Dynamic capabilities and high-tech entrepreneurial ventures’ performance in the aftermath of an environmental jolt

This paper contributes to studies on dynamic capabilities (DCs) by showing that a neglected environmental contingency – i.e. the occurrence of a jolt – shapes the DCs–performance relationship. We focus on high-tech entrepreneurial ventures because these are the firms that jolts affect most; in so doing, we also advance the understanding of DCs in the entrepreneurship field. We argue that, in the aftermath of an environmental jolt, the high-tech entrepreneurial ventures that use internationalization and new product development capabilities to modify their resource configuration and regain environmental fit enjoy better performance. Econometric estimates on a sample of 340 Italian high-tech entrepreneurial ventures confronting the consequences of the global economic crisis that began in 2008 confirm that separately using these two DCs has a positive performance effect. This effect is stronger for relatively smaller ventures. Interestingly, despite synergies should arise from the combined use of the two DCs, we do not detect any superadditive effects.     

Consolidation and fragmentation in environmental scanning: A review and research agenda

Environmental scanning is a broadly defined concept, having first received attention from scholars in the late 1960s. Over the years a number of similar and overlapping constructs have emerged in management literature. The aim of this study, via a systematic review and thematic analysis of relevant empirical research, is to consolidate foundation environmental scanning knowledge, demonstrate how scanning research has developed and fragmented over time, and propose an agenda for future research. The first contribution of our review is a new typology of environmental scanning research made up of five discrete research views, which provides a more comprehensive and contemporary overview of the field than previous studies. The second is a proposed agenda for future research that explicitly acknowledges the role of technology, an area that is presently underdeveloped in foundation scanning literature. The third contribution is to signpost future directions for research on scanning and organisational performance using a number of theoretical perspectives. The overall outcome of our review is to move scanning research on from increasingly incremental contributions concerned with context to a place where the changing role of technology and the mechanisms through which environmental scanning contributes to competitive advantage can be more thoroughly understood.     

面向新时代的国民经济核算研究议题及相关问题

本文结合国际国内研究动态分层次归纳、阐释当前国民经济核算的研究议题。具体包括:以国民账户体系2008版(SNA-2008)为起点的前沿研究,SNA中心框架的灵活运用研究,接驳中国国民经济核算体系(CSNA)及其实务的优化和创新研究,国民经济核算数据的综合应用研究。最后针对中国当前国民经济核算研究方法中存在的一些倾向性问题做讨论,比如是否过分关注与GDP的关联, 如何充分发挥卫星账户的作用等。     

环境分权对经济高质量发展的影响研究

本文通过构建经济高质量发展评价指标体系并对其进行测算,运用静态、动态以及空间面板数据模型实证检验了环境分权对经济高质量发展的影响效应。研究发现,环境分权对经济高质量发展的影响呈现出先抑后扬的“U”型特征,并且当前我国环境分权对经济高质量发展的影响依然体现为负向作用。使用工具变量处理内生性问题以及一系列稳健性检验后结论依然成立。传导渠道分析表明,环境分权通过资源错配渠道影响经济高质量发展,并且环境分权对经济高质量发展的影响还具有地区异质性、结构异质性等。本文的研究结论有助于厘清环境分权对经济高质量发展的影响效应,为调整及优化环境分权制度安排提供了重要的政策指引和借鉴。     

Nature and social work pedagogy: How U.S. social work educators are integrating issues of the natural environment into their teaching

ABSTRACT

The article presents a study of how U.S. social work educators are including discussion, exercises, readings, and other pedagogical approaches to the natural environment into their classrooms. The findings are part of a larger, naturalistic study that gathered data using a semi-structured interview format. The three major themes that emerged were human behavior theory, ecological and environmental justice, and environmental sustainability. The participants are introducing issues of the natural environment using varied pedagogical techniques including readings, in-class discussions and exercises, service learning, assignments, including written and practical work, research, self-awareness exercises, and class facilitation. Questions for further investigation of social work and the natural environment are included.     

环境信息不对称、机构投资者实地调研与企业环境治理

基于信息不对称理论，本文以2013-2016年深交所重污染行业上市公司为研究样本，分析了机构投资者实地调研对企业环境治理的影响及其作用机制。研究发现，机构投资者实地调研对企业环境治理具有积极的推动作用；在环境信息披露较差以及本地子公司较多的企业中，机构投资者实地调研的环境治理作用更为明显。进一步考察实地调研对企业环境治理的影响路径发现，机构投资者实地调研推动了企业环境治理的资本市场监督和媒体监督。本文的研究验证了信息不对称理论在环境治理中的作用，拓宽了实地调研经济后果的研究领域，对于深入理解并推动我国企业环境治理具有重要的现实意义。     

Case Reading as a Practice and Training Intervention in Domestic Violence and Child Protection

This article explores the role of a case-reading tool, developed by the Safe and Together Institute, deployed across five Australian states, and which engaged workers from child protection (CP) and specialist domestic and family violence (DFV) services. It aimed to assess the extent to which DFV is identified in CP case files and to assess the quality of case practice from a DFV-informed perspective, as documented in the case file. The Safe and Together approach to child welfare provides a robust foundation upon which practitioners from statutory and nonstatutory backgrounds can work collaboratively and reach consensus about how best to ensure the safety and wellbeing of children living with DFV. The case reading is both a process of transformative working for practitioners and an analytical tool through which their agencies can affect systemic change.

IMPLICATIONS

• A national audit of 20 child protection case files using the Safe and Together case-reading process indicated that documented child protection practice sits at the lower end of a domestic and family violence-informed Continuum of Practice.

• Analysis indicates a need to improve: child protection engagement with fathers who use DFV, assessments of their parenting role and its impact on children and family functioning; identification of adult survivors’ protective capacities and their impact on children.

• Research in this area may have broader implications for other professions and government policy both nationally and internationally.

     

印度战略文化及其变迁机制

自20世纪90年代战略文化成为备受关注的议题以来,从战略文化视角解释印度外交战略的研究不胜枚举.学术界对印度战略文化的研究普遍受到文化“稳定性”、“持久性”等基本特征的限制,主要从静止的视角围绕其起源、属性与形态等方面展开论述.本文试图从动态视角理解印度战略文化,构建战略文化生成与变迁理论框架.通过对战略文化的类型划分发现,印度在冷战时期形成了防御为主、进攻为辅的协调型战略文化,冷战后形成了强进攻性偏好的冲突型战略文化.作为印度战略文化变迁的首要条件,环境认知推动了印度国内政治程序的修正,从而影响了战略文化变迁.具体而言,国际体系环境的变化重塑了印度决策精英对国家安全的判断,并内化成新的观念体系.全新观念体系驱使决策精英行为偏好改变,且通过国内政治程序的修正上升为特定取向的国家战略偏好,最终生成全新的战略文化.     

Does biomass energy consumption reduce total energy CO2 emissions in the US?

This study investigates the causal relationship between total biomass energy consumption, total energy CO₂ emissions, and GDP in the United States for the period January 1973–December 2016 by employing a directed acyclic graph (DAG) techniques and the Autoregressive Distributed Lag (ARDL) model. Additionally, this paper examines the existence of the environmental Kuznets curve (EKC) hypothesis. The result of the DAG reveals that total biomass energy consumption and GDP have a unidirectional contemporaneous causal relationship with total energy CO₂ emissions. Based on the results of the ARDL, we find that a 1% increase in per capita total biomass energy consumption causes a 0.65% reduction in per capita total energy CO₂ emissions in the long-run. This finding implies that expanding the usage of biomass is one way to reduce and control greenhouse gases in the US. Moreover, we find that the inverted U-shaped EKC hypothesis is satisfied for the US case. Findings from this study suggest that energy policies should stimulate an increase of biomass production for reducing total energy CO₂.     

Australian and New Zealand Indigenous mothers’ report respect for smoking bans in homes

BackgroundThere is limited data about the reasons behind residential rules to reduce environmental tobacco smoke (ETS) exposure or the establishment or enforcement of such rules in Indigenous populations.AimWe aimed to gain an understanding of smokefree rules around Australian and New Zealand (NZ) Indigenous infants.MethodThis was a qualitative study nested within a randomised controlled trial that aimed to test the efficacy of a family-centred tobacco control programme about environmental tobacco smoke (ETS) to improve the respiratory health of Indigenous infants in Australia and New Zealand. Qualitative semi-structured interviews were conducted with 26 Indigenous mothers of infants in Australia (n = 7) and NZ (n = 19). We asked about the presence of smokefree rules, who set the rules, how the rules were set and enforced, and presence of smokefree rules in participants’ wider social circle. Interviews were audiotaped, transcribed, and inductively analysed to identify key themes.FindingsSixty-nine percent of mothers had partners, 77% smoked and all reported some presence of smokefree rules for house and car. Three main themes were identified: strategies to minimise exposure to ETS, establishing smokefree rules in homes and cars, and, adherence and enforcement of smokefree rules. Several strategies were identified to limit children's exposure to ETS, including rules to limit exposure to third-hand smoke. Mothers extended their smokefree rules to apply to other people's houses or cars, and reported that their family and social circles also had smokefree rules. The main reason for having smokefree rules was for the health of their children. Rules were most commonly set by the mother, often jointly with their partner. Few mothers reported challenges or problems with other people adhering to the smokefree rules.ConclusionWomen tried very hard to, and believed that they were effective in, protecting their children from the harmful effects of ETS exposure. In this context, health professionals need to emphasise smoking cessation in parents, so that children are maximally protected from ETS exposure.