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Firms’ knowledge base is one of the key antecedents of firm innovation. While extant literatures identify diversification and depth of firms’ knowledge base as the important inputs of firm innovation, coherence of firms’ knowledge base reflecting the relatedness of knowledge base is largely neglected. This article goes a further step and points out that coherence of firms’ knowledge base will co-affect with diversification or depth of firms’ knowledge base to foster firm innovation, because it improves the efficiency of knowledge combination and integration. Moreover, degree centralization of industrial knowledge networks, as a characteristic of industrial knowledge base, moderates the abovementioned relationships by offering technological combination opportunities in the industry and helping firms break cognitive inertia. Based on patent data of 76 global firms from three-dimensional printing, information and communication technology, wind energy, and lithium battery industries during the period of 1993–2013, the analysis results show that coherence of firms’ knowledge base positively moderates the relationship between diversification of firms’ knowledge base and firm innovation. Furthermore, degree centralization of industrial knowledge networks, together with coherence of firms’ knowledge base, strengthens the positive relationship between knowledge diversification and firm innovation. Theoretical and practical suggestions about firms’ knowledge management were discussed.

The self-incompatibility locus (S-locus) of flowering plants displays a striking allelic diversity. How such a diversity has emerged remains unclear. In this paper, we performed numerical simulations in a finite island population genetics model to investigate how population subdivision affects the diversification process at a S-locus, given that the two-genes architecture typical of S-loci involves the crossing of a fitness valley. We show that population structure slightly reduces the parameter range allowing for the diversification of self-incompatibility haplotypes (S-haplotypes), but at the same time also increases the number of these haplotypes maintained in the whole metapopulation. This increase is partly due to a higher rate of diversification and replacement of S-haplotypes within and among demes. We also show that the two-genes architecture leads to a higher diversity in structured populations compared with a simpler genetic architecture where new S-haplotypes appear in a single mutation step. Overall, our results suggest that population subdivision can act in two opposite directions: it renders S-haplotypes diversification easier, although it also increases the risk that the self-incompatibility system is lost.

The deployment of monoculture software stacks can have devastating consequences because a single attack can compromise all of the vulnerable computers in cyberspace. This one-vulnerability-affects-all phenomenon will continue until after software stacks are diversified, which is well recognized by the research community. However, existing studies mainly focused on investigating the effectiveness of software diversity at the building-block level (e.g., whether two independent implementations indeed exhibit independent vulnerabilities); the effectiveness of enforcing network-wide software diversity is little understood, despite its importance in possibly helping justify investment in software diversification. As a first step towards ultimately tackling this problem, we propose a systematic framework for modeling and quantifying the cybersecurity effectiveness of network diversity, including a suite of cybersecurity metrics. We also present an agent-based simulation to empirically demonstrate the usefulness of the framework. We draw a number of insights, including the surprising result that proactive diversity is effective under very special circumstances, but reactive-adaptive diversity is much more effective in most cases.

The aim of this paper is to analyse the impact of land access and livelihood strategies of rural households to well-being of households ' implications to extension agents in Mnquma, Eastern Cape. A cross-sectional research design was utilised to collect data from 105 randomly selected households. Descriptive statistics was then used to profile livelihood strategies and characteristics such as age, gender, years of farm experience, the availability of water and land for crop production and the income farmers generate from the sale of crops produced. Multinomial logistic regression results demonstrated that land size and location have a positive significant influence (p = 0.001) on household well-being. It is concluded that though land size has a positive influence on well-being, expanding farms through adding plots and distant farming hinders the attainment of well-being. Moreover, households with large number of dependents and those working in exclusive farming are disadvantaged in the attainment of well-being. There is therefore room to enhance progress in attainment of well-being through reducing the distance to farms and promoting diversification of livelihood strategies. The Eastern Cape department of Agriculture and Rural Development is advised to support distant farmers with settlements in their destinations. Furthermore, extension agents do play a significant role in promoting livelihoods of rural households and contribute towards improved land access. Keywords: Land access, livelihood strategy, rural households, South Africa

The diversification of applicant pools constitutes an important step for broadening the participation of women and underrepresented minorities (URMs) in the workforce. The current study focuses on recruiting diverse applicant pools in an academic setting. We test strategies grounded in homophily theory to attract a diverse set of applicants for open faculty positions. Analysis of recruitment data (13,750 job applications) showed that women search committee chairs and greater percentages of women on search committees related to more women applicants and that URMs search chairs and a greater percentage of URM members on search committees related to more URM applicants, resulting in 23% more women applicant pools with a woman chair and over 100% more URM applicants for a URM chair. Furthermore, women and URMs actively engage in ways to reach out to a more diverse set of applicants, whereas men and non-URMs' behavior maintains the status quo. We discuss the implications and advancement of homophily theory that can ultimately increase the representation of women and URM in the workforce. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2022 APA, all rights reserved).

The modern day food industries are part of a complex agri-food supply chain, where food production has become efficient, yet potentially vulnerable to supply chain risks. The COVID-19 pandemic is a testament to that end. This article measures and identifies the U.S. food manufacturing industries' vulnerability to upstream industries and labor occupations by (i) calculating a food industry's diversification of intermediate input purchases across upstream industries, (ii) quantifying the relative exposure of food manufacturing in a given industry and location to upstream input suppliers and labor occupations, and (iii) estimating each food industry's gross output elasticity of inputs. Among our results, we find the evidence that the animal processing industry's output is relatively vulnerable to production labor which is consistent with the observed disruptions to the meat packing sector during COVID19, which were largely caused by labor issues. Our results may help academics and practitioners to understand food industries' vulnerabilities to upstream industries and labor occupations.

Many financial hubs around the world have used regulatory sandboxes as a tool to support and promote innovation in financial technology. Sandboxes can manage and control risks without stifling innovation. In recent years, the Arab Gulf States (Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Oman, Bahrain and United Arab Emirates) have introduced (or are introducing) regulatory sandboxes to, among other things, support economic diversification efforts through the promotion of financial technology. These jurisdiction-specific sandboxes are emerging at a time when other international hubs and global networks are already establishing regional and cross-border sandbox platforms. Given the cultural and economic similarities between Gulf States, a regional sandbox may be the ostensible logical progression. Beyond this vision, however, policymakers must first address and overcome several serious obstacles. Geopolitical realities and the sensitives around data sharing (particularly in a financial context) constitute some of the most critical challenges mitigating against a single sandbox policy. Rightly calibrated, a regional sandbox may encourage both a flourishing of the fintech sector in the region, and mending ties between Gulf States.

The purpose of this paper is to address the hypotheses of complete urbanization and the post urban world with an emphasis on the agricultural sector. The paper studies spatial and temporal changes in land-use and agricultural activities in one rapidly growing metropolitan region, the Stockholm region. We explore the number and size of agricultural firms, changes in their main activity and trends of diversification and land prices for various types of land and location, all in a disaggregated spatial dimension. The results contribute to a deeper understanding of agriculture's function in metropolitan regions and shed new light on the possibilities of the agricultural sector to transform in a world where the traditional urban-rural relations are ceasing to exist.

Purpose The purpose of this study is to explore the effect of economic complexity on services export diversification. This study has been built on two arguments. The first one draws from Eichengreen and Gupta (2013b) and states that countries that export complex products would have a high penetration in the international goods market and establish a network that could be exploited to expand their range of services export items. Second, by inducing higher inflows of foreign direct investment (FDI), greater economic complexity could contribute to fostering services export diversification. Design/methodology/approach The empirical analysis uses a panel data set of 109 countries (both developed and developing countries) over the period of 1985–2014, and in particular, non-overlapping sub-periods of five-year average data. Building on the two-step system Generalized Method of Moments, the empirical analysis has provided support for the above-mentioned two theoretical hypotheses. Findings The findings indicate that greater economic complexity has been associated with a higher level of services export diversification, and the magnitude of this positive effect is higher for high-income countries than for developing countries. Furthermore, the share of FDI inflows (in percentage of gross domestic product) matters for the effect of economic complexity on services export diversification. Specially, economic complexity exerts a higher positive effect on services export diversification, as the share of net FDI inflows in gross domestic product increases. Research limitations/implications From a policy perspective, the analysis complements previous works on the effects of economic complexity (e.g. on economic growth, income inequality, poverty, etc.), by showing that economic complexity also matters for fostering the diversification of countries' services export items. Enhancing economic complexity should be at the heart of policymakers' agenda, both at the national and international levels, given its strong positive effect on macroeconomic aggregates, including on services export diversification, the latter being also an important engine for economic growth (Anand et al., 2012; Gnangnon, 2021a; Mishra et al., 2011; Stojkoski et al., 2016). Practical implications This study opens an avenue for future research on whether services export diversification influences economic complexity. One avenue for future research could also be to explore the effect of comparative advantage on goods and services (using the Balassa's revealed comparative advantage index) on services export diversification. Future works could also examine how economic complexity affects different categories of services sectors, including traditional services and modern services. Originality/value To the best of the author’s knowledge, this study is the first to address this topic in the literature.

This study seeks to understand how environmental, social, and corporate governance (ESG) affects business performance and the diversification effect of cross-border mergers and acquisitions (M&A) by examining 129 events on cross-border M&A in the Korean Stock Price Index (KOSPI) market representing emerging capital markets between 2012 and 2018 in 38 target countries. The findings indicate that better ESG engagement has a positive effect on the business performance of cross-border M&A, supporting stakeholder theory and confirming that ESG can serve as a strategy for boosting business efficiency in cross-border M&A. The findings also confirm that diversification in cross-border M&A leads to a diversification discount on business performance, negatively affecting acquiring firms, but that ESG engagement can mitigate the diversification discount as a friendly channel. The study's main contribution is providing empirical evidence that ESG can serve as a friendly channel through which to address the diversification discount issue.

This paper investigates empirically the effect of export diversification (i.e., both export product diversification and services export diversification) on financial openness, using a sample of 119 countries (including both developed and developing countries) over the period 1985-2014. Based on the Blundell and Bond's two-step system Generalized Methods of Moments, the analysis has revealed that both export product diversification and services export diversification influence positively financial openness. However, this outcome hides differentiated effects across countries in the full sample. Specially, countries with a very high real per capita income experience a positive effect of export concentration on financial openness, while for countries with a relatively lower per capita income, it is rather export diversification that drives positively financial openness. Interestingly, the effect of export diversification on financial openness depends on the size of external shocks that affect domestic economies, as well as countries' economic growth performance. Overall, these findings add to the empirical literature on the effect of international trade on financial openness by showing that both export product diversification and services export diversification matter for financial openness.

Catastrophic risks caused severe affects on agricultural production particularly in developing countries due to consecutive occurrence of unfavorable climate events. Farmers adopt risk management strategies to minimize marketing, production and financial risks in agriculture. The purpose of this study is to investigate the potential association and implementing synchronized agricultural credit and diversification adoption to catastrophic risk manage for wheat production in Punjab, Pakistan. This study used stratified random sampling technique for collecting data of 480 wheat farmers’ respondents from production based categorized six districts of Punjab Pakistan. Multinomial and bivariate probit regression models were used in the study to examine the effects of farm and social feathers, disastrous risks farmers view and their attitude to sources of risk moreover potential relationship in agricultural credit and diversification as risk management strategy. Estimates of the study indicated the association in risk management strategies adoption while adopting single risk management strategy motivates farmers to adopt another strategy at same time. Furthermore, findings also indicated as farmer schooling, age, family return, ownership of land, farm size and farmer risk oppose character were highlighted the most influenced features for adopting various risk management strategies. Policy makers and state based authorities can be assisted by the accumulated information of multinomial and bivariate probit regression models in evaluating plans of risk management and willingness of farmer in accept government supported risk managing strategies in incidence of traditional practices for managing farmhouse risk.

South Africa power system has undergone several power reforms from the pre-apartheid to post-apartheid era under various administrations in a bid to meet the increasing energy demand of its populace. Her enormous available renewable energy sources give hope for a revolutionized power sector with minimal environmental pollution. This research will therefore review the energy transition phases of South Africa power sector from the pre-apartheid to post-apartheid era, highlighting the various strides made by South African government towards the realization of a dominant renewable energy sourced grid. Furthermore, performance evaluation of the renewable energy driven programmes and its impact in promoting renewable energy sourced grid will be carried out based on five key performance metrics which are energy accessibility, energy diversification and enhancement, energy governance, environmental impact, and economic impact. In addition, the prevailing challenges of the South Africa energy system is highlighted, while a proposed model towards achieving a dominant renewable energy sourced grid is put forward.

This study examines how diversification in Indian business groups creates multiple forms of agency problems and has performance implications for group-affiliated firms. Departing from prior literature which emphasizes the principal–principal agency conflict in business groups, we argue that business group diversification leads to dual agency problems between controlling and minority shareholders (principal–principal) and shareholders and managers (principal–agent) in affiliated firms. Both these agency problems arise in diversified business groups through cross-subsidization of affiliated firms by inefficient capital investment, continuing presence of affiliated firms in declining industries, tunneling of resources from profitable affiliated firms, lack of attention by business group headquarters to affiliated firms, and affiliated firm managers' sense of perceived security, which negatively impacts affiliated firms’ performance. These agency issues are reduced with the increase in product market competition from exposure to international markets and through concentrated promoter ownership in the affiliated firms. Our hypothesized model finds empirical support in a sample of 828 business group–affiliated firms in India.

This article offers a framework for critically examining the structures, policies, norms, practices, and values that shape the Urology Match as a foundation for interventions to improve diversity, equity, inclusion, and justice in the workforce. Points of leverage for transformational change in the urology workforce diversification include modifying the structure of the urology application process, optimizing reviewer factors, addressing Under-Represented in Medicine applicant experience, providing resources to applicants, and evaluating selection criteria. To achieve an inclusive diverse urology workforce, we must change policy and practice, expand what we include in the norm, which will translate into increased value ascribed to a more varied cohort of applicants, leading to the establishment of structures that accommodate true diversity.

This paper investigates the relationship between trade openness and labor productivity by accounting for the level of openness and the structure of exports in 61 developing countries over 1999-2018. Using panel vector autoregressive and Granger causality tests, we provide new evidence on the trade-productivity literature. We show that the trade-led productivity hypothesis does not hold for all countries, and only countries with higher levels of openness display essential productivity gains. We provide evidence for both export-led productivity and productivity-driven export hypotheses in our analysis. It is also evidenced that productivity gains can make domestic market production more efficient by reducing imports and improving the structure of exports. Following the prediction of the Dutch Disease phenomenon, we demonstrate that dependence on primary commodity exports is associated with lower labor productivity. Finally, we find that commodity-based economies should improve the overall labor productivity of their economies to accelerate economic diversification.

There are approximately 700 obligate biotrophic species grouped into 20 genera (Oomycota, Peronosporaceae) that cause downy mildew diseases. In 2001, Dick hypothesized that diversification of downy mildew species was driven in part by host plant secondary metabolites. Dick further speculated that this was driven by the transition of host plants away from mycorrhizal associations or the evolution of C4 photosynthesis. Specifically, loss of mycorrhizal associations or the use of C4 photosynthesis would result in more free carbon that the plants could then use to produce more secondary metabolites. If true, then there should be more downy mildew species that infect hosts from plant lineages that lack mycorrhizal associations or use C4 photosynthesis. However, analysis of 677 downy mildew species for host plant mycorrhizal associations and host plant photosynthetic pathway type shows that this is not what occurred. Seventy percent of downy mildew species parasitize hosts that form mycorrhizal associations, and 94% of downy mildew species parasitize hosts that use C3 photosynthesis. From this, it is concluded that the diversification of downy mildew species was not driven by the loss of mycorrhizal associations or the evolution of C4 photosynthesis. However, 85% of downy mildew species that parasitize Poaceae (grasses) parasitize C4 hosts. Thus, it is possible that C4 photosynthesis plays a role in the diversification of these genera. [Formula: see text] The author(s) have dedicated the work to the public domain under the Creative Commons CC0 “No Rights Reserved” license by waiving all of his or her rights to the work worldwide under copyright law, including all related and neighboring rights, to the extent allowed by law, 2022.

Numerous studies have examined the impact of international diversification on firm performance. However, the literature is characterised by inconsistent findings, suggesting the need for a quantitative review and synthesis of the hypothesised relationships. Using a sample of 263 effect sizes from 187 primary studies between 1974 and 2021, we conduct a meta-analysis to test the relationship between international diversification and firm performance, and the moderating effect of product diversification. The results of our meta-analysis indicate that the relationship between international diversification and firm performance is non-linear inverted U-shaped. Furthermore, we find that performance is higher in firms with low/related product diversity and lower in firms with high/unrelated product diversity, suggesting that the dual-diversification strategy is detrimental to firm performance. Although there is no significant difference in the performance of firms from advanced and emerging economies, the results highlight the importance of intangible assets for diversified firms.

Digital innovations provide mature organizations with opportunities to grow beyond their core industry and thereby compete with formerly tangentially related firms. In this research, we examine how mature organizations generate a competitive advantage when diversifying beyond their native industry. We address this question, withing the context of mature professional sport organizations that are affiliating with esports – organized video game competitions. Esports exemplify the growing number of digital innovations influencing the way organizations operate. Our study adds to existing knowledge by demonstrating how resources initially developed to compete with intra-industry organizations may transform into sources of competitive advantage when entering inter-industry competition. Drawing on strategic management perspectives based on the resource-based view (RBV) and knowledge-based view (KBV), we found that the experience-based tacit knowledge embedded in a firm (and its human capital) generates competitive advantage in these new industries. However, this knowledge is only as valuable as the versatility of the resources guiding its use. Our findings indicate that a firm’s versatile resources, when coupled with its knowledge, are the basis for generating a competitive advantage. Thus, as mature organizations diversify, they stand to benefit from identifying the versatile resources developed in their native competitive environment that represent strategic resources when challenging new competitors and using said resources in tandem with their knowledge-based competencies.

Kuningan Regency is the area that has potential in agriculture. One of the leading commodities in Kuningan Regency is sweet potato (Ipomea batatas L). Sweet potato cultivation continues to be developed, even in Cilimus District, it is known as one of the productive production centers in the West Java region which provides sweet potato supplies to several areas to supply sweet potato needs in the West Java region. The problems are faced by farmers today including the increasingly erratic price of sweet potatoes, lack of market opportunities, product diversification, and mastery of cultivation technology. This service activity was carried out in Cilimus Village, Cilimus District, Kuningan Regency with partners of sweet potato farmers. The purpose of this assistance is to provide supply chain assistance for sweet potato marketing so that farmers are able to continuously market sweet potatoes above the production price. Mentoring activities were started from identification of sweet potato problems at the farmer level, identification of production and identification of markets. The using of method is interactive discussion and market mapping conducted together with farmers. Focus Group Discussion (FGD) was used to confirm the cultivation system, production, and marketing system of sweet potato. The result of this activity is that farmers know the marketing potential of sweet potatoes other than middlemen and the quality criteria of sweet potatoes according to industry demand. In addition, farmers also use sweet potatoes as animal feed.

Against the background of fundamentally changing political and social requirements of agricultural production, the requirement profile of farmers has changed. The future of agriculture is widely discussed. To prepare a ground for future debates and policy programme design, it is essential to obtain an understanding of which values underlie the behaviour of farmers. This paper applies Schwartz's value theory to a large quantitative survey (N = 787) of German farmers. In addition to the overall value portrait, different value portraits within the sample of farmers are analysed. Farmers of the sample first and foremost prioritise self-transcendence values followed by openness to change. Conservation and self-enhancement are ranked to be less important within the value priorities of farmers. Furthermore, three different value portraits are identifiable within the sample. These groups differ significantly in their risk attitude and involvement in structural diversification. Implications for agricultural policy design and agricultural management are derived from the results.

La evolución del mercado del arte y su consiguiente modelo de negocio ha generado importantes revalorizaciones en los bienes artísticos y de colección, confiriendo al arte un fuerte valor financiero y de inversión. Esta tendencia fomenta la globalización del mercado, que pasa a ser visto como una fuente de diversificación financiera, requiriendo de una mayor organización en la compraventa de estos bienes. Por ello, las iniciativas inversoras de las SICAV de los fondos de inversión en arte, así como nuevos modelos de inversión aupados por el desarrollo tecnológico, pronostican nuevos drivers y diversos escenarios, todo ello redibujado por la irrupción de la COVID-19 y sus repercusiones en años venideros.

Evolution has led to an incredible diversification of life on Earth. This article summarizes our current understanding of the evolution of biodiversity and discusses how the evolution of biodiversity influences communities, both past and present. The influence of evolution on integrated communities of diverse taxa and the likely changes that will take place in the near future certainly rank among the great frontiers facing students of biodiversity as we watch the profound test of the resilience of Earth’s ecosystems to the enterprise of human activities.

Australia's post-war programme of mass immigration has been accompanied by growing ethnic and racial diversity. This process of diversification accelerated markedly from the 1970s onwards after the abandonment of the White Australia Policy in the 1960s. Despite this diversification, Australia has been able to sustain itself as a peaceful liberal democracy. It is the contention of this article that Australia's policies of multiculturalism have played an important role in contributing to this state of relative peacefulness. This article seeks to assemble some evidence from the Australian experience to ‘test’ the notion that the peacefulness of Australian society may, in some measure, be understood as a product of the contribution of its policies of multiculturalism to engendering and reinforcing those very virtues which liberal democracies require in order to sustain themselves over time.

Ministry of Industry assesses that the processing industry is still consistently contributing the most to the achievement of export value national. There are manufacturing industry sectors that have achieved low scores on the contribution of export value. Namely the apparel industry, wood industry, and industrial furniture. There are obstacles and problems for the three industries to increase export value. The problem is the low competitiveness of the three industries in exporting. This study aims to analyze and see the condition of the competitiveness of the Small and Medium Creative Industry in the KI Jakarta based on exports from the supply-side analysis. This research is qualitative research using interview and survey methods. The samples of this research were Furniture / Furniture IKM, Batik IKM, and Handicraft IKM which succeeded in contributing the export contribution value to IKM. The results of this study indicate that the conditions of the three creative SMIs in Jakarta have different capabilities and strategies in contributing to export value. Based on the results of the SWOT and SPACE matrix analysis, a special strategy is needed to increase competitiveness. Among them, the right strategies are Furniture IKM and Handicraft IKM located in the quadrant size “aggressive” which indicates that the Furniture IKM in DKI Jakarta is in a very good position in using its internal strength. Therefore, the strategies suitable for use by IKM Furniture in DKI Jakarta include market penetration strategy, market development, product development, backward integration, forward integration, horizontal integration, or diversification. Meanwhile, IKM Batik is in the quadrant position “Conservative” which indicates that IKM Batik is in a low or weak competitive position and must improve the company's strategic position to have strong competitiveness

Food security is an issue of critical importance for GCC countries. The share of domestic agricultural production remains low, because water supplies and arable land are an extremely scarce resource in the region. These countries currently import most of what they consume and will continue to do so, since national food production is not a viable option. The study reveals the specific characteristics of the food problem of GCC countries and the ways to solve it, which can be used to ensure more optimal food imports. Special attention is paid to investment projects in the food sector of the GCC countries.

This study identifies the potential of tourism products in Sukajadi Village Bogor Regency based on ten (10) tourism components as well as its development strategy, which is currently included in the category of a newly developing tourist village. The results of this research are aggressive and serious development strategies in all aspects of the tourism component, namely increasing the quality and diversification of tourist attractions and activities, accessibility, improving the quality and quantity of tourism amenities, improving the quality of human resources & institutions, community support, land use, tourism industry cooperation, as well as marketing aspects. This research type is a descriptive qualitative with a case study exploratory approach. Primary data is obtained from direct observation and interviews with key informants, namely Pokdarwis and the Village Head, while secondary data is the result of literature studies and research documentation. The analysis technique of this research uses SWOT analysis and Matrix, analysis of the work program of the vision for tourism development of the Bogor Regency Government which refers to local government master plan for tourism development (RIPPARDA), and also analysis of the Cleanlines, Health, Safety and Environmental Sustainability (CHSE) guidelines.

PurposeThe COVID-19 pandemic and the subsequent lockdown have hit the food service industry very hard. The COVID-19 outbreak has created a sharp downturn for firms in the food service industry, compelling actors across the whole food service supply chain to rethink their strategies. The purpose of this paper is to document the impact of COVID-19 on the food service supply chain, as well as to identify crisis management strategies food service firms use during the hectic early phase of the COVID-19 pandemic to survive the current and prepare for future pandemics.Design/methodology/approachWe performed a qualitative descriptive study using 21 semi-structured interviews with actors across the food service supply chain (i.e. farmers, wholesalers and food service providers). Data were collected to shed light on food service firms' decision making during the hectic early phase of the COVID-19 pandemic to uncover various crisis management strategies used.FindingsBy integrating the disaster and crisis pyramid and resilience theory, four core crisis management strategies to respond to the COVID-19 pandemic are conceptualized, i.e. (1) managing resources, (2) diversifying strategically, (3) prioritizing long-term outcomes and (4) bonding socially.Originality/valueThe theoretical contributions include documenting the performance impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the food service supply chain and exploring crisis management strategies food service firms employed during the hectic early phase of the COVID-19 pandemic. Thus, functioning and survival during a pandemic, an emerging field in literature, are central to this study. Additionally, while recent research suggests that integrating crisis management and resilience literature may provide a more complete understanding of the organization–crisis relationship, these literature streams mainly developed in isolation. By integrating the literature streams of crisis management and resilience and applying these theories to the COVID-19 crisis, our study provides specific managerial guidelines.

Subject area Entrepreneurship, Small Business, Small-scale Dairy Farmers Study level/applicability This case is appropriate for undergraduate final year/senior as well as graduate-level programme students. Case overview This case explores the life of Saravanan, a small-scale dairy farmer in Malaysia. He inherited the business from his father. Small-scale farmers in Malaysia own farms with 30 (or fewer) milking cows. Over the years, milk consumption had been on the rise, but production was less than promising. Besides low-quality milk, Saravanan often experienced issues of low milk yield. Selling fresh milk as his only source of income and the milk collection centre as his sole marketing channel, Saravanan was caught in a financially tight situation when product diversification and marketing initiatives were limited. Saravanan’s problems began with rejected fresh milk, which landed him with zero income for the day. This issue was detected when the authorities identified a few contaminated batches of milk during a site visit. The problem compounded when Saravanan had to settle three months’ debt with the feed supplier on the same day. Saravanan’s predicament echoed the plight faced by small-scale farmers in Malaysia. After managing the farm for more than 30 years, Saravanan had plans to pass it to his son, Mugunthan. However, doubts about the sustainability of the business remained. Would Mugunthan suffer the same dire fate? Would he be able to find a way out? Based on the problem-solving framework, the case attempts to identify and assess the problems faced by small-scale dairy farmers in Malaysia, and at the same time, to suggest solutions that will ensure the sustainability of their business. Expected learning outcomes After attempting the case, students should learn to empathise with the hardship small-scale dairy farmers endure in the pursuit of their businesses, analyse issues and determine the root causes of the problems faced by small-scale dairy farmers in Malaysia based on the problem-solving framework, generate and justify sustainable solutions to solve the problems faced by these dairy farmers and present the case, discuss and work in teams, and critically offer sustainable solutions based on framework and theories. Supplementary materials Teaching notes are available for educators only. Subject code CSS 3: Entrepreneurship.

Hybridization and resulting introgression can play both a destructive and a creative role in the evolution of diversity. Thus, characterizing when and where introgression is most likely to occur can help us understand the causes of diversification dynamics. Here, we examine the prevalence of and variation in introgression using phylogenomic data from a large (1300+ species), geographically widespread avian group, the suboscine birds. We first examine patterns of gene tree discordance across the geographic distribution of the entire clade. We then evaluate the signal of introgression in a subset of 206 species triads using Patterson's D-statistic and test for associations between introgression signal and evolutionary, geographic, and environmental variables. We find that gene tree discordance varies across lineages and geographic regions. The signal of introgression is highest in cases where species occur in close geographic proximity and in regions with more dynamic climates since the Pleistocene. Our results highlight the potential of phylogenomic datasets for examining broad patterns of hybridization and suggest that the degree of introgression between diverging lineages might be predictable based on the setting in which they occur.

There is extensive research on smallholder farmers’ strategies to minimize the effects of extreme weather on their production. This research has proved crucial in revealing opportunities to adapt small farms to future climate change. However, it is common for this type of work to focus exclusively on successful strategies, framing adaptation as always positive, and thus missing the broader range of farmers’ cultivation practices and the factors that shape them. In this paper we ask: what can be revealed by examining practices that elevate—rather than reduce—the risk of crop failure amid unfavorable weather? This question is explored through an empirical case study of the Mixteca Alta, in southern Mexico, where the climate is becoming increasingly hostile to farming. Based on a qualitative research approach, we analyze whether and how a higher incidence of crop failure may be explained by changes in the way farmers cultivate, and why farmers may neglect the climatic risks that those changes entail. Our study finds that current management of cropping systems in the Mixteca has substituted resilient with sensitive components, and rendered these systems more rigid overall against erratic weather conditions. Adverse market and institutional conditions to farm and an accompanying process of livelihood diversification were identified as underlying drivers of the adoption of maladaptive agricultural practices. Our findings thus ascribe maladaptation to the trade-offs that smallholders must negotiate when confronted with multiple threats to their livelihoods. Identifying these trade-offs is key to informing policy and practice on how to enhance resiliency of cropping systems against climate change.

Micro‐ and macroparasites are a leading cause of mortality for humans, animals, and plants, and there is great need to understand their origins, transmission dynamics, and impacts. Disease ecology formed as an interdisciplinary field in the 1970s to fill this need and has recently rapidly grown in size and influence. Because interdisciplinary fields integrate diverse scientific expertise and training experiences, understanding their composition and research priorities is often difficult. Here, for the first time, we quantify the composition and educational experiences of a subset of disease ecology practitioners and identify topical trends in published research. We combined a large survey of self‐declared disease ecologists with a literature synthesis involving machine‐learning topic detection of over 18,500 disease ecology research articles. The number of graduate degrees earned by disease ecology practitioners has grown dramatically since the early 2000s. Similar to other science fields, we show that practitioners in disease ecology have diversified in the last decade in terms of gender identity and institution, with weaker diversification in race and ethnicity. Topic detection analysis revealed how the frequency of publications on certain topics has declined (e.g., HIV, serology), increased (e.g., the dilution effect, infectious disease in bats), remained relatively common (e.g., malaria ecology, influenza, vaccine research and development), or have consistently remained relatively infrequent (e.g., theoretical models, field experiments). Other topics, such as climate change, superspreading, emerging infectious diseases, and network analyses, have recently come to prominence. This study helps identify the major themes of disease ecology and demonstrates how publication frequency corresponds to emergent health and environmental threats. More broadly, our approach provides a framework to examine the composition and publication trends of other major research fields that cross traditional disciplinary boundaries., Here, we describe the composition and research trends in the growing field of disease ecology using a large survey and powerful literature synthesis. Disease ecology practitioners are more diverse in terms of gender, but less so in terms of race and ethnicity and country of research. Research trends have followed global disease events (e.g., SARS), with some foci increasing in publication frequency (e.g., the dilution effect, superspreading), some decreasing (e.g., HIV), and some remaining stable and prominent (e.g., influenza, malaria).

The currently used methods of optimizing the management of diversification activities are insufficiently theoretically substantiated. The available tools for this optimization do not allow quantitatively taking into account many factors affecting this process in today's difficult economic conditions, which gives rise to many problems. Among them, an important and still unsolved problem is a scientifically grounded quantitative assessment of risks for the implementation of diversification measures. It is especially relevant now for the enterprises of the military-industrial complex. The authors propose an approach to the study of the theoretical foundations of optimization of production diversification management as a form of systemic transformation of enterprises and a new toolkit for solving the problem under consideration based on the use of the expert assessment method and economic and mathematical modeling of risk analysis of diversification measures. Significance of the research is determined by the need to optimize the management of production diversification at the enterprises of the military-industrial complex.

The criteria for pluricentric languages, generalized by the Working Group on NonDominant Varieties of Pluricentric Languages (WGNDV), as well as our earlier condition of tightness, opacity, incomprehensibility of Kazakh Russian were used to discuss the possibility of its gradual formation. Two main conclusions were made: a) the Russian language of the post-Soviet space currently meets the criteria for pluricentric languages; b) the Russian language in Kazakhstan is going through rapid and noticeable diversification processes. The arguments of Kazakhstani linguists who assert (B.Kh. Khasanov, E.A. Zhuravleva, D.D. Shaibakova, etc.) or deny (Z.K. Sabitova, A.K. Kazkenova, etc.) the qualifications of the Russian language as variant in Kazakhstan - a country of long-term and massive Kazakh-Russian bilingualism. Generations of Russian speakers (monolinguals - ethnic Russians, Koreans, Ukrainians and others and bilinguals - Kazakhs, Uzbeks, Uighurs and others) with a dominant Russian or a dominant ethnic language - are involved in the processes of Soviet Russification and modern Kazakhization with different effects. Nowadays the diversification of the Russian language in Kazakhstan is taking place against the background of a fundamental change in the status and functional state of the Kazakh and Russian languages; reducing the number of native Russian speakers; fundamental changes in Kazakh-Russian bilingualism, reflected in the crisis of the linguistic identity of a part of Kazakhstanis, in a linguistic shift towards the Russian language (Koreans, part of Kazakhs, Ukrainians, small ethnic groups, etc.) and a turn of the linguistic shift of Kazakhs; strengthening the position of the Kazakh language in business, culture, education, mass media, interethnic communication; the changed vector of influence of languages (Kazakh Russian) and the openness of the Russian language for oral and written borrowings, especially in media texts; finally, new communication needs of Kazakhstanis. The long-term linguistic and cultural borderland, which forms the internalized conceptual-mental picture of the world inherent in Kazakhstanis, has become a fundamental factor stimulating the diversification processes of the Russian language in Kazakhstan.

In its early days, the geodata and mapping project OpenStreetMap (OSM) was widely celebrated for opening up and “democratizing” the production of geographic knowledge. However, critical research highlights that the new socio-technical practices of collaborative mapping often also produce or reproduce patterns of exclusion, not least in the area of relative data density between the Global South and North. These findings notwithstanding, we consider it important to acknowledge the increasing number of contributions of geodata from regions outside the old European core of OSM. This expansion of geodata production in OSM is related to a diversification of OSM actors and socio-technical practices. While OSM has often been described as a crowd-based project bringing together thousands of individual craft mappers, our analysis of OSM metadata indicates new institutional actors are gaining relevance. These developments have not only resulted in new collaborations but also conflicts between local mapping communities and institutional actors. We interpret these processes in two ways. First, the expansion of mapping activities can be viewed as a decolonizing process, whereby quantitative differences in data density between the Global North and South are partly reduced and new groups of local mappers are empowered to produce geographic knowledge. Second, these new developments can also be understood as colonizing processes. The engagement of large commercial actors in OSM raises concerns that the project (and its local mappers) could be used as a new means of data extraction and that in particular new and diverse voices in the OSM community are marginalized by a fixation on economically exploitable, modernistic and universalistic epistemologies. However, this supposedly clear distinction should not obscure the fact that colonizing and decolonizing processes intertwine in complex ways.

Market gardening constitutes a basis for food security of urban and peri-urban households. However, market gardening is subject to the use of chemical inputs, selected varieties, and genetically modified organisms. These practices are increasingly controversial and are likely to affect the sustainability of vegetable farms. This study assessed the sustainability of 120 randomly selected market garden farms (Meknes) using the surveys and the market garden production sustainability indicator. The results show that the majority of the farms identified are characterized by low sustainability, with the agroecological dimension being the limiting factor. The improvement of the components "Ecological diversity", "Spatial organization", and "Agricultural practices" are the ways to improve the global sustainability of vegetable production in Meknes. The socio-territorial sustainability of production is characterized by a lack of training for producers, a lack of hygiene and safety in production activities, and a low contribution to employment. The economic dimension is characterized by low viability, low economic transmissibility, and financial autonomy. To perpetuate the market gardening in the city of Meknes, it appears necessary to promote ecological intensification, integrated diversification, and promotion of local inputs to the various types of market gardening farms

Context Forest biodiversity is closely linked to habitat heterogeneity, while forestry actions often cause habitat homogenization. Alternative approaches to even-aged management were developed to restore habitat heterogeneity at the stand level, but how their application could promote habitat diversity at landscape scale remains uncertain. Objectives We tested the potential benefit of diversifying management regimes to increase landscape-level heterogeneity. We hypothesize that different styles of forest management would create a diverse mosaic of forest habitats that would in turn benefit species with various habitat requirements. Methods Forest stands were simulated under business-as-usual management, set-aside (no management) and 12 alternative management regimes. We created virtual landscapes following diversification scenarios to (i) compare the individual performance of management regimes (no diversification), and (ii) test for the management diversification hypothesis at different levels of set-aside. For each virtual landscape, we evaluated habitat availability of six biodiversity indicator species, multispecies habitat availability, and economic values of production. Results Each indicator species responded differently to management regimes, with no single regime being optimal for all species at the same time. Management diversification led to a 30% gain in multispecies habitat availability, relative to business-as-usual management. By selecting a subset of five alternative management regimes with high potential for biodiversity, gains can reach 50%. Conclusions Various alternative management regimes offer diverse habitats for different biodiversity indicator species. Management diversification can yield large gains in multispecies habitat availability with no or low economic cost, providing a potential cost-effective biodiversity tool if the management regimes are thoughtfully selected.

PurposeTime analysis and institution analysis as well as journal analysis allow the study to show literature distribution in this research area. Research hotspots and trending among different times are revealed by network-structural properties and network-temporal property. The study aims to shed light on international cluster research progress on strategic niche management (SNM).Design/methodology/approachUsing searched literature data on SNM from 1991 to 2018 from the database of Web of Science (WOS), the article maps the citation network and completes the citation analysis based on bibliometric citation analysis.FindingsThese eight research streams reveal the development of SNM from theoretical description to target-oriented study and finally diversification analysis.Originality/valueThe paper identifies eight continuous research streams in SNM: sustainable transition, dynamical diversity, complexity, social-technical system, social innovation, social-cognitive evolution, emerging market and policy mix.

Big data is massive and heterogeneous, along with the rapid increase in data quantity, and the diversification of user access, traditional database, and access control methods can no longer meet the requirements of big data storage and flexible access control. To solve this problem, an entity relationship completion and authority management method is proposed. By combining the weighted graph convolutional neural network and the attention mechanism, a knowledge base completion model is given. On this basis, the authority management model is formally defined and the process of multilevel trust access control is designed. The effectiveness of the proposed method is verified by experiments, and the authority management of knowledge base is more fine-grained and more secure.

Genomic data continue to advance our understanding of species limits and biogeographic patterns. However, there is still no consensus regarding appropriate methods of phylogenomic analysis that make the best use of these heterogeneous data sets. In this study, we used thousands of ultraconserved element (UCE) loci from alligator lizards in the genus Gerrhonotus to compare and contrast species trees inferred using multiple contemporary methods and provide a time frame for biological diversification across the Mexican Transition Zone (MTZ). Concatenated maximum likelihood (ML) and Bayesian analyses provided highly congruent results, with differences limited to poorly supported nodes. Similar topologies were inferred from coalescent analyses in Bayesian Phylogenetics and Phylogeography and SVDquartets, albeit with lower support for some nodes. All divergence times fell within the Miocene, linking speciation to local Neogene vicariance and/or global cooling trends following the mid-Miocene Climatic Optimum. We detected a high level of genomic divergence for a morphologically distinct species restricted to the arid mountains of north-eastern Mexico, and erected a new genus to better reflect evolutionary history. In summary, our results further advocate leveraging the strengths and weaknesses of concatenation and coalescent methods, provide evidence for old divergences for alligator lizards, and indicate that the MTZ continues to harbour substantial unrecognized diversity.

Economic development cannot be imagined without oil and petroleum products. The rhythmic and efficient operation of industrial enterprises and other sectors of the national economy depends on uninterrupted supplies, therefore, logistics transport schemes for the delivery of petroleum products are very important. Such types of transportation are well studied in the modern period, but until now no one has considered them in wartime. An attempt is made to analyze the variety of delivery schemes and their diversification during the war with the aim of applying the experience in peacetime.The experience of organizing the transportation of oil cargo during military events is considered, the historical aspects of the use of unique schemes for the delivery of oil cargo are disclosed. The study of schemes for the transportation of oil cargo in transport and logistics systems in the historical context gives an idea of the uniqueness of individual delivery methods. Thanks to the feat of the oilmen and sailors, the supply of the front through the Caspian Sea Baku — Krasnovodsk and Baku — Astrakhan was established. From the very first days of the Great Patriotic War, oil Baku has been supplying the front with oil and oil products without interruption.The study of historical facts shows that the schemes for the transportation of oil cargo have always been aimed at the maximum interaction of modes of transport and the use of their technical advantages. The possibility of using modern transport and technological systems for oil transportation, which have been developed by expanding the development of logistics tools and principles of logistics, is given.

PurposeThis study analyses the sequence of actions carried out by successful enterprises in the agricultural sector and aims to understand the logic followed with such actions and the differences related to the types of families that develop them.Design/methodology/approachThrough a multiple case study approach, the business and family trajectories of 14 successful agricultural enterprises in Mexico were analysed. The actions carried out by enterprises are conceptualized as strategic movements and are classified into seven categories: (1) growth and intensification, (2) reconversion, (3) diversification, (4) integration, (5) differentiation, (6) outsourcing and (7) digitization. Depending on their relationship with agriculture, entrepreneurial families are classified into three categories: (1) continuing families, (2) returning families and (3) incoming families.FindingsThe entrepreneurship logic follows three stages: evaluation, expansion and consolidation, through which different activities are tested, then the one that produces the best results is expanded and adopted as the main activity, and finally the expansion of the main activity and its evaluation are combined by comparing and complementing it with other agricultural activities. The difference is that continuing families adhere more to the traditional productivist model based on growth in scale and improved productivity of primary production. On the other hand, actions that imply a distinction in the quality of production such as integration and differentiation and that require links with other organizations such as outsourcing are more frequently carried out by returning and incoming families.Research limitations/implicationsThe findings obtained through case studies cannot be statistically generalized to a specific population, however, our perspective can be transferred to other cases to obtain analogous findings.Originality/valueThe study is a unique piece in terms of the analysis of how families with different degrees of proximity to agriculture develop successful enterprises.

The convergence between wildlife trafficking and other serious crimes has received increasing attention within criminological studies. The present study examines how and why Mexican organized crime groups, in particular drug cartels, have shifted their operations from drug trafficking into specific parts of the illegal trade in totoaba maw. By drawing upon literature research, semi-structured interviews and official documents of the Mexican state, empirical data indicate that Mexican organized crime groups may infiltrate into the poaching and smuggling of totoaba maw as a result of a diversification process, influenced by the social context in which these groups operate. The different interactions between actors involved along the supply chain revealed that organized crime groups adapt to new illicit markets by means of corruption and violence; by establishing alliances with local fishermen and Asian criminal networks along the trafficking chain; by using their existing routes and concealment methods. Finally, in the light of this empirical evidence that infers the complexity of crime convergence, we suggest the introduction of a National Environmental Task Force in Mexico.

La lectura en México, desde la época prehispánica hasta el siglo XXI, ha pasado por diferentes transformaciones en cuanto a concepciones, capacidades, usos sociales, soportes, textos y su materialidad, con los que se han registrado, conservado y difundido los saberes, experiencias e informaciones culturales, religiosos, políticos, económicos, administrativos, costumbristas, arquitectónicos, históricos o científicos, por mencionar solo algunos aspectos de la memoria humana que han formado a millones de comunidades lectoras. Este artículo tiene el objetivo de analizar e identificar brevemente los factores que propiciaron la formación de las comunidades lectoras mexicanas, en las poblaciones nativas y su diversificación a partir del proceso de occidentalización en las cuales la palabra escrita, la lectura y los libros han transformado a la sociedad mexicana a lo largo de toda su historia.

El presente trabajo analiza los primeros años de Pescanova S. A., empresa pionera en la producción y la comercialización de pescado congelado en España. Sus estrategias empresariales y el decidido apoyo del Estado al sector pesquero le permitieron hacerse con una posición dominante en el mercado español, por lo que no tardó en convertirse en la primera empresa pesquera española y europea. El artículo se plantea desde la perspectiva de las estrategias empresariales adoptadas. En primer lugar, se aborda la constitución de Pescanova y su integración vertical. A continuación, se atiende a la multinacionalización de la empresa en los países africanos. En tercer lugar, se observa su diversificación productiva y su recurso al marketing. Finalmente, se recogen las principales conclusiones del estudio.

PurposeWith the increasing numbers of the elderly people, the aging segment represents a potential huge market. While this trend is obvious, still little literature focuses on this group. The study thus fills up this gap. Furthermore, the study aims to examine the aging consumers' journeys from the lens of brand resonance pyramid and has its importance using context-specific theories to understand the elderly consumers.Design/methodology/approachCase study method is conducted using the in-depth interview to collect data and inductive method via MaxQda software to analyze. Two types of aging brand (i.e. age-denial and age-adaptive) are investigated (Moody and Sood, 2010). This study interviews 26 elderly consumers, among whom, 12 have experiences in sports gyms (i.e. age-denial) and 14 in hospital services (i.e. age-adaptive). The author also triangulates the results by interviewing two additional experts in these contexts.FindingsThe findings of the paper reveal that (1) brand functional benefit is important for both age-denial and age-adaptive brands while each has different dimensions. Brand experiential benefit (e.g. social, behavioral and intellectual experience) is important motivation for the age-denial brand and brand symbolic and brand psychological benefits are the emotional drivers for the age-adaptive brand. (2) Consequences of this journey include those, for example, brand satisfaction, brand loyalty, word-of-mouth and recommendation and (3) mediating mechanisms, e.g. brand sense of identification, brand psychological attachment and customization for both brand types, with exceptions of diversification and brand psychological attachment, and mutual interaction for the age-denial brand and doctor–patient relationship and consumer inertia for the age-adaptive brand. (4) The current study finds two new concepts for aging consumers, i.e. brand social experience in the age-denial brand and brand psychological benefit in the age-adaptive brand.Research limitations/implications(1) Results of the paper are context dependent and generalization issue might occur. (2) While it is analyzed using inductive method via MaxQda software, the interviewer's subjective bias might occur. (3) Interviewees are at their different life stages, i.e. early-old vs mid-old, and thus, these contextual factors might also influence the results.Originality/value(1) The current study explores the elderly consumers' experience journeys at three stages (i.e. pre-service, during-service and pro-service/loyalty loop) for age-denial and age-adaptive brands and deepen an understanding of this aging market; (2) offers practical implications to brands targeting at the elderly consumers, particularly the age-denial and age-adaptive brands; (3) uses customer journey theory and brand resonance pyramid as the lens to understand aging consumers, and results also partly echo with the theories and (4) explores two new concepts for aging consumers, i.e. brand social experience and brand psychological benefit, thus adding new dimensions to important constructs, i.e. brand experience and brand benefit.

Small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) stand out in the economy of countries, since they act as a source of income and employment for the population, social cohesion, market diversification, in ...

Historical Glottometry, introduced by Kalyan & François (2018), is a wave-based quantitative approach to language subgrouping used to calculate the overall strength of a linguistic subgroup using metrics that capture the contributions of linguistic innovations of various scopes to language diversification, in consideration of the reality of their distributions. This approach primarily achieves this by acknowledging the contribution of postsplit areal diffusion to language diversification, which has traditionally been overlooked in cladistic (tree-based) models. In this paper, the development of the Germanic language family, from the breakup of Proto-Germanic to the latest period of the early attested daughter languages (namely, Old English, Old Frisian, Gothic, Old High German, Old Low Franconian, Old Norse, and Old Saxon) is accounted for using Historical Glottometry. It is shown that this approach succeeds in accounting for several smaller, nontraditional subgroups of Germanic by accommodating the linguistic evidence unproblematically where a cladistic approach would fail.

The paper aims to identify major strategies applied by small-scale farm households to adapt to climate change and determine factors that affect their choice of adaptation strategies. A logistic regression model and a multivariate probit model were applied to a set of primary data collected from a survey of 290 farm households in two mountainous provinces of Northeastern Vietnam. Results show that farm households combined various strategies in response to the impacts of climate hazards. Changes in farm activities and livelihood diversification were the two most widely used adaptation strategies. Farm households’ choice of adaptation strategies was influenced by a set of complex factors related to demographic characteristics, economic well-being, access to resources, and perception. Age and farming experience negatively affected farm households’ adaptation. Meanwhile, access to resources, savings, extension services, membership of associations, access to information, and perception had a significantly positive effect on the adoption of adaptation strategies. Social-economic barriers restricted female-headed and ethnic minority households from taking up adaptation measures that required new technologies, updated knowledge, or resources. It is essential to issue policies and implement projects to enhance adaptive capacity and facilitating the adaptation process for farm households in mountainous areas, taking into account the barriers and disadvantages of female and ethnic minority farmers.