More Bang for Their Buck: Why (and When) Family Firms Better Leverage Corporate Social Responsibility

Family firms take different strategic actions because of their desire to grow and preserve socioemotional wealth (SEW), but pursuing SEW also generates what we call SEW resources that deliver advantages in certain contexts. We develop and test this idea with respect to corporate social responsibility (CSR). We theorize that SEW resources such as reputation, strong stakeholder relationships, and long-term orientation help family firms better leverage symbolic CSR to enhance short-term firm performance and better leverage substantive CSR to enhance long-term firm performance. Regression analyses on a 20-year panel of S& P 500 firms provide supportive evidence. Findings indicate that family firms not only “do it differently” to preserve SEW; they sometimes “do it better” because of SEW.

Business competitiveness and its impact on organizational performance in MSMEs

The objective of the research is to analyze business competitiveness and its impact on the organizational performance of small and medium-sized enterprises in the province of Santa Elena; to meet the research objective, a survey was applied to 316 companies. The results show that 58% of MSMEs do not employ sustainable competitiveness strategies; therefore, the MCEM - 2021 metamodel was designed, which aims to strengthen business sustainability through the implementation of strategic actions that contribute to two dimensions: administrative management and organizational performance.

Tacking into the Wind: How Women Entrepreneurs can Sail Through Family-to-Work Conflict to Ensure their Firms’ Entrepreneurial Orientation

When women entrepreneurs experience family-to-work conflict, it may discourage them from adopting an entrepreneurial orientation, an effect mediated by work-related emotional exhaustion and moderated by both family-to-work enrichment and family support at home. According to survey data collected among women entrepreneurs in Ghana, negative interferences of family with work can steer women entrepreneurs away from adopting an entrepreneurial orientation for their company, largely because they feel emotionally overextended by their work. However, enrichment of their work, attained through family involvement, can buffer this detrimental effect. The buffering role of family-to-work enrichment in turn is particularly effective when women entrepreneurs receive help on household tasks from other family members. This study accordingly identifies a key mechanism by which family-induced work strain can hamper bold strategic actions by women entrepreneurs—because they feel emotionally drained at work—and details when this mechanism is less prominent, namely, in the presence of relevant family resources.

Whole genome sequencing and characteristics of Escherichia coli with co-existence of ESBL and mcr genes from pigs

This study aimed to analyze three ESBL-producing E. coli co-harboring mcr and ESBL genes from a healthy fattening pig (E. 431) and two sick pigs (ECP.81 and ECP.82) in Thailand using Whole Genome Sequencing (WGS) using either Illumina MiSeq or HiSeq PE150 platforms to determine their genome and transmissible plasmids. E. 431 carrying mcr-2.1 and mcr-3.1 belonged to serotype O142:H31 with ST29 sequence type. ECP.81 and ECP.82 from sick pigs harboring mcr-1.1 and mcr-3.1 were serotype O9:H9 with ST10. Two mcr-1.1 gene cassettes from ECP.81 and ECP.82 were located on IncI2 plasmid with 98% identity to plasmid pHNSHP45. The mcr-2.1-carrying contig in E. 431 showed 100% identity to plasmid pKP37-BE with the upstream flanking sequence of IS1595. All three mcr-3.1-carrying contigs contained the ΔTnAs2-mcr-3.1-dgkA core segment and had high nucleotide similarity (85–100%) to mcr-3.1-carrying plasmid, pWJ1. The mobile elements i.e. IS4321, ΔTnAs2, ISKpn40 and IS3 were identified in the flanking regions of mcr-3. Several genes conferring resistance to aminoglycosides (aac(3)-IIa, aadA1, aadA2b, aph(3’’)-Ib, aph(3’)-IIa and aph(6)-Id), macrolides (mdf(A)), phenicols (cmlA1), sulphonamide (sul3) and tetracycline (tet(A) and tet(M)) were located on plasmids, of which their presence was well corresponded to the host’s resistance phenotype. Amino acid substitutions S83L and D87G in GyrA and S80I and E62K in ParC were observed. The blaCTX-M-14 and blaCTX-M-55 genes were identified among these isolates additionally harbored blaTEM-1B. Co-transfer of mcr-1.1/blaTEM-1B and mcr-3.1/blaCTX-M-55 was observed in ECP.81 and ECP.82 but not located on the same plasmid. The results highlighted that application of advanced innovation technology of WGS in AMR monitoring and surveillance provide comprehensive information of AMR genotype that could yield invaluable benefits to development of control and prevention strategic actions plan for AMR.

EVOLUTION OF LEGAL REGULATION OF SERVICES OF GENERAL ECONOMIC INTEREST IN UKRAINE

The purpose of the article is to show in the historical development the formation of the institute of services of general economic interest (SGEI) in the Ukrainian legal tradition under the influence of European integration strategic actions. One of such actions is the harmonization of Ukrainian legislation with the law of the European Union. SGEI, in the context of another "legal novelty" for Ukraine as state aid as part of competition law, have changed the existing approaches to the distribution of already known subsidies and grants. A set of new rules forced the state authorities to adhere to clear rules, failure to comply with which is fraught with real sanctions. In the course of the study, it was revealed that the institute of SGEI has already found its reflection and practice in the Ukrainian legal system. But at the same time, all norms of legislation on services of general economic interest do not correspond to the practice of the EU, and legislative changes are necessary to launch reforms in this area.

The Appearance of Nothingness

Unexceptional by definition, the natural appearance of everyday life is not a matter of conscious awareness, let alone deliberate calculation, but an uneventful background against which, ordinarily, nothing special seems to happen. This feeling that nothing is going on, however, may be intentionally elicited (i.e., preserved) and used for instrumental purposes, through strategic actions that dissemble themselves to better affect their target. In this view, this chapter elaborates the concept of concealed strategic actions (CSA), actions that are not experienced as such by the observer and are designed to be so. Somewhat oversuspicious, this idea can be traced back to the work of Goffman on fabrications, normal appearances, and the difference between expressed versus transmitted information. CSA’s current relevance, more practically speaking, is shown by the extensive use in policy making of default options, which are interpreted here as a consequential form of interventions that do not feel as interventions at all. Though CSAs can backfire and are, indeed, inherently obsolescent, their ambition to deploy a reactance-proof strategy seems intriguing from an interactionist perspective, highlighting the nexus among intentions, actions, and reactions—something to eagerly inspect for an expansive symbolic interactionism.

Conceptualizing Humane Buying and Its Role in Reducing Rural Farmers’ Vulnerability in a Post-Pandemic Era

While several studies have examined the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic on smallholder rural farmers and possible efforts to scale up their livelihood and food security, the role of consumers’ buying orientation in addressing farmers’ vulnerability in the post-pandemic era has not been explored. The paper, therefore, aims to propose and conceptualize humane buying orientation, and further explore its role in attenuating smallholder rural farmers’ vulnerability in the new normal. The qualitative design approach has been employed in two different studies. Collected data were analyzed using the SPSS 23.0 and following the interpretative phenomenological analysis. Findings validate humane buying as an altruistic orientation that will contribute to lessening the vulnerability of smallholder rural farmers in the post-pandemic era. It also shows that an enlarged-stakeholders’ (government, international agencies, corporate bodies, institutions, privileged individuals/consumers, religious organizations, etc.) effort that is rooted in morality and empathy, is required to successfully tackle the vulnerability of smallholder rural farmers, especially in developing countries such as Nigeria. The study is the first to propose, conceptualize and validate humane buying as a post-Covid-19 orientation that is capable of attenuating the vulnerability of smallholder rural farmers which has been worsened by the pandemic. The paper contributes to the understanding of emerging strategic actions required for the attainment of the United Nation’s sustainable development goals - ending poverty and hunger by 2030, and how consumers can play a key role.

The spatial degradation of Riceland and farmers perception of its causal factors and strategic adaptations

Deli Serdang District is among the highest rice producer districts in North Sumatera Province. Unfortunately, climate change and improper cultivation management practices degrade riceland fertility and affect stagnant rice productivity over the years. This study aims to identify the spatial pattern of the limited-factors for riceland suitability and determine land degradation factors and the strategic actions to increase rice production. This study was conducted in 2019 in six districts and interviewed sixty farmers for getting information about riceland degradation issue. The field survey, soil analysis and household-based survey are some methods implemented in this study. The two tools, ArcGIS and SPSS, were used to gain the purposes of the research. The results show that the low status of nutrient availability, root condition and nutrient retention are the main factors of riceland degradation. Besides, this study found that climate change, lack of organic fertilizer implementation, water scarcity and excessive chemical fertilization implementation were significant factors of land degradation based on farmers perception. In addition, some of the strategic actions were frequently implemented to minimize the degradation rate are implementing the minimum tillage, using certified seed, giving a fallow season for riceland and recycling plant residue as organic fertilizer. The study suggests implementing the proper cultivation management practices like Integrated Crop Management (ICM) and Climate Smart Agriculture (CSA) to achieve the sustainability of rice production.

Understanding the relationship among the determinants of rice cropping index in Deli Serdang Regency

The cropping index of rice is one of determining factors to increase rice production. In certain areas of Deli Serdang Regency, the rice crop has high possibility of being sowed three times annually. Unfortunately, some parts of this regency still have a low cropping index, then affecting the stagnant production. Hence, this study was conducted to identify the determinant variables and explain their relationship with rice cropping index and also to construct the strategic actions to increase the rice cropping index. This study was conducted in six districts with 180 total respondents, using household-based survey method. The descriptive statistics analysis and Pearson correlation analysis were performed using the SPSS tool to achieve the objectives. The result shows that frequency of flood occurrence on riceland, productivity, total income from agricultural sector, number of household member, age, education level, distance of irrigation channel to the riceland and the irrigation status are the significant determinants of rice cropping index. In addition, some strategic actions that have to introduced to the local government and the farmers are sowing the adaptive varieties which is tolerant on flooding condition; using the precise planting calendar to find the exact schedule for planting time; planting the certified variety that gives high productivity; increasing the capacity building, especially the cultivation skill, through following the technical guidance; cconstructing the irrigation system and repairing/maintaining the irrigation infrastructures; and harvesting the water to support the sustainable water for riceland.

‘The countryside starts here’: How the urban-rural divide continues to matter in post-urban Flanders

Contemporary scholarship has critically interrogated categorical distinctions of urban and rural settlement types, shifting attention to processes of urbanisation instead. Yet, in some cases, the urban-rural dichotomy still proves an indispensable category to understand the governance of urbanisation. In this article, we explore this apparent contradiction: why is it that a distinction which is clearly inadequate in capturing the actual reality of urbanisation in post-urban regions still strongly informs the way a variety of actors involved in spatial planning think and act? This question is explored through an in-depth qualitative study of spatial governance in the fragmented post-urban settlement structure of Flanders, Belgium. Central to the study is the spatial governance instrument of demarcating ‘urban areas’, which is based on a strict urban-rural dichotomy in an attempt to counter sprawl. Through its implementation in the agglomerations of Antwerp and Mechelen, we show how this distinction tends to activate and reproduce a morally charged symbolic urban-rural divide. Combined with anti-urban identities and interests the distinction is instrumentalised in strategic actions of politicians and residents to undermine the instrument’s effectiveness. We conclude that arguments about the need for ‘new epistemologies of the urban’ should take the symbolic power of the urban-rural dichotomy seriously, as declaring these categories obsolete does not in itself lead to their disappearance.