scholarly journals Learning for sustainable development through innovation in SMEs

2020 ◽  
Vol 7 (8) ◽  
pp. 371-381
Author(s):  
Ileana Hamburg

The aim of this article is to investigate different types of innovation companies can develop, the relationship innovation and learning/training, defined as sustainable factors in small and medium sized enterprises (SMEs). An innovative learning program for SME employees is described, which was developed and tested within a European project. The findings, also as a consequence of the learning program offered to SMEs, prove that SMEs can develop and use innovative training/learning to achieve suitable competences to improve the impact on sustainability in their organizations.

2009 ◽  
Vol 28 (1) ◽  
pp. 53-78 ◽  
Author(s):  
Noel Harding ◽  
Ken T. Trotman

SUMMARY: Auditing standards require auditors to assess the competence of their colleagues. However, previous studies have shown that auditors' assessments of their colleagues' competence are inaccurate and overconfident, potentially leading to a reduction in audit effectiveness. In two related studies, we investigate both the process by which these assessments are made and a potential intervention aimed at improving these judgments. In study 1, we investigate the anchors used by senior auditors in assessing the competence of their subordinates and peers, and find that the anchors vary depending on the familiarity of the audit senior with their colleague. These findings inform study 2, which investigates the impact of different types of outcome feedback on auditors' assessments of another auditor's competence. We find that the effects of individual-specific feedback and average-group feedback will be contingent on the nature of the relationship between the assessor and assessee. Specifically, individual-specific outcome feedback is effective in reducing overconfidence when assessing the competence of a colleague with whom the assessor has previously worked, but not an unfamiliar colleague. When assessing the competence of an unfamiliar colleague, we find that average-group outcome feedback is effective in reducing overconfidence. Our results complement and extend earlier theory by showing that individuals, in assessing a colleague's competence, use anchors in addition to the competence of the assessor.


Author(s):  
Tianwei Geng ◽  
Hai Chen ◽  
Di Liu ◽  
Qinqin Shi ◽  
Hang Zhang

Exploring and analyzing the common demands and behavioral responses of different stakeholders is important for revealing the mediating mechanisms of ecosystem service (ES) and realizing the management and sustainable supply of ES. This study took Mizhi County, a poverty-stricken area on the Loess Plateau in China, as an example. First, the main stakeholders, common demands, and behavioral responses in the food provision services were identified. Second, the relationship among stakeholders was analyzed. Finally, this study summarized three types of mediating mechanisms of food provision services and analyzed the influence of the different types of mediating mechanisms. The main conclusions are as follows: (1) Five main stakeholders in the study area were identified: government, farmers, enterprises, cooperatives, and middlemen. (2) Increasing farmers’ income is the common demand of most stakeholders in the study area, and this common demand has different effects on the behavioral responses of different stakeholders. (3) There are three types of mediating mechanisms in the study area: government + farmers mediating corn and mutton, government + enterprises mediating millet, and government + cooperatives mediating apples. On this basis, the effects of the different types of mediating mechanisms on variations in food yield, and trade-offs and synergies in typical townships, were analyzed.


2020 ◽  
pp. 201-220
Author(s):  
Sadife Çinkir

Women form half of the world's population, but the same cannot be said for their active participation in economic development. Sustainable, strong economies can be achieved through equally active involvement in the process by developing or keeping up to date the skills of individuals in society. This paper focuses on women's contribution to sustainable development as entrepreneurs through Lifelong Learning. The paper consists of two sections. The first section discusses the relationship between accessibility to digital age-appropriate education and sustainable development in Lifelong Learning. The second section is a good practice of the impact of the "Women First in Entrepreneurship" project on developing women's entrepreneurship. It covers the reasons for the project and its implementation process, outputs, and impact. To increase women's participation in the labor market as part of sustainable development in today's economy, the project, which began in 10 pilot provinces, is currently being implemented across Turkey. The project has been implemented under the coordination of the Turkish Directorate General for Lifelong Learning since 2015. The General Directorate of Lifelong Learning is the highest policymaking authority in Turkey to strengthen the adult education system.


2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Doug Carroll

Energy Efficiency of Vehicles educates readers about energy and the environment and the relationship between the energy we use and the environment. The world is at a point in time when people need to make very important decisions about energy in the next few decades. This book enables readers to utilize our scientific knowledge to make good rational decisions. Energy Efficiency of Vehicles provides information on: Calculations related to energy, power, and efficiency, and the impact of using different types of energy on the environment. Environmental consequences of consuming energy. Models related to impact of city driving on the energy efficiency and fuel economy of cars and trucks.


2020 ◽  
Vol 4 (12) ◽  
pp. 38-42
Author(s):  
N. M. CHAPAEV ◽  

This article assesses the relationship and dependence between the main economic indicators of agricultural enterprises of the Ministry of agriculture of the Republic of Moldova for different years, models of production functions of different types are constructed. The parameters and characteristics for two-factor models expressing the dependence of agricultural production on the number of people employed in agriculture are given.


Water ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 11 (9) ◽  
pp. 1822
Author(s):  
Tingjie Huang ◽  
Yan Lu ◽  
Huaixiang Liu

As a typical waterway modification, the spur dike narrows the water cross section, which increases the flow velocity and flushes the riverbed. Meanwhile, it also protects ecological diversity and improves river habitat. Different types of spur dikes could greatly impact the interaction between flow structure and local geomorphology, which in turn affects the evolution of river aquatic habitats. Four different types of spur dikes—including rock-fill, permeable, w-shaped rock-fill, and w-shaped permeable—were evaluated using flume experiments for spur dike hydrodynamics and fish aggregation effects. Based on Shannon’s entropy, an index for calculating water flow diversity is proposed. Additionally, the impact of the different spur dikes on water flow diversity and the relationship between water flow diversity and fish aggregation effects were studied. The water flow diversity index around the spur dike varied from 1.13 to 2.96. The average aggregation rate of test fish around the spur dike was 5% to 28%, and the attraction effect increased with increasing water flow diversity. Furthermore, we plotted the relationship between water flow diversity index and average fish aggregation rate. A fish hydroacoustic study conducted on the Laohutan fish-bone dike in the Dongliu reach of downstream Yangtze River showed that the fish aggregation effect of the permeable spur dike was greater than the rock-fill spur dike. These research results could provide theoretical support for habitat heterogeneity research and ecologically optimal design of spur dikes.


2019 ◽  
Vol 11 (19) ◽  
pp. 5215 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jolien Grandia ◽  
Dylan Voncken

Public organisations develop sustainable public procurement (SPP) policies to compel suppliers to contribute to societal goals. Studies show that the ability, motivation, and opportunity that procurers have to procure in a sustainable manner affect the uptake of SPP. Most studies into SPP examine these factors only in the context of one type of SPP (e.g., green procurement). The goal of this paper is therefore to examine the relationship between ability, motivation, and opportunity and six types of SPP: (1) green public procurement, (2) social return on investment, (3) circular economy, (4) bio-based public procurement, (5) innovation-oriented public procurement and (6) international social criteria. An online survey was administered amongst procurers working in Dutch public organisations. The research shows that ability, motivation, and opportunity affect Green Public Procurement (GPP). Opportunity did affect green public procurement, innovation-oriented public procurement and circular economy, but not the other types of SPP. We were unable to identify an antecedent of more social types of SPP in this research. This research shows that findings based on GPP cannot be directly generalized to other types of SPP, and that there is a need for research into the antecedents of social types of SPP.


2016 ◽  
Vol 17 (11) ◽  
pp. 2733-2742 ◽  
Author(s):  
Li Liu ◽  
Renhe Zhang ◽  
Zhiyan Zuo

Abstract As important parameters in the land–atmosphere system, both soil moisture (SM) and vegetation play a significant role in land–atmosphere interactions. Using observational data from clay and sand stations over central eastern China, the relationship between leaf area index (LAI) and SM (LAI–SM) in different types of soil was investigated. The results show that the LAI–SM correlation is significantly positive in clay but not significant in sand. The physical causes for the discrepant LAI–SM correlations in different types of soil were explored from the perspectives of evapotranspiration (ET) and soil water retention. In clay stations, increasing LAI is associated with greater soil-water-retention capacity. Although the increasing LAI corresponds to increasing ET, the impact of ET on SM is weak because of the small particle size of soil. Consequently, the LAI–SM relationship in clay is significantly positive. In sand stations, ET is negatively correlated with SM owing to the large soil particle size, resulting in a negative LAI–SM correlation in sand. However, soil water retention is weakened by the increased LAI, which may be an important factor causing the insignificant LAI–SM correlation in sand.


Author(s):  
Bikram Maiti

Present study is a process to find out the effect of internet usage on the academic achievement of adolescents of West Bengal, specifically on the students of Higher Secondary level under the West Bengal Council of Higher Secondary Education. To study the impact thoroughly the investigator divided internet usage into three categories- Educational usage, Communicational usage and Recreational usage. Intending to fetch out the relationship of different types of internet usage with students’ academic achievement as well as the gender difference regarding the internet usage, the researcher formulated some null hypotheses. To go through this study the investigator administered an internet usage questionnaire on 138 class XI students, selected by purposive sampling method from different schools under WBCHSE. Percentage of marks obtained by the adolescents in Madhyamik examination was treated as the academic achievement by them. The investigator used Pearson’s Product Moment Correlation Coefficient and Independent Sample‘t’ test for testing the hypotheses. By the end of the study it was seen that Educational usage and Communicational usage of internet had no effect on their academic achievements, but there was negative effect of Recreational internet usage on their academic achievement. Also, boys and girls differed significantly in respect to their different internet usage.


2020 ◽  
Vol 19 (1) ◽  
pp. 29-45
Author(s):  
Elin Erlina Sasanti ◽  
Susi Retna Cahyaningtyas ◽  
R. Sapto Hendri Boedi Soesatyo

The existence of a global governance agenda requires companies all over the world to get involved in implementing Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). However, previous study showed that corporate involvement in the achievement of SDGs is overall still limited and question on the company motives to disclose SDGs remains unclear. Therefore, the objective of this study is to analyze the association between SDGs disclosures and company values. This study also aimed to analyze the moderating effect of type of industry on the association between SDGs disclosures and company values. Study was conducted on companies listed in IDX, which disclosed SDGs in their Sustainability Reports. The results of this study suggest SDGs disclosures is associated to company value, which confirmed the signaling motives in the involvement of corporate SDGs. The results also showed that different types of industry could weaken the relationship between SDGs disclosure and company values, when associated with high-profile industry companies.


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