330 Wirtschaft
Refine
Departments, institutes and facilities
Document Type
- Conference Object (18) (remove)
Keywords
- Eco-Feedback (2)
- Ghana (2)
- Institutions (2)
- Organizational Culture (2)
- Sustainable Interaction Design (2)
- Workplace (2)
- resources (2)
- Active Eco-Tourism in Emerging Tourism (1)
- Africa (1)
- Air transport (1)
One of the biggest challenges faced by many tech start-ups from developed markets is to have validated market-fit products/services and to see their solutions implemented. In several sectors, stringent regulations, and the law of handicap of head start at home can be hurdles that limit the development and even the survival potential of theses start-ups. Tech start-ups seeking implementation, learning, and legitimacy may have a solution in expanding into emerging markets. Emerging markets offer both business opportunities in sectors in need of new technologies as they are “fertile grounds” for developing and testing internationalisation business models. We present here a process designed to help tech start-ups to identify, access, shape and seize these opportunities and to overcome their own specificities and emerging markets specificities. The three phases of the proposed process cover entry node concept, partnership, and business, operating and revenue joint models’ development. DesignScience Research Paradigm is used for the design and evaluation of the process. To show the relevance of this process, a case study on the expansion in Morocco of a Dutch start-up active in e-health is used. The study shows the importance of the process for the embeddedness in a local relevant value network with a relevant adopter’s system, a key enabler to achieve time and cost-effective expansion in that specific business and institutional contexts. A pilot to assess the proposed models and evidence of benefits is under development. To boost their chances of growth tech start-ups from developed markets should consider expansion into emerging markets in their strategy. It would be beneficial that policy makers adopt a strategy by which to assist tech start-ups in accessing value networks in emerging markets. It is also important for policy makers from emerging markets to consider developing schemes to attract tech start-ups from developed markets.
This study sought to apply the Structure Conduct Performance paradigm to Africa´s air transport landscape in general. To do that, it examines the past, present, and future expectations of four of Sub-Saharan Africa’s biggest aviation economies, namely South Africa, Kenya, Ethiopia, and Nigeria. Secondary data containing historical passenger traffic was analysed, and predictions for growth in the next ten years were proposed. The findings suggest that the experience of the existing liberalization initiatives, such as the Yamoussoukro Declaration (YD), has produced less than expected benefits. However, the future of aviation in Africa is somewhat positive, with a growth trajectory expected to follow a linear and gradual path supported by various initiatives, including the Single African Air Transport Market (SAATM) and the African Continental Free Trade Area (AFCTA). The study’s contribution is to illuminate the current discourse on the aviation sector in Africa through the Structure-Conduct-Performance theory paradigm and suggests a conceptual model that could be applied to future studies relating to aviation in Africa.
Most economies across the globe rely on entrepreneurship for growth. There is evidence to suggest that entrepreneurship creates job opportunities and spurs economic growth and development (Pacheco, Dean, & Payne, 2010; Mojica, Gebremedhin, & Schaeffer, 2010, and Solomon, 2007). Even though entrepreneurship is one of the fastest growing education disciplines globally, researchers are still divided on what should be taught and how it should be taught in institutions of higher learning. Entrepreneurial decision-making is laced with uncertainty and drawbacks. Hence, entrepreneurship learners must be taught using practical and conceptual methodologies to equip them with the requisite knowledge and skill that will enable them to confront such challenges in their entrepreneurial activities. This calls for entrepreneurship teachers to be innovative and to also encourage their learners to be innovative as entrepreneurship involves the generation of new business ideas. This paper sought to examine teaching methodologies for entrepreneurship education in institutions of higher learning in Kenya. A mixed-method approach that involved triangulation as the main data collection technique was used. Interviews were administered with teachers and learners of entrepreneurial education in Kenya, with a view to identifying the most commonly used teaching methodologies of entrepreneurial education and their shortcomings. Course outlines and curricula borrowed from twenty (20) institutions of higher learning in Kenya were reviewed. Results indicate that entrepreneurial education in Kenya is largely theoretical and does not meet the needs of the modern entrepreneur. The paper therefore recommends innovative teaching methodologies of entrepreneurial education that can be utilised by the teacher to prepare students adequately to generate entrepreneurial ideas and to identify entrepreneurial opportunities. For this reason, the paper recommends the use of such methodologies as business plan generation, idea generation, innovation, creativity, networking, opportunity recognition, expecting and embracing failure, and adapting to change.
Developing the Circular Economy in Uganda: Prospects for Academia-Public-Private-Partnerships
(2021)
Issues: Circular economy is a production system that optimizes the reusability of by-products/waste as raw materials. As the global population threatens to reach 9 billion by 2050, consumption levels grow proportionally, raising food, material, and energy demands. In Uganda, soil nutrient depletion and energy poverty are key challenges faced by urban and rural communities. Rampart depletion of natural resources calls for transit from the linear economic models towards sustainable production/consumption technologies. This study investigated prospects for APPP to optimize the reusability of by-products/waste as raw materials. Approach: Quantitative and qualitative tools were used to collect data via document analysis, interviews, and participant observations. The tools were administered to municipal authorities, private waste-collecting agencies in cities and municipalities; officials in Ministries of energy and Agriculture; officials in universities research units and entrepreneurs that deal in agricultural and energy products; officials from civil society organizations. Findings: there are a number of sustainability projects being undertaken by Universities and High schools, Government agencies, companies, and civil society organization isolation. Singlehandedly, individual agencies lack the requisite capacity to develop closed-loop production/consumption models. Analysis of a few successful RRR projects suggests that APPP is positioned to promote CE. Transiting towards a circular economy requires joint ventures to optimize human, technological, and financial resources and develop policy and institutional frameworks. In Uganda, recycling biotic by-products can promote environmental sustainability; reduce stress on natural resources; enable cost savings; promote green entrepreneurship, and create jobs/livelihoods. Conclusion: working jointly, CE could be enhanced via technical and business models by the academia, private capital investment by companies, community engagement by CSOs, and development of supportive policy and institutional frameworks to facilitate decision-making processes. The APPPs are positioned to use interactive platforms for creating awareness and promote sensitization about green values through education and multimedia communication platforms.
A school leader’s achievement is not what they study in learning institutions but the way they organize themselves into problem solving and realistic decision making. While this includes some taught hard skills, the bulk of school activities rely on soft skills. Soft skills, however, are frequently neglected, although they play an important role in school principals’ daily operations as an instructional supervisor. This study aimed to examine the relationship between soft skills training and Principals' performance. The study adopted a cross-sectional mixed survey design. Using Yamane formulae, the sample comprised of 167 principals from 286 public secondary schools in Kiambu County. These were spread proportionally across all the 12 sub-counties in the County. The principal research instrument was primarily a questionnaire. The reliability of the instrument using the Cronbach Alpha coefficient was deemed reasonable at.73. The findings showed that a substantial relationship exists between the training of the principal on soft skills and their good performance of the duties. The study suggests routine in-service training should be undertaken in the county to improve the development of soft skills. It is also advisable that undergraduate, postgraduate, or in-service training include soft skills as a unit, to build knowledge of the value of soft skills.
Reducing energy consumption is one of the most pursued economic and ecologic challenges concerning societies as a whole, individuals and organizations alike. While politics start taking measures for energy turnaround and smart home energy monitors are becoming popular, few studies have touched on sustainability in office environments so far, though they account for almost every second workplace in modern economics. In this paper, we present findings of two parallel studies in an organizational context using behavioral change oriented strategies to raise energy awareness. Next to demonstrating potentials, it shows that energy feedback needs must fit to the local organizational context to succeed and should consider typical work patterns to foster accountability of consumption.
Research on entrepreneurial eco-systems is evolving with exhortations for empirical studies at regional and local levels to augment national surveys. The study, therefore, sought to explore the entrepreneurial eco-system of the Central Region, which is relatively well-endowed with natural resources but lags behind in economic advancement in Ghana. Through descriptive research design, quantitative data were collected using self-administered questionnaires from a convenience sample of 44 entrepreneurs under the presidential business support programme in the Central Region of Ghana, in 2019. Data were analysed, by conducting descriptive analysis such as means (M) and percentages and by exploratory factor analysis, with the IBM SPSS Version 25. Descriptive results of 37 valid responses showed that the respondents were satisfied, in varying degrees (M = 4.19-5.65), with 11 factors within the eco-system; the top three factors were demand, security and availability of raw materials. Respondents were, however, not satisfied with access to business development services, access to finance, rent charges and access to repairers of equipment and thus, pose as challenges to their entrepreneurial pursuits. Principal component analysis revealed inter-connectedness among the factors in the eco-system with strong loadings of measures of institutions and resource endowment under the two components of the solution. Based on the findings, it is concluded that the entrepreneurs surveyed were satisfied with more factors in the EES of the Central Region while they were dissatisfied with relatively few but critical factors in the EES, thereby posing as major challenges to their entrepreneurial activities. As an exploratory study, the findings suggest that the entrepreneurial eco-system of the Central Region of Ghana is, to some extent, supportive of entrepreneurial activities but has key challenges. To achieve maximum outcomes, policy interventions should collectively address, at a time, factors that interact strongly to influence entrepreneurship within the system.
In times of climatic or political grievances that affect not only human life worldwide, but also the environment and the economic situation of a country, a change in the way of thinking about tourism is beginning and the sector of ecotourism is also becoming increasingly important in Germany. The applicability of this form of tourism in the East African destination Kenya in the form of a travel package that is both partly unique and can be designed individually describes the subject matter of this elaboration and is illustrated using the example of the charitable organization Mully Children's Family and the related registered tourism company, MCF Africa Safaris. The underlying research aims to determine how to transform the organisation's own tree planting initiative into a niche tourist market and how this must be geared to gain the interest of the German eco-tourist. Based on the evaluation of the research results, there is high potential, which is dedicated to the implementation of a form of travel consisting of the active support of the named charity and its initiative as well as individually selectable holiday activities in the target market Kenya. As a result, there are basic prerequisites, the consideration of which is essential for the successful integration of the so-called niche market tree planting and the branch-specific nature of ecotourism in the Kenyan travel market.
Das Konzept des Living Lab ist eine in der Wissenschaft anerkannte Innovations- und Forschungsmethodik. Im betrieblichen Kontext - insbesondere in kleinen und mittleren Unternehmen (KMU) – wird sie bislang jedoch kaum genutzt. Um die Nutzung im kommerziellen Kontext von Smart Home zu erforschen, wird im Forschungsprojekt SmartLive aktuell ein Living Lab zum Thema aufgebaut, bei dem Unternehmen, Forscher sowie ca. 30 teilnehmenden Haushalte die alltägliche Nutzung von kommerziellen, sowie experimentell entwickelten Lösungen untersuchen und neue Interaktionskonzepte gemeinsam erarbeiten. Ferner wurden mit den teilnehmenden Unternehmen Interviews zu deren Entwicklungsprozessen, deren Einstellung zu Usability und User Experience (UUX), sowie den Potenzialen und Möglichkeiten eines Living Labs für KMU geführt. Ziel der Interviews ist es, darauf aufbauend UUX-Dienstleistungen zu identifizieren, die rund um ein kommerziell betriebenes Living Lab angeboten werden können. Hierbei wurde zunächst das Kompetenz-Netzwerk als ein wichtiges Asset eines Living Lab hervorgehoben, da es eine projektförmige Kooperation fördert. Zudem wurde der Bedarf nach flexiblen Dienstleistungen ähnlich einem Baukastensystem deutlich, mit dessen Hilfe relativ kurzfristig als auch nachhaltige innovative Konzepte erprobt, Marketingstrategien entwickelt sowie prototypische Entwicklungen hinsichtlich UUX und technischer Qualität evaluiert werden können.