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F. W. Taylor (1856–1915) is a seminal figure in the history of industrial society and a key reference point for the study of technology, work and the organization of production. This paper locates Taylor's work in the broad historical development of formal systems and ‘rational’ management. The paper notes the historical continuities that link the ‘technologies of control’ which emerged in US industry during Taylor's lifetime and those which appear in contemporary work organizations. This is counterpoised with recent comment on the information technology and the ‘end’ of Taylorist work practices. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Since the mid-1980s, along with the opening up of the Finnish economy, the pressure to commercialize university research has steadily increased in Finland. This is in line with the growing importance of innovations in an ever-globalizing world in which purely production-cost-based strategies are about to become obsolete. However, in comparison to other Nordic countries and Western European industrial countries, Finnish investments in research have fallen short in their ability to increase high-technology export levels (Kotiranta and Tahvanainen 2018). Moreover, Finnish academia faces challenges in creating university-based economic activity (Nikulainen and Tahvanainen 2013). In order to help to understand these challenges, this article examines the phenomenon within the context of an entrepreneurial ecosystem according to which various stakeholders are involved in the birth and development of university-based economic activity. As prior research has mainly taken a macrolevel view of the stakeholders involved, we aim at extending the extant research by adopting a qualitative, microlevel approach. More specifically, we provide a qualitative analysis of interviews with Finnish scientists, focusing on their experiences in stakeholder relations at the early stages of academic commercialization. Our article provides an overview of the different stakeholders and their involvement and exposes the opportunities and possible pitfalls taking place within these different stakeholder relations. We offer a critical examination of the current support mechanisms and propose ideas for how academic entrepreneurship in Finnish universities could be enhanced through closer stakeholder collaboration. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Date palm gardening economy has faced with many challenges in function, production, maintenance infrastructure, and marketing in the less developed countries, including Iran- which is the major producer of this product. Therefore, understanding the nature and relational dynamics that exist between actors is of great importance. Accordingly, this study aims to trace and construct a spatial relationships between human and nonhuman actors in the field of commercial ability of date palms to develop the functions of date palm economy in the Makkoran area. This research is conducted based on a mixed-methods (sequential strategy- variable) approach. The statistical population of the research consists of 17493 farmers and 32 agricultural experts. A purposive-probabilistic sampling method is used for sampling. For determining the sample size in the qualitative stage, the "adequacy of information" method, and the "representativeness" method based on the Cochran formula is employed in the quantitative stage. The type of analytical method used in the study is "Sequential Combinatorial Analysis" based on a sequential qualitative-quantitative strategy. Qualitative data is analyzed using "NVIVO" software, and quantitative one is analyzed using statistical methods in the SPSS software environment. Final analysis and inference of data are based on Latour's argument (1987) in the "translation" method. The findings of the study show that various spatial relationships between actors (human and inhuman) are established or developing. Based on these relationships, factors such as geographical location, climate, date palm, farmer, capital, target market, refrigerator, government, spatial distance, transportation technology are considered as the key and active actors in commercialization of date palm as they shape a broader and stronger network of actors with durable relationships. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]