Ecologically Intermediate and Economically Final: The Role of the Ecosystem Services Framework in Measuring Sustainability in Agri-Food Systems

Ecosystem services can be defined as the ecosystem’s contribution to human activities. According to recent assessments, the agricultural sector is one of the most important economic users of ecosystem services in Europe. To assess, value, and account for ecosystem services related to the agri-food system offers the possibility to measure and investigate how agricultural management practices together with changing environmental conditions can affect ecological resilience. However, the accounting of ecosystem services’ flows needs to be carefully addressed, because the overlapping of services and benefits and the overlapping of what are considered intermediate and final services could create dangerous misunderstandings about the role and importance of ecosystem services in agriculture. This paper reports on the possible accounting approaches that can be used to assess crop provision, as well as their meanings and implications from an ecological to an economic perspective. The results demonstrate that an economic accounting-based assessment of ecosystem services needs to move from an ecological holistic view to a one-by-one disaggregation of ecosystem services in order to avoid underestimates that would ultimately affect the policy perception of the role of ecosystems with respect to the agri-food systems’ resilience.

THE MARKET STRUCTURE: ANALYSIS OF APPROACHES APPLICABLE TO THE RUSSIAN MARKET

Статья посвящена проблеме интеграции методологии анализа трансакционных издержек в общий анализ сделок по слияниям и поглощениям компаний. В условиях усиливающейся конкуренции на международном рынке наукоемких технологий, в целях экономии времени крупные компании вынуждены приобретать сложившиеся коллективы высококвалифицированных специалистов через слияния и поглощения. Однако такая процедура характеризуется высоким порогом экономически неэффективных сделок, что снижает конкурентоспособность всей отрасли. Целью исследования является анализ критериев оценки эффективности стратегии M&A. Научная новизна заключается в синтезе институционального и бухгалтерского подходов, позволяющего сделать вывод, что слияние и поглощение компаний является не просто переходом работников или имущества из одной фирмы в другую, это еще и изменение трансакций, а значит и трансакционных издержек, анализ которых в подавляющем большинстве вымывается при исследовании таких сделок. The article is devoted to the problem of integrating the methodology of analysis of transaction costs into the general analysis of mergers and acquisitions of companies. In the face of increasing competition in the international market for knowledge-intensive technologies, in order to save time, large companies are forced to acquire established teams of highly qualified specialists through mergers and acquisitions. However, this procedure is characterized by a high threshold of economically inefficient transactions, which reduces the competitiveness of the entire industry. The purpose of the study is to analyze the criteria for evaluating the effectiveness of the M & A strategy. The scientific novelty lies in the synthesis of institutional and accounting approaches, which make it possible to conclude that the merger and takeover of companies is not just a transfer of workers or property from one firm to another, it is also a change in transactions, and therefore transaction costs, the analysis of which is overwhelmingly washed out when studying such transactions.

Water accounting for water management at the river basin scale in India: approaches and gaps

The main objective of this research paper is to assess the extent to which the concept of water accounting has been applied for water management at the river basin scale in India. For this, the study first assesses the importance given to the use of water accounting for water management in India's national water policy. It then analyses the evolution of water accounting approaches in India through a systematic review of the past research studies on the theme. Further, it looks at their contribution to decision-making concerning allocation of water resources and resolving conflicts over water sharing. Finally, it identifies the existing gaps in the methodologies for water accounting so far used in India.

The Accounting Practices and Environmental Agenda in the Malaysia Airports

The environmental agenda is a big thoughts by the United Nations especially to the aviation business due to its high regulated industry involve. Malaysia is one of the member states and this agenda should be implemented by the airport business. More or less this environmental agenda will influence the accounting practices among Malaysia airports especially in terms of cost and budget allocation. The Malaysia airports have the awareness to implement this environmental practices, however, in which way this practice being implemented and how far it will impact to the accounting approach still being question. Therefore, this study seek to examine the way in which the environmental agenda influences the accounting practices in the Malaysia airports. The data collected in this study are through interviewing the East Malaysia Airports with nine personnel altogether. The observation also take place by visiting the environmental project in the airports. The data then been analyzed by using thematic approach. Underlying to the social capital theory, it is found that Malaysia airports have implemented the environmental practices based on the level of needed and budget that they have. Then, this environmental practices shapes the accounting approaches in terms of budget and cost allocation of the East Malaysia airports.