Showing papers by "Copenhagen Business School published in 2021"

A review of trends and drivers of greenhouse gas emissions by sector from 1990 to 2018

Abstract: Global greenhouse gas emissions can be traced to five economic sectors: energy, industry, buildings, transport and AFOLU (agriculture, forestry and other land uses). In this topical review we synthesize the literature to explain recent trends in global and regional emissions in each of these sectors. To contextualise our review, we present estimates of greenhouse gas emissions trends by sector from 1990 to 2018, describing the major sources of emissions growth, stability and decline across ten global regions. Both the literature and data emphasize limited progress towards reducing greenhouse gas emissions. The prominent global pattern is a continuation of underlying drivers with few signs of emerging limits to demand, nor of a deep shift towards the delivery of low and zero carbon services across sectors. We observe a moderate decarbonisation of energy systems in Europe and North America, driven by fuel switching and the increasing penetration of renewables. By contrast, in rapidly industrialising regions, fossil-based energy systems have continuously expanded, only very recently slowing down in their growth. Strong demand for materials, floor area, energy services and travel have driven emissions growth in the industry, buildings and transport sectors, particularly in Eastern Asia, Southern Asia and South-East Asia. An expansion of agriculture into carbon-dense tropical forest areas has driven recent increases in AFOLU emissions in Latin America, South-East Asia and Africa. Identifying, understanding, and tackling the most persistent and climate-damaging trends across sectors is a fundamental concern for research and policy as humanity treads deeper into the Anthropocene.

Changes in Food Consumption During the COVID-19 Pandemic: Analysis of Consumer Survey Data From the First Lockdown Period in Denmark, Germany, and Slovenia

Abstract: This paper focuses on changes in food consumption that occurred during the COVID-19 pandemic. Its objective is to map changes at individual consumer level and identify the influence of different factors related to the COVID-19 pandemic on changes in individual food consumption. We conducted a cross-sectional online survey among 2,680 residents of Denmark (DK), Germany (DE), and Slovenia (SI) using quota sampling for gender, age and regional distribution. Data on consumption frequencies before and during the pandemic were collected with a food frequency questionnaire in the spring of 2020 (during the first lockdown period) for important types of fresh food and non-perishable food. Our results showed that, depending on the type of food, 15-42% of study participants changed their consumption frequency during the pandemic, compared to before. In all the study countries, the food categories with the highest rates of change were frozen food, canned food, and cake and biscuits; among the food categories with lower rates of change were bread, alcoholic drinks, and dairy products. People across all three countries shopped less frequently during lockdown and there was an overall reduction in the consumption of fresh foods, but an increase in the consumption of food with a longer shelf life in Denmark and Germany. Interestingly though, we observed diverging trends in all food categories analyzed, with some people decreasing and others increasing their consumption frequencies, demonstrating that the pandemic had different impacts on people's lifestyles and food consumption patterns. Using the method of multinomial regression analysis, we identified factors significantly (p < 0.01, p < 0.05, p < 0.1) related to increases and decrease in individuals' consumption frequencies in different food categories. The factors include restrictions put in place in response to the pandemic (i.e., closure of physical workplaces, canteens, cafes and restaurants, schools, and childcare institutions), changes in households' grocery shopping frequency, individuals' perceived risk of COVID-19, income losses due to the pandemic, and socio-demographic factors. Interesting differences between the countries were detected, allowing insights into the different food cultures. Conclusions include implications for policy-makers and actors in the food supply chain on the issues of healthy diets, food system resilience, and behavior change.

Dancing the Supply Chain: Toward Transformative Supply Chain Management

Abstract: Most of the theories that have dominated supply chain management (SCM) take a reductionist and static view on the supply chain and its management, promoting a global hunt for cheap labor and resources. As a result, supply chains tend to be operated without much concern for their broader contextual environment. This perspective overlooks that supply chains have become both vulnerable and harmful systems. Recent and ongoing crises have emphasized that the structures and processes of supply chains are fluid and interwoven with political‐economic and planetary phenomena. Building on panarchy theory, this article reinterprets the supply chain as a social–ecological system and leaves behind a modernist view of SCM, replacing it with a more contemporary vision of “dancing the supply chain.” A panarchy is a structure of adaptive cycles that are linked across different levels on scales of time, space, and meaning. It represents the world’s complexities more effectively than reductionist and static theories ever could, providing the basis for transformative SCM.

Digital platforms for development: Foundations and research agenda

Abstract: Digital platforms hold a central position in today's world economy and are said to offer a great potential for the economies and societies in the global South. Yet, to date, the scholarly literature on digital platforms has largely concentrated on business while their developmental implications remain understudied. In part, this is because digital platforms are a challenging research object due to their lack of conceptual definition, their spread across different regions and industries, and their intertwined nature with institutions, actors and digital technologies. The purpose of this article is to contribute to the ongoing debate in information systems and ICT4D research to understand what digital platforms mean for development. To do so, we first define what digital platforms are and differentiate between transaction and innovation platforms, and explain their key characteristics in terms of purpose, research foundations, material properties and business models. We add the socio‐technical context digital platforms operate and the linkages to developmental outcomes. We then conduct an extensive review to explore what current areas, developmental goals, tensions and issues emerge in the literature on platforms and development and identify relevant gaps in our knowledge. We later elaborate on six research questions to advance the studies on digital platforms for development: on indigenous innovation, digital platforms and institutions, on exacerbation of inequalities, on alternative forms of value, on the dark side of platforms and on the applicability of the platform typology for development.

Demand-side solutions to climate change mitigation consistent with high levels of well-being

Abstract: Mitigation solutions are often evaluated in terms of costs and greenhouse gas reduction potentials, missing out on the consideration of direct effects on human well-being. Here, we systematically assess the mitigation potential of demand-side options categorized into avoid, shift and improve, and their human well-being links. We show that these options, bridging socio-behavioural, infrastructural and technological domains, can reduce counterfactual sectoral emissions by 40–80% in end-use sectors. Based on expert judgement and an extensive literature database, we evaluate 306 combinations of well-being outcomes and demand-side options, finding largely beneficial effects in improvement in well-being (79% positive, 18% neutral and 3% negative), even though we find low confidence on the social dimensions of well-being. Implementing such nuanced solutions is based axiomatically on an understanding of malleable rather than fixed preferences, and procedurally on changing infrastructures and choice architectures. Results demonstrate the high mitigation potential of demand-side mitigation options that are synergistic with well-being. Evaluation of mitigation actions often focuses on cost and overlooks the direct effects on well-being. This work shows demand-side measures have large mitigation potential and beneficial effects on well-being outcomes.

Impact investing: review and research agenda

Abstract: Impact investing is an emerging alternative asset class. In the last few years, the investment in impact investing has grown many folds, however the research has not kept pace with the growing prac...

Exploring an adverse impact of smartphone overuse on academic performance via health issues: a stimulus-organism-response perspective

Abstract: While previous research suggests that smartphone overuse relates to users’ adverse health issues such as insomnia, nomophobia, and poor eyesight, few studies have explored the mediating role of suc...

Is There A Replication Crisis In Finance

Abstract: Several papers argue that financial economics faces a replication crisis because the majority of studies cannot be replicated or are the result of multiple testing of too many factors We develop and estimate a Bayesian model of factor replication, which leads to different conclusions The majority of asset pricing factors: (1) can be replicated, (2) can be clustered into 13 themes, the majority of which are significant parts of the tangency portfolio, (3) work out-of-sample in a new large data set covering 93 countries, and (4) have evidence that is strengthened (not weakened) by the large number of observed factors Institutional subscribers to the NBER working paper series, and residents of developing countries may download this paper without additional charge at wwwnberorg

Managing Open Innovation: A Project-Level Perspective

Abstract: Open innovation has become a mainstream phenomenon in the current business landscape. However, despite the fact that innovation projects generally have different attributes (e.g., complexity and uncertainty), most studies on open innovation have only considered firm-level characteristics (e.g., firm size and firm openness) to determine how to manage open innovation successfully. Project-level studies on open innovation management are still scant—There are only a few conceptual and qualitative articles on the topic, and there is a lack of quantitative insights. Based on a survey designed to collect detailed data from 201 innovation projects undertaken by American firms, this article provides a quantitative cross-project analysis of how two, key innovation project attributes (i.e., complexity and uncertainty) are related to five factors for successful open innovation management: 1) openness level, 2) external partner choice, 3) open innovation mechanism choice, 4) collaboration process formalization, and 5) internal firm practices. This exploratory study contributes to the open innovation literature by highlighting the importance of microfoundations (i.e., innovation project attributes) in successful open innovation management. This article concludes by suggesting a number of relevant project-level future research opportunities in the field of open innovation management, and some methodological recommendations on how to address such opportunities.

The impact of The Covid-19 pandemic on firms’ organizational designs

Abstract: In this commentary I examine the potential impact of the Covid-19 pandemic on firms’ organization designs and speculate on how the pandemic may influence organization design research. By organizational design, I mean an organization’s optimal levels of differentiation and integration given relevant internal and external contingencies. In this regard, a key distinction is between the short-run, that is, the situation in the aftermath of the decision by a large number of countries, international associations, and other agencies that the health crisis was a pandemic that required drastic measures (i.e., approximately mid-March 2020), and the long run in which the disease is better understood and handled (effectively, two to three years from now). The temporal frame is likely to crucially matter to the effect of the pandemic on firms’ organization designs. The long run may mean everything from a complete reversal to the pre-pandemic situation to a more or less permanent situation of sporadic outbreaks and lock-downs that require more social distancing. Whichever scenario manifests will have important implications for organization design. However, even with a relatively quick reversal to pre-pandemic trading and interaction patterns, there are likely to be permanent traces left on organization design. For organization design scholars the pandemic presents not only a unique test-bed for examining existing principles of organizational design but might also stimulate new theory related to the temporal dimension of organization design and the influence of path-dependence. Thus, reflecting on the pandemic suggests that major external contingencies have different short-term as compared to long-term effects on organizational design, but also that major disturbances are likely to leave ‘permanent’ traces on Journal of Management Studies ••:•• 2020 doi:10.1111/joms.12643

The next generation EU: An analysis of the dimensions of conflict behind the deal

Abstract: This article presents an analysis of why it was possible to reach an agreement on the Next Generation EU (NGEU), the EU's fiscal and policy response to the COVID-19 pandemic, since the deal breaks with the norms of no common debt issuance and will result in significant redistribution across Member States through grants Based on an in-depth case study analysis, we identify three main dimensions of conflict underlying the political negotiations: the fiscal dimension, the rule-of-law dimension and the policy dimension, especially the climate and digitalization agendas Various coalitions of actors were able to negotiate on these aspects, keeping a balance between their main priorities, but also making concessions, to enable an agreement Our analysis reveals that the Franco-German alliance has been revived, enabling the grant instrument in the NGEU to be adopted;a new alliance of small rich northern states named the Frugals' has emerged as a surprisingly strong coalition, insisting on conditionality for accessing the grant;a clear Polish-Hungarian front has appeared to be challenging the EU's commitment to the rule-of-law;and a weakly coordinated Spanish-Italian front was successful in terms of securing grants as an instrument The article also assesses that despite the agreement on the deal, there will continue to be battles in the NGEU, especially on the fiscal and rule-of-law dimensions Yet, it could represent a ‘Hamiltonian moment,’ if the NGEU becomes a permanent fiscal instrument, which would advance European integration further © 2021 The Authors Social Policy & Administration published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd

Corporate Strategy and the Theory of the Firm in the Digital Age

Abstract: ABSTRACT The purpose of this article is to reinvigorate research in the intersection of corporate strategy and the theory of the firm in light of the rapid advancement of digital technologies. Using the theory of the firm as an interpretive lens, we focus our analysis on the implications of the emerging digital age for three broad domains of corporate strategy: (1) corporate (competitive) advantage, (2) firm scale, scope, and boundaries, and (3) internal structure and design. Recognizing that digitalization exacerbates ambiguity and paradoxes, we sketch foundational strategies for future research. We suggest that there is a need to develop knowledge that accounts for the new realities of the digital age, depending on whether the corporate strategy phenomena under investigation and the theories of the firm used to explain them, are existing or new. The article serves also as introduction to the Journal of Management Studies Special Issue on the topic.

Mathematical Optimization in Classification and Regression Trees

Abstract: Classification and regression trees, as well as their variants, are off-the-shelf methods in Machine Learning. In this paper, we review recent contributions within the Continuous Optimization and the Mixed-Integer Linear Optimization paradigms to develop novel formulations in this research area. We compare those in terms of the nature of the decision variables and the constraints required, as well as the optimization algorithms proposed. We illustrate how these powerful formulations enhance the flexibility of tree models, being better suited to incorporate desirable properties such as cost-sensitivity, explainability, and fairness, and to deal with complex data, such as functional data.

Co-evolution of platform architecture, platform services, and platform governance: Expanding the platform value of industrial digital platforms.

Abstract: Industrial manufacturers increasingly develop digital platforms in the business-to-business (B2B) context. This emergent form of digital platforms requires a profound yet little understood holistic perspective that encompasses the co-evolution of platform architecture, platform services, and platform governance. To address this research gap, our study examines multiple platform sponsors from an industrial manufacturing context. The study demarcates three platform archetypes: product platform, supply chain platform, and platform ecosystem. We argue that each platform archetype involves a gradual development of platform architecture, platform services, and platform governance, which mirror each other. We also find that each platform archetype is characterized by a specific innovation mechanism that contributes to the platform service discovery and expands the platform value. Our study extends the co-evolution perspective of platform ecosystem literature and digital servitization literature.

The role of photograph aesthetics on online review sites: Effects of management- versus traveler-generated photos on tourists’ decision-making

Abstract: Tourists searching for information about destinations on online review sites are concurrently exposed to two different photograph aesthetics, professional (produced by destination managers) and ama...

Tourism during and after COVID-19: An Expert-Informed Agenda for Future Research

Abstract: With the COVID-19 pandemic reaching a more mature, yet still threatening, stage, the time is ripe to look forward in order to identify the topics and trends that will shape future tourism research ...

Mortgage Prepayment and Path-dependent Effects of Monetary Policy

Abstract: How much ability does the Fed have to stimulate the economy by cutting interest rates? We argue that the presence of substantial debt in fixed-rate, prepayable mortgages means that the ability to stimulate the economy by cutting interest rates depends not just on their current level but also on their previous path. Using a household model of mortgage prepayment matched to detailed loan-level evidence on the relationship between prepayment and rate incentives, we argue that recent interest rate paths will generate substantial headwinds for future monetary stimulus.