Natural Resource-based Industries Research Articles

Latecomers’ technological catch-up dynamics in natural resource-based industries: Evidence from Iran’s oil & gas sector

This study sheds light on the catch-up dynamics in natural resource-based industries (NRBI) of developing countries considering learning modes, technological capability dimensions, catch-up strategies, and windows of opportunity. It provides a framework for examining the technological catch-up of latecomer Exploration & Production companies while emphasizing the nature of the industry and characteristics of lagging behind and under-sanction countries like Iran. The analytical framework has been examined by studying two Iranian oil companies. Findings show that latecomer E&P companies can take two distinct paths for technological catch-up, including increasing the depth of operational capability and upgrading the level of advanced capability.

Norwegian wood, isn't it good? Narratives of the lumber industry and development paths in the Nordic periphery

This paper discusses how and in what way different regional industrial development paths emerge through narratives about a natural resource-based industry in a peripheral region. The way in which industries are portrayed can shape how individuals or groups interpret the role of the industry, and thereby foster positive or negative attitudes towards it. We explore the dynamics in the traditional and slow-innovative lumber industry in Norway where digitalisation has recently ‘turned the table’ and contributed to upscaling and renewal of the production process. We identify heterogenic narratives among policy makers and within the industry itself. The pro-innovative narrative articulates a viable source of economic growth in the region and the industry as a key player in the bioeconomy, contrasted with a traditionalist view of the industry as containing low-skilled workers, low innovation performance and strong vulnerability towards extra-regional market changes. We argue that there are important reasons to concentrate on the role of narratives and discursive practices in regional development.

Perspectives on Rent Generation and Rent Appropriation in Fisheries

The article debates the origin of rent in natural-resource based industries (NRBIs) such as fisheries, and how the rent generated can be appro­priated. The Norwegian fish harvest­ing industry is used to illustrate the arguments. It is argued that the industry-specific institu­tional framework of the fish harvesting industry positively affects the compe­titive forces of the industry, and thereby its economic performance. Fishery management institu­tions create high barriers to entry for outside firms, and they dampen internal rivalry between incumbent firms. As a result, the opportunity to earn what this paper labels institutional rent arises. The article further argues that nature itself and how it is managed through, for example, harvesting rules, enables an NRBI to earn resource rent if the players get free or cheap access to the input factor, in this case fish. Finally, the article argues that it is stakeholders other than the harvesting companies that control both the institutional and resource rents, that is, the owners of the natural resource and the authorities who manage it as well as the industry-specific institu­tional framework. Nevertheless, neither the owners nor the authorities benefit from the industry-specific rent generated. The rent is appropriated by the capital owners and the crew onboard the boats in the form of above-normal profits and above-normal wages. Whether or not such a skewed rent distribution is considered fair and sustainable is a political issue.

Economic Cooperation Plan in the Natural Resource-Based Manufacturing Industry : Focusing on historical and genetic affinity

Economic Cooperation Plan in the Natural Resource-Based Manufacturing Industry : Focusing on historical and genetic affinity

Assessing geographic and industry-related trends in bladder cancer in Ontario: A population-based study.

Bladder cancer (BC) is the fifth most prevalent cancer in Canada, with 9000 Canadians diagnosed each year. While smoking is the most important risk factor, environmental and occupational carcinogens have been found to significantly contribute to BC rates. As Canada is highly reliant on natural resource industries, this study seeks to identify geographical and industry-related trends of BC rates in Ontario. The 1991 and 2001 Canadian Census Health and Environment Cohort (CanCHEC; Statistics Canada) was used, along with individual years of census data. Maps identifying hot and cold spots for BC within Ontario were generated, and the former were assessed for industry patterns between location and BC rates. Cox proportional hazards models were run for each age cohort to predict the likelihood of developing BC by industry of work. Significant geographical and industrial trends in BC rates were identified. For 1991-2001, hot spots included the Cochrane, Manitoulin, Parry Sound, and Sudbury (90% confidence interval [CI]), and Nipissing and Temiskaming (95% CI) regions. Toronto and York were cold spots. Concurrently, metal (p=0.039), paper and publishing (p=0.0062), and wood and furniture (p<0.0001) industries had increased rates of BC. Notably, these industries had high employment density in our hot spot areas and low density in our cold spots. Significant geographical and industrial BC trends were found in Northern Ontario regions reliant on heavy employment in natural resource-based industries, such as forestry, agriculture, and wood/paper. These findings may inform future screening guidelines and aid in identifying individuals at risk of BC development.

Ecological Sensemaking and the Attention-Based View for Farmers: What They Know

We extend the ecological sensemaking construct to outline the conceptual linkage between the Karl Weick’s sensemaking concept and William Ocasio’s Attention-Based View. We illustrate this linkage within the empirical domain of farms. Collecting interview data from 38 farmers, we present a thematic analysis to show that actors embedded in their local environment accurately make sense of ecological processes at the local level but may not have the attentional extent to make sense of planetary processes. This study synthesizes concepts in physical materiality, sociomateriality, technology, ecological sensemaking, geographical scale, attentional grain and attentional extent to explain the ontological and epistemological position of ecological sensemaking. We provide a method to unpack the enactment, selection and retention sensemaking micro-processes from which may be deployed in future studies of ecological sensemaking in natural resource-based industries. We discuss implications for actors working in any environment for which ecological material is ubiquitous and a key business input. We call for more research to bring forward ecological sensemaking as a process of organising.

Fishing for an institution-based first-mover advantage: The Norwegian snow crab case

When the first Norwegian commercial catch of snow crabs was taken in the Barents Sea in 2012, an unexpected opportunity arose to create a new, profitable natural resource-based industry. However, hidden under the surface were massive biological, technological, and institutional uncertainties. This study first explores what motivated the entrepreneurs to invest in an industry exposed to extreme uncertainty and which firm and vessel resources were necessary to operate. The findings uncovered that most of the entrepreneurs had already exited another fishery with a profit. Thus, they were looking for new attractive business opportunities where they could apply resources and capabilities already accumulated. Furthermore, this study asks if there have been any survival-threatening challenges so far in the industry. The findings show that increased competition and the Russians closing the Loophole dramatically changed the opportunities for profitable fishing. Finally, the study discusses whether the players have the potential to gain a sustained institution-based first-mover advantage (FMA), i.e., a gratis fishing quota. It is argued that the snow crab vessels have positioned themselves into a historical stream of events, which can, at best, give rise to a gratis institutional protection of a valuable natural resource. Thus, if the vessels are allocated free individual transferable quotas, they will secure a sustained FMA, as a similar event is unlikely to occur in the future. Finally, in the paper, findings and implications are discussed.

Studying Industrial Decarbonisation: Developing an Interdisciplinary Understanding of the Conditions for Transformation in Energy-Intensive Natural Resource-Based Industry

The ambition to keep global warming well below 2 °C above pre-industrial levels, as recognised in the Paris Agreement, implies a reorientation towards low-carbon societal development and, ultimately, the decarbonisation of human societies and economies. While climate policy has been geared towards achieving set emission reduction targets, the decarbonisation of key socioeconomic sectors such as energy-intensive natural resource-based industries (ENRIs) has not yet been sufficiently addressed, neither politically nor in science. Decarbonising the ENRIs is a complex societal problem that will require structural transformation technologically as well as socially. Understanding the conditions for transformative change therefore necessitates integrated knowledge from multiple perspectives of different research fields. In this paper, we examine the potential of combining three different research fields and critically scrutinize the challenges to integration for understanding the conditions for industrial decarbonisation: energy system analysis, sustainability transition research and policy studies. We argue that these perspectives are complementary—a fundamental condition for fruitful integration—but not easily compatible since they are sometimes based on different ontological assumptions. The research fields are in themselves heterogeneous, which poses additional challenges to an integrated research approach. Drawing on experiences from a Swedish research project (GIST2050) on industrial decarbonisation, we suggest a modest approach to integrated research that could progressively develop from multidisciplinary exchange towards more integrated forms of interdisciplinarity by means of cross-disciplinary dialogue and understanding.

How Natural Resource-Based Industry Affect Sustainable Development? An Evolutionary Study of China

The effects of natural resources on regional sustainable development is widely discussed by scholars and policymakers. However, most of the researchers concentrated on economic growth and technical development; evidence of how natural resources affect the soft environment is relatively lacking. Different from the neo-classical economics perspective of resource allocation, we used the evolutionary economics scope of factor creation and historical evolution to explore the effect on China’s regional entrepreneurship laid by the natural resource distribution on the early stage of China. The resource curse is explained from the aspect of regional entrepreneurship development in China. Based on the provincial panel data from China, in China’s industrial statistical yearbook and China’s statistical yearbook, we applied PLS-SEM (Partial Least Squares Structural Equation Model) to explore the path from natural resources to regional entrepreneurship. We also examined the mediating effect at the organizational scale, industry structure, the degree of regional openness, and the quality of human capital in the path between natural resource and entrepreneurship. The result shows that natural resources in the early-stage has negative effects on the growth of the entrepreneurship. Besides, industry structure and organizational scale are significant in terms of mediation effect in the path of the resource curse. An in-depth analysis is provided, and implications are discussed based on the results with the aim of revealing the mechanism and path-dependence of China’s regional development. The implications of this research include the suggestion of adapt the industry structure and motivate start-ups.

Effects on the manufacturing, utility and construction industries of decarbonization of the energy-intensive and natural resource-based industries

Decarbonizing the energy-intensive and natural resource-based industries is possible but may substantially increase the cost of production. Whether such cost increases will reduce economic welfare depends on how the downstream industries respond to the higher cost for intermediate goods. In this paper, we explore how downstream industries in the EU15 responded to upstream carbon technology shocks and prices shocks during the period 1998–2014. Our results show that downstream industries do not respond to technology shocks directly but that they do respond to price shocks. A 5 percent upstream price increase is followed by a 4 percent increase in capital investments, 3 percent increase in productivity and a 4 percent reduction in the carbon intensity among manufacturing industries. The utilities and construction industries respond primarily by increasing prices and reducing wages. Prices increase by approximately by 1 percent and real wages fall by approximately 2 percent following a five percent upstream price increase.

An Analysis of Input Substitution Elasticity in Natural Resource-Based Industry in Indonesia. The Application of CES Function

The proportion of resource-based industry groups in the industrial structure in Indonesia is 42.01%, yet its productivity is low because of its labor-intensive nature and limited capital, despite the direct contribution of the use of capital and labor to the creation of output. To optimize production, an input can be substituted by another input. However, it depends on the elasticity of substitution of the two inputs. The main objective of this research is to analyze the level of substitutability of inputs used in the natural resource-based industry group in Indonesia. Using the function of Constant Elasticity of Substitution (CES), the results of the study show that the substitutability level of capital and labor is inelastic, meaning that input substitution is relatively difficult. The results of this study imply that to increase its productivity, this industry group needs to strengthen the support from (government) policies to improve its workforce quality.

Strategic sources of superprofit in a well-regulated fishery

This study is motivated by the ongoing debate on resource rent taxation in Norwegian fisheries. Drawing on strategy literature, this paper argues that resource rent is just one of several conceivable sources of above-normal profit (superprofit) for a firm in a natural resource-based industry. The financial statements of almost the whole population of the Norwegian purse seine fleet were analyzed (61 firms owning 65 vessels) for a 5-year period and the level of superprofit for each company was calculated. The findings show that the average firm made modest superprofit in 4 out of 5 years. One reason is that the firms have received a large portion of their quota portfolios gratis. Another reason is that the competition arena is favorably protected through institutionalized barriers to entry. Moreover, the study reveals large profitability variations among seemingly similar firms. Different sources of superprofit were therefore investigated. It was found that the most profitable firms were the most risk adverse. They invested in neither large quota shares nor large catch capacities; as a result, their balance sheets were not debt loaded. The paper concludes by discussing policy implications and limitations of the findings.

Ecological and sociopolitical assessment of congressional and presidential designation of federal protected areas.

Protected areas are one of the most effective means by which biodiversity is conserved, but are often criticized for either neglecting the importance of local communities or sacrificing conservation objectives for political expedience. In the United States, federal protected areas can be designated via a democratic legislation process or via executive action, which allows for comparison of the ecological and sociopolitical context of these top-down and bottom-up processes. We compared protected areas resulting from congressional designation vs. presidential designation with respect to their ecological context (using measures of biodiversity and climate refugial potential) and sociopolitical context (using measures of local support for conservation and reliance on natural resource-based industries). We found minimal differences between these designation modes for both ecological and sociopolitical variables. These results suggest that presidentially designated protected areas tend to be no more burdensome to local communities and no less valuable for ecological conservation than more widely accepted federal protected areas such as national parks, and they provide new evidence to inform the current debate over national monuments.

Innovation in natural resource-based industries: a pathway to development? Introduction to special issue

ABSTRACTDespite growing academic attention to the relationship between economic development and natural resources in social sciences, the issue has received rather limited attention in the field of Innovation Studies. This is problematic given the centrality of innovation and technological change for growth and development. Against this background, this introductory article aims to make four contributions. First, to assess the extent to which Innovation Studies has analysed the link between natural resources and development. Second, based on recent studies of innovation in natural resource-based industries (NRBIs), we elaborate on and articulate an innovation and industry perspective on the relationship between natural resources and development. In this, we foreground the particularities of innovation in NRBIs. Third, we explore policy implications of the specificities of innovation in NRBIs. It matters greatly for design and choice of policy instruments in support of innovation and development whether and how innovation in NRBIs differ from innovation in other industries. Lastly, we introduce the papers constituting this special issue and propose avenues for further research.

Природно-ресурсные отрасли Дальнего Востока: новые факторы развития

Природно-ресурсные отрасли Дальнего Востока: новые факторы развития

Assessing Collaborative Policymaking Outcomes

Administrators and policymakers increasingly rely on collaborative policymaking groups to inform policy development. While this trend is observed in a wide array of policy domains, it is particularly common in the regulation of natural resource-based industries which requires the simultaneous consideration of an interrelated set of economic, technical, and social factors. In this article, we examine outcomes associated with collaborative policymaking groups involved in informing state aquaculture policy, referred to herein as aquaculture partnerships. We define outcomes here as consequences on relevant contextual conditions (social, political, and environmental) that follow from the work or design of collaborative processes. Using data collected through an online survey of partnership participants ( n = 123), we examine individual and procedural factors that significantly associate with partnerships’ positive or negative influence on a set of policy and social outcomes, as perceived by their participants. Overall, we find that participants’ ability to mobilize scientific and technical resources to achieve group objectives, perceptions of procedural fairness, and individual-level learning are all positively associated with partnership influence on policy and/or social outcomes. We conclude our article by highlighting the value of this research for both scholars and practitioners interested in better understanding collaborative group dynamics and outcomes relating thereto.

Natural resource-based industries and prostate cancer risk in Northeastern Ontario: a case–control study

ObjectiveProstate cancer continues to be the most commonly diagnosed cancer in men, and there is limited knowledge on its preventable risk factors. A number of occupational exposures in natural resource-based...

Development of Regional Production Areas in a Changing Climate: A Case Study of Gippsland, Australia

Increased global demand for agricultural production is being driven, in particular, by the rising middle class in the Asia-Pacific geo-region. The significant role of natural resource-based industries, especially agriculture, in the development of non-metropolitan regions is again being recognised. In this context, this article describes a spatial analysis approach to agricultural development based on the development of Production Areas (PAs) in regional/rural economies. PAs are spatial units within regions selected for the intensive sustainable development of agriculture (including forestry, agro-forestry and bio-energy), their associated activities and underpinning infrastructure. A case study in a resource-based region in Australia—Gippsland – explains the approach. This is informed by the eco-economy model of endogenous regional/rural development, which addresses the links between novel co-production and consumption networks. The methodology for the identification and analysis of PAs has, at its core, Land Suitability Analyses of those agricultural commodities currently cultivated in the region and those that could be grown in future climates. The use of GIS enables us to overlay and analyse several constraints (e.g. flood erosion and salinity risk) and resources (e.g. water and transport) to define PAs and the available land within each of them. The approach is further illustrated by focusing in one PA—Macalister, an irrigated dairy production area where recent dry climatic conditions caused a substantial decline in water resources. Key elements for the sustainable development of this PA are outlined including construction of Blue-Green Infrastructure. Comments on the approach and the need for strategic long-term planning concludes the article.

Natural resource privatisation in Sub-Saharan Africa and the challenges for inclusive green growth

In response to recent accumulation crises, the development community has begun to call for greater focus on ‘inclusive green growth’ (IGG). African governments have accordingly been encouraged to develop mechanisms to leverage private sector investments that are both inclusive of the poor and that contribute to the development of the green economy. Since natural resource endowment has long been the primary source of comparative advantage for most African economies, natural resource-based industries are typically prioritised for IGG. This article examines the structural institutional challenges of aligning existing natural resource management regimes with emergent IGG objectives. By showing how and why governments struggle to leverage the potential of investments in extractive industries and agriculture to contribute to IGG, this paper highlights that realising meaningful IGG in Africa requires strong developmental states willing to deviate from existing development trajectories. It is currently under-acknowledged by international development actors that this necessitates disruptive and transformative legal, institutional and economic reform.

Forestry Tour Educates Youth in North Central Idaho

The Clearwater County Sixth Grade Forestry Tour is a unique 3-day, 2-night program that provides participants an objective view of the importance and impact of natural resource-based industries while promoting an understanding of issues regarding natural resource uses. The targeted audience is 6th grade youth, but others interested in natural resources also attend. The tour is sponsored by monetary donations from the logging industry, businesses, and private individuals. Participants camp in the woods, tour the Clearwater Bioregion, and engage with natural resource professionals who use visual aids and hands-on educational approaches. Outcomes indicate a 32% increase in knowledge.