What Are Companies For?

Management by missions (MBM) starts by asking a fundamental question: What is your company for? It seems reasonable to assume that an organization and its members should have a clear idea of why they exist. In practice, however, that is not always the case. Very often, there is great confusion and conflict of opinion on this point, even within the board of directors or executive committee. In this chapter, we explore this fundamental question first by discussing the role of profit in business (as a mean or an end). Then we propose a specific definition of purpose as the synthesis of the ends of a company. We then introduce the three dimensions of an effective purpose: Authenticity, Coherence and Integrity. Finally, we discuss the relationship between personal and corporate purpose.

What Privacy Is

Privacy issues are everywhere in our society, but we struggle with them in part because we lack a clear definition of privacy on which we can agree. Scholars have struggled to define privacy, but lots of concepts in our law, like “free speech” and “equality,” have been protected without clear agreement on a specific definition. Thus, we need not let our hang-ups about privacy’s definitional problem stop us from talking about it and protecting it. The chapter offers a working definition of privacy for the book as “the extent to which human information is neither known nor used. This definition focuses on (1) information privacy rather than other kinds of privacy; (2) information about humans; (3) the use of information rather than its mere collection; and (4) the importance of thinking about information use as a matter of degree rather than a binary on/off state.

Peculiarities of social business concept

The essence and uniqueness of social business in solving the most sensitive problems of the society, being able to survive independently and ensure the continuity of activities gives this form of activity an advantage and determines its growing popularity. There are many different definitions of social business. Some authors explain the definition of social business by distinguishing the main aspects that distinguish social business from other forms of activity. However, there are also forms very close to social business. The research objective is to present differences of social business concepts and to identify advantages of such initiatives. The analysis of social business concepts has shown that social business is defined by three principles: social business solves social problems that are not addressed by the public sector; the main motive of social business is public benefit; representatives of social business exploit market mechanisms (without excluding the existing ones) when creating social benefits. Research has shown that social business does not yet have one specific definition, but, according to the development and perception of social business, two main directions can be distinguished: Anglo-American and European.

Intersubjectivity And Analytic Field Theory

Intersubjectivity is the central concept of the relational paradigm, the most widely employed in contemporary psychoanalysis. Yet we do not have a clear definition of it. Usually it is synonymous with “the interpersonal” and thus indicates the interaction that takes place between two already constituted subjects. In this sense it has little to do with the radical social theory of subjectivation suggested by the term, at least originally, in Husserl’s philosophy. In the original meaning of intersubjectivity, as handed down by Husserl and later developed by Merleau-Ponty, the binary opposition between subjectivity and intersubjectivity is dissolved and transformed into a dialectic relationship. To formulate a clear and distinct, but above all specific, definition of intersubjectivity, we need to reclaim this intuition and translate it into coherent principles of technique. It is also essential to verify whether the models of psychoanalysis proffered as intersubjective actually satisfy this parameter. On the basis of these two simple principles, the variants of psychoanalysis that are labeled intersubjective can be placed along a continuum. Examples are given of “weak” and “strong” intersubjectivity. Paradigmatic of the latter pole is the post-Bionian theory of the analytic field.

Edges in brain networks: contributions to models of structure and function

Network models describe the brain as sets of nodes and edges that represent its distributed organization. So far, most discoveries in network neuroscience have prioritized insights that highlight distinct groupings and specialized functional contributions of network nodes. Importantly, these functional contributions are determined and expressed by the web of their interrelationships, formed by network edges. Here, we underscore the important contributions made by brain network edges for understanding distributed brain organization. Different types of edges represent different types of relationships, including connectivity and similarity among nodes. Adopting a specific definition of edges can fundamentally alter how we analyze and interpret a brain network. Furthermore, edges can associate into collectives and higher-order arrangements, describe time series, and form edge communities that provide insights into brain network topology complementary to the traditional node-centric perspective. Focusing on the edges, and the higher-order or dynamic information they can provide, discloses previously underappreciated aspects of structural and functional network organization.

Library documentology

The article is a follow-up of the previous publications by Yu. N. Stolyarov “Documentology: The backgrould and development” and “The basic postulates of documentology as the general theory of documents”. The author substantiates the need for developing the library documentology as an individual discipline with its specific subject, specific document definition, and specific content. The subjects of library document studies are the primary and secondary document; technological document; accompanying document; and administrative document (record). The library workflows are based on procedural documents that form the class of administrative documents that ensure the optimal functioning of the library. Administrative documents in the library, as in other legal entities, are grouped into large subclasses: planning, accounting, reporting, personnel, financial documents, etc. Among them, the managerial documents are mostly important as they are to support the entire management process. Beside these subclasses, the accompanying documentation forms the subclass that makes an essential part of the collection, namely technological, and administrative documentation. To separate the fundamental library concepts of the document, the author proposes to adopt a specific definition for each document process. The library collection document is information specific for the library that is fixed or to be fixed. Fixed information refers to the diachronous, discrete documents, information to be fixed (continuously and to be continuously updated) refers to synchronous (existing at the time of retrieval), continuous (having only the beginning) document. The author defines library documentation as the systematized collection of internal documents. The tasks and purpose of these documents are determined by the specific of library technological tasks and functions. The author insists on developing the key provisions and, above all, the terms of library documentology.

On Disgrace: Scandal, Discredit and Denunciation within and across Fields

This paper engages with the theme of disgrace from a Bourdieusian point of view. Starting out from a specific definition of ‘grace’ in terms of misrecognition, it goes on to consider some of the ways in which disgrace can be generated and some of the ways it can be handled by the disgraced party. While there are certainly many intra-field modalities of the genesis of disgrace, including violation of the rules of the game, the paper also emphasizes that disgrace can be generated by cross-field events, necessitating a switch of perspective from individuals in one field to individuals in multiple fields. This is also true of strategies for coping with disgrace.

Limitations in the Applicability of Bankruptcy Prediction Models

The problems associated with the application of bankruptcy prediction models are of a wide range. A review of the literature shows the lack of a uniform definition of bankruptcy. The existing diversity in the definitions of bankruptcy complicates the comparability of the different studies, hence why it is considered appropriate to take the specific definition of bankruptcy that the bankruptcy prediction models are based on into account when applying them in practice. The selection of companies in the various studies has also been the subject of much criticism. The literature also raises the question of the quality of accounting information. There are also discussions about which indicators should be included in the models. Many studies have demonstrated the benefits of including market information as well as non-financial information in bankruptcy risk analysis. There is also no consensus on the statement that data on the cash flow of companies should be used to increase the predictive power of the models.

Defining rehabilitation: An exploration of why it is attempted, and why it will always fail

The problem: Over 187 definitions of rehabilitation exist, none widely agreed or used. Why? The word: Words represent a core concept, with a penumbra of associated meanings. A word means what is agreed among those who use it. The precise meaning will vary between different groups. Words evolve, the meaning changing with use. Other words may capture some of the concepts or meanings. A definition: A definition is used to control the unstable, nebulous meaning of a word. It delineates, creating a boundary. A non-binary spectrum of meaning is transformed into binary categories: rehabilitation, or not rehabilitation. In clinical terms, it is a diagnostic test to identify rehabilitation. There are many different reasons for categorising something as rehabilitation. Each will need its own definition. Categorisation: The ability of a definition to distinguish cases accurately must be validated by comparison with ‘the truth’. If there were an external ‘true’ test to identify rehabilitation, a definition would not be needed. As with most concepts, the only truth is agreement by people familiar with the required distinction. Any definition will generate misclassification. People familiar with the required distinction will also need to resolve mis-categorisation. Description: An alternative is a ‘descriptive definition’, listing features over several domains which must be present. This fails logically. Rehabilitation is an emergent concept, more than the sum of its parts. Conclusion: A useful definition cannot be achieved because no definition will cover all needs, and a specific definition for a purpose will misclassify some cases.

The Intercity Origins of Diplomacy: Consuls, Empires, and the Sea

City diplomacy is a fairly new topic in the study of diplomacy, and, many would argue, a fairly recent empirical phenomenon. A counterpoint to this could be to reference how the alleged origin of diplomacy in Greek antiquity was city-centered, as were the earliest forms of Renaissance diplomacy in Italy. In this essay we want to probe the connections between cities and diplomacy through problematizing what has counted as diplomacy. Our starting point is that cities have always mattered to what we could analytically refer to as diplomatic practice. Being conscious of the conceptual ambiguities, we are thus not starting from a specific definition of “city diplomacy,” but from a conviction that cities have mattered and continue to matter to the practice of diplomacy.