Ecological Analyses of Social Sustainability for International Production with Fixed and Moveable Technologies

Mutualism is an ecological concept. Mutualistic relationships are mutually beneficial. However, as found in development geography studies, relationships between different peoples in different parts of the world are often not mutually beneficial. For example, there is lack of mutualism in international production that is dominated by companies that dictate where production is and is not carried out. This lack of mutualism leaves many other countries with little production capacity and persistent widespread unemployment. Thus, international production is not characterized by mutualistic social sustainability. International production has long been framed as being an ecological phenomenon that requires ecological analyses. However, previous social sustainability studies concerned with production have not provided ecological analyses of social sustainability. Rather, previous studies have focused on social theory and related operational practices. By contrast, in this paper, findings are reported from action research concerned with facilitating mutual prosperity growth between a Northern-European country, Finland, and an African fragile state, Somalia. The action research encompassed business development processes and moveable production technologies for mutual prosperity growth between the two countries. Ecological analyses, which were carried out during the action research, are provided of current international production and alternative production with moveable production technologies.

Fine-Tuning the Fight Against Food Waste

The complex causes of consumer food waste make it difficult for commercial actors and public policy makers to develop successful foodwaste reduction campaigns. One of the essential problems is that consumer food waste seems to be the unplanned result of divergent food-related behaviors. The current research investigates the relationship between distinctive consumer food-related lifestyle patterns and food waste. A survey with 848 consumers in a Northern European country (Denmark) suggests that segments of consumers identified by food-related behaviors have corresponding differences in food waste produced. For example, consumers’ food waste varies across different patterns of food-related lifestyle-dimensions, such as 1) cooking enjoyment, 2) food planning, 3) price orientation, 4) social relationships related to meals, and 5) food-safety concerns. The study presents possible macromarketing actions and policies targeting consumer segments to reduce food waste.

Temporary Organizing and Institutional Change

The relationship between the temporary and the permanent is a central issue in studies of temporary organizing. Recent research highlights that projects, as key forms of temporary organizations, both constitute and are constituted by their wider institutional contexts. However, there is still a lack of more detailed understanding of the actors and their activities through which projects produce and advance institutional change. To address this issue, we draw on extensive fieldwork to study the activities that constitute establishment of the Innovation University. This endeavour gained the status of a spearhead project and advanced nationwide university reform in one northern European country. Our central contribution is two-fold. We sediment a more robust approach to institutions within project literature by defining them as widely shared beliefs and practices that actors enact and (re)produce through their various activities. On this basis, we develop a model of an institutional project for regulative change and show that it is more parallel and multiplex and less sequential in nature than existing studies might convey. Our model also creates new understanding of the role of the ‘lock-ins’ shaped by projects to promote regulative change and casts light on the temporal linkages and temporal boundary objects in institutional projects. In closing, we discuss several future avenues for research in both project literature and institutional theory.

Heterogeneity of nutritional habits of Lithuanian ethnolinguistic groups: population-based study

Background. Lithuania is a Northern European country consisting of two main ethnolinguistic groups: Samogitians and Highlanders. The objective of the paper is to investigate differences in nutritional habits of 18–65-year-old Lithuanians living in different ethnolinguistic regions. Materials and methods. A representative, population-based, random sample of the 18–65-year-old ethnic Lithuanian population was interviewed from 17 December 2008 to 20 May 2013. Lithuanians living in their ethnolinguistic region for at least three generations were included (n = 1,133). We analysed responses to 12 questions about nutritional habits of respondents. For the univariate analysis, we applied the chi-squared test. For the clusterisation of the survey questions, we employed a multiple correspondence analysis (MCA). Results. Comparing Samogitians’ and Highlanders’ responses according to their gender, education, and place of residence, we observed more often significant differences (p

Comparing Connecticut and Finland: Teacher Friendly Policies in an Age of Accountability

Educational policy makers across a wide array of settings have made concerted efforts to improve their educational systems by paying close attention to their teaching profession. The state of Connecticut in the north-eastern U.S.A. and the northern European country of Finland are two such jurisdictions. However, unlike most other settings, where low-trust, accountability based policies have been imposed on the teaching profession, Finland and Connecticut’s policies can be considered teacher-friendly. This paper compares the teacher policies implemented in those two settings over the past fifteen years. Given the well-documented link between teacher quality and student achievement, it is worth considering these teacher friendly policies, which shift the focus from high-stakes accountability to improving teachers’ working conditions and the overall prestige of the profession within a supportive policy framework. Les responsables des politiques de l’enseignement public, à travers une rangée étendue de milieux, ont fait conjointement des efforts pour améliorer leurs systèmes d’enseignement en prêtant plus d’attention à la profession de l’enseignement. L’ état de Connecticut dans le Nord-est des États-Unis et la Finlande, pays nordique de l’Europe sont deux de telles juridictions. Cependant, à l’opposé des autres milieux, où une confiance peu élevée et une politique ayant pour base la responsabilité scrutateuse se sont imposées sur la profession de l’enseignement, la Finlande et le Connecticut ont adopté une politique que l’on peut dire amicale envers les enseignants et enseignantes. Cet article compare ces politiques qui ont été mises en cours dans ces deux milieux pendant les quinze dernières années. Etant donné la corrélation bien documentée entre la qualité des instituteurs et institutrices et le résultat accompli des éléves, il vaut bien l’effort de considérer ces politiques amicales aux enseignants et enseignantes. Ces politiques ont remplacé le centre d’attention sur une responsabilité sévère par l’amélioration des conditions de travail des enseignants et ont rétabli le prestige de la profession dans le cadre d’une politique de soutien et d’appui.