De wortels van de Randstad. Overheidsinvloed en stedelijke hiërarchie in het westen van Nederland tussen de 13de en 20ste eeuw

The starting point of this study concerns the origins of the polycentric nature of contemporary cities in the western area of the Netherlands, commonly known as ‘the Randstad’. Within the disciplines of planning and urban design the Randstad is considered a textbook example of a polycentric urban hierarchy. Yet, although quite a popular topic, very little is actually known about the driving forces that have given shape to existing urban hierarchies throughout the world. Moreover, the Randstad has also been dubbed ‘Holland’s paradox’ because of its assumed reversed evolution from a primate city hierarchy focused on Amsterdam in early modern times, to a polycentric hierarchy in the 19th century. Why do urban hierarchies change over time and which factors were decisive for the rise of the polycentric Randstad? This study consists of two parts and six chapters. Part I explores the determining factors of change within urban hierarchies. The first chapter gives an assessment of the usefulness of existing theory and ends in confusion: firstly, historiography turns out to be a medley of explanations that are heterogeneous and sometimes even contradictive. Secondly, comparisons of the long-term development of multiple towns are lacking, which makes it difficult to come up with a theoretical approach. In order to make such comparisons and ascertain the impact of certain factors on urban hierarchies over time, it’s necessary to look at the development of a group of towns over a long time-span. Therefore, in the second chapter, simple statistics are compared with existing theory and literature. To do so, demographic data for the nine towns of Amsterdam, Haarlem, Leiden, Delft, The Hague, Rotterdam, Dordrecht, Gouda and Utrecht were compared from their first appearance in the 13th century until the end of the 20th century by projecting their demographic hierarchy in a graph and on a map. In this manner explanations were measured on their applicability for the case of the Randstad. This explorative exercise results in both a description of long-term change in hierarchy in the Randstad and a theoretical approach. Long-term change in the urban hierarchy of the Randstad roughly proceeded in three phases. In the Middle Ages there was a polycentric hierarchy wherein the oldest cities, Utrecht and Dordrecht, were dominant. Although all towns in Holland grew rapidly in the 14th century, by the 1560s one of the youngest and smallest towns, Amsterdam, suddenly took the lead. In the second phase, between 1560 and 1795, a monocentric hierarchy developed with Amsterdam as a primate city. In this dynamic period, where many towns changed ranks, severe growth followed by shrinkage occurred simultaneously with sharpening inequality between towns. In the third phase, between 1795 and 2000, the hierarchy became polycentric once more, with a group of large towns taking the lead. This was mostly due to the extraordinary growth of Rotterdam and The Hague. In contrast with the second phase, the parallel appearance of sharp growth and inequality did not coincide with change in ranks. As a conclusion of part I, in chapter 3 the three determining factors for change in urban hierarchies over time are identified. Urban hierarchy is interpreted as a functional division of tasks between multiple centres, which is the result of differences in the towns’ competitive positions over time. The potency of a town’s competitive position is primarily determined by the interaction of (1) its properties on the one hand and (2) the conditions on the international market on the other. Additionally this interaction is structurally influenced by (3) contribution of a sovereign government. Governments can stimulate or disadvantage towns, but have done so in different ways. Part II further concretizes this approach by further investigation of the third factor. Here, governmental contribution to long-term change in urban hierarchies is given priority over the other two determining factors. Chapters 4, 5 and 6 focus successively on the constitutional periods of the Middle Ages (1200-1560), the Early Modern Age (1560-1795) and the Modern Age (1795-2000). These periods correspond to the three phases in long-term change in the demographic hierarchy from chapter 2. The aim of part II is twofold. Firstly, to identify and compare the manner in which sovereign government has been able to influence the towns’ competitive positions from the 13th until the end of the 20th century. Which trends are discernable in the toolbox of competitive advantages and their distribution by the sovereign government? How can governmental influence on change in urban hierarchies best be characterized? Secondly, if possible, to point out which governmental measures presumably contributed to change in urban hierarchy in general and, specifically, to the rise of the polycentric Randstad. Which measures show the most plausible correlation with change within the urban hierarchy? In order to identify competitive advantages for each constitutional period, a further look at the functional division of tasks, the economic context, and the governmental organization is taken in chapters 4, 5 and 6. Subsequently an impression of the distribution of so-called competitive advantages over the nine Randstad towns is sketched. At the end of each chapter the competitive advantages of a period are summed up, and their distribution is compared to the demographic hierarchy of chapter 2, to assess their impact. My research has resulted in the following conclusions to the aforementioned questions. During the Middle Ages a town’s competitive position could be stimulated with (1) international trade policy (safe conducts, trade agreements), (2) national economic policy (protectionist measures, staple- and minting policy), (3) exceptions of generally applied restrictions (town charters, toll exceptions), (4) distribution of governmental institutions, (5) donations of land property and kingly privileges, (6) granting of infrastructural concessions and awarding (7) urban autonomy. Heavy taxing and prolonged warfare were competitive disadvantages. In the early modern era (1) international trade policy, (2) distribution of governmental institutions and (3) infrastructural concessions were part of the toolkit. Heavy taxing was once more a disadvantage. During the modern era simulative measures were (1) funding of infrastructure, (2) industrial policy, (3) distribution of governmental institutions, (4) national spatial planning and (5) popular housing policy. Building restrictions were a negative for a town’s competitive position. The toolbox of sovereign government in general consists of three basic types of competitive advantages. Firstly, instruments that were aimed at the competitive position of one town exclusively, like staple rights, town charters, toll exemptions, donations of property and rights, urban autonomy and the distribution of governmental institutions. Secondly, instruments that were aimed at the region as a whole, like national and international economic policy. Third are side effects or collateral damage of other governmental policies, like prolonged warfare, heavy taxing and building restrictions stemming from spatial planning policy. The last category often turns out to be disadvantageous for towns’ competitive positions. Sovereign government didn’t apply the same variety of measures at every period. The overall package moved from a rather versatile toolbox in the 13th and 14th centuries to an increasingly limited one in the early modern period. In the 15th and 16th centuries, a discernable trend towards diminishing the variation in competitive advantages sets in, resulting in a rather limited toolbox in the 17th and 18th centuries. After a short expansion of instruments in the first half of the 19th century and a subsequent phase in the second half of the same century, where the number of instruments again strongly declined, the 20th century once again showed a governmental toolbox of various nature. On the long term, infrastructure and the distribution of governmental institutions were permanently part of the competitive advantages-toolbox; although before the 19th century sovereign government virtually never initiated the construction of infrastructure. Throughout most of the investigated period international economic policy and taxing played a role. Local exceptions like town charters and urban autonomy were exclusively medieval phenomena while spatial planning and popular housing policy are only found in the modern period. During the Middle Ages exclusive competitive advantages and common measures were both applied. Almost all nine towns seem to profit from this, although Dordrecht was generally more privileged than others. From the 15th century on exclusive privileges gradually disappear and more collective measures are taken, from which Amsterdam seems to profit. In the early modern era, the overall majority of measures taken were collective ones aimed at the common interest of towns or the region. Nonetheless, somehow Amsterdam seems to have profited above average without exception. In the modern era so many ‘collective’ stimulating measures were taken that this resulted in rather different competitive positions spatially. The distribution can best be characterized as a continuous strive for balance. Looking at the distribution of competitive advantages, governmental activity was variable throughout the entire period. Lots of competitive advantages were distributed in the 13th, 14th, early 17th and early 19th centuries. Subsequently governmental involvement gradually increased and in the 20th century government had its hands full continuously. In sharp contrast, distribution in the 16th and in particularly the second half of the 17th and 18th centuries was rather sparse. Strikingly, other measures than instruments that were explicitly aimed at the towns’ interests show the biggest correlation with change in the demographic hierarchy as shown in chapter 2. In the Middle Ages structural warfare coincided with the marked rise of Amsterdam and recession in the others; tax pressure in early modern times correlated with the decline of towns with industrial profiles; and 20th century demographic decline related to building restrictions in modern times. In general, the governmental role to change in urban hierarchy can best be understood as a facilitative one. The abovementioned centers of gravity in the distribution of competitive advantages coincided with periods of economic expansion and demographic growth in towns. This was the case in periods of urban expansion in the 13th-14th centuries and the 17th century. Only in the 19th century did governmental action precede urban growth. Although side effects in general seem to have been decisive, there’s one marked exception to the rule. The head start of the three biggest towns, and the catching up of Rotterdam and The Hague, does correlate with the construction of (inter)national infrastructure and the distribution of governmental institutions between the 1850s en 1950s. This means that the rise of the polycentric Randstad, exceptionally, was created by conscious use of aimed governmental instruments! This study concludes with a striking hypothesis. Via the description of the governmental organization in each period, by accident attention is drawn to the fact that by bargaining over tax funds, towns themselves gathered political influence in the 15th and even power in the 17th-18th centuries. The rise of urban power coincides with stagnation in the distribution of competitive advantages and the disappearance of exclusive instruments out of the governmental toolkit. This, firstly, gave rise to the suspicion that, once in power, urban representatives preferably avoid the stimulation of opponents’ competitive positions. When combined with the fact that, after disabling towns financially and politically, sovereign government in the second half of the 19th century pursued a policy wherein they kept aloof of dominant Amsterdam and stimulated other large towns, a second hypothesis can be formulated. Could it be that the rise of the polycentric Randstad wasn’t coincidence, and that Holland’s paradox was the result of a deliberate reckoning with an old political elite?

De wortels van de Randstad. Overheidsinvloed en stedelijke hiërarchie in het westen van Nederland tussen de 13de en 20ste eeuw

This study aims to determine whether the spatial and regional policies in the regions are in sync with the national spatial planning arrangements. The method used in this research is using a normative juridical research method, with the main data being secondary data in the form of documents related to regional spatial planning policies in the region, then the data is analyzed by qualitative analysis by providing an interpretation of the data that has been collected. The results show that the regional policy of Demak Regency in spatial planning as outlined in the form of a regional regulation with the aim of realizing regional space based on superior agricultural and industrial sectors, supported by the service trade and tourism sectors that are environmentally sustainable, refers to the Act. Number 6 of 2007, and Act No. 11 of 2020 concerning Job Goals, Government Regulation number 26 of 2008.The Regional Regulation on RT/RW regulates, among others: a) spatial planning policy, b) spatial planning strategy, c) spatial structure plan, d) spatial pattern plan, e) determination of strategic areas, f) spatial utilization direction, g) spatial utilization control direction, h ) rights, obligations and roles of the community, i) institutions, thus the policy for structuring spatial planning in the sub-region is in sync with the structuring of national spatial plans�

In the article the competitive advantages essence of the organization is considered and it stated the advantages presence in a particular area indicates the success of the organization compared to competitors. Competitive advantage can be seen (discovered) in comparing your own organization with competitors. An important and necessary element of the competitive advantage formation and further development is an effective strategy (including competitive) of the organization. In the article, it stated that competitive advantage is an integral part of the organization strategic potential and the basis of organization strong competitive position and determines the nature of its strategy. Today the innovation using is the main tool for achieving competitiveness and competitive advantage of the organization, that allows exploring market opportunities, tries to stand out from similar services of competitors and fill specific market segments. In the article, it defined that the new competitive advantages formation is the most important moment in the organization to achieve a stable competitive position in the market and its own success. Competitive position is a comparative description of the organization main market parameters in modern conditions and its products relative to the competitor. Determining your own competitive position is the first step for competitive analysis and organization’s future strategy development. It is investigated that experts distinguish several degrees of competitive position: dominant, strong, favorable, reliable, weak, and unviable. For an organization that plans its activities and tries to maintain a dominant or strong competitive position, it is proposed to implement the following types of strategy: differentiation strategy; research strategy; customer-oriented strategy; cost minimization; adaptive strategy. In the article, it stated that maintaining a strong position could occur when the company has defeated its rivals by its own unique differences and it is able to maintain these differences in the future. As a basis for success and competitive advantage, each organization is offered to pay strong attention to operational efficiency, ie efficiency with which the company performs better the same activities as its competitors.

Competitive advantages of modern companies are determined by a set of resources that discover the uniqueness of the company in the market and find out its competitive position.The authors conceptualized the process of determining the company's competitive position based on the identification of knowledge resources.Competitive positioning is understood as the process of forming, maintaining and strengthening the company's competitive position based on the audit of key knowledge resources (their types, location, carriers and directions of movement), which form key areas of the company's competence and create sustainable competitive advantages.The sequence of the enterprise competitive positioning on new resources of knowledge which reveals stages of competitive position definition is offered.The tools and methods of estimating knowledge resources in the competitive positioning of the company are formed.The matrices of the company's competitive position are constructed, which determine the competitive advantages and competitive weaknesses of the company.Criteria for interpreting the results of the company competitive positioning based on knowledge resources are proposed.They identify main company's competitive advantages and weaknesses.In the article resources of knowledge that form company's competitive advantages and weaknesses are defined.Competitive advantage matrices are built.Criteria for the results of company's competitive positioning on new knowledge resources interpreting are suggested.

Company competitiveness is still an important issue in management studies. It can be measured in several ways including competitive advantage and competitive positioning. The aim of the paper is to present the result of the annual research on company competitiveness conducted in Poland. The research question in this paper is: is there a relation between a certain type of competitive advantage and characteristics of a company competitive positioning? In the paper there is a description of the influence of competitive advantage on competitive positioning in six dimensions. Respondents in the research answered 45 questions in online survey at sensorium24.com (Company Competitiveness Barometer). 8 of the questions concerned the competitive advantage and 6 concerned the competitive positioning. There are a theoretical background of company competitiveness and phenomena which belongs to this general term – a competitive advantage and a competitive positioning, a methodology of research and results as well as conclusions.

The source of competitive advantage in the knowledge economy is the company's hard-to-replicate knowledge assets, their creation, movement, and use in the company. The process of identification, audit and measurement of unique knowledge assets of the company in the formation of its competitive position based on the use of resource and competence approaches is conceptualized in the article. Competitive positioning is determines as a process of forming, maintaining and strengthening the company's competitive position based on the identification, audit and measurement of knowledge assets (their types, localization, carriers and directions of movement), which form key areas of competence of the company and its sustainable competitive advantages. The concept of competitive positioning of the company on the basis of identification and measurement of knowledge assets is presented. The classification of knowledge assets forming the company's competitive position has been formed. Methodical tools for measuring knowledge assets as a source of a company's competitive position are identified. The methodology of identification and measuring of knowledge assets of a company's competitive positioning is based on the application of resource and competence approach, methods of assessing knowledge by criteria of key competence, methods of knowledge classification, assessment of knowledge assets by codification and diffusion criteria. The basis for competitive positioning of the enterprise are knowledge management processes that allow to create incentives to improve the company's ability to innovate, combine sources of knowledge with their needs, create conditions for effective knowledge exchange and assess their contextual effectiveness. The competitive positions of the company on the basis of identification and measurement of assets of knowledge of the enterprise are defined. The competitive advantages and competitive weaknesses of the company in comparison with the competitor are defined. Threshold criteria for interpreting the company's competitive position based on knowledge assets have been determined.

This study explores the potential of GIS to map and analyse the distribution, stock and value of commercial and industrial property using rating data compiled for the purposes of charging business rates taxation on all non-residential property in the UK. Rating data from 2010, 2017 and 2019, comprising over 6000 property units in the City of York, were filtered and classified by retail, office and industrial use, before geocoding by post code. Nominal rateable values and floor areas for all premises were aggregated in 100 m diameter hexagonal grid and average rateable value calculated to reveal changes in the distribution and value of all employment floorspace in the City over the last decade. Temporospatial analysis revealed polarisation of York’s retail property market between the historic city centre and out-of-town locations. Segmenting traditional retail from food and drink premises revealed growth in the latter has mitigated the hollowing out of the city core. This study is significant in developing a replicable and efficient method of using GIS, using a nationally available rating dataset, to represent changes in the quantum, spatial distribution and relative value of employment floorspace over time to inform local and national land administration, spatial planning and economic development policy making.

The Netherlands has been part of the European integration process from the early days. It has an open economy and has benefited greatly from being a “natural” entrance to North-West Europe. It should not come as a surprise that Dutch spatial planners, mostly officials of the National Spatial Planning Agency, have played a major role during the past decades in discussions on a European planning agenda. They contributed greatly to the making of the European Spatial Development Perspective. Local and regional governments are enthusiastically participating in the various EU programmes on cross-border and transnational cooperation in the field of spatial planning. But how does this relate to domestic spatial planning policies? The country is maintaining one of the most elaborate and sophisticated systems of national spatial planning and policy. One would expect, knowing the participation in European policy programs and discussions on territorial governance, that Dutch national spatial planning policies do have a strong European inclination. This is not the case though. This paper examines to what extent Dutch national spatial planning is influenced by changes at the international level, especially on the European scale. It also seeks to explain why Dutch national spatial planning is constantly returning to domestic planning issues, mainly on urban form, which play themselves out at lower scales than the national.

Clinch J. P. and O'Neill E. Applying spatial economics to national spatial planning, Regional Studies. Despite the impressive development of the field of spatial economics, some have criticized the lack of policy applications. In addition, the literature has not yet identified the relevance of New Economic Geography, and spatial economics generally, for national spatial planning. This is surprising considering the interest in spatial planning policy in Europe. By combining old theories of trade and space with New Economic Geography, this paper applies spatial economics to national spatial planning and examines a case study of Ireland. The paper suggests that spatial economics provides a useful theoretical framework for the analysis of national spatial planning policy, but suffers from deficiencies in respect of its consideration of social and environmental aspects of planning and development. Clinch J. P. et O'Neill E. Appliquer l'économie géographique à l'aménagement du territoire, Regional Studies. En dépit du progrès impressionnant de l'économie géographique, certains ont commenté le manque d'applications de politique. En outre, la documentation n'a pas encore identifié l'importance pour l'aménagement du territotoire ni de la nouvelle géographie économique, ni de l'économie géographique en général. Cela est à surprendre étant donné l'intérêt porté à l'aménagement du territoire en Europe. Alliant les théories reçues à propos du commerce et de la géographie avec la nouvelle géographie économique, cet article cherche à appliquer l'économie géographique à l'aménagement du territoire et examine l'Irlande comme étude de cas. L'article laisse supposer que l'économie géographique fournit un cadre théorique utile pour analyser l'aménagement du territoire mais manque de considération des aspects sociaux et environnementaux de la planification et du développement. Economie géographique Nouvelle géographie économique Aménagement du territoire Politique géographique Politique régionale Irlande Clinch J. P. und O'Neill E. Anwendung der Raumökonomie auf die nationale Raumplanung, Regional Studies. Trotz der beeindruckenden Entwicklungen im Gebiet der Raumökonomie wird gelegentlich eine Kritik am Mangel an politischen Anwendungen laut. Hinzu kommt, dass die Relevanz der neuen Wirtschaftsgeografie und der Raumökonomie im Allgemeinen für eine nationale Raumplanung in der Literatur noch nicht identifiziert wurde. Angesichts des Interesses für Raumplanungspolitik in Europa ist dies überraschend. In diesem Aufsatz wird die Raumökonomie durch eine Kombination der alten Theorien von Handel und Raum mit der neuen Wirtschaftsgeografie auf die nationale Raumplanung angewandt, wobei eine Fallstudie in Irland untersucht wird. Wir stellen die These auf, dass die Raumökonomie einen nützlichen theoretischen Rahmen zur Analyse der nationalen Raumplanungspolitik bietet, aber an Mängeln leidet, was die Berücksichtigung von Gesellschafts- und Umweltaspekten der Planung und Entwicklung anbelangt. Raumökonomie Neue Wirtschaftsgeografie Nationale Raumplanung Raumpolitik Regionalpolitik Irland Clinch J. P. y O'Neill E. Aplicación de la economía espacial a la planificación espacial nacional, Regional Studies. Pese al impresionante desarrollo en el campo de la economía espacial, se ha criticado la falta de aplicaciones políticas. Asimismo la literatura todavía no ha identificado la importancia de la nueva geografía económica, y de la economía espacial en general, para la planificación espacial a nivel nacional. Esto resulta sorprendente si consideramos el interés en la política de planificación espacial en Europa. Combinando las antiguas teorías de comercio y espacio con la nueva geografía económica, en este artículo aplicamos la economía espacial a la planificación espacial a nivel nacional y examinamos un caso práctico de Irlanda. Aquí sugerimos que la economía espacial ofrece una estructura teórica útil para el análisis de la política en la planificación espacial nacional pero adolece de deficiencias con respecto a su consideración de aspectos sociales y medioambientales en la planificación y el desarrollo. Economía espacial Nueva geografía económica Planificación espacial nacional Política espacial Política regional Irlanda

The plague that broke out in Milan between 1576 and 1577, during the episcopate of Carlo Borromeo, is worthy to be investigated as far as regards the legal measures adopted by the Milanese government to deal with the epidemic, within a broader reflection on the relationship between policy and society in the Early Modern period. As a matter of fact, the provisions enacted during the San Carlo plague, for their “extraordinary” character, allow to carry out an overall consideration about government practices during the emergencies, in balancing out public health and individual freedom.After the “black death” of 1348, governments established temporary magistracies in order to manage public health. During the 15th and 16th centuries, these magistracies became permanent, resulting in an increasing intervention of the State in the matters of public health.Also in Milan, these officials were initially limited to the periods of plague, but, in the 15th century, they were trasformed in permanent assignments. Officially established as a collegiate magistracy in 1534 by Francesco II Sforza, this magistracy was regulated in the Novae Constitutiones. Chaired by a senator and composed of two quaestors, two collegiate doctors, a legal auditor and a secretary, the officium Praefectorum Sanitatis Dominii Mediolani enacted and enforced the laws aimed at safeguarding public health throughout the State.In order to fight the plague between the Middle Ages and the Early Modern period, governments – through the magistracies of health – passed “exceptional” rules (since they related to particular situations or specific cases, such as wars, and derogated from the general principles of the legal system).Authors of juridical treatises on plague connected these measures to the legal categories of necessitas and of the publica utilitas, that allowed to justify the action of political authorities in cases of emergency, even when derogating from ordinary rules. Remedies adopted by political authorities in order to prevent the spread of epidemic restrained the freedom of movement: when a plague broke out, governments – according to common practices – control movements of people and goods in order to reduce contagions, through increasingly restrictive measures as the situation worsened.Since population used to oppose such restrictions, the provisions passed by governments aimed not only at protecting public health, but also at controlling what we now call “public order” within the city. In handling with plague epidemics, governments made broad use of criminal law with an intimidating function. Thus, the violation of the anti-contagion measures was strictly punished. Penalties, that were to be applied according to the arbitrium of the magistracy, worsened when people did not abide by the rules. According to Ludovico Antonio Muratori, who at the beginning of the 18th century wrote a treatise on the “government of the plague”, the emergency required government to resort to exemplary penalties in order to ensure compliance with the rules, Death penalty therefore was inflicted with a certain frequency. At the same time, when dealing with such an “invisible enemy”, governments resorted to pecuniary rewards. By promising to the accusers a part of the fine imposed on the transgressors, the authorities encouraged people to collaborate in repressing the violation of health laws.During the San Carlo plague, the Milanese magistracy of health prohibited access of people and goods from infected or even suspicious areas, expelled beggars and vagrants from the city, isolated infected people and, finally, quarantine women and children and then all the population in order to prevent and contain the contagions.

Anthropological features of the Russian city population in the 11th – 18th centuries were studied using classical methods of craniometry as well as cranio- and osteoscopy. However, the method of geometric morphometry, which has been actively used since the 1990s and is a recent morphometric tool, has not yet been applied to Russian urban craniological series. We obtained and analyzed by the GM method three-dimensional copies of 225 skulls from thirteen series of the Middle Ages and the Early Modern period from the excavations of the Institute of Archaeology of the Russian Academy of Sciences. Despite the small number of studied samples from Tver and Torzhok, we were able to trace their features and originality relative to other comparable groups and among themselves. Based on historical information, these variations can be explained by political factors. The differences between the political systems of Ancient Rus’ and Russia in the Early Modern period also explain the greater morphological homogeneity of the urban population in the 15th – 18th centuries compared to the 11th –13th centuries. The study of variability in the late urban series and comparison of diachronic samples from Yaroslavl and Pereslavl-Zalessky showed morphological similarity between the inhabitants of the Middle Ages and the Early Modern period, which may indicate the constancy of administrative, trade, and economic ties, as well as the significant contribution of the local rural population to the formation of the anthropological appearance of the townspeople. The revealed greater variability in the female samples compared to the male ones may indicate significant irregularities in the facial skeleton shape of women, which cannot be disclosed using classical craniology data. In general, the obtained results not only confirm many of the conclusions of previous craniological studies of the urban population from Eastern Europe but also make it possible to obtain new data on the degree of homogeneity of the townspeople’s anthropological appearance in the Middle Ages and Early Modern periods.

The issue of competitiveness shows the position of an organization compared to similar organizations in this case is a university. Public and private universities in Maluku Province have not been included in the category of 300 highly prestigious colleges in Southeast Asia. On the other hand, the Maluku province's development index is also still below several other provinces in Indonesia. From these various problems, state and private universities in Maluku province are obliged to improve their position in competition between universities by developing quality human resource capabilities. This study has objectives which are test and analyze the relationship of organizational innovation to institutional competitive advantage, market orientation to institutional competitive advantage, and institutional competitive advantage to organizational performance. Data processing techniques using the SEM approach based on Partial Least Square (PLS) requires two stages to assess Fit Model in a research model. Results testing hypotheses is organizational innovation has a significant effect on organizational competitive advantage, consumer orientation influences organizational competitiveness and organizational competitive advantage has a significant positive effect on organizational performance. Keywords: Organizational Innovation, Consumer Orientation, Oganizational Competitive Advantage and Organizational Perfomance.

Sweden, Inc.: Temporal Sovereignty of the Realm and People from the Middle Ages to Modernity

This study investigated the influence of Knowledge Management (KM) systems on Sustainable Competitive Advantage (SCA) amongst Humanitarian Agencies-HAs through the use of Employee Empowerment as an enabler of knowledge management. It discusses different elements of employee empowerment and how they affect the agencies’ position in competition with other agencies. Humanitarian Agencies (HAs) are generally seen to be playing an increasingly important role in international development. While knowledge and its management have generally been credited with improving productivity and establishing more effective management in the developed world, this has not been the case with many other countries in Africa and Kenya in particular. The large divide between the economically advanced knowledge-based regions and the developing regions has meant that Kenya, like most other countries in Africa, has not as yet effectively integrated knowledge management into its humanitarian agencies. The study population was 42 humanitarian agencies with 10,487 employees in Kenya. Both the primary and secondary data were collected using questionnaires, interviews, and observation checklists. The questionnaires were administered by a drop and collect method to ensure high response rates. Employees were stratified into management and junior staff. Purposive sampling was then used to sample management staff in the agencies surveyed and simple random sampling techniques were used to sample employees at the junior level. Statistical tools such as cross-tabulation and frequency tables were used to analyze the data. This study adopted a descriptive research design. The study used resource-based theory of knowledge management for competitive advantage as its theoretical basis. The resource-based view and theory of the firm defines a strategic asset as one that is rare, valuable, imperfectly imitable and non-substitutable. Knowledge is seen as one such strategic asset with the potential to be a source of competitive advantage for an organization. By adopting a resource-based theory of the firm with an extension of a knowledge-based perspective, this study aimed at developing and validating a conceptual model of the relationships between knowledge management enablers and their influence on competitive advantage amongst humanitarian agencies in Kenya. From the study, there is substantial evidence to show that knowledge management has a strong positive influence on sustainable competitive advantage. The results from the 42 agencies surveyed reconfirmed a general agreement found in the literature that employee empowerment makes a unique and significant contribution to the sustainable competitive advantage of humanitarian agencies. The study found out that employee empowerment imparts various skills and knowledge amongst employees for organizational performance and achievements which in turn enhances competitive advantage. Further, the study found out that empowerment is more than remedial; it prepares employees for collaboration and higher level performance, and sends a message to employees: we're spending money on you because this is important to the organization’s future. The study also noted that giving employees autonomous decision-making capabilities and acting as partners in the organization, all with an eye to the bottom-line implications is a driver to knowledge management. In the agencies surveyed, employee empowerment is used to value employees’ expertise and help them communicate their knowledge by creating ways to capture, organize and share knowledge. Employee empowerment enables involvement in the knowledge management framework, conceptualization, development and implementation of knowledge management systems leading to sustainable competitive advantage. Finally, recommendations were offered from practical ideas, drawn from experience, and intended for practitioners working with humanitarian agencies but are also based on the theory behind the knowledge management concept and are just as relevant for consideration by knowledge management and development theorists alike.