Like a marker pen on a map, the Covid-19 pandemic drastically highlighted the persisting existence of borders that used to play an ever decreasing role in people´s perception and behavior over the last decades. Yes, inner European borders are open in normal times. Yes, people, goods, services and ideas are crossing the border between Germany and the Netherlands freely. Yet we see that the border can turn into a barrier again quickly and effectively and it does so in many dimensions, some of them being not easily visible. Barriers hinder growth, development and exchange and in spite of our progress in creating a borderless Europe, borders still create barriers in many domains. Differing labor law, social security and tax systems, heterogeneous education models, small and big cultural differences, language barriers and more can impose severe limitations on people and businesses as they cross the border to travel, shop, work, hire, produce, buy, sell, study and research. Borders are of all times and will therefore always exist. But as they did so for a long time, huge opportunities can be found in overcoming the barriers they create. The border must not necessarily be a dividing line between two systems. It has the potential to become a center of growth and progress that build on joint efforts, cross-border cooperation, mutual learning and healthy competition. Developing this inherent potential of border regions asks for politics, businesses and research & education on both sides of the border to work together. The research group Cross-Border Business Development at Fontys University of Applied Science in Venlo conducts applied research on the impact of the national border on people and businesses in the Dutch-German border area. Students, employees, border commuters, entrepreneurs and employers all face opportunities as well as challenges due to the border. In collaboration with these stakeholders, the research chair aims to create knowledge and provide solutions towards a Dutch-German labor market, an innovative Dutch-German borderland and a futureproof Cross-Border economic ecosystem. This collection is not about the borderland in times of COVID-19. Giving meaning to the borderland is an ongoing process that started long before the pandemic and will continue far beyond. The links that have been established across the border and those that will in the future are multifaceted and so are the topics in this collection. Vincent Pijnenburg outlines a broader and introductory perspective on the dynamics in the Dutch-German borderland.. Carla Arts observes shopping behavior of cross-border consumers in the Euregion Rhine-Meuse-North. Jan Lucas explores the interdependencies of the Dutch and German economies. Jean Louis Steevensz presents a cross-border co-creation servitization project between a Dutch supplier and a German customer. Vincent Pijnenburg and Patrick Szillat analyze the exitence of clusters in the Dutch-German borderland. Christina Masch and Janina Ulrich provide research on students job search preferences with a focus on the cross-border labor market. Sonja Floto-Stammen and Natalia Naranjo-Guevara contribute a study of the market for insect-based food in Germany and the Netherlands. Niklas Meisel investigates the differences in the German and Dutch response to the Covid-19 crisis. Finally, Tolga Yildiz and Patrick Szillat show differences in product-orientation and customer-orientation between Dutch and German small and medium sized companies. This collection shows how rich and different the links across the border are and how manifold the perspectives and fields for a cross-border approach to regional development can be. This publication is as well an invitation. Grasping the opportunities that the border location entails requires cooperation across professional fields and scientific disciplines, between politics, business and researchers. It needs the contact with and the contribution of the people in the region. So do what we strive for with our cross-border research agenda: connect!
DOCUMENT
Worldwide, an increasing number of students seek private supplementary tutoring, known as ‘shadow education.’ Various studies report social class differences in the use of shadow education. High-SES families may invest in shadow education as a form of concerted cultivation, seeking to improve their children’s school achievement. In this study, we apply meta-analytic structural equation modeling to explore relationships between parental education, income, and the use of shadow education across nations and educational contexts. We find robust relationships between parental education, income and the use of shadow education. Moreover, we assess a mediating role of shadow education in the relationship between SES and achievement. Shadow education appears to fulfill a competitive function for privileged families who seek to secure advantage in educational competition. We conclude that educational research, particularly research concerned with inequality of opportunities, needs to take account of the progressively prominent position of shadow education in the educational landscape.
DOCUMENT
The role of conveners in initiating and/or leading the formation of cross-sector partnerships (CSPs) has received ample attention in the literature on partnership formation. However, what happens when two organizations jointly take up this role? This question is important in many complex partnerships, such as those on sustainable supply chains. We present a qualitative, longitudinal case study explaining how two organizations together convened the formation of a complex cross-sector partnership, and emphasize the changing roles of each organization individually and their shared relationship over time. We analyze how this process of ‘collective convening’ unfolded, how it impacted the collaboration, and how the conveners coped with the tensions brought about by the constellation of collective convening. These tensions manifested at the interorganizational level in the relationship between the two conveners, but were also fed by each convener’s organizational level dynamics, as these dynamics influenced the collective convening process. A paradox perspective is appropriate to analyze the tensions emerging from the collective convening process and the ensuing organizational response strategies. We contribute to the literature on CSPs by introducing and elaborating on the notion of ‘collective convening’, which reflects a reality in complex CSP formation but has remained largely unstudied in the existing literature on convening. Further, we show how conveners bring their organizational level dynamics to the interorganizational level and how these dynamics influence the CSP formation process in positive and negative ways.
DOCUMENT
Overall gezien kan er gesproken worden van een succesvol evenement, met TeamNL voor het eerst in de geschiedenis van de MXoN als wereldkampioen. Ook Live Like a Pro kan gezien worden als een succes. Het programma heeft wellicht niet de omvang gehad die aanvankelijk gedacht was, de uitgevoerde deelprojecten hebben wel effect gehad en uit de reacties van de deelnemers kan worden afgeleid dat zij op zijn minst bewust(er) zijn geworden van de inhoudelijke thema’s. Live Like a Pro is deels gebaseerd op reeds bestaande projecten (Academy, Techniek is Teamsport en DC Fit) maar deze projecten werden wel anders uitgevoerd dan normaal en kregen het ‘sausje’ van de MXoN. Compleet nieuwe activiteiten, waarin partijen samen werken die dat nog niet eerder gedaan hebben, blijken toch veel doorlooptijd te kosten. Vroeg beginnen is essentieel. De uitvoering van Live Like a Pro is grotendeels goed verlopen (zie de succesfactoren) en heeft er toe geleid dat een lastig te bereiken doelgroep is gebruikt. Motorcross als sport en de MXoN als evenement zijn een geschikt middel geweest om de doelgroep te bereiken. Om bij de MBO-scholieren uiteindelijk ook gedragsverandering te realiseren, of het carrièreperspectief te verbeteren, is continuering van het programma noodzakelijk. Live Like a Pro heeft veel potentie om gecontinueerd te worden. De meeste stakeholders zijn enthousiast over het programma, en de rollen en taken in de uitvoering zijn per organisatie duidelijk geworden het afgelopen jaar. De stakeholders benadrukken echter ook dat aanvullende middelen nodig zijn. Middelen die in het kader van de MXoN wel aanwezig waren ontbreken na afloop van het evenement. Tevens wordt de connectie met een (race)evenement zeer relevant gevonden. Een onderzoek naar het maatschappelijke activatieprogramma van de Motocross of Nations.
Overall gezien kan er gesproken worden van een succesvol evenement, met TeamNL voor het eerst in de geschiedenis van de MXoN als wereldkampioen. Ook Live Like a Pro kan gezien worden als een succes. Het programma heeft wellicht niet de omvang gehad die aanvankelijk gedacht was, de uitgevoerde deelprojecten hebben wel effect gehad en uit de reacties van de deelnemers kan worden afgeleid dat zij op zijn minst bewust(er) zijn geworden van de inhoudelijke thema’s. Live Like a Pro is deels gebaseerd op reeds bestaande projecten (Academy, Techniek is Teamsport en DC Fit) maar deze projecten werden wel anders uitgevoerd dan normaal en kregen het ‘sausje’ van de MXoN. Compleet nieuwe activiteiten, waarin partijen samen werken die dat nog niet eerder gedaan hebben, blijken toch veel doorlooptijd te kosten. Vroeg beginnen is essentieel. De uitvoering van Live Like a Pro is grotendeels goed verlopen (zie de succesfactoren) en heeft er toe geleid dat een lastig te bereiken doelgroep is gebruikt. Motorcross als sport en de MXoN als evenement zijn een geschikt middel geweest om de doelgroep te bereiken. Om bij de MBO-scholieren uiteindelijk ook gedragsverandering te realiseren, of het carrièreperspectief te verbeteren, is continuering van het programma noodzakelijk. Live Like a Pro heeft veel potentie om gecontinueerd te worden. De meeste stakeholders zijn enthousiast over het programma, en de rollen en taken in de uitvoering zijn per organisatie duidelijk geworden het afgelopen jaar. De stakeholders benadrukken echter ook dat aanvullende middelen nodig zijn. Middelen die in het kader van de MXoN wel aanwezig waren ontbreken na afloop van het evenement. Tevens wordt de connectie met een (race)evenement zeer relevant gevonden. Een onderzoek naar de economische, maatschappelijke en organisatorische waarde van het WK Motocross welke plaatsvond in september 2019 op het TT Circuit te assen
I-DEMO aims at supporting EU tourism professionals in acquiring and developing key competences in game-based tourism in order to foster innovation and improve overall tourism organizations’ performance. Societal IssueIn the tourism sector occurs skills mismatch between offer and demand. The tourism market presents new needs, such as increasing employability of the tourism workforce. i-DEMO will foster and provide grounds for national and cross-border cooperation in the field of professional competencies.Benefit to societyThe specific objects on i-DEMO are: Enhancing specific skills and competences of DMO professionals and VET students in relation to creative game-based tourism.Designing an innovative and needs-oriented on-line training course “Game-based Tourism”, offered through an online platform, which integrates several sector-specific and transversal skills, including digital, entrepreneurial, and soft skills.Providing DMO professionals and VET students an I-DEMO toolkit to apply gamification and creative strategies in planning innovative and inclusive tourism offer and services. The toolkit includes guidelines and a Visual Virtual Map of EU good practices of creative strategies linked to game-based tourism.Enhancing the replicability potential of project results outside of the partners’ destinations.Collaborating partnersTIMESIS SRL, Italy (Lead Partner); The Phoenicians’ Route – Cultural Route of the Council of Europa based in Italy; Associazione Culturale Tuo Museo, Italy; Pafos Regional Board of Tourism, Cyprus; Stichting Breda University of Applied Sciences, Netherlands; Hellenic Open University, Greece; ACIF – Industrial and Commercial Association of Funchal – Chamber of Commerce and Industry of Madeira (Portugal); Wojewodztwo Kujawsko Pomorskie, Poland.
