Why companies fail to respond to climate change:collective inaction as an outcome of barriers to interaction

The urgent need to combat climate change is now globally accepted. Collective action at a global level is the key ability to respond to the threat of climate change. No individual company alone has the necessary resources and capabilities to tackle the unprecedented challenge of climate change. Companies need to engage in give-and-take exchange relationships with other companies to address climate change. Research on how companies interact with each of their counterparts to respond to the challenge of climate change is limited. Existing research on climate raises questions about 1) how companies interact in response to climate change and 2) why companies fail to craft collective responses to climate change? In an attempt to shed light on these questions, we use the network approach as a theoretical perspective to account for the ever-increasing connectivity and interdependence in the business landscape and theorize on the consequences these phenomena may have for the study. The study is based upon an empirical investigation of public-private networks in Germany. Findings indicate that companies fail to collectively respond to climate change due to the multiplicity of interests of actors involved in the network which is aggravated by 1) economic reasoning; 2) weak actor bonds; and 3) differing perceptions of the rules of the game. As such, the present study contributes to our understanding of collective responses to the ever evolving challenge of climate change

The course of traumatic pancreatitis in a patient with pancreas divisum: a case report

BACKGROUND: The peculiar anatomy of pancreatic ducts in pancreas divisum (PD) may interfere with the development of acute chronic pancreatitis. In the presented case, PD influenced the evolution of lesions after pancreatic trauma. CASE PRESENTATION: A 38 years old patient refferred to our hospital with recurrent episodes of mild pancreatitis during the last two years. The first episode occurred four months after blunt abdominal trauma. Endoscopic Retrograde Cholangiopancreatography, Magnetic Resonance Imaging of upper abdomen and Magnetic Resonance Cholangiopancreatography disclosed pancreas divisum, changes consistent with chronic pancreatitis in the dorsal pancreatic duct, atrophy in the body and tail of the pancreas and a pseudocyst in the pancreatic head, that was drained endoscopically. CONCLUSION: Pancreas Divisum may interfere with the evolution of posttraumatic changes in the pancreas after blunt abdominal trauma

Factors associated with disease evolution in Greek patients with inflammatory bowel disease

BACKGROUND: The majority of Crohn's disease patients with B1 phenotype at diagnosis (i.e. non-stricturing non-penetrating disease) will develop over time a stricturing or a penetrating pattern. Conflicting data exist on the rate of proximal disease extension in ulcerative colitis patients with proctitis or left-sided colitis at diagnosis. We aimed to study disease evolution in Crohn's disease B1 patients and ulcerative colitis patients with proctitis and left-sided colitis at diagnosis. METHODS: 116 Crohn's disease and 256 ulcerative colitis patients were followed-up for at least 5 years after diagnosis. Crohn's disease patients were classified according to the Vienna criteria. Data were analysed actuarially. RESULTS: B1 phenotype accounted for 68.9% of Crohn's disease patients at diagnosis. The cumulative probability of change in disease behaviour in B1 patients was 43.6% at 10 years after diagnosis. Active smoking (Hazard Ratio: 3.01) and non-colonic disease (non-L2) (Hazard Ratio: 3.01) were associated with behavioural change in B1 patients. Proctitis and left-sided colitis accounted for 24.2%, and 48.4% of ulcerative colitis patients at diagnosis. The 10 year cumulative probability of proximal disease extension in patients with proctitis and left-sided colitis was 36.8%, and 17.1%, respectively (p: 0.003). Among proctitis patients, proximal extension was more common in non-smokers (Hazard Ratio: 4.39). CONCLUSION: Classification of Crohn's disease patients in B1 phenotype should be considered as temporary. Smoking and non-colonic disease are risk factors for behavioural change in B1 Crohn's disease patients. Proximal extension is more common in ulcerative colitis patients with proctitis than in those with left-sided colitis. Among proctitis patients, proximal extension is more common in non-smokers

Bumps on the road: Barriers and enablers of sustainability transitions in China

Sustainability transitions in China are driven by on-going governmental interventions to overcome market, structural and transformational socio-ecological system failures. Organizations need to cope with governmental interventions and embrace change. Previous research on sustainability transitions raises questions about 1) how different organizational actors are embedded in socio-ecological systems and regime structures, and 2) the challenges that organizations face in non-OECD countries. Taking a network approach, we conducted research in the Chinese energy sector during 2016 from which we identified market, structural and transformational policy interventions. Interestingly we witnessed these interventions acting as both enablers and barriers to sustainability transitions in China. We further conclude that there are four broad categories of governmental interventions in sustainability transitions that may enable or hinder organizational action: 1) coordinated planning; 2) enforcement of legislative changes; 3) security of electricity supply, and 4) supporting policies for renewable electricity

The political embeddedness of business networks:Evidence from firms’ responses to climate change

Over the past two decades, network scholarship has repeatedly raised the issue of the limited attention given to socio-political considerations in the study of business-government relationships. It seems paradoxical that the theoretical understanding of political embeddedness of business networks remains limited, despite an increasingly globalized world, and the associated interconnectedness this brings between firms and governments. Firms’ responses to climate change constitute a case in which governmental actors are deeply embedded in wider business networks. Previous research on political embeddedness of business networks raises questions about how the formulation and implementation of government policy changes affect the business network itself. In an attempt to further our understanding of the issues these questions pose, it is vital to recognize and study the interconnectedness of these networks as it allows an unveiling of the fundamental barriers and enablers of organizational responses to climate change. The study is based upon an in-depth analysis of Chinese Electricity Industry Networks. Findings suggest that governmental interventions at any point in the network may spread across the wider inter-business networks, policy-business networks as well as inter- and intra-governmental networks. Hereby, we posit that governmental intervention acts as both, barrier and enabler of organizational responses to climate change. The present study contributes to our understanding of the embeddedness of business networks in a wider political context

Making and exchanging a second-hand oil field, considered in an industrial marketing setting

Marketing researchers have begun exploring actor network theory as a way of understanding how marketers and marketing concepts contribute to the shaping and developing of markets. This paper strikes out in a new direction by considering the development of a market in an industrial setting, namely for mature or second-hand oil and gas fields, especially in the UK, since the mid-1990s. The market is thin and has no standard mode of exchange. Buyers and sellers develop valuations only in part because oil and gas fields are objects in markets, also representing them as situated in networks of production. Hence, different versions and valuations persist throughout an episode of exchange. The paper suggests that in industrial settings, concerns of production are taken into account in order to support something like a market exchange, rather than spilling over and becoming potential sources of later surprise and upset to otherwise well-ordered exchanges