Articulating Value in Cooperative Housing: International and Methodological Review

Housing cooperatives are a growing presence in Australia’s housing system, providing a diversity of housing forms to a variety of household types across the income spectrum, typically serving low- and moderate-income households. International evidence shows that housing cooperatives can provide a range of housing from very low price points through to market rate in both non-urban and urban contexts. The research presented in this report reviewed a selection of international cooperative housing sectors in addition to the Australian context, with two aims: 1. Compile the current evidence for the social and financial benefits of housing cooperatives, to develop a framework to assess this in Australia; and, 2. Identify preliminary issues regarding the growth and diversification of housing cooperatives in Australia

The Value of Housing Co-operatives in Australia: Technical Report

This technical report details the methodology developed for the ARC Linkage project "Articulating Value in Co-operative Housing". It discusses the overall approach, details the tools and analyses used, and provides the relevant research tools as appendices

Business driven environmental action in agricultural based tourism micro-clusters in Norway and Australia

Research Doctorate - Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)The inherent complexity in finding consensus solutions to global environmental issues, such as climate change and loss of biodiversity has led groups of businesses and communities to self-organise and voluntarily pursue collective environmental action. While there is frustration over the slowness of the global decision-making process relating to the environment, there is a realisation that environmental effort will be based on pragmatic assessments of shorter-term value-adding benefits for businesses and the local community. Thus, environmental behaviour is expected to be influenced by contextual and institutional factors across countries and regions, leading to differences in how environmental sustainability is perceived, how businesses and communities pursue environmental action and how environmental actions and programs are assessed. This research has examined two agricultural based tourism micro-clusters and their efforts towards addressing environmental sustainability: The Greening of Lovedale in the Hunter Valley wine area, NSW Australia; and the Vikebygd Landscape Park in the Hardanger fruit growing region of Norway. Both areas are located in prime tourism destinations, attracting tourists to an aesthetically beautiful landscape for the consumption and purchase of regional agricultural produce (grapes and wine, apples and cider). The study used a combination of cluster theory, institutional theory and the natural resource based view of the firm to analyse contextual, institutional and value-adding factors that impact on small businesses’ environmental behaviour within each case study region. Data was gathered using an identical mixed methods approach in the two regions and included a survey of small business owners and semi-structured interviews with key stakeholders who have direct and indirect links with the respective micro-clusters. Differences in regulatory, social normative and cultural cognitive institutions in the two countries were shown to have had an impact on environmental attitudes and activities. In turn, this provided an understanding of the differences in barriers and drivers and value-adding perspectives for environmental action by the small businesses in the respective clusters. Contributions of this study include the examination of businesses’ and micro-clusters’ environmental behaviour in different contexts. The research has provided applied and policy contributions in the area of environmental policy for small business and micro-clusters, suggesting that, while market based instruments are useful for large businesses, these rarely provide enough incentive for small businesses to effectively pursue environmental action. The concept of sustainable destinations where community, businesses and local authorities collaborate to create a greener destination may be a model for developing supporting policies for environmentally committed clusters of small businesses. Through clustering and sharing resources and information, small businesses can overcome the barriers of knowledge and motivation that they face in incorporating sustainability programs into their business plans. The limitations of the study are linked to the selection of the case studies, the micro industries and countries included, and the constraints imposed by a cross sectional study. Future research could examine the differences in internal and external pressures between small and large businesses in different industries, and undertake examinations that track industry actions through time. The future of environmental policy lies in triggering both the social normative and cultural cognitive pressures to pursue collective environmental action as well as providing value-adding incentives for small businesses to reduce their environmental impact

Ten years with the Sahel-Sudan-Ethiopia Programme : Development assistance through norwegian Non-Governmental Organisations

Fra NORAGRIC. The SSE-ProgrammeSahel-Sudan-Etiopia (SSE) programmet var et utviklingsprogram i regi av Utenriksdepartementet som ble startet i 1986 på bakgrunn av tørkekatastrofen som rammet regionen i 1984-1985. Programmets hovedformål fra starten var å bedre matvareproduksjon og matvaresikkerhet samt miljørehabilitering. Fra 1991 ble utvikling av lokal kompetanse føyd til som et tredje mål for programmet. Årlige bevilgninger i de siste tre årene har vært i gjennomsnitt 140 millioner kroner, noe under halvparten til multilaterale organer (FN systemet), en liten del til forskning og den resterende delen (over halvparten) til utviklingsprosjekter i regi av frivillige norske organisasjoner. SSE programmet ble avsluttet i 1996, men prosjektene har blitt ført videre som en del av landprogrammene (unntatt Mali). Landene som har mottatt støtte gjennom SSE programmet har vært Mali, Sudan, Etiopia og Eritrea. Frivillige norske organisasjoner som har deltatt i SSE programmet er Adventistsamfunnet, CARE, Kirkens Nødhjelp, Norsk Folkehjelp, Pastor Strømmes Minnestiftelse, Redd Barna, Røde Kors og Utviklingsfondet

Using a cultural values framework to examine Nordic and Anglo-Saxon traits of organising

This paper will use a cultural values approach, institutional theories and empirical research to compare Nordic and Anglo-Saxon cultural clusters and its implications for organisations. The GLOBE cultural values framework, describes the Nordic cultural clusters as being high in societal collectivism (collective rewards and actions accepted), gender egalitarianism and uncertainty avoidance, while being low in assertiveness, power distance and in-group collectivism (cohesiveness and pride in organisation/family). Anglo-Saxon cultures tend to be high on performance orientation (individual rewards for performance), and have mid-level scores for all other cultural values expect for in-group collectivism which is also low. A research proposal using a mixed methods design, based on a cultural values approach and institutional theory, will be developed, to examine the way two subsidiaries of the same MNC and industry in a Nordic (home) and Anglo Saxon (host) country respectively, implements actions against climate change. This comparative study will focus on manager’s perceptions, level of employee involvement in decision-making and how they are implemented

Examining business-driven environmental sustainability initiatives in agriculture based tourism clusters in Norway and Australia

Studying business driven sustainability initiatives can teach us how businesses and their managers/owners decide and justify why and what environmental actions they undertake. While sustainability can be defined as including both social, economic, ecological and cultural aspects, this study will focus on the balancing act that small businesses perform between economic and ecological sustainability. Through examining environmental actions that are beyond compliance and voluntary it is hoped that a better understanding of how the social, political and cultural contexts influence behaviour in agriculture based tourism businesses. While empirical data on environmental behaviour in different industries shows that the motivation to undertake environmental improvements are either to fulfill environmental regulations, cost reductions or to obtain competitive advantage, other lines of research points to the business owner/managers own values and conviction as a strong influence on environmental behaviour. Within institutional theory there is debate as to whether behaviour is only guided by self-interest and maximisation of personal or business benefits (neo-institutionalist stance), or whether there are other more normative and cultural cognitive institutional pressures that would lead business owners to undertake nonmandatory environmental investments (classical institutionalists). A mixed methods research design will be undertaken in two different institutional frameworks, the liberal market economy of Australia and the coordinated market economy of Norway in order to develop theory around how institutional frameworks influence implementation of environmental sustainability measures. Two cases of business-initiated sustainability processes have been selected; In Australia, Lovedale Chamber of Commerce which is part of the Hunter Valley wine region, a major tourist destination in NSW, has initiated a “Greening of Lovedale” Process. The area has a mix of smaller wineries, accommodation, food and adventure businesses. In Norway, Vikebygd Landskapspark, located in one of Norway’s major tourist attractions, the applegrowing Hardanger fjord, has been selected. Vikebygd Landskapspark has been established as a private shareholding company with the purpose of establishing sustainable business opportunities within agriculture based tourism, accommodation, adventure and local foods. This paper will review and discuss different aspects of institutional and resource based-theory in relation to how these might explain environmental decision-making

The SSE Programme - Review of the Grasshopper Control project in Yelimane Cercle, Mali

The Strømme Foundation's project in Yelimane has received funding through the SSEProgramme since 1986. The main objectives of the SSE-Programme is to contribute to environmental rehabilitation and food security in the Sahel countries that were seriously struck by drought in the 1980's. After a period of phasing down SF's contribution (both funds and manpower) to the SNPV, SF has decided that they will withdraw from the project by 1997. SF will undertake a evaluation of the project during Autumn 1997. It was in this context that Noragric wanted to review the project, both to obtain an impression of the achievements made, approaches chosen and the potential impact on SSE-Programme objectives. In addition it wanted to assess the phasing out procedures and the sustainability of the activities. Noragric also hoped to contribute with inputs to the forthcoming evaluation. A Noragric team, comprising Sidsel Grimstad (Noragric SSE-Coordinator) and Kari Fiskvatn (Consultant Entomologist) visited Mali from the 8th to the 18th of February. (The complete Terms of Reference for the review is attached in annex 1). The teams local contacts during the review were: Mr. Pablo Sbertoli, Regional Director of SF, Mr. Boubackar Dicko, Project Manager for the Yelimane project, Mr. Chissoko, Acting Director for SNPV and Mr. Kone, Regional Officer for SNPV in Yelimane. Apart from that we had meetings with the local administration, farmers and brigades in the Niogoumera area. (A complete itinerary and list of people met is given in annex 2). Due to logistical problems the stay in the field was only of 2 days, which is short in order to obtain an overview of the different institutional aspects of the project. This also resulted in a limited area was visited. However, the team had in-depth discussions with Mr. Sbertoli and Mr. Dicko in Bamako and as additional background information the team studied annual reports, mission reports, Mr. Dicko's memoires and related scientific publications. The complete list of documents reviewed is found under references