The Gomi legacy

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Statistical Regularities in the Evolution of Industries. A Guide through some Evidence and Challenges for the Theory

Fundamental drivers of the evolution of contemporary economies are the activities of search, discovery and economic exploitation of new products, new production processes, new organizational arrangements within and amongst business firms. What are their marks in terms of statistical properties that such processes display? Three basic questions in particular are addressed in this work. First, are there distinct characteristics of the microentities (in primis, business firms) and their distributions which systematically persist over time? Second, how do such characteristics within the population of competing firms affect their relative evolutionary success over time? And in particular what are the ultimate outcomes in terms of growth and profitability performances? Third, amongst the foregoing statistical properties and relations between them, which ones are invariant across industries, and, conversely, which ones depend on the technological and market characteristics of particular sectors? In order to address these questions we proceed in a sort of “inductive” manner. I start by examining some basic features of the distributions of firms sizes, growth rates and profitability. Next, I consider some evidence on the underlying inter-firm heterogeneity - particularly with regard to technological innovativeness and productivity - and their relationships with corporate performances. Finally, the work recalls the basic elements of an evolutionary interpretation of the evidence. Together with important points of corroboration of such a view - including those regarding a profound heterogeneity of firms at all levels of observation -, one also facing standing challenges - in primis, concerning the purported role of markets as effective selection devices -.Industrial evolution, Size distributions, Growth rates, Heterogeneity, Fat tails, Market selection

My Sojourn with the Strengths Perspective: Growth and Transformation through Crisis, Illness, and Disability

This record contains the original text published in the book Rooted in Strengths. A supplemental file is also included that was further revised by the author after the chapter was published

Chasing Sustainability on the Net : International research on 69 journalistic pure players and their business models

This report outlines how online-based journalistic startups have created their economical locker in the evolving media ecology. The research introduces the ways that startups have found sustainability in the markets of ten countries. The work is based on 69 case studies from Europe, USA and Japan. The case analysis shows that business models can be divided into two groups. The storytelling-oriented business models are still prevalent in our findings. These are the online journalistic outlets that produce original content – news and stories for audiences. But the other group, service-oriented business models, seems to be growing. This group consists of sites that don’t try to monetize the journalistic content as such but rather focus on carving out new functionality. The project was able to identify several revenue sources: advertising, paying for content, affiliate marketing, donations, selling data or services, organizing events, freelancing and training or selling merchandise. Where it was hard to evidence entirely new revenue sources, it was however possible to find new ways in which revenue sources have been combined or reconfigured. The report also offers practical advice for those who are planning to start their own journalistic site

Evaluation of Stream Assessment Protocols for the Evaluation of Habitat in Intermittent Headwater Streams

EPA and state water resource agencies are now placing greater emphasis on monitoring and managing headwater streams. Two EPA stream protocols are available for headwater stream assessment but little effort has been made to compare these two methods or their resulting habitat quality index scores. The objectives of this effort were to 1) compare data types of the two protocols; 2) compare how the two protocols assess intermittent streams using habitat quality index (HQI) scores; and 3) compare stream characteristic emphases (geomorphology, riparia, substrate, in-stream cover for biota and hydrology) between the two protocols and their effect on overall HQI scores. This study was conducted within the Northern Glaciated Plains Ecoregion (NGP) of South Dakota. Forty reference sites were chosen using EPA’s Analytical Tools Interface for Landscape Assessments (ATtILA). Twenty more sites were chosen to validate the reference sites condition. Ten of the validation sites were selected at random and the other ten were targeted sites selected through consultation with state officials. All sites were field validated using the “North Carolina Division of Water Quality’s Identification Methods for the origins of Intermittent and Perennial Streams” and the “Riparian, Channel, and Environmental Inventory for small streams in the agricultural landscape.” Habitat assessments of 60 total streams occurred monthly (April-August) during the summer of 2008 following EPA’s “Western Pilot Study: Field Operations Manual for Wadeable Streams” and “Field Operations Manual for Assessing the Hydrologic Permanence and Ecological Condition of Headwater Streams.” Headwater streams in the NGP can be summarized as low gradient ( X = 0.02%) streams showing little incision ( X = 0.4 m). Channel dimensions were variable (CV = 1306.1 width/depth ratio) with flat banks ( X = 27.4ºC) and homogenous thalwegs ( X CV = 48.9 %). Substrates consisted of mostly soft/small sediments with herbaceous vegetation as the most frequently occurring instream cover for biota. With the exception of the Prairie Coteau Escarpment Ecoregion (46l), riparian trees were rare. Peck’s protocol had 51 measurements with a mixture of ratio (n = 14), interval (n = 2), ordinal (n = 23) and nominal (n = 12) data types. Fritz’s protocol had 15 measurements yielding mostly ratio (n = 10) data types, and a few interval (n = 2) and nominal data (n = 3). Substrate type was assessed differently by the two protocols. Organic substrates occurred with a frequency of 65% using Peck’s protocol, while the substrate class “sand/silt/clay” occurred most frequently (89%) using Fritz’s protocol. HQI scores for both protocols were compared using a sign test and a Wilcoxon Rank Sum test, revealing that they were different (p \u3c 0.01). Reference HQI scores generated from Fritz metrics ( X = 71%) were higher (p \u3c 0.01) than Peck’s HQI’s ( X = 63%). Riparian metrics composed 51% of Peck’s measurements and 7% of Fritz’s measurements but Peck’s riparian HQI’s scored lower (p \u3c 0.01) than Fritz’s riparian HQI’s. Hydrologic metrics composed 36% of Fritz’s protocol and 4% of Peck’s protocol and still the HQI’s compared favorably between the two protocols. Evaluation of stream assessments within either protocol revealed high variability in stream characteristics within the NGP ecoregion. Stream habitat scores exhibited greater similarity within level IV EPA ecoregions than between ecoregions. This supports that regionalization by level IV ecoregions may be necessary to account for regional differences in landscape features. The use of more measurements for Peck’s protocol increased the ability to detect the influence of human management practices. However, some metrics were similar within Peck’s protocol, leading to high redundancy. Fritz’s protocol contained fewer metrics with less focus on riparian metrics, reducing the sensitivity of this protocol to human management practices. Data types also differed between and within the two protocols, complicating integration and analysis. Peck’s protocol included a large number of ordinal and nominal measurements, which require training and consistency to remain unbiased. Thus, Peck’s assessments were more subjective, adding another source of disparity between protocol assessments. Substrate was the only parameter measured by both protocols, but assessments differed due to the use of different substrate classes and a different cross-sectional methodology. Results of HQI differences provide evidence that the two protocols do not respond similarly to physical habitat changes. This can be attributed to the divergence in stream characteristics emphasized by the two protocols. Differences in metric emphasis reflect a focus on hydrologic permanence by the Fritz protocol and riparian metrics by the Peck protocol. Riparian condition reflect the influence of human activities more successfully based on HQI scores than hydrologic condition. This helps to explain differences seen in HQI scores and provides incentive for the continued use of riparian metrics in stream habitat assessments. A new combined habitat metric set is proposed which places more balance between riparian and hydrologic stream characteristics

Evaluating the Illinois Stream Valley Segment Model as an Effective Management Tool

Stream habitat assessments are conducted to evaluate biological potential, determine anthropogenic impacts, and guide restoration projects. Utilizing these procedures, managers must first select a representative stream reach, which is typically selected based on several criteria. To develop a consistent and unbiased procedure for choosing sampling locations, the Illinois Department of Natural Resources and the Illinois Natural History Survey have proposed a technique by which watersheds are divided into homogeneous stream segments called valley segments. Valley segments are determined by GIS parameters including surficial geology, predicted flow, slope, and drainage area. To date, no research has been conducted to determine if the stream habitat within a valley segment is homogeneous and if different valley segments have varying habitat variables. Two abutting valley segments were randomly selected within 13 streams in the Embarras River watershed, located in east-central Illinois. One hundred meter reaches were randomly selected within each valley segment, and a transect method was used to quantify habitat characteristics of the stream channel. Habitat variables for each stream were combined through a principal components analysis (PCA) to measure environmental variation between abutting valley segments. A multivariate analysis of variance (MANOVA) was performed on PCA axes 1–3. The majority of abutting valley segments were significantly different from each other indicating that habitat variability within each valley segment was less than variability between valley segments (5.37 B F B 245.13; P B 0.002). This comparison supports the use of the valley segment model as an effective management tool for identifying representative sampling locations and extrapolating reach-specific information

Consuming Life in Post-Bubble Japan

The bursting of the economic bubble in the 1990s shook the very foundation of the post-war economic 'miracle' and marked the beginning of a gradual shift in the environmental consciousness of the Japanese. Yet, it by no means removed consumption from the pivotal position it occupied within Japanese society. Consuming Life in Post-Bubble Japan argues that consumption in Japan today is no longer simply a component of everyday economic activities, but rather a reflection of a society guided by the 'logic of late capitalism'. The volume pins down the contradictory nature of the setting in which consuming occurs in Japan today: the veneration of material comfort and convenience on the one hand, and the new rhetoric of recycling and energy conservation on the other. Theoretical insights developed as part of an art-historical enquiry, such as notions of socially engaged art and its critique, offer a new paradigm for investigating this dilemma. By combining case studies analysing the production and consumption of contemporary art with ethnographic material related to ordinary commodities and shopping, this volume provides a novel, transdisciplinary approach to exploring how a 'society of consumers' operates in post-bubble Japan and how contemporary life is a 'consuming project'