scholarly journals How Young Consumers Perceive Vertical Farming in the Nordics. Is the Market Ready for the Coming Boom?

Agronomy ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (11) ◽  
pp. 2128
Author(s):  
Linthujan Perambalam ◽  
Dafni D. Avgoustaki ◽  
Aspasia Efthimiadou ◽  
Yongming Liu ◽  
Ying Wang ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Driving Forces ◽  
Unit Area ◽  
Production Method ◽  
Consumer Acceptance ◽  
Conventional Farming ◽  
Climate Conditions ◽  
The Public ◽  
European Cities ◽  
Vertical Farming ◽  
Willingness To Purchase

Producing food via vertical farming (VF) is an efficient method since it requires less space with increased yield per unit area. Such a system can assist in solving major food-shortage problems since it presents a higher crop yield per unit area compared to conventional farming. Thus, VF can be seen as a production method that can cope with the challenge of the constantly growing population, making it also possible to cultivate crops in regions with adverse climate conditions. However, the public might be concerned about the sustainability of VF systems since plants are produced in an unconventional setting. Therefore, there is a need to consider and evaluate the consumers’ acceptance of VF. The particular study attempts to both analyse consumer acceptance of VF in the Nordic areas and offer insights into VF acceptance among young customers in a comparative analysis. The results indicated that VF is not widely accepted by young Nordic consumers. The concept of sustainability is one of the principles driving forces behind consumer acceptance of vertical farms. The more cases of vertical farms in European cities, the better seems to be the level of acceptance among young customers and their willingness to purchase their products.

scholarly journals Sustainability Matters: Consumer Acceptance of Different Vertical Farming Systems

2019 ◽  
Vol 11 (15) ◽  
pp. 4052 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kristin Jürkenbeck ◽  
Andreas Heumann ◽  
Achim Spiller
Keyword(s):  
Structural Equation ◽  
Online Survey ◽  
Farming Systems ◽  
Farming System ◽  
Growth Conditions ◽  
Consumer Acceptance ◽  
Conventional Farming ◽  
Vertical Farming ◽  
The One ◽  
Global Population

Fresh produce within vertical farming systems grows vertically in different layers stacked atop each other, thus allowing for the efficient use of space. As the environment in vertical farming systems is completely controlled, neither sunlight nor soil is necessary. On the one hand, vertical farming may help to provide a healthy diet for the growing global population because it has a greater crop yield per square meter used than conventional farming; moreover, it can offer the opportunity to grow food in climatically disadvantaged areas. On the other hand, growth conditions may be perceived as unnatural and the entire vertical farming system as unsustainable. Therefore, understanding the consumers’ acceptance of vertical farming systems is important. This study is the first work to provide insights into consumers’ acceptance of three different vertical farming systems. Data are collected through an online survey of 482 consumers in Germany in February 2018. Drivers of consumer acceptance of vertical farming systems are identified through structural equation modelling. The results indicate that perceived sustainability is the major driver of consumer acceptance of vertical farming systems. The larger the system, the higher the likelihood that it will be considered as sustainable. Obviously, consumers perceive something like ecologies of scale.

scholarly journals Developments and Trends of Mergers and Acquisitions in the Energy Industry

Energies ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 14 (8) ◽  
pp. 2158
Author(s):  
Karolis Andriuškevičius ◽  
Dalia Štreimikienė
Keyword(s):  
Mergers And Acquisitions ◽  
Cost Reduction ◽  
Driving Forces ◽  
Energy Industry ◽  
Business Climate ◽  
Climate Conditions ◽  
Thomson Reuters ◽  
Green Development ◽  
Energy Companies ◽  
Political Economic

Developments, trends, business climate, conditions, factors influencing the efficiency and results of mergers and acquisitions (M&A) in the energy sector are explored in this research. PESTLE (political, economic, social, technological, legal, environmental) analysis was performed in order to determine the driving forces of M&As in the energy industry. Considering the motivation and main questions of the study, a sample of global M&A deals that have occurred during the period 1995–2020 has been analyzed. DataStream 5.1 database by Thomson Reuters was employed to identify the sample of global energy companies that took over another company in the period 1995–2020. According to the research, while the role and presence of M&As in the energy industry are increasing, the purpose of the M&A deals has changed remarkably. During 1995–2010, most M&A events were conducted in order to explore synergies and benefit from cost reduction. Since the last decade, firms are pursuing M&As in the search of growth opportunities, ensuring supply and reflecting demand for green development of ecological environment and ongoing changes in the nature of energy.

Multicultural Clientelism and Alevi Resurgence in the Turkish Diaspora: Berlin Alevis

1998 ◽  
Vol 18 ◽  
pp. 23-49 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ayhan Kaya
Keyword(s):  
Public Sphere ◽  
Driving Forces ◽  
Institutional Structure ◽  
The Public ◽  
The Public Sphere

This paper will concentrate primarily on the current Alevi resurgence in Berlin. While exposing the principal driving forces behind the resurgence of Alevism, three crucial aspects will be underlined. Firstly, it will be argued that Alevi resurgence in Berlin partly derives from the institutional structure of Berlin, which has “minoritised” and ethnicised Alevis in time through Ausländergesetz (Foreigners’ Law) and an ideology of multiculturalism. Secondly, it will be claimed that this ethnic revival leading to the construction of a community discourse among Alevis also springs from Alevis’ attempt to speak from the margin in a way that could reverberate more in the public sphere. Finally, the radicalising momentum, which Alevi revivalism in the diaspora context has recently gained, will be touched upon in relation to Sivas and Gazi Mahallesi incidences in Turkey.

TECHNOLOGY ADOPTION AND ADAPTATION TO CLIMATE CHANGE — A CASE-BASED APPROACH

2012 ◽  
Vol 03 (02) ◽  
pp. 1250007 ◽  
Author(s):  
JÜRGEN EICHBERGER ◽  
ANI GUERDJIKOVA
Keyword(s):  
New Technologies ◽  
New Technology ◽  
Relevant Information ◽  
Adaptation To Climate Change ◽  
Climate Conditions ◽  
Technology Learning ◽  
The Public ◽  
Additional Information ◽  
Technological Adaptation ◽  
Long Run

We present a model of technological adaptation in response to a change in climate conditions. The main feature of the model is that new technologies are not just risky, but also ambiguous. Pessimistic agents are thus averse to adopting a new technology. Learning is induced by optimists, who are willing to try out technologies about which there is little evidence available. We show that both optimists and pessimists are crucial for a successful adaptation. While optimists provide the public good of information which gives pessimists an incentive to innovate, pessimists choose the new technology persistently in the long-run which increases the average returns for the society. Hence, the optimal share of optimists in the society is strictly positive. When the share of optimists in the society is too low, innovation is slow and the obtained steady-state is inefficient. We discuss two policies which can potentially alleviate this inefficiency: Subsidies and provision of additional information. We show that if precise and relevant information is available, pessimists would be willing to pay for it and consequently adopt the new technology. Hence, providing information might be a more efficient policy, which is both self-financing and results in better social outcomes.

scholarly journals The Managerial Dimension of Open Data Success: Focusing on the Open Data Initiatives in Korean Local Governments

2019 ◽  
Vol 11 (23) ◽  
pp. 6758 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kim ◽  
Eom
Keyword(s):  
Organizational Performance ◽  
Local Governments ◽  
Driving Forces ◽  
Open Data ◽  
Technological Determinism ◽  
The Public ◽  
Open Government Data ◽  
Government Data ◽  
Public And Private Sector ◽  
Resource Based Theory

Open government data (open data) initiatives have been at the forefront of the strategy to make more transparent, responsive, and accountable government, and thereby lead to open innovation across the public and private sector. Governments around the world often understand that open data is disclosing their data to the public as much as possible and that open data success is the result of a data and technology-related endeavor rather than the result of organizational, institutional, and environmental attributes. According to the resource-based theory, however, managerial capability to mobilize tangible and intangible resources and deploy them in adequate places or processes under the leadership of capable leaders during the information technology (IT) project is a core factor leading to organizational performance such as open data success. In this vein, this study aims to analyze managerial factors as drivers and challenges of open data success from the resource-based theory. Findings illustrate that managerial factors are the driving forces that often boost or hinder open data success when institutional, socio-economic, and demographic factors are controlled. Discussion illustrates theoretical and practical implications for the managerial factors as drivers and challenges of open data success in terms of the comparison between technological determinism and the socio-technical perspective.

scholarly journals ANALYSIS OF FACTORS INFLUENCING REPORTED HOUSING MAINTENANCE COSTS IN SWEDEN’S PUBLIC AND PRIVATE RENTAL SECTORS

2017 ◽  
Vol 21 (3) ◽  
pp. 284-295 ◽  
Author(s):  
Henry Gonza MUYINGO
Keyword(s):  
Large Scale ◽  
Unit Area ◽  
Panel Data Analysis ◽  
Rental Housing ◽  
Public And Private ◽  
Public Companies ◽  
Maintenance Costs ◽  
The Public ◽  
Public Rental Housing ◽  
Private And Public

The reported maintenance costs per unit area within the public rental housing sector in Sweden are consistently higher than those within the private rental sector. This paper uses crosssectional panel data analysis as well as a questionnaire survey sent to 196 managers in the private and public housing sectors to identify the factors that might explain this divergence. The findings indicate that “fundamental” factors such as the age of the houses or the composition of the tenants cannot explain the observed difference. However how the activities are classified and the timing of the measures are factors that can. The conclusions from the study are that the public companies should act more as the private sector in their accounting; wait longer than they currently do before carrying out some renovations; and that they should be more stringent when determining the resources to spend on large-scale maintenance and/or renovation projects.

scholarly journals Vertical farming increases lettuce yield per unit area compared to conventional horizontal hydroponics

2016 ◽  
Vol 5 (3) ◽  
pp. 184-191 ◽  
Author(s):  
Dionysios Touliatos ◽  
Ian C. Dodd ◽  
Martin McAinsh
Keyword(s):  
Unit Area ◽  
Vertical Farming ◽  
Lettuce Yield

Introduction

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yi-min Lin
Keyword(s):  
Public Sector ◽  
Institutional Change ◽  
Driving Forces ◽  
Budget Constraint ◽  
Private Ownership ◽  
Public Enterprises ◽  
Political Actors ◽  
The Public ◽  
Causal Mechanisms ◽  
Fiscal System

This chapter lays out the basic argument of the book: the ascent of private ownership in China is largely due to the inability of the public sector to address two fundamental concerns for regime survival—employment and revenue. The chapter includes three sections. First, based on a review and synthesis of existing theories, it develops an eclectic perspective on institutional change. Second, it offers a critique of three views on the driving forces of privatization in the post-Mao era: the entrepreneurship thesis, the budget constraint thesis, and the FDI thesis. Third, it outlines a new explanation for the causal mechanisms at work. The focus of analysis centers on the behavior of political actors, with an emphasis on the importance of demographics and the state’s evolving fiscal system for understanding how and why political actors have turned from the stewards of public enterprises into a major contributing force to their destruction.

scholarly journals Increasing the Public Pension Age: Employers’ Concerns and Policy Preferences

2019 ◽  
Vol 5 (3) ◽  
pp. 255-263 ◽  
Author(s):  
Hendrik P van Dalen ◽  
Kène Henkens ◽  
Jaap Oude Mulders
Keyword(s):  
Life Expectancy ◽  
Older Workers ◽  
Driving Forces ◽  
Pension Reform ◽  
Public Pension ◽  
Average Life ◽  
Average Life Expectancy ◽  
The Public ◽  
Policy Debates ◽  
Pension Age

Abstract Governments increasingly focus on extending working lives by raising public pension ages and in some cases by linking pension ages to changes in the life expectancy. This study offers novel insights into how employers perceive such reforms and their consequences for their organization. A survey among employers (N = 1,208) has been carried out in 2017 to examine their reactions to a recent pension reform in the Netherlands. Statistical analyses are performed to examine employers’ support for the current policy of linking the public pension age to changes in average life expectancy, as well as the support for 2 alternative policies that are often considered in public policy debates: a flexible public pension age; and a lower public pension age for workers in physically demanding jobs. Results show that particularly employers in construction and industry are extremely concerned about the physical capability of employees to keep on working until the public pension age. These concerns are the driving forces behind the lack of support for linking public pension ages to changes in average life expectancy (22% support) and the overwhelming support for a lower public pension age for physically demanding jobs (82%). The introduction of a flexible pension age (78% support) is not firmly related to employers’ concerns about capability or employability of older workers.

Information and Communication Technology Policy in European Cities: A Comparative Approach

2002 ◽  
Vol 29 (5) ◽  
pp. 729-755 ◽  
Author(s):  
Galit Cohen ◽  
Peter Nijkamp
Keyword(s):  
Information And Communication Technology ◽  
Communication Technology ◽  
Technology Policy ◽  
Driving Forces ◽  
Qualitative Content Analysis ◽  
Comparative Approach ◽  
European Cities ◽  
Wide Range ◽  
Information And Communication ◽  
The Way

Information and communication technology (ICT) is widely accepted as a potentially favourable set of instruments, which may improve the welfare and competitiveness of nations and cities. Nowadays, both public and private actors aim to exploit the expected benefits of ICT developments. The authors seek to investigate the potential of ICT use at an urban level and, in particular, to shed more light on various factors that influence urban ICT policies in the public domain. First, a conceptual framework, designed to improve understanding of the driving forces of urban ICT policies, is outlined. It focuses on the way decisionmakers perceive their city, and shape their opinions about ICT; it addresses in particular the way these decisionmakers evaluate the importance of ICT for their city. Next, interviews with urban decisionmakers in different European cities in three countries (Austria, Spain, and the Netherlands) are used to analyse the complex relationship between perceived urban characteristics (for example, nature of problems and urban image), personal attitudes towards ICT, administrative features of the cities concerned, and perceptions of the relevance of ICT to the cities. The authors' main focus is on the identification of a possible systematic relationship between the aforementioned explanatory factors and urban decisionmakers' attitudes towards ICT policies. Understanding the decisionmakers' perceptions is an important step towards grasping the nature and substance of the policy itself, and may explain some of the variance among different cities. Because the ‘urban ICT’ discourse is still relatively new, an open-interview method is used to capture a variety of different views and perceptions on ICT and on the information age in the city. With the aid of qualitative content analysis, the interview results are transformed into a more systematic and comparable form. The results suggest that even interviewees from the same city may have a different understanding of their urban reality whereas, on the other hand, cities with different characteristics may appear to suffer from similar problems. Moreover, the authors found a wide range of attitudes toward ICT and its expected social impacts, although most of the interviewees appeared to be more sceptical than had been expected. The authors identified a clear need for a more thorough investigation of background factors and, therefore an approach originating from the field of artificial intelligence—rough-set analysis—was deployed to offer a more rigorous analysis. This approach helped in the characterisation and understanding of perceptions and attitudes regarding urban policies, problems, and images.

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