84,843 research outputs found
The Challenge of Energy Management â Status-Quo and Perspectives for Reference Models
Energy management is one of the great challenges of the industry in the next years. Energy becomes more and more to a critical resource. Until now, enterprises need to implement energy management system with nearly no guidance. In the following paper we present the foundation of a reference model-based method that serves for setting up energy management systems in various industrial sectors. The goal is to support reduction emission and cost reduction as well as certification needs. In contrast to previous approaches, this approach enables a model-based certification and allows an automation of activities of the process of supervision of the consumption of energy and the appropriate reengineering of business processes
Education for transformative leadership in Southern Africa
This article argues that education for transformative leadership in a southern African context needs to nurture an understanding of the relationship between spirituality and charisma. This argument is based on a review of some literature pertaining to transformative learning, transformative leadership, and African value systems. The article explores the relationship between transformative leadership and transformative learning and education theories, and relates them to a specific southern African context. It proposes three arguments. First, transformative education may facilitate the transformative leadership development process. Second, transformative education and transformative leadership, although offering features that are sympathetic to African indigenous values, must also take account of particular African contexts. The article does not claim to be reporting from empirical research on this issue but, to support its position, draws on recent literature from an ongoing southern Africa leadership development project and some early empirical data from a small, related study in one southern African country. Third, the article suggests that a key difference between transformative learning and transformative leadership perspectives is the transformative leadership focus on charismatic qualities that inspire motivation to change. However, a defining conceptual thread of spirituality runs through the transformative learning and leadership literature that resonates with southern African core value systems. It is this thread that provides the overall conceptual link between the different strands of thought
Transformation Pressure and Growth - a Missing Link in Macroeconomics
Economists and politicians in Sweden stated in the early 1990s that devaluations of the country's currency had lessened the external pressure on manufacturing and led to a delay in structural change and rationalizations. The theory of transformation pressure generalizes the idea that productivity growth in firms is promoted by intense competition, cost pushes and low product demand. The main challenge faced by such a theory is to explain why it seems that an immediate threat is needed to get a productive response from firms. Three separate explanations are presented here emphasizing either the value of waiting to get more information about potential threats, the irrational tendency to ignore threats until they show up or the stimulation of individual creativity when firms are put under real pressure. But productivity growth is not always promoted by tight external circumstances. Growth may be maximized if pressure in each period is moderate or if periods with strong pressure are followed by periods of financial and technical consolidation, scale advantages and lesser needs to spend resources on rationalization in order to survive.Transformation pressure; Competition; X-inefficiency; Innovations; Productivity; Growth; Irrationality; Uncertainty; R&D investments
Fashioning the Future Awards 2011
Established in 2008, Fashioning the Future aims to inspire curiosity, encourage the testing of ideas and create a platform for emerging thinkers, doers, designers and innovators. It facilitates interactions between people in education and business, steering a course towards a better future.
The Fashioning the Future Awards were conceived by Dilys Williams as a means for CSF to share and exchange knowledge, skills and experience with others. So far, CSF has connected over 3000 students from a host of fashion institutions worldwide with global businesses and NGOs. Resources, developed from Dilysâ and CSFâs expertise, act as a guide to participants and outcomes are showcased through exhibition, catwalk and digital mediums.
For the third edition of the Fashioning the Future Awards, and as part of the decade of biodiversity and partnering with UNCTAD, finalists were selected to be featured in an experimental multimedia exhibition and catwalk show supported by Canary Wharf and held in the imposing East Winter Gardens
The Theory of Transformation Pressure - a New Perspective on Growth and Economic Policy
The theory of transformation pressure offers a uniquely Swedish perspective on the "productivity slowdown" of the 1970s and 1980s. One example of this theory can be found in an influential argument from the early 1990s which states that devaluations of the Swedish currency lessened the external pressure on manufacturing and led to a delay in structural change and rationalisations. The theory generalises the idea that productivity growth in firms is stimulated by intense competition, cost pressures and low or qualified demand. The main challenge faced by such a theory is to explain why it seems that an immediate threat is needed to get a productive response from firms. The theory presented here assumes either genuine uncertainty, irrational behaviour or that firms become more creative when they are put under real pressure. Productivity growth is not always promoted by tight external circumstances. Growth may be maximised if pressure in each period is moderate or if periods with strong pressure are followed by periods of financial and technical consolidation.Transformation Pressure; Competition; X-inefficiencies; Innovations; Productivity; Growth; Rationality; Uncertainty; R&D Investments
The need of standardization and the potential role of voluntary approaches: Issues and trends in Italian GCHP market
Despite the lack of specific incentives, Ground Coupled Heat Pumps (GCHP) installations are booming in Italy both in private and public sectors of the market. Such rapid growth entails an increasing concern for environmental and technical performances since no comprehensive regulation and reliable standards exist yet. By means of an investigation of sectoral opinion leaders and SWOT-based technique for building scenarios, this paper discusses potential schemes for balancing mandatory and voluntary requirements. The analysis suggests that standardization and voluntary schemes are perceived as effective tools to encourage the greening of Italian GCHP-SMEs in short-run while laying the foundations for evolving sustainable policies in the longer run. A potential scheme that has been simulated by reflecting the supply-side orientations of the market and that involves of process and product standards is discussed.
Transformative spaces in the making: key lessons from nine cases in the Global South
Creating a just and sustainable planet will require not only small changes, but also systemic transformations in how humans relate to the planet and to each other, i.e., socialâecological transformations. We suggest there is a need for collaborative environments where experimentation with new configurations of socialâecological systems can occur, and we refer to these as transformative spaces. In this paper, we seek a better understanding of how to design and enable the creation of transformative spaces in a development context. We analyse nine case studies from a previous special issue on Designing Transformative Spaces that aimed to collect examples of cutting-edge action-oriented research on transformations from the Global South. The analysis showed five design phases as being essential: Problem Definition Phase; Operationalisation Phase; Tactical Phase; Outcome Phase; and Reflection Phase. From this synthesis, we distilled five key messages that should be considered when designing research, including: (a) there are ethical dilemmas associated with creating a transformative space in a system; (b) it is important to assess the readiness of the system for change before engaging in it; (c) there is a need to balance between âsafeâ and âsafe-enoughâ spaces for transformation; (d) convening a transformative space requires an assemblage of diverse methodological frameworks and tools; and (e) transformative spaces can act as a starting point for institutionalising transformative change. Many researchers are now engaging in transdisciplinary transformations research, and are finding themselves at the knowledgeâaction interface contributing to transformative space-making. We hope that by analysing experiences from across different geographies we can contribute towards better understanding of how to navigate the processes needed for the urgent global transformations that are being called for to create a more equitable and sustainable planet Earth
What If? The Art of Scenario Thinking for Nonprofits
Gives an overview of scenario thinking customized for a nonprofit audience. Outlines the basic phases of scenario development, and provides examples and advice for putting the process into practice. Includes an annotated bibliography of select readings
Surveillance in Hogwarts: Dumbledore's balancing act between managerialism and anarchism
This article considers the fictional depiction of surveillance in Harry Potter, and compares the two different models of school leadership represented by Dolores Umbridge and Albus Dumbledore. The Harry Potter books put forward a vision of school leadership that affirms the necessity of surveillance. The optimal degree of surveillance means a fine balance between managerialism and anarchism. Neither a panoptic gaze of discipline and management which aims to control the minutest details of a personâs action, nor the absence of surveillance is desirable. Hogwarts is a surveillance school, and the difference between the two principals, both of whom insist on the maintenance of a hierarchical power structure, lies in the extent to which surveillance is in operation. Whereas Umbridge represents the failure of extreme managerialism which only results in fierce resistance, Dumbledore is portrayed as the desirable model of a temperate leader who, through reducing management and developing trust, succeeds in cultivating in students a version of discipline that is not based on external behaviour but on internal values
The development of social and environmental accounting research 1995-2000
This paper reviews five years of social and environmental accounting literature (from 1995-2000) in an
attempt to evaluate the current position. The methodology used follows that employed in Mathews
(1997a) which covered a period of 25 years in three time periods: 1971-1980; 1981-1990; and 1991-
1995. The literature was classified into several sub-groups including empirical studies, normative
statements, philosophical discussion, non-accounting literature, teaching programmes and text books,
regulatory frameworks, and other reviews. In this review a number of new sub-categories have been
employed as appropriate.
The author is able to conclude on an optimistic note. The additions to the literature during the period
1995-2000 are encouraging. Researchers in this area are perhaps less naĂŻve and more experienced
than previously, and this, when added to their enthusiasm should lead to penetrating observations
and commentaries over the next five years
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