Strategies and goals of community-based injury prevention programmes--a mixed-methods study of 25 Scandinavian WHO Safe Communities

Documentation and analysis of prevention goals and interventions employed by community-based injury prevention programmes is vital to advance the knowledge and understanding of synergistic multi-strategy injury prevention programmes. This study examined the goals and interventions of 25 Scandinavian community-based injury prevention programmes in WHO-designated Safe Communities. Collection and analysis of quantitative data from survey questionnaires to the programme coordinators was followed by collection and analysis of qualitative data from structured interviews with programme coordinators from eight of the programmes. The results demonstrated that the programmes under study predominantly relied on "intuitive" and subjective methods for selecting interventions. The programmes largely failed to transform injury surveillance data into information and knowledge that could prioritize community safety strategies and measures, due to insufficient time and personnel resources. The results demonstrated the importance of combining passive approaches with active interventions. Educational efforts were considered essential to the programmes. The programmes preferred to rely on broadly stated goals rather than specific objectives.     

Becoming an Agroecologist through Action Education

Action education provides an appropriate set of methods for learning about the complexities of farming and food systems. Agroecology provides the framework to organise learning opportunities for students interested in solving challenges in today's world. Our programmes in agroecology concentrate on discovery and learning. Rather than agroecological theory having primary value, we immerse students in practical phenomena at the farming and food system level, and let these phenomena determine what theory is necessary and relevant. Teachers are converted from lecturers to leaders and catalysts in the learning process. In a learning landscape on campus, on farms, and in communities, we find direction by focusing on how students can become agroecologists. Students will have knowledge of farming and food systems, and the skills necessary to handle complexity and change, to link theory to real life situations, to communicate and facilitate in an effective way, and to be autonomous in their learning. Agroecology and sustainable agriculture are good places for training in these skills. Such skills will be vital for graduates to proactively deal with the challenges of specialisation, high technology, and use of non-renewable resources in modern society, in the quest for strategy to achieve sustainable development.     

Evidence on competitive advantage and superior stock market performance

This article analyzes the value‐relevance of industry‐based and resource‐based competitive advantage in a large sample of firms listed on the Oslo Stock Exchange. We measure competitive advantage by a single variable and perform a new decomposition into its underlying sources. In 1986–2005, the industry‐based and the resource‐based competitive advantage explain more than 20% of abnormal stock market returns, accumulated over 5 years. The resource‐based advantage is almost 4 times more important than the industry‐based advantage. Differences in both the return and the risk capability of firms' net assets relative to their industry peers are significant parts of the resource‐based advantage, estimated at 60 and 40%, respectively. Copyright © 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Stock Market Liquidity and the Business Cycle

In the recent financial crisis we saw liquidity in the stock market drying up as a precursor to the crisis in the real economy. We show that such effects are not new; in fact, we find a strong relation between stock market liquidity and the business cycle. We also show that investors' portfolio compositions change with the business cycle and that investor participation is related to market liquidity. This suggests that systematic liquidity variation is related to a “flight to quality” during economic downturns. Overall, our results provide a new explanation for the observed commonality in liquidity.     

Associations between affect and risk perception

Risk perception research has been dominated by cognitive psychology as a theoretical basis for understanding how people perceive and judge risks. However, during the last few years the role of affect in risk perception has received increased attention. Potential hazards may cause worry and concern and, consequently, an affective component is involved. Affects are often assumed to be post-cognitive. The present study aims to test the hypothesis that an 'image of risk', i.e. affect, may precede cognitive judgement and need not always be a criterion variable. During the period 1996 to 1998 a questionnaire survey was carried out in Norway. In total 1450 respondents replied to the questionnaire. Structural equation modelling showed that the fit of the models of risk depended on the respondents' sex, education and the type of risks evaluated. In the majority of model tests the idea that an image of risk may predict the cognitive judgement of risk was supported. The study also identified two dimensions of affectivity. Cognitive judgements of risk seemed not be related to affectivity as such, but rather to one aspect of affect, i.e. worry and concern. Treating affectivity as one dimension may be a hindrance to detecting the real associations between general affect and cognitive risk judgements.     

Non-R&D SMEs: external knowledge,absorptive capacity and product innovation

The relationship between external knowledge, absorptive capacity (AC) and innovative performance for small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) is investigated empirically. Using data from a survey on firms located in North Norway, we ask whether AC plays a mediating role between different external knowledge inflows and innovative performance. The results are consistent with AC as an important mediator for transforming external knowledge inflows into higher innovative performance if we include all SMEs in the sample. However, this result is not robust when considering the sub-sample of non-R&D SMEs only. External knowledge inflows have a much stronger direct effect on innovation performance for non-R&D firms and leave a weak mediating effect of AC. Our findings suggest that measures of AC should be developed further in order to make AC a more relevant concept for empirical studies of SMEs without in-house R&D.     

Domestic Regulation and International Trade

We consider the effects of a one-sided price regulation of one of two complementary inputs. The provider of the regulated input is a domestic firm, while the provider of the other input is a foreign firm. This describes the market structure for several digital information and communication services, where the regulated input is access while the non-regulated complementary input is content. We show that one-sided regulation may have negative welfare effects compared to a free market economy, unless the regulator has a first-mover advantage. In the latter case, regulation is welfare enhancing regardless of whether the foreign input provider uses linear or non-linear wholesale prices.     

Reductions in Real versus Tariff Barriers: The Impact on Industry Concentration

Economic integration has had ambiguous effects on industry concentration. The literature on the topic proposes various explanations for these empirical findings. This paper provides an additional theoretical argument. It shows that in a world of monopolistic competition, integration alone (modeled as a reduction of trade barriers) may exert opposing forces on industry concentration, depending on whether the barrier consists of real (frictional) or tariff costs. In particular, the Herfindahl index of industry concentration falls for a reduction in real costs, but rises for a reduction in tariff costs. The reason is that real barriers burn up resources, such that industry profitability is reduced, reducing entry, and resulting in fewer firms and a correspondingly higher concentration. Under a tariff barrier, the redistributed tariff revenue stabilizes industry profitability, resulting in more firms and a lower concentration.     

Tears and Framing Contests: Public Organizations Countering Critical and Emotional Stories

The reputation and legitimacy of public organizations can be threatened by emotional news stories depicting a faceless bureaucratic power apparatus that is blind to how their decisions affect humans negatively. This qualitative study focuses on the strategies of the Norwegian immigration authorities as they handle emotional accounts of family reunion cases. The analysis first reconstructs what is called a Man Against the System-frame, and then moves on to investigate the competing frame that the authorities construct and the strategies used to promote this frame. The article sheds new light on the concept of framing contests by analyzing the possibilities and constraints of public organizations when they construct and use a frame.