Local Linkages Research Articles

Tourism for poverty reduction in developing countries: Does it really hold for Tanzania?

ABSTRACT Despite the increase in tourism, the contribution of tourism to poverty reduction is questionable. Using secondary data with poverty index as a dependent variable, the effects of tourism value, total trade value, foreign direct investment, gross domestic product, and exchange rates were tested using econometric time series analysis for Tanzania from 1987 to 2020. The results for the long-run effects indicate all five variables significantly influence on human development as a proxy for poverty. Foreign direct investment has a negative effect, unlike the other variables. These results offer support to the Tourism Led Growth Hypothesis for a developing country like Tanzania in sub-Saharan Africa. Thus it is logical to continue promoting tourism in conjunction with the facilitation of export trade as a means of poverty reduction. Attracting foreign direct investments should continue but put into consideration policies, regulations, and the business environment that facilitate local business linkages with tourism which will reduce profit leakages.

Design of virtual laneway infrastructure: community activation through augmented reality in underutilized spaces in cities pressured to densify

ABSTRACT This study undertook literature studies, site and precinct analyses, and observations of 34 laneways in Perth, Western Australia. Ownership, proximity to residential, and mass transit public transport, critical node linkages, proportions, surface ‘canvas’ area, and development restrictions were assessed eliciting a suitable location to develop an Augmented Reality architectural placemaking ‘projection’ proposition. The ideation presents iterative design process visualizations within a vernacular ‘place’ setting with localized spatial linkages and functionalities, and does not draw to a definitive solution, but a novel, cost-effective, adaptable, and ‘agile’ method of activating ‘lost spaces’ without permanent structural alteration while retaining their original utility.

뉴스 빅데이터를 활용한 대학평생교육 토픽 분석

This study analyzes the policy and social discourse on university lifelong education by applying the topic modeling analysis using news big data. In particular, the National Lifelong Education Enhancing Plans(NLEEP) was taken as the main context for the analysis. A total of 22,493 news articles were collected through BigKinds, the DB operated by the Korea Press Foundation. As a result of the analysis, the words that appeared the most were ‘Student’, ‘Support’, ‘Business’, ‘Operation’, and ‘Region’. And the topic that showed the most weight was 'Lifelong education through industry-university cooperation', followed by 'Participation in university lifelong education support project' and 'Distance learning and degree acquisition' in that order. Second, most of the derived topics appeared repeatedly throughout the entire cycle. Third, the topics classified at the individual university level show the highest frequency, followed by the local community linkage and the national development level. Based on the results of this analysis, the limitations of the study and follow-up studies were suggested along with suggestions such as the efforts to promote communication among the participants in lifelong education and the development and sharing of its success models.

Socio-economic consequences of imported frozen tilapia in the Kenyan aquaculture value chain: Strategies for optimizing local unexploited potential

Capture fisheries production sector, which is the main source of consumed fish in Kenya has been declining over the years, causing huge deficit in fish supply in local market. Even though aquaculture has been fronted as a step-gap measure, there are still eminent fish supply gaps, prompting importation of frozen tilapia, mainly from China. However, the imported fish has attracted numerous socio-economic debates between proponents and opponents of fish imports, almost in equal measure. This study investigated the socio-economic consequences of the imported tilapia in the local fish market and value chain linkages in Kisumu County. Primary data were collected using direct interviews with pre-set questionnaires fed into Open Data Kit (ODK) platform, and observations from 60 randomly selected fishermen and 60 fish farmers, 100 fish traders and 96 households. Key Informant Interviews (KII) and Focused Group Discussions (FGDs) were also conducted. About 57% of the respondents processed and traded on the imported frozen tilapia, 27% of them traded on fish from capture fisheries, while 16 % traded on fish from the local aquaculture sector. Imported tilapia was the cheapest at Ksh. 200/kg compared to the locally produced tilapia at Ksh. 320/kg. At least 62 % of the households in Kisumu consumed imported tilapia regularly due to lower prices and availability. About 46 % of the respondents have gained direct employment and experienced improved socio-economic status due to the imported fish, of which 71 % are youth and women. However, about 40% of the respondents reported multiple job losses and degraded socio-economic status due to poor market for the locally produced tilapia, whether from the capture or culture sector. The study concluded that the importation of frozen tilapia can potentially reduce socio-economic returns from the local fisheries and aquaculture value chains. A rational approach is to optimize local fish production to saturate the local market and potentially out-price the imported frozen tilapia. Appropriate government policies tackling the importation of fish into the country can also help reduce the negative impacts of these imported fish on the local fish market systems. Key words: Fish consumption per capita, Fish value chain, imported tilapia, Market saturation

Global Value Chains and Local Inter-Industry Linkages: South Africa’s Participation in the Automotive GVC

International trade in the 21st century operates through global value chains (GVCs). There is a growing literature on how the emergence of GVCs has changed the playing field for catch-up industrialization of developing countries. Inter-industry linkages have historically been a central aspect of catch-up industrialization. How such linkages on the country level are affected by the reality that trade is conducted via GVCs is an important research question. This paper synthesizes the theoretical elaborations on inter-industry linkages from the classic development economics literature with secondary empirical data from the East Asian industrialization experience to illustrate the importance of inter-industry linkages for the industrialization process. Using primary data from the South African automotive industry, the paper shows how the dynamics of the automotive GVC have affected domestic inter-industry linkage building in the country. The backward linkages to the domestic component manufacturing industry and to the domestic materials industries from South Africa’s successful integration into the automotive GVC have been disappointing. Both local policy decisions as well as GVC-specific dynamics of follow sourcing and the proliferation of manufacturing technologies and material standards have undermined more substantial backward linkages from exports of automobiles.

Applying a Place Making Sustainable Centres Framework to Transit Activated Corridors in Australian cities

The future ability of urban centres in Australia and around the globe to adapt and respond to big challenges of climate change, economic development, and social inclusion, will depend on how well we integrate and embed them within these built environments. Such a complex agenda presents a major collective challenge for designers, planners and engineers to address with politicians, developers, financiers and community leaders. Refocusing design requires collaborative processes and co-creation in a design space currently dominated by siloed approaches to traffic management, transport planning, precinct design and engineering, architecture and landscaping. With the aim of bridging these silos, an interdisciplinary research team has synthesised and then applied a set of principles of design to a range of development scenarios with the aim of delivering sustainable urban centre outcomes. This paper uses the lens of the Theory of Urban Fabrics to present a place making Sustainable Centres Framework created by the authors, comprising 7 principles and 21 associated practices of design. This formed a critical first step for a national sustainable centres research project underway at the time. The paper then presents the findings of a two-phase investigative study to apply the framework to four place-oriented urban regeneration initiatives (i.e. case study sites) that were endeavouring to enable transit activated corridors with local micro-mobility linkages, in Townsville, Sydney, Melbourne and Perth. The first phase of the study comprised a desk-based application of the Sustainable Centres Framework to the four sample urban fabric types observed the case study locations. The second phase involved detailed sense-checking of the framework in the one of the case study locations (Townsville), through stakeholder workshops. The findings provide insights into opportunities and considerations for managing the complexity of urban regeneration projects. The authors discuss the potential for the Framework to inform planning tools and decision support tools, and opportunities to further refine the Framework.

Foreign and domestic multinationals’ linkages in advanced, small open economies: do foreignness, regional origin and technological capability matter?

Purpose International business theory suggests that multinational enterprises (MNEs) seek to internalise resources embedded in local firms to complement their own through inter-organisational relationships, yet little is known about whether and how these business linkages differ between foreign (F)MNEs and domestic (D)MNEs. This paper aims to explore the linkage differential between DMNEs and FMNEs operating in the same single-country contexts and to examine whether foreignness, regional origin and technological capability make a difference. Design/methodology/approach This study is based on a unique firm-level data set of 292 MNEs located in five advanced, small open economies (SMOPECs). This study analyses the benefit received – in the form of technical and organisational resources and knowledge – by DMNEs and FMNEs via backward, forward and collaborative linkages with local business partners. Findings Our research finds FMNEs benefit less from linkages than DMNEs; and FMNEs originating from outside the region especially so. However, the results also show technological capability mitigates this difference and is thus a game changer for FMNEs from outside the region. Originality/value This paper differentiates between FMNEs and DMNEs in their propensity to benefit from resources received from different local partners and explores the influence of regional origin and technological capability. Despite the advanced and internationally oriented nature of SMOPECs, DMNEs still gain more benefit, suggesting either liabilities of foreignness and outsidership persist, or FMNEs do not desire, need or nurture local linkages.

OsWRKY115 on qCT7 links to cold tolerance in rice

qCT7, a novel QTL for increasing seedling cold tolerance in rice, was fine-mapped to a 70.9-kb region on chromosome 7, and key OsWRKY115 was identified in transgenic plants. Cold stress caused by underground cold-water irrigation seriously limits rice productivity. We systemically measured the cold-responsive traits of 2,570 F2 individuals derived from two widely cultivated rice cultivars, Kong-Yu-131 and Dong-Nong-422, to identify the major genomic regions associated with cold tolerance. A novel major QTL, qCT7, was mapped on chromosome 7 associated with the cold tolerance and survival, using whole-genome re-sequencing with bulked segregant analysis. Local QTL linkage analysis with F2 and fine mapping with recombinant plant revealed a 70.9-kb core region on qCT7 encoding 13 protein-coding genes. Only the LOC_Os07g27670 expression level encoding the OsWRKY115 transcription factor on the locus was specifically induced by cold stress in the cold-tolerant cultivar. Moreover, haplotype analysis and the KASP8 marker indicated that OsWRKY115 was significantly associated with cold tolerance. Overexpression and knockout of OsWRKY115 significantly affected cold tolerance in seedlings. Our experiments identified OsWRKY115 as a novel regulatory gene associated with cold response in rice, and the Kong-Yu-131 allele with specific cold-induced expression may be an important molecular variant.

자치경찰제의 성공적인 시행을 위한초기 운영의 쟁점 분석

With the introduction of the autonomous police system by the Moon Jae-in government, local governments are expected to provide local-specific public security services that reflect the needs of residents and comprehensive public security services through linking local administration and public security administration. The purpose of this study was to analyze the issues of the initial operation of the autonomous police system and to suggest improvement plans for the local police committee, which is a key organization for the successful implementation of the autonomous police system. To this end, a survey was conducted from July 1st to July 15th, 2021 on the organization and operation of the local police committee, personnel rights, budgetary rights, scope and linkage of the affairs targeting 18 local police committees. Based on the survey results, policy recommendations for the successful implementation of the autonomous police system were presented. First, it may be considered to allocate the recommended number of committee members to each recommendation institution in order to secure diversity of the local police committees. Second, the National Police Agency should cooperatively share personnel and budget information with the local police committees. Third, the independent personnel rights management system within the local police committee should be prospectively reviewed. Fourth, it is necessary to come up with various financial support measures that allow local governments to independently operate them. Fifth, it is necessary to continuously discuss improvement plans for local police affairs by reflecting the opinions and experiences of national police officers who perform local police affairs in the field. Sixth, for the personnel and budgetary authority of the local police committee to be effectively exercised, the facilities･manpower･budget of the national police must be completely transferred to the local governments.

Nature and composition of rural innovation actor networks in South Africa: the case of agro-processing enterprises in the Mopani District

ABSTRACT Rural innovation processes are deeply embedded in actor networks, and their successes and failures are influenced by the nature and composition of such networks. While South Africa has adopted the National Systems of Innovation (NSI) framework since 1996, the participation of key recognised knowledge producers such as science councils and universities in rural innovation networks is underdetermined. Nevertheless, an explicit policy shift in the national strategy in 2019 toward socially inclusive and grassroots innovation calls for a more rigorous understanding of innovation in rural settings. As a contribution to this imperative, our study explores the nature and composition of rural actor networks of agro-processing enterprises in the Mopani District in the Limpopo Province. The analysis demonstrates that linkages between non-local actors, such as public agencies and large private firms, and local actors are often top-down and limited in strength. However, local linkages are characterised by locked-in, but free movements to search for new knowledge. We also find that previously overlooked actors, namely, civil society, play a crucial role in the innovation process. Consequently, we suggest that science, technology and innovation policy implementation should better integrate local conditions and capabilities, and judiciously combine external and internal resources in rural actor networks.

Global Local Linkages in Contemporary Environmental Movements: Networking, Diffusion and Scale Shift in the Niyamgiri Movement of Odisha

Taking the tribal resistance against Vedanta Alumina at Niyamgiri Hills of Odisha in India as a case in point, the present article deciphers the nuances of contemporary environmental movements. It discusses the manner in which movements like Niyamgiri address global environmental issues with local environmental actions. It examines the issue of scale shift of environmental activism and the process in which a local struggle over livelihood and resource capture becomes a global environmental movement. It unravels the subtle negotiations that the local agents of the movement engage in with their global counterparts. The major arguments of the article are based on empirical research at the site of contestation with the help of qualitative methods. The article vividly narrates the emergence of the Niyamgiri movement from that of a localised struggle against land acquisition to that of a transnational movement raising serious ecological concerns, which bridges the gap between the local and global in contemporary environmental movements. It argues that rather than an emphasis on ‘locale’, the point of departure should be the movement’s ability to establish networks with related as well as non-related social movement organisations, who share similar concerns with nature, and are ready to be a part of the mobilisation process.

Dynamics or Dilemma: Assessing the Innovation Systems of Three Satellite Platform Regions (Singapore, Dublin and Penang)

ABSTRACT This study attempts to put forward a quantitative assessment via patent-based indexes to frame the innovation dynamics of three highly acknowledged Satellite Platform regions – Singapore, Dublin and Penang. A Satellite Platform is generally viewed as a comparatively less sticky region hosting the operations of many different uncooperative multinationals. They faced a common dilemma, namely non-committal of MNCs in defining a local structure to generate knowledge and innovation. Nonetheless, we observed diverse intervention from different local governments to pivot away from the dilemma and compensate for the lack of patient capital from multinational firms. Divergent paths in terms of inventiveness were observed. Singapore stands out as a region obtaining indigenous patenting capabilities – achieving higher localization, de-concentration, diversification and university-industry linkage indexes. On the other hand, Dublin emerged to derive an exploitative patenting route – witnessing higher science-based linkage indexes. Meanwhile, Penang – as a region that has been focusing on upskilling its blue-collar population – is relatively behind in performance for almost all patenting indexes compared to the other two. The framing and findings of this paper contribute to theorizing the divergence of interventions for knowledge-based economic development.

Tourism and poverty alleviation in Tibet, China: the role of government in enhancing local linkages

ABSTRACT This study analyses the formation mechanism, poverty alleviation effects of local linkages, and examines the different agencies involved in shaping linkages in the Tibet Autonomous Region to understand local linkages in pro-poor tourism. A local linkage analysis framework composed of forward and backward linkages is developed from a value chain perspective. Research findings revealed the key role of governmental intervention in promoting diverse linkages, primarily forward local linkages. These linkages enable residents to occupy an active position in the tourism value chain, with improved participation and income in the tourism industry with the eventual outcome of poverty alleviation.

Do developing countries gain by participating in global value chains? Evidence from India

Is it in the interest of a developing country to promote strong local linkages for domestic industries or to participate in global value chains (GVCs) wherein linkages are globally dispersed? This paper informs this debate by empirically analyzing which one of these strategies would result in higher levels of domestic value added (DVA) and employment in India. Using a unique panel data on DVA and jobs tied to Indian exports from 112 sectors for the period 1999–2000 to 2012–2013, we show that greater backward GVC participation—use of imported inputs to produce for exports—leads to higher absolute levels of gross exports, DVA and employment. This result implies that labor abundant countries can reap dividends by adopting policies aimed at strengthening their backward participation in GVCs. Our findings are robust to various estimation techniques and instrumental variable approaches to address potential endogeneity concerns.Supplementary InformationThe online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1007/s10290-021-00452-z.

Identification of Key Sectors in Nigeria – Evidence of Backward and Forward Linkages from Input-Output Analysis

The input-output table provides summary information on the industrial structure of an economy in a specific period. This table contains information on the flow of goods and services between industries and economic sectors. The backward and forward links are descriptive measures of the economic interdependence of sectors in terms of the volume of transactions. Sectors with strong backwards and forward linkages are vital sectors and play an essential role in a country’s development strategy. This paper aims to construct a symmetric input-output table for Nigeria and examine the Nigerian economy’s production structure by using the results applying traditional backward and forward linkage methods developed by Chenery-Watanabe and Rasmussen. Our study identifies the key sectors with backward and forward linkages as Crop and Animal production, Manufacture of Food products, Textiles, Refined petroleum products, Chemicals, Motor vehicles, Furniture, Machinery and equipment, Wholesale/retail trade, Land transport and Telecommunication. In addition, through the constructed symmetric input-output table, sector development can be further done in line with the relationship matrix, as it serves as a conduit for investment strategy, local linkage matrix and policy development. So, for the development strategy it is very important to determine which industries possess high backward and forward linkages, then stimulating final demand or primary inputs namely of these industries could positively influence the economic activity of the country. The results from this work may be used by policy makers in terms of which sectors of the economy stimulate (for example, by means of creating extra final demand, decreasing taxes, or with the help of subsiding) in order to gain better results in the sphere of economic development of Nigeria.

Corporate social responsibility and performances of firms operating in the tourism and hospitality industry

PurposeThe purpose of the study is to assess whether a relationship exists between corporate social responsibility (CSR) engagement and tour operators' performances.Design/methodology/approachA web survey was submitted to tour operators worldwide. A large sample of tour operators from different countries and continents participated in the survey. Principal component analysis was performed and a regression model was developed to analyze the relationship among variables.FindingsEmpirical evidence indicates that tour operators with high CSR engagement experienced a significantly higher short-term growth of profits and sales volume. Results also show that applying CSR principles, facilitating CSR values and fostering local economic linkages have a positive and significant influence on tour operators' performances.Practical implicationsTour operators should cultivate a sustainable corporate culture requiring a commitment to sustainability of the company and its suppliers. The findings contradict with the tendency of “enclavisation” of package tourists within self-sufficient tourism complexes and suggest that locals are part of the tourism place-product.Originality/valueThis research reviews the literature on the relationship between CSR and firms' performances in tourism and hospitality. The relevance of this study is its focus on tour operators, a context with a fundamental importance for the sustainability of the tourism industry worldwide. Tour operators are the players that mostly reflect the variety of sectors within the tourism industry, combining travel services such as accommodation, food, transports, entertainment and excursions. This is the first time that a study on the relationship between CSR and firms' performances has been developed on tour operators worldwide. The paper is based on the data collected through a survey on 201 companies from 42 countries from all continents.

Small Israeli peripheral businesses: spatial and ethnical embeddedness

The adoption of Neoliberal policies raises the question on whether small businesses in the Israeli Northern periphery are successful in breaking the barriers of peripherality and ethnicity in developing their businesses. It is argued that peripheries create heterogeneous ecosystems for entrepreneurs. In our research, the main division within the periphery is between Arab and Jewish entrepreneurs. We compare the strategies used by Arab and Jewish entrepreneurs to overcome these barriers. This study is based on a stratified and systematic sample of 192 Jewish and 76 Arab entrepreneurs. Participants were asked about their embeddedness in various business linkages. The results were analyzed on a planar order. From the results most small businesses are low-tech and locked in intra-ethnic and peripheral linkages. They rely mainly on local linkages of support and recruitment of labor. Arab entrepreneurs specialize in construction materials in the Arab market, and Jewish entrepreneurs mainly develop agro-food and tourism industries for the national markets. Arab entrepreneurs rely on bonding linkages in addition to their efforts to penetrate Jewish peripheral markets. Jewish entrepreneurs tend to bypass the less rewarding Arab market by focusing on Jewish peripheral markets in an effort to develop the larger markets at the core.

Special Issue Introduction: Thinking Through “Being in the COVID‐19 World” and Bright Spots for our Food Futures

Special Issue Introduction: Thinking Through “Being in the COVID‐19 World” and Bright Spots for our Food Futures

Complementary Currencies for Humanitarian Aid

The humanitarian sector has gone through a major shift toward injection of cash into vulnerable communities as its core modality. On this trajectory toward direct currency injection, something new has happened: namely the empowerment of communities to create their own local currencies, a tool known as Complementary Currency systems. This study mobilizes the concepts of endogenous regional development, import substitution and local market linkages as elaborated by Albert Hirschman and Jane Jacobs, to analyze the impact of a group of Complementary Currencies instituted by Grassroots Economics Foundation and the Red Cross in Kenya. The paper discusses humanitarian Cash and Voucher Assistance programs and compares them to a Complementary Currency system using Grassroots Economics as a case study. Transaction histories recorded on a blockchain and network visualizations show the ability of these Complementary Currencies to create diverse production capacity, dense local supply chains, and data for measuring the impact of humanitarian currency transfers. Since Complementary Currency systems prioritize both cooperation and localization, the paper argues that Complementary Currencies should become one of the tools in the Cash and Voucher Assistance toolbox.

Tunning the linkage of structure units to enable stable spinel-based cathode in the wide potential window

The low practical capacity (<140 mA h g −1 ) of spinel phase LiMn 2−x Ni x O 4 (0 < x < 1) excludes it from high energy density lithium ion batteries (LIBs) for powering electric vehicles. Extending the operating potential window from 3.0 to 4.8 V to 2.0–4.8 V can double the capacity, but result in fast capacity decay due to the drastic cubic-tetragonal phase transition below 3.0 V, induced by serious Jahn-Teller (J-T) distortion of structure units (Mn 3+ )O 6 octahedra. Herein, we propose a novel strategy to suppress J-T distortion by tuning the linkage of structure units MnO 6 octahedra. The original full-vertex-sharing LiO 4 tetrahedra around MnO 6 octahedra in spinel phase are partially replaced by edge-sharing LiO 6 octahedra, which relate Mn-O bonds along the dz 2 direction with those along the d xy plane, thus significantly mitigating J-T distortion and suppressing the phase transition when discharged to 2.0 V. Following this strategy, the prepared spinel-based cathode achieves a high reversible capacity of about 290 mA h g −1 and an energy density up to 957 W h kg −1 with improved cycling stability. This work finds a new opportunity for the traditional spinel cathode towards applications in high energy density LIBs in a low cost and sustainable manner. Tunning the linkage of structure units MnO 6 octahedra in spinel-based cathode from full-vertex-sharing mode to partial-edge-sharing mode, greatly restricts Jahn-Teller distortion when discharged below 3 V and delivers a high capacity with decent cycling stability, which makes spinel cathode potential to power electric vehicles. • The structural origin for the Jahn-Teller effect in spinel phase was revealed based on the linkage way of MnO 6 octahedra. • Through a spinel/layered complex strategy, the local structure linkage of MnO 6 octahedra was partially converted to edge-sharing. • The change in the local structure linkage greatly suppressed the Jahn-Teller distortion and improved the cycling stability.