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Internal Resources (internal + resource)
Selected AbstractsFallow cultivation system and farmers' resource management in Niger, West AfricaLAND DEGRADATION AND DEVELOPMENT, Issue 3 2002A. Wezel Abstract A survey was carried out in 136 farm-households from seven villages in 1995 and 1996 to analyse the traditional fallow cultivation system in Niger. Farmers were asked to give information about land use on their fields, focusing on cropping and fallow periods as well as on cultivation changes compared to the past. In addition, they were interviewed about their management strategies to maintain or improve soil fertility. Millet-based systems clearly dominate at all sites, either in pure form or intercropped with cowpea, groundnut, sorghum or roselle. At present, almost half of all farmers cultivate their fields on average up to 5 years until it is left fallow. About one-third use their fields permanently. Most farmers use short fallow periods of 1 to 5 years. Moreover, there was a decrease in the cropping area left fallow, and the fallow period also decreased steadily in the past years. In the mid-1970s the average fallow period was about 8 years, decreasing to 2.5 years in 1996. The actual fallow periods are too short to allow sufficient positive effects on soil fertility and farmers are aware of this problem. Consequently, farmers employ different fertilization techniques which aim at maintaining or restoring the soil nutrient pool of the fields while providing physical protection against wind and water erosion. Most farmers use animal manure to improve soil fertility and apply mulch from different sources, millet stalks and branches, for soil regeneration. Few farmers employ other strategies such as mineral fertilizer or planting pits. The farmers try to optimize the use of internal and external resources resulting in a mixture of different fertilization and soil protection methods. Internal resources play by far the most important role. Due to the generally limited resource availability farmers concentrate their management efforts on certain areas within each field or on selected fields only. This means a decreased crop production for the individual household and a higher risk of soil degradation because of soil mining or increased erosion risk on the field area where soil fertility management cannot be practised. Copyright © 2002 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [source] Supply and Operations: Parallel Paths and Integrated StrategiesBRITISH JOURNAL OF MANAGEMENT, Issue 4 2004Steve Brown This paper provides evidence of links between the nature of strategic formulation within firms and subsequent plant performance. The research focuses on how some firms have managed to link operations and supply into an integrated set of mutually supportive strategies. In the current competitive arena firms can no longer rely wholly on internal resource-based capabilities but must instead form strategic partnerships within what are often complex networks. The paper explores how operations and supply functions have pursued parallel paths but have often not been fully integrated within firms. It is argued that such integration, which forms part of what has been termed strategic resonance, can reap enormous benefits in terms of plant-level capabilities for firms. [source] Professional Employer Organizations and Their Role in Small and Medium Enterprises: The Impact of HR OutsourcingENTREPRENEURSHIP THEORY AND PRACTICE, Issue 1 2003Brian S. Klaas While effective HR services and programs can help firms gain competitive advantage, small and medium enterprises (SMEs) often lack the internal resources required to develop and deliver these services and programs. As a result, SMEs increasingly are outsourcing HR activities to professional employer organizations (PEOs). Questions remain, however, about the conditions under which SMEs will benefit from outsourcing HR to a PEO, as well as about the type of benefits that are potentially available. The very nature of many HR activities raises questions about the risks associated with market governance and a PEO's ability to ensure service quality for SMEs. In order for these questions to be addressed, it is necessary to understand the process by which PEO utilization affects SME outcomes. In this article, we use transaction cost economics, social exchange theory, and the strategic HR literature to develop a framework for understanding the factors and conditions likely to affect whether and how an SME will benefit from using a PEO. [source] Understanding the Inputs into Innovation: Do Cities Substitute for Internal Firm Resources?JOURNAL OF ECONOMICS & MANAGEMENT STRATEGY, Issue 2 2008Chris Forman We examine whether there is a trade-off between employing internal (firm) resources and purchased external (local) resources in process innovation. We draw on a rich dataset of Internet investments by 86,879 US establishments to examine decisions to invest in advanced Internet technology. We show that the marginal contribution of internal resources is greater outside of a major urban area than inside one. Agglomeration is less important for firms with highly capable IT workers. When firms invest in innovative processes they act as if resources available in cities are partial substitutes for both establishment-level and firm-level internal resources. [source] Evidence-based practice: implications and concernsJOURNAL OF NURSING MANAGEMENT, Issue 4 2008BEd (Hons), PETER NOLAN BA (Hons) Aims, The aim of this paper was to undertake a brief critical appraisal of evidence-based practice (EBP) as it is currently perceived in health care settings. Background, The past two decades have seen EBP become increasingly important in health care planning, clinical thinking, and choice of treatments. It is based on scientific rationalism and adherents claim that decisions based on EBP are superior to those based on other approaches to care. Concerns are now being expressed that positivistic approaches to health care fail to take into account people's preferences, their internal resources and their personal understandings of health and wellbeing. It has been argued that there may be multiple types of evidence, all of which have a part to play in the formulation and execution of health care. Methods, After a literature search, this paper argues that whereas EBP may be useful in treating conditions that have a biological cause, it may be less helpful in understanding and treating conditions that have their origins in the social, psychological or spiritual domains. Results, The nature, strengths and limitations of evidence-based practice is discussed in this paper. Nurses are encouraged to develop the critical skills of evaluating EBP in the lives and experiences of the people they care for. Conclusions, Evidence-based practice has a part to play in improving the treatment provided for patients. Nonetheless, nurses should be aware of other kinds of evidence, and appreciate that any single approach to determining care, no matter how popular, is likely to lead to a service that does not truly meet the complex individual needs of patients. Implications for nursing management, In order for evidence-based practice to be safe, the nursing workforce must be able to evaluate the strength and relevance of research findings, and be able to understand that there are different kinds of evidence which should be called upon in order to respond sensitively and appropriately to the preferences of patients. A responsive workforce embraces multiple ways of thinking, respects different paradigms of care, and is able to respond to and respect the forms of care people value and seek. [source] The determinants of corporate political strategy in Chinese transitionJOURNAL OF PUBLIC AFFAIRS, Issue 4 2007Zhilong Tian Corporate political strategy (CPS) formulation in Chinese transition is an area with little empirical work. We fill this gap validly and the primary focus of this study is to examine the firm- and industry-level factors influencing Chinese firms' political strategy choice. Empirical support is found for the taxonomy of corporate political strategies in Chinese transition,that is direct participation strategy, financial incentive strategy, prolocutor strategy, institution innovation strategy, government association strategy and government involvement strategy. The results indicate that there is no consistently significant firm- and industry-level predictor of all six political strategies and we explore what determinants are related to each specific decision independently. We also verify the random effects of industry-level variables and our hypotheses are tested through using general evaluation equations (GEEs). Our study aims to be helpful to point managers toward both industrial environments and internal resources to consider when making appropriate political strategy choices and thus improve Chinese firms' strategy management level. Some implications of findings are also discussed finally. Copyright © 2007 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [source] Picking battles wisely: plant behaviour under competitionPLANT CELL & ENVIRONMENT, Issue 6 2009ARIEL NOVOPLANSKY ABSTRACT Plants are limited in their ability to choose their neighbours, but they are able to orchestrate a wide spectrum of rational competitive behaviours that increase their prospects to prevail under various ecological settings. Through the perception of neighbours, plants are able to anticipate probable competitive interactions and modify their competitive behaviours to maximize their long-term gains. Specifically, plants can minimize competitive encounters by avoiding their neighbours; maximize their competitive effects by aggressively confronting their neighbours; or tolerate the competitive effects of their neighbours. However, the adaptive values of these non-mutually exclusive options are expected to depend strongly on the plants' evolutionary background and to change dynamically according to their past development, and relative sizes and vigour. Additionally, the magnitude of competitive responsiveness is expected to be positively correlated with the reliability of the environmental information regarding the expected competitive interactions and the expected time left for further plastic modifications. Concurrent competition over external and internal resources and morphogenetic signals may enable some plants to increase their efficiency and external competitive performance by discriminately allocating limited resources to their more promising organs at the expense of failing or less successful organs. [source] OWNERSHIP STRUCTURE, INTERNAL FINANCING AND INVESTMENT DYNAMICSTHE MANCHESTER SCHOOL, Issue 3 2010FRANCESCO CRESPI In this paper, using a sample of 1035 Italian manufacturing firms observed in the period 1998,2003, we try to disentangle the different potential determinants underlying the observed positive elasticity between investments and internal resources by accounting for both the ownership structure of the companies and the role played by financial intermediaries as both investors and debt-holders. We found evidence of an inverted U relationship between concentration of ownership and the elasticity of investment to cash flow. Moreover, the analysis shows that the relationship between investment decisions and internal funds is significantly influenced by monitoring efforts played by institutional investors. [source] | ||||||||||