Convergence Of Practices Research Articles

Beyond terroir: a comparative analysis of Pinot Noir producers and business strategies in Burgundy, New Zealand and South Africa

PurposeThis paper aims to examine the convergence and divergence of business and production practices in the global wine industry, particularly focusing on Pinot Noir producers in Burgundy, New Zealand and South Africa (SA). This study explores the interplay between firm-specific factors and regional contexts to identify competitive advantage drivers among Pinot Noir producers.Design/methodology/approachThis research uses a comparative analysis approach, using data from a comprehensive winery level survey. This study applies methodologies akin to value chain analysis to unravel the configuration of productive and technology/knowledge creation activities within wineries across three regions.FindingsThis analysis reveals both convergence and divergence in business and production practices among Pinot Noir producers in Burgundy, New Zealand and South Africa. Although there is a degree of convergence in marketing, distribution and competition strategies, differences exist in production practices and firms’ capabilities. Burgundy emphasizes tradition and terroir expression, contrasting with the modernization and innovation focus observed in New Zealand and South Africa. However, all regions share a commitment to quality as a competitive advantage.Research limitations/implicationsThis study acknowledges limitations such as the focus on a specific grape variety and regions, the absence of performance impact analysis and the need for additional variables like environmental, institutional and cultural factors and consumer preferences to provide a comprehensive understanding of industry dynamics.Practical implicationsThe insights from this study offer practical implications for winemakers, industry stakeholders and policymakers. Producers can optimize production and marketing strategies based on regional contexts and market segments, whereas stakeholders can identify emerging trends and opportunities in the global wine market. Policymakers can develop targeted policies supporting innovation, sustainability and competitiveness.Originality/valueThis paper provides a unique contribution by conducting a comparative firm-level analysis across distinct wine-producing regions, shedding light on the nuanced interplay of factors shaping competitive advantage among Pinot Noir producers. This study’s comprehensive data set and methodological approach enhance understanding and offer valuable insights for industry stakeholders and policymakers.

Evaluating the Challenges and Prospects of Cross-Cultural Communication in Promoting Free Trade Zones in Nigeria

Free Trade Zones (FTZs) in Nigeria attract a diverse array of workers, businesses, and management teams from various cultural backgrounds. Effective communication within these environments is crucial for facilitating idea exchange, building trust, and maintaining relationships. With the expansion of global trade, the significance of cross-cultural communication in ensuring successful business interactions is paramount. However, the convergence of diverse cultural, linguistic, and business practices in Nigeria presents challenges that impede the optimal functioning of FTZs. This study delineates the challenges and prospects of cross-cultural communication in promoting investment in Nigerian FTZs. Using a qualitative approach, it employs in-depth interviews and document analysis to comprehensively explore these issues. Engaging stakeholders from different cultural backgrounds, the study identifies key communication challenges, including language barriers, stereotypes, ethnocentrism, and non-verbal communication differences. Despite these obstacles, implementing intercultural training programs and digital communication tools can enhance business interactions. This research contributes to international business, intercultural communication, and economic development discourse, offering insights for policymakers, business practitioners, and academics.

MEDICAL PLURALISM IN BRITISH PUNJAB: NECESSITY OF COEXISTENCE, CONVERGENCE IN DIVERSE SOCIO-CULTURAL FABRIC

This research paper explores the coexistence and convergence of plural healthcare practices in British Punjab with a prime focus on the need for a diverse social order to accommodate multiple healthcare setups. The interdisciplinary conceptual framework of this research rests on the debate around the dynamics of medical pluralism and its implications for healthcare delivery, while combining medical anthropology, and historical sociology. to understand. The objective is to explore how different medical systems, both indigenous and contemporary, influence and interact with each other, hence serving as the driving forces towards their coexistence and sometimes convergence of these systems. The findings reveal a complex and dynamic landscape of medical pluralism in the then British Punjab, with traditional Ayurvedic, Unani, and homoeopathic practices showcasing interactions between traditional and Western medical practices. The findings reveal that recognizing and integrating various medical traditions and practices is crucial for ensuring accessible and effective healthcare services for the population.

Open science practices in traditional, complementary, and integrative medicine research: A path to enhanced transparency and collaboration

This educational article explores the convergence of open science practices and traditional, complementary, and integrative medicine (TCIM), shedding light on the potential benefits and challenges of open science for the development, dissemination, and implementation of evidence-based TCIM. We emphasize the transformative shift in medical science towards open and collaborative practices, highlighting the limited application of open science in TCIM research despite its growing acceptance among patients. We define open science practices and discuss those that are applicable to TCIM, including: study registration; reporting guidelines; data, code and material sharing; preprinting; publishing open access; and reproducibility/replication studies. We explore the benefits of open science in TCIM, spanning improved research quality, increased public trust, accelerated innovation, and enhanced evidence-based decision-making. We also acknowledge challenges such as data privacy concerns, limited resources, and resistance to cultural change. We propose strategies to overcome these challenges, including ethical guidelines, education programs, funding advocacy, interdisciplinary dialogue, and patient engagement. Looking to the future, we envision the maturation of open science in TCIM, the development of TCIM-specific guidelines for open science practices, advancements in data sharing platforms, the integration of open data and artificial intelligence in TCIM research, and changes in the context of policy and regulation. We foresee a future where open science in TCIM leads to a better evidence base, informed decision-making, interdisciplinary collaboration, and transformative impacts on healthcare and research methodologies, highlighting the promising synergy between open science and TCIM for holistic, evidence-based healthcare solutions.

The “Schengen Turn” as the Reshaping of the French-Italian Border: The Critical Convergence of the Geography of Border Controls and Capitalist Dynamics (1990s-2000s)

ABSTRACT On the 1st of January 1993, border controls at the French-Italian border were officially “abolished” in the framework of the Schengen area. However, the border didn’t disappear; rather, its geography adjusted to the evolution of the capitalist logics of the European market, creating a hierarchized borderzone where “boundaries and scales intersect to fuel further expansion of (…) the frontiers of capital” (Mezzadra and Neilson 2013, 321). The article draws on the fields of critical border studies and radical geography to show the critical convergence of capitalist dynamics and border police practices in the French-Italian border zone. This has been reflected in the production of transport infrastructures enabling high-speed cross-border circulation at the expense of local roads and practices. Moreover, the evolution from “fixed” border control to “random and mobile” identity checks led to the creation of a police targeting system that selects passengers on the basis of a social-racial profiling. After the Schengen agreements, the French-Italian border became a mobile device allowing the accumulation of capital through the selection of “legitimate travelers” and the control of “illegal migrants”, enacting locally the “polarization of mobility” (Bauman 1998) that occured at a global scale at the turn of the twenty-first century.

Convergent and divergent parental emotion socialization processes shape children's emotional responding

AbstractParents have an essential role in shaping children's emotional responses, a process called emotional socialization. Typically, researchers measure parental socialization behaviors via self‐report and in‐laboratory observations. However, the extent to which there is convergence between parents’ reported and enacted socialization practices is an open question. The aims of the current study were (1) to quantify the convergence/divergence in parents’ reported and enacted emotional socialization practices and (2) to analyze how convergence/divergence in specific parent socialization practices relates to children's emotional responding across different contexts (alone and with a parent). Participants were a diverse sample of 181 parent‐child dyads (children ages 3–11). We analyzed emotion socialization strategies (problem‐focused reactions, emotion‐focused reactions, expressive encouragement, punishing reactions, minimizing reactions, and distress reactions) as they related to children's behavioral and physiological responding to an emotional challenge. We found an overall pattern of divergence for most socialization strategies, but convergence for problem‐focused reactions. For children's observed distress, a convergent pattern of reported and enacted minimizing specifically was related to more distress while alone. For children's physiological reactivity, enacted problem‐solving was related to greater parasympathetic decreases across social context (from being alone to being with parent). Taken together, our findings suggest that convergence and divergence in parental emotional socialization practices may capture unique variability in how parents contextually respond to children's feelings, and children's emotional responding.

The diverse colours of money: the country-of-origin effects of foreign direct investment within East Asia

In the existing literature on foreign direct investment, it is often assumed that multinational corporations and their direct investments reduce institutional differences among economies. Building upon this assumption, those influenced by management studies and mainstream economics see multinational corporations as an agent that upgrades local business conventions to global standards. Geographers do not usually accept this convergence theory and claim differences among host economies prevents convergence in business practices. The difference between these groups of scholars is that the non-convergence camp acknowledges the resilience of local business practices while the convergence camp does not. The papers comprising this special issue question this shared assumption of foreign direct investment as a cause of convergence. As outlined in this introductory paper, and explored in detail in the following papers, we pay attention to the simple fact that the foreign direct investment is from a company or individual whose business practices are inherently influenced by their experiences of business in the nation or region of origin, and these experiences indelibly influence, to varying degrees, their local operations in investment destination. Once we accept such an obvious fact, recent debates on variety of capitalism and related literatures on the developmental state, welfare regime and other concepts all become relevant to understanding of the local operation of foreign-owned businesses.

Growing Green: Sustainable Agriculture Meets Precision Farming: A Review

Precision farming involves the use of advanced technologies such as the global positioning system (GPS), sensors and data analytics to make informed decisions on crop management. The integration of sustainable agriculture principles with precision farming techniques offers a holistic approach to address the challenges faced by modern agriculture. This review explores the convergence of sustainable agriculture and precision farming practices, aiming to enhance the efficiency, productivity and environmental sustainability of modern farming systems. The review delves into the principles of precision farming, which involves the use of advanced technologies such as GPS, sensors and data analytics to optimize resource use and improve crop yields. The integration of sustainable practices within precision farming frameworks is a central focus, emphasizing the importance of environmental supervision, soil health and biodiversity conservation. This review also highlights the collaboration between cutting-edge agricultural technologies and environment friendly farming practices, illustrating a path forward for the agriculture industry towards a sustainable and resilient nutritional security.

Migration and sustainable development.

To understand the implications of migration for sustainable development requires a comprehensive consideration of a range of population movements and their feedback across space and time. This Perspective reviews emerging science at the interface of migration studies, demography, and sustainability, focusing on consequences of migration flows for nature-society interactions including on societal outcomes such as inequality; environmental causes and consequences of involuntary displacement; and processes of cultural convergence in sustainability practices in dynamic new populations. We advance a framework that demonstrates how migration outcomes result in identifiable consequences on resources, environmental burdens and well-being, and on innovation, adaptation, and challenges for sustainability governance. We elaborate the research frontiers of migration for sustainability science, explicitly integrating the full spectrum of regular migration decisions dominated by economic motives through to involuntary displacement due to social or environmental stresses. Migration can potentially contribute to sustainability transitions when it enhances well-being while not exacerbating structural inequalities or compound uneven burdens on environmental resources.

Umbrella protectors? Analysing valuing, hybridity and compromises for Chinese middle managers

PurposeThis paper examines the ways in which Chinese university middle managers evaluate subordinate performance in response to the Chinese Double First-Class University Plan, a national project that ranks the performance of universities. In exploring compromise arrangements, the hybridised valuing activity of middle managers is found to be shaped by emergent and extant macro-foundations.Design/methodology/approachThe qualitative data from 49 semi-structured interviews at five Chinese public universities were conducted. Drawing on macro-foundational studies and the sociology of worth (SW) theory, the analysis helps to identify socially shared patterns of actions and outcomes.FindingsThe findings elucidate the interplay between diverse economic, social, political and institutional values and the compromise-making by middle managers. The authors find that contextual factors restrict Chinese academic middle managers' autonomy, preventing workable compromise. Through the selective adoption of international and local management practices, compromise has evolved into a private differential treaty at the operational level.Originality/valueA nuanced explanation reveals how the macro-foundations of Chinese society influence middle managers who engage with accounting when facilitating compromise. This study helps outsiders better understand the complex convergence and divergence of performance evaluative practices in Chinese universities against the backdrop of global market-based forces and the moral dimensions of organisational life. The findings have wider implications for the Chinese government in navigating institutional steps and developing supportive policies to enable middle managers to advance productive but also sustainable compromise.

„almost certainly the major European poet of the period after 1945“. George Steiner liest Paul Celan

The article examines, based on several works by cultural philosopher George Steiner, what con-ception of Europe he advocates by classifying Celan as “the major European poet of the period after 1945”. The analysis shows a convergence of poetic practices of modern poetry with basic values of a Humanist understanding of Europe, which Steiner experienced paradigmatically in Celan’s poems. This concerns not least Celan’s explicit intention of a future-oriented poetry after the rupture of history. Finally, the chapter questions the strict connection of Steiner’s aes-thetic and ethical ideas to the geographical and political space of Europe.

Do you really want to hurt me? The impact of contextual factors on the moderating role of dark leadership in the relationships between learning climate facilitation, employability and turnover intention in the Netherlands and China.

Both the Dutch and Chinese labor markets experience severe shortages of skilled personnel and high turnover rates, being distressing socio-economic factors. At the same time, large cross-cultural studies indicate that these national contexts are highly different from a socio-cultural perspective. When considering issues on employee development and retainment, the public debate opens for negative attributes as dark leadership, wondering if employees accept to be hurt. This study contributes to the employability research and, moreover, it contributes to the call for the ability to contextualize theories and to the convergence/divergence debate. We applied Western theories to investigate possible contextual differences in the relationships between learning climate facilitation and turnover intention, and to investigate whether this relationship is mediated by employability, and whether dark leadership is a possible moderator. To test our hypotheses, we collected data from 368 Dutch and 319 Chinese respondents who participate in an executive master's program, which was analyzed using PLS-Structural Equation Modeling. Employees in the Netherlands and China were found to interpret our study variables differently. Separate analyses revealed that, in both contexts, learning climate facilitation was both directly and indirectly, via the balance dimension of employability, negatively related to turnover intention. In addition, in the Dutch sample, dark leadership appeared to weaken the relationship between learning climate facilitation and the corporate sense dimension of employability, but the latter did not seem to be a mediator in the relationship with turnover intention. In the Chinese sample, no moderation effects were found. Our results show that both learning climate facilitation and dark leadership are important factors in the development and retainment of personnel and that particularly focusing on 'balancing group and individual goals' is important to retain personnel, regardless of national context. The latter may indicate the need for convergence of HR practices. At the same time, however, the different interpretations of the study's variables may indicate divergence in the meaning of HR concepts. In the discussion section, we elaborate on the study's implications for HR-researchers and -practitioners in national and global business contexts.

Day of Rage: Forensic journalism and the US Capitol riot

This article examines how video journalism produced by the elite press is using forensic techniques and aesthetics as part of the effort to reinvent journalistic authority in a fragmented media and political sphere. I first discuss some earlier moments in which news coverage of events adopted a media-forensic epistemology and style, and then turn to the formation of the New York Times Visual Investigations team, a group at the leading-edge of this type of journalism today. I provide an analysis of one of the team’s investigative reports, a 40-minute account of the January 6 Capitol riot assembled from vernacular video, surveillance footage, police bodycam video, and other non-news source materials. In both its formal aspects and its subject matter, the piece represents an important example for understanding an emerging form of forensic journalism. While the January 6 Capitol riot was not the first time news coverage of a violent event adopted a forensic style and epistemology, the forensic-media coverage of the riot represents a unique conjuncture. A new convergence of media-technological developments and journalist practices shaped how the storming of the Capitol was experienced, investigated, and covered as a media event.

A Study of Recent Accounting Trends in India's Corporate Sector with Special Reference to International Financial Reporting Standards

Accounting is the process of keeping track of monetary transactions and data in a structured, consistent, and understandable style so that stakeholders in a business or organization may make informed economic decisions. Early forms of accounting used clay tokens to keep track of products and livestock, but the discipline has since evolved into a sophisticated system for recording a wide variety of financial transactions and details. The first step toward IAS, or International Accounting Standards, was done in 1959. Since then, accounting groups and others have collaborated to form the International Accounting Standards Committee. In 1997, the IASC was restructured to better enable the convergence of various national accounting standards and practices toward a single, high-quality set of global accounting standards. Established in 1973, it issued the foundational documents for what is now known as International Accounting Standards until the year 2000. As the International Accounting Standards Committee (IASC) was abolished in 2001, the International Accounting Standards Board (IASB) was tasked with publishing international accounting standards. The integration of global financial markets and the need of investors for more uniformity in the financial reports of multinational firms both demand the globalization of IFRS.

Rankings and their limits: the role of global university rankings in university mergers in Finland

ABSTRACT Studies of global university rankings often assume that rankings as Anglo-American policy scripts have an increasing influence resulting in a convergence of policies and practices, or that the ideas of rankings continue to diverge into national types. In this article, we take a middle ground by arguing that when an idea of ranking is grounded in a particular place, it takes on hybrid forms because of individual agency and of national and local contingencies that are found at that place. A key concept is “a frictional translation”, by which we refer to more than one way in which capable actors can interpret and translate the idea of ranking within a given geographical and organizational context. We use university mergers in Finland as an example of the translation process, in which global university rankings are interpreted through nationally and locally specific assemblages of institutional forms that support, resist or hybridize them.

Formation of the Social Capital of Urban Communities in the Context of Digitalization of the Urban Environment

Introduction. Currently, the development and convergence of virtual digital practices actualizes the need for theoretical and methodological understanding of the transformations of social capital in the urban environment. The purpose of the article is to explore the process of changing the mechanisms for the formation of social capital, based on expert assessments and the results of an analysis of public opinion, as well as conjunctive processes that are being transformed under the influence of the digitalization of urban spaces. Methodology and Methods. The methodological basis of the study consists of the provisions of the social capital theory, the theory of social conjunction; the concept of digitalization of social reality. The empirical base of the scientific article includes the results of a complex of sociological studies conducted by a team of authors of Belgorod State University in 2020–2022. The research data has made it possible to determine the dispositions of various population groups in relation to the social consolidation of urban communities in the context of the digitalization of the urbanized environment, as well as to identify the specifics of values, attitudes and behavioral motives in the implementation of consolidation practices. Results. On the basis of empirical data, it has been possible to reveal that the process of forming and building up the social capital of urban communities has serious limitations that do not disappear in the course of digitalization of the urban environment. On the one hand, this process creates opportunities for consolidation based on social digital platforms; on the other hand, network social capital turns out to be very fragile, since it does not involve “live communication” and does not connect the participants of the interaction with reliable grounds. Discussion and Conclusion. The analysis has made it possible to note that, while creating new conditions for communication and unification of citizens, digitalization also leads to the emergence of new barriers, the most significant of which is the lack of “real life communication”, which prevents the participants of interaction from being bound by reliable grounds. Prospects for further research on the topic under study are related to the development of such criteria that will allow us to assess the sociodynamics of the process of the social capital forming in urban communities, as well as the process of consolidation.

How Far Does the Diverse Economies Approach Take Us?

How Far Does the Diverse Economies Approach Take Us?

Admissibility of Evidence in EPPO Proceedings

The issue of cross-border admissibility of evidence is a recurring theme of European Criminal Justice, and continues to be perceived as a decisive obstacle hindering the effective prosecution and adjudication of crime. In spite of this, the EPPO Regulation does not include an extensive framework guaranteeing the cross-border admissibility of evidence. In this article, it is argued that this lacuna is far less worrisome than it seems: the boundaries set out by EU primary law, in particular Article 325(4) TFEU and the Charter of Fundamental Rights (CFR), as well as the opportunity of the ECJ to judge on these boundaries, allow for a sufficient convergence of national laws and practices on the (in-)admissibility of evidence.

Elite Capture in South Africa’s Land Redistribution: The Convergence of Policy Bias, Corrupt Practices and Class Dynamics

Land reforms are an important mechanism for addressing inequalities in society. While addressing South Africa’s racialised land inequalities remains crucial, new forms of class inequality are produced through land reform, with the well-off becoming predominant as beneficiaries. This article focuses on elite capture in land redistribution and analyses land-reform outcomes in South Africa’s state land lease and disposal policy (SLLDP). The article presents empirical evidence from 62 land-reform farms in five provinces of South Africa and shows how policy biases in favour of well-off beneficiaries converge with corruption and rent-seeking practices to produce uneven agrarian outcomes. Beneficiary selection and targeting inherently favour well-off beneficiaries, who are considered competent to engage in large-scale commercial farming. Land reform is a new frontier of accumulation for different agribusinesses, urban-based businesspeople and state officials, who increasingly benefit from cheap state land and various forms of production support meant to recapitalise land-reform farms.

AI-POWERED PRECISION AGRICULTURE: RESHAPING FARMING FOR EFFICIENCY, SUSTAINABILITY, AND GLOBAL IMPACT

This article delves into the transformative effects of Artificial Intelligence (AI) on precision agriculture, also known as AgriTech or AgTech. The convergence of AI and farming practices reshapes the industry by leveraging machine learning, data analytics, and automation to optimize resource allocation and decision-making. Precision agriculture maximizes crop yields while minimizing waste through real-time data from AI technologies such as remote sensing, satellite imagery, and IoT sensors. AI-driven insights enable precise recommendations for irrigation, fertilization, and pest control, enhancing productivity and reducing environmental impact. Moreover, AI enhances crop health assessment, accelerates genetic research, and fosters climate-resilient crops. The article explores AI's potential in predictive analytics, genetic editing, global food security, and sustainable practices. Automation in agriculture tasks via AI-driven robotics and machinery elevates productivity. While AI offers positive environmental impact through resource optimization and energy efficiency, concerns about energy consumption and hardware management warrant attention. A balanced approach to AI's development, embracing energy-efficient algorithms and renewable energy integration, ensures its positive contribution to sustainable practices. The article concludes by discussing potential research directions and the complex interplay of AI's benefits and environmental concerns.