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Article
Publication date: 4 May 2012

Mark Drewell

The purpose of this paper is to contribute to the understanding of responsible leadership.

874

Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to contribute to the understanding of responsible leadership.

Design/methodology/approach

The author draws on a range of current literature and experiences to share views on the need for responsible leadership.

Findings

The need for a new narrative is outlined and the challenges described.

Originality/value

The paper inspires leaders to embrace a new narrative, a narrative that requires a different focus from leadership and a new understanding of what responsible leadership entails.

Details

Journal of Global Responsibility, vol. 3 no. 1
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 2041-2568

Keywords

Available. Content available
Article
Publication date: 6 May 2014

104

Abstract

Details

Journal of Global Responsibility, vol. 5 no. 1
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 2041-2568

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Article
Publication date: 1 January 1947

In his introductory remarks the Medical Officer briefly comments on the war in its relations to medical practice and public health. He reminds us that Japanese action, by…

40

Abstract

In his introductory remarks the Medical Officer briefly comments on the war in its relations to medical practice and public health. He reminds us that Japanese action, by depriving us of quinine, encouraged research for synthetic substitutes. Again, penicillin and D.D.T. were given attention that they, possibly, would not otherwise have had. Food standards, long urgently needed, have been established for many important foods. He further points out that “adequate finance and international scientific co‐operation” has aided atomic research. These remarks make an exceedingly appropriate introduction to what immediately follows. The Borough of Leigh has an area of 6,359 acres, that is ten square miles. The population is 45,317, or about 4,500 to the square mile. It lies in the centre of one of the greatest manufacturing districts in the world. This district includes Manchester, Liverpool, Bury, Wigan and other places whose names alone suggest intense industrial activity. Leigh, therefore, densely populated and taking an active part in this industrial activity, presents the special health problems that are always to be found in places where nature has been subordinated to the needs of industry. One of these problems, and by no means the least important one, is atmospheric pollution caused by the smoke of domestic fires and of factory fires. It is as old as any and it is still unsolved. It is but one of the many attempts that have been made in the past to better public or domestic hygiene. Weak or faulty administration or the lack of compulsory powers have enhanced difficulties, already considerable, when confronted with actively expressed popular prejudice, or worse still with the apathy of ignorance, or the opposition arising from vested interests. To enforce Acts of Parliament or regulations under such conditions was in some cases an almost impossible task. Thus the report states that the Manchester and Regional Smoke Abatement Committee is now functioning again—its work was suspended during the war. “It is a voluntary association of local authorities… and acts in an advisory capacity.” It seems that out of 91 local authorities—including two County Councils—sixty‐eight have joined or resumed their previous membership of the Regional Committee. Since only fifty‐three out of ninety‐one were pre‐war members the increase of membership from about 54 to 78 per cent. of the possible membership is taken to indicate that greater interest is being taken in the problem of smoke abatement. Just so. But why not the full possible membership? We can to a certain extent understand this if the powers of the Committee are merely advisory and they have to deal with some who have “urged that smoke means work, the inference being that the greater the degree of pollution the higher will be the level of employment.” Again, we arc told that the Manchester Corporation Bill proposes to create a smokeless zone in the centre of the city. The proposal to create such zones has been “criticised on the grounds that the area they comprise will still be subject to pollution from outside sources.” Of course they will! Who in the world doubts it? But we submit that a beginning should be made somewhere, somehow, and somewhen. A committee which can act only in an advisory capacity would have little influence on people who use perverted reasoning to justify conditions that the committee has been created to suppress. Some years ago, before the war brought everything to a standstill, the foul state of the Ribble, Mersey and associated streams engaged the attention of local authorities. It might, with as much reason, be urged that polluted streams were in like case. Hence fouled air and fouled streams are indications of and inseparable accidents of industrial success! The matter in some respects inclines slightly to the humorous side. Not so the following. The Medical Officer says “the high infant mortality and general death rates, together with the high incidence of respiratory diseases associated with atmospheric pollution of our industrial areas should be sufficient in themselves to dispel any attitude of complacency or apathy towards this problem.” We do not suggest Leigh is any better or any worse on the whole than any other industrial area in this respect. The old tag ex uno disce omnes seems to fit the case. The report calls attention to the following facts. That 70,000 tons of carbon black is discharged into London air every year, and its value is £40 a ton. That the Department of Scientific and Industrial Research in their report of 1945 on atmospheric pollution in Leicester point out that pollution from our industrial areas spreads all over England. That twice as much smoke is made from domestic fires than from industrial fires. That in burning coal in an ordinary grate only about one‐fifth of the coal is used to supply heat and that half a hundredweight per ton of coal used goes up the chimney as smoke. All this waste can be expressed with a fair approach to accuracy in terms of weight and monetary units. The Meteorological Office and later the Department of Scientific and Industrial Research have issued annual reports for the past twenty‐five years on this matter and Health Authorities and Public Analysts have done much the same thing. This scientific co‐operation has led to a great accumution of exact knowledge, and “all that is required for success is the application of this knowledge.” And this knowledge has not been adequately applied. Material waste and damage by smoke‐polluted air can be assessed in ordinary units. Waste of and damage to life cannot be so estimated. Mind and body suffer. Ill health, weakened physical powers, and resulting mental distress and impaired efficiency can, we suppose, only be duly appreciated by members of the medical profession whose duties bring them into personal touch with the patients. Vital statistics and bills of mortality but imperfectly reveal the truth. If atmospheric pollution had “impeded the war effort”—in the way in which that expression was usually taken to mean—adequate finance and scientific co‐operation would undoubtedly have been forthcoming, even perhaps to the extent of writing smoke abated for smoke abatement. Enemy action was sporadic and temporary. Smoke pollution has acted without haste but without rest for a hundred years and more. It is still acting as a persistent and contributory cause of ill‐health. At a time when enhanced national efficiency is declared to be an essential condition of national recovery and success this statement of responsible medical opinion should, like others of the same kind, receive practical and prompt consideration. However quickly the evil may be effectually dealt with, even if that were done to‐morrow, there still would be the time lag, and years must pass before the after effects have become eliminated. Nationalisation of all kinds is very much to the fore. “It would be wise,” says the Report, “to regard the problem as already calling for action on a national scale.” These it is suggested would include adequate supplies of standardised domestic and industrial equipment for burning smokeless fuels, and the revision of the powers of local authorities in whose hands the matter at present rests. While we are in full agreement with these suggested remedies the difficulties of applying them are obviously very great and the work of a generation if the authors of the fantastic objections already alluded to and possibly others of a like way of thinking have any real say in the matter.

Details

British Food Journal, vol. 49 no. 1
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0007-070X

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Book part
Publication date: 17 January 2018

Kai Peters, Richard R. Smith and Howard Thomas

Abstract

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Rethinking the Business Models of Business Schools
Type: Book
ISBN: 978-1-78754-875-6

Available. Open Access. Open Access
Article
Publication date: 20 January 2023

Imoh Antai and Nonyelum Lina Eze

In the African context, the threat of the disruption of traditional business value-creation processes, currently facilitated by the growing information technology (IT) ecosystem…

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Abstract

Purpose

In the African context, the threat of the disruption of traditional business value-creation processes, currently facilitated by the growing information technology (IT) ecosystem, came with the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic. Thus, this paper aims to investigate the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic on interfirm relationships within the context of the digital ecosystem in Africa.

Design/methodology/approach

This study employs an explanatory–exploratory qualitative approach from an interpretivist stance to investigate the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic on interfirm relationships. The authors conducted seven in-depth interviews with top management executives in a Nigerian technology company, together with the company's archival data that provided the pre, during and post pandemic (2018–2021) business-to-business (B2B) relationship structures, to determine how these relationships have been affected.

Findings

The results suggest that the pandemic had a minimal effect on partnership relationships in the B2B ecosystems of the case company but affected only non-partnership relationships.

Research limitations/implications

The authors' qualitative study is interpretive and the sample size is limited. Hence, there is a need for caution in generalizing the findings. The framework can be further validated across a wider population.

Practical implications

Partnerships can help organizations weather business crises. Consequently, organizations should maintain a healthy number of partnership relations to deal with periods in which challenges emerge in the business landscape. In other words, with tight contracts and a strategic focus on goals and objectives, partnership relations can help organizations weather business crises.

Originality/value

This study builds upon the burgeoning body of literature on digital ecosystems within the African context, which is a relevant contextual contribution.

Details

Information Technology & People, vol. 36 no. 8
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0959-3845

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Article
Publication date: 8 May 2019

Markus Schwaninger

This study aims to explore an exemplar of the design and application of a systemic framework for higher education. The field of application is in the social sciences and the…

185

Abstract

Purpose

This study aims to explore an exemplar of the design and application of a systemic framework for higher education. The field of application is in the social sciences and the perspective long-term, covering three generations of faculty and many generations of students.

Design/methodology/approach

This study is exploratory. It contains a conceptual component and an empirical component with a long-term case study from a European university.

Findings

A cybersystemic approach to higher education has been shown, at the focal university, to be a powerful amplifier of individual and institutional capabilities, and it still has great potential. The crucial prerequisite is that the approach is virtuously designed and implemented.

Originality/value

A case study ranging over 50 years is presented. The respective university has been a role model for other educational institutions for many years. Its influence in the German-speaking countries, and more recently also internationally, has become significant.

Details

Kybernetes, vol. 48 no. 7
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0368-492X

Keywords

Available. Open Access. Open Access
Article
Publication date: 7 March 2023

Rufai Haruna Kilu, Mohammed-Aminu Sanda and Ana Alacovska

There is growing scholarly discourse towards COVID-19 pandemic and creative entrepreneurship in the perspectives of Global South. Extant literature lacks sufficient empirical…

1192

Abstract

Purpose

There is growing scholarly discourse towards COVID-19 pandemic and creative entrepreneurship in the perspectives of Global South. Extant literature lacks sufficient empirical evidence on the subject matter. This paper therefore provides insights into business models and business model shifts in response to the COVID-19 pandemic among creative entrepreneurs in Ghana.

Design/methodology/approach

In working towards achieving the purpose of the study, a qualitative design was deployed. Four artistic communities in three regions were understudied. The study conducted working interviews, Focus Group Discussions and field observations on the creative entrepreneurs.

Findings

The results showed a unique business model that captured ministries, agencies and departments; traditional authorities, foreigners and the diaspora community as key creative partners. The creative entrepreneurs equally proposed value via quality deliveries, attractive pattern mix, pure handy crafts, mart finishing, imbibing culture into productions and symbolic meanings. Their key activities include cutting and gluing, sewing and coloring, sketching and prototyping, annual Kente festivals, film shooting and editing. The creatives stream revenue through sales, advances, profit margins, contracts, gate proceeds, loans, friends and family support. The results also point at a regime of business model shifts among the creatives, deploying digitalization and diversification in response to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Research limitations/implications

The research by design is limited to the qualitative tradition; despite knowing well about the quantitative approach that could have provided a wider scope and coverage for effective generalizability. Certainly, it would be of future research interest to design a comparative mix-method study to achieve a wider coverage feat. Indeed, the paper does achieve the goal of providing an original empirical account, hence making a valid contribution to knowledge in the area of study.

Practical implications

The knowledge on demystified business models relative to the Ghanaian creative entrepreneurs has practical implications for practice: first, it generates a ground-up knowledge as to what creative entrepreneurial business models are, why they exist and exactly how to create one in a Global South perspective.

Social implications

These creative business models and the COVID-19 induced model shifts among the Ghanaian creative entrepreneurs imply continuous creative livelihoods, sustainable business models and assurance for innovation in creative entrepreneurship space.

Originality/value

The study is of high scientific value, creative entrepreneurial essence and public interest to better demystify creative entrepreneurial business models and theoretically framed them. It offers strong empirical evidence on COVID-19 induced business model shifts. These creative business models and the COVID-19 induced model shifts among the Ghanaian creative entrepreneurs imply continuous creative livelihoods, sustainable business models and assurance for innovation in creative entrepreneurship space.

Details

African Journal of Economic and Management Studies, vol. 14 no. 2
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 2040-0705

Keywords

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