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The economics of decarbonising Europe's ammonia industry: Policy, pathways, and trade-offs in a hard-to-abate sector
No full textThis study applies a robust techno-economic framework to explore four key decarbonisation pathways - unabated steam methane reforming (SMR), SMR with carbon capture and storage (CCS), biomass-based hydrogen (BIOH₂), and renewable hydrogen via alkaline electrolyser cells (AEC) - across 52 existing ammonia production locations in Europe from 2030 to 2040. These pathways are examined under various policy settings, including RED III, CBAM, RFNBO, and Low-Carbon Fuels directives. In the absence of policy support, SMR remains the most cost-effective option, primarily due to the depreciation of existing infrastructure at many plants, resulting in lower overall costs. Meanwhile, well-structured incentives can substantially enhance the competitiveness of renewables-based ammonia in regions with strong solar and wind resources. Strict hourly time-matching rules for green hydrogen significantly raise production costs, emphasizing the need for more flexible policy approaches and robust energy infrastructure. The analysis also indicates that US-produced ammonia from CCS, BIOH₂, or AEC can meet EU carbon intensity thresholds - reinforcing that if genuine market competitiveness is sought, harmonized and fair carbon accounting must be in place. Overall, the findings highlight the importance of coordinated strategies and adaptive policy instruments in establishing a cost-effective, low-carbon ammonia sector in Europe
Inhibitors and Enablers of Leverage in Digital Industrial Platform Ecosystems
No full textDigital platforms have demonstrated their disruptive power across various domains, and an increasing number of manufacturing firms have embarked on establishing digital industrial platforms for emerging technologies like the Industrial Internet of Things. Given the technical and organizational complexity of digital industrial platforms, the ways in which complementors can create value by interacting and engaging with them may differ for these platforms. Drawing on a case study conducted at a large multinational platform provider, the article explores how complementors can use digital industrial platforms to their advantage. To this end, the study adopts the concept of leverage, which refers to the ability of platform ecosystems to exert a significant degree of impact that is disproportionate to the input required. The findings indicate that complementors currently primarily benefit from production leverage, utilizing the platform as a technological foundation for individual solutions. However, the utilization of the platform as a marketplace for innovative and generically distributable applications that benefit from innovation and transaction leverage is limited. This is due to a variety of inhibitors, which the platform owner tries to mitigate via enablers through deliberate governance in the form of boundary resources. By unveiling domain-specific manifestations, inhibitors, and enablers across different types of leverage, the study contextualizes leverage within the domain of digital industrial platforms and stresses the need for adopting platform and ecosystem thinking and providing relational governance mechanisms. In addition, it extends the notion of architectural leverage by emphasizing the leveraging ecosystem and its governance through the deliberate orchestration of complementor engagement and underscoring ecosystem leverage based on value co-creation and coordination
Lean digital education to resolve the paradox of the illusion of digital prosperity
No full textDigital education, including digitally supported education, is loaded with biases. Most participants are blinded by the abundance of digital devices and misled by the hardware and software providers who try to convince and force education systems to keep track of untraceable developments. However, recent studies have revealed that the productivity of the participants and the sustainability of their digital artifacts generate a huge but silent waste, both in terms of human and machine resources. This contradiction generates a paradox in which the illusion of digital prosperity does not allow us to clearly see the ineffectiveness of digital processes and artifacts and the losses piling up. Our research revealed that the methodology of Lean Thinking allows us to find the root causes of the problems and the revolutionary changes which must be applied to eliminate the waste generated by the participants in the digital era. It was also found that the adaptation of the lean philosophy, proven effective in production, services, and administration, can be a solution in resolving the paradox of digital education, which leads us to Lean Digital Education (LDE). Within this framework - instead of the widely accepted tool-centered ideas - we offer a human-centered, long-term thinking philosophy focusing on respect for participants, on their development, tasks, and problems, while at the same time eliminating and reducing waste. The present paper details the strength of this innovative approach which is based on (1) a solid theoretical background (2) a reliable measuring system for calculating the waste of digital activities and artifacts, (3) approaches proven to be effective and efficient in end-user data management, and (4) examples of the learning-teaching materials which support the philosophy adapted
A new perspective on talent management: An integrative review of the current literature
No full textPurpose: Although talent management is widely applied across various business sectors, the comprehensive literature focusing on talent management within the context of migration flows remains limited. This paper addresses this gap by conducting an extensive review of the studies published between 2018 and 2023, with particular attention given to the absence of talent management frameworks tailored to refugees. By synthesizing the existing literature, this study aims to highlight the areas where talent management practices can be developed to better address the unique challenges faced by migrant populations. Methodology: This research utilizes the PRISMA methodology and VOSviewer for bibliometric analysis. A total of 62 studies were included, providing insights into the role of talent management across different contexts. Analysis categorizes the studies by the research field, the keywords, the methods, the statistical measures, the geographic origin (countries/universities), and the publication year. Findings: Analysis revealed distinct categorization criteria, including the research field, the keywords, the methodologies, the statistical approaches, the country of origin, and the publication year. This study also identified critical research gaps, particularly in talent management practices related to refugee populations. These findings point to future research directions, emphasizing the need to develop talent management frameworks that can address migration-related challenges. Originality/value: This literature review is innovative due to its cross-disciplinary examination of the talent management literature, focusing on a previously unexplored intersection between talent management and migration. To the best of the authors' knowledge, this is the first study to systematically analyze the gap in migration-related talent management, underscoring the need for further research in this important and emerging field
Effects of organizational culture and pay levels on employee retention: Focused on generational difference
No full textResearch on generational differences in the workplace is important as it leads to more effective recruitment, retention, and employee wellbeing in terms of human resource management. This study investigates whether there are differences in perceptions of turnover intention, pay level, and organizational culture between different generational groups. First, this study identifies the relationship between pay level and turnover intention. Second, it confirms the moderating effect of organizational culture on the relationship between pay level and turnover intention. Finally, a three-way interaction analysis was conducted to determine whether these relationships differed between Baby Boomers, Gen Xers, and Millennials. As a result of the empirical analysis, the millennial generation showed higher turnover intention than other generations. It was confirmed that the effect of hierarchical culture was greater than that of pay level on the decrease in turnover intention in the millennial generation than in other generations. In other words, it was found that as the hierarchical culture weakened, the turnover intention of Millennials decreased more significantly than that of other generations. Based on these findings, we propose recommendations for understanding Millennials in the workplace and managing generational diversit
On the Existence of Recursive Utility
No full textRecursive utility functions are often defined implicitly, as the solution of a functional equation known as the Koopmans recursion. As conditions for a unique solution can be demanding, a recent literature has tackled the problem of multiplicity, advocating that one focus attention on either the least or greatest solution, which possess a number of attractive properties. While a least solution can be shown to exist, I show that in the most general formulation of the problem, a greatest solution need not. The goal of the paper is to provide a sufficient condition for the existence of a greatest solution, which I term the weakly contractive property and which generalizes the usual contractive property sufficient for uniqueness
In Today's Dollars: Quantifying Economic Violence Against Blacks
No full textHow much is owed today to Blacks and other groups who have suffered substantial past economic violence? The issue has become extremely relevant given the $105 million reparations program announced by the City of Tulsa on June 1, 2025. To make some progress on this complex issue, this short paper focuses on the economic procedures used to relate some components of the legacy of slavery to compensation in today's dollars. Two well-defined property losses -- the 1921 Tulsa Riot and the 1874 Freedman's Bank Failure -- provide concrete examples facilitating a critical examination of three estimation procedures. One is unworkable; one systematically underestimates losses. A third procedure with an element of novelty - assets-as-economic-rights - is proposed that avoids these problems and may prove useful in other discussions concerning reparations and racial wealth gaps that value past economic violence in today's dollars. A key part of the 2023 California Reparations Plan relies on the first two procedures, and those calculations are reevaluated
Understanding Among Societal Groups as a Prerequisite for Constructive Conflict Handling in Sustainable Land Use Change
No full textUnderstanding the other's point of view is key to expanding sustainable agriculture beyond its current niche status in the context of climate change mitigation. This paper aims to identify societal groups based on their understanding of the agriculturally shaped environment and investigates associations between sociodemographic characteristics and understanding among these groups. The empirical data stem from a large‐scale population survey in Western Pomerania, Germany, a prime example of a region with manifold land use conflicts. Cluster and regression analyses were applied. Three understanding profiles are identified: alienated from the agriculturally shaped environment, knowledge about sustainable land use, and conventional agriculture. Significant associations between sociodemographic characteristics and understanding profiles exist and are discussed, as well as the transformational potential between the understanding profiles. In conclusion, understanding profiles can serve as a basis for creating appropriate actions to overcome barriers to sustainable development and enable the transformative potential at the societal level
Workplace frustration leading to task deviation and accidents at sea: A sociocultural perspective on the maritime human element
No full textSeafaring continues to be risky despite the tremendous international effort to curb maritime accidents. While onboard, seafarers, as the principal human element in the maritime industry, must face myriad physical and mental stresses and dynamic safety challenges. So far, many of these challenges have remained out of the scope of the maritime industry and research communities. Our earlier research addressed some human element-related challenges, including time constraints, fatigue and performing simultaneous tasks. This study addresses a crucial element that has yet to be adequately researched: seafarers' frustration at their workplace. It is essential because managing the high rate of maritime accidents due to task deviation and its underlying factor of frustration has been a significant challenge for the governing authorities of the maritime industry. This research constitutes a significant qualitative investigation, utilising interviews to explore an underlying factor contributing to maritime accidents. We show that workplace frustration is a significant cause of task deviation, leading to dangerous situations at sea. This paper presents four reasons for frustration at sea: physical hardship in conducting a task, social isolation, working with undesirable people, and severed expectations. Additionally, the main steps that the maritime industry can take to mitigate seafarers' frustration at sea are recommended
Exploring the impact of digital inclusive finance and industrial structure upgrading on high-quality economic development: Evidence from a Spatial Durbin Model
No full textThis study investigates the impact and mechanisms of digital inclusive finance (DIF) on high-quality economic development in China. Drawing on panel data from 281 prefecture-level cities between 2011 and 2021, we employ a Spatial Durbin Model (SDM) to analyze both the direct effects and spatial spillovers of DIF. The results indicate that (1) DIF has a significantly positive effect on high-quality development, which remains robust after conducting various stability and endogeneity tests; (2) DIF strongly contributes to economic upgrading in eastern regions, while its impact is weaker or even negative in central and western regions, revealing notable regional disparities exist; (3) a key finding is the identification of a double-threshold effect, suggesting that the positive influence of DIF only emerges when financial and industrial development surpass certain thresholds; (4) results from the two-regime SDM further show that spillover effects are more prominent in non-central cities than in central ones; and (5) mechanism analysis reveals that DIF facilitates high-quality growth primarily by promoting industrial structure upgrading. These findings underscore the importance of region-specific policy strategies to enhance the role of DIF and reduce spatial disparities in development across China