ha estat àmpliament reconeguda com a agent principal per afrontar el repte de sostenibilitat actual a què s’enfronta la societat, a causa de la seva missió clau de generació i transferència de coneixement mitjançant la investigació i la docència. Diverses són les contribucions que han volgut modelar i definir les característiques clau necessàries per crear universitats més sostenibles. Aquest article presenta una revisió de les pràctiques i iniciatives actuals a tot el món per assolir l'Agenda 2030 per al Desenvolupament Sostenible a les universitats. Inclou una anàlisi dels models existents d’universitats sostenibles, les pràctiques mediambientals i sostenibles, el fonament i la pedagogia de l’Educació per al Desenvolupament Sostenible (ESD), i el desenvolupament i innovació curricular per incorporar l’EDS a l’Educació Superior. A partir d’aquesta revisió de la literatura i de les iniciatives i fites clau en l’EDS, es detallen les implicacions i les vies clau per a futures investigacions i pràctiques de l’EDS a l’educació superior.Higher Education has been widely recognised as a principal agent for addressing the current sustainability challenge that society is facing, because of its key mission of knowledge generation and transfer through research and teaching. Several are the contributions that have sought to model and define the key features necessary for creating more sustainable universities. This article presents a review of current practices and initiatives worldwide towards achieving the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development at universities. It includes an analysis of existing models of sustainable universities, environmental and sustainable practices, the Education for Sustainable Development (ESD) rationale and pedagogy, and curriculum development and innovation towards embedding ESD within Higher Education. Based on this review of the literature and key initiatives and milestones in ESD, key implications and pathways for future research and practice of ESD in Higher Education are outlined

A compiled project and open-source code to generate web-based forest modelling simulators

Sustainable forest management requires decision support systems to evaluate possible scenarios and anticipate the consequences of decisions. Forest modellers typically develop complex systems of equations to predict the behaviour of forests which makes the use of forest models difficult for end-users in general, affecting transfer of knowledge and technology. To overcome these difficulties and facilitate their practical use, models can be integrated into software to generate user-friendly forest simulators. In this paper we introduce and describe ForestMTIS, a cloud computing compiled and editable open-source project to generate forest simulators which was developed for statistical, non-spatial, deterministic, disaggregated, single species even-aged stand growth and yield models. We demonstrate the use of ForestMTIS based on the development of FlorNExT®, its first practical application, based on a collaborative approach to make growth and yield modelling and sustainable forest management available to a large community of users in the Northeast of Portugal.This work was funded by the EU-FP7 SIMWOOD project (Sustainable Innovative Mobilisation of Wood) under Grant Agreement No. 613762, the Spanish Government through INIA; and the Galician Regional Government (Xunta de Galicia) through INGACAL. The authors acknowledge also the support provided by the Mountain Research Centre and the School of Agriculture of the Polytechnic Institute of Bragança, Portugal, during a research stay of the first author.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio