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An authoritative examination of how small firms in developing countries acquire technological capability - the knowledge and skills required to operate technology effectively and to adapt it to local conditions. It fills a gap in the established literature on technological capability, which has neglected the small-scale sector in spite of the important role it plays in employment generation. The author develops a methodology for a quantitative assessment of the learning process, using case material from the small-scale capital goods sector in Pakistan's Punjab Province.
This book makes an important contribution by comparing the experiences of white and Latina women who own and operate businesses in the U.S. economy. While accounting for the significance of gender, ethnicity, and social class, Davies-Netzley explores the various pathways that women take to becoming entrepreneurs and the economic, social, and cultural capital they use along the way.
This insightful Handbook scrutinizes alternative concepts and approaches to the dominant economic or industrial theories of innovation. Providing an assessment of these alternatives, it questions the absence of these neglected types of innovation and suggests diverse theories.
In the face of limited progress toward meeting Millennium Development Goals or addressing climate change and resource degradation, increasing attention turns to harnessing the entrepreneurial, innovative, managerial and financial capacities of business for improved social and environmental outcomes. A more proactive role for business in sustainable development is especially pertinent in sub-Saharan Africa, which has been plagued by conflict and poverty but shows signs of a brighter future as the world’s second-fastest-growing region. The book considers how the socio-economic context influences the objectives of social innovation and even our definition of what we mean by social innovation. Secondly, the book aims to show how social innovation initiatives emerge and fare in context of the limited ability of many African countries to provide public goods and services.
Paul Ricœur has been one of the most influential and intellectually challenging philosophers of the last century, and his work has contributed to a vast array of fields: studies of language, of history, of ethics and politics. However, he has up until recently only had a minor impact on the philosophy of technology. Interpreting Technology aims to put Ricœur’s work at the centre of contemporary philosophical thinking concerning technology. It investigates his project of critical hermeneutics for rethinking established theories of technology, the growing ethical and political impacts of technologies on the modern lifeworld, and ways of analysing global sociotechnical systems such as the I...
A book designed to help stimulate managers to an appraisal of their strengths and weaknesses. The straightforward examples aim to cover areas of interest to the small businessman. The book should also be of use to schools running enterprise courses. An accompanying workbook is available.
Autonomous weapons systems, often referred to as 'killer robots', have been a hallmark of popular imagination for decades. However, with the inexorable advance of artificial intelligence systems (AI) and robotics, killer robots are quickly becoming a reality. These lethal technologies can learn, adapt, and potentially make life and death decisions on the battlefield with little-to-no human involvement. This naturally leads to not only legal but ethical concerns as to whether we can meaningful control such machines, and if so, then how. Such concerns are made even more poignant by the ever-present fear that something may go wrong, and the machine may carry out some action(s) violating the eth...
The way organizations manage their value chain has changed dramatically over the past decade. Today, organizations take account of economic issues, but they also adopt a broader perspective of their purpose including social and environmental issues. Yet despite its global spread, sustainable value chain management remains an uncertain and poorly defined ambition, with few absolutes. The social and environmental issues that organizations should address easily can be interpreted as including virtually everything. Current literature on the topic seeks to understand the effects and management of initiatives dealing with diversity, human rights, safety, philanthropy, community, and environment. H...
Climate change mitigation is still possible, if innovative economic policies are implemented, such as those provided by this book: a large array of proposals by 30 economists from developing and developed countries. High and senior level policymakers (and their staff) will find fundamental outlines and insights for negotiating and laying down NAMAs (Nationally Appropriate Mitigation Actions) and Climate Action Plans at national, sub-national, city and sectoral levels. With more than 20 "recipes", this book is revolutionary because: 1. it leads the reader from the context to the implementation details; 2. it reverses classical textbook proportions of "90%%%% analysis and 10%%%% proposals" in favor of "90%%%% proposals and 10%%%% analysis"; 3. it relates each policy to a number of co-benefits to synergize climate mitigation with employment, competitiveness, and happiness. This second edition 2012 builds upon the experience gained in implementation worldwide.