The effects of prior exposure to agriculture on college students’ food purchasing decisions

This text examines the possible impacts of prior exposure to agriculture, and how this relates to college students’ food purchasing decisions. This study will assess if college students had prior exposure to agriculture before attending college, and what type of exposure this was, as well as assess how this prior exposure may alter purchasing decisions made by students who attend Mississippi State University. To collect this data, this study used a qualitative survey method to question students enrolled in the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences at Mississippi State University and determine if there is a significant relationship between prior exposure to agriculture and the purchasing decisions of food products. It was found that a college student’s prior exposure to agriculture does in fact impact their food purchasing decisions. It is recommended that this study be replicated with a larger sample size and further research should be conducted to examine specifically how their purchasing decisions are impacted. This study could also aid in future research to find the best agriculture education methods for this specific demographic of college students ages 18-23 in order to raise agriculture literacy rates and preserve the future of the agriculture industry

The 4Es of Management: Managing Cultural Exchange in Multinational Corporations

Despite the obvious benefits that Multinational Corporations (MNCs) have on developing economies, those often come together with tremendous externalities. Rather than exploiting cost drivers and cost savings to deliver cheaper products to the Western customer, MNCs could try to find more ways to cater to local markets profitably whilst contributing to resolving social challenges. This paper introduces a management framework that facilitates knowledge-exchange between local organizations and the MNCs for a more targeted product development that can effectively respond to the local needs. This research explores the relationship between MNCs and developing markets; it highlights the pitfalls of new product development efforts for such markets in depth before touching upon more effective ways of generating innovative intellectual capital for product development practices; it introduces the 4Es Management Framework that can solve cultural exchange challenges in MNCs, and lastly, it elaborates on how this can constitute alternative CSR initiatives

Bilateral Knowledge-Sharing for New Product Development Under the UN Sustainable Development Goals

Developing countries are characterized by various factors that feed into a vicious cycle of underdevelopment; poor education systems, low-skilled workforce, low per capita income, and unstable governments which build a weak foundation for economic prosperity and foreign investments. Moreover, there is no foundation from which innovation could transpire to drive growth. This research aims to provide a solution to this development paradox by emphasizing the urgency to address innovatively the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (UN-SDGs) and utilize effectively the human intellectual capital of the developing countries with the support of multinational organizations. It introduces a Bilateral knowledge sharing model providing the MNCs a framework to merge local knowledge with existing expertise for the development of local market products, whilst developing the country’s human capital. Furthermore, it extends on the creation of Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) actions for the MNCs related to the UN SDGs and 2030 Agenda

Precision CW laser automatic tracking system investigated

Precision laser tracker capable of tracking a low acceleration target to an accuracy of about 20 microradians rms is being constructed and tested. This laser tracking has the advantage of discriminating against other optical sources and the capability of simultaneously measuring range

Democratizing New Product Development Through an Industry-Society Entrepreneurial Partnership

New products derive from the industry and the society as well. They can be created in the mind of anyone who sees a need that people can buy, as an outcome of knowledge creation and sharing. This paper presents the structure, concepts, methods and operations of a proposed framework that addresses a new approach on product knowledge registration, evolution and utilization. It explains the co-evolution of a democratic industry-society relationship between the large or small organizations and individuals and provides the process model to apply it in practice. The proposed framework adapts and uses the Company Democracy Model as the base for the development of a practical approach through the evolution of the new product development process over its six escalated stages. Starting from the first level of the idea creation within a knowledge sharing culture, until sixth level of the models which deals with globalization and internationalization strategies

Managing Interdisciplinary Human Intellectual Capital for Project and Organizational Development

Due to outdated evaluation systems and their misleading parameters, organizations increasingly struggle to manage Human interdisciplinary intellectual Capital (HIIC) regarding project and general development. The education of current experts is not able to keep up with the speed of nowadays disruptive evolution of modern challenges, making the managing process of HIIC within organizational projects increasingly inefficient. This paper aims to develop a framework which can be used as a tool for organizational and project development to accurately identify and manage Human intellectual capital (HIC) free from inaccurate parameters. Such parameters are values that serve to make judgements about progress and performance and are historically a rather static assessment tool. The framework uses the concept of applied philosophy for organizational culture and the Company Democracy Models for knowledge management. This research identifies and redefines human intellectual capital parameters under a modern perspective in order to better reflect the HIIC challenges

Beyond Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR): Democratizing CSR Towards Environmental, Social and Governance Compliance

The Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) concept evolved from a commonly-doubted understanding to a measurable framework. It compensates for negative socio-economic externalities emulated by consumerist societies. Its progressive takeover on market mindsets set the pathway for Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) factors implementation in alignment with global plans for greener practices like the Kyoto Protocol. Ultimately, CSR-driven initiatives under democratic rules enable a swift Green Ocean Strategy and a dynamic integration from the business environment to the business ecosystem. So far, CSR and ESG transitions have been criticized for their labor and cost intensiveness, not necessarily translating into shareholder's short-term financial interests. This paper explores the efficient implementation and execution of a strategy that extends CSR to ESG. It provides transitional frameworks for organizations to transform their CSR activities into achieving ESG compliance using shared intellectual capital in a structured and profitable way

Avoiding Post-Merger Corporate Downsize Restructuring: The Democratic Employee-Culture Fit Model (DeECFit)

One major challenge in Mergers and Acquisitions is the best possible utilization of the human resources organizations offer. The judgment on employee redundancy is often highly controversial and risky. It can impact the motivation of the remaining employees, the corporate culture, and the reputation of the firm in the market. This paper addresses this challenge by introducing the Democratic Employee-Culture Fit Model (DeECFit) for Post-Merger Corporate Restructuring to avoid downsizing practices and maximize the utilization of the available human resources and intellectual capital. The model describes the relationship between the definition of the cultural values and the concentration of democratic values needed for an employee of either company to effectively join the Merger and operate under a symbiotic model by utilizing their human recourses. The democratic approach of the DeECFit Model provides the opportunity to all employers from both organizations to prove and justify their place in the Merger