Management of the circular economy
«The core problem of the linear economy is that the monodirectional use of finite resources deteriorates global livelihoods and has irreversible effects on the environment, people and animals. Against this background, the circular economy represents an alternative economic model that minimizes the use of materials and energy by creating closed cycles and thus promises a decoupling between resource consumption and economic growth,” write Michael Gino Kraft, Oliver Christ and Lukas Scherer in a new specialist publication with the Title «Management of the circular economy. Positioning and designing circular companies”.
The circular economy is a promising alternative model in corporate practice, according to the authors from the Institute for Organization and Leadership at the OST – Eastern Switzerland University of Applied Sciences.
In the European Union, the circular economy is already anchored as a central element in the 2020 Action Plan (Green Deal) to achieve climate neutrality by 2050. “Against this background, it is to be expected that more and more companies will anchor circular issues at a strategic level in the future,” write the authors, referring to the Circular Economy Switzerland association.
After a short introduction, the authors describe essential systems for designing circular value networks, ways to strategic positioning and approaches to determining specific customer benefits. These include selected case studies – for example the modular fashion design of the St. Gallen fashion label Omdanne, the circular tiny house by the Rheintal architect Roger Graf or the upcycling Airpaq backpack from Cologne.
«The transformation towards a circular economy is becoming increasingly important on the political and economic agenda. For companies, it is not just resource issues that are crucial, but also adjustments to the business model and thus organizational aspects,” conclude the OST authors Kraft, Christ and Scherer.
Michael Gino Kraft, Oliver Christ and Lukas Scherer: Management of the circular economy. Positioning and designing circular companies, Springer Gabler, Wiesbaden 2022.
Blockchain in the financial world
«The history of blockchain and crypto assets began with the creation of Bitcoin in January 2009. There are currently over 22,000 crypto assets that are applauded by supporters and scorned by opponents. Nobody knows what the future will bring,” write Pascal Egloff and Ernesto Turnes in the new specialist book “Blockchain in the financial world.
Crypto Assets, DeFi, Tokenization, NFT and Metaverse». The two authors – Egloff is head of the Competence Center for Banking and Finance at the OST – Eastern Switzerland University of Applied Sciences, Turnes is head of the new Institute for Finance and Law and Professor of Banking and Finance – deliberately refrain from making a forecast. “As lecturers and researchers at a university, we believe it is our job to analyze the latest developments in the field of banking and finance and to convey the advantages and disadvantages to our students and the public,” they write.
“Blockchain in the financial world” is one of the first textbooks in German-speaking countries to cover the diverse range of topics surrounding blockchain and digital assets in its entire breadth and depth. The new standard work offers both a quick overview for beginners and numerous in-depth information as well as one or two technical tidbits for advanced users. The focus is on the latest developments and use cases in the financial world.
«The current and future development of blockchain etc. is often compared with the triumph of the Internet. If this were true, we would currently only be at the beginning of a great success story,” write Egloff and Turnes. In their book, the two blockchain experts convincingly demonstrate that the new type of decentralized or distributed data storage using blockchain allows a certain democratization and blurs geographical, legal and cultural boundaries.
“This can enable easier access to financial services, for example. A Bitcoin, for example, can be transferred across borders easily and without intervention from central authorities. This ultimately leads to freer access to financial services for a large part of the world’s population – because according to the World Bank, over 23 percent of the world’s population did not have a bank account in 2021!
Pascal Egloff and Ernesto Turnes: Blockchain in the financial world. Crypto Assets, DeFi, Tokenization, NFT and Metaverse, SKV Publishers, Zurich 2023.
Women’s careers
Society is in a state of upheaval. The traditional patterns of recruitment and promotion on the part of companies and of professional and private life on the part of individuals are increasingly losing their viability. Added to this is digitalization.
«Successful digitalization of society and the economy requires that organizations use and combine all available talent in the best possible way. It is therefore becoming increasingly important to keep people in employment beyond retirement age and thus continue to support careers even after middle age. This is particularly true with regard to female talent,” write Nicole Bischof, Sibylle Olbert-Bock and Abdullah Redzepi in the new specialist book “Women’s Careers. Targeted design from a company and personal perspective.”
In the first part of the book, the authors from the Institute for Organization and Leadership at the OST – Eastern Switzerland University of Applied Sciences take an organizational perspective to support companies in questioning and renewing explicit and implicit human resources policies and practices. “By presenting experiences that women have had at different points in their careers, we lay a basis for understanding and starting points for the development of women’s careers,” the book says. The question is: “How does a woman make a career?” – yesterday and in the future.
The second part of the book highlights specific situations of women working in organizations. Using case studies, it is shown how companies can succeed in specifically renewing their personnel and support policies in order to enable late careers for women and to shape women’s careers in top management.
And in the third part of the book, the authors present tools that can support women in shaping their own careers. To do this, they take an individual perspective. “Careers always develop in an interplay of context and one’s own actions and cannot be decoupled from one’s own life system,” write the authors.
Nicole Bischof, Sibylle Olbert-Bock, Abdullah Redzepi: Women’s careers. Targeted design from a corporate and personal perspective, Schäffer Poeschel, Stuttgart 2022.
2023-09-16 23:00:06
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