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Sport as power of integration among minorities
57-62Views:433The opportunities and development of skills in the field of sports may open a door to social inclusion that also facilitates social integration. Based on the funding provided by the national sports strategy and integration, the research project can be developed further on and implemented. The efforts of the European Union (EU) and of the European Council towards the member states are carried out through its directives, and the analyses of these documents provide guidelines for the elaboration of the Hungarian Roma strategies. Funding is one of the key factors for the elaboration of Roma integration strategy and its efficiency. The research highlights upon the way of thinking and mentality of Roma young people about sports currently, and on the importance of sport affairs for them. Also, reflects on the factors which promote motivation to have successful career goals and achieve those based on the program. The sports integration survey suggests conclusions on the role of mentoring in Roma youngsters’ studies, in sports, in building social relations, the role model motivating for them, or on the supportive role of the parents or even the lack of it in their families. The expected result would be a survey on sporting habits of the Roma minority and disadvantaged youth and their positioning in education through which we could develop programs to promote the integration of the Roma minority and to improve their general circumstances. The National Social Inclusion Strategy (Ministry of Human Capacities, National Social Inclusion Strategy 2011–2020) provides the financial background of the integration project whose application also prevails in the field of sports integration. The aspirations of the EU provide guidance to the amount of funding and its allocation manners. The National Roma Self-Government’s (NRSG) sports integration project and best practice has provided the basis for the sports integration research project. The survey is examining the recreational habits, motivational factors, study levels among the Roma minority and the disadvantaged young people. Based on the questionnaire, we can draw some conclusions about the development of sports integration programs. The issues cover the field of sport activities of young people aged between 9-18 and on the significance of sport opportunities for break-out for the Roma youth, and on the effect of role models for them. The sports integration projects treat simultaneously the development of education and sport, furthermore they are significantly linked to each other. The target group of the questionnaire survey are mainly the Roma and disadvantaged people. The sample item number is 1216 completed questionnaires from the whole territory of the country, from 16 schools. As shown in the survey, the sport and the level of education are significantly related to each other. Those who do any sports, obtain higher level of achievement in their studies. It can be revealed by the fact that through mentoring the sportsmen can promote their school performance and sport development together. The research highlights on another observation, namely, it also confirms the legitimacy of sports integration program and points out the direction for development. For accomplishing the goal of social inclusion through sport we have at hand the appropriate concept. It is, furthermore necessary to strengthen and to develop the mentoring program, which ensures the lower drop-out rate among the participants. The effect of Sports integration is motivating for the Roma and for the disadvantaged youth. The use of sport as a tool for social inclusion proves to be of utmost importance.
JEL code: Z23
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An incubator model based on the territorial value chain
43-47Views:338Policies to promote and encourage local foods may take many different shapes depending on both the specific targets and strategies. Some policies, especially at a local level, promote supply-chain vertical and horizontal integration as a comprehensive strategy which aims to help firms pursue several of the promoting policies. A business model that focuses its attention on the consumer of the product and territory can be a crucial driver in generating a ‘land fecundation’ as a response to globalization. The aim of the paper is to investigate the link between rural development and territorialisation, exploring the role of Local Action Groups Integrated Projects of Food Chain and Rural Development Programmes from 2007-2013 in a region in Southern Italy. The article makes use of a value chain approach, starting with Porter’s value chain model and five forces model of competition; it proposes a methodological framework for the development of an organisational model that includes and builds networks between the several stakeholders and local programmes, creating a shared strategy to revitalising the area and the food choices of its residents. This revitalising process takes place through the implementation of a multi-purpose incubator establishing strong partnerships that are able to foster complementarities among all rural stakeholders. Conclusions and implications for policy makers are drawn: a model of territorial organisation could link territorial capital and local stakeholders, and therefore the programming carried out under the entire RDP.
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IMPACT OF CLIMATE CHANGE ON PEOPLES’ LIVELIHOOD AND LIVESTOCK PRODUCTION IN UGANDA
Views:426Livestock sector in Uganda contributes significantly towards individual household income and food security and even though peoples’ dependance on livestock production for survival in Uganda is a reality, it’s also undeniable that livestock, which provides food and revenue on a worldwide scale, would be vulnerable to the direct or indirect consequences of climate change. Agriculture contributed 24.1% of the Uganda’s GDP in the financial year (FY) 2021–2022 and according to the Uganda bureau of standards (UBOS), agriculture employs over 70% of Uganda's working population. The purpose of this present study was to to evaluate the impact of climate change on peoples’ livelihood and livestock production in Uganda. Bibliometric analysis was the quantitative technique used for reviewing and describing published publications that assisted in evaluating academic works from secondary data obtained on digital databases in the context of this study. The VOS viewer software was used as a tool to perform the co-occurrence analysis, and then to realize the visualization of the impact of climate change on peoples’ livelihood and livestock production in Uganda using articles analysed on platform research with associated references from the Web of Science database. The visualisation highlighted topical areas that reflect the impacts of climate on peoples’ livelihood and livestock such as diseases, drought, coping strategies, greenhouse gases, drought, vulnerability, dry lands, mobility among pastoral communities, low productivity, reduced forage resources, elevated temperature extra all of which negatively affects the economic levels of individuals and the national income from livestock either directly or directly. Conclusively, interventions that are aimed at improving climate smartness in Uganda’s livestock farming communities may have significant food security and income benefits for different livelihoods.
Keywords: climate, livestock animals, livelihood, income
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Reasons for and obstacles to cycling in opinions of residents of Debrecen, Hungary
53-59Views:376It is a basic aim of the European Union that due to the developments in 2014-2020 the bicycle would become one of the most often used transportation, touristic, and sports equipment. We were interested to see to what extent is bicycling present in the transportation system of Debrecen and what are the most important reasons for its residents to use the bicycles. The dedication of Debrecen to promote cycling is clearly proven by the number of newly built or resurfaced bike paths and by the fact that the University of Debrecen has introduced – alone in the region – UniBike which is a bicycle renting system brought forth by the need of its students. Here we present the developments that took place in the North Plain Region in the past few years. We have also analyzed the national and European strategies and reports on bicycling. A survey was conducted among the youth of Debrecen to explore their cycling habits. The data were evaluated using the EvaSys program. Until the end of 2011 with the help of different funds 862 km of bike paths had been built in Hungary. In the North Plain Region due to funds totaling 777 million HUF 15.7 km long bike paths had been constructed until 2015. The development of tourism in this direction is promoted by the web-pages and brochures offering bicycle-tours around Debrecen. Nevertheless, bicycling in the neighboring townships is present not as an instrument for sports and/or tourism, rather as a mean of transportation. It is a clear goal in Europe and thus in Hungary to have bike paths that can provide the means of safe cycling. In parallel, it is also important to promote the benefits of bicycling, including positive physiological effects, cost-effectiveness, and environment-friendliness to increase the proportion of those who select bicycling as an alternative.
JEL Code: I15
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Romanian insurance business trends and the International crisis effects on it
17-20Views:273Is it interesting a 2 billion euro insurance market for the “old” Europe? “Not very much” one may say considering this figure represents no more than 16% of the insurance turn-over in the case of the most recent entry in the Romanian market, Groupama.The answer is still not as simple as that because “interesting” in business terms is not only about today, but very much about tomorrow. By the end of 2007 it was obvious that the Romanian insurance market is far from calming down. Not only that for the time being change is still the main real constant in use, but figures show that the market environment becomes more challenging than ever these days. The market situation showed that this allegation it was by that time more likely to be true than ever.
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Emerging trends in strategic planning
23-31Views:1607In today’s rapidly changing world, there is an increased need for excellent strategic planning. A firm’s survival may indeed hinge on the firm’s planning process being exemplary. Various aspects of the strategic planning process are under review today as organizations wrestle to compete more effectively. This paper reveals and describes five emerging trends or tools being utilized today by firms to more effectively engage in strategic planning. Specifically, the emerging trends and tools to be discussed in this paper are as follows:
1) Assure vision and mission statements include desired characteristics
2) Perform SWOT (Strengths-Weaknesses-Opportunities-Threats) analysis using AQCD (Actionable, Quantitative, Comparative, and Divisional) factors
3) Utilize varied sources to obtain AQCD information
4) Utilize QSPM (Quantitative Strategic Planning Matrix) analysis to determine the relative attractiveness of alternative strategies
5) Use excel-based software to facilitate and enhance the strategic planning process.
The purpose of this paper is to familiarize readers with basic new tools and techniques being used by organizations to effectively develop an improved strategic plan for the firm.
JEL Code: M21, O21
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Economic Performances of German Agri-Food Businesses: an Extension of Existing Discourses on the Topic
67-80Views:408Considering the circumstance that literature dealing with the economic performance of agri-food businesses in general, or particularly with the German agricultural sector, mainly deals with strictly agricultural-related theory in order to explain the economic success of agri-food businesses, the present paper aims to extend existing discourses to further areas of thought. Consequently, the characteristics: a) increased size of agribusiness, b) pull-strategies, c) the development of new markets and d) focus on the processing industry, that all correspond to the current picture of the German agricultural sector and are considered to be significantly responsible for recently managing to outpace the French agri-food sector, will be first explained in their success against the background of mainly non-agricultural-related literature. By doing so helpful and rather unnoted perspectives can be contributed to existing discourses. Second, the paper presents scatter plots which portray correlations between a) the added value of agriculture and the regular labor force, b) the added value of agriculture and the number of agricultural holdings and c) the added value of agriculture and the number of enterprises concerning milk consumption. Corresponding scatter plots which show different developments in Germany and France can be related to the findings of the first part of the paper and allow new perspectives in existing discourses as well.
JEL Classification: Q10
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The use of models in optimizing the field crop production in agricultural enterprise - MBA thesis
93-96Views:344The full use of resource capacities of agricultural enterprises favorably affects the general increase in economic efficiency and rational production making them more competitive in the market. This creates the need for constant improvement of business strategies that uses all available resources to create the most profitable production. The main objective of this study was to find the ideal structure of production in agricultural enterprise and to enable the realization of maximum profit using the available production resources (land, mechanization, labor forces). As the basic method of planning, this study used the simplex method of linear programming which gives the most profitable sowing structure after detailed analysis of resources and achieved results, based on the limitations and gross margin. This work showed that the use of modern methods in production planning is one of the cheapest and safest methods for development of agricultural enterprises.
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Proposals for low-carbon agriculture production strategies between 2020 and 2030 in Hungary
5-15Views:646When viewed from the perspective of climate policy, agriculture as a separate sector is one of the most difficult development areas to assess. One of the reasons for this is the problem of the localization of greenhouse gas emitters, caused by the fact that production takes place in small or dispersed production units. The special circumstance that unit production takes place in complex interactive systems (food, feed, energy sources, main products, by-products, etc.) is yet another special factor, which in addition makes it significantly more difficult to measure and identify the GHGs they emit than if they were a uniform production plant. Additionally, there are few sectors outside agriculture where decision-makers encounter such strong opposition and lobby interests when developing limiting regulations. This stems from the fact that following World War II, European decision-makers and the Common Agricultural Policy elevated agriculture to a prominent role whose importance was indisputable. As a result, both climate policy and other measures that would result in any reduction of the priority of the sector are very difficult to implement, since the players involved always reason that limitations would restrict their competiveness and the security of their production. In addition, the uncertain nature of regulatory elements also poses a grave problem. As an example, the name of the sector itself – the LULUCF (Land Use, Land Use Change and Forestry) sector – shows that the strategy for reducing the greenhouse gasses emitted by the whole sector would be significantly different if these units were treated separately (agricultural land use, forest, not-cultivated areas). Taking the above into account, the present study aims to identify development directions that in turn allow those low-carbon development directions to be pinpointed within animal husbandry and plant production that have the greatest feasibility and can contribute to decreasing the GHG environmental load exerted by agriculture.
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Willingness to pay for locally produced organic foods by urban consumers in Sri Lanka
15-22Views:712Organic food consumption is gradually increasing among Sri Lankan consumers due to an increased awareness on healthy food. Some consumers ready to pay more for organic food, but it varies according to many factors. Therefore, the main objective of this study was to evaluate the urban consumers’ willingness to pay (WTP) for organically produced food in Sri Lanka. The specific objectives of the research were to investigate the socio-economic factors, the level of awareness on organic food, the present situation of buying, and the level of additional price ready to pay and analyze the impact of socio-economic factors on consumers’ willingness to pay. The research was conducted in urban Sri Lanka, covering capital cities of six urban districts of the country; Colombo, Galle, Gampaha, Kandy, Kurunegala, and Rathnapura. Data were collected from November 2016 to May 2018, from 600 consumers, by selecting 100 consumers per city. Data analyses employed were a descriptive analysis and binary logistic regression. Results revealed that, the most of the consumers were females, married, and with a comparatively higher level of education and monthly income. Most consumers had a significant level of awareness about organic food. A lesser proportion of consumers (24%) buys organic food at present, while the majority (52.4%) was willing to pay an extra price. Out of these consumers, the highest percentage (29.3%) prefers to pay 26% to 50% premium prices. As per the results of logistic regression, age, gender, monthly income, and education were the deciding factors for consumers’ willingness to pay a premium price for organic food. Results of this research are helpful for the development of production and marketing strategies and awareness programs for urban consumers on local organic food products.
JEL CODE: Q1, Q13
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Driving factors behind Uganda’s rural pastoral communities’ social-economic status; a comparison between Karamoja Region and Ankole Region
Views:661This study aimed to analyze the social-economic status of Karamoja, Uganda’s largest pastoral region that has consistently stood out as the least developed region in Uganda. The region is naturally endowed with a variety of minerals such as marble, limestone, gold, etc. This has attracted (both local and international) artisanal and small-scale miners into the region whose contribution to the region’s development seem negligible. The Majority of the residents derive their livelihoods from livestock as a primary source. Three major rural development aspects i.e., social, ecological, and economic dimensions were assessed and compared to the Ankole region, one of Uganda’s rural pastoral regions that have over time registered progress in livestock production and regional development. Based on this comparison, similarities and differences can be identified and used to build the foundation for the development of a SWOT analysis that will focus on the Strength, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats that exist in this rural pastoral region of Karamoja. This study creates a cornerstone for developing sustainable rural development strategies based on a focused analysis of sociological factors that are fundamental in unmasking the ground reality in the region.
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Commodity Indices Risk and Return Analysis Against Libor Benchmark
55-66Views:299This study analyze the risk and return characteristics of commodity index investments against the LIBOR benchmark. Commodity-based asset allocation strategies can be optimized by benchmarking the risk and return characteristics of commodity indices with LIBOR index rate. In this study, we have considered agriculture, energy, and precious metals commodity indices and LIBOR index to determine the risk and return characteristics using estimation techniques in terms of expected return, standard deviation, and geometric mean. We analyzed the publicly available daily market data from 10/9/2001 to 12/30/2016 for benchmarking commodity indices against LIBOR. S&P GSCI Agriculture Index (SGK), S&P GSCI Energy Index (SGJ), and S&P GSCI Precious Metals Index (SGP) are taken to represent each category of widely traded commodities in the regression analysis. Our study uses time series data based on daily prices. Alternative forecasting methodologies for time series analysis are used to cross-check the results. The forecasting techniques used are Holt-Winters Exponential Smoothing and ARIMA. This methodology predicts forecasts using smoothening parameters. The empirical research has shown that the risk of each of the commodity index that represents agriculture, energy, and precious metals sector is smaller compared to its return, whereas LIBOR based interest rate benchmark shows higher risk compared to its return in recession, non-recession and overall periods.
JEL Classification: C43, G13, G15
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The use of models in optimizing the field crop production in agricultural enterprise
105-108Views:299The full use of resource capacities of agricultural enterprises favorably affects the general increase in economic efficiency and rational production making them more competitive in the market. This creates the need for constant improvement of business strategies that uses all available resources to create the most profitable production. The main objective of this study was to find the ideal structure of production in agricultural enterprise and to enable the realization of maximum profit using the available production resources (land, mechanization, labor forces). As the basic method of planning, this study used the simplex method of linear programming which gives the most profitable sowing structure after detailed analysis of resources and achieved results, based on the limitations and gross margin. This work showed that the use of modern methods in production planning is one of the cheapest and safest methods for development of agricultural enterprises.
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ACCESS TO CREDIT AND ITS INFLUENCE ON COCOA FARMERS’ WILLINGNESS TO PAY FOR EU-APPROVED PESTICIDES IN ONDO AND OSUN STATES
Views:200This study investigated the effect of credit access on cocoa farmers’ willingness to pay for EU-approved pesticides in Osun and Ondo State, Nigeria. A multi-stage sampling procedure was employed to select 240 cocoa farmers for the study. Data collected were analyzed with the aid of descriptive statistics, contingent valuation method and logit regression model. The results for the entire respondents showed average values of 46 years for age, 23 years for years of experience, 7 persons for household size, and 8.54 hectares for farm size. The majority (83.3%) of the farmers used Redforce. Given the current standard mean price of N365 per litre, the majority (62.5%) of the cocoa farmers are willing to pay 25% (price between N 365 – N 466) more on the actual price of the EU-approved pesticides. Logit regression estimates showed that gender, age, marital status, education, extension visit, access to credit, household size, farm size, and quantity of pesticide used significantly influenced cocoa farmers’ willingness to pay for EU-approved pesticides. This study concluded that credit access is an important variable affecting cocoa farmers’ willingness to pay for EU-approved pesticides. This suggests that policy strategies aimed at improving the cocoa farmers’ willingness to pay for EU-approved pesticides must consider their credit access. Based on the findings of the study, it was recommended that Government and agricultural-related organisations should provide credit to farmers to boost their willingness to pay for the approved pesticides.
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Interventions to encourage sustainable consumption
51-58Views:800Sustainable consumption is hampered by a discrepancy between consumers’ attitudes and their actual behaviour in the market place. Psychological construal level theory provides an explanation for the attitude to behaviour gap as a motivational conflict between high and low level of mental construal. Based on self-determination theory it is argued that this motivational conflict presupposes extrinsic motivation for sustainable behaviour. Based on self-regulatory styles, the present paper identifies and illustrates four types of intervention strategies that can cater for extrinsic motivation for sustainable development among light users. The underlying mechanisms of these interventions suggest that the transition from external to internal regulation is catalysed by social feedback.
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Urban consumers’ attitude towards organic food in Sri Lanka
5-14Views:774This research investigation aims to examine the urban consumers’ attitude towards organic food, and the factors affecting for their attitude. A consumer survey consisting of a sample of 600 consumers was conducted, using a pre-tested questionnaire, in major cities of six main districts of Sri Lanka during November 2016 - May 2018. Data were analyzed using descriptive statistics, factor analysis, and multiple linear regression analysis. Results revealed that majority of the consumers were married females. Most of them were of 18-40 years of age category and were educated up to the GCE advanced level. The sample’s monthly income ranged from Sri Lankan Rupees 58000 – 85000. Although the majority of the consumers (75.2%) were aware of organic food, only 11.5% possessed a good knowledge about them. As per the mean analysis, the consumers had a positive attitude towards most aspects of organic food. According to factor analysis, four factors (environmental factors, quality factors, health factors, and marketing factors) were extracted as they are influenced to the consumer attitude for purchasing of organic foods. Results of multiple linear regression analysis revealed a positive relationship between consumers’ attitude and the extracted four factors which were based on the consumers’ attitude on purchasing of organic foods. Main problems faced by consumers in buying organic food were the high price, unavailability of organic food, lack of trust, and lack of market information on organic food. It can be concluded that by providing the necessary conditions such as arranging better marketing facilities with useful market information, a continuous supply of organic foods with reasonable price levels, and enhancing consumer knowledge, will motivate the consumers to purchase more organic food. As relatively low is known about consumers’ purchasing pattern of organic foods in Sri Lanka, findings of this study would be beneficial to the traders and policy makers to formulate effective strategies designed to marketing of organic foods in the country.
JEL CODE: Q13
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A multi-dimensional ethical approach to accounting and reporting practices
13-26Views:337Purpose – The purpose of this research is to find out the multi-dimensional ethical approach to accounting and reporting practices going on in India and abroad. What has been the shift in Reporting Practices by Indian companies? What drives the Indian companies to report on the non-financial matters?
Design/methodology/approach – This paper mainly focuses on the inclusion of Non-Financial Matters in the Corporate Annual Reports. An Empirical Survey was carried out and the questionnaires were administered to 122 respondents comprising of 75 academicians and 47 chartered accountants. This paper compares the perceptions of academicians and accounting professionals on the ethical reporting practices of the Indian companies.
Findings – The results were tested using the t-test analysis. The research suggests that more companies should report on their environmental, social, and corporate governance performance and find a way to express them in their Annual Reports and the reporting of data regarding the carbon emissions, energy use, pollution, impact on the local economy, etc., should be made mandatory for companies.
Research limitations/implications – The research included respondents who are currently living in Delhi. For more generalized opinion nationwide survey can be carried out. Another important category of stakeholder for judging the usability of Corporate Annual Reports could be the Institutional Investors.
Practical implications – The results of this study would help the policy makers in framing the guidelines for standardized annual reports, synergizing social and business interest needs on top priority. Corporate philanthropy needs to transform into the realm of core business and corporate social responsibility. Integrated reporting could pave the way for synthesizing financial and non-financial reporting into one form and give a holistic view of companies’ strategies to its stakeholders incorporating new dimensions of IFRS.
Social implications – More emphasis on Non-financial matters will certainly contribute in making the corporates more responsible to the society, environment, and to the future generations.
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