Social impacts of mining: Changes within the local social landscape

Understanding the social impacts at a community level triggered by mining operations is a challenging exercise. This paper reflects on a community’s perceptions and interpretation of these impacts as well as on the qualitative changes in the local social landscape and their implications for a sustainable future. The findings are based on an exploratory research carried out in a small established settlement in Western Australia. Considered as an agricultural community for decades, Boddington currently hosts two mining operations. Even though mining has been carried out there for decades, the recent opening of a large-scale mining operation is triggering significant demographic changes which result in a structural and functional transformation of the local social environment. Two new phenomena, namely transiency and a dependency culture are identified. Maintaining existing levels of social and economic capital as well as mobilising the community’s resources to capitalise on the opportunities associated with mining, are identified as key challenges for the settlement’s sustainability

Exploitative and exploratory innovations in emerging economies: The role of realized absorptive capacity and learning intent

This paper investigates the mediating effect of learning intent in transforming local suppliers’ potential absorptive capacity into realized absorptive capacity and its impact on exploitative and exploratory innovation. Using survey data from 155 auto parts manufacturers in Pakistan, we find that local firms’ realized absorptive capacity enables them to develop both exploitative and exploratory innovations. The findings further suggest that local suppliers’ learning intent mediates the relationship between potential and realized absorptive capacity which in turn lead to both types of innovation. In the context of the emerging economy of Pakistan, local suppliers’ absorptive capacity is found to be critically important in spurring exploitative and exploratory innovation, but learning intent enables realized absorptive capacity and thus in conjunction with realized absorptive capacity supports innovation. Consequently, there would be a strong case for policy intervention to assist emerging economy firms in building their absorptive capacity and strengthening their learning intent as a route for promoting innovation and improving their value added position in the global value chains of multinational enterprises

Fragments of an Interactive Sociology of Social Inequality: Notes on Simmel

This paper aims at drawing attention to Georg Simmel’s agenda for studying and diagnosing social inequalities, an agenda that up to now has been explicitly taken into consideration only occasionally and in a few detached aspects. The aim is to advance arguments for the purposefulness of a more detailed scrutiny of that agenda without which neither the empirical research of Chicago School, nor Pierre Bourdieu’s analyses and studies of social inequalities would have been possible, including latter’s research work constituting the focal point of the discussion made by the papers in this volume. Thus the contribution has rather the status of a study project, than of presentation of final research results. First, the chief fragments of Simmel’s sociology of inequality are analyzed in order to outline the contours of his theoretical program. A second step discusses the notions of research strategy and attitude, underlying the fragments, within the perspective of diagnosing social inequalities

CUSTOMER RELATIONSHIPS AND BRAND EQUITY IN CHINA'S BANKING SERVICES

Despite tremendous interest in brand equity and relationship marketing, little conceptual development has addressed whether relationships exist between these important marketing issues. Based on existing frameworks (customer-based brand equity and relationship marketing), this paper forwards customer relationships as a branding-related initiative critical to creation of brand equity. This paper presents exploratory research to develop an initial understanding of the constructs of customer relationships, the dimensions of brand equity and the associations between them. The data illustrate that both consumers and providers in Chinese banking services sector perceive that brand equity can be influenced by customer relationships. A conceptual framework and a number of hypotheses for further study are propose

AGRI-ECOLOGICAL ZONING OF MUNICIPALITIES IN THE KYUSTENDIL REGION

It has been done agroecological zoning of nine municipalities in Kyustendil area - Bobovdol, Boboshevo, Kocherinovo, Kyustendil, Nevestino, Rila, Sapareva bania, Dupnitza and Treklyano. Agroecological zoning is done based on certain environmental characteristics, basic of which are: prevailing soil type; an extreme manifestation of certain climatic factors; altitude; relief features and other. In the presented paper were analyzed and described: weather conditions; soil resources; agronomic suitability of land for organic growing of suitable for the region crops. There were considered the potential threats of soil erosion, acidification and compaction. It was prepared land evaluation regarding the potential for growing grape and fruit, vegetable crops, meadows and pastures. It was found that the areas with altitude above 800 m are unsuitable for cultivation with fruit crops, which can be planted in areas with an altitude of 1800 m. Vegetable crops are not suitable to be cultivated in areas with altitude above 800 m are with the exception of late potatoes which may be planted in places with an altitude of 1800 m. It was found that the areas with altitude above 800 m are unsuitable for growing vines. The territories with altitude above 2400m are unusable for grassland