A Grounded Theory of Political Intelligentizing in Business Administration

Abstract This study focuses on the substantive area of business administration using the classic grounded theory method. Business administration is mostly driven by political games between top-level corporate managers. The main concern of the managers I met was that they wanted to be more politically successful. For them, success meant being able to change regularly the course of decisions and action within their firm. The study led to the emergence of a core variable called political intelligentizing. Political intelligentizing explains the recurrent main concern that these managers have to resolve, and it explains the competences managers have to combine to succeed regularly in organisational politics. They resolve their main problem through political intelligentizing which consists in acquiring, developing and combining six specific skills: time matching, rhetorical fitting, silence juggling, strategic forward-thinking, strategic interacting and relationing

A scoping review of market links between value chain actors and small-scale producers in developing regions

Sustainable Development Goal 2 aims to end hunger, achieve food and nutrition security and promote sustainable agriculture by 2030. This requires that small-scale producers be included in, and benefit from, the rapid growth and transformation under way in food systems. Small-scale producers interact with various actors when they link with markets, including product traders, logistics firms, processors and retailers. The literature has explored primarily how large firms interact with farmers through formal contracts and resource provision arrangements. Although important, contracts constitute a very small share of smallholder market interactions. There has been little exploration of whether non-contract interactions between small farmers and both small- and large-scale value chain actors have affected small farmers’ livelihoods. This scoping review covers 202 studies on that topic. We find that non-contract interactions, de facto mostly with small and medium enterprises, benefit small-scale producers via similar mechanisms that the literature has previously credited to large firms. Small and medium enterprises, not just large enterprises, address idiosyncratic market failures and asset shortfalls of small-scale producers by providing them, through informal arrangements, with complementary services such as input provision, credit, information and logistics. Providing these services directly supports Sustainable Development Goal 2 by improving farmer welfare through technology adoption and greater productivity

Improving adoption of technologies and interventions for increasing supply of quality feed in low- and middle-income countries

The global increase in the demand for and production of animal-source foods (four-to five-fold increase between 1960 and 2015), which has been mostly concentrated in low- and middle-income countries (LMIC), provides smallholder livestock producers with an opportunity for improving their livelihoods and food and nutrition security. However, across livestock production systems in many LMIC, limited supplies and high cost of good quality feed severely constrains exploitation of this opportunity. In many of such countries, feeds and feeding-related issues are often ranked as the primary constraint to livestock production and increased consumption of animal-source foods. Here we review the complex biophysical, socio-economic and technological challenges related to improving quality feed supply and the reasons for generally low adoption of apparently proven feed enhancement technologies. We describe also successful interventions and conclude by recommending strategies for improving quality feed supply in LMIC that account for and overcome the prevailing challenges

A Grounded Theory of Political Intelligentizing in Business Administration

This study focuses on the substantive area of business administration using the classic grounded theory method. Business administration is mostly driven by political games between top-level corporate managers. The main concern of the managers I met was that they wanted to be more politically successful. For them, success meant being able to change regularly the course of decisions and action within their firm. The study led to the emergence of a core variable called political intelligentizing. Political intelligentizing explains the recurrent main concern that these managers have to resolve, and it explains the competences managers have to combine to succeed regularly in organisational politics. They resolve their main problem through political intelligentizing which consists in acquiring, developing and combining six specific skills: time matching, rhetorical fitting, silence juggling, strategic forward-thinking, strategic interacting and relationing

Spatial Neighborhood Effects in Agricultural Technology Adoption: Evidence from Nigeria

This paper uses plot level data to analyze network effects on the adoption of a targeted fertilizer application technique amongst rice producers in Niger State, Nigeria. A Spatial Durbin Model (SDM) of farmers’ probability of using the Urea Deep Placement (UDP) technology is estimated using a Spatial Instrumental Variable Probit estimation approach. The results reveal the existence of significant and positive spatial correlation in rice farmers’ adoption of UDP in the study area. These results have important implications for the design of appropriate and cost effective extension programs, in order to facilitate the diffusion of agricultural technologies in developing countries

XV Congrès international de médecine, Lisbonne, 19-26 avril 1906.... Section 6

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Transformation of the food system in Nigeria and female participation in the Non-Farm Economy (NFE).

This paper uses a recently available panel dataset from Nigeria to explore some implications of the rapidly transforming food system in Sub Saharan Africa. We find that urban and rural households in Nigeria have rapidly transforming diets. Consumption has diversified greatly, shifting beyond self-sufficiency into heavy reliance on food purchases and with a heavy shift into consumption of processed foods. We find that the growing demand for processed foods has important implications for the midstream (processing and wholesale) and downstream (retail) sector of food systems. The rise of these two segments (on the supply side) paralleling the rise of processed and prepared foods (on the demand side) creates opportunities for employment and income generation. Furthermore the availability of processed foods (to serve as substitutes for home food processing and preparation, usually a heavy use of time for women in traditional settings) appears to have reduced women’s time constraint and freed up time for them to engage more in non-farm activities in the local area – just as it did a half century ago in the US. These findings demonstrate the potential benefits from the transforming foods systems that could increase employment and improve household welfare in developing countries