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Entrepreneurship plays a role both for the development of African countries and for foreign companies with market entry plans. The infrastructural and institutional conditions for entrepreneurship are still difficult, but the advancing digitization leads to an increasingly active start-up scene in many African countries. There is still a mismatch between the areas where start-ups are created and the areas where foreign companies are looking for partners for market entry. Thus, despite positive developments in entrepreneurship, it remains difficult to find suitable partners in the foreseeable future.
Military organizations have special features like following different organizational laws in times of peace and war and their specific embeddedness in society and politics. Especially the latter aspect has made the military an important object of study since the beginnings of modern sociology. In the wake of establishing specific sociological accounts, military sociology has been developed, dedicated to the different facets of the military. This research is based on different theoretical perspectives, but has hardly embraced the frameworks from economics and sociology of conventions (EC/SC) so far. The aim of the chapter is to explore and demonstrate the potentials of this approach. In a first step, the state of the art of military sociology research is outlined, and potential avenues for analyzing military forces based on EC/SC are identified. It is argued that especially the connection to organizational theory (military as organization) and civil-military relations, including leadership and professionalism, offer starting points. After introducing existing studies addressing military-related topics with reference to EC/SC, relevant concepts and approaches of convention theory that prove to be particularly enriching for military research are discussed. An outlook on possible further fields and topics of research is given to concretize how an inclusion of the perspective of EC/SC could look like.
The blockchain technology represents a decentralised database that stores information securely in immutable data blocks. Regarding supply chain management, these characteristics offer potentials in increasing supply chain transparency, visibility, automation, and efficiency. In this context, first token-based mapping approaches exist to transfer certain manufacturing processes to the blockchain, such as the creation or assembly of parts as well as their transfer of ownership. This paper proposes a prototypical blockchain application that adopts an authority concept and a concept of smart non-fungible tokens. The application enables the mapping of complex products in dynamic supply chains that require the auditability of changeable assembling processes on the blockchain. Finally, the paper demonstrates the practical feasibility of the proposed application based on a prototypical implementation created on the Ethereum blockchain.
In the current age of innovative business financing opportunities available from fintech apps, social media crowdfunding sites such as Kickstarter, Indiegogo, and RocketHub, et.al., and friends and family private equity investors, start-up firms can strategically source their venture capital funds from many globally disperse organizations and individuals. As the firm in this case learned, the benefit of alternative investing sources comes with a critical hidden risk for corporate governance. After a financial restructuring, a typical Silicon Valley software start-up found itself with close to 300 external individual shareholders, some of whom had not been documented as accredited investors. The regulatory agency could decide that the prior actions of the founders and the decisions of the board had been prejudicial to the interests of the minority investors. The management of this small private company faced an atypical investor relations dilemma, before its initial public offering (IPO).
Values Management System
(2022)
The ValuesManagementSystem (VWS) is a management standard to “provide a sustainable safeguard of a firm and its development, in all dimensions (legal, economic, ecological, social)” (VWSZfW, p. 4). It includes a framework for values-driven governance through self-commitment and self-binding mechanisms. Values promote a sense of identity and give organizations guidance in decision-making. This is especially important in decision-making processes where topics are not clearly ruled by laws and regulations.
VMSZfW must be embedded in the specific business strategy, structure, and culture of an organization. The following four steps describe the implementation of the ValuesManagementSystemZfW: (i) Codify core values of an organization, for instance, with a “mission, vision and values statement” or Code of Ethics, (ii) implement guidelines such as Code of Conduct and specific policies and procedures, (iii) systematize these by establishing management systems such as Compliance and CSR management systems, and (iv) finally organize and establish structures to ensure the strategic direction and operational implementation and review of these processes. The top management shows that values management is taken seriously by their self-commitment to the core values of the company.
The Principles for Responsible Investments (PRI) is “the world’s leading proponent of responsible investment” (PRI 2021a). With the development of six Principles for Responsible Investment, the PRI supports its international network of investor signatories in incorporating the environmental, social, and governance (ESG) factors into their investment and ownership decisions. The goal of PRI is to develop a more sustainable global financial system by encouraging “investors to use responsible investment to enhance returns and better manage risks” (PRI 2021a). This independent financial initiative is supported by the United Nations and linked to the United Nations Environmental Program Finance Initiative (UNEP FI 2021) and the United Nations Global Compact (UN Global Compact 2021).
The United Nations (UN) Global Compact is a call to companies to align their strategies and operations with ten universal principles in the areas of human rights, labor, environment, and anti-corruption, and to take actions that advance societal goals (UN Global Compact 2017, p. 3). The UN Global Compacts’ vision is “to mobilize a global movement of sustainable companies and stakeholder to create the world we want” (UN Global Compact 2021a). It is a global network with local presence all around the world.
The Dow Jones Sustainability Indexes (DJSI) track the performance of companies that lead in corporate sustainability in their respective sectors or in the geographies they operate. The Sustainable Asset Management (SAM) Indexes GmbH publishes and markets the indexes, the so-called Dow Jones Sustainability Indexes in collaboration with SAM. All indexes of the DJSI family are assessed according to SAM’s Corporate Sustainability AssessmentTM methodology.
Since the beginning of the energy sector liberalization, the design of energy markets has become a prominent field of research. Markets nowadays facilitate efficient resource allocation in many fields of energy system operation, such as plant dispatch, control reserve provisioning, delimitation of related carbon emissions, grid congestion management, and, more recently, smart grid concepts and local energy trading. Therefore, good market designs play an important role in enabling the energy transition toward a more sustainable energy supply for all. In this chapter, we retrace how market engineering shaped the development of energy markets and how the research focus shifted from national wholesale markets to more decentralized and location-sensitive concepts.
In a networked world, companies depend on fast and smart decisions, especially when it comes to reacting to external change. With the wealth of data available today, smart decisions can increasingly be based on data analysis and be supported by IT systems that leverage AI. A global pandemic brings external change to an unprecedented level of unpredictability and severity of impact. Resilience therefore becomes an essential factor in most decisions when aiming at making and keeping them smart. In this chapter, we study the characteristics of resilient systems and test them with four use cases in a wide-ranging set of application areas. In all use cases, we highlight how AI can be used for data analysis to make smart decisions and contribute to the resilience of systems.
The article studies a novel approach of inflation modeling in economics. We utilize a stochastic differential equation (SDE) of the form dXt=aXtdt+bXtdBtH, where dBtH is a fractional Brownian motion in order to model inflationary dynamics. Standard economic models do not capture the stochastic nature of inflation in the Eurozone. Thus, we develop a new stochastic approach and take into consideration fractional Brownian motions as well as Lévy processes. The benefits of those stochastic processes are the modeling of interdependence and jumps, which is equally confirmed by empirical inflation data. The article defines and introduces the rules for stochastic and fractional processes and elucidates the stochastic simulation output.
After the initiator of the ESB Logistics Learning Factory, Prof. Vera Hummel had made experience in developing and implementing a concept for a Learning Factory for Advanced Industrial Engineering (aIE) at the University of Stuttgart, Institute IFF between 2005 and 2008, she was appointed as a full professor at ESB Business School, a faculty of Reutlingen University in March 2010. Lacking a realistic, hands on learning and teaching environment of industrial scale for its industrial engineering students, first ideas for a Learning Factory that would strongly focus on all aspects of production logistics were drafted in 2012. Already back then, a strong integration of virtual and physical factory was desired: While the Learning Factory itself would be physical, the neighboring partners along the supply chain, such as suppliers or distribution warehouses, could be added in a fully virtual way. Considering implementation of the ESB Logistics Learning Factory a strategic initiative of the university, initial funding was provided by the faculty ESB Business School itself. Following its own creed, to provide future-oriented training for the region, also primarily local suppliers and manufacturers were selected as equipment providers to the new Learning Factory. During the initialization phase, 2014, a total of three researchers and nine students worked approximately four months to set up a first assembly line, storage racks, AGVs, or pick-by-light systems in conjunction with the underlying didactical concept. Since then, several hundred of students have participated in trainings and lectures held in the ESB Logistics Learning Factory, several research projects were carried out, and multiple high-level politicians and industry executives have been touring the shop floor. Also, more than EUR 2 million in research and infrastructure funds could be secured for expansion and upgrade — allowing the ESB Logistics Learning Factory today to represent many core aspects of an Industrie 4.0 production environment.
In recent years Indonesia has been confronted with an excessive generation of municipal solid waste (MSW), predominantly present in the form of organic refuse. While moving towards integrated solid waste management (ISWM) is an important strategy used to control its generation, it is also now recognized that economic approaches need to be promoted as well in order to tackle the problem concertedly. In this case study, empirical approaches are developed to understand how market instruments could be introduced into environmental services and how to apply co-benefit approach in a green economy paradigm for Indonesia. We investigate the feasibility of introducing market instruments in Indonesia by appliying local co-benefit initiatives adapted from German experiences in integrating market instruments into MSW management practices. Currently co-benefit activities are undertaken in the Sukunan village (Yogjakarta) to promote waste composting using market incentives in the framework of community-based solid waste management (CBSWM). This scheme aims at reducing MSW generation at its source and mobilizing people to be involved in waste separation (organic and non-organic) at household levels. As a result, about 200,000 t of CO2 emissions could be successfully reduced annually. By integrating market instruments into waste management practices, the result of our studies sugggests that Indonesia could make positive changes to its environmental policy and regulation of MSW at local levels. The country's policymakers have played important roles in promoting the effectiveness of urban development with co-benefits approaches to facilitate its transition towards a green eccnomy.
This paper summarises the experiences with sustainability reporting in a very wide meaning at Universities of Applied Sciences (UoAS). It focuses on the communication of sustainability aspects and activities of universities. It provides a recommendation, a model for communicating the sustainability activities of universities and emphasises the values of this appraoch. This paper aims to find the most effective ways to convey education for sustainable development to a broad public and initiate communication about sustainability aspects with society.
The paper is based on action research done at two universities about the ways in which academic institutions can communicate with their stakeholders in order to report about their own role as a responsible university and also to make an impact on the sustainable development on a local and global scale.
Research is focussed on experiences at Universitites of Applied Sciences with their strong focus on applied research, education and transfer. However, these results can be helpful for each academic institution that wants to make a positive impact on society. The concept which we present focusses on the possible impact which universities can generate.
Seen as the contribution to the research field of sustainabitliy reporting the paper points out that a continuous qualitative reporting process with a focus on education for SD is an adequate and efficient approach to sustainability reporting for universities and an effective way to reach a broad public.
We show that there are several efficient methodss of communication ranging from the traditional sustainability report to publications which address the public and to more innovative methods using the web 2.0. We show and argue that for universities, alternative ways of sustainability communication may be more effective to achieve the sustainability mission.
The concept which we present gives the universities a broader impact on society and helps them to support sustainable development in an efficient way.
It has not yet been possible to achieve the desired aim of decoupling economic growth from global material demand. Small and medium sized enterprises (SMEs) represent the backbone of most industrialized economies. Although material efficiency is of vital importance for many SMEs, few of them actually treat it as their top priority. There is a cornucopia of tools and methods available which can be used for material efficiency purposes. These, however, have gained little ground in the SME-field. This work deals with the enabling factors for material efficiency improvements in manufacturing SMEs and projections towards aspects of supply chain and circular economy. A multi-disciplinary decoupling approach for manufacturing SMEs and an implementation roadmap for further practical development are proposed. The approach combines appropriate complexity of technology and socio-economic considerations. It enables a connection of existing methods and the implementation of established information technologies.
Quality-oriented selection of university partnerships : ESB Business School’s selection matrix
(2015)
Business process management and IT supported processes are an actual topic. The procedure of finding a business process system that implements your processes the best way is not easy and takes a lot of time. In this article you will find a recommendation for an open source system. Four selected open source workflow management systems are tested and analyzed. Mean criteria for the evaluation are listed in a criteria catalogue and rated by experts by their importance. Finally, the systems are evaluated by the criteria and the best evaluated system can be recommended.