International Open Innovation Strategies of Firms in European Peripheral Regions

The involvement of companies in different open innovation activities, through knowledge outputs and inputs, has become increasingly important for the success of companies. However, the existing literature on open innovation is scarce concerning the internationalization process of companies. The internationalization of companies is fundamental in the continuous search to increase the performance of companies externally. The objective of the present research is to explain the strategic processes in the internationalization of companies located in peripheral regions at the time of the COVID-19 pandemic from the perspective of dynamic capabilities. The sample used for this research is composed of seven Portuguese companies. The methodology of qualitative nature is exploratory and uses a case study approach. Regarding the foremost modes of operation in international markets and strategies, we find that (1) companies have partnerships with local distributors or appoint exclusive importers/distributors, and (2) companies prefer to place their products in the market through their brand, “co-branded” projects with retailers, or “private label” projects. Of the seven companies under study, six use a standardization strategy, and one opts for a configuration-coordination strategy. Our findings clarified the literature on export and internationalization strategies in a peripheral country, allowing a closer incept of the organizational and dynamic capabilities and an overview of the supporting tools these companies have to compete in the global market. Our study is original because few articles study the internationalization strategies of companies at the time of the COVID-19 pandemic and in peripheral regions of Europe.

Impact of Imperial Discourses on Changing Subjectivities in Core and Periphery: A Study of British India and British Nigeria

Eurocentric imperialism incorporated the non-European geographical region in the economic and political milieu of Europe and made the world a global whole. To Mitchel Foucault, the process started with endo-colonization of European people and advent of rational governance exercises experimented first in European states and later exported to non-western regions. The study aims to analyze the different outcomes of European governmentality in European core and non-European periphery and changing subjectivities and cognitions in non-European world with ruptures accompanied by European modernity. The theoretical frame and conceptual toolkit of Archaeology/Genealogy, Governmentality, Power/knowledge etc. are borrowed from Michel Foucault the postmodern historian of ideas. For analytical purpose, the concept of Archeological historicity is linked with World System approach as employed by Lenin and Immanuel Wallerstein. The analytical scheme is to describe events in longue durée from sixteenth century; record shifts in the core Europe, and parallel shifts in peripheral colonial/postcolonial world, to understand the material and discursive conditions of existence. The finding of research is that events and processes lead to different outcomes in core and periphery. A two-level comparison is made: the comparison of European Core with two peripheral regions, i.e., British India and British Nigeria and comparison of two peripheral regions incorporated in the world system as reservoirs of raw material and market

Local Employment Development and Sustainable Labour Market in Northern Hungary Since the Regime Change

The peripheral regions of Hungary, such as the Northern Hungarian region and its settlements, are facing a variety of problems and challenges, and in addition to economic difficulties, demographic and labour market challenges also demand increased attention and solutions. Since the change of regime, the region has been facing economic and labour market difficulties. The current labour market faces a combination of labour shortages, automation and robotisation, rapidly changing conditions and high unemployment. In most peripheral regions, the availability of labour resources to meet the needs of the primary labour market is very limited and local labour markets are completely depleted. The unemployed lack skills and experience. The aim of the study is to provide an overview of labour market developments in the Northern Hungarian region since the change of regime and to describe successful local developments. Addressing the situation requires local, municipal-level solutions, which is a real challenge, as there is no single recipe. Local development can and should be built on a toolbox of local development, as solutions based on local resources, local ‘heroes’, local control and local ideas can be successful. The paper describes such successful local development.

DEPOPULATION IN PERIPHERAL REGIONS OF EASTERN POLAND – DETERMINANTS AND CONSEQUENCES

The study examines demographic processes and the resulting challenges for the development of areas at risk of depopulation. The research covered regions defined as NUTS 2 in European Union nomenclature and classified as the Eastern Poland Macroregion in Polish regional policy. This macroregion is counted among the peripheral regions of Poland. The demographic processes taking place within these regions, and especially in many local administrative units (LAU 2), point to a threat of depopulation. The scope of the detailed study is from 2010 to 2020. Descriptive, tabular and graphical methods, as well as demographic projections until 2040 were used to analyse and present the materials for the analysed provinces. It was found that unfavourable demographic processes are intensifying and pose a threat to socio-economic development, especially for the peripheral rural communes of these regions. Progressing decline in fertility, increasing life expectancy, as well as intensified migration processes lead to unfavourable changes in the population structure, and, in the long run, to depopulation, which will undoubtedly multiply economic and social problems in these regions.

Rural Versus Urban Variations on the Factors Associated with Early Initiation of Breastfeeding in Ethiopia.

Background: Early initiation of breastfeeding (EIBF) is defined as starting breastfeeding within the first hour of birth. It has clinical importance to reduce neonatal morbidity and mortality. Previously studies have been conducted in Ethiopia to identify factors associated with EIBF. However, those studies hadn’t investigated the variation of factors within rural versus urban populations. Therefore, this study is aimed to investigate the differences in factors associated with the early initiation of breastfeeding in rural-urban populations.Methods: This study was used Ethiopian Demographic and Health Survey data, 2016. A total of 3662 children aged less than 24 months were included in the study. Thus,2897 children were disaggregated into rural and the rest 765 of them were into urban. A multivariable logistic regression model was fitted to identify the determinant of EIBF. Finally, a statistically significant association was declared at a p-value of ≤0.05.Results: In rural populations, the study found that the age of mothers 15-24 years (AOR=1.50, 95%CI: 1.13,2.00), mothers not working (AOR=1.38,95%CI: 1.12,1.69), large birth size (AOR=1.44,95%CI:1.12,1.85), and participation of mothers in making health care decisions (AOR=1.43, 95%CI: 1.17,1.75) were positively associated with EIBF. Rural mothers having ≤2 children(AOR=0.55,95%CI: 0.45,0.67), living in larger to center regions (AOR=0.13,95%CI: 0.06, 0.27), and small peripheral regions (AOR=0.12,95%CI:0.06, 0.24) were negatively associated with EIBF. Irrespective of residence, the odds of EIBF were higher in vaginal delivery (RuralAOR= 4.38,95%CI:1.81,10.59; urban AOR= 3.19,95%CI:1.86, 5.48 ).In the urban population, having frequent ANC follow-ups was associated with a higher odds of EIBF.Conclusions: The study concludes that the age of mothers, working status of mothers, birth sizes, mothers participation in making health care decisions, numbers of children in the households, living in large to center regions and small peripheral regions were determinants of early initiation of breastfeeding, only rural residence. Mode of delivery was associated with EIBF, Irrespective of the residence. In the urban population, having frequent ANC follow-ups was associated with a higher odds of EIBF. Special emphases to mothers living in rural large to center and small peripheral regions should be given. Regardless of the residence, appropriate guidance and supports should be given for babies delivered through cesarean section.

Food Self-Provisioning in the Czech Republic – A Comparison of Suburban and Peripheral Regions of Rural South Moravia

The Czech Republic ranks among the countries with a strong tradition of home food self-provisioning. In this article, we focused our attention specifically to the traditional and frequently neglected phenomenon of rural self-provisioning while newly introducing a data-based analysis of the phenomenon in two areas, i.e., suburbs and peripheries of the South Moravian region. Unlike the research carried out in the CR or EU to date, our survey aims exclusively at the analysis of households with access to land, which allow a more detailed scrutiny of growing a wide range of commodities, the attitudes to it and its perspectives. The results of the field study carried out in 178 rural households in two types of South Moravian regions (suburban and peripheral) from 2017 show the regional differences in food self-provisioning. They also contribute to a better understanding of a phenomenon whose variability within a rural territory is quite known a little. Even though the suburban and peripheral regions have very comparable natural conditions and opportunities of growing crops (a similar type of estate, nearly the same size of the gardens surveyed), we can observe rather remarkable differences, especially in the extent of the areas being farmed and in the scale of breeding domesticated animals (work demanding activities). Compared to that, only negligible differences were found in growing commodities demanding less work (fruit and tomato growing). The identified differences in attitudes to self-provisioning in the observed regions (depending on the varied types of population in the regions) allow for analysing the perspectives of particular self-provisioning activities both in South Moravia and the CR on the whole.

Աքեմենյան կառավարման կարգերի ժառանգորդները

The administration orders and structures of the Parthian and Sasanian powers are almost exactly repeating the models of Achaemenid governance. Various evidence and facts have been preserved about that, especially about the Sasanian power. According to them, this power was divided into five administrative-territorial units with “Center + 4 peripheral regions” principle. This structure corresponded to the Sasanian system of territorial administration, which had the “king of kings + 4 viceroys/spahbeds” model. The prototypes of such administration systems with the “1 + 4” model are known from Elam and Sumer. The territorial structure and administration system of Greater Armenia had the same model.

BEATING BROKE BY GETTING OUT? EXAMINING THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN PERSONAL DEBT AND COMMUNITY-OUTMIGRATION

Scholarship on young people’s geographical mobilities tells us that young adults move away from their childhood communities for a complex mix of economic “push-pull” reasons, including relationships, aspirations, attachments to place, identity, and belonging. In this abundant research, particularly that which focuses on youth outmigration from rural and peripheral communities, there is surprisingly little attention paid to an issue that is top-of-mind for many young adults today: personal debt. In this paper, we draw insights from extant literature on youth mobilities to make the case for a greater examination of the role of personal debt in young people’s migration decisions. We hypothesize that youth and debt increase a person’s likelihood of moving away from peripheral regions. We test this hypothesis using data from a 2019 survey of Atlantic Canadians and find some support for it, and some interesting nuance, suggesting that there is good reason to examine debt’s role in youth mobilities in greater detail.