Spontaneous Venturing

Identifying a new approach to disaster response: spontaneous, compassionate, and impromptu actions to alleviate suffering. In Spontaneous Venturing, Dean Shepherd and Trenton Williams identify and describe a new approach for responding to disaster and suffering: the local organizing of spontaneous, compassionate, and impromptu actions—the rapid emergence of a compassionate venture. This approach, termed by the authors “spontaneous venturing,” can be more effective than the traditional “command-and-control” methods of large disaster relief organizations. It can customize and target resources and deliver them quickly, helping victims almost immediately. For example, during the catastrophic 2009 bushfires in Victoria, Australia—the focal disaster for the book—residents organized an impromptu relief center that collected and distributed urgently needed goods without red tape. Special bonds and friendships formed among the volunteers and victims; some were both volunteer and victim. Many victims were able to mobilize resources despite considerable personal losses. Shepherd and Williams describe the lasting impact of disaster and tell the stories of Victoria residents who organized in the aftermath of the bushfires. They consider the limitations of traditional disaster relief efforts and explain that when victims take action to help others, they develop behavioral, emotional, and assumptive resilience; venturing leads to social interaction, community connections, and other positive outcomes. Finally, they explore spontaneous venturing in a less-developed country, investigating the activities of Haitians after the devastating 2010 earthquake. The lesson for communities hit by disaster: find opportunities for compassionate action

Homo naledi, a new species of the genus Homo from the Dinaledi Chamber, South Africa

Homo naledi is a previously-unknown species of extinct hominin discovered within the Dinaledi Chamber of the Rising Star cave system, Cradle of Humankind, South Africa. This species is characterized by body mass and stature similar to small-bodied human populations but a small endocranial volume similar to australopiths. Cranial morphology of H. naledi is unique, but most similar to early Homo species including Homo erectus, Homo habilis or Homo rudolfensis. While primitive, the dentition is generally small and simple in occlusal morphology. H. naledi has humanlike manipulatory adaptations of the hand and wrist. It also exhibits a humanlike foot and lower limb. These humanlike aspects are contrasted in the postcrania with a more primitive or australopith-like trunk, shoulder, pelvis and proximal femur. Representing at least 15 individuals with most skeletal elements repeated multiple times, this is the largest assemblage of a single species of hominins yet discovered in Africa

Anchors aweigh: the sources, variety, and challenges of mission drift

The growing number of studies which reference the concept of mission drift imply that such drift is an undesirable strategic outcome related to inconsistent organizational action, yet beyond such references little is known about how mission drift occurs, how it impacts organizations, and how organizations should respond. Existing management theory more broadly offers initial albeit equivocal insight for understanding mission drift. On the one hand, prior studies have argued that inconsistent or divergent action can lead to weakened stakeholder commitment and reputational damage. On the other hand, scholars have suggested that because environments are complex and dynamic, such action is necessary for ensuring organizational adaptation and thus survival. In this study, we offer a theory of mission drift that unpacks its origin, clarifies its variety, and specifies how organizations might respond to external perceptions of mission drift. The resulting conceptual model addresses the aforementioned theoretical tension and offers novel insight into the relationship between organizational actions and identity

Schizophrenia-associated somatic copy-number variants from 12,834 cases reveal recurrent NRXN1 and ABCB11 disruptions

While germline copy-number variants (CNVs) contribute to schizophrenia (SCZ) risk, the contribution of somatic CNVs (sCNVs)—present in some but not all cells—remains unknown. We identified sCNVs using blood-derived genotype arrays from 12,834 SCZ cases and 11,648 controls, filtering sCNVs at loci recurrently mutated in clonal blood disorders. Likely early-developmental sCNVs were more common in cases (0.91%) than controls (0.51%, p = 2.68e−4), with recurrent somatic deletions of exons 1–5 of the NRXN1 gene in five SCZ cases. Hi-C maps revealed ectopic, allele-specific loops forming between a potential cryptic promoter and non-coding cis-regulatory elements upon 5′ deletions in NRXN1. We also observed recurrent intragenic deletions of ABCB11, encoding a transporter implicated in anti-psychotic response, in five treatment-resistant SCZ cases and showed that ABCB11 is specifically enriched in neurons forming mesocortical and mesolimbic dopaminergic projections. Our results indicate potential roles of sCNVs in SCZ risk

Entrepreneur in a Foreign Country : Challenges difficult to overcome by oneself

Migration has been a principal component of human evolution for thousands of years and is a phenomenon that will continue in the future. This makes the subject of migrants’ economic integration into host countries of timeless interest [1, 2]. More recently, understanding migrants’ behaviors and approaches to integrating economically into the host country context has become a timely, pressing need, especially considering that, in recent years, many Western societies are facing unprecedented numbers of migrants seeking asylum. Due to this migrant surge, host countries have multiplied their efforts to promote economic integration—such as entrepreneurship—in an effort to support migrants in becoming self-sustaining in the host country. Therefore, the critical need exists to better understand how migrant entrepreneurs address their liabilities of foreignness (LOF) to provide needed knowledge. The aim with this report is to advance understanding of LOF among (1) migrants who aspire to and currently are engaged in venturing, (2) governmental and nongovernmental actors who support migrant entrepreneurs, and (3) policy makers who decide upon potential interventions to promote migrant entrepreneurship. Specifically, the goal is threefold. First, one goal is to help these groups of actors see more clearly some of the challenges (burden, hindrance, or disadvantage) related to the LOF that migrant entrepreneurs face. Second, another goal is to make these actors aware of common approaches migrant entrepreneurs use to overcome (i.e., offset or reduce) those liabilities to achieve entrepreneurial performance. Finally, the third goal is to help these actors better understand the pros and cons with used approaches. Indeed, policy makers and entrepreneurs alike can draw on this typology as a roadmap in better understanding the problem to be solved, which in turn can stimulate a broader range of solutions to offset liabilities

Anchors Aweigh: The Sources, Variety, and Challenges of Mission Drift

The growing number of studies which reference the concept of mission drift imply that such drift is an undesirable strategic outcome related to inconsistent organizational action, yet beyond such references little is known about how mission drift occurs, how it impacts organizations, and how organizations should respond. Existing management theory more broadly offers initial albeit equivocal insight for understanding mission drift. On the one hand, prior studies have argued that inconsistent or divergent action can lead to weakened stakeholder commitment and reputational damage. On the other hand, scholars have suggested that because environments are complex and dynamic, such action is necessary for ensuring organizational adaptation and thus survival. In this study, we offer a theory of mission drift that unpacks its origin, clarifies its variety, and specifies how organizations might respond to external perceptions of mission drift. The resulting conceptual model addresses the aforementioned theoretical tension and offers novel insight into the relationship between organizational actions and identity

Learning from entrepreneurial failure: emotions, cognitions, and actions

Provides an in-depth examination of the psychological obstacles to learning from entrepreneurial failure and how these can be overcome

A Framework for Exploring the Degree of Hybridity in Social Entrepreneurship

In this paper, we problematize the growing literature on hybrid organizing to demonstrate that research on hybrids and entrepreneurship can benefit from considering the degree of hybridity in organizing the exploitation of potential opportunities for the creation of both economic and social value. Recent work has moved beyond discrete categorization of organizations as hybrid (or not) to conceptualize hybridity as a continuum anchored by a strong social logic at one end and a strong economic logic at the other end. We take the conceptualization of hybridity one step further by acknowledging that organizations can differ in the relative importance they ascribe to the economic logic vis-à-vis the social logic and that both the economic and social logics can be held at varying levels of intensity. The main purpose of revising the conceptualization of the degree of hybridity is to develop a framework for future research. This framework highlights the importance of understanding how entrepreneurs can both directly and indirectly (through the co-construction of potential opportunities) influence the degree of hybridity, and how differences in degree of hybridity impact organizational outcomes in terms of success and failure in creating economic and social value