We provide greater theoretical precision to the concept of productive opportunities of Penrose. We show firm emergence as a recursive cycle of changing productive opportunities. We show how those opportunitiesresult from the technological base of the firm and are associated with the particular characteristics of the technology.We also show how productive opportunities require the assembly of different internal and externalresources, and therefore partners. We address explicitly how the firm and its potential partners perceive uncertainty and single out the different mechanisms used by the firm to address uncertainty—envisioning, pooling, and staging—to secure resources from external partners and exploit the identified productive opportunities in a timely manner.
This is the last of a series of 3 columns on uncertainty. A response to uncertainty can be radicalization, It is argued that confirmation bias plays a role in this initial “radicalization”: the tendency to prefer information that confirms one's belief as “facts” to contradictory information (“fake news”). People who have just switched to something new, vegetarianism for example, or who have just started a new study, can be very fanatical at first and want to lecture everyone. But no one has the energy to compete again and again on the cutting edge of the “game” (infatuation, new beliefs, etc.), so luckily the nuance returns with time. After the radical "infatuation" (outshout/ignore uncertainty), uncertainty regains its place and space is once again created for the human dimension, for solidarity and nuance. The couple in love who give themselves completely to each other eventually regains an eye for the rest of the world. I have been a vegetarian for over 50 years, so I never really talk about that anymore. Bias fades with time.
MULTIFILE
This is the last of a series of 3 columns on uncertainty. A response to uncertainty can be radicalization, It is argued that confirmation bias plays a role in this initial “radicalization”: the tendency to prefer information that confirms one's belief as “facts” to contradictory information (“fake news”). People who have just switched to something new, vegetarianism for example, or who have just started a new study, can be very fanatical at first and want to lecture everyone. But no one has the energy to compete again and again on the cutting edge of the “game” (infatuation, new beliefs, etc.), so luckily the nuance returns with time. After the radical "infatuation" (outshout/ignore uncertainty), uncertainty regains its place and space is once again created for the human dimension, for solidarity and nuance. The couple in love who give themselves completely to each other eventually regains an eye for the rest of the world. I have been a vegetarian for over 50 years, so I never really talk about that anymore. Bias fades with time.
MULTIFILE
Collaborative networks for sustainability are emerging rapidly to address urgent societal challenges. By bringing together organizations with different knowledge bases, resources and capabilities, collaborative networks enhance information exchange, knowledge sharing and learning opportunities to address these complex problems that cannot be solved by organizations individually. Nowhere is this more apparent than in the apparel sector, where examples of collaborative networks for sustainability are plenty, for example Sustainable Apparel Coalition, Zero Discharge Hazardous Chemicals, and the Fair Wear Foundation. Companies like C&A and H&M but also smaller players join these networks to take their social responsibility. Collaborative networks are unlike traditional forms of organizations; they are loosely structured collectives of different, often competing organizations, with dynamic membership and usually lack legal status. However, they do not emerge or organize on their own; they need network orchestrators who manage the network in terms of activities and participants. But network orchestrators face many challenges. They have to balance the interests of diverse companies and deal with tensions that often arise between them, like sharing their innovative knowledge. Orchestrators also have to “sell” the value of the network to potential new participants, who make decisions about which networks to join based on the benefits they expect to get from participating. Network orchestrators often do not know the best way to maintain engagement, commitment and enthusiasm or how to ensure knowledge and resource sharing, especially when competitors are involved. Furthermore, collaborative networks receive funding from grants or subsidies, creating financial uncertainty about its continuity. Raising financing from the private sector is difficult and network orchestrators compete more and more for resources. When networks dissolve or dysfunction (due to a lack of value creation and capture for participants, a lack of financing or a non-functioning business model), the collective value that has been created and accrued over time may be lost. This is problematic given that industrial transformations towards sustainability take many years and durable organizational forms are required to ensure ongoing support for this change. Network orchestration is a new profession. There are no guidelines, handbooks or good practices for how to perform this role, nor is there professional education or a professional association that represents network orchestrators. This is urgently needed as network orchestrators struggle with their role in governing networks so that they create and capture value for participants and ultimately ensure better network performance and survival. This project aims to foster the professionalization of the network orchestrator role by: (a) generating knowledge, developing and testing collaborative network governance models, facilitation tools and collaborative business modeling tools to enable network orchestrators to improve the performance of collaborative networks in terms of collective value creation (network level) and private value capture (network participant level) (b) organizing platform activities for network orchestrators to exchange ideas, best practices and learn from each other, thereby facilitating the formation of a professional identity, standards and community of network orchestrators.
In recent years, disasters are increasing in numbers, location, intensity and impact; they have become more unpredictable due to climate change, raising questions about disaster preparedness and management. Attempts by government entities at limiting the impact of disasters are insufficient, awareness and action are urgently needed at the citizen level to create awareness, develop capacity, facilitate implementation of management plans and to coordinate local action at times of uncertainty. We need a cultural and behavioral change to create resilient citizens, communities, and environments. To develop and maintain new ways of thinking has to start by anticipating long-term bottom-up resilience and collaborations. We propose to develop a serious game on a physical tabletop that allows individuals and communities to work with a moderator and to simulate disasters and individual and collective action in their locality, to mimic real-world scenarios using game mechanics and to train trainers. Two companies–Stratsims, a company specialized in game development, and Society College, an organization that aims to strengthen society, combine their expertise as changemakers. They work with Professor Carola Hein (TU Delft), who has developed knowledge about questions of disaster and rebuilding worldwide and the conditions for meaningful and long-term disaster preparedness. The partners have already reached out to relevant communities in Amsterdam and the Netherlands, including UNUN, a network of Ukrainians in the Netherlands. Jaap de Goede, an experienced strategy simulation expert, will lead outreach activities in diverse communities to train trainers and moderate workshops. This game will be highly relevant for citizens to help grow awareness and capacity for preparing for and coping with disasters in a bottom-up fashion. The toolkit will be available for download and printing open access, and for purchase. The team will offer training and facilitate workshops working with local communities to initiate bottom-up change in policy making and planning.
The aim of the project is to design, test, refine and deploy a new assessment tool focusing on individual Future Literacy of students. Future Literacy is the ability to produce and process complex visions of the future and make sense thereof. FL is therefore an essential component of any 21st Century Skills set, in the sense that it focuses on the ability of students to prepare themselves for uncertainty and unexpected challenges. At present, the competing concepts of 21st Century Skills have a common denominator in the core idea of fostering personal development of "T-shaped individuals" who have depth in a particular field and breadth in their skill set and thinking. The students' individual ability to "use the future": make sense of emergent reality, deal with complex problems, make decisions based on collective intelligence, plan and prepare for the future, is as important in making educational choices as in taking educated bets concerning their professional, personal and political futures. The project outcome: a new tool for FL assessment will test the feasibility of rigorous measurement, and assessment of FL, to inform better curriculum design and methodological development.
