Exam Flashcards

1
Q

What is the anthropocene?

A

The age of humans. for the first time in history, the most immediate risks are human made and unfold at planetary scales.

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2
Q

Explain the theory of change based on materialistic factors

A

Marx as main thinker. Changes in production causes social change.

Technology creates change: increases alternatives in society, alters interaction patterns and creates new problems.

New intervention: computers
Alternatives: creates new jobs, some disappear.
Interaction patterns: quicker communication
Problems: more dependency

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3
Q

Explain the theory of change based on idealistic factors

A

Ideas, values and ideologies as causes of change.

Technological is not the only thing that causes change. Capitalism did not develop everywhere at the same time: values of protestantism fueled the spirit of capitalism (sanctified work and economic growth).

Feminism as other ideology that caused changed: women entering the labor market

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4
Q

What is the idea of linear social change?

A

Cumulative, non-repetitive, development, permamnent, no return possible. From one stage to another. We learn from history. Idealistic

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5
Q

What is the idea of cyclical social change?

A

Patterns of cyclical change: aspects are repetitive. Business cycles, political cycles, lev els of economic inequality. rise and fall of empires: pessimistic world view. From one super power to another.

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6
Q

What is the idea of dialectical social change?

A

Contradictions create change. If there is a bourgeoisie, there is also a working class –> contradictions always exists.
The change happen in the tension. FX: French revolution. leads to creation of social change.

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7
Q

How do we define sustainability?

A

A future-oriented model taking effect in the present.
Broadly covering social, economic and ecological interdependencies implicated in environmental change. About meeting the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs

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8
Q

What is social change?

A

change of structure in one or more societal subsystems on the macro level (social structure and culture), meso level (institutions, corporate actors and communities), micro levels (individuals and groups)

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9
Q

What does the elephant curve show?

A

It shows income GAIN for different income groups between 1988 and 2008. X-axis: percentiles of global income distribution. FX 50 is the median. Middle income group, with two equal sized groups over and under. Highest income growth is people from emerging global middle class in Asian countries (winners). but not at the point of western middle classes.

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10
Q

What is an important point about globalization when it comes to income inequality?

A

There will seldom be at a point where change is either wholly positive or negative. Globalization is a force for both good and bad, there will be winners and losers.

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11
Q

What was the aim of Pfeffer and Waitkus paper about income and wealth inequality from 2021?

A

To show differences between wealth and income inequality. International differences in income inequality tells us nothing about international differences in wealth inequality. FX Scandinavian countries: low income inequality, high wealth inequality.
Also be aware: high degree of housing debt does not equal wealth inequality. It can also just mean easier access to housing market. It is very difficult to compare countries in this sense, there are many nuances.

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12
Q

What is income? And how to we measure it

A

Salaries and government transfers. Household/income, before or after taxes

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13
Q

What is wealth?

A

Usually net wealth (all assets minus liabilities)
Real estate, stocks, bonds, private insurance and pensions, tangular assets (cars, paintings, jewellery), business assets (companies)
Liabilities: morgages, student debt, consumption debt.

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14
Q

What is the gini-coefficient?

A

Measures inequality. ranges from 0-1. at 0= everyone has the same income/wealth. at 1=one person has everything.

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15
Q

How do we define poverty? What is the issue of defining this term?

A

Lack of fundamental ressources. Lack of food, housing and health care. Not having enough to take part in society.
Extreme poverty: living on less than a $1 a day

It is crucial to define poverty with regards to political and academic debates all over the world. In NL it makes no sense to talk about $1 a day because no one would be poor with that definition

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16
Q

What kind of data can we use to measure income and wealth?

A

Survey data (but usually underestimates top and bottom, they don’t know and they don’t want to tell)

Registration data (good but limited where you can find good registration data)

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17
Q

What is earth overshoot day?

A

Earth Overshoot Day marks the date when humanity has exhausted nature’s budget for the year. For the rest of the year, we are maintaining our ecological deficit by drawing down local resource stocks and accumulating carbon dioxide in the atmosphere.

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18
Q

What are ‘the commons’?

A

Cultural and natural ressources accessible to all members of a society. Air, water and habitable earth. Held in common, even when owned privately or publicly.

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19
Q

Explain the model of designing sustainable institutions for the Commons

A

Green columns: general principles for robust governance of environmental sources (specific actions to be taken)

Yellow columns: the governance requirements that the principles help meet.

Each principle is relevant for meeting several requirements.

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20
Q

What is a social tipping point?

A

A social process that involves drastic changes in individual and institutional behavior.

A small change that leads to larger scale changes via positive feedback mechanisms.

A social tipping point could maybe be a new social movement, that then end up in policy changes that have big impact.

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21
Q

What is the low-cost hypothesis?

A

Environmental concern influences ecological behavior primarily in situations and under conditions connected with low costs and litlle inconvenience

Expectation: positive correlation between environmental concern and pro-environmental behavioral aspect under low cost scenarios
–> under low cost scenarios: low cost behvaior is recycling
–> High cost behavior is changing the entire heating system in your house, not going on vacation anymore etc

We would assume that people that are very environmentally very concerned would change behavior. But we see that people that are environmentally concerned do not necessarily change behavior.

Defense denial hypothesis: cognitive dissonans. People play down the impact: doesn’t make a difference if a go to Mallorca once a year, I don’t use my car that often.

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22
Q

What is a digital platform?

A

Digital platforms are digital systems that facilitate communications, interactions and innovations to support economic transactions and social activities

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23
Q

What defines the platform economy?

A

Something that connects supply and demand.

Platform work is a form of employment in which organisations or individuals use an online platform to access other organisations or individuals to solve specific problems or to provide specific services in exchange for payment

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24
Q

What is gig work?

A

The opposite of SER (standard employment relationship).

No regular contract, no stable income, all risk is with the worker, you might not be able to live off your salary.

Gig work is fx food delivery and uber drivers. it is unstable and without benefits. Gig work is precarious work.

25
Q

Explain the graph ‘what is gig work’

A

Geographically tethered work:
- Has to take place in a specific geographical location
- Locally organized
- Uber

Cloud work
- All online -> not bound to a specific geographical location

26
Q

Mention the four types of gig work from class

A

Delivery work

Taxi work

Domestic and care work

Micro work

27
Q

When is gig work not bad?

A

When it is a side hustle, just when you need a bit of cash

Low access barrier - anyone can access and work.

28
Q

How to improve the working conditions in the gig economy?

A

The law, the government, labour rights, collective bargaining

Society, activism, boycuts

Public shaming via fairwork or other initiatives. Fairwork rate platforms and list why platforms are doing good/bad

Strikes (wildcat strikes: not supported by unions)

29
Q

Why do we need sustainable business models instead of business models?

A

Because it is a way to encourage corporate innovation that significantly changes the way companies operate to ensure greater sustainabality.

30
Q

What is a business model?

A

A business model describes the rationale of how an organization creates, delivers and captures value (capture value and turn it into profit). How the firm defines its competitive strategy through the design of the product or service it offers to its market

31
Q

What are the three main elements of a business model?

A

Value proposition
–> Concerned with the product and service offered to generate economic return. In a sustainable bussines means proividing measurable ecological and/or social value in concert with economic value

Value creation
–> Seizing new business opportunities, new markets and new revenue streams

Value capture
–> About considering how to earn revenue (i.e. Capture value) from the provision of good, services or information to users and customers.

32
Q

Define sustainable business models

A

An SBM helps describing, analyzing, managing and communicating (i) a company’s sustainable value proposition to its customers, and all other stakeholders, (ii) how it creates and delivers this value, (iii) and how it captures economic value while maintaining or regenerating natural, social and economic capital beyond its organizational boundaries.

33
Q

Mention the three technological archetypes of SBMs

A

Maximise material and energy efficiency

–>Do more with fewer resources, generating less waste, emissions and pollution. Reduce resource consumption

Create value from ‘waste’

–>The concept of wase is eliminated by turning waste streams into useful and valuable input to other production and making better use of under-utilised capacity

Substitute with renewables and natural processes

–> Reduce environmental impacts and increase business resilience by addressing resource constraints ‘limit to growth’ associated with non-renewable resources and current production systems
Reduce environmental impact of industry by substitution with renewable resources and natural processes to create significantly more environmentally benign industrial processes

34
Q

Mention the three social archetypes of SBMs

A

Deliver functionality rather than ownership

–> Procide services that satisfy users’ needs without having to own physical products
–> Pay-per-use basis

Adopt a stewardship role

–>Proactively engaging with all stakeholders (society and the enviroment) to ensure their long-term health and well-being
–> Employee welfare and living wages, sustanable growing and harvesting of food and other crops, minimising chemical fertilisers and pesticides, water consumption

Encourage sufficiency
–> Solutions that actively seek to reduce consumption and production
–> Anti-fast fashion, products created to sustain

35
Q

Mention the two arhcetypes of organisational SBMs

A

Re-purpose the business for society/environment

–> Prioritizing delivery of social and environmetnal benefits rather than economic profit maximisation, through close integration between the firm and local communities and other stakeholder groups. The traditional business model where the consumer is the primary beneficiary may shift

Develop scale-up solutions
–>Delivering sustainable solutions at a large scale to maximise benefits for society and the environment

36
Q

What is the original Base of Pyramid venture idea? Why did it usually fail?

A

Seek to create “mutual value” for themselves and poor communities.

But often use business models unadapted for the BoP context, and have been less sucessful than hoped.

37
Q

In short, what is the difference between conventional business models and SBMS?

A

CBMs (convnetional business models) focused on customers and profits, whereas SBMs are explicitly designed to create value in different forms for multiple stakeholders.
–> Therefore SBMs seem to provide better alternative for mutual value creation than CBMs

38
Q

Explain the focus of BoP 1.0

A

Extrend distribution channels of multi national enterprises to ‘sell to the poor’. Adapt product from developed market to the BOP and reduce price.

39
Q

Explain the focus of BoP 2.0 and why it fails

A

Empower and ‘engage the poor’: co-creation of products, services and business ventures with BOP communities. Product designed around the core competencies and needs of the intervening company.

Fails as it did not managed to address the complex issue of poverty and it still mainly focused on profit and market growth.

40
Q

Explain the focus of BoP 3.0

A

Adjust the business to the community, not the other way around.
Focus on community well-being. Perceive poverty as multifaceted and complex problem: social, political, emotional and cultural aspects underpin poverty.

41
Q

What was the problems of BoP 1.0 and 2.0?

A

Based on marketization of poverty; potentially negative environmental and social effects. The poor should not only be engaged as passive consumers of existing products.
Moreover, they were unlikely to solve the complex problem of poverty,

42
Q

How can characteristics of SBMs be reflected in the business model of a BoP?

A

Profits as a tool for community development, communities as ever-evolving systems, long-term and slow-growth approach.

43
Q

What is sustainable business model innovation

A

Sustainable business model innovation (SBMI) is a change in the way a firm operates in order to create positive impacts or to reduce negative consequences for the environment and the society

44
Q

What is the difference between stakeholder and shareholder

A

A shareholder is someone who owns stock in your company, while a stakeholder is someone who is impacted by (or has a “stake” in) a project you’re working on

45
Q

Mention some reasons that many incumbents (big companies, sometimes market leaders) do not engage in sustainable business model innovation (barriers)

A

Institutional barriers: focus on maximizing shareholder value, avoid uncertainty

Strategic barriers: prioritize short-term growth

Operational barriers: fixed resource planning and allocation, standard innovation process and procedureta

46
Q

What are some drivers for SBMI?

A

Balancing stakeholder and shareholder value, valuing business sustainability, enabling innovation structure.

47
Q

What is added to the conventional BM canvas to make it suitable for an SBM canvas?

A

People: positive impact for common interest of society
Planet: positive impact for the environment

Environmental and social costs of BM

48
Q

What is business model innovation?

A

Business model innovation, then, describes the process in which an organization adjusts its business model. Often, this innovation reflects a fundamental change in how a company delivers value to its customers, whether that’s through the development of new revenue streams or distribution channels

49
Q

How should a digital platform be designed according to BoP 3.0?

A

Digital platforms should be designed and built around the needs of, and
in participation with, individuals and communities

50
Q

What are the three main benefits of digital platforms for development?

A

Broadening access

Removing transaction and market frictions (LMIC have more frictions due to inefficient institutions, poor communities, network or inadequate infrastructure).

Institutionalising new norms: DPs can replace rules and norms with new ones or set the basis for creating institutions in societal areas where there have not necessarily been any.

51
Q

What are some constraints for digital platforms in achieving development related goals?

A

Lack of digital awareness and education, lack of digital infrastructure, lack of affordable devices.

52
Q

What is digital business model innovation

A

Digital business model innovation refers to changes made to the key elements of the business model by transforming physical objects, processes, or content into digital formats.

53
Q

What is circular economy? Give an example

A

A new approach which aims to eliminate waste. An example of this is the “waste-as-food” concept which indicates that the waste of one actor can be used as a resource by one or more others.

54
Q

Re. circular economy: what is a circular hole?

A

Missing link between waste generators and potential receivers.

55
Q

Re. circular economy: what is a circularity broker? and what are some of the six roles it can take on?

A

A digital platform with the aim of bridging circularity holes.

Connecting, informing, protecting, mobilizing, integrating and measuring.

56
Q

Define the sharing economy

A

An economic model based on sharing underutilized assets from spaces to skills to stuff for monetary or nonmonetary benefits

57
Q

What are the four key dimensions of sharing economy business models?

A
  1. Temporary access
  2. Under-utilized resources
  3. Digital platforms
  4. Sustainability dimension
58
Q

What are the four ways an incumbent can enter the sharing economy?

A

Adaptation of the value proposition for sharing:
–> The incumbent adds a sharing service to the products/services it currently offers to its existing customers
–> Fx: IKEA buys TaskRabbit. Now ikea customers can buy help to assemble their ikea furniture

Adaptation of the customer interface for sharing
–>The uncumbent offers its products and/or services to a new segment, i.e. Custopmers of sharing platforms or a sharing platform itself. The products and services offered are either existing ones or new ones, but do not include sharing services.
–> Insurance for Air bnb fx

Adaptation of the business infrastructure for sharing
–> The incumbent utilizes sharing platforms for the supply of labour or of production equipment, machinery and tools

Adaptation of an entire ‘new’ sharing business model
–> The incumbent adopts an entire sharing business model = VP focusing on a sharing service + concurrent changes in the CI and BI

59
Q

What was Kuznet’s curve hypothesis with regards to inequality, and was he right?

A

With the development of the economy, market forces first increase and then decrease economic inequality. And no he was not. after we let the economy do its thing, income inequality still increased.