The 21st century’s rapidly compounding crises – from climate and ecological breakdown to extreme social inequities of power and opportunity – make it irrefutably clear that the global economic system must be transformed if humanity and the rest of life on Earth are to thrive. Doughnut Economics provides an increasingly recognised compass for such a thriving future, and is focused on meeting the needs of all people within the means of the living planet, by creating economies that are regenerative and distributive by design. What are the implications for the role and transformation of business, if it is to be part of this future?This paper explores how the deep design of business – through a company’s Purpose, Networks, Governance, Ownership, and Finance – powerfully shapesits strategic decisions and operational impacts, and ultimately determines whether or not businesses can transform to become part of a regenerative and distributive future. By diving into five layers of deep design, this paper reveals both design blockages that prevent transformative action, and design innovations that can unlock its possibility. In addition, this paper recognises that industry-level and system-wide transformations are crucial for turning the inheritance of a degenerative and divisive economic system into the beginnings of a regenerative and distributive one.
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Frank Jan de Graaf argues that the domination of neoclassical economic thinking in academia has contributed to the economic crisis and hindered thinking about sustainable development. Currently, ethics is re-entering the debate about how to develop prosperous open societies. A group of NGOs recently came up with an interesting alternative perspective on economics and social development. Their thinking could enrich mainstream economics.Verschenen in de Working papers series.
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Blockchain is a disruptive and rapidly evolving technology with diverse applications, yet its integration into non-technical curricula remains limited and under-studied. This study develops a teaching framework tailored for Business, Management and Economics (BME) programmes, addressing key pedagogical and interdisciplinary challenges. Using a mixed-methods approach, the research incorporates a survey of 129 educators from four European institutions, an analysis of 17 existing Blockchain courses, and interviews with six experts in the field. The findings highlight key barriers, including limited educator expertise and insufficient resources, and propose strategies for overcoming these challenges through accessible materials and modular, adaptable teaching approaches. By delivering actionable insights for the integration of Blockchain into higher education curricula, this study contributes to equipping students with the critical competencies required to thrive in a digital economy.
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The digital era has brought about profound changes in how music is created, distributed, and consumed, posing a need for modernizing the Dutch collective management system of music copyright to match the rapidly changing digital music industry. This study aims to identify the key stakeholders and their perceptions of the Dutch system of collective management of music copyright. Utilizing qualitative document analysis, the study examines a range of public and non-public documents, including income statements, annual reports from Collective Management Organizations (CMOs), and contracts between publishers and creators. The research is further enriched by twenty-four semi-structured interviews with key stakeholders such as composers, lyricists, music publishers, copyright lawyers, and CMO executives. The findings of the study highlight several issues like the outdated IT systems and the lack of data standardization within the system. The research also notes a contrast in organizational effectiveness: major publishers are well-organized and unified in their negotiations with Digital Service Providers (DSPs) and CMOs, effectively advocating for their rights. However, music copyright holders, despite their legal homogeneity, are either unorganized or ineffectively aligned, displaying diverse interests and varying levels of access to information, as well as differences in norms and values prioritization. The study is grounded in the economics of collective management (ECM) and makes a significant academic contribution to this field by introducing new empirical findings to ECMs core constructs and integrating theoretical perspectives. The research offers valuable insights for policymakers, industry stakeholders, and researchers, aiming to foster a more equitable music copyright management system in the digital context.
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Subjects such as public finance, corporate finance, banking theory, risk management and management accounting are all largely based on the neoclassical approach. Most recent appointed professors have started their work with ideas based on a neoclassical fundament and its methodological preferences. Neoclassical economic thinking is not bad in itself. It has brought much good, even. However, now the downside of neoclassical theory has occurred. Failing financial markets have plunged the global economy into crisis. It is, therefore, high time for a debate on economic concepts as taught in universities and business schools. Are students really trained to think critically about economic theory and the consequences when economic theories are put into practice?
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Abstract The emergence of new technologies such as mp3 and music streaming, and the accompanying digital transformation of the music industry, have led to the shift and change of the entire music industry’s value chain. While music is increasingly being consumed through digital channels, the number of empirical studies, particularly in the field of music copyright in the digital music industry, is limited. Every year, rightsholders of musical works, valued 2.5 billion dollars, remain unknown. The objectives of this study are twofold: First to understand and describe the structure and process of the Dutch music copyright system including the most relevant actors within the system and their relations. Second to apply evolutionary economics approach and Values Sensitive Design method within the context of music copyright through positive-empirical perspective. For studies of technological change in existing markets, the evolutionary economics literature provides a coherent and evidence-based foundation. The actors are generally perceived as being different, for example with regard to their access to information, their ability to handle information, their capital and knowledge base (asymmetric information). Also their norms, values and roles can differ. Based on an analysis of documents and held expert interviews, we find that the collection and distribution of the music copyright money is still based on obsolete laws, neoclassical paradigm and legacy IT-system. Finally, we conclude that the rightsholders are heterogenous and have asymmetrical information and negotiating power. The outcomes of this study contribute to create a better understanding of impact of digitization of music copyright industry and empower the stakeholders to proceed from a more informed perspective on redesigning and applying the future music copyright system and pre-digital norms and values amongst actors.
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Plant-based proteins, like water lentils, generally result in lower environmental impact compared to animal-based protein.
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Plant-based proteins, like water lentils, generally result in lower environmental impact compared to animal-based protein.
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This paper presents an integral assessment tool for the social and ecological embedding of a farm. In transitioning towards sustainable farming systems, a product-baed view as well as a location-based view is needed. The location-based perspective focuses on the combined effects of farming practices on the social and ecological context of the farm. Based on a need expressed in practice, and inspired by Doughnut economics, the FarmingTree Tool was designed. Using a qualitative assessment of on-farm activities for six social and ten ecological themes, this farm assessment tool supports awareness of and communication on the situation of the farm. Testing of the tool in various contexts showed a high added value for communication between the farmer and stakeholders with an interest in the development of the farm. The tool creates a shared understanding of the farm allowing to discuss farm development options in a clear manner with stakeholders with a specific interest in the development of the farm, like local food systems or in a lesser-tenant situation and as well students in farming related studies. The tool strengthens the farmer in conveying the 'story' of the farm in its entirety and its complexity. Keywords: farming, assessment tool, Doughnut Economics, strategy, embedding
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