The role of cognitive frames towards circular economy practices in SMEs

Frame of the research: The paper explores how organizations are able to manage potential competing logics in the HORECA and Hospitality sectors. In such sectors, mainly characterized by SMEs and where the effect of brand and corporate reputation is not comparable with some manufacturing sectors operating in the B2B market, finding an equilibrium between the economic and environmental need is crucial in order to truly embrace environmental sustainability. Purpose of the paper: The development of an integrative cognitive framework in management where environmental and economic views are strictly enwound, is crucial for supporting the transition towards a more circular economy. The paper explores the drivers for developing such integrative view for the managers of SMEs operating in the hospitality sectors. Methodology: The research is grounded on original data collected by a survey of 252 Italian SMEs operating in the hospitality sector. Adopting a structural equation model, we tested the drivers that can contribute to create respectively an environmental and economic logic in managers, whether the co-presence of these logics is able to generate an integrative view and, as a consequence, the influence of such view on the adoption of pro-environmental practices. Findings: The results confirm the environmental concern being a driver of environmental logic, the importance of the environmental logic and the economic one as determinants of the integrative view and the importance of such view in adopting pro-environmental practices. Research limits: The study is focused on a specific geographical context. The number of drivers of environmental internalization could be expanded. Practical implications: The study contributes to the steam of research on sustainability among SMEs by stressing how intangible factors are crucial for reaching environmental embeddedness. Originality of the paper: Understanding how organizations are able to manage potential competing logics in an integrative cognitive framework is still unexplored, mainly in the Hospitality sectors. In such sectors finding an equilibrium between the economic and the environmental need is crucial for really embracing environmental sustainability

Sustainable Economic Development Strategy

The macroeconomic system based on cognitive capital determines a new need for a qualitatively new state regulation of the national economy. Ignoring this need will make it impossible to achieve leadership positions on the world market for the Russian economy. The goal of the research is to develop mechanisms for the formation of Russia's pro-competitive policy in the context of the need for structural reform of the economy - a transition to a knowledge-based economy. Without an institution of state paternalism, the mechanism of production of cognitive capital, the current economic system will move towards a knowledge-based economy in the most profitable sectors, i.e. There will be a reproduction of the raw material economy of Russia, but at a higher technological level. The protection of a competitive market mechanism will not lead to a knowledge-based economy in all sectors. The change in the character of capitalist relations is inevitable and theoretically justified in the work of various researchers. State management of innovation development of the economy will make it possible to carry out a structural transition, otherwise the self-reproduction of the existing system will take place at a new level. The strategy of the scientific and technological revolution of the Russian Federation should be based on a strong theoretical foundation to ensure a transition to sustainable development in the new conditions - the conditions for the formation of a subsystem of the knowledge economy

Sustainable Economic Development Strategy

The macroeconomic system based on cognitive capital determines a new need for a qualitatively new state regulation of the national economy. Ignoring this need will make it impossible to achieve leadership positions on the world market for the Russian economy. The goal of the research is to develop mechanisms for the formation of Russia's pro-competitive policy in the context of the need for structural reform of the economy - a transition to a knowledge-based economy. Without an institution of state paternalism, the mechanism of production of cognitive capital, the current economic system will move towards a knowledge-based economy in the most profitable sectors, i.e. There will be a reproduction of the raw material economy of Russia, but at a higher technological level. The protection of a competitive market mechanism will not lead to a knowledge-based economy in all sectors. The change in the character of capitalist relations is inevitable and theoretically justified in the work of various researchers. State management of innovation development of the economy will make it possible to carry out a structural transition, otherwise the self-reproduction of the existing system will take place at a new level. The strategy of the scientific and technological revolution of the Russian Federation should be based on a strong theoretical foundation to ensure a transition to sustainable development in the new conditions - the conditions for the formation of a subsystem of the knowledge economy

Comfort radicalism and NEETs: a conservative praxis

Young people who are not in education, employment or training (NEET) are construed by policy makers as a pressing problem about which something should be done. Such young people's lack of employment is thought to pose difficulties for wider society in relation to social cohesion and inclusion and it is feared that they will become a 'lost generation'. This paper(1) draws upon English research, seeking to historicise the debate whilst acknowledging that these issues have a much wider purchase. The notion of NEETs rests alongside longstanding concerns of the English state and middle classes, addressing unruly male working class youth as well as the moral turpitude of working class girls. Waged labour and domesticity are seen as a means to integrate such groups into society thereby generating social cohesion. The paper places the debate within it socio-economic context and draws on theorisations of cognitive capitalism, Italian workerism, as well as emerging theories of antiwork to analyse these. It concludes by arguing that ‘radical’ approaches to NEETs that point towards inequities embedded in the social structure and call for social democratic solutions veer towards a form of comfort radicalism. Such approaches leave in place the dominance of capitalist relations as well as productivist orientations that celebrate waged labour

Neoliberalism by stealth? Exploring continuity and change within the UK social enterprise policy paradigm

Social enterprise has been portrayed as challenging neoliberalism, and alternatively, as neoliberalism by stealth. Here we conceptualise social enterprise as a microparadigm nested within wider political and economic frameworks. Our analysis of continuity and change over a period of political and economic crisis in England demonstrates considerable evidence of normative change in the ideas underpinning social enterprise policies. However, further analysis reveals that the (neoliberal) cognitive ideas underpinning the social enterprise paradigm remained intact. This suggests that policy paradigms can accommodate normative differences within a shared cognitive framework, and hence, are more fluid, and have greater longevity, than previously recognised

The Image of Taiwan as a Travel Destination: Perspectives from Mainland China

This study presents the perceived and projected image of Taiwan as a travel destination from perspectives from Mainland China. The perceived image of Taiwan was examined by interviewing 28 Mainland Chinese; the projected image of Taiwan was investigated by analyzing articles in China's most popular travel magazines. The different types of images of Taiwan among visitors, nonvisitors, and travel magazines were compared. The projected image changed notably after the opening of Taiwan's tourism to travelers from Mainland China. The results of this study could help destination marketing organizations to assess their marketing strategies for the Mainland Chinese travel market

The Matter of Entrepreneurial Learning: A Literature Review

This paper is a comprehensive review of the entrepreneurial learning literature and its engagement with the material aspects of entrepreneurship, as part of the “material turn” in the social sciences. Drawing on actor-network theory, we construct a classificatory scheme and an evaluative matrix to find that this field is dominated by an anthropocentric bias and cognitivist approaches which largely ignore issues of materiality in entrepreneurship. However we also identify some heterogeneous network-based conceptualisations of entrepreneurial learning which could provide the foundations for more materially aware approaches. We conclude by calling for a material turn in entrepreneurial learning and outline some possible avenues for it

Transcending History’s Heavy Hand: The Future in Economic Action

Abstract This paper discusses sociological analyses of the formation and role of expectations in the economy. Recognition of the social constitution of expectations advances the understanding of economic action under conditions of uncertainty and helps to explain core features of modern capitalist societies. The range of applications of the analytical perspective is illustrated by closer examination of three core spheres of capitalist societies: consumption, investment, and innovation. To provide an idea of core challenges of the approach, three major research questions for the sociological analysis of expectations are presented.Zusammenfassung Wie lassen sich die Entstehung und die Rolle von Erwartungen in der Wirtschaft soziologisch analysieren? Erwartungen sind sozial konstituiert. Der Rekurs auf Erwartungen trägt zum Verständnis wirtschaftlichen Handelns unter Bedingungen von Unsicherheit und zum Verständnis charakteristischer Wesenszüge moderner kapitalistischer Gesellschaften bei. Nähere Betrachtungen von drei Sphären wirtschaftlicher Aktivität – Konsum, Investition und Innovation – verdeutlichen das breite Spektrum möglicher Anwendungen der Erwartungsperspektive in der Wirtschaftssoziologie. Die zentralen Herausforderungen für die soziologische Analyse von Erwartungen werden anschließend anhand von drei wichtigen Forschungsfragen skizziert.Contents 1 Introduction 2 Uncertainty and the social constitution of expectations 3 Expectations in contemporary capitalism Consumption Investment Innovation 4 Questions and perspectives of an economic sociology of expectations Where do expectations come from? How do expectations spread and gain momentum? The moral economy of expectations 5 Conclusion Reference

Japan's silver market: creating a new industry under uncertainty

It has often been asked whether today´s Japan will be able to move into new and promising industries, or whether it is locked into an innovation system with an inherent inability to give birth to new industries. One argument reasons that the thick institutional complementarities among labour, innovation, and finance among its enterprises and the public sector favour industrial development in sectors of intermediate uncertainty, while it is difficult to move into areas of major uncertainty. In this paper, we present the case of the silver industry or, somewhat more prosaically, the 60+ or even 50+ industry, for which most would agree that Japan has indeed become a lead market and lead producer on the global market. For an institutional economist, the case of the silver industry is particularly interesting, because Japan´s success is based on the cooperation of existing actors, the enterprise and public sector in particular, which helped overcome the information uncertainties and asymmetries involved in the new market by relying on several established mechanisms developed well before. In that sense, Japan´s silver industry presents a case of of what we propose to call successful institutional path activation with the effect of an innovative market creation, instead of the problematic lockin effects that are usually associated with the term path dependence

PoN-S : a systematic approach for applying the Physics of Notation (PoN)

Visual Modeling Languages (VMLs) are important instruments of communication between modelers and stakeholders. Thus, it is important to provide guidelines for designing VMLs. The most widespread approach for analyzing and designing concrete syntaxes for VMLs is the so-called Physics of Notation (PoN). PoN has been successfully applied in the analysis of several VMLs. However, despite its popularity, the application of PoN principles for designing VMLs has been limited. This paper presents a systematic approach for applying PoN in the design of the concrete syntax of VMLs. We propose here a design process establishing activities to be performed, their connection to PoN principles, as well as criteria for grouping PoN principles that guide this process. Moreover, we present a case study in which a visual notation for representing Ontology Pattern Languages is designed