Diversification Of Enterprises Research Articles

Agroecosystem health, agroecosystem resilience, and food security

This paper lays out the relationships between three mutually reinforcing concepts associated with agroecosystems: (1) agroecosystem health, the extent to which an agroecosystem can meet human needs for all of its residents over time; (2) resilience, the capacity of a system to adapt, reorganize, and maintain key functions in the face of turbulent and unpredictable change in its environment; (3) food security, sufficient quantity and quality of food for everyone at all times. Agroecosystem health has been defined by a number of properties including the following: stability, sustainability, equitability, productivity, and autonomy, each in the context of specific spatial and temporal scales. Indicators that characterize biophysical and social conditions including soil health, biodiversity, topography, farm economics, land economics, and social organization can be combined using analytical hierarchy process to map agroecosystem health across a landscape. The resulting map may provide incentive and guidance for improving the conditions underlying agroecosystem health. Resilience and agroecosystem health overlap largely because both rely on diversity, in biological and physical as well as human cultural, social, and economic terms. The Agroecosystems Management Program at The Ohio State University has approached research and outreach to improve agroecosystem health, resilience, and food security by encouraging self-organizing social networks for economic development around local and regional agricultural supply chains, encouraging farm enterprise diversity at a wider range of farming scales, and conducting research to monitor and estimate the benefits of such diversification. Social media tools have been explored for connecting entrepreneurs at the planning stage, with the ultimate goal of improving the economic support for more diversified enterprises in agroecosystems. Although challenging, such adaptive management experiments may create and encourage new opportunities for managing agroecosystem health, and with it, resilient food production and security.

(A Study on State-Owned Enterprises Reform in China)

(A Study on State-Owned Enterprises Reform in China)

PROFITABILITY ANALYSIS OF SELECTING INFORMAL INSURANCE MEASURES FOR SELECTED ENTERPRISES BY RURAL FARMERS IN ODOGBOLU LOCAL GOVERNMENT AREA

This study analyzed the farming systems and other informal insurance measures used by farmers for optimum farm income in Odogbolu Local Government Area of Ogun state, Nigeria. To give effect to the study, eighty farmers were randomly selected from the study area. Data collected through structured questionnaires and interview schedules was analyzed using net farm income analysis. Results showed the gross margin of the farmers who cultivated more than one crop, and reared one poultry or small ruminant animal have more income than those who do not. This research work also showed that rural farmers use different informal insurance measures like diversification of crop and livestock enterprises, contract farming, keeping buffer stock, savings, land fragmentation and others to manage risks that they routinely face. Out of the ten (10) informal insurance measures studied, diversification was the most practiced among the respondents while contract farming is the least used by the respondents. Recommendations include encouraging farmers to adopt the most profitable farming systems and informal insurance measures to help rural people have a stable income.

Looking beyond timber: Empirical evidence for the diversification of forest enterprises and the profitability of auxiliary activities in Austria

Although a recent rise in timber prices seems to counter the long-term trend of declining profitability of timber production, the development of additional sources of income still constitutes a strategic challenge for forest enterprises. Furthermore, increasing interest of stakeholders in various forestry goods and services requires dealing comprehensively with the potentials of multifunctional forestry. In fact, forest enterprises may be engaged not only in providing a range of forestry-based outputs but also with ventures unrelated to forests. Nevertheless, there is still little empirical evidence concerning the economic significance of diversification. Established economic monitoring schemes traditionally concentrate on timber production. Political interest and forest certification are typically restricted to forest-based activities. In this paper, the empirical evidence regarding auxiliary activities as documented by the Austrian accountancy network of larger forest enterprises is appraised for the first time. A set of economic key figures can be derived for a considerable range of activities. On average, timber production is still dominating by far, other activities contributing in total only to an equivalent of some 2.5% of the timber profits. A range of methodical limitations associated with the data collected so far underpin the necessity to interpret results prudently. Several amendments are identified which could substantially improve the significance of the empirical investigations.

Managing Farm Risk: Issues and Strategies in Plantain Production in Osun State, Nigeria

The study examined various risks and their management strategies in plantain production under tropical condition. A multi-stage sampling procedure was used to select two hundred plantain farmers in the two ecological zones within Osun State, Nigeria. Primary data collected were analyzed using descriptive statistics and importance index. A comparison of the results of the two zones was undertaken. The results of the analyses revealed that shortage of capital, poor transportation system and shortage of labor (in that order of importance) were the important risks confronting plantain farmers in the study area. Diversification of income sources, native safeguard and diversification of farm enterprises were the most common strategies employed to manage the risks in the study area. Research effort should be directed at obtaining effective and efficient storage and processing technology to reduce or eliminate risk associated with the high perishable nature of plantain.

Livelihood Diversification and Sustainability of Rural Non-Farm Enterprises in Ghana

This paper is set within a framework of re-conceptualising sustainable livelihoods and enterprises by identifying the multidimensionality of rural livelihood diversification within small farm households in Southern Ghana. Contributing to and providing links between the different rural livelihood strategies and household well-being, this paper investigates the nature and extent to which livelihood diversification impacts of households strategies towards wealth accumulation, survival and resilience to impoverishment. The study undertakes a critical evaluation of the impact and relationship between poverty reduction projects implemented through District Assemblies and those initiated by community organisations and households. Empirical research involving questionnaire surveys, interviews and focus group meetings was used in studying rural farm households in Akuapem North and Dangme West Districts in Southern Ghana. The paper points to the existence of significant divergence in outcomes of livelihood diversification. Also, the overall impact of diversification and formal intervention strategies towards alleviating poverty within small farm household’s economy is limited and not sustainable with survival being the more probable outcome of diversification.

Diversification, Industrial Synergy and Firm Performance of State-Owned Enterprises - Taking Coal Business Groups as an Example

Diversified industrial combination of state-owned enterprise is often not optimal, it can also maintain in the industry boom, but once the main market atrophy, the entire firm’s development will be in trouble, such as coal business groups. To solve this problem, this paper use industrial synergy as an intermediary variable and develop the traditional dualism, which is the relationship between diversification and firm performance, to trialism, which are relationships among diversification, industrial synergy and firm performance and take coal enterprises listing Corporations as an example to analyze relationships of above three points. Results show vertical business synergy in related diversification and horizontal function synergy in unrelated diversification are all have a significant positive impact on firm performance. This conclusion is confirmed the important hypothesis in theory that industrial synergy will promote firm performance and has important practical significance to guide state-owned enterprises’ management practice.

Повышение конкурентоспособности диверсифицированного предприятия на основе оценки возможностей создания и повышения эффективности синергетических взаимосвязей бизнес-единиц

Повышение конкурентоспособности диверсифицированного предприятия на основе оценки возможностей создания и повышения эффективности синергетических взаимосвязей бизнес-единиц

Measuring Embeddedness and Its Effect on New Venture Creation—A Study of Farm Diversification

Social embeddedness has been found to influence the development of new ventures, providing a basis for the trust needed for economic exchange. This study takes a novel approach to measuring embeddedness, focusing on entrepreneurs' perceived value of advice from various network partners, and shows that different types of partners exercise different influences. Analysis of a survey of 670 farm businesses shows varied embeddedness in professional and social networks, where stronger embeddedness in social networks is more associated with the development of diversified enterprises, whereas stronger professional networks is more associated with a lower incidence of such development. Copyright © 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

ISSUES OF CIVIL REGULATION CALCULATIONS IN AGRICULTURE

One of the main sources of providing economic growth of agriculture and maintenance welfare life of population of Uzbekistan is required to develop step-by-step legislation. It regulates legal relations linked with calculations in agriculture and constantly its legal basis by virtue of theory, studies and principles of civil law according to the frames of reforms. The main goal of providing social-economic reforms in agriculture of Uzbekistan is to hardly continue maintaining successful life of country, and apropos of this increasing the size of producing in agriculture which based on competitive market, widening new range of production. Uninterruptedly continuing the strategy of economic reforms directed to provide successfully execution of governmental programs which aimed to develop diversified farm enterprise – studying legal problems of civil legal regulation of social-economic and investments relations play the main role based on calculations of current industry.

Implementation of a socio-ecological system navigation approach to human development in sub-saharan african communities.

This paper presents a framework for the development of socio-ecological systems towards enhanced sustainability. Emphasis is given to the dynamic properties of complex, adaptive social-ecological systems, their structure and to the fundamental role of agriculture. The tangible components that meet the needs of specific projects executed in Kenya and Ethiopia encompass project objectives, innovation, facilitation, continuous recording and analyses of monitoring data, that allow adaptive management and system navigation.Two case studies deal with system navigation through the mitigation of key constraints; they aim to improve human health thanks to anopheline malaria vectors control in Nyabondo (Kenya), and to improve cattle health through tsetse control and antitrypanosomal drug administration to cattle in Luke (Ethiopia). The second case deals with a socio-ecological navigation system to enhance sustainability, establishing a periurban diversified enterprise in Addis Ababa (Ethiopia) and developing a rural sustainable social-ecological system in Luke (Ethiopia).The project procedures are briefly described here and their outcomes are analysed in relation to the stated objectives. The methodology for human and cattle disease vector control were easier to implement than the navigation of social-ecological systems towards sustainability enhancement. The achievements considerably differed between key constraints removal and sustainability enhancement projects. Some recommendations are made to rationalise human and cattle health improvement efforts and to smoothen the road towards enhanced sustainability: i) technology system implementation should be carried out through an innovation system; ii) transparent monitoring information should be continuously acquired and evaluated for assessing the state of the system in relation to stated objectives for (a) improving the insight into the systems behaviour and (b) rationalizing decision support; iii) the different views of all stakeholders should be reconciled in a pragmatic approach to social-ecological system management.Significance for public healthRecently, there is a growing interest in studying the link between human, animal and environmental health. The connection between these different dimensions is particularly important for developing countries in which people face the challenge of escaping vicious cycle of high diseases prevalence, food insecurity driven by absolute poverty and population growth, and natural capital as a poverty trap. The design and implementation of such efforts, aiming at human health improvement and poverty alleviation, should be framed into adaptive social-ecological system management perspectives. In this paper, we present few case studies dealing with human health improvement through anopheline malaria vectors control in Kenya, cattle health improvement through tsetse vectored nagana control, antitrypanosomal drug administration to cattle in Ethiopia and with the development of rural sustainable communities in Ethiopia. Some recommendations are given to rationalise human and cattle health improvement efforts and to smoothen the road towards enhanced sustainability.

The importance and role of strategic tool of balanced scorecard in diversified enterprises management

The importance and role of strategic tool of balanced scorecard in diversified enterprises management

DEA-Based Efficiency Assessment of Railway Diversified Enterprises

On the basis of depth analysis of the new situation and tasks the railway facing. Ministry of Railways put forward a strategy of diversification. Therefore, it is necessary to conduct in-depth analysis of the Railway diversified business development efficiency. This article describes the basic theory of the efficiency assessment, analyzes the factors which influences the efficiency of the railway diversified enterprises and builds the efficiency evaluation index system of railway diversified enterprises .Based on DEA, this article establishes a railway diversified business efficiency evaluation model. We use the business data of railway diversified enterprises in 2008 as empirical, and the results show that the efficiency of the railway enterprise diversification is different in different industries. Further analysis revealed that ,the relative efficiency of the industry in railway diversified business is closely related to transportation business, and the closer the industry are to transportation industry ,the more efficient it is.

Open innovation and within-industry diversification in small and medium enterprises: The case of open source software firms

This paper examines the within-industry diversification of software small and medium enterprises that collaborate with the open source software community (OSS SMEs). In doing so, it offers new insights into the association between open innovation and diversification. We rely on arguments inspired by the literature and evidence collected through interviews with OSS SMEs’ top managers to investigate factors that favor or hinder within-industry diversification. First, in line with the mainstream diversification literature, we focus attention on the role of firm size. Second, in the spirit of the open innovation research, we concentrate on the mechanisms that OSS SMEs put in place to get access to the external resources of the OSS community. Econometric evidence on 100 European OSS SMEs shows that firm size is negatively associated to within-industry diversification, while OSS SMEs that have contributed to a larger number of OSS projects have a more diversified portfolio of software products. Furthermore, we provide preliminary evidence that the practice of authorizing firm programmers to contribute autonomously to OSS projects of their own choice during working hours may be positively associated to within-industry diversification only if OSS SMEs possess adequate internal technological resources.

International diversification of the emerging-market enterprises: A multi-level examination

This study develops a cross-level research model based on insights from the capabilities view and institutional theory. We examine the drivers of international diversification for firms from emerging economies, specifically how top managers’ prior experiences and a favorable institutional environment for human capital affects the international diversification of emerging-market enterprises (EMEs). This research demonstrates that firm- and country-level factors collectively influence the international diversification of EMEs. We find that an EME whose top managers have global managerial and technological experiences is more likely to venture into international markets when a favorable institutional environment provides globally competitive, highly skilled human capital. This study demonstrates that for a multidimensional phenomenon such as EMEs’ international diversification, a more complete picture emerges given a theoretical framework that builds on diverse perspectives which are empirically tested across levels.

Įmonių susijusios diversifikacijos matavimas

Measuring of the related diversification of enterprises requires the determining of its quantitative and qualitative aspects, reflecting the related and unrelated diversification. A large number of methods for quantitative measuring of unrelated diversification, allowing us to determine its level rather accurately and objectively have been offered. This can be achieved because this measurement is based on the objectively determined quantities, including the number of the areas of activities and the variation of the production volumes among them. The situation is different with the related diversification measurement. The main problem in this area is associated with the method of determining the strength of the relationship between the new products and markets and the existing ones. The commonly used methods of measurement are too subjective and inaccurate because they are based only on the discrete-category evaluation. The concept of the suggested quantitative measure of the related diversification is based on determination of the comparability of production programme’s product-market combinations with the existing product-market combinations and their integration into one criterion.

Exploring entrepreneurial skills and competencies in farm tourism

Diversification to farm tourism is increasingly seen as a viable development strategy to promote a more diverse and sustainable rural economy and to counter declining farm incomes. However, the dynamics of the modern farm tourism business and the entrepreneurial and competitive skills farmers require in making the transition from agriculture to a diversified enterprise remains limited. This article explores the range of skills and competencies that farmers in the North West of England identify as important when adopting a diversification strategy to farm tourism. The findings indicate that, whilst a range of managerial skills are valued by farmers, they lack many of the additional business and entrepreneurial competencies required for success. The article acknowledges the need to generate consensus on the requisite skill-set that farm tourism operators require.

イギリスの条件不利地域政策の評価

This paper assesses contemporary British LFAs policy through comparison with Japanese Hilly and Mountainous Areas policy. Decoupled income support and environmental schemes promote extensive agriculture and discourage entrepreneur's innovation. Maintenance of the rural population, encouraging added value production and fostering the human resource must be the critical issue. Promoting diversified enterprise of agricultural firms is not readily achievable although it is often considered as an important policy instrument required in connection with decoupled direct subsidy. Accountability and reliability of government finance must be enforced when direct payment is the major instrument to support agriculture and countryside in place of market price support.

Diversification economies and efficiencies in a ‘blue-green revolution’ combination: a case study of prawn-carp-rice farming in the ‘gher’ system in Bangladesh

‘Gher’ farming is a unique system that incorporates the joint operation of three enterprises: freshwater prawn, fish and HYV rice and is expanding rapidly in the coastal regions of Bangladesh. In this paper we evaluate the performance of this unique system in terms of the existence of diversification economies (amongst the three integrated enterprises), scale economies and technical efficiency using a stochastic input distance function approach on a sample of gher farmers. The results reveal evidence of a diversification economy in the rice–carp combination. Economies of scale exist in the ‘gher’ farming system. The level of technical efficiency is estimated at 68% implying that a substantial 47% [(100−68)/68] of potential output can be recovered by removing inefficiency. Significant efficiency gains are made from diversification amongst these enterprises. Also, the education of farmers and the female labour input significantly improve efficiency whilst larger operation size reduces efficiency. The key policy implication is that the diversification of enterprises, particularly the rice–carp combination, is beneficial and should be promoted. Also investment in education and creation of a hired labour market for females would improve technical efficiency.

Diversification of Farm Enterprises in the United States: Legal Incentives and Legal Obstacles

Diversification of Farm Enterprises in the United States: Legal Incentives and Legal Obstacles