Stabilization of microbial residues by co-precipitation with Fe and Al oxyhydroxides

It is now widely accepted that microbial residues are a significant source for soil organic matter (SOM) formation. This material must be stabilised in soil in order to persist. A potential mechanism for stabilisation of organic materials in soil is co-precipitation with metal oxyhydroxides (Fe and Al), which, however, may be affected by redox transitions. We thus evaluated the mineralisation of 14C-labelled bacterial residues (Escherichia coli cells and cell envelope fragments) and their co-precipitates with Fe or Al oxyhydroxide under different redox conditions in a laboratory incubation experiment. The co-precipitates or untreated microbial residues (control) were mixed with soil and incubated in sealed vessels under either fully aerobic or under oxygen-limited conditions for up to 345 days. To achieve oxygen limitation, incubation was conducted under an N2 atmosphere for the first 100 days. The redox potential was further decreased by waterlogging the samples (from day 100) and by substrate and nutrient additions (from day 290), to increase electron acceptor consumption by the soil microbes. Mineralisation of the microbial residues was quantified by liquid scintillation counting. The data were fitted to different types of models, depending on the experimental phase. Co-precipitation with Fe and Al oxyhydroxides decreased mineralisation of both intact cells and cell envelope fragments significantly, indicating strong protection of biomass and its fragments. Mineralisation of intact cells was slightly faster than that of cell envelope fragments, indicating higher recalcitrance of the latter material, which therefore may be enriched in SOM. Strongly reducing conditions resulted reductive dissolution of Fe oxyhydroxide and thus in a loss of the stabilising effect of the co-precipitation. We conclude that co-precipitation with and incrustation of organic material by Fe and Al oxyhydroxides provide significant stabilisation of microbial residues. However, environmental conditions, e.g. the redox potential, modify the extent of this stabilisation. Fitting the mineralisation data to the models indicated that initially mainly pool sizes were affected by the factors studied, whereas later in the experiment the rate constants were more sensitive. The results improved significantly our understanding how organic materials, in particular microbial residues, are stabilised in soil

Business model innovation for eco-efficiency: an empirical study

Business model has the potential to create value and capture value for companies, which is critical for their sustainable development [1]. The concept of eco-efficiency can be a useful concept to link an enterprise’s business with sustainable development as well as achieving long-term profits [2,3]. Extant lit- erature reveals that there is a need to study business model innovation and eco- efficiency under one text to achieve a win-win rationale to increase profits while reducing environmental impact [4,5]. This empirical study conducted 8-in-depth case studies with manufacturing companies across UK and China. The author synthesized the cases and concluded the measures of business model innovation for eco-efficiency in five categories, namely (1) Selling of service model, (2) Direct selling model, (3) Collaboration strategy, (4) Whole system design strat- egy, and (5) Technology renovation strategy. The empirical finding suggests the adaptation of strategy and exploitation of the technologies are essential to busi- ness model innovation when manufacturing companies seeking to implement eco-efficiency

Business models innovation in investment banks: A resilience perspective

© 2020, The Author(s). Firms frequently change their business models in order to respond to internal and external challenges. This study aims to explore how investments banks adjust their business models in response to internal and external challenges. Based on a qualitative data from ten major investment banks operating in the largest financial market in the Middle East, we show that investment banks can achieve resilience by adjusting their business models through continuous activity changes in response to internal and external challenges. Specifically, investment banks adjust their business models through deploying alternative combinations of activities from a broad repertoire of activities. Within the same bank, divisions that respond to external challenges tend to sustain their performance, whereas resilient divisions that respond to both internal and external challenges tend to bounce back or achieve substantial increase in performance levels. This study contributes to the literature by proposing resilience as an alternative approach to business model innovation and by providing insight into how firms adjust their business models by altering specific activities in response to both internal and external challenges

Business performance and angels presence: A fresh look from France 2008–2011

Business angels enjoy a strong reputation for being more efficient than other investors among policy makers, practitioners, and scholars. However, due to the limited availability of specific financial data, previous research has barely assessed the impact of angels on companies’ performance. This paper seeks to bridge this gap by providing evidence from a unique dataset made up of 432 angel-backed French companies which are compared to two control groups, one randomly selected and another one consisting of similar enterprises. This double comparison process enables us to purge our analysis of structural effect and to demonstrate the importance of the methodology in generating the sample. Indeed, the results we obtain significantly differ depending on the control group. Our results show that the positive influence of angels depends on the condition of the comparison. The set of BA-backed companies is more likely to exhibit superior performance when it is compared to a random sample whereas the companies’ performance is either identical or worse when it is compared to a sample composed of k-nearest neighbors. In addition, using a quantile regression technique makes it possible to differentiate the effect of business angels based on the distribution of the value of the growth rate. © 2017, Springer Science+Business Media New York

My first employee: an empirical investigation

The challenge for solo entrepreneurs to add their first employee is arguably the single biggest growth event facing any growing firm. To understand how this event affects performance, and the antecedents of hiring, we analyse Danish matched employer-employee data. Those who hire enjoy superior sales outcomes in subsequent years, while the dispersion in profits increases. Furthermore, those that hire enjoy faster sales growth in the previous year, suggesting that sales growth precedes the first hire. Finally, we show that founders with a stronger profile in terms of education and previous income are more likely to increase profits, while the characteristics of the employee are less important. The latter finding is important from a job creation perspective, in light of the suggested sorting of more marginalized employees into new and established firms

Family Business Restructuring:A Review and Research Agenda

Although business restructuring occurs frequently and it is important for the prosperity of family firms across generations, research on family firms has largely evolved separately from research on business restructuring. This is a missed opportunity, since the two domains are complementary, and understanding the context, process, content, and outcome dimensions is relevant to both research streams. We address this by examining the intersection between research on business restructuring and family firms to improve our knowledge of each area and inform future research. To achieve this goal, we review and organize research across different dimensions to create an integrative framework. Building on current research, we focus on 88 studies at the intersection of family firm and business restructuring research to develop a model that identifies research needs and suggests directions for future research