Humanizing strategy

In this article, we apply our latest thinking on knowledge to provide insights on how to reconceptualize strategy to cope with a VUCA world, epitomized recently by COVID-19. We demonstrate that business leaders must draw on phronesis, or practical wisdom, for strategy to become more future-oriented, society-focused, dynamic, and human-centric. Using in-depth case studies, we show how companies will survive in the long run if they start with a moral purpose, and end by offering value to customers, contributing to society, living in harmony with nature, and creating a new and better future. We came up with six practices that enable business leaders to create new and better futures, citing evidences from neuroscience. We conclude that humans should be at the center of strategy, driving future-making with the help of digital-led automation. Reconceptualizing strategy based on this “inside-out” approach, the reward to the company is resilience, longevity, and sustainability.     

Jakarta: Environmental problems and sustainability

Jakarta is on the way to become a “world city”, but to classify in this regard, it needs to be more than the size of the metropolis but it should be enlightened management, the kind of services the city offers to ensure a balanced economic, social, political and environmental development; thus, criteria which would indicate its social, economic and environmental “sustainability” and quality of life. The recent years have shown Jakarta's current management to evolve as promoter of centennial projects like the modernization of the center, the establishment of an integrated public transport system, the redevelopment of the waterfront and a new harbor, the conservation of the Old City, and creation of a few gentrified public parks. While these grand projects are still in the making, many infrastructure and environmental problems still continue to prevail, and there is substantial concern about the pro-rich and anti-poor policies which are being pursued, while Jakarta pretends to make the quantum jump to a modern city.     

Emergy-based Simulation to Assess Brazil’s Long-term Carrying Capacity: Environment, Electricity and Population

A macroscopic mini-model of Brazil’s electrical generating capacity (BRAZELECTRIX, Brazilian Electricity Matrix) was developed using the Energy Systems Language and simulated with iconographic Extend® software to explore long-term (200 years) population carrying capacity. South American reserves of natural gas (NG) and Brazilian stream hydro-power potential were assumed as the main inputs to electric power production. Energy values (e.g., kWh, joules) for fuels, electricity and environment were transformed to solar emergy (i.e., solar equivalent joules) to simplify cross comparison with a single metric. BRAZELECTRIX was calibrated using a holistic method that used mean component life-times and conservation of material and energy for each individual unit. Validation of BRAZELECTRIX, based on historical data, gave a root mean square error of 8% for hydroelectricity and 28% for natural gas use. Investments in natural gas infrastructure (e.g., contracts, pipelines, processing plants and electric power plants) accelerated Brazil’s expansion of electrical generating capacity for a finite period, allowing the country to reach its renewable (hydro-power only) carrying capacity 100 years sooner than without (2040 vs. 2140). Brazil has a total of 560 zetta-solar equivalent joules per annum (1 Zseja = 1 ×10²¹ sej per year) of stream hydro-power potential; 170 Zseja is currently used for electricity generation. According to BRAZELECTRIX, eventually 390 Zseja will be tapped for hydroelectricity. The standard of living, as measured by annual per capita electrical solar emergy, had risen 680% from 166 tera-solar equivalent joules (Tseja) to 1130 Tseja during the 35 year period following 1965 and was predicted to increase another 75% to its maximum (1973 Tseja) in 2050. By comparison, an urbanizing state of the United States (North Carolina) had an annual per capita electrical solar emergy of 7815 Tseja in 1992, indicating that Brazil could reach a living standard, as measured by per capita electricity usage, equal to one-forth the level of United States. Macroscopic mini-models combined with emergy accounting evaluated long-term paths for Brazil’s electricity supply and related it to natural environment trade-offs to demonstrate how sustainable carrying capacity of a developing nation can be forecast.     

The environmental efficiency of well-being: A cross-national analysis

Recent research has conceptualized sustainability as the environmental efficiency of well-being (EWEB). This concept takes into account the benefits societies are able to produce from their demands on the environment. Research along these lines indicates that countries vary widely in the efficiency with which they transform the Earth’s resources into well-being. Here, we take up this finding as a puzzle to be explained. We construct a new measure of EWEB using the ecological footprint per capita (a measure of environmental consumption) and average life satisfaction (a measure of subjective well-being). We draw hypotheses from political economy, modernization, and sustainable consumption theories in the environmental social sciences. Using full information maximum likelihood estimation, we test the effects of climate, political, economic, and social factors on EWEB with a sample of 105 countries. Key findings include a negative quadratic effect of economic development on EWEB, a negative effect of income inequality, and a positive effect of social capital.     

农民专业合作行为的广义经济学分析

一定时期内,任何经济人的所有经济行为的最终结果,都会形成一个以自我为中心,以有效经济利益为半径的经济利益圆周;经济人的经济利益圆周范围不断扩大以至相互重叠,是合作行为产生的客观经济基础。农民专业合作行为产生的重要前提是家庭土地承包经营的充分发展,并始终以此为基础;农民专业合作的经济效率来源于参与者的合作收益,但必须保证合作收益大于合作成本;农民的合作净收益必须留存于合作组织内部,合理、均衡的利益反馈机制是保证其可持续运行的关键。     

Geographical indications, terroir, and socioeconomic and ecological sustainability: The case of tequila

In this paper, we use the case of tequila to examine the potential for geographical indications (GIs) to contribute to socioeconomic and environmental sustainability. GIs are place-based names (e.g., Champagne, Roquefort) that convey the geographical origin, as well as the cultural and historical identity, of agricultural products. The GI for tequila was established by the Mexican government in 1974, making it the oldest GI, and one of the best-recognized, outside of Europe. Here, we examine the social, economic, and ecological impacts that the agave–tequila industry has had on one community in tequila's region of origin, the town of Amatitán. We show that persistent cycles of surplus and shortage of agave and changing production relations in the agave–tequila industry have led to: (1) economic insecurity among farm households; (2) increased use of chemical inputs, at the expense of more labor-intensive cultivation practices; and (3) overall declines in fertilizer application, especially during periods in which there is a surplus of agave. We argue that the negative effects of the agave–tequila industry on the local economy and environment are due to the failure of the GI for tequila to value the ways in which the terroir of tequila's region of origin have contributed to its specific properties. We conclude by using this case to discuss more generally the relationship between the protection of place-based products (known collectively as geographical indications) and social and environmental sustainability.     

Improving sustainability: An international evolutionary framework

As emerging markets develop, foreign firms are being viewed less and less as providers of capital and/or technology, and more as integral parts of society in general, with much greater responsibilities that stem largely from their multinational roles. Recognizing these pressures and the increasing interaction between multinationals and societal institutions, we first briefly review the literature on role, stakeholder, and institutional theories, to develop a framework to improve our understanding of multinational sustainability. We next develop a three-stage model of the stages of societal development in general, and subsequently apply these stages to the development of China from 1978 to the present. We suggest that these changes have resulted in changing expectations of multinationals regarding their appropriate roles within China. We conclude by discussing lessons from our model for researchers, educators and practitioners.     

从微观经济主体看我国出口增长的可持续性

传统国际贸易理论认为,国家是国际贸易竞争的主体,强调出口产业的整体竞争能力的增强和国家贸易利益的增长.随着国际贸易的迅猛发展,国际竞争规则和国际分工基础都发生了深刻变化,出口微观经济主体逐步成为各国参与国际竞争的主体.这同时也为我国出口企业的发展提出了新的课题.我们必须顺应时代发展的客观形势,积极调整我国参与国际竞争的策略,有效地促进我国出口的可持续增长.