Exploring hybridity in food supply chains

In recent years, a number of dynamic aspects of food supply chains have attracted great interest among social scientists investigating rural restructuring and change. These include: the expansion of organic agriculture; the development of new value added enterprises at farm level and the revitalisation of traditional and new-old artisanal production practices; the expansion from a low base of the market share of alternative short supply chains, such as farmers markets; and the so-called quality turn, riding on the heels of another turn in rural social research - the consumption turn. All of these changes come together in a vision of alternative agro food networks (AAFNs) that has been built around empirical and theoretical work from a number of predominantly European social researchers, centred on Wageningen, but conducted in a number of countries in Europe. These and other associated changes in the composition of farm-based economic activity are seen to be constitutive of a new paradigm of rural development comprising an alternative network of producers, consumers and other actors in relation to the mainstream agro-food system (Van der Ploeg et al. 2000; Van der Ploeg and Renting 2004; Renting et al. 2003). The theorisation surrounding this work on AAFNs has been sharply criticised by Goodman (2004). He challenges the vision of certain European social scientists of an alternative food sector rising like a phoenix from the ashes of the commodity-based food system to constitute a new paradigm of rural development. He notes their view of AAFNs as: innovative precursors of paradigm change, of a more endogenous, territorialized and ecologically embedded successor to the allegedly crisis-ridden modernisation model of conventional industrialised agriculture. (Goodman 2004:6) In particular, he challenges the binary categorisation into alternative and mainstream and is deeply sceptical as to the existence of a new paradigm while, at the same time, highly cognisant of dynamic changes within the agro-food sector. This paper is motivated by a desire to explore the extent to which different theories can help interpret and explain some of the most dynamic areas of agro-food systems that belong neither in the mainstream food supply chains and networks, nor in the alternative food supply networks. We review two areas where we argue that hybridity is evident in food supply chains and networks, and draw conclusions as to the research needs in a field where too often dualistic interpretations have prevailed.Agribusiness,

Digital sustainability and entrepreneurship: How digital innovations are helping tackle climate change and sustainable development

Ministry of Education, Singapore under its Academic Research Funding Tier

Inter-organizational Information Systems: From Strategic Systems to Information Infrastructures

This paper reports on a series of panels and workshops held at the Bled eConference since 2004. It aims at reconstructing the developing understanding of Inter-organizational Information Systems (IOIS) over the years as evidenced by these workshops, which have been designed to provide a forum to discuss emerging topics, fields, and strategies for IOIS research on a network and industry level. This paper provides an overview of the workshops and a detailed coverage of the last one in order to give a thorough and vivid account of its contributions. The paper not only takes a historical lens in documenting the workshops but also in discussing the transformation from strategic systems to information infrastructures. It reflects the enabling role of the Bled eConference for workshops series and the workshops’ contribution to the Bled conference

Moving from atheoretical to theoretical approaches to interprofessional client-centred collaborative practice

In this chapter we revisit the importance of theory in the development of interprofessional client centred education and practice (IPCEP). We focus specifically on the theoretical underpinnings and development of a workshop model aimed at moving practitioners from atheoretical to theoretical collaborative practice

Exploring Functional Affordances and Sensemaking in Human Resource Analytics

Interest and investment in Business Analytics (BA) have grown substantially the last decade and applying BA in the domain of Human Resource Management (HRM) has received much attention from practitioners. An increased understanding of what potential HR Analytics has and how this potential is recognized and used is of practical and academic importance. Using the lenses of Functional Affordances and Sensemaking from Information Systems (IS) literature, an explorative case survey is performed. Cases from conferences and publications are qualitatively analyzed. Twelve Functional Affordances of HR Analytics were identified along with exemplary Sensemaking Frames and Sensemaking Patterns. This explorative study provides insights into the Functional Affordances and Sensemaking mechanisms of HR Analytics on an organizational level. It contributes to prior IS research in terms of the potential use of HR Analytics and the Sensemaking mechanisms used to identify and develop these affordances

The construction of global management consulting - a study of consultancies’ web presentations

Management consulting increasingly appears as a global endeavour as reflected in the increasing dominance of a few large, global management-consulting firms. However, features of the consulting service (e.g. its immaterial and interactional character) as well as aspects of management (e.g. its cultural anchoredness) highlight the locality of management consulting. In this paper we approach this tension between the global and the local by seeing consulting as involving the creation of generalised myths. More specifically, we ask the question: How do global consulting companies construct the viability and desirability of their services? Based on a view of management consultants as mythmakers, we study the argumentation on corporate web sites of four leading global consultancies in five different countries. Applying a framework based on the sociology of translation, we analyze the translation strategies used in making the service of global consultancies both viable and indispensable. We find that the need for consultants is to a large extent constructed through defining management as an expert activity, thus creating a need for external advisors possessing globally applicable expert knowledge. In this effort, the consultants ally with three widely spread rationalized managerial myths – the rationality myth, the globalization myth and the universality myth. We conclude, that global consulting firms are actively involved in creating and reinforcing the very same institutions, which are the prerequisites for their future success.management consulting; globalization; myth making

Information security: a stakeholder network perspective

Despite existing approaches and techniques for securing corporate information assets, information security threats continue to challenge business and government. Research suggests that to improve the effectiveness of information security a clear understanding of the organisational context is required. We have used stakeholder salience and stakeholder networks lenses to identify key stakeholders who shaped the information security processes of a large Australian financial institution. We have also examined how the interrelationships between these stakeholders might impact on their role in a stakeholder network. Our research suggests that a number of key stakeholders exist who require attention and engagement from those responsible for information security. We also highlight several stakeholders that have traditionally been given lower priority, but should be seen as more important due to their positioning and influence on the stakeholder network. We suggest that a better understanding more concerted engagement with these stakeholders can assist information security teams in achieving organisational security objectives

From governance to meta-governance in tourism?: Re-incorporating politics,interests and values in the analysis of tourism governance

Despite its theorization in the political and policy sciences in the early 1990s, the concept of metagovernance has gained relatively little recognition in tourism studies. Nevertheless, its significance in the political sciences and policy literature, especially as a result of the perceived failure of governance systems following the recent global financial crisis, has only served to reinforce its relevance. Metagovernance addresses some of the perceived failures of traditional governance approaches and associated interventions, and has enabled the understanding of central-state led regimes of shadowed hierarchical authorities and local-level micro-practices of social innovation and self-government. In contrast, tourism studies have tended to restrict study of the political dimension of tourism governance and the role of the state under the traditional parallelism between government and governance. Examination of how governance is itself governed enables a better understanding of the practices of planning and policy making affecting tourism and destinations. In particular, the applications of concepts of governance are inextricably linked to a given set of value assumptions which predetermine the range of its application. A short example of the application of the metagovernance paradigm is provided from the New Zealand context. It is concluded that governance mechanisms are not value-neutral and instead serve to highlight the allocation of power in a destination and the dominance of particular values and interests