Achieving food security in Central Asia — current challenges and policy research needs

This paper introduces the papers of this Special Issue on Achieving Food Security in Central Asia. Identifying the current challenges, it enlists the information gaps and policy research needs for accelerating the reform process in the food, agriculture and natural resource sectors of the Central Asian Republics. The paper concludes by calling for identifying policies and institutional arrangements that facilitate economic reforms that will lead to poverty reduction, increased food security, and sustainable use of natural resources.     

Attaining food security in Central Asia—emerging issues and challenges for policy research

Developing long-term strategies for improving food security, alleviating poverty and encouraging sound use of natural resources is fundamental for sustained economic growth in Central Asia. However, the process of policy and institutional reforms has been complex and slow. This paper, based on several rounds of client consultation, attempts to synthesize emerging issues and challenges that confront food and agricultural sectors in Central Asia. It argues that developing institutions that will foster a policy dialogue on long-term issues related to food, agriculture and the environment within and among the Central Asian countries is fundamental to identify development strategies for the next 10 to 15 years. This will require setting priorities for future food, agriculture, and natural resource policy research and analysis that will help in generating and sharing information on the policy challenges and solutions useful for Central Asia in its quest to reduce malnutrition, eradicate poverty and protect the natural resource base.     

Towards a sustainable fashion retail supply chain in Europe: Organisation and performance

Sustainability issues are particularly sensitive to the fashion supply chain, given current fierce competition, intensive resource use, and the exposure of penurious labour conditions in some regions.In this paper, we discuss how the sustainability movement is impacting the fashion retail supply chain organisation and its performance. We carried out a study with stakeholders of the fashion industry and we report on their views. We elaborate on the challenges and conflicts of the different dimensions of sustainability, and we discuss how to leverage both the internal and external organisations in the European supply chain.     

Exploring the roles of university spin-offs in business networks

This paper identifies different university spin-off (USO) roles related to resource interaction among business parties. It does so by mapping how USOs become part of business networks in terms of their roles relative to other parties. The theoretical frame of reference focuses on roles and resource interaction based on an industrial network approach to business markets. The empirical research is based on five cases of USOs representing a variety in terms of technology, degree of newness, sector, and area of application. As a result of the analysis, three different roles are identified: the USO as resource mediator, resource re-combiner and resource renewer. These roles reflect how USOs adapt resources to, or require changes among, business parties' resources. The paper also discusses the main resource interfaces associated with the three roles and related challenges. The paper contributes to previous research through illustrating USOs' roles relative to business parties from a resource interaction point of view, and by pointing to the establishment of new companies in business networks as a way of implementing innovation. Finally, the paper discusses the managerial implications of the research in terms of the USO's need to understand which role to take and how to develop it.     

Science,practice and the System of Rice Intensification in Indian agriculture

The System of Rice Intensification (SRI) is claimed to be a novel approach to rice cultivation that is both more productive and more sustainable than conventional methods. Such claims have been challenged or dismissed by many rice scientists, however. Despite the lack of clear and unequivocal endorsement by science, SRI seems to have spread widely and rather quickly to many rice-growing regions, including various areas of India. This paper discusses how and considers why SRI seems to have attracted the support of diverse stakeholders in Indian rice farming. As such, the SRI phenomenon should be taken seriously. Nevertheless, many scientific questions remain to be answered, concerning the biophysical mechanisms involved in SRI and their effects on plant performance and crop yields, the true spread of SRI practices among farmers and the system’s impacts on farm livelihoods, rice production and resource use. Indian enthusiasm for SRI implies a level of dissatisfaction with conventional approaches to rice intensification and a demand for new methods that can address the perceived problems and challenges of agriculture in the future.     

Reassessing the fundamentals and beyond: Ronald Coase,the transaction cost and resource‐based theories of the firm and the institutional structure of production

In this paper, three points are argued. The first is that Ronald Coase, best known as the forefather of transaction cost theory, foresaw many of the critical questions that proponents of the resource‐based view are concerned with today. The second is that resource‐based theory plays a potentially much more critical role in economic theory and in explaining the institutional structure of production than even many resource‐based scholars recognize. The last point is that a more complete understanding of the organization of economic activity requires a greater sensitivity to the interdependence of production and exchange relations. The arguments presented in this paper highlight important, but relatively ignored, elements in Coase's work that inform strategy research. More importantly, this paper makes the case for a triangular alignment between the triumvirate of governance structure, transaction, and resource attributes and demonstrates how the identity and strategy of a particular firm influences how its resources interact with the transaction and how the firm chooses to govern it. The general argument is then applied to the context of interfirm collaborative relations, where the key focus is broadened from just cost to also include skills/knowledge and the interdependence between cost and skills with respect to firm boundaries, both in terms of choice and nature. Such a broadening of focus enables us to additionally examine the transacting process as a productive endeavor, which underpins the co‐evolution of the competencies of partner firms. Copyright © 2002 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

国家管网公司成立对中国天然气产业链的影响——“中国石油学会石油经济专业委员会战略学组油气论坛”综述

成立国家管网公司为我国深化油气体制改革、推进天然气行业市场化改革创造了条件。"十四五"期间,政策层面应重点关注推进上游市场化改革,提高资源勘探开发力度,夯实资源基础,推动增储上产,为气气竞争创造条件;在管道运行机制改革的基础上,建立运行通畅的天然气产运销储贸协调运行机制;推进省级管网的市场化体制改革,大力发展气电,完善天然气定价机制,创新管容分配机制;加强政府行业监管力度,加大信息公开和管输成本监管。国家管网公司成立后,天然气产业的上中下游格局和进口格局会出现重大变化,并对产业运行带来众多影响与挑战。预计短期内对上游勘探开发的影响不大,但对进口环节的影响将立竿见影,需要重视"双向进入"带来的市场重构及其对产业运行秩序产生的重大挑战,以及充分考虑开放过程中存在的各类公平问题和国家管网公司协调各方利益的困难。随着改革的深入,未来天然气交易中心的价格发现功能将进一步增强,天然气定价模式亦将发生改变;管容交易市场存在与交易中心合并或者分立两种可能模式。     

浅谈炼化企业如何开展生产经营优化工作

炼化企业生产经营优化的特点是炼化一体化优化,将炼油和化工业务作为一个整体,统筹进行资源配置.构建炼化一体化生产经营优化机制是一项复杂的系统工程,需要建立起相应的组织机制、运行机制、评估和考核机制,并依靠科学的管理理念、成熟的管理手段和先进的工具软件,对供应、生产、销售、运输等各环节进行全面优化.优化工作的重点是资源配置优化、产品结构优化、原料和产品库存优化、检修时间优化.文章以某国家大型炼化企业为例,详细介绍了炼化企业如何开展生产经营优化工作.     

Fertiliser availability in a resource-limited world: Production and recycling of nitrogen and phosphorus

Without the input of fertiliser nitrogen it is estimated that only about half of the current global population can be supplied with sufficient food energy and protein. The anticipated increase in the population to 2050 will increase the dependency on fertiliser inputs. The paper examines the different potential sources of energy and hydrogen required for this essential fixation of atmospheric nitrogen into plant-available nitrogenous fertiliser and concludes that methane from natural gas is clearly the most suitable source. In the absence of a cost-effective alternative source of hydrogen it is recommended that an on-going requirement for methane is acknowledged and that consideration be given to strategic reserves for the production of food. Phosphorus is also an essential and unsubstitutable nutrient for plants and animals, but while the global reserves of atmospheric nitrogen are effectively unlimited, the reserves of phosphate rock are finite. Recent estimates of the reserve suggest that at the current rate of use this resource will become exhausted within some hundreds of years. The annual increment of phosphorus contained in the human population is estimated to be in the order of 1 Mt/yr, which is a small proportion of the quantity mined. There is a clear requirement to ensure that phosphorus is recycled to a large extent, so that the rate of exhaustion of the reserves of phosphate rock is significantly reduced. Legislation relating to the management of phosphorus appears entirely associated with its potential to upset natural ecosystems, with apparently no regulations yet requiring the efficient use and reuse of a scarce resource.     

Human Capital Theory: Implications for HR Managers

This paper reviews some of the contributions of and challenges to human capital theory. It focuses on the alleged link between earings and education and experience and on competing explanations for observed earning differentis by race and by gender. The review concludes that while human capital theory provides some central insights about the supply side of the labor market, the challenges to this theory suggest that the demand side od the market, i.e., the actions of human resource managers, also play a key role in detemining earnings and employment. Moreover, these challenges suggest that government policies can be instrmental in effecting a more efficient and equitable use of human resources.