Search results

Increased annual precipitation and more frequent episodes with heavy precipitation are expected in Norway due to climate change. The purpose of this paper is to use two case studies to investigate effects of precipitation on the amounts of faecal indicator bacteria and parasitic protozoa (Cryptosporidium and Giardia) loaded to surface waters from catchment areas exposed to different faecal sources.

In the first case study, the loads of faecal indicator bacteria and Cryptosporidium and Giardia, were investigated in relation to precipitation in a stream from a small valley where cattle and sheep are grazed. In the second case study, historical data (monthly values from 2004‐2009) regarding faecal coliforms and water flow in five tributaries (urban and rural) of a lake used as a drinking water source, were used for calculating loads of faecal indicator bacteria. These loads were evaluated in relation to historical data on precipitation. Additional sampling during/after rainfall, including analysis of samples for Cryptosporidium and Giardia, was performed.

The study visualises how heavy rainfall may increase the load of faecal microorganisms and potential pathogens in Norwegian water sources.

This study provides supplementary information about microbial contamination (including by parasites) of Norwegian surface waters during or after rainfall. This is useful input for decision making regarding protection of vulnerable water sources and for risk assessments. Data are also provided for evaluation of water treatment needs for Norwegian municipalities and waterworks responsible for providing safe drinking water under future climatic conditions.

This chapter provides an overview of various new streams in international business (IB) research that will have an important impact on IB studies in the years to come, both from a conceptual and a methodological perspective.

The authors discuss a set of 18 chapters, all included in this research volume, and highlight both the key intellectual contributions and the challenges identified that will need to be taken into account in future research.

The findings of the studies discussed are manifold and profound. Some of the main findings include the following: (1) multinational enterprise (MNE)-centric empirical research studies should be avoided. Resource recombination typically requires taking into account the resource base and the strategies of at least two economic actors. (2) IB studies, almost by definition, need to take into account “distance,” but most prior empirical research has not done a particularly good job in including relevant distance parameters in a methodologically sound way to assess their impact on MNE strategy, operational functioning or performance. (3) Nonbusiness institutions can be very helpful in promoting MNE expansion but include “dark side” institutions that sometimes appear very effective in particular situational contexts. (4) Institutional diversity matters: it can make international knowledge transfers difficult, it can lead to discrimination against firms from specific nationalities, it certainly suggests that there is no generalizable multinationality–performance relationship, and it raises the question whether new theory is needed to accommodate previously neglected institutional contexts.

This overview of several recent IB studies confirms that managing the international innovation chain in its entirety is fraught with difficulties. MNE senior management must economize on bounded rationality (meaning: improving information quality and information processing) and bounded reliability (meaning: making sure that economic actors make good on open-ended promises, whether implicit or explicit). Any IB transaction by definition entails new resource recombination. Doing so effectively requires correct information, reliable partners and a recombination outcome that supports value creation for the MNE. Multiple, practice-driven puzzles in the IB context are proposed to the reader, and the outcomes are often unexpected.

A variety of new concepts and methodological approaches are proposed to improve the quality of future IB research.