Suchergebnisse

Purpose
The paper aims to make a contribution by providing a comprehensive understanding of the scope of the implementation of sustainable marketing tools in SMEs operating in the food and drink industry in Europe. The focus will be put on the identification of differences between companies operating in business-to-business (B2B) and business-to-customer (B2C) context.


Design/methodology/approach
The empirical basis is a survey of 770 European SMEs, of which 369 operate in Western European countries (including UK, Germany and Spain) and 401 in Central and Eastern Europe (including Poland, Croatia and Russia). The respondents in the particular countries were stratified according to company size, measured by the number of employees. The research covered 316 micro companies, 5 small companies and 209 medium ones. The questionnaire was completed by the managing directors of the enterprises (CEOs) or heads of the marketing departments (CMOs). The research was conducted between April 2016 and January 2017. An in-depth analysis of the findings helped to identify differences between the two groups of SMEs, i.e. operating in the B2B and B2C context, in terms of the extent of sustainable marketing implementation. The non-parametric U Mann–Whitney test was used to examine the significance of the differences between the two groups of companies.


Findings
The research results suggest that both groups of B2B and B2C companies implement sustainable marketing tools to some extent. However, in most cases, B2B organizations do it to a significantly greater extent. Nevertheless, these activities relate mainly to those tools, which are directly visible to customers, both institutional and individual, such as packaging, product ingredients or certificates. To a lesser extent, they involve marketing activities of an internal nature, such as production process and the level of energy, water or resources used.


Originality/value
To the best knowledge of the author, this is the first empirical research study on the implementation of the sustainable marketing concept in SMEs operating in European countries. The study is a comparative analysis of the phenomenon between B2B and B2C companies, which has not been previously researched.

Purpose
Information and communication technology (ICT) appears to play an indispensable task in influencing and directing the growth process of several developing countries. The spread of ICT in the South Pacific region including Fiji has facilitated faster and smother business in different sectors of the economy such as banking, education, transport and tourism. The purpose of this paper is to contribute to empirical literature and explore the effect of ICT on economic output, both in the short run and long run in the Fiji Islands.


Design/methodology/approach
The economic analysis was conducted using data from 1990 to 2016, improved framework of Solow (1956) and the autoregressive distributed-lag bounds approach to cointegration. Findings from the study and economic standpoint, the ICT is indeed important. The analysis shows an indication of long-run cointegration relationship among the variables for the two indicators of ICT. From the analysis, it is also observed that the two ICT indicators have a statistically significant and positive effect on output with coefficient ranging from 0.04 to 0.06.


Research limitations/implications
These results extend the ICT literature by providing support for it in case of a small developing island economy. The study highlights that while the two proxies of ICT are important for long term output growth, besides broad money and capital stock, the principal technology contributor is a mobile cellular subscription in Fiji Islands.


Practical implications
The policymakers need to work diligently to not only enhance ICT related infrastructure but also focus on better services and communication in different sectors of the economy. The efficient use of present technologies such as 3-G and 4-G is crucial and must be connected and made available to other smaller islands of Fiji.


Originality/value
The recent study has focused on the contribution of ICT on small island developing country, relative to large developing or developed countries. Furthermore, the author examined the contribution of two indicators of ICT using Solow (1956) augmented framework.

Purpose. Objectives of the study are as follows: to remove the reduction of women to a metaphysical subject, to the "castrated Other" through the correlation of postmodern strategies and gender medicine; to institutionalize gender medicine as knowledge and practical activities that improve the quality and span of life of women based on the methodological application of deconstruction, complementarity, differance, "double writing", X-subject treatment and biomedical innovations; the perspective of gender medicine development is the implementation of the concept of "sovereign writing" of postmodern in individual treatment of a person. Theoretical basis. Shock value of the title means farewell to metaphysics in the complex of its derived concepts. The author criticizes the abstract, reduced, marginalized, deviant subject of classical metaphysics and its continuation in psychoanalysis (Freud, Lacan), explores the correlation of postmodern philosophy strategies and biomedical innovations. The allusion to the masterpiece of world cinematography Pasolini's "Ciao maschio" corresponds to the rhizomatic stylistics of the postmodern. Originality. After feminist transgressions, gender constructivism postmodern philosophy demonstrates a new subject and a new methodology, which formed gender medicine. Differance, distinction, complementarity, X-subject of treatment, chiasmatic movement, "double writing", "sovereign writing" organically turned over and reconstructed modern medicine in gender, biochemical, and hormonal innovative variations. Conclusions. 1. Based on the philosophy and biomedical innovations, a new direction has grown – gender medicine, which has removed the reduction of women to a metaphysical subject, "castrated Other", which has improved the quality of women's health and span of life. 2. Gender medicine in organic combination with the strategies of deconstruction, complementarity, differance, distinction as hormonal distinction, "double writing" as a "dual protocol" of treatment for the same diseases of men and women, the treatment of X-subject turned out to be "new wisdom", which improves the quality of health and span of life in everyday practice. 3. The prospect of the gender medicine's development is in the implementation of the "sovereign writing" as an individual treatment of a specific person.

PurposeTransnational migration has become a defining feature of many societies across the globe. This paper focuses on contributions to diversity theorizing and research available from "superdiversity", an analytic framework derived from transnational migration studies. "Superdiversity" speaks to the novel social transformations taking place globally and provides new opportunities, albeit with critique, for conceptualizing and studying people, difference and inclusion. The purpose of this paper is to provide innovative ways to rethink hallmark concepts of diversity scholarship by offering new insights about the role of nation-states, the concept of difference and inclusion in the midst of mobility.Design/methodology/approachThe paper relies upon transnational migration studies as an emergent field of inquiry about societal level changes brought upon by the ongoing movement of people. The social, cultural and political transformations growing out of transnational migration are used to theorize new directions for diversity research in the context of management and organization studies. By relying on "superdiversity" and its mobility-based ontology, epistemology and methodology, the paper proposes new ways to think about and carry out research on difference and inclusion.FindingsDeploying the analytic framework of "superdiversity," the paper offers "belonging" as the new conversation on inclusion and proposes mobile methods as a means to study mobile subjects/objects. In addition, it discusses how the ongoing transformative societal changes by way of transnational migration impact the ways in which the author theorizes and carry out diversity research. Questions and concerns around ethics, (in)equality and representation are considered vital to future research in/around diversity.Originality/valueExtensive changes in societies emerging out of ongoing encounters between/among different kinds of people have taken shape by way of transnational migration. As a result, emergent and novel notions of difference have been forged in a transnational manner across social fields. By examining these transformations, the paper provides new directions and challenges for diversity scholarship in the context of rising societal tensions and rhetoric around difference and "belonging" in nation-states. It also provides alternative considerations for understanding and theorizing inclusion in diversity research.

<p>É notório o crescimento do estudo e da difusão do pensamento de Antônio Gramsci no Brasil. Presume-se que a criação do Instituto de Gramsci no Brasil (IGS/Brasil), em 2015, tem contribuído para tal. A educação é uma das principais áreas onde se concentra o maior número de estudos acerca do universo categorial que envolve o autor dos <em>Cadernos do Cárcere*</em>. O objetivo do presente artigo consiste em avaliar como tem se dado a presença do referencial gramsciano nesses 10 anos da revista Germinal. Tomando esse referencial como base, pleiteia-se, especificamente, debater algumas das mais significativas categorias gramscianas utilizadas para compreender o fenômeno educativo.</p><p><br />Es notorio el crecimiento del estudio y de la difusión del pensamiento de Antônio Gramsci en Brasil. Pensamos que la creación del Instituto de Gramsci en Brasil (IGS / Brasil), en 2015, ha contribuido a ello. La educación es una de las principales áreas donde se concentra el mayor número de estudios acerca del universo categorial que involucra al autor de los Cuadernos de la Cárcel. El objetivo del presente artículo consiste en evaluar cómo se ha dado la presencia del referencial gramsciano en esos 10 años de la revista Germinal. Tomando ese referencial como base, se pretende, específicamente, debatir algunas de las más significativas categorías gramscianas utilizadas para comprender el fenómeno educativo.<br />It's remarkable the growth of the study and diffusion of Antônio Gramsci's thinking in Brazil. We believe that the creation of the Gramsci Institute in Brazil (IGS / Brazil) in 2015 has contributed to this. Education is one of the main areas where the largest number of studies about the categorial universe involving The Prison Notebooks' author is concentrated. The aim of the present paper is to evaluate how the presence of the Gramscian referential has occurred in these 10 years of the Germinal magazine. Taking this referential as basis, it is specifically intended to discuss some of the most significant Gramscian categories used to understand the educational phenomenon.</p>

Actual economic issues of current Ukraine's economy are considered, namely: on subsidies to producers, budget deficit, custom duties, pricing, especially in the energy sector, ecology, and the achievements of structural adjustment. Dynamics of subsidies to manufacturers and subsidies' distribution by industries is studied, and the formula for non-provision of subsidies to manufacturers is determined. In line with this, subsidies should not be provided to enterprises when the selling price of their products is lower than material costs (plus depreciation). Particular attention is paid to pricing issues in the power industry: application of uniform wholesale prices for purchased electricity from its manufacturers is justified. With the introduction of a uniform price, the rent for the hydro and nuclear power plants should be introduced and sent to the budget. The expediency of applying sharply increased tariffs for the "green" electricity is considered. The approach to the ecology should be balanced. It is hardly justified that the wholesale "green" tariff is almost 10 times higher than the similar tariff for hydroelectric power plants. The expediency of the transition to a deficit-free budget is shown. It is necessary to leave from the deficit budget; for doing this the author proposes to establish progressive rates of taxation of personal income (up to 50%, as in the EU). A brief analysis of the results of the restructuring of Ukraine's economy, since 1992, is carried out and concluded that it is ineffective. It is necessary to strengthen the role of the state in coordinating the work of enterprises through the central ministries and departments headed by the Ministry of Economic Development and Trade of Ukraine, which should again be transformed into a renewed Gosplan (State Planning Committee). Given the theoretical inconsistency of the thesis that a monopoly can raise the price without following the law of supply and demand, it is advisable to eliminate the Anti-Monopoly Committee of Ukraine and the National Energy and Utilities Regulatory Commission of Ukraine, which are similar to the former State Price Committee in the Ukrainian SSR and determine the price for all – including the monopolists.

The article describes the main aspects of the formation of identity in the process of creating hope through temporal migration of the self and multi-vector identification. Temporal identification defined as the totality of the possibilities of awareness of the self-participation of the participant of hope in social time. The author of the article emphasizes the importance of a joint future as a component of social identity. Collective integrity comes from the presence of a dominant vector for the prospect of further coexistence.The basic components of identification in the hope are the formation of the «I» regarding age-related changes and the formation of the «I – Others» interaction, which is revealed in the complex of the self, role and tribal identification. Special attention should be paid to the problem of transferring the ideas of the Council of Trent to the non-religious plane, which envisages the creation of a «factory of hope» based on the use of the interaction «identity – otherness». The self is the search for the hero of the future in himself through the behavior of others, which allows identification and finding within the limits of the living space now. It is the means and the ultimate goal of hope, which moves man to the edge of the desired being.As a result, in the process of analyzing identity, the sensual and mental components of hope highlighted, which serve as the basis and evaluation modification of awareness of the relationship «people – the world of the future». The intelligible identity of social hope given by meaningful images of the future, even when using a different operational tool of mental activity.It has been determined that carriers of social hopes may encounter non-identity, which manifests itself in apotropy in relation to the projection of the future, other designers and the conditions of the surrounding public environment. The benefits of this study are to determine the direction of overcoming the barriers of apotropy by transferring the identification intention, which should enrich the content of hope for the holistic perception of future changes and their proper adoption.

This article seeks to trace the reasons for the emergence of separatist sentiments in the European Union states, particularly in Belgium. The article gives its brief assessment of the current state of the issue mentioned and undertakes an analysis of the situation pertaining the Flemish region. Significant attention is being given to the consideration of the economic reasons for the existing disparities and positions of the major nationalistic parties of the region of Flanders. Ethnic and cultural factors continue to play a significant role in the political life of modern European states and often become a major point of contention. The author notes that ethno-political conflicts are quite common, but almost insoluble problems. The origins of such conflicts are usually grounded firmly in the history of resettlement and development of a particular nation or an ethnic group. Besides, they reflect the processes of the restructuring of the global political space and are typically accompanied by political and national self-identification crises. It is equally important to understand the importance of certain historic periods to a nation, inhabiting the specific territory of a state.In the case of Belgium, the period of its formation, and the developments, contributing to the country's independence in the 19th century, are directly related to the Flemish people's national memory — a key factor needed to determine the specifics of the existing differences between the two regions. Over the centuries, one ethnic group has been suppressed by the neighboring one. It couldn't not fully fulfil its cultural and economic potential.The change of the status of the Flemings in Belgium in the 20th century, the equalization of both nations in their rights have failed to resolve all the contradictions existing for centuries. The traditional Flemish desire to promote and protect the region's interests has generated separatist sentiments, which still make up a significant part of the country's domestic political agenda. However, owing to the fragmentation of the nationalist groups and the lack of coherent policy among them, it is currently impossible to make a statement on the region's secession.

This article is devoted to the definition of the value structures of gender culture in aspects of gender stereotypes regarding the application of moral-pedagogical and legal sanctions in the manifestations of deviant behavior on the basis of the ideology of matriarchal racism (mysandry) and typical problems arising from its availability.The writings of the authors form the theoretical basis for the author's theory, which consists essentially of the following key provisions set forth in the article:1) latent gender racism in Ukrainian gender culture is an ideology of double standards, which involves parallel promotion and prohibition in the area of sexual norms and deviations for men and women;2) Gender stereotypes refer to the assessment of male sexual behavior as subject to enhanced moral, legal and pedagogical control over women's sexual behavior;3) the cultivation of homophobia is an instrument of gender power that allows women to manipulate men by imposing a number of prohibitions on public male homoeopathy in encouraging women's similar behavior;4) stigmatization of homeroticism allows it to be used as a tool of social control, including the system of political security, in which the family acts as a grass root. As a result of the study, the author concludes that the study of the ideology and morality of latent gender racism in the gender culture of Ukraine has allowed to dismiss most of the assumptions about egalitarian peculiarities of gender positioning for male and female respondents. At the same time, the regime of privilege, available to the Ukrainian gender culture, makes it possible to define gender scenarios as matriarchal-racist and those that are agreed upon by both men and women. The consensual nature of such a situation proves not only the tacit consent of most with the guidelines of gender racism, but also the lack of understanding of the policy of gender equality of the western type. Such misunderstanding minimizes the chances of establishing an egalitarian gender culture and contributes to further deepening both gender inequality and the resulting gender conflict of Ukrainian society with all its implications.

The article is devoted to one of the most interesting topics: the ideological heritage of constructivism and evaluation of its value. The no­velty of the research is determined by the choice of its subject: unrealized projects of Soviet architects of the 1920s (I.I. Leonidov, K.S. Melnikov, V.A. Vesnin, A.A. Vesnin, L.A. Vesnin and N.A. Ladovsky) as a source of promising ideas for the architecture and design of the late 20th—early 21st century. The paper aims to assess the creative and artistic value of the unrealized projects of Soviet constructivists for the modern architectural design. The main result is the attempt to present a historical and conceptual overview of the origin and features of constructivism and rationalism as trends in urban planning. The 1920s, when the principles and trends in constructivist architecture were formed, became the time of development of a new production and architectural model. The combination of rationalist approach with utopian functionality of most of these projects was the reason for rejection of a truly constructivist trend in Soviet architecture in favor of the "Stalin Empire Style", and later — deconstructivism. The problematics of constructivist solutions of the 1920s in the field of urban planning and environmental management largely determined the methodology of architectural space organization of the USSR cities in the 1930s, when the stan­dard of "industry oriented" socialist society became a priority. The author considers theoretical studies and scientific publications about the works of Soviet constructivist architects, gives examples of explicit translation of the principles of constructivism in the 21st century architecture, and makes an assumption about the relationship between the ideolo­gical heritage of Soviet constructivists and the artistic and creative process of modern architects and desig­ners (founders of high-tech style R. Piano, N. Foster; deconstructivists F. Gehry, Z. Hadid, D. Libeskind).The article concludes that the constructivist ima­ges and stylistics of the analyzed period, though not translated by modern designers and architects "directly", become the basis for implementation of new conceptual solutions.

PurposeThis study aims to revisit the corporate social and environmental disclosure (CSED) practices of Pakistani companies using unique CSED index which measures the CSED through three dimensions such as theme, news type and nature of information. In addition, the effect of board composition, ownership structure and corporate characteristics on CSED was tested through performing multiple regression analysis.Design/methodology/approachFor this purpose, data were collected from annual reports of top 120 companies' selected based on market capitalization for three years period of 2013-2015.FindingsBased on the descriptive statistics, the results found that overall level of CSED in Pakistan is moderate. However considering CSED using three dimensions, the results demonstrate that highest level of disclosure on the basis of theme is reported in terms of human resource category as compared to other categories where, as in terms of news type and nature of information, analysis shows that companies in Pakistan feel resistant to disclose bad news, monetary and non-monetary aspect of CSED information. Using multiple regression analysis, the results found that all the variables have hypothesized relationship with CSED except government and institutional ownership. The variables such as chairman as non-executive director, board diversity, appointment of independent director as audit committee chairman, CSR committee, industry type and firm size are found to have significant influence on the CSED practices in Pakistan.Research limitations/implicationsThese results imply that the CSED phenomenon is still lacking behind. Under individual categories of CSED, descriptive statistics found that environment is still not a matter of concern for companies operating in Pakistan. In addition, the results demonstrate that CSED practices are only performed by very few companies in Pakistan based on standard deviation. In addition, appointment of non-executive and independent director as chairman of board and audit committee and representation of foreigners on the board should be encouraged in order to improve CSED practices in Pakistan.Originality/valueThis study contributes to the existing literature in developing country like Pakistan through using unique CSED index and also making comparison of financial versus non-financial sectors. The author suggests that regulatory authorities in Pakistan must take reasonable steps to make the company's operations environment-friendly.

The article represents an analytical review of the axiomatics of sociological approaches to class analysis, taking into account gender diferentiation since the 1940s till nowadays. Te problems of primary units selection of the class analysis, conceptual grounds for determining the class position of women and the features of their social status, conditioned by this position, ways of normalizing gender inequality in conventional approaches and criticizing their legitimacy have been considered in the research. It has been found that within the framework of the structural and functional approach of T. Parsons, the class status of the individual is ascetic, the main mechanism for its acquisition and transmission is kinship, while gender inequality is regarded as condition for maintaining the stability of the social system. Te changing structure of employment and women's emancipation has led to the revision of the conventional approach foundations by problem consideration of families as the primary units of class analysis. Subsequently, the dominant approach of J. Goldthorpe eliminates the gender inequality aspect, linking the class position of the household with the position of the partner who plays a leading role in its economic provision. E.O. Wright's approach, representing an infuential neo-Marxist alternative model of class analysis, presupposes the existence of an individual actor as the initial element of class analysis. At the same time, the author emphasizes the existence of exploitation relations in the family, as well as the high degree of risk and uncertainty of the social status of a signifcant number of women. Awareness of the role of individualization in social dynamics, changes in the structure of the global economy and the consequences of de-industrialization in the 1990s changed the original axiomatics of class analysis. Te focus of attention has shifed from the disputes about the criteria of class diferentiation to the analysis of real diferences in people's way of life, generated by social inequality. Modern studies of social inequality take into account the intersection of gender, class, racial and other characteristics of individuals and communities.

Information is a key aspect of the European integration process in Ukraine. Ukrainians support the Euro-integration course, but note that they haven't enough information about the European Union, the existing European programs, the implementation of the Association Agreement, etc.The author identified the main stages of informational support for Euro-integration of Ukraine: a stage of discussion of the advantages of European integration and specific benefits of Ukraine; information pressure stage; a stage of increasing information anxiety and increasing tension in society; the stage of a sharp protest public information reaction of society; the stage of renewal of the course on European integration and strengthening of information and communication support.The analysis of target audiences shows that different socio-demographic groups in different ways have information about the peculiarities and nature of the relationship between Ukraine and the EU.The public authorities have primary responsibility for informing citizens about European integration, but they do not possess the methodological and practical tools of information campaigns. Therefore in the article analyzes the peculiarities of the mechanisms of informing in the Concept of realization of the state policy in the field of informing and establishing communication with the public on the urgent issues of European integration of Ukraine for the period until 2017 and the Strategy of Communication in the field of European integration for 2018–2021 years. These documents are the mechanism for the division of responsibility for conducting information policy on European integration (including financial) between public authorities and interested non-governmental organizations, international donors and business structures. In this regard, the role of public institutions whose task is to inform Ukraine's European integration processes and work with different target groups, on the one hand, and the establishment of communication between government and civil society in the planning and implementation of information campaigns on European integration on the other, is increasing.The local authorities have sufficient tools to influence public opinion, but often ignore the issue of European integration. In addition, an important condition for the implementation of the Strategy at the regional level is the establishment of cooperation between local authorities and public organizations.

Half a century after the "Second Great Debate" in international relations (IR) started, scholars still perceive the qualitative versus quantitative division as their principal divide, and yet we do not have a good grasp of the impact of this divide. My research explores how the divide shaped the incentives and behaviors of scholars and influenced the organization of our academic communities and knowledge production. The impact of the divide expressed itself in the distribution of research among methodologies in terms of relative quantity and impact. Less obviously, and yet more importantly, the divide influenced the distribution of quantitative research among different institution types, across fields and journals, and with respect to policy engagement. Using the TRIP database of 7,792 IR articles in twelve top journals from 1980 to 2014, I classify journal articles into three categories—quantitative-only, qualitative-only, and mixed-methods—and categorize author institutions into similar types—publishing quantitative research only, producing nonquantitative work only, and publishing various proportions of quantitative research. Notably, qualitative and quantitative works switched positions over time in terms of relative quantity and impact, with quantitative research more likely published but only slightly more cited in the recent decade. More importantly, the divide produced other less obvious but more serious outcomes. Among 1,111 institutions that ever published IR research in twelve top journals over thirty-five years, two-thirds published nonquantitative research only; fifty-three institutions published more than half of all quantitative articles; institutions publishing quantitative-only or nonquantitative-only research constituted two modal categories. Political science journals published more quantitative research, persistently and with growing convergence; IR journals also evolved toward publishing more quantitative research though with persistent divergence and forming two clusters. Quantitative articles and political science journals were significantly less engaged in providing policy prescriptions than qualitative articles and IR journals. To overcome this lasting and self-perpetuating divide, we must better understand its impact, learn to appreciate alternative approaches, and change the way we train future scholars.

"It is of great importance to be able to determine who or what is considered 'resident' within the meaning of tax treaty provisions. However, the concept of residence has never been fundamentally adjusted to current circumstances in which technological developments make it possible for corporations to explore the wide gap between their actual business operations and the 'legalistic' requirements for corporate residence. In this study of the OECD Model Tax Convention - the basis for most tax treaties - the author develops a clear understanding of the content of the residence concept as regards entities and proposes solutions to current problems, finishing with his own thoroughgoing definition. In seeking a definition of the term 'resident' that covers all uses in treaties, the analysis draws on, in addition to the current and earlier iterations of the OECD Model Law itself, such elements as the following: domestic law meaning of residence in the tax law of France, Germany, the Netherlands, the United Kingdom and the United States; Articles 31 and 32 of the Vienna Convention on the Law of Treaties; historical documents that uncover the ordinary meaning of treaty terms; tax treaty case law and court decisions; and fiscal, tax and legal scholarship surrounding the concept of residence for taxation purposes. The analysis includes a comprehensive description of tiebreaker rules, various perspectives on 'place of effective management' and policy considerations as to the further development of the treatment of entities under double tax conventions. Given the inordinate importance of the definition of 'resident', the differences in interpretation to which the current definition gives rise and the economic developments that call for an evaluation of the provision, this thorough examination of the treaty rules on residence of entities will be welcomed by tax lawyers, corporate counsel and policymakers and academics concerned with tax law. The author's guidance on the concept of residence for tax purposes and his original proposals for reform will prove of great practical value for tax practitioners." -- Information provided by publisher