Social Innovation for Food Security and Tourism Poverty Alleviation: Some Examples From China

The COVID-19 pandemic has brought hunger to millions of people around the world. Social distancing measures coupled with national lockdowns have reduced work opportunities and the overall household incomes. Moreover, the disruption in agricultural production and supply routes is expected to continue into 2021, which may leave millions without access to food. Coincidentally, those who suffer the most are poor people. As such, food security and tourism poverty alleviation are interlinked when discussing social problems and development. While the corporate interest in tourism poverty alleviation is as old as the industrial revolution, little research has been conducted to show how social innovation can be leveraged to reinforce food security and alleviate poverty. Thus, this case study examines the food industry in rural China to establish how it conducts social innovation in food production and distribution to facilitate social development and mitigate poverty

The loonguard research institute and the 2017 conference for food and medicine governance

Abstract. Poblematic food safety issues are emerging in contemporary societies, especially those undergoing economically and socially rapid developments. In such context, failures in market and governance mechanisms present challenging situations for serving quality and trust-worthy foods and medicine to people. Meanwhile, scientific progresses are slowed down due to unavailability of critical information regarding good practices for food and medicine governance.Keywords. Food, Medicine, Governance.JEL. H12, E62, H50, H69

Change Pressure on Organizational Commitment and Identification: Knowledge and Decision-making Competencies in Government Units

Abstract. Staffs in government units may encounter problems of pressure when facing dramatic organizational changes. In an interesting context of administrative merge of Kaohsiung city and county, we examined the influences of change pressure on post-merger organizational identification and commitment. We further developed and investigated the detailed relationships from competence perspective, which emphasizes the importance of knowledge processing and decision making capabilities. Results followed. First, the hypothesized negative impact of change pressure on organizational identification was not supported. Second, change pressure has a significant negative influence on commitment. Third, identification influences on commitment positively. Fourth, the positive moderation role of knowledge capability in the relationship between pressure and identification was not supported. Fifth, the positive moderation role of knowledge capability in the relationship between change pressure and commitment was supported. Sixth, the positive moderation role of decision-making capability in the relationship between pressure and identification was not supported. Seventh, the positive moderation role of decision-making capability in the relationship between pressure and commitment was supported.Keywords. Change pressure, Commitment, Identification, Knowledge competence, Decision-making competence, Government units.JEL. M10

Fault-free longest paths in star networks with conditional link faults

AbstractThe star network, which belongs to the class of Cayley graphs, is one of the most versatile interconnection networks for parallel and distributed computing. In this paper, adopting the conditional fault model in which each node is assumed to be incident with two or more fault-free links, we show that an n-dimensional star network can tolerate up to 2n−7 link faults, and be strongly (fault-free) Hamiltonian laceable, where n≥4. In other words, we can embed a fault-free linear array of length n!−1 (n!−2) in an n-dimensional star network with up to 2n−7 link faults, if the two end nodes belong to different partite sets (the same partite set). The result is optimal with respect to the number of link faults tolerated. It is already known that under the random fault model, an n-dimensional star network can tolerate up to n−3 faulty links and be strongly Hamiltonian laceable, for n≥3

Doctor-patient mutual trust, telemedicine quality, and satisfaction: The role of knowledge management

Abstract. Distant medical care satisfaction demands high quality care result. Both quality and satisfaction rely heavily on collective operations on knowledge of and relations between patients and doctors. Thus, knowledge sharing and doctor-patient trust are among the two critical factors that may lead to medical care quality and satisfaction. However, existing literature discussed the abovementioned in a scant fashion and without considering the gap between knowledge of owners in this context (i.e., care offerers such as doctors and receivers like patients). This paper proposes a conceptual model for an integrative discussion of the relationships among knowledge sharing, trust, medical care quality and patient satisfaction, from a fresh perspective of knowledge gap. Theoretical and practical implications are expected to be rich because this conceotual piece offer discussions from a viewpoint that starts from the mnost fundamental factor – collective knowledge attribute in terms of its heterogeneous structure.Keywords. Knowledge sharing, Trust, Distant medical care, Quality, Satisfaction.JEL. D80, D83, D84, D85

Knowledge-based View in the Franchising Research Literature

Abstract. This study was conducted to understand the state of research on applications of Knowledge-based View in franchise systems. First, we used SALSA (Search, Appraisal, Synthesis, and Analysis), a simple systematic data search method, to obtain 61 sample papers. Second, the citations of authors and publications were analyzed using the bibliometric method to understand the authors and the publications that had the most impact as well as the trend of current studies in the field of knowledge-based theory application in franchise systems. The results showed that the journals that had the most publications on the topic were Entrepreneurship Theory and Practice and Journal of Business Research; the most cited author was S.A. Shane, who had an average rate of 1.016 citations per article, and the most cited study was a paper published by Darr, Argote, & Epple (1995), which was cited by 18 of the 61 sample papers (18/61, 29.51%). Third, we categorized the topic of knowledge-based theory application in franchise systems into six categories, i.e., knowledge transfer, knowledge creation, knowledge sharing, knowledge application, organizational learning, and knowledge exchange, to provide references for future studies.Keywords. Knowledge-based view; Franchising; Bibliometrics.JEL. L10

Resource Slack, Innovation Ambidexterity, and Quality Performance: Knowledge Heterogeneity Perspective

Abstract. Resource slack and innovation ambidexterity can both be represented and connected conceptually with heterogeneous knowledge structure. Hypothesizing with the logic of knowledge heterogeneity, the present study empirically examined ambidexterity’s mediation effect in the relationship between two forms of resource slacks (i.e., human and financial resources) and product quality. Companies in Taiwanese manufacturing industry were located based on the random inspection conducted by the Department of Budget, Accounting and Statistics of the Government in 2011, and surveyed. Our findings demonstrated that slack resource is only an indirect factor for product quality evaluated by internal developers and producers (i.e. development and delivery processes) and external customers (product-specific quality). Specifically, first, different resource slacks influence differently on ambidexterity; second, both exploration and exploitation positively influence quality of innovation; third, ambidexterity plays a significant mediator’s role that may strategically alter the relationship between slack and quality. Research has paid increasing attention to ambidexterity (i.e., exploration and exploitation) in organizational innovation. Mostly, however, focus on the influencing factors leading to possible ambidextrous design or implementation of innovation. Few have examined ambidexterity’s effects on specific dimensions of innovation as outcomes.Keywords. Resource slacks, Ambidexterity, Quality, Knowledge heterogeneity.JEL. M10; M11; M14

The impact of institutional entrepreneurship on value co-creation in long-term care context: A case study

Abstract. "Human-centered" is the core logic for long-term care development. Traditional though on value creation focuses on the financial profits generated in the transaction between product/service suppliers and customers. Differently, value co-creation emphasizes on collective creation of effective impacts (economic and social) via the knowledge and experiences exchanges between key stakeholders. Long-term care is a setting that deals both macro-level institutional and micro-level stakeholder behavioral concerns. The latter is embedded in the former; thus, it is critical to systematically discuss the influences of institutional change on the evolutionary value co-creation in long-term care context. The present article tries to search for theoretical essence and elements of value co-creation in long-term care, which is expected to be achieved jointly by service provider (the caring), receiver (the cared), the healthcare organization (e.g., hospitals), the government units, and other parties. Then the influences of institutional entrepreneurship’s changes on these theoretical elements of value co-creation would be discussed. The article sets to offer clearer understanding of what value co-creation is in the long-term care context and how institutional entrepreneurship can alter value co-creation. Implications for research, practices, and health policy were discussed.Keywords. Institutional change, Long-term care, Value co-creation.JEL. B14, B24, B51