Why does Organizational Performance Fluctuate in Agricultural Industrialization Consortia: A Study Based on Dual Paradox in Development and Institution

Agricultural industrialization consortium is a key policy tool to promote agricultural development for local governments in China. However, a stylized fact is that various consortia showed promising organizational performance at start, but then the performance deteriorated at later stages. The driving force behind is the dual paradox inherent in development and institution. The consortium is overly development oriented; yet as an institution it cannot adapt to the strong development impulses. Case studies show that the dual paradox inevitably led to the decline in organizational performance.

The Influence of the Configuration Effect of Social Capital and Knowledge Absorptive Capacity on the Cooperation Intensity of Cooperatives Participating in Agricultural Industrialization Consortia

Agricultural industrialization consortia fully realize the organizational advantages of division of labor, risk sharing, and benefit sharing, which mainly rely on close cooperation of members under integrated governance, but the current influence mechanism on the intensity of cooperation is yet to be explored in depth. Using 40 member cooperatives of agricultural industrialization consortia in Sichuan Province as research samples, this paper explores the mechanism by which the configuration effects of five conditional factors at the levels of social capital and knowledge absorptive capacity can generate different cooperative intensity of cooperative participation in consortia using fuzzy set qualitative comparative analysis. It was found that (1) the driving mechanism of high cooperative intensity of cooperatives was divided into three paths; (2) the driving mechanism of non-high cooperative intensity of cooperatives was divided into two paths and had an asymmetric relationship with the driving mechanism of high cooperative intensity of cooperatives. The findings of this paper help to expand the research perspective on cooperative intensity at the level of social capital and knowledge absorptive capacity configuration, and provide useful insights for improving the cooperative intensity of cooperative participation in consortia and the cooperative tightness among consortium members.

The influence of the sex and height at the withers on pelvis size of donkeys in Austria

During the recent decades, the donkey, as an ever-employed labour animal, is slowly but steadily losing its value. The agricultural industrialization, mechanization of many processes at the mountain and valley farms led to rejection of the donkeys as a livestock. This reduction in donkey numbers evokes some concerns. This fact is a good reason to study all aspects of these domestic animals, in order to revive their role and to restart their livestock growth in the familiar habitat, and bring them into the new environmental conditions. For the recent research, 35 donkeys (23 males and 12 females) were chosen. All animals lived on Styria terrain in Austria. The following morphometric parameters were analysed: height at the withers (VG), pelvis length (DK), pelvis width (SK), and point of buttock width (SSK). For the males, the average height at the withers was 116.70 cm and the average pelvis length – 40.13 cm. The average pelvis width was 38.56 cm, and the average point of buttock width – 16.39 cm. For the females the average height at the withers was 101.48 cm, the average pelvis length – 36.00 cm, pelvis width was 35.41 cm. The average point of buttock width was 13.66 cm. These measurements show the influence of the height at the withers on the development of the pelvis, particularly on its width and height for both males and females. Comparatively to other donkey populations of the world, the Austrian donkey has an average size.