David S. Timmons and Benjamin Weil
Many institutions of higher education have committed to carbon neutrality. Given this goal, the main economic issue is minimizing cost. As for society as a whole, dominant…
Abstract
Purpose
Many institutions of higher education have committed to carbon neutrality. Given this goal, the main economic issue is minimizing cost. As for society as a whole, dominant decarbonization strategies are renewable electricity generation, electrification of end uses and energy efficiency. The purpose of this paper is to describe the optimum combination of strategies.
Design/methodology/approach
There are four questions for eliminating the primary institutional greenhouse gas emissions: how much renewable electricity to produce on-site; where and at what price to purchase the balance of renewable electricity required; how to heat and cool buildings without fossil fuels; and how much to invest in energy efficiency. A method is presented to minimize decarbonization costs by equating marginal costs of the alternates.
Findings
The estimated cost of grid-purchased carbon-free energy is the most important benchmark, determining both the optimal level of campus-produced renewable energy and the optimum efficiency investment. In the context of complete decarbonization, greater efficiency investments may be justified than when individual measures are judged only by fossil-fuel savings.
Practical implications
This paper discusses a theoretically ideal plan and implementation issues such as purchasing carbon-free electricity, calculating marginal costs of conserved energy, nonmarginal cost changes, uncertainty about achieving efficiency targets, and dynamic pricing. The principles described in this study can be used to craft a cost-minimizing decarbonization strategy.
Originality/value
While previous studies discuss decarbonization strategies, there is little economic guidance on which strategies are optimal, on how to combine strategies to minimize cost or how to identify a preferred path to decarbonization.
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Jon Newton and David Gary Shreeve
A study of “the relationship between the characteristics and life experiences of entrepreneurs” has just been completed at the University of Derby. The four‐fold purpose of this…
Abstract
A study of “the relationship between the characteristics and life experiences of entrepreneurs” has just been completed at the University of Derby. The four‐fold purpose of this study, was to: identify and evaluate from existing literature the personal traits and characteristics of entrepreneurs and the main factors or life experiences which may affect their characteristics; identify from the authors primary research, the personal traits and characteristics of entrepreneurs; to identify from the authors primary research which factors or life experiences affect particularly the characteristics of entrepreneurs; and, finally, to assess whether there is any correlation between the characteristics and life experiences of the entrepreneurs investigated in this study and those identified by other academic studies.
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Angela Hall, Stacy Hickox, Jennifer Kuan and Connie Sung
Barriers to employment are a significant issue in the United States and abroad. As civil rights legislation continues to be enforced and as employers seek to diversify their…
Abstract
Barriers to employment are a significant issue in the United States and abroad. As civil rights legislation continues to be enforced and as employers seek to diversify their workplaces, it is incumbent upon the management field to offer insights that address obstacles to work. Although barriers to employment have been addressed in various fields such as psychology and economics, management scholars have addressed this issue in a piecemeal fashion. As such, our review will offer a comprehensive, integrative model of barriers to employment that addresses both individual and organizational perspectives. We will also address societal-level concerns involving these barriers. An integrative perspective is necessary for research to progress in this area because many individuals with barriers to employment face multiple challenges that prevent them from obtaining and maintaining full employment. While the additive, or possibly multiplicative, effect of employment barriers have been acknowledged in related fields like rehabilitation counseling and vocational psychology, the Human Resource Management (HRM) literature has virtually ignored this issue. We discuss suggestions for the reduction or elimination of barriers to employment. We also provide an integrative model of employment barriers that addresses the mutable (amenable to change) nature of some barriers, while acknowledging the less mutable nature of others.
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Pauline Gill, Paul McKenna, Helen O'Neill, Johnny Thompson and David Timmons
The Central Mental Hospital in Ireland is one of the oldest forensic mental health units in Europe. The hospital is currently in the process of transforming from a single…
Abstract
The Central Mental Hospital in Ireland is one of the oldest forensic mental health units in Europe. The hospital is currently in the process of transforming from a single inpatient site to a modern national forensic mental health service. Central to this transformation is the need to move from the traditional security‐focused model of care to a model of recovery. The challenge incumbent within this transformation is to incorporate a sophisticated amalgamation of the patients' needs while recognising the broad range of security requirements in a forensic setting. This paper considered that adopting an integrated care pathway (ICP) approach would provide the service with a vehicle to re‐engineer our principles and systems of care. Likewise we hypothesised that the ICP would enable us to consolidate best practices such as multi‐ disciplinary working, structured professional judgement and the involvement of the patient and their carers. Thus far it has afforded us the opportunity to examine many aspects of the care delivered within the service. It has provided a shared understanding of key standards among clinicians, service users and carers that are necessary to implement a quality care pathway. It has certainly not been a stagnant process, and the initial work often bears no resemblance to the current process. In turn, we expect that it will continue to change as the path travelled is as important as the outcome and the ICP becomes a dynamic part of the organisation.
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David J. Brophy and Michael R. Haessler
The purpose of this paper is to demonstrate how probabilistic simulation can be used to assist prospective general partners (GP) and limited partners (LP) of a venture capital…
Abstract
The purpose of this paper is to demonstrate how probabilistic simulation can be used to assist prospective general partners (GP) and limited partners (LP) of a venture capital limited partnership fund to evaluate alternative investment strategies for the proposed fund. The model presented in the paper is based upon observed characteristics of the venture capital market reported in the finance, economics, and management science literature. The body of the paper is organized as follows. In Section II we review the structural characteristics of the model. In Section III we present the results, in terms of ending wealth, obtained from simulating the fund's operations over its life under selected alternative investment strategies. In Section IV we show evaluations of the fund's simulated results under expected return, mean/variance and four moment approaches. In Section V, we present conclusions and implications of the results for financial management.
Oral history collections can offer a wealth of detailed information for entrepreneurship researchers. The stories that entrepreneurs tell provide researchers with insight into…
Abstract
Oral history collections can offer a wealth of detailed information for entrepreneurship researchers. The stories that entrepreneurs tell provide researchers with insight into both perspective and into substantive issues of entrepreneurial behavior. The life stories of entrepreneurs offer students of entrepreneurship insight into both the explicit and the tacit knowledge of working entrepreneurs.
Vivianna Fang He and Gregor Krähenmann
The pursuit of entrepreneurial opportunities is not always successful. On the one hand, entrepreneurial failure offers an invaluable opportunity for entrepreneurs to learn about…
Abstract
The pursuit of entrepreneurial opportunities is not always successful. On the one hand, entrepreneurial failure offers an invaluable opportunity for entrepreneurs to learn about their ventures and themselves. On the other hand, entrepreneurial failure is associated with substantial financial, psychological, and social costs. When entrepreneurs fail to learn from failure, the potential value of this experience is not fully utilized and these costs will have been incurred in vain. In this chapter, the authors investigate how the stigma of failure exacerbates the various costs of failure, thereby making learning from failure much more difficult. The authors combine an analysis of interviews of 20 entrepreneurs (who had, at the time of interview, experienced failure) with an examination of archival data reflecting the legal and cultural environment around their ventures. The authors find that stigma worsens the entrepreneurs’ experience of failure, hinders their transformation of failure experience, and eventually prevents them from utilizing the lessons learnt from failure in their future entrepreneurial activities. The authors discuss the implications of the findings for the entrepreneurship research and economic policies.
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David C. McClelland attributed India's slow economic development to the lack of people with the need for achievement (n‐ach). His argument is simple: if a nation develops a large…
Abstract
Purpose
David C. McClelland attributed India's slow economic development to the lack of people with the need for achievement (n‐ach). His argument is simple: if a nation develops a large number of people – especially managers, leaders and entrepreneurs – who are driven by motives to achieve, to build and develop things, then that resource (achievement‐oriented people) will generate economic development. India today is on a growth trajectory. It has a vast repertory of engineering, technical and managerial talents. But does the country have the so‐called achievement‐oriented managers to lead its enterprises to excel and compete in the emerging world order? This study is an inquiry into this phenomenon.
Design/methodology/approach
The study draws a national sample of managers working in the banking sector and attempts to measure the distribution of achievement among them. The linkage between the achievement orientation of managers and their performance effectiveness is also explored.
Findings
Though limited by the size of the sample, the study findings reveal that Indian managers possess achievement orientation in considerable degrees and that the highest performers among them are the ones possessing the highest levels of achievement orientation. Furthermore, the study provides insights into how the attribute of achievement orientation operates in the Indian managerial work environment.
Originality/value
The findings make it possible to prognosticate that a transformation has occurred in the social fabric of India, equipping the country to be psychologically and entrepreneurially resourceful with achievement‐oriented managers. Evidence on the distribution of an achievement orientation among Indian managers could be a vital input for strategic managers and top management planning for business expansion and diversification in India.