Firms′ adaptation strategies to floods and their potential implication on regional economic development – Insights from Jakarta and Semarang,Indonesia

Indonesia′s coastal cities are constantly affected by flooding. In these typical flood-prone areas a high amount of manufacturing firms is located and thus very susceptible to business disruptions. Therefore, this dissertation thesis contributes to the literature by elaborating firms′ role in adaptation on two perspectives: First, it is examined how firms utilize their competencies and resources in individual adaptation. Second, the thesis addresses the role of firms within a regional governance system and investigates firms′ engagement in collective adaptation that might support flood risk reduction at a larger level. It is argued that both perspectives combined might induce changes in regional trajectories that can take diverse forms (collapse, resistance, resilience, and transformation). The conceptual framework is applied in the two cities Jakarta and Semarang. The empirical research originates on two particular steps. First, a typology of six different flood adaptation strategies is conceptualized in order to systematize firms′ flood adaptation strategies with regard to their business size and to compare both cities. The typology is empirically tested on 67 in-depth interviews with firms′ decision-maker. Second, a novel methodological approach, the scenario-based field experiments, is developed. The approach aims to reveal the firms′ individual and contextual factors that determine cooperative behavior in the context of the provision of a joint flood risk reduction measure. Regarding the impact of firms′ flood adaptation strategies on regional development, there are signs that Jakarta is moving towards a resilience phase and the integrative adaptive regional development is starting to transform to some extent. In Semarang, the integrative adaptive regional development remains in a resistance phase with the threat to move to the collapse phase. Overall, the thesis shows the need to examine the role of manufacturing firms in the debate on adaptation to floods. By its newly conceptual and methodological approaches, the thesis provides a valuable analytical framework for future research in other flood-prone areas of the Global South

Firms as drivers of integrative adaptive regional development in the context of environmental hazards in developing countries and emerging economies - A conceptual framework

Many industrial sites in developing countries and emerging economies face increasing exposure to environmental hazards, e.g. in coastal locations, while being situated within the territory of state authorities which lack in capacity to provide adaptation solutions. It is therefore relevant to ask, whether and how firms engage in adaptation, both individually and collectively, in order to reduce business disruptions, enhance their competitiveness and shape regional development. However, the literature has made little efforts to address these questions conceptually and empirically. The paper therefore develops a heuristic conceptual framework for deciphering the decision-making of firms exposed to environmental hazards and the role that they might play for shaping larger risk governance and eventually regional adaptation. In doing so, the paper builds on both an explorative empirical study in Jakarta and Semarang and the assessment of different literatures of relevance to the topic. The proposed framework argues that firms potentially fulfill a twofold role in shaping integrative adaptive regional development when exposed to environmental hazards. First, firms seek to enhance their own competitiveness through adjustments which are determined by their routines, risk behavior and the institutional setting. Second, firms act as stakeholders within broader collective adaptation. In conclusion, the framework suggests that firms' (in-)actions can shift the trajectories of regional development into different directions, along a gradient from collapse, resistance, resilience to transformation. The framework can be used to guide empirical analysis and inspire policy making and practice of integrated adaptation governance, especially in rapidly changing developing countries and emerging economies

The uneven effects of COVID-19 on the German restaurant and bar industry

The COVID-19 crisis in the restaurant and bar industry is affecting an industry that has been under significant pressure before. Using the concept of organizational resilience from a spatial perspective, we analyze how individual/company factors and regional factors influence owner’s assessment of resilience in the German restaurant and bar industry. Findings from an online survey with 445 owners and managers and 46 qualitative interviews in Germany show that enterprises in peripheral locations are perceived as more resilient. Similarly, the age of the respondents, the ownership of property and the provision of delivery and takeaway service play a positive role in enterprises being seen as resilient, while, owner-managed enterprises, financing by loans or credit, and lower ex-ante sales reduce the likelihood of the assessment of resilience. Overall, the study contributes to the evolving strand of research that aims to analyze the resilience of enterprises from a spatial perspective

The effect of natural disasters on FDI attraction: a sector-based analysis over time and space

Extensive research has addressed the question of why some countries are able to attract a large amount of foreign direct investment (FDI), while others are not. Until now, this research mostly neglected natural disasters as a business risk. In the realm of natural disaster research, some studies have investigated the effect of natural disasters on FDI inflow. However, this research remains overly simplistic and conceals the complexities of the underlying relationship. As such, this article aims to provide a more deciphered perspective by considering variations across economic sectors and the dynamic effect of natural disasters. We apply hybrid panel regressions to a dataset of 181 countries over a period of 13 years across four different economic sectors. The analysis shows that the effect of natural disasters on FDI inflow varies among economic sectors. From a longitudinal perspective, the study finds a positive relationship between exposure to natural disasters and the inflow of FDI within countries 3 and 5 years after an event. Overall, the findings highlight the complex nature of the relationship between natural disasters and FDI and warn against using too simplistic approaches

First Study of Combined Blazar Light Curves with FACT and HAWC

For studying variable sources like blazars, it is crucial to achieve unbiased monitoring, either with dedicated telescopes in pointing mode or survey instruments. At TeV energies, the High Altitude Water Cherenkov (HAWC) observatory monitors approximately two thirds of the sky every day. It uses the water Cherenkov technique, which provides an excellent duty cycle independent of weather and season. The First G-APD Cherenkov Telescope (FACT) monitors a small sample of sources with better sensitivity, using the imaging air Cherenkov technique. Thanks to its camera with silicon-based photosensors, FACT features an excellent detector performance and stability and extends its observations to times with strong moonlight, increasing the duty cycle compared to other imaging air Cherenkov telescopes. As FACT and HAWC have overlapping energy ranges, a joint study can exploit the longer daily coverage given that the observatories' locations are offset by 5.3 hours. Furthermore, the better sensitivity of FACT adds a finer resolution of features on hour-long time scales, while the continuous duty cycle of HAWC ensures evenly sampled long-term coverage. Thus, the two instruments complement each other to provide a more complete picture of blazar variability. In this presentation, the first joint study of light curves from the two instruments will be shown, correlating long-term measurements with daily sampling between air and water Cherenkov telescopes. The presented results focus on the study of the variability of the bright blazars Mrk 421 and Mrk 501 during the last two years featuring various flaring activities.Comment: 6 pages, 2 figures. Contribution to the 6th International Symposium on High Energy Gamma-Ray Astronomy (Gamma2016), Heidelberg, Germany. To be published in the AIP Conference Proceeding

FACT -- Operation of the First G-APD Cherenkov Telescope

Since more than two years, the First G-APD Cherenkov Telescope (FACT) is operating successfully at the Canary Island of La Palma. Apart from its purpose to serve as a monitoring facility for the brightest TeV blazars, it was built as a major step to establish solid state photon counters as detectors in Cherenkov astronomy. The camera of the First G-APD Cherenkov Telesope comprises 1440 Geiger-mode avalanche photo diodes (G-APD aka. MPPC or SiPM) for photon detection. Since properties as the gain of G-APDs depend on temperature and the applied voltage, a real-time feedback system has been developed and implemented. To correct for the change introduced by temperature, several sensors have been placed close to the photon detectors. Their read out is used to calculate a corresponding voltage offset. In addition to temperature changes, changing current introduces a voltage drop in the supporting resistor network. To correct changes in the voltage drop introduced by varying photon flux from the night-sky background, the current is measured and the voltage drop calculated. To check the stability of the G-APD properties, dark count spectra with high statistics have been taken under different environmental conditions and been evaluated. The maximum data rate delivered by the camera is about 240 MB/s. The recorded data, which can exceed 1 TB in a moonless night, is compressed in real-time with a proprietary loss-less algorithm. The performance is better than gzip by almost a factor of two in compression ratio and speed. In total, two to three CPU cores are needed for data taking. In parallel, a quick-look analysis of the recently recorded data is executed on a second machine. Its result is publicly available within a few minutes after the data were taken. [...]Comment: 19th IEEE Real-Time Conference, Nara, Japan (2014

FACT - The First G-APD Cherenkov Telescope: Status and Results

The First G-APD Cherenkov telescope (FACT) is the first telescope using silicon photon detectors (G-APD aka. SiPM). It is built on the mount of the HEGRA CT3 telescope, still located at the Observatorio del Roque de los Muchachos, and it is successfully in operation since Oct. 2011. The use of Silicon devices promises a higher photon detection efficiency, more robustness and higher precision than photo-multiplier tubes. The FACT collaboration is investigating with which precision these devices can be operated on the long-term. Currently, the telescope is successfully operated from remote and robotic operation is under development. During the past months of operation, the foreseen monitoring program of the brightest known TeV blazars has been carried out, and first physics results have been obtained including a strong flare of Mrk501. An instantaneous flare alert system is already in a testing phase. This presentation will give an overview of the project and summarize its goals, status and first results