There is little dispute that lifelong learning is essential to the further development of the knowledge society. Nonetheless, lifelong learning is not reaching its full potential because the ...currently used approaches to lifelong learning are too fragmented and, often, formal approaches to education and learning are simply ' translated' from initial secondary and higher education to the field of lifelong learning. This article discusses an integrated framework for carrying out research on lifelong learning. The framework is built on two dimensions: (1) the specific-generic dimension, linking contextualized research findings in the field of lifelong learning to generic issues and principles; and (2) the individual-collective dimension, linking research findings on the personal and professional development of individual lifelong learners to the level of organizations, cities, and regions. Moreover, three integrative features of research on lifelong learning are identified: Developed approaches should be (1) responsive to societal and technological changes and associated changes in required competencies; (2) flexible in order to serve highly heterogeneous groups of lifelong learners; and (3) sustainable to be of value across the whole lifespan. Finally, research and practical implications of the presented framework are discussed.
Purpose - Programmes providing services for small- and medium-sized enterprises are important. Yet, quality and impact of many of these programmes lag behind expectations. This paper attempts to shed ...light on the reasons behind this disappointing state of affairs.Design methodology approach - Modern theories of innovation and services marketing management are adopted as a conceptual framework, because these theories generate major insights about how business services should ideally be provided. The usefulness of this framework for analysing business service programmes is demonstrated through its application to one particular programme, the small business service (SBS) in the UK.Findings - Using this approach, the paper identifies several key issues. Major weaknesses in programme structure and implementation practices emerge, mainly revolving around customer focus, incentive problems and organisational issues, and the lack of a systems perspective.Research limitations implications - Given the suitability of the framework for the analysis of our case, it could also prove to be a promising tool for analysing business support programmes in other settings.Practical implications - Managerial priorities for improvement in the UK emerge. There is a need to improve the incentives facing boundary-spanning staff. This should be backed up by further organisational reform, to address the fragmentation plaguing the current system.Originality value - The methodological approach, of viewing practice in a SBS programme through a theoretical lens, is novel. It could be a useful supplement to conventional performance and impact assessments that are more factual in nature.
The paper contributes to the current policy debate about promoting regional economic growth and competitiveness of small and medium industrial enterprises in development. An analytical framework is ...elaborated, which integrates complementary insights from existing approaches that have been used as a basis for policy design in this area. These are: the meso-level collective efficiency approach and the micro-level technological capability approach. The new framework gives insight into the different ways in which firm-level technological learning could be fostered through geographical clustering. It also provides new directions for policy. An empirical case study of farm equipment manufacturing in Pakistan's Punjab Province is used to illustrate the added value of the new approach. PUBLICATION ABSTRACT
Project management information systems (PMIS) should provide project managers with decision making support for planning, organizing, and controlling projects. Most project managers are dissatisfied ...with the information produced by PMIS. Based on a survey among 101 project managers the interactions between six factors related to PMIS information quality and usage and their effect on decision making are examined in a multi-project environment. Using structural equation modeling, new insights were gained in these complex relationships. Results indicate that the use of a project management information system is advantageous to project managers, while no adverse effects were observed due to project and information overload. PMIS information quality is positively related to quality of the decisions, satisfaction of project managers with PMIS and use of PMIS information. Simultaneous handling of multiple projects causes project managers to extend conclusions about the information quality for one project to all projects at hand.
Service-Dominated (S-D) Logic has far-reaching implications for how business is conducted and how programs of higher business and management education can prepare for it. In this chapter we apply S-D ...Logic conceptually to three different types of business education: full-time, part-time and executive MBA. The educational value created through different types of business programs appears dependent on the parties involved in value creation, the time horizon for evaluation and the different parties evaluating, the students’ desire to learn and subsequent effects on organizational learning. Empirical support is foreseen through a comparison of different types of business students, enrolled in a full-time program, part-time distance learning program or executive MBA program, or recently graduated from these programs, about the value of their master-level business education. Implications of the use of S-D Logic for business education are formulated.
This book is unique in its use of UN World conferences as a testing ground in the study of global governance. It provides a detailed examination of the conferences with respect to the interface ...between diplomatic method and new forms of global governance. Because of the complex dynamics involved in these large international conferences, a number of important theoretical debates central to the study of international relations are highlighted. Using Canada as a case study the work demonstrates that global governance is a differentiated multi-spectral site of activity within which states and non-state actors alike, particularly NGOs, play vital, often conflicting roles. The main focus is on the span of activity from the 1992 Rio UNCED conference, through the 1993 Vienna Conference on Human Rights, the 1994 Cairo Conference on Population and Development, the 1995 World Summit for Social Development, and the 1995 Beijing Conference on Women, to the 2001 Durban World Conference on Racism. The picture that emerges, while not translating into a complete recipe for a shift towards democratic governance, suggests a deepening network of institutions, actors, and organizations forming the complex regimes that govern the major arenas of world politics. At a country-specific level, the analysis supports the view that a deep residue of multilateralism still exists in Canada but argues that this tradition faces on-going challenges from a variety of sources.
Biofuel production has recently attracted a great deal of attention. Some anticipate substantial social and environmental benefits, while at the same time expecting sound profitability for investors. ...Others are more doubtful, envisaging large trade-offs between the pursuit of social, environmental and economic objectives, particularly in poor countries in the tropics. The paper explores these issues in Tanzania, which is a forerunner in Africa in the cultivation of a bio-oil shrub called Jatropha curcas L. We trace how isolated Jatropha biofuel experiments developed since their inception in early 2005 towards a fully fledged sectoral production and innovation system; and investigate to what extent that system has been capable of developing ànd maintaining sustainable practices and producing sustainable outcomes. The application of evolutionary economic theory allows us to view the development processes in the sector as a result of evolutionary variation and selection on the one hand, and revolutionary contestation between different coalitions of stakeholders on the other. Both these processes constitute significant engines of change in the sector. While variation and selection is driven predominantly by localised learning, the conflict-driven dynamics are highly globalised. The sector is found to have moved some way towards a full sectoral innovation and production system, but it is impossible to predict whether a viable sector with a strong "triple bottom line" orientation will ultimate emerge, since many issues surrounding the social, environmental and financial sustainability still remain unresolved.
Jatropha is emerging as an important biofuel crop throughout developing countries in the tropics. Initially lauded as an environmentally-benign 'wonder crop' suitable for arid wasteland cultivation ...that would avoid competition with scarce livelihood resources, it has recently begun to attract mounting criticisms related to competition with food production, biodiversity impacts, insecurity of land access by local populations, exploitative employment conditions, and disappointing effects on greenhouse gas emission reduction. In this paper we analyse the nature of the local developments that have given rise to these criticisms, and the underlying innovation processes and global forces that are driving the sector in the direction of these contested outcomes. We focus on Tanzania, an important forerunner in Jatropha biofuels production whose experiences have informed the international biofuel debate more broadly. Two surveys among biofuel actors in Tanzania held in 2005 and 2008/9 are the primary data sources. An extended innovation systems perspective is adopted, which is instrumental in studying patterns of global and local institutional embeddedness from a long-term perspective. These patterns are found to be key drivers behind the emergence and evolution of three distinct organizational models in the sector: local energy production and use for rural communities; decentralised subcontracting for centralised oil processors; and large centralised plantations. Socio-economic interactions in these models seem to be regulated by institutions put in place by colonial and early post-colonial governance of agri-commodity production and exchange. Each is also closely associated with different social (network) relations, organizational choices, economic viability, and environmental sustainability effects.
Most e-learning environments are applications in which the teacher uploads study materials that students download. This approach to e-learning discards the fact that didactic principles should be ...part of a broader instruction strategy aimed at achieving certain goals. It is possible for e-learning tools to support and improve didactical principles. This paper demonstrates how several instruction strategies can be integrated successfully into an e-learning environment. Further, the paper points out the various issues that should be addressed by an e-learning application to increase workflow efficiency for all actors involved in student education. We use a newly developed e-learning environment to illustrate how e-learning tools can help in reaching these efficiency goals. (Contains 1 table, 2 figures, and 10 footnotes.)
