Protein efficiency per unit energy and per unit greenhouse gas emissions: Potential contribution of diet choices to climate change mitigation

The production, transport and processing of food products have significant environmental impacts, some of them related to climate change. This study examined the energy use and greenhouse gas emissions associated with the production and transport to a port in Sweden (wholesale point) of 84 common food items of animal and vegetable origin. Energy use and greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions for food items produced in different countries and using various means of production were compared. The results confirmed that animal-based foods are associated with higher energy use and GHG emissions than plant-based foods, with the exception of vegetables produced in heated greenhouses. Analyses of the nutritional value of the foods to assess the amount of protein delivered to the wholesale point per unit energy used or GHG emitted (protein delivery efficiency) showed that the efficiency was much higher for plant-based foods than for animal-based. Remarkably, the efficiency of delivering plant-based protein increased as the amount of protein in the food increased, while the efficiency of delivering animal-based protein decreased. These results have implications for policies encouraging diets with lower environmental impacts for a growing world population.     

Assessing the value of short-term study abroad programmes to students

For many universities, students participating in short-term faculty-led programmes make up a large portion of the total study abroad population. In this article, we report the results of a unique choice experiment in which 1255 students were asked about their personal characteristics and their preferences for study abroad programme attributes. Using a random parameters logistic regression model, we find that students attitudes towards risk, their experience with international travel and their beliefs about whether study abroad would help them professionally were major determinants of whether a student expressed interest in studying abroad. We also estimate students’ willingness to pay for various programme attributes, including destination, programme duration, course type and the number of experiential learning activities. We find that the highest value programmes give students credit towards their major rather than towards the university core or as an elective and that they are 3–4 weeks in length rather than 2 or 6 weeks. Also, while students value more experiential learning activities per week, each additional trip adds less value with no additional value beyond four activities. Results are useful for practitioners interested in maximizing student participation while effectively managing study abroad budgets.     

Some aspects of an analytical framework for studying the diffusion of organizational innovations

The objective of this paper is to explore the extent to which the more recent literature on innovation and decision, with a prime focus on technical innovations, can contribute to a useful analytical framework for studying the diffusion of organizational innovations. We review that literature, compare the intrinsic features of technical and organizational innovations, and explore what these differences may mean for an eventual analytical framework specifically developed for studying organizational innovations. We conclude that the received 'innovation' literature has a great deal to offer but that some modifications are required. In particular, we suggest that the role of factors 'inside' the non and of non-market mechanisms for transfer of organizational innovations needs special emphasis.     

An Evolutionary Process Model of Cause‐Related Marketing and Systematic Review of the Empirical Literature

Cause‐related marketing (CRM) is almost ubiquitous as brands of all price points participate in this marketing strategy in the United States and internationally, as well. The value that CRM brings to the firm, the consumer, and the nonprofit organization has made it a popular and valuable tool for marketers. Academic research on CRM has gained momentum in recent years as the strategy has matured. However, insights have occurred without a framework to provide structure and direction for this body of research. Given CRM's continued popularity, the purpose of this article is to (1) propose an evolutionary process model (EPM) of CRM to explain the iterative process (2) utilize this model as a framework for (a) organizing the systematic review of the empirical literature on CRM and (b) for identifying some gaps in the literature. Propositions based on these gaps are provided for future research.     

Innovation management in service firms: a research agenda

This article suggests an agenda for further research on innovation management in service firms. It investigates differences and similarities between issues identified by previous academic research and issues brought up by practitioners within the area of innovation management in service firms. The results show that there are some major differences; for instance, researchers stress a need for formalized processes for development work, while practitioners focus on facilitating innovation in everyday operations. The main conclusion is that in order to bridge the gap between research and practice we would encourage further research on innovation in service firms to (1) conduct micro studies of innovation work, (2) view innovation in the context of everyday operations and (3) focus on co-workers’ innovative potential.     

Krank durch Nachtdienst?

Gesundheitliche Auswirkungen für Pflegende – Pflegekr?fte im Krankenhaus mit Schichtarbeit sind in besonderer Weise von Nachtarbeit betroffen. Dass Schichtarbeiter unter typischen gesundheitlichen Beschwerden leiden, ist sicherlich weithin bekannt. Doch welche Krankheiten werden durch Nachtdienst begünstigt und was kann man dagegen tun?     

Interdependence between consumption in the North and sustainable communities in the South

The issues we want to address and discuss in this article are related to the interdependence between consumption in households in high‐income countries and life in the low‐income countries, seen in a sustainable perspective. In the consumer society the underlying premise is that ever‐escalating consumption is accepted, even desirable. During the past decade, an increasing critique of consumer lifestyle has come from environmentalists, who argue that the resource use to maintain a consumer lifestyle is putting too hard a burden on the ecosystems. We give examples of the abundant evidence of interdependence between North and South at global levels, such as climate change and appropriation of ecosystem capacities, and related to specific types of consumption such as clothing, flowers, food and cosmetics. We argue that the loss of feedback to individual households in the North is a serious barrier for change towards more sustainable consumption habits, and raise a question about how impacts of production and consumption can be communicated to consumers. On the basis of previous and ongoing research, we highlight some impacts of positive and negative labelling schemes as well as extended environmental information.     

Managing tensions in coopetition

Tensions are natural in coopetitive business relationships that simultaneously involve cooperation and competition. The purpose of this study is to investigate how tensions are managed in coopetitive business relationships and examine the potential outcomes of the management of such tensions. The study will focus on various kinds of coopetitive relationships and how the management of the different tensions produces specific outcomes. The empirical study is based on comparative case study research on coopetitive business networks that features two different kinds of cases. The findings of the study contribute to coopetition research by identifying several new perspectives on tensions. Different levels of cooperation and competition in a coopetitive relationship as well as other underlying issues cannot alone determine tensions, but aspects such as the management of tensions are crucial. Most tensions are managed by using styles of competition and avoidance and result in mixed outcomes, which implies both positive and negative perceptions.     

Natural Resource Management and Economywide Policies in Costa Rica: A Computable General Equilibrium (CGE) Modeling Approach

A computable general equilibrium (CGE) model is used to tracethe effects of government policies on Costa Rican forests inthe presence of incomplete markets. The results indicate thatcorrecting the market failure would, as expected, reduce deforestation.More interestingly, in the presence of the market failure, loweringthe tax on unskilled labor reduces deforestation because peoplegain employment in other parts of the economy. Taxation of otherproduced goods changes the incentives for deforestation. Forexample, a tax on agricultural products elevates the relativeprice of capital and shifts resources away from the capital-intensiveindustrial sector toward the agricultural and forest sectors;as a result, such a tax increases deforestation.     

Werte und Normen als Sollensvorstellungen in der KommunikationswissenschaftValues and norms as ought-statements in communication studies

Values and norms as research topics are central theoretical and empirical constructs in communication studies and are also used to substantiate research questions or to interpret results. Despite the relevance of values and norms, a respective debate within the discipline has been neglected so far. It is a challenge to discuss the values and norms of our discipline and to initiate an exchange of the societal relevance of one’s own research. The network “Values and norms as research objects and guiding principles in communication research”, funded by the German Research Foundation (DFG), makes a contribution to this by systematically analyzing values and norms in communication studies and by critically reflecting them. Therefore, the paper proposes to operationalize values and norms as “ought-statements”. Ought-statements either describe a situational state that is explicitly evaluated or address a desirable state. Three elements of an ought-statement are identified, which are coded in a multistage content analysis. The operationalization of norms and values as ought-statements allows not only to examine already known values and norms, but also to assess all possible values and norms, to assess the change of values and norms more validly in long-term studies, and to assess those constructs that are labeled as norms or values by the researchers themselves.