From traditional to IT mediated interorganizational relationships: sensemaking of the internet

“We provide a solution that allows saving 15 to 20 euros per invoice.It is very important in a strategy of service and cost reductions for our customers and for us.”<p><p>“For us, it is very important as we generally reduce our inventories by 30%, thus we recover cash flow. It is not negligible.”<p><p>These quotes out of my case studies show that the primary goal of the implementation of Web-based applications is the achievement of transaction cost efficiencies: cost cutting, time saving, and information integration. But do they achieve such results? Sometimes they do sometime they don’t. In order to understand why, I consider it is necessary to take a different perspective from the one taken until now. <p><p>Indeed, existing studies on interorganizational information systems focus on economical and strategic issues and consider organizations as opaque entities. First, issues at hand may not be economic or strategic but social or legal. Next, they neglect that inter-organizational relationships imply a number of long-standing social interactions between individuals of each organization. Moreover, these individuals interpret the mediation project and act taking decision, implementing, or using the mediating technology – that these individuals make sense of the IT mediation project. In the present research, I propose to open the black box of organizations and explore how people sensemaking conditions the achievement of transaction cost benefits and is conditioned by the interorganizational context. My overarching research question is: How do people make sense of the Internet mediation of long-standing interorganizational relationships?<p>Doctorat en sciences de gestioninfo:eu-repo/semantics/nonPublishe

Community Targeting for Poverty Reduction in Burkina Faso.

The paper develops a method for targeting anti-poverty programs and public projects on poor communities in rural and urban areas. The method is based on the application of an extensive data-set from a large number of sources and the integration of the entire data-set in a Geographical Information System. This data-set includes data from the population census, household-level data from a variety of surveys, community-level data on the local road infrastructure, public facilities, water points, etc., and department-level data on the agro-climatic conditions. An econometric model that estimates the impact of household-, community-, and department-level variables on households’ consumption has been used to identify the key explanatory variables that determine the standard of living in rural and urban areas. This model was applied to predict poverty indicators for 3871 rural and urban communities across the country and to provide a mapping of the spatial distribution of poverty in Burkina Faso. Simulation analysis was subsequently conducted to assess the effectiveness of village-level targeting based on these predictions of the poverty indicators. The results show that village-level targeting based on these predictions provides an improvement over regional targeting by reducing the leakage of the targeted program and the percentage of the population that remains undercovered

Sustainability and change in the institutionalized commute in Belgium: exploring regional differences

This paper examines regional differences in commute-energy performance in Belgium, and explores their relationships with spatial characteristics such as the distribution of population and housing, the metropolitan influence of the Brussels agglomeration, and the compactness of cities and towns. We also investigate contradictions between Belgian state-wide commute policy and regional differences in average commuting distance and mode choice. Against a background of long-term federal measures that traditionally encourage long-distance commuting in Belgium, we find striking discrepancies between the structure and the development of commuting patterns in the three administrative regions of Flanders, Wallonia and Brussels. Residents of Brussels show the most sustainable commuting patterns, due to the metropolitan spatial structure. Residents of Wallonia represent the least sustainable commute. Given the rather weak regional economy of Wallonia compared with Flanders, commuters must frequently seek employment far from their residence. Population changes and consequent developments in the housing market seem to exacerbate this competitive disadvantage, since most growth occurs in relatively remote rural areas that are nevertheless within reach of the main employment centres

Review and Improvements of Existing Delimitations of Rural Areas in Europe

This report aims to improve current delimitations of rural areas in Europe as a support to statistical descriptions by introducing the criteria of peripherality/remoteness and ¿natural(non-artificial) area¿ in the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) typology. In 1994, the OECD developed an easy concept to identify rural and urban areas based on the population density of a geographical unit. This scheme proved to be highly sensitive to the size of the geographical area and the classification of the thresholds. Over the years, endeavours have been made to review and improve the OECD approach and also alternative methodologies have been proposed. The current methods based solely on population distributions, do not allow for detailed and quantified geographical analysis and do not reflect two main characters differentiating rural from urban areas: the ¿natural¿ (non-artificial) surface and the accessibility/remoteness. In this study, a new rural typology has been developed by integrating the peripherality index and the land cover indicator in the OECD methodology. The analyses were carried out at Local Administrative Unit (LAU) 2 and NUTS3 level for 3 Member States (Belgium, France and Poland). The resulting rural typology classes for LAU2 are ¿rural-peripheral¿, ¿rural-accessible¿, ¿urban-open-space¿ and ¿urban-closed space¿. The typology at regional level (NUTS3) does not provide an accurate picture of the rurality. The methodology applied is flexible and the thresholds of accessibility or land cover implemented can easily be modified to fit-for-purpose. Simple queries were applied with standard procedures using Pan-European homogeneous datasets so as to allow to upscale for assessment at European level.JRC.H.5-Rural, water and ecosystem resource

Friches dʼhabitat et désurbanisation en Wallonie

Le phénomène des logements vides est en Wallonie un problème urbain de plus en plus sérieux. L’article vise à rendre compte des mécanismes qui concourent à cette multiplication des friches d’habitat. Une première partie est consacrée aux mutations territoriales et immobilières observées en Belgique lors des dernières décennies. En s’appuyant sur l’examen de trois enquêtes, la seconde partie porte ensuite sur les choix d’investissements qui expliquent pourquoi des propriétaires de plus en plus nombreux délaissent leur patrimoine immobilier. La première enquête a été réalisée auprès d’un échantillon représentatif des particuliers actifs sur le marché de la location, la deuxième auprès de propriétaires d’immeubles résidentiels vides et la troisième auprès de propriétaires d’immeubles commerciaux comportant des étages vides.Peer reviewe

Validation and Improvement of High Nature Value Farmland Identification - National Approach in the Walloon Region in Belgium and in the Czech Republic

The concept of High Nature Value (HNV) farmland has been evolving over the last fifteen years in Europe. In the European Union this has been closely linked to the aim of integrating environmental concerns in the Common Agricultural Policy. The idea that nature values, environmental qualities, even cultural heritage are linked to or dependent on farming, also underlies and supports the concept of a multifunctional 'European model of farming which provides benefits beyond food production. The objective of this study is to better identify and characterise HNV farmland at national level (the Walloon Region in Belgium) with a Farm System Approach based on FSS statistical data and specific national surveys, taking into account the whole farm with the total agricultural area and its characteristics. The methodology is built on two different approaches: the natural zones approach and the farm system approach. The natural zones approach uses spatial data to define agricultural zones with a verified high biodiversity interest, based on a reference biodiversity layer for the Walloon Region (WR) called the principal ecological structure (SEP). The farm system approach analyses the farm structure and farming practices on the basis of data available in the WR agricultural database. In the first step relevant variables have been selected to calculate the HNV indicators for the farm system approach at NUTS 5 level: 1) crop diversity and grassland presence, 2) extensive practices, and 3) landscape elements. In the second step the three indicators were combined to calculate the HNV score. In the third step the areas delimited through the farm system approach were overlaid with a map resulting form the natural zones approach. In the last step HNV farmland was analysed with regard to prevailing trends in farming practices and production types with the aim of identification of farming systems which might be associated with HNV farmland occurrence in the WR in Belgium. The analysis of spatial distribution of HNV farmland delimited in the study shows that 91% of the HNV farm system zone identified in the study is located in Ardenne, Fagne and Fammenne. The dominant farming system types are grazing livestock system specialised in milk or meat production, depending on the region. The average livestock density is less than 2.0 LU/ha. Over 60% of UAA is used as permanent grassland. The strength of the Farm System Approach methodology is the possibility of producing a map at the NUTS 5 level with an accurate description of the farm systems. The methodology can be improved by crosschecking the results with regional experts and getting feedback on the thresholds and the weighting of the indicators. The weaknesses of the Farm System Approach methodology are mainly due to the way agricultural practices are modelled. The lack of comprehensive and reliable data on landscape elements and grassland management hampers further validation of HNV farmland identification results. A development of additional relevant surveys is therefore recommended. An attempt at assessing the applicability of the FSA for HNV farmland identification was undertaken for the Czech Republic. Statistical data on farming practices are still incomplete and insufficient to build the methodology similar to the Walloon Region FSA. Conversely, biodiversity and habitat data are abundant and of high quality and currently are the best datasets for HNV farmland identification in the Czech Republic.JRC.H.5-Rural, water and ecosystem resource

Maîtriser la dépendance automobile par l’aménagement du territoire en contexte transfrontalier. Le cas de la Wallonie

peer reviewedLa limitation des trafics routiers et de la dépendance automobile correspond à un objectif stratégique pour les autorités de nombreux pays et régions. Dans ce cadre, les aménageurs mettent en avant le projet de la « ville compacte écomobile », visant à canaliser les développements de l’urbanisation sur des sites accessibles par les alternatives à la voiture. Face au fort développement des mobilités quotidiennes internationales et transrégionales, cet article analyse une thématique encore peu prospectée par la recherche en aménagement, celle de la ville compacte écomobile en contexte transfrontalier. Nos travaux se sont focalisés sur la Wallonie et ses régions avoisinantes, en nous basant sur une analyse des plans stratégiques d’aménagement du territoire. Cet exercice montre combien la concurrence entre régions et la difficile organisation des transports publics qui caractérisent les espaces transfrontaliers complexifient l’endiguement de l’urbanisation et la limitation de la dépendance automobile