Browsing by Subject "Transformation"

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Außerlandwirtschaftliche Diversifikation im Transformationsprozess. Diversifikationsentscheidungen und -strategien ländlicher Haushalte in Slowenien und Mazedonien
(2005) Möllers, Judith; Heidhues, Franz
Non-farm rural diversification is gaining prominence in the debate on rural development since the end of the 1990s. The expansion of non-farm employment and the diversification of incomes are important policy objectives because they offer a solution to the employment and structural problems of a shrinking agricultural sector. Development policies focusing on the rural non-farm sector aim at offering employment options and reducing urban migration. They can contribute to poverty reduction, economic growth and a more equal income distribution. This research is based on a household survey including 240 randomly selected rural households in Slovenia and Macedonia. Since empirically based insights on diversification dynamics in transition countries are hardly available, the objective of this research is to contribute to filling this gap. The analysis focuses on diversification strategies and determinants of the decision-making process of rural people in regard to non-farm employment. The methodology combines an inductive and deductive approach with qualitative and quantitative components. For the statistical analysis primarily logistic regression models are applied. The results show that rural households in the research area are highly dependent of non-farm incomes. As expected the poverty risk between the two countries differs: Rural household incomes in Macedonia are less equally distributed. Decomposed Gini-coefficients based on non-farm incomes point at their positive effect on the income distribution. The analysis of diversification strategies indicates that coping strategies as well as risk-minimising strategies prevail. Accumulation strategies, which point at demand-pull dynamics and entrepreneurship, are less common. Attitudes towards agriculture seem to influence diversification decisions in particular. While attitudes towards non-farm activities are predominantly positive, they vary towards agriculture. Negative attitudes towards agriculture are wide-spread among the younger generation. In the age group from 16 to 25 years the proportion of negative attitudes is high in both countries, but the share in Macedonia with 50% is twice as high as in Slovenia. Important constraints of diversification in Macedonia are the non-farm labour market, low wages, insecurity and late wage payments. In both countries capital and credit availability are named as the most important reasons for not starting a business in the non-farm sector. The pressure to adapt income strategies is lower in Slovenia in general. When looking at individual employment strategies it becomes apparent that in both countries there is a declining trend of agricultural and combined employment while non-farm employment alone is increasing. In Slovenia the high level of diversification at the household level is stabilising while the structural problems in the agricultural sector persist. In contrast, the level of diversification in Macedonia is expected to further increase even though the willingness to give up agricultural activities altogether is significantly higher than in Slovenia. A promotion of the rural non-farm sector is an important policy objective as non-farm employment has a positive impact on rural incomes, particularly in poorer households. The effect of non-farm incomes on the income distribution is positive. This underlines the importance of the non-farm sector as an essential component of a poverty-oriented rural development policy. In the long term rural development policies should aim at overcoming the unfavourable small-scale agricultural structure which is the main cause of distress-pushed diversification ? particularly if full-time employment in the non-farm sector is not available. For this it is essential to support education and knowledge-building, and to offer expert advice. The intention should be to enhance entrepreneurship, creativity and the willingness and ability to take economic risks. Furthermore, the success of any effort to improve rural development policies depends on locally developed strategies, since the heterogeneity of the non-farm sector calls for decentralised political concepts. With these prerequisites the non-farm sector will be able to absorb labour released from agriculture, and the necessary structural adjustment of the agricultural sector can take place.
Erfolgsfaktoren zur Umsetzung der Transformation vom Produkthersteller zum Serviceanbieter
(2016) Hepp, Michael; Hadwich, Karsten
Throughout the last few decades many manufacturers of products have repositioned themselves strategically by moving from a product manufacturer to become a service provider. In the literature this is referred to “Servitization” or “Service Infusion”. Reasons for this is increasing competitive intensity in product manufacturing, corresponding with an erosion of product margins. Through Service Infusion, the product manufacturer can develop intimate relationships with its customer that results in a mutual dependency making the manufacturer less dependent on economic cycles. In addition, services usually have higher margins compared to products. This can result in a competitive advantage as well as higher entry barriers for the competitors. An increasing number of articles show the relevance of Service Infusion. Overall, however, the multitude of scientific papers have unfortunately not produced a common theoretical foundation or extensive empirical investigation. In addition, the integration of the customer as an external factor is a defined service as well, but is still insufficiently researched within the framework of the service infusion. So the thesis would like to answer the following three research issues: (1) What is a general theoretical framework for the service infusion? (2) What are the critical success factors for the transformation from a product manufacture to the product-oriented and system-solution-oriented business model? The overlapping success factors allows us conclusions for general success factors of the service infusion. (3) What is the role of customer integration in the transformation from the product manufacturer to the service provider and what is the ideal value of customer integration regarding to the specific business models? The thesis is structured in seven chapters: After the introduction, the second chapter describe the theoretical framework of the service infusion, the so-called business model approach of the service infusion. With a theoretical and deductive approach we structure ten development steps in four business models. For the validation we used case studies and a focus group discussion (n = 9) with experts. The third and fourth chapter show the implementation model of the product-oriented and system-solution-oriented business model. The EFQM Excellence model provides the theoretical framework. Through focus group discussions and a two-stage Delphi studies we confirmed for the product-oriented business model 29 (study 2, n = 11, study 3, n = 15) and the system-oriented business model 25, success factors (study 4, n = 11; study 5, n = 28). Chapter 5 shows success factors for the specific business models (product-oriented and system-solution-oriented business model), or general (fundamental) success factors of the service transformation. The sixth chapter describes the role of customer integration as part of the transformation process. The results shows, in relation to the different business models the collaborative role of the customers as an ideas supplier, a developer or a provider with different degrees of activities. These was also confirmed by a focus group discussion (6th study, n = 11). Finally Chapter 7 describes the limitation and conclusion of the thesis.
Die Kraft von Awards : Umfrage unter Unternehmen und Vergabeinstitutionen in Deutschland 2023
(2023) Gebhardt, Beate; Hellstern, Laura
From an academic perspective, research on the effects of sustainability awards and their potential to contribute to sustainability transformation represents a niche. Against the backdrop of an increasing number of awards targeting companies and multiple crises "disrupting" companies in different ways and new EU regulations, such as on evidence-based corporate communication on environmental aspects, the question of the power of awards needs to be re-examined and answers are more important than ever. In a double study within the framework of the SIEGER project funded by the Deutsche Bundesstiftung Umwelt (DBU), awarding institutions and companies throughout Germany were surveyed online in spring 2023. The objective was to discover first the effects of sustainability awards from the point of view of award-giving institutions, the donators, and companies, the award-recipients, and second the contribution they can make to a sustainability transformation. Sustainability awards are mostly attributed positive to very positive effects, both on the micro level (employee motivation), but especially on the meso level (image gain; awareness), less so on the macro level (ecological aspects; social aspects). The evaluation of the power of awards, their direction of impact and strength, in this study is perceived and is shaped by the different framing of the respondents. Award donors and winners overestimate the perception of awards by third parties as well as the external learning effects (imitation effects). The thematic focus on sustainability leads awarding institutions to overstate the intended ecological effects of an award. The majority of respondents believe that awards can contribute to sustainability transformation. Compared to other awards, sustainability awards are seen as having more power and making a more positive contribution to sustainability transformation. The analysis also shows that awards are a mirror of current political and social demands and developments. Beyond the ecological claim "sustainability award", awards integrate socio-ecological aspects in their requirements for the entrepreneurial participants of the competition. The further development of sustainability awards can therefore be achieved through internal development on the part of the awarding institutions and supported by external measures.
Metabolic engineering of flavonoid biosynthesis in hop (Humulus lupulus L.) for enhancing the production of pharmaceutically active secondary metabolites
(2012) Gatica Arias, Andres Mauricio; Weber, Gerd
For a long time, hop (Humulus lupulus L.) has been used in the brewing industry as flavoring and preserving agent. Moreover, the hop plant has been used for medicinal purposes. Recently, xanthohumol and desmethylxanthohumol have received special attention due to their potential cancer chemopreventive properties. Hop breeding programs have been mainly focused on the development of new cultivars with a high content of α- and β-acids in order to satisfy the demand of the brewing industry. However, due to the medical and pharmaceutical importance of hops, new breeding efforts have been done to create new cultivars with a higher content of xanthohumol and desmethylxanthohumol. In order, to complement these efforts, metabolic engineering of flavonoid biosynthesis offers tremendous potential to modify the production of these compounds. The flavonoid biosynthetic pathway has been intensively studied in plants. Often single target genes are regulated by several transcription factors. The R2R3 MYB transcription factor family plays an important role in the regulation of the biosynthesis of phenylpropanoids and flavonoids. Ectopic expression of these transcription factors in transgenic plants stimulated the production and enhanced the quantity of flavonoids. The main objective of the research presented here was to modulate the production of pharmaceutical metabolites in hop through metabolic engineering of the flavonoid biosynthesis pathway. Towards this goal, in a first approach, genetic engineering of hop cv. Tettnanger with the heterologous transcription factor PAP1/AtMYB75 from Arabidopsis thaliana L. was successfully accomplished. It was shown that PAP1/AtMYB75 was stably incorporated and expressed in the hop genome. The transgenic events showed reddish to pink female flowers and cones. Moreover, compared to the wildtype plants, the expression of the structural genes CHS_H1, CHI, and F3´H was elevated in transgenic hop plants. In addition, the production of anthocyanins, rutin, isoquercitin, kaempferol-7-O-glucoside, kaempferol-7-O-glucoside-malonate, desmethylxanthohumol, xanthohumol, α-acids, and β-acids in transgenic hop plants was influenced by the PAP1/AtMYB75 transcription factor. In a second approach, the homologous transcription factor HlMYB3 from H. lupulus L. was genetically introduced and expressed in the hop genome. The effect of the over-expression of the transgene on the expression rate of structural flavonoid and phloroglucinol biosynthetic genes, like PAL, C4H, 4CL, CHS_H1, CHI, F3H, F3´H, FLS, F3´5´H, OMT1, HlPT1, and VPS was examined. Transgenic events with an elevated expression of genes of flavonoid and phloroglucinol biosynthesis were identified. For quite some time successful plant tissue culture and Agrobacterium tumefaciens-mediated transformation procedures are available to genetically modify hop. However, these procedures are characterized by the low regeneration and transformation rates. Moreover, A. tumefaciens-mediated transformation is a laborious and time consuming process. For that reason, in order to evaluate further homologous or heterologous transcription factors with respect to the regulation of flavonoid and phloroglucinol biosynthesis in hop was highly desirable to have a simple and fast transformation system. A. rhizogenes-mediated transformation represents an alternative to express genes in hairy roots. Therefore, hop explants were genetically transformed with A. rhizogenes strains K599 and 15834. Hairy roots were only induced by A. rhizogenes 15834. The transgenity of the obtained hairy roots was confirmed by histochemical GUS assay. The integration of rolC and mgfp5 genes in transgenic hairy roots was confirmed by PCR. Particle bombardment combined with the regeneration of plants in temporary immersion bioreactors could provide another alternative for hop genetic transformation. In this study, a protocol for the micropropagation and shoot induction from organogenic calli of hop cv. Tettnanger using the temporary immersion bioreactors was developed. Furthermore, a procedure for particle bombardment was established using the following parameters: helium pressure of 900 psi, and target distance of 6 cm. The importance of hop relies on the secondary metabolites contain in the lupulin glands of the female cones. The present thesis demonstrated that the production of these secondary metabolites in transgenic hop plants could be influenced and enhanced by the expression of homologous or heterologous transcription factors. Moreover, the new developed transformation methods open the possibility for evaluating further genes that might influence the composition of secondary metabolites in the lupulin glands of hop.
Prozess der Transformation der Landwirtschaft Usbekistans und Probleme bei der Umstrukturierung der landwirtschaftlichen Betriebe
(2002) Nazarkulov, Umidjan Rakhimjanovich; Zeddies, Jürgen
Privatization of agricultural enterprises in former soviet countries has led to changes in production structure, methods of production and management of enterprises. Hence, the main objective of this dissertation is, at first, analysis of development of the agrarian sector and agricultural enterprises on the example of the Republic of Uzbekistan, and the identification of their weaknesses and problems. Furthermore aspects of management and marketing are considered and recommendations on improving the strategy of optimization the production process, which will serve as a basis for decision-making in the appropriate organizations. The structural changes in typical farms of 3 regions of the Republic of Uzbekistan under different frame conditions are analyzed using a linear programming model. The results of these optimization calculations are leading to the following requirements: - Change of the production structure and reduction of the state influence and governmental control; - Cancellation of fixed state prices of cotton and wheat with a simultaneous increase of water taxes; - Reduction of labour input and increase of wages with the purpose of improving the motivation and efficiency of labour; - Extension of the area of family farms. According to the model calculations a liberalisation of agricultural markets would lead to the following consequences for farm enterprises and agricultural production: - A substantial reduction of cotton production will lead to a wider crop rotation and better soil fertility; - The total gross margins of the farm enterprises will increase due to an optimization of production and marketing structure; - If the fixed producer prices for wheat and cotton will be eliminated, wheat production would increase significantly; - Depending on the region animal stocks will show a different development pattern. While in one region the big farms will reduce their livestock production, in two other regions they will be increased. Family farms tend to reduce the livestock number due to scarcity of land resources; - Farm incomes can be increased by reducing the number of workers; simultaneously increasing wages and introducing better labour management practices thus contributing to higher motivation and business success; - Profits should be invested in new machinery and equipment in order to maintain adequate levels of production; - Private family farms show a relatively high labour capacity and would be able to increase their farm land. Therefore liberalization of land market is necessary; - For family farms a liberalization of producer prices will lead to similar changes in production and marketing structures as for big farm enterprises. In conclusion it can be recommended to state institutions to reduce their influence on the operational decisions of farmers. The main objective of agricultural policy in future should be improvement of frame conditions for trade, liberalization of markets, effective support to structural changes and creation of a system of social support to farmers.
Soziale Marktwirtschaft und Ordoliberalismus : ausgewählte ordnungspolitische Aspekte und ihre Anwendung auf die Transitionsländer
(2019) Ivanovic, Vladan; Hagemann, Harald
The dissertation “Social market economy and Ordoliberlism: Selected institutional aspects and its application in transition countries“ analyses the pivotal institutional structures from the perspective of the proponents of social market economy and ordoliberals. Those institutional aspects determine economic development in the long run. In that sense, the research is linked to the contemporary debate on an importance of institutions in determing a long term economic and social progress. The central pillar of order within social market economy and ordoliberalism refers to the importance of stable value of money for efficient exchange and relations between economic agents. The free price order is as fundamental coordination mechanism as it is essential for creation of significant economic and social advantages in national economy. On the other side, in inflatory environment comes to substantial allocative inefficiences. There is as well an important disruptive influence of inflation on the state structures and freedom. The key role in establishing and maintaining the price stability belongs to an independent central bank. It is necessary, but not sufficient condition for it. The stability of prices and the power of central bank to maintain the stability of prices depend on the coordination with the other state instances, especially with the fiscal authorities, and other important circumstances, such as wage development and velocity of money. The second part of the thesis addresses various issues regarding the competitive order and supporting institutional structure for its development. Competitive order is valued as essential for enabling and protecting the freedom, social mobility, minimisation of transaction costs, rise of the exchange and deepening of the economic relations between economic agents. Several requirements have to be met in order to establish a competitive order. First refers to market openness, which is essential for an efficient participation in the world market. Private property regime as a structural right in economy represents the second precondition. Rule of law is the third requirement which is essential for the protection of individual economic agents. It protects them from predatory behaviour of other economic agents as well from the predatory state activities. In order to escape potentially negative impact of the political process on predictability, reliability and impartiality of institutional structure, which is warranted by rule of law, a clear separation of tasks and responsibilities between different elements of state structure is required. Particularly big challenge for the rule of law and its consequence in the form of competitive order is the concentration of private economic power. An establishment of a credible, consistent, and unbiased legal framework is the fundamental prerequisite for limiting inefficiences arising from the concentration of economic power. To intensify and spread state interventions may cause substantial risks in national economy. They jeopardise functionality and efficiency of political system which is essential for the properly functioning of institutional structure. There is, though, enough place for different measures of economic policy if it comes to structural imbalances in the economy. The third part is devoted to the analysis of the guiding ideas regrading the income distribution and general distribution of resources in the conomy. The state measures regarding the redistribution should mitigate the impacts of market failure, as well as market risks and uncertainities. State and the level of the development of the economy and already emloyed state measures are defining possibilities, effectiveness and efficiency of redistributive policy measures. The fourth part empirically analyses different institutional aspects in the transition countries. On the basis of a new de facto index of central bank independence is found that there is a significant effect of it on an economic growth and its volatility. Generally the more independent is a central bank, the larger will be an economic growth and greater its stability. Further, it is determined that the institutional quality measured by WGI exerted a significant influence on an economic growth in transition countries as well. Regarding the inequality, all transition countries recorded the rise of income inequality since the beginning of the transition, which was especially emphasised in the least developed countries.
Sustainable entrepreneurship and the bioeconomy transition
(2023) Hinderer, Sebastian; Kuckertz, Andreas
Transgressing planetary boundaries endangers the safe operating space for humanity. Thus, a transition of socioeconomic systems toward sustainable development is needed. Prior research elevated the role of sustainable entrepreneurship (SE) in the transition process toward sustainable development in general and the bioeconomy in specific. Bioeconomy strategies worldwide acknowledge the importance of entrepreneurship for the transition process. There is consensus in research that entrepreneurs are needed to implement the vision of a bioeconomy as defined in these strategies. However, it remains unclear how opportunities for entrepreneurial activity in the bioeconomy come into existence and how entrepreneurs contribute to the bioeconomy transition by acting on the provided opportunities. Thus, this dissertation aims to shed light on the interface of SE and the bioeconomy, specifically by investigating the interplay between SE and the bioeconomy transition in light of planetary boundaries and the role of entrepreneurs within the transition. The four empirical studies included in this dissertation take different perspectives on the interface of SE and the bioeconomy and thus contribute different insights to the overall picture drawn in this dissertation. For instance, Study 1 examines a transition pathway to a sustainable bioeconomy by involving an international expert sample in a Delphi survey and subsequent cross-impact analysis. Study 1 presents a list of events necessary to achieve the transition ranked by the experts to reflect their urgency. The cross-impact analysis facilitates combining the most urgent events to create an integrated model of the transition to a sustainable bioeconomy. The findings suggest that rather than bioeconomy strategies, technological progress leveraged by innovative bioeconomy startups and investments currently constitute the main bottleneck hindering a transition to a bioeconomy. Study 2 zooms into the level of new bioeconomy ventures. Based on interviews with ten bioeconomy entrepreneurs from six European countries, it investigates how entrepreneurial opportunities emerge in the bioeconomy context and what competencies entrepreneurs need to act on them. Conceptualizing the bioeconomy transition as an external enabler for SE, Study 2 opens new avenues for research on sustainable development and innovation policy. Furthermore, Study 2 shows that new venture creation in the bioeconomy requires unique knowledge and specific competencies. Study 3 asks how to scale sustainable new ventures and puts it in the context of the ongoing de-growth debate. In recent years the de-growth paradigm has gained popularity in the sustainability discourse. Questioning the absolute decoupling of economic growth from environmental degradation, de-growth proponents suggest downscaling production and consumption to reduce resource extraction and energy consumption. Applying latent class analysis to reveal de-growth attitudes among 393 surveyed entrepreneurs and subsequent regression analysis, Study 3 answers how de-growth attitudes among (sustainable) entrepreneurs are associated with their decision-making on scaling strategies for their ventures. Furthermore, it shows that the development level of the economy an entrepreneur is active in is an essential factor in the decision-making on scaling strategies. Study 4 investigates how sustainable new ventures gain legitimacy to acquire the necessary resources to grow. Previous research suggested being distinctive yet understandable as key to legitimacy for new ventures. However, Study 4 describes complex entrepreneurial identities, i.e., unconventional combinations of entrepreneurial identity claims from the founder and venture levels, as an additional source of legitimacy that benefits only sustainable new ventures but not conventional ones. Since sustainable startups aim to tackle complex problems, external audiences expect them to be different from established conventions of the status quo. An analysis of 15,116 crowdfunding campaigns and their creators’ user profiles via topic modeling and subsequent regression analysis supports this argumentation. The findings show that sustainable ventures with complex – or even odd – entrepreneurial identities receive more support from crowdfunders, while conventional ventures do not. Overall, this dissertation conceptualizes a bi-directional and potentially reinforcing relationship between SE and the bioeconomy transition by building on extant literature and collecting and analyzing new data in four empirical studies. Moreover, it highlights the role of entrepreneurs who need unique knowledge and specific competencies and differ significantly from conventional entrepreneurs in their behavior and entrepreneurial identity. Finally, this dissertation discusses how policy and societal norms can foster productive entrepreneurship that is innovative and sustainable within planetary boundaries.
The bioeconomy : a knowledge-based innovation paradigm to foster sustainability transformations
(2020) Urmetzer, Sophie; Pyka, Andreas
Notwithstanding 40 years of global climate policies, carbon dioxide emissions are still increasing and global surface temperature is still rising until today – with all its consequences to ecosystems and the fate of humanity on Earth. Current attempts to stop and reverse unsustainable developments that lead to the climate crisis and to other ecological and social disasters have proven rather ineffective. While there certainly are many reasons for this on the operative level, the dissertation is motivated by the assumption that countermeasures generally suffer from a lack of systemic framing of the wicked sustainability issues. What if solution approaches – despite being brought forward to the best of decision makers’ knowledge and belief – (only) are subject to a perceptual mistake in the way sustainable solutions are currently framed? I propose a change in perspective as decision making basis for improved sustainability governance. It is a call for getting to the systemic root causes of sustainability problems. To achieve a change in (unsustainable) outcomes, I argue, the logic on which they are produced must change. I conceptualize this change as a paradigmatic shift in knowledge-based innovation systems that becomes necessary to equip them with the requirements to foster sustainability transformations. To this end, I adduce the sustainable knowledge-based bioeconomy as an example of a new innovation paradigm. The knowledge base of innovation systems dedicated to sustainability is explored theoretically and empirically on a policy, an educational, and on a business level. The dissertation is composed of four studies published between 2017 and 2020. After an introduction to the topic and the presentation of the theoretical background, the first paper explores the paradigmatic changes necessary to align innovation systems to the normative implications of sustainability transformations. The types of knowledge required for transformations in the case of the shift towards a sustainable bioeconomy are dealt with in the second publication. The elaboration and refinement of the notion of dedicated knowledge provides a knowledge-theoretical basis for better informing policy makers aiming at the installation of a sustainable knowledge-based bioeconomy. In th ethird study, I analyze to what extent elements of transformative knowledge – one integral part of dedicated knowledge – are considered in the design of European academic bioeconomy curricula. The last paper spotlights the role of firms in contributing to a system-wide adoption of the dedication to sustainability. It closes an important gap between the macro-level of transformation theories and the powerful private actors contributing to its overall outcome from the micro-level. The final Chapter synthesizes and discusses the results of the dissertation’s publications by sketching the knowledge-based change of innovation paradigms that contribute to a transformation to sustainability. The results reveal that a reflection of dedicated transformation processes from a paradigmatic perspective offers theoretical insights that can and should inform public, academic, as well as corporate sustainability endeavors. The consideration of innovation paradigms prompts research to explicitly spell out the normative dimension of innovation processes in innovation systems. This is a decisive step to understanding and possibly informing actions aiming at deliberate change. As an example, I have framed the sustainable bioeconomy as a new paradigm that determines the rate and the direction of innovation in a dedicated innovation system. Once the sustainable bioeconomy paradigm is effective, I argue, it will spontaneously trigger a change in resources used without having it imposed from authorities. To get there, however, policies must take due consideration of the specific characteristics of the relevant knowledge flows, academia must be better trained to afford the required shift in perspectives and trigger transformation processes, and companies must reconsider the values they propose and deliver to their customers. The assemblage of publications spells out the theoretical underpinnings of the knowledge-based bioeconomy and its potential to serve as a new paradigm to spur sustainability transformations. More concretely, the dissertation reveals to what extent the role of knowledge and knowledge itself needs to be reconsidered and in which ways it must be expanded for achieving a systemic change towards more sustainable consumption and production patterns.