Alan Kay, Michael J. Roy and Cam Donaldson
This intentionally polemical paper will aim to re-examine what is meant by social enterprise and try to assert its role within the current economic system. It is well over a…
Abstract
Purpose
This intentionally polemical paper will aim to re-examine what is meant by social enterprise and try to assert its role within the current economic system. It is well over a decade since John Pearce’s Social Enterprise in Anytown was first published. Since then the term “social enterprise” has been used in multiple ways by politicians, practitioners and academics – very often for their own ideological ends.
Design/methodology/approach
This paper will outline the context and challenges currently facing social enterprise both from outside and from inside the social enterprise movement.
Findings
This paper re-affirms a paradigm for social enterprises through re-imagining how social enterprise should and could contribute to the creation of a fairer and more just society.
Originality/value
Finally, this paper will conclude with a reflection on what Pearce argued and how the social enterprise movement has to position itself as a viable alternative way of creating goods and services based on socially responsible values.
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Keywords
This paper aims to review the latest management developments across the globe and pinpoint practical implications from cutting‐edge research and case studies.
Abstract
Purpose
This paper aims to review the latest management developments across the globe and pinpoint practical implications from cutting‐edge research and case studies.
Design/methodology/approach
This briefing is prepared by an independent writer who adds their own impartial comments and places the articles in context.
Findings
According to Alan Kay, inventing the future is the best way of predicting what is going to happen. However, the wise words of this eminent US computer scientist are not taken on board in every company. Such firms are skeptical towards innovation and accordingly cagey in their approach. There is no denying that innovation equals uncertainty and is clearly a risk‐laden pursuit at the best of times. Many organizations therefore play safe by confining their search for new knowledge to existing domains. This means that specific ways of thinking dominate and management is biased towards channels it is already familiar with. Some might argue that sticking to the tried and trusted makes sense. However, any reluctance to look further afield for solutions hardly maximizes the chances of success. And adopting a narrow focus raises the danger of complacency creeping into the equation. Why? Because some leaders suppose that familiarity with the research domain will make innovations easier to identify. In the long run, that can prove a costly assumption to make.
Practical implications
Organizations can enhance prospects of successful innovation by setting broader objectives and considering knowledge and information from a wide variety of sources. A funding bias towards projects with greater potential should be adopted.
Social implications
Exploring potential new energy sources and technological advancements can help firms to operate more efficiently and reduce their carbon footprint.
Originality/value
The briefing saves busy executives and researchers' hours of reading time by selecting only the very best, most pertinent information and presenting it in a condensed and easy‐to‐digest format.
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Keywords
Reviews the latest management developments across the globe and pinpoints practical implications from cutting‐edge research and case studies.
Abstract
Purpose
Reviews the latest management developments across the globe and pinpoints practical implications from cutting‐edge research and case studies.
Design/methodology/approach
This briefing is prepared by an independent writer who adds their own impartial comments and places the articles in context.
Findings
Getting the right balance between short and longer‐term goals is critical for the well‐being of any business organization. For some, delivering success in the here and now is all that matters. However, concentrating almost exclusively on a quick fix or two is a dangerous game to play. Glory is likely to be fleeting at best when such an outlook prevails. Creating anything to endure demands a focus that extends well beyond the present. Companies shouldn't simply leave everything to chance, though. As US computer scientist Alan Kay once remarked, “the best way to predict the future is to invent it.” Succession planning is fundamental to any such philosophy. Obviously no one can know for certain what lies ahead. But having the right leaders with the right skills in the right roles does at least give an organization some hope of shaping its own destiny.
Practical implications
Provides strategic insights and practical thinking that have influenced some of the world's leading organizations.
Originality/value
The briefing saves busy executives and researchers hours of reading time by selecting only the very best, most pertinent information and presenting it in a condensed and easy‐to‐digest format.
Details
Keywords
Books include novels, dictionaries, telephone books, textbooks, anthologies, instruction manuals, proceedings of meetings and directories. The phrase “electronic books” has been…
Abstract
Books include novels, dictionaries, telephone books, textbooks, anthologies, instruction manuals, proceedings of meetings and directories. The phrase “electronic books” has been applied to some types of CD‐ROM systems, palm‐top CD players, on‐demand text, electronic document systems of various kinds ± in fact to almost any kind of computer‐based text system that needs hyping up for marketing purposes. The future prospects for the electronic book are examined in this article.
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Today, entrepreneurs are “predicting our future by inventing it”. This phenomenon is in response to the rapid economic growth and social change brought on by new technology and…
Abstract
Today, entrepreneurs are “predicting our future by inventing it”. This phenomenon is in response to the rapid economic growth and social change brought on by new technology and expanding world markets. Over the next fifty years, Americans may contemplate annual per capita income raising five to tenfold from the present $12,000 which our industrial society produces. The service economy will become more and more a knowledge or information economy. All institutions, public, private, for‐profit and not‐for‐profit, are changing or being changed. The economic value of knowledge is just being recognized. Libraries, as collections of books, are becoming value‐added information and knowledge centers. The present library world is confused by the apparent conflict between serving traditional scholastic and emerging business needs. There is great opportunity for service and profit to the imaginative library that organizes to provide the new forms of knowledge now available or being developed. Library systems need leaders with vision and the ability to negotiate major change — not administrators. Librarians as entrepreneurs must learn business. This includes venture management and finance. Available assistance includes: growing intrapreneurial understanding in large institutions; family and friends; ample private wealth seeking investment; new business incubators — many university sponsored; a maturing, amply funded venture capital industry; and rapidly spreading local ‘venture clubs’ organizing community resources for entrepreneurs.
The paper aims to extend remarks made during a keynote speech at the Australian Library and Information Association annual conference on the Gold Coast on 24 September 2004. The…
Abstract
Purpose
The paper aims to extend remarks made during a keynote speech at the Australian Library and Information Association annual conference on the Gold Coast on 24 September 2004. The paper discusses the strategic imperatives for the players in the library world and asserts that they must compete or withdraw.
Design/methodology/approach
Key trends towards a more connected society, more connected enterprises and connected objects and places are discussed. Several technology and process innovations are recommended as tactics to compete against the new players in the marketplace such as Google™. These include software and hardware innovations for federated search, OpenURL resolvers, federated identity management, next generation interfaces and third party content integration.
Findings
The author asserts that change in a changing world is possible and desirable. To not change and develop competitive strategies to differentiate library service offerings is to choose a slow decline and is, in reality, a choice to withdraw from the competition.
Originality/value
The paper points out the need for change and development in library services.
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Carsten Sørensen and David Gibson
It is essential for professionals to have flexible access to information sources and interaction with clients and colleagues. Mobile phones, e‐mail, pagers, laptops, and PCs all…
Abstract
It is essential for professionals to have flexible access to information sources and interaction with clients and colleagues. Mobile phones, e‐mail, pagers, laptops, and PCs all aim to facilitate the flexibility necessary for conducting their work. Ideally, professionals with intense demands on their time should not be supported by various information and interaction technologies, they should embed core domesticated technologies. This paper examines how the vision of iniquitous ICT support for professional work meets the harsh realities through interviews with 16 individual professionals from 16 different organisations. The paper aims to answer the question of the applicability and reality of ubiquitous computing in today's work environment and where technology is in terms of limitations for the professional. The study demonstrates that the joint life of professionals and their technologies is not one best characterised by the technical and the social merging seamlessly. It is instead one burdened by constant attention.
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Introduction One of the most important developments in information technology over the past ten years or so, quite apart from the massive improvements in hardware technology, has…
Abstract
Introduction One of the most important developments in information technology over the past ten years or so, quite apart from the massive improvements in hardware technology, has been the graphical user interface (GUI). For most people it has been a positive innovation, but for some, particularly those who are blind or visually impaired, it has been a rising threat as a barrier to the technology. Now that such interfaces have matured and become the norm, adaptations have been developed and perhaps that threat is not as bad as it was once feared to be. This article describes the development of the GUI, explains why it is so significant, and discusses whether it has been “tamed” with respect to use by people with visual disabilities.