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Un encaje natural: Exploración de los antecedentes y enfoques de las familias empresarias en la inversión de impacto y el empredimiento social
Full text linkEsta tesis examina la participación de las familias empresarias y sus miembros en los ámbitos de la inversión de impacto y el emprendimiento social, y contribuye a tres áreas clave. En primer lugar, avanza en la investigación sobre empresas familiares al ampliar el estudio de las familias empresarias más allá de los límites de la empresa familiar. Destaca su participación heterogénea en iniciativas sociales, ofreciendo una comprensión matizada de cómo equilibran una hibridación de objetivos, tanto financieros como no financieros, en función de su marco de referencia único. En segundo lugar, contribuye a la investigación en emprendimiento al indagar sobre cómo los individuos construyen identidades emprendedoras en campos emergentes y ambiguos, como la inversión de
impacto, y cómo pueden utilizar a su familia como un referente social relevante para orientar dicha construcción identitaria. En tercer lugar, proporciona nuevas perspectivas sobre el emprendimiento social y las colaboraciones
intersectoriales al examinar el caso de una empresa social que vende la mayoría de sus acciones a un grupo empresarial familiar de gran tamaño. El estudio identifica decisiones y medidas clave que ayudan a sostener el impacto social tras la adquisición, proporcionando información tanto a académicos como a profesionales sobre la estructuración de asociaciones orientadas a la misión social. Al integrar estas perspectivas, esta tesis profundiza en la comprensión del comportamiento social de las familias empresarias, la construcción de la identidad emprendedora en nuevos campos y las condiciones bajo las cuales las empresas sociales pueden mantener su propósito en asociaciones intersectoriales.This dissertation examines the engagement of business-owning families and their members in the fields of impact investing and social venturing, and contributes to three key areas. First, it advances family business scholarship by extending the study of business-owning families beyond the boundaries of the family firm. It highlights their heterogeneous engagement in social endeavors, offering a nuanced understanding of how they balance a hybridity of objectives, both financial and non-financial, based on their unique frame of reference. Second, it contributes to entrepreneurship research by shedding light on how individuals construct entrepreneurial identities in nascent and ambiguous fields such as impact investing, and how they may use their family as a salient social referent to guide their identity construction. Third, it provides new insights into social entrepreneurship and cross-sector collaborations by examining the case of a social enterprise selling the majority of its shares to a large family group. The study identifies how both entities were integrated in ways that helped sustain social impact post-acquisition, informing both scholars and practitioners on structuring mission-driven partnerships. By integrating these perspectives, this dissertation deepens our understanding of business-owning families’ social behaviors, the crafting of entrepreneurial identity in new fields, and the conditions under which social enterprises can maintain their purpose in cross-sector partnerships.yesPublishe
Climbing a Wall: Strategic Litigation Against Automated Systems in Migration and Asylum
Full text linkStrategic litigation plays a crucial role in advancing human rights in the digital age, particularly in cases where data subjects, such as migrants and protection seekers, experience significant power imbalances. In this Article, we consider strategic litigation as part of broader legal mobilization efforts. Although some emerging studies have examined contestation against digital rights and migrant rights separately using legal mobilization frameworks, scholarship on legal mobilization concerning the use of automated systems on migrants and asylum seekers is scarce. This Article aims to address this gap by investigating the extent to which EU law empowers strategic litigants working at the intersection of technology and migration. Through an analysis of five specific cases of contestation and in-depth interviews, we explore how EU data protection law is leveraged to protect the digital rights of migrants and asylum seekers. This analysis takes a socio-legal perspective, analyzing the opportunities presented by EU data protection law and how civil society organizations (CSOs) utilize them in practice. Our findings reveal that the pre-litigation phase is particularly onerous for strategic litigants in this field, requiring a considerable investment of resources and time before even reaching the litigation stage. We illustrate this phase as akin to “climbing a wall,” characterized by numerous hurdles that CSOs face and the strategies they employ to overcome them.This research is part of the Algorithmic Fairness for Asylum Seekers and Refugees (AFAR) Project, funded by the Volkswagen Foundation under its Challenges for Europe Programme.YesPublishe
Field spectroscopy and machine learning successfully predict grassland forage quality and quantity across climate zones
Full text linkGrasslands cover one-third of Earth's land surface and are essential for livestock forage provision. Monitoring forage biomass and quality is key for sustainable management. Hyperspectral remote sensing and field spectroscopy is promising, but global models often fail across biomes.
We compiled data from temperate, humid tropical, and dry subtropical grasslands in Europe and Africa, spanning local growing seasons and management gradients. Using machine-learning models, we assessed the performance and transferability of global and regional predictions for forage quality (metabolizable energy), and quantity (aboveground biomass), and their combined proxy (metabolizable energy yield).
Random forest regression performed best for metabolizable energy (nRMSE = 0.108, R2 = 0.68), aboveground biomass (nRMSE = 0.145, R2 = 0.53), and metabolizable energy yield (nRMSE = 0.153, R2 = 0.58). Neural networks showed highest global-to-regional transferability (nRMSE as low as 0.083), while globally trained partial least squares models outperformed regional ones (ΔnRMSE: −0.211 to 0.037). Forage quality was predicted most accurately, likely due to consistent variation in plant functional traits and strong spectral correlations. In contrast, forage quantity was harder to model due to region-specific canopy structure and pigment differences. No method achieved full spatial transferability.
Our findings highlight both the potential and limitations of hyperspectral models for forage monitoring, particularly the consistent accuracy of forage quality predictions and the superior performance of random forest models. Transferability across regions was only feasible when models accommodated local variability. Expanding spectral datasets, advancing sensors, and refining models may improve predictions, supporting more sustainable grassland management worldwide.YesPublishe
Contrasting Methane, Sulfide and Nitrogen-Loading Regimes in Bioreactors Shape Microbial Communities Originating From Methane-Rich Coastal Sediment of the Stockholm Archipelago
Full text linkCoastal ecosystems are increasingly exposed to high nutrient loads and salinity intrusions due to rising seawater levels. Microbial communities, key drivers of elemental cycles in these ecosystems, consequently, experience fluctuations. This study investigates how the methane-rich coastal sediment microbiome from the Stockholm Archipelago copes with high and low nitrogen and sulfide loading by simulating coastal conditions in two methane-saturated anoxic brackish bioreactors. Over a year, the bioreactors were subjected to the same ratio of nitrate, ammonium and sulfide (2:1:1) under eutrophic or oligotrophic conditions and monitored using 16S rRNA gene amplicon and metagenomic sequencing. Sulfide was depleted in both conditions. Sulfide-dependent denitrification was the predominant process in eutrophic conditions, whereas dissimilatory nitrate reduction to ammonium dominated under oligotrophic conditions. Methane oxidation was driven by Methylobacter and Methylomonas in eutrophic conditions, whereas a more diverse methane-oxidising microbial community developed under oligotrophic conditions, which likely competed for nitrate with anaerobic methanotrophic archaea and the gammaproteobacterial MBAE14. Novel putative copper-dependent membrane-bound monooxygenases (Cu-MMOs) were identified in MBAE14 and co-enriched Rugosibacter genomes, suggesting the need for further physiological and genetic characterisation. This study highlights the importance of understanding coastal anoxic microbiomes under fluctuating conditions, revealing complex interactions and novel pathways crucial for ecosystem functioning.We would like to thank Dr. Paula Dalcin-Martins for her invaluable as-sistance during the inoculation of the bioreactors. We would also like to acknowledge Theo van Alen, Geert Cremers, Dr. Tom Berben and Dr. Andy Leu for their expert contributions to the bioinformatic anal-ysis. This study was supported by the SIAM Gravitation grant funded by NWO [Grant number 024.002.002] and an NWO-VIDI Talent grant[Grant number VI.Vidi.223.012]. It was furthermore supported by the ERC Synergy Grant MARIX [Grant number 854088].YesPublishe
Fabricating CSR authenticity: The Illusory Truth Effect of CSR communication on social media in the AI era
No full textCorporate Social Responsibility (CSR) communication via social media offers significant opportunities for organizations. Posts by third-party stakeholders allow for critical evaluation of CSR efforts, fostering authenticity through the anonymous, collective sharing of personal experiences. The advent of Large Language Models (LLMs), which facilitate the rapid and cost-effective creation of bot-driven posts, raises concerns about whether an increasing number of fabricated CSR messages could linearly influence an audience’s perception of a company’s CSR authenticity. We base our hypotheses on the Illusory Truth Effect, suggesting that perceived authenticity can increase with exposure to more messages. However, this effect only continues up to a certain tipping point, after which it plateaus. We tested our hypotheses in a study with 480 participants, presenting AI-generated CSR testimonials about Shell to three groups: zero, low, and high exposure. We found a significant increase in perceived CSR authenticity in the low exposure group compared to the zero group, with the effect tapering off in the high exposure group. We conclude that LLMs can effectively replace human-written CSR messages for a fraction of a cent, yet the main strength of LLMs—sheer volume, leading to repeated exposure—is unlikely to become a concern.YesPublishe
Corporate governance, finance, and global strategy
No full textWe bring together insights from international business (IB), finance, economics, and accounting to offer a multi-faceted perspective on firm strategies and global governance. Complex, multi-level institutional environments—particularly in emerging markets—necessitate cross-fertilisation between IB and other disciplines. Research on the role of foreign investors in both corporate financing and internationalisation is associated with persistent gaps and research opportunities, especially in understanding how state-owned enterprises and sovereign wealth funds navigate regulatory and governance challenges. Evolving management accounting practices require that traditional frameworks be adapted to better accommodate multi-national contexts. Further, the latest developments in research on capital structure and financial constraints suggest that they act as both barriers and enablers for international expansion. Finally, contemporary challenges, such as populism, climate risk, and digital disruption, underscore the pressing need for interdisciplinary research with purpose and broad scope. We recommend an integrated research agenda that reconciles these diverse elements to advance both theory and practice in global business.YesPublishe
Ascending Republic: The Ballooning Revival in Nineteenth-Century France
No full textWhy and how the French made the balloon into one of the quintessential symbols of late nineteenth-century modernity, and how the balloon's reinvention shaped the airplane's assimilation in the early years of aviation.
On August 27, 1783, a large crowd gathered in Paris to watch the first ascent of a hydrogen balloon. Despite the initial feverish enthusiasm, by the mid-nineteenth century the balloon remained relatively unchanged and was no longer seen as the harbinger of a new era. Yet that all changed in the last third of the century, when following the traumatic Franco-Prussian War defeat, the balloon reemerged to become the modern artifact that captured the attention of many. Through this process, the balloon became an important symbol of the fledgling Third Republic, and France established itself as the world leader in flight. In Ascending Republic, Patrick Luiz Sullivan De Oliveira tells for the first time the story of this surprising revival.
Through extensive research in the press and archives in France, the United States, and Brazil, De Oliveira argues that French civil society cultivated popular enthusiasm for flight (what historians call “airmindedness”) decades before the advent of the airplane. Champions of French ballooning made the case that if the British Royal Navy controlled the seas and the Imperial German Army dominated the continent, then France needed to take ownership of the skies. The French appropriated this newly imagined geopolitical space through a variety of practices, from republican savants who studied the atmosphere at high altitudes to aristocrats who organized transcontinental long-distance competitions. All of this made Paris into the global capital of a thriving aeronautical culture that incorporated seemingly contradictory visions of sacrificial patriotism, aristocratic modernity, colonial anxiety, and technological cosmopolitanism.YesPublishe
Institutions and the real effects of private equity buyouts: A meta-analysis
No full textResearch Summary
This study reviews four decades of fragmented and contradictory empirical literature on the real effects of private equity (PE) buyouts on portfolio companies, differentiating between efficiency and growth outcomes. We hypothesize how institutional forces, including regulatory, cognitive, and normative institutions explain heterogeneity in post-buyout efficiency and growth across time and countries. We argue that competition and population-level learning have shifted the cognitive frame underlying value creation in buyouts from financial engineering toward operational engineering and strategic entrepreneurship. Using meta-analysis, we find support for several of our hypotheses using samples from 66 empirical studies across the finance, management, economics, and entrepreneurship disciplines.
Managerial Summary
This study delves into four decades of fragmented private equity (PE) literature to unravel the practical implications for post-buyout efficiency and growth. Using meta-analysis, we explore the role of institutional forces—regulatory, cognitive, and normative—in shaping outcomes across diverse temporal and geographical contexts. We observe an overall paradigm shift in PE value creation over time, transitioning from focusing on financial engineering to operational value creation and strategic entrepreneurship. This transformation is driven by heightened competition and widespread population-level learning. Validating our hypotheses through a thorough examination of 66 empirical studies spanning finance, management, economics, and entrepreneurship disciplines, our findings offer insights for policymakers and practitioners navigating the nuanced landscape of PE buyouts.The authors are grateful to Daniel Tzabbar (the editor), two anonymous reviewers, Stefano Maiani, Andreas Rauch, Tom Vanacker, Silvio Vismara, seminar participants at Audencia Business School, Ghent University, HEC Liège, Vlerick Business School, and conference participants at the 81st Academy of Management Conference, the 2021 Babson College Entrepreneurship Research Conference, the 21st European Academy of Management conference, the 2021 European Financial Management Association, and the 37th Conference of the French Finance Association for their valuable feedback on earlier versions of this article. The authors acknowledge the financial support from a Special Research Fund from Ghent University (BOF GOA 01G00720).YesPublishe
Physiological Stress Response to Sulfide Exposure of Freshwater Anaerobic Methanotrophic Archaea
No full textFreshwater wetlands and coastal sediments are becoming hotspots for the emission of the greenhouse gas methane. Eutrophication-induced deposition of organic matter leads to elevated methanogenesis and sulfate reduction, thereby increasing the concentrations of methane and toxic sulfide, respectively. However, the effects of sulfide stress on the anaerobic methanotrophic biofilter have not been well explored. Here, we show how an enrichment culture dominated by the freshwater anaerobic methane-oxidizing archaeon “Candidatus (Ca.) Methanoperedens” responds to short-term and long-term exposure to sulfide in a bioreactor. The methane-oxidizing activity decreased to 45% and 20% but partially recovered to 70% and 30% within 5 days after short- and long-term sulfide exposure, respectively. Metagenomics indicated that “Ca. Methanoperedens” remained dominant in the enrichment throughout the entire experiment. The first short-term sulfide pulse led to increased expression of genes encoding for sulfide detoxification by low abundant community members, whereas long-term exposure resulted in upregulation of “Ca. Methanoperedens” genes encoding sulfite reductases of group III (Dsr-LP). “Ca. Methanoperedens” consumed polyhydroxyalkanoates during long-term sulfide exposure, possibly to aid in stress adaptation. Together, these results provide a valuable baseline for understanding fundamental ecophysiological adaptations to methane cycling in sulfate- and nitrate-rich aquatic ecosystems.This study was supported by the SIAM Gravitation grant funded by NWO (Grant number 024.002.002) and an NWOVIDI Talent grant (Grant number VI.Vidi.223.012). It was furthermore supported by the ERC Synergy Grant MARIX (Grant number 854088).YesPublishe
Art, Aesthetics and International Justice
No full textThis book demonstrates that art is implicit in the process of administration of international justice. The diverse nature of recent global threats as well as an overwhelming pull towards isolationism and nationalism challenge the dominant deterrence paradigm of international governance created in the aftermath of the Second World War. An alternative model is to focus on cooperation, and not deterrence, as a guiding operational principle.
This volume focuses on the theoretical component linking justice with aesthetics as well as on the practical manifestation of such connection evident, inter alia, in the rhetoric of international courts, their architectural design and their commemorative practices expressed by the practice of symbolic reparations adopted by some of the courts. The underlying premise of the book is that international justice requires new vocabulary and new approaches, which can be derived from the study of aesthetics. It is held that exploring the aesthetical dimension of international justice contributes to the discussion on the foundations of its authority and the grounds for compliance with it. The work engages deeply with the theory of aesthetics developed by Immanuel Kant and Abhinavagupta, a Kashmiri critic, philosopher and scholar writing in the early eleventh century.
The book will be of interest to academics and researchers working in the areas of Legal Philosophy, International Criminal Justice and International Law and International Relations.YesPublishe