Filtern
Erscheinungsjahr
Dokumenttyp
- Dissertation (255)
- Research Paper (35)
- Bericht (15)
- Bachelorarbeit (14)
- Masterarbeit (14)
- Teil eines Buches (Kapitel) (10)
- Habilitation (7)
- Buch (Monographie) (6)
- Beitrag in Konferenzband (6)
- Diplomarbeit (5)
- Wissenschaftlicher Artikel (4)
- Arbeitspapier (3)
- Sonstiges (1)
Sprache
- Englisch (375) (entfernen)
Schlagworte
- Nachhaltigkeit (27)
- Biodiversität (12)
- Entrepreneurship (11)
- Export (10)
- Produktivität (10)
- Deutschland (9)
- sustainability (9)
- Exports (8)
- Germany (8)
- productivity (8)
- Governance (6)
- Ökosystem (6)
- Entwicklungsländer (5)
- Landwirtschaft (5)
- Management (5)
- Training (5)
- Transformation (5)
- Umwelt (5)
- Unternehmensgründung (5)
- Versicherung (5)
- biodiversity (5)
- micro data (5)
- Ökologie (5)
- Arzneimittel (4)
- Insekten (4)
- Personenbezogene Daten (4)
- Persönlichkeit (4)
- Transdisziplinarität (4)
- developing countries (4)
- ecosystem services (4)
- insurance (4)
- wages (4)
- China (3)
- Discrimination (3)
- Diskriminierung (3)
- Forschung und Entwicklung (3)
- Fotolyse (3)
- Führung (3)
- Gerechtigkeit (3)
- Gesundheit (3)
- Kulturlandschaft (3)
- Lernen (3)
- Pestizid (3)
- Psychologie (3)
- Sediment (3)
- Sustainability (3)
- Unternehmen (3)
- Wirtschaftspsychologie (3)
- entrepreneurship (3)
- governance (3)
- social-ecological systems (3)
- training (3)
- Ökonomie <Begriff> (3)
- Abwasseranalyse (2)
- Arbeitsmotivation (2)
- Arbeitsproduktivität (2)
- Arbeitspsychologie (2)
- Artenreichtum (2)
- Auslandsaufenthalt (2)
- Auslandsinvestition (2)
- Auswahl (2)
- Autonomes Fahren (2)
- Bank (2)
- Betriebsrat (2)
- Biodegradability (2)
- Biodegradation (2)
- Biodiversity (2)
- Biologische Abbaubarkeit (2)
- Biologischer Abbau (2)
- Circular Economy (2)
- Depression (2)
- Einkommensverteilung (2)
- Eisenbahn (2)
- Elfter September (2)
- Emission (2)
- Energiewende (2)
- Europäische Union (2)
- Flammschutzmittel (2)
- Geographie (2)
- Gewerkschaft (2)
- Globalisierung (2)
- Haftpflichtrisiko (2)
- Heide (2)
- Humanvermögen (2)
- Innovation (2)
- Interaktion (2)
- Interessenverband (2)
- Investition (2)
- Israel (2)
- Klein- und Mittelbetrieb (2)
- Kognition (2)
- Konsumentenverhalten (2)
- Lohn (2)
- Motivation (2)
- Naturschutz (2)
- New Economic Geography (2)
- New Economy (2)
- Personalpolitik (2)
- Perspektive (2)
- Peru (2)
- Pflanzen (2)
- Pharmaceuticals (2)
- Photolysis (2)
- R&D (2)
- Regulierung (2)
- Schadstoff (2)
- Selbständigkeit (2)
- September 11th (2)
- Städtebau (2)
- Tourismus (2)
- Toxizität (2)
- Umfrage (2)
- Umweltbezogenes Management (2)
- Umweltpolitik (2)
- Umweltökonomie (2)
- Unsicherheit (2)
- Unternehmer (2)
- Verantwortung (2)
- Verhandlung (2)
- Vertical Linkages (2)
- Verwaltung (2)
- Vorstand (2)
- Vögel (2)
- Wald (2)
- Wasserrahmenrichtlinie (2)
- Wasserwirtschaft (2)
- Weltraum (2)
- adjustment costs (2)
- agri-environmental policy (2)
- agriculture (2)
- agro-biodiversity (2)
- calluna vulgaris (2)
- congested public inputs (2)
- cultural landscape (2)
- deregulation (2)
- ecosystem management (2)
- energy transition (2)
- exporter wage premium (2)
- food security (2)
- foreign direct investment (2)
- heterogeneous firms (2)
- innovation (2)
- interest groups (2)
- landscape ecology (2)
- management (2)
- natural monopoly (2)
- plant-insect interactions (2)
- problem-solving (2)
- risk-aversion (2)
- scale (2)
- sozial (2)
- transdisciplinarity (2)
- transformation (2)
- union membership (2)
- Äthiopien (2)
- Öffentliches Gut (2)
- 3D modelling (1)
- Abandonment (1)
- Abbau (1)
- Absetzen (1)
- Abwassermarkierungsstoffe (1)
- Abwasserreinigung (1)
- Abweichung (1)
- Activated Sludge (1)
- Affekt (1)
- African Union (1)
- Agency-Theorie (1)
- Agrarplanung (1)
- Agrarsystem (1)
- Agrarwirtschaft (1)
- Agrarökosystem (1)
- Algenkultur (1)
- Algorithmus (1)
- Alpen (1)
- Alpine region (1)
- Altlastsanierung (1)
- Analyse (1)
- Anden (1)
- Anfang (1)
- Anger (1)
- Angst (1)
- Anpassungskosten (1)
- Antibiotikum (1)
- Anticancer Drug (1)
- Antriebstechnik (1)
- Anxiety (1)
- Aquatic environment (1)
- Aquatisches Ökosystem (1)
- Arbeitgeber (1)
- Arbeitnehmer (1)
- Arbeitsbedingungen (1)
- Arbeitslosigkeit (1)
- Arbeitsmarkt (1)
- Arbeitsökonomie (1)
- Arctic Atmosphere (1)
- Arktis (1)
- Armut (1)
- Armutsbekämpfung (1)
- Art (1)
- Artenvielfalt (1)
- Atmosphäre (1)
- Audit Digitization (1)
- Audit Quality (1)
- Aufsichtsrat (1)
- Auktion (1)
- Ausfuhrüberschuss (1)
- Auslandsmitarbeiter (1)
- Auslandstätigkeit (1)
- Automobilindustrie (1)
- BEF-China (1)
- Bakterien (1)
- Ballungsraum (1)
- Banken (1)
- Bankenkrisen (1)
- Bankenrettung (1)
- Banks (1)
- Baum (1)
- Baye´sche-Statistik (1)
- Beitrag (1)
- Benzo[a]Pyren (1)
- Benzopyrane (1)
- Berufseinstellung (1)
- Berufslaufbahn (1)
- Berufsvorbereitung (1)
- Berufswahl (1)
- Berufung (1)
- Beschäftigung (1)
- Beschäftigungspflicht (1)
- Bestäuber (1)
- Betrieb / Umwelt (1)
- Bevölkerungswachstum (1)
- Bevölkerungsökonomie (1)
- Big Data (1)
- Bioassay (1)
- Biochar (1)
- Biodiversitätsforschung (1)
- Biofilm (1)
- Biologische Abwasserreinigung (1)
- Biologische Landwirtschaft (1)
- Biologischer Landbau (1)
- Biomasse (1)
- Biomasseverbrennung (1)
- Biotechnologie (1)
- Birds (1)
- Bodengüte (1)
- Bondholder Relations (1)
- Brache (1)
- Brasilien (1)
- CMAQ (1)
- Calamagrostis epigejos (1)
- Cargo Bike (1)
- Citizen Science (1)
- Civic engagement (1)
- Cognition (1)
- Collaborative Energy Visioning (1)
- Computergestütze Psychotherapie (1)
- Computerspiel (1)
- Congestion (1)
- Consumer Protection (1)
- Controlling (1)
- Corporate Bond (1)
- Corporate Disclosure (1)
- Corporate Entrepreneurship (1)
- Corporate Governance (1)
- Cytostatikum (1)
- DSGE model (1)
- Damascus (1)
- Damaskus (1)
- Data Mining (1)
- Data mining (1)
- Datenanalyse (1)
- Datenerhebung auf Keyword-Ebene (1)
- Decision-Making (1)
- Decline (1)
- Degradation (1)
- Dekomposition der Ungleichheit (1)
- Demokratisierung (1)
- Deregulierung (1)
- Derivate (1)
- Derivatives (1)
- Design (1)
- Design Science Research (1)
- Designwissenschaft <Informatik> (1)
- Deutsche <Bundesrepublik> (1)
- Developing politics (1)
- Deviation (1)
- Diasporenbank (1)
- Discourse studies (1)
- Dissertation (1)
- Diversität (1)
- Document Analysis (1)
- Dorf (1)
- Driving Behaviour (1)
- E-Learning (1)
- EU Water Framework Directive (1)
- EURO-CORDEX (1)
- Earnings Management (1)
- East Germany (1)
- Eco-effective Products (1)
- Economic growth (1)
- Ecosystem services (1)
- Ecuador (1)
- Eductive Stability (1)
- Effektivität (1)
- Efficiency (1)
- Effizienz (1)
- Effizienzanalyse (1)
- Egypt (1)
- Eiderstedt (1)
- Eigeninitiative (1)
- Einkommensunterschied (1)
- Einwanderung (1)
- Elektrifizierung (1)
- Elektromobilität (1)
- Emission model (1)
- Emissionsmodell (1)
- Emotions (1)
- Empowerment (1)
- Ende (1)
- Energie (1)
- Energieeffizienz (1)
- Energiepolitik (1)
- Energiepreis (1)
- Energieweltwirtschaft (1)
- Energy Policy (1)
- Energy Prices (1)
- Entrepeneurship (1)
- Entry (1)
- Entscheidungsprozess (1)
- Entwicklung (1)
- Entwicklungszusammenarbeit (1)
- Environment (1)
- Environmental Communication (1)
- Environmental Monitoring (1)
- Environmental Non-Governmental Organisations (1)
- Environmental governance (1)
- Erfolg (1)
- Ergebnissteuerung (1)
- Erhebung (1)
- Erneuerbare Energie (1)
- Erneuerbare Energien (1)
- Ernährungssicherung (1)
- Error Management (1)
- Ertrag (1)
- Erwartung (1)
- Europa (1)
- Excludable and Non-excludable Public Goods (1)
- Exit from unemployment (1)
- Export entry (1)
- Export-sales ratio (1)
- Exportverhalten (1)
- Externe (1)
- Fahrerverhalten (1)
- Failure (1)
- Familienunternehmen (1)
- Family Firms (1)
- Fatty Acids (1)
- Fehleranalyse (1)
- Fehlerbehandlung (1)
- Fehlermanagement (1)
- Fehlerverhütung (1)
- Ferntourismus (1)
- Fernunterricht (1)
- Fettsäuren (1)
- Feuchtgebiet (1)
- Financial Reporting Quality (1)
- Finanzierung (1)
- Finanzstabilität (1)
- Fiscal and institutional policy (1)
- Fischerei (1)
- Fiskalpolitik (1)
- Flood (1)
- Flow-Shop-Problem (1)
- Flow-Shop-Scheduling (1)
- Fonds (1)
- Forschung (1)
- Forschungsevaluation (1)
- Forstwirtschaft (1)
- Franchising (1)
- Frauenförderung (1)
- Freier Beruf (1)
- Fremdsprachenlernen (1)
- Führungskräfte (1)
- Führungspsychologie (1)
- GC-MS (1)
- GIS (1)
- Gamification (1)
- Gamifizierung (1)
- Gefühl (1)
- Gemeinwohl (1)
- Generationengerechtigkeit (1)
- Genotoxicity (1)
- Gentoxikologie (1)
- Geoinformationssystem (1)
- German Socio-Economic Panel (1)
- German Time Use Surveys (1)
- German unions (1)
- Geschlechterrollen (1)
- Geschäftsführung (1)
- Geschäftsmodell (1)
- Gesundheitsmarkt (1)
- Gesundheitsorientierte Führung (1)
- Gesundheitspolitik (1)
- Gesundheitssektor (1)
- Gesundheitsspezifische Führung (1)
- Gewalt (1)
- Gewalttoleranz (1)
- Gewerkschaftsmitglied (1)
- Gewässer (1)
- Gewässerbelastung (1)
- Governance System (1)
- Governmental activity (1)
- Graphen (1)
- Graslandschaft (1)
- Growth (1)
- Großbritannien (1)
- Grundschüler (1)
- Health-specific leadership (1)
- Heidemahd (1)
- Heterogenität (1)
- Hochschule (1)
- Hochschulwahl (1)
- Hohe Einkommen (1)
- Holocene (1)
- Holozän (1)
- Human Resource Management (1)
- Human Rights (1)
- Human resource management (1)
- Hydrological tracers (1)
- Identification (1)
- Ili Delta (1)
- Indien (1)
- Indigenous peoples (1)
- Informatics (1)
- Informatik (1)
- Informationsmanagement (1)
- Institutional Change (1)
- Institutional Ownership (1)
- Institutional change (1)
- Institutionelle Eigentümer (1)
- Institutioneller Wandel (1)
- Insurance (1)
- Integration (1)
- Interdisziplinarität (1)
- Interessengruppen (1)
- Internationaler Vergleich (1)
- Internationaler Wettbewerb (1)
- Internationales Wirtschaftsrecht (1)
- Internationalität (1)
- Internet (1)
- Invertebraten (1)
- Islam (1)
- Islamistic terror (1)
- Java (1)
- Jordan (1)
- Kapitalbedarf (1)
- Karriere (1)
- Kasachstan (1)
- Keimfähigkeit (1)
- Kind (1)
- Kleinbauer (1)
- Kleinkredit (1)
- Kleinunternehmen (1)
- Klima (1)
- Klimamodell (1)
- Klimasimulation (1)
- Klimaänderung (1)
- Kläranlage (1)
- Klärschlamm (1)
- Koalitionsbildung (1)
- Kollaborative Initiativen (1)
- Kommerzialisierung (1)
- Kommunikationstraining (1)
- Kompetenzdelegation (1)
- Konsum (1)
- Kontext (1)
- Kontextanalyse (1)
- Konvergenz (1)
- Kostenverteilung (1)
- Kraftfahrtversicherung (1)
- Kraftfahrzeugindustrie (1)
- Kreditkontrolle (1)
- Kreislaufwirtschaft (1)
- Kultur (1)
- Kulturelle Anpassung (1)
- Kulturelle Entwicklung (1)
- Kulturerbe (1)
- Kulturpolitik (1)
- Kulturraum (1)
- Kulturtourismus (1)
- Kulturwirtschaft (1)
- Käfer (1)
- Küstengebiet (1)
- LC-HRMS (1)
- LC-MS (1)
- Labor Economics (1)
- Labor market (1)
- Labor productivity (1)
- Landnutzung (1)
- Landschaft (1)
- Landschaftsbiogeographie (1)
- Landschaftsschutz (1)
- Landschaftsökologie (1)
- Langstreckentransport (1)
- Large N-Analyse (1)
- Lastenfahrrad (1)
- Latent Profile Analysis (1)
- Latent variable modeling (1)
- Latente Variable (1)
- Laufkäfer (1)
- Learning (1)
- Leasing (1)
- Lebensmittelkontrolle (1)
- Lebensmittelproduktion (1)
- Lebensmittelsicherheit (1)
- Lebensraum (1)
- Lebensunterhalt (1)
- Leistungsbewertung (1)
- Leistungsmessung (1)
- Lernsoftware (1)
- Leverage Ratio (1)
- Leverage-Effekt (1)
- Levoglucosan (1)
- Liberal professions (Freie Berufe) (1)
- Lieferant (1)
- Lieferketten (1)
- Lieferung (1)
- Lineares Regressionsmodell (1)
- Lipide (1)
- Lipids (1)
- Liquidity Risc (1)
- Liquiditätsrisiko (1)
- Lobbyismus (1)
- Lohndifferenzierung (1)
- Lohnniveau (1)
- Lokales Suchverfahren (1)
- Luftaustausch (1)
- Luftverschmutzung (1)
- Ländlicher Raum (1)
- Löhne (1)
- Machado/Mata decomposition (1)
- Malaysia (1)
- Manager Effekte (1)
- Manipulation (1)
- Marketing (1)
- Marketing-Mix (1)
- Maschinenbelegungsplanung (1)
- Massendaten (1)
- Massenspektrometrie (1)
- Maturity Model (1)
- Maßnahmen zur Bekämpfung von Menschenhandel (1)
- Media (1)
- Medien (1)
- Mediennutzung (1)
- Meereis (1)
- Meerwasser (1)
- Meliponini (1)
- Mensch-Raubtier-Konflikte (1)
- Menschenhandel (1)
- Mental Disorder (1)
- Mental Health (1)
- Mental Models (1)
- Mentale Modelle (1)
- Mercury (1)
- Meta-Analyse (1)
- Meta-Analysis (1)
- Middle East (1)
- Migrant rights (1)
- Mill, John Stuart (1)
- Mindset (1)
- Mitarbeiter (1)
- Mitarbeitergesundheit (1)
- Mittelstand (1)
- Mittlerer Osten (1)
- Monitoring (1)
- Monopol (1)
- Monopolistic Competition (1)
- Monopolistische Konkurrenz (1)
- Moralisches Handeln <Motiv> (1)
- Motivationspsychologie (1)
- Multi-Level-Verwaltung (1)
- Mutagenität (1)
- Nachbarschaft (1)
- Nachfolge (1)
- Nachhaltiges Design (1)
- Nachhaltigkeits-Transition (1)
- Nachhaltigkeitsforschung (1)
- Nachhaltigkeitskommunikation (1)
- Nachhaltigkeitstransformation (1)
- Namibia (1)
- Nanotechnologie (1)
- Nascent entrepreneurs (1)
- Natural Language Processing (1)
- Natürliche Ressourcen (1)
- Natürliches Monopol (1)
- Negotiation (1)
- Neoinstitutionalismus (1)
- Netzwerk (1)
- Netzwerkanalyse (1)
- Netzwerke (1)
- Neue Medien (1)
- Nichtstaatliche Organisation (1)
- Niederschlag (1)
- Nordafrika (1)
- Nordatlantik (1)
- Nordseeküste (1)
- North Africa (1)
- Nutzerverhalten (1)
- Nährstoffentzug (1)
- Nährstoffmangel (1)
- OPE (1)
- Obere Jordantal (1)
- Older Workers (1)
- Online-Marketing (1)
- Online-Spiel (1)
- Open Innovation (1)
- Opportunity (1)
- Optionsschein (1)
- Organisationswandel (1)
- Organisatorischer Teilbereich (1)
- Organophosphor (1)
- Organophosphorus (1)
- Ostdeutschland (1)
- Ostsee (1)
- Ozonisierung (1)
- Ozonungsprodukte (1)
- PAH (1)
- PAK (1)
- PBDEs (1)
- PFCs (1)
- Palynologie (1)
- Paläoklima (1)
- Pellicle (1)
- Personalauswahl (1)
- Personalbeurteilung (1)
- Personalentwicklung (1)
- Personalführung (1)
- Personalwesen (1)
- Persönlichkeitsentwicklung (1)
- Persönlichkeitsstruktur (1)
- Pesticide formulation (1)
- Pflanzenkohle (1)
- Pflege (1)
- Philippinen (1)
- Philippines (1)
- Philosophie (1)
- Phosphor (1)
- Photodegradation (1)
- Pleistozän (1)
- Pluralismus (1)
- Polarraum (1)
- Polarregionen (1)
- Politik (1)
- Politische Verfolgung (1)
- Politisches Handeln (1)
- Population Economics (1)
- Post (1)
- Postal sector (1)
- Postmoderne (1)
- Potenzial (1)
- Poverty (1)
- Preisrisiko (1)
- Prestige (1)
- Principal-Agent Relationship (1)
- Prinzipal-Agenten-Struktur (1)
- Privatisierung von Weltraumaktivitäten (1)
- Problem (1)
- Product Differentiation (1)
- Produktdifferenzierung (1)
- Produktionsplanung (1)
- Produktmanagement (1)
- Produktmarketing (1)
- Prognose (1)
- Prozessperspektive (1)
- Prüfungsqualität (1)
- Psychische Gesundheit (1)
- Psychische Störung (1)
- Publikumsfonds (1)
- QSAR (1)
- Qualitative Forschung (1)
- Qualitative Reserach (1)
- Qualitative Sozialforschung (1)
- Quartär (1)
- Quartät (1)
- Quaternary (1)
- Quecksilber (1)
- RCM (1)
- Railway Industry (1)
- Rational Expectations (1)
- Reality (1)
- Rechnungslegungsmanipulation (1)
- Recht (1)
- Rechtsvergleich (1)
- Recruting (1)
- Regionalentwicklung (1)
- Reifegradmodell (1)
- Reifung (1)
- Reihenfolgeplanung (1)
- Reiseveranstalter (1)
- Reiseverhalten (1)
- Religion (1)
- Renaturierung <Ökologie> (1)
- Renewable energy (1)
- Reproduzierbarkeit (1)
- Repräsentation <Politik> (1)
- Research and Development (1)
- Retail Fonds (1)
- Retirement (1)
- Risiko (1)
- Risikoanalyse (1)
- Risikoausschluss (1)
- Risikobewertung (1)
- Risikokapital (1)
- Robustheit (1)
- Ruhestand (1)
- Rundfunk (1)
- Räumliche Verteilung (1)
- Rückgang (1)
- SMOKE-EV (1)
- Samen (1)
- Satellit (1)
- Say-on-Pay (1)
- Schadstofftransport (1)
- Schlüsselkompetenz (1)
- Schnee (1)
- Schwerbehinderter (1)
- Schädlingsbekämpfung (1)
- Science-society collaboration (1)
- Screening (1)
- Sea Ice (1)
- Selbsteinschätzung (1)
- Selbstregulation (1)
- Selbstschutz (1)
- Selbstständiger (1)
- Selbständige (1)
- Simulated Annealing (1)
- Skala (1)
- Skalenabhängigkeit (1)
- Smartphone (1)
- Social entrepreneurship (1)
- Social standards (1)
- Socio-Cognitive Model (1)
- Socio-technical Systems (1)
- Software (1)
- Softwareentwicklung (1)
- Solar (1)
- Soziale Integration (1)
- Soziale Medien (1)
- Soziales Engagement (1)
- Soziales System (1)
- Sozialklausel (1)
- Sozio-technische Systeme (1)
- Sozioökonomisches Panel (1)
- Sparen (1)
- Spiel (1)
- Spielbasiertes Fremdsprachenlernen (1)
- Staatstätigkeit (1)
- Stabilität (1)
- Stachellose Biene (1)
- Stadtverkehr (1)
- States´egislative practices (1)
- Stickstoffbelastung (1)
- Stochastik (1)
- Stochastische Dominanz (1)
- Strontium (1)
- Strukturfonds (1)
- Subsaharisches Afrika (1)
- Sustainability Transformation (1)
- Sustainability governnace (1)
- Sustainable Design (1)
- Sustainable Development Goals (1)
- Sustainable Product-Service (1)
- Sustainable development (1)
- Syrien (1)
- Systemdenken (1)
- Systems thinking (1)
- São Paulo (1)
- Süßstoff (1)
- TCEP (1)
- Tagebuch (1)
- Teamführung (1)
- Terrorismus (1)
- Textile Leasing (1)
- Textilien (1)
- Textilindustrie (1)
- Theater (1)
- Thermal energy storage (1)
- Too-big to-fail (1)
- Totholz (1)
- Toxicity (1)
- Tracer (1)
- Traditionelle Siedlungsformen (1)
- Transaction Cost Theory (1)
- Transaktionskosten (1)
- Transformation products (1)
- Transitionsmanagement (1)
- Transnational civil society (1)
- Trinkwasser (1)
- Täuschung (1)
- UV photolysis (1)
- Uganda (1)
- Umweltbelastung (1)
- Umweltbildung (1)
- Umweltgefährdung (1)
- Umweltkommunikation (1)
- Umweltplanung (1)
- Umweltschutz (1)
- Umweltverträglichkeit (1)
- Umweltüberwachung (1)
- University Choice (1)
- Unternehmensbezogene Dienstleistung (1)
- Unternehmenserfolg (1)
- Unternehmensethik (1)
- Unternehmenskultur (1)
- Unternehmensperformance (1)
- Unternehmensplanung (1)
- Unternehmer Einkommensteuerstatistik (1)
- Unternehmerische Unverantwortlichkeit (1)
- Unternehmertum-Training (1)
- Unternehmerverhalten (1)
- Unwissenheit (1)
- Upper Jordan Valley (1)
- Urban Mobility (1)
- Urban planning (1)
- Utilitarismus (1)
- Vagheit (1)
- Vegetationsstruktur (1)
- Verband der Netzbetreiber (1)
- Verbraucherschutz (1)
- Verbrennung (1)
- Verbundwirtschaft (1)
- Vereinigte Staaten (1)
- Vereinte Nationen (1)
- Verfall (1)
- Vergütung (1)
- Vergütungsvotum (1)
- Verhalten (1)
- Verhaltenstherapie (1)
- Verhandlungsergebnis (1)
- Verhandlungsführung (1)
- Versagen (1)
- Versicherungswert (1)
- Verstädterung (1)
- Verteilungsgerechtigkeit (1)
- Vertical Differentiation (1)
- Vertical Integration (1)
- Vertikale Bindung (1)
- Vertikale Produktdifferenzierung (1)
- Vertikale Verknüpfungen (1)
- Verwaltungsinformatik (1)
- Verwaltungsreform (1)
- Virtuality (1)
- Vögel in Agrarlandschaften (1)
- Wage dispersion (1)
- Wahrnehmung (1)
- Waldökologie (1)
- Waldökosystem (1)
- Warrants (1)
- Waschmittel (1)
- Wasserbehandlung (1)
- Wassergüte (1)
- Wassermangel (1)
- Wasserqualität (1)
- Wasserverschmutzung (1)
- Wasserzyklus (1)
- Wastewater treatment plant (1)
- Water Recycling (1)
- Water Resources Management (1)
- Water pollution (1)
- Water treatment (1)
- Weather Parameter (1)
- Weibliches Unternehmertum (1)
- Weichmacher (1)
- Weide (1)
- Weltraumabkommen (1)
- Weltraummüll (1)
- Weltraumpolitik (1)
- Werbewirkung (1)
- Werbung (1)
- Wert (1)
- Wertpapieremission (1)
- West Germany (1)
- Westdeutschland (1)
- Wettbewerb (1)
- Wetter (1)
- Widerstandsfähigkeit (1)
- Windenergie (1)
- Wirbeltiere (1)
- Wirtschaft (1)
- Wirtschaftliches Wachstum (1)
- Wirtschaftsberichterstattung (1)
- Wirtschaftskreislauf (1)
- Wirtschaftsrecht (1)
- Wirtschaftswachstum (1)
- Wissenschaftsphilosophie (1)
- Wissensmanagement (1)
- Wissensproduktion (1)
- Wohlbefinden (1)
- Work Motivation (1)
- Works councils (1)
- World Wide Web 2.0 (1)
- Wärmespeicher (1)
- XML-Standard (1)
- Zahnschmelz (1)
- Zaltman Metaphor Elicitation Technique (ZMET) (1)
- Zeit (1)
- Zeitbudgetforschung (1)
- Zentralitätsmaßen (1)
- Zerfall (1)
- Zerstörung (1)
- Zielkonflikt (1)
- Zugeständnis (1)
- Zuverlässigkeit (1)
- Zuwanderungsrecht (1)
- action research (1)
- advertising research (1)
- affect regulation (1)
- affective events theory (1)
- agency case studies (1)
- agglomeration (1)
- agro-ecosystem management (1)
- aid effectiveness (1)
- algal-bacterial culture (1)
- anti-trafficking enforcement (1)
- atmosphere (1)
- bacterial composition (1)
- bank (1)
- bank bailout (1)
- banking crisis (1)
- bee colony health (1)
- bee-collected resins (1)
- beekeeping (1)
- bezahlte Suchkampagne (1)
- bioassays (1)
- biomass burning (1)
- biotechnology (1)
- brownfield redevelopment (1)
- business creation (1)
- business ethics (1)
- business model (1)
- business performance (1)
- business services (1)
- calamagrostis epigejos (1)
- calling (1)
- capital requirements (1)
- career (1)
- career preparation (1)
- case survey (1)
- centrality measures (1)
- challenge (1)
- chance equality (1)
- climate (1)
- climate change (1)
- coastel environment (1)
- collaboration (1)
- collaborative energy visioning (1)
- collaborative governance (1)
- collaborative initiatives (1)
- communication (1)
- company (1)
- competition (1)
- conceptual vagueness (1)
- conservation (1)
- consumer behaviour (1)
- context (1)
- continuous treatment (1)
- contribution (1)
- converging institutions (1)
- converging technologies (1)
- corporate irresponsibility (1)
- corporate sicial responsibility (CSR) (1)
- corporate sustainability (1)
- countryside biogeography (1)
- cpace treaties (1)
- credit constraints (1)
- cultural landscapes (1)
- cultural tourism (1)
- culture (1)
- deception (1)
- decline in German unionism (1)
- decomposition (1)
- democratic theory (1)
- diary study (1)
- digital equity (1)
- digital game-based language learning (1)
- digital game-enhanced language learning (1)
- digitale Teilhabe (1)
- digitales Fremdsprachenlernen (1)
- dimensions of transformation (1)
- disability (1)
- discriminatory-price auction (1)
- disease resistance (1)
- distributive justice (1)
- disturbance (1)
- dose-response function (1)
- dynamic economy-environment interaction (1)
- earnings differential (1)
- ecological economics (1)
- ecological services (1)
- ecological-economic systems (1)
- economic behavior (1)
- economic empowerment (1)
- ecosystem functioning (1)
- ecosystem quality (1)
- emerging pollutants (1)
- employment (1)
- employment quota (1)
- empoyee health (1)
- endogenous environmental risk (1)
- energy efficiency (1)
- entrepreneural learning (1)
- entrepreneurial empowerment (1)
- entrepreneurial promotion (1)
- entrepreneurs (1)
- environment (1)
- environmental management (1)
- environmental manager (1)
- environmental risk (1)
- environmental strategy (1)
- error management (1)
- executive compensation (1)
- exit (1)
- export exit (1)
- exports (1)
- external appointees (1)
- failure (1)
- family Law (1)
- farmland birds (1)
- financial stability (1)
- fishery (1)
- flame retardant (1)
- flame retardants (1)
- focus on opportunities (1)
- forest (1)
- forest ecology (1)
- forestry (1)
- free-riding (1)
- functional diversity (1)
- funktionale Diversität (1)
- gamification (1)
- gender studies (1)
- genotoxicity (1)
- germination ability (1)
- gesellschaftliche Wirkungen (1)
- global comparative research (1)
- global tourism (1)
- globalization (1)
- governance system (1)
- graphs (1)
- health aid (1)
- health care market (1)
- health-oriented leadership (1)
- heathland ecosystems (1)
- herbivore consumer fitness (1)
- high resolution mass stectrometry (1)
- human resoure management (1)
- human-carnivore conflicts (1)
- hybrid regionalism (1)
- illiberal democracies (1)
- illiberale Demokratie (1)
- impression management (1)
- indicators (1)
- infant entrepreneurs (1)
- infection (1)
- information management (1)
- insects (1)
- insurance value (1)
- integration (1)
- interaction (1)
- interdisciplinarity (1)
- intergenerational justice (1)
- international comparison (1)
- internationaler Vergleich (1)
- interventions (1)
- invertebrates (1)
- investing (1)
- irreversibility (1)
- justice (1)
- keyword-level data (1)
- knowledge management (1)
- knowledge production function (1)
- labor productivity (1)
- labour productivity (1)
- land-use change (1)
- large-N analysis (1)
- leadership (1)
- learning (1)
- levoglucosan (1)
- linked employer-employee data (1)
- literature survey (1)
- lobbyism (1)
- local neighborhood (1)
- lokale Nachbarschaft (1)
- long-range transport (1)
- longitudinal research (1)
- management control (1)
- mixed methods (1)
- moral motivation (1)
- motivation (1)
- multi-level governance (1)
- multi-pollutant emissions (1)
- multi-proxy Paläoumwelt (1)
- multi-prozy palaeoenvironment (1)
- multi-unit auction (1)
- multilevel perspective (1)
- nachhaltige Geschäftsmöglichkeiten (1)
- nachhaltige Landwirtschaft (1)
- nachhaltiger Tourismus (1)
- nanotechnologies (1)
- national space legislation (1)
- nationale Weltraumgesetzgebung (1)
- negotiation . meindest (1)
- networks (1)
- nitrogen deposition (1)
- non-monotonic control (1)
- non-target screening (1)
- numerical dating (1)
- numerische Datierung (1)
- nutrient limitation (1)
- nutrient removal (1)
- nutritional ecology (1)
- occupational choice (1)
- optimal scale (1)
- organisationales Fehlverhalten (1)
- organizational failure (1)
- organizational units (1)
- outsiders (1)
- ozonation products (1)
- paid search campaigns (1)
- palaeoclimate (1)
- palynology (1)
- parasitoids (1)
- participation (1)
- perceptions (1)
- performance analysis (1)
- personality (1)
- personality measures (1)
- personnel management (1)
- personnel selection (1)
- pesticides (1)
- philosophy of science (1)
- plant biodiversity (1)
- polar regions (1)
- policy windows (1)
- political pressure (1)
- political process (1)
- politischer Druck (1)
- politischer Prozess (1)
- pollutants (1)
- poverty (1)
- poverty alleviation (1)
- power industry (1)
- precipitation (1)
- privatization of space activities (1)
- problem (1)
- product marketing (1)
- psychological aspects (1)
- psychological perspective (1)
- psychology (1)
- public good (1)
- public inputs (1)
- public participation (1)
- quantile regression decomposition (1)
- quantile regressions (1)
- randomisiertes Kontrollgruppenexperiment (1)
- rangelands (1)
- reflexive governance (1)
- regime-serving (1)
- regional growth (1)
- regulation (1)
- reliability (1)
- religion (1)
- research evaluation (1)
- resilience (1)
- response distortion (1)
- responsibility (1)
- robustness (1)
- rodents (1)
- saving (1)
- scientific impact (1)
- seawater (1)
- sediment (1)
- seed predation (1)
- selection (1)
- self-employment (1)
- self-protection (1)
- self-regulation (1)
- settleability (1)
- small and medium sized enterprises (1)
- small and medium-sized enterprises (1)
- snowfall (1)
- social desirability scales (1)
- social immunity (1)
- social sustainability (1)
- societal impact (1)
- socio-technical transition (1)
- software (1)
- soil organic carbon (1)
- soil quality (1)
- solar (1)
- southwest ethiopia (1)
- sozial-ökologische Systeme (1)
- sozio-kognitives Modell (1)
- spatial distribution (1)
- species diversity (1)
- staatliche Baunormen (1)
- staatliche Gesetzgebungspraxis (1)
- startup (1)
- stochastic (1)
- stochastic dominance (1)
- stock pollution (1)
- strategic management (1)
- strategisches Management (1)
- strontium bromide (1)
- städtische Bauplanung (1)
- sub-saharan Africa (1)
- supply chain (1)
- sustainability accounting (1)
- sustainability transformation (1)
- sustainability transition (1)
- sustainable agriculture (1)
- sustainable supply management (1)
- sustainable tourism (1)
- sustainable tourism assessments (1)
- sustainibility (1)
- sustainibility management tools (1)
- systema (1)
- systematische Literatur-Review (1)
- systemic risk (1)
- systemic risks (1)
- systemisches Rissiko (1)
- temporal and spatial scaling (1)
- temporal trends (1)
- terrestrial laser scanning (1)
- terrestrisches Laserscanning (1)
- terrorism (1)
- textile supply chain (1)
- time (1)
- tolerance of violence (1)
- tourism future (1)
- tourism impacts (1)
- trade-offs (1)
- traditional settlement (1)
- trainings (1)
- transdisciplinary research (1)
- transdisciplinary sustainability research (1)
- transformation products (1)
- transformations (1)
- transformative potential (1)
- transition management (1)
- travel behavior (1)
- tree resins (1)
- unawareness (1)
- uncertainty (1)
- union density (1)
- unternehmerisches Empowerment (1)
- urbanization (1)
- utilitarianism (1)
- value pluralism (1)
- vegetation structure (1)
- venture capital (1)
- vergleichende Forschung (1)
- viability (1)
- virtual (1)
- wastewater tracers (1)
- wastewater treatment (1)
- water framework directive (1)
- water quality (1)
- water resources management (1)
- wealth distribution (1)
- wellbeing (1)
- wetlands (1)
- whole mixture toxicity (1)
- wind energy (1)
- wirtschaftliches Empowerment (1)
- wissenschaftliche Wirkungen (1)
- women entrepreneurship (1)
- work engagement (1)
- works councils (1)
- yield (1)
- Ägypten (1)
- Älterer Arbeitnehmer (1)
- Ärger <Motiv> (1)
- Ökosystemdienstleistung (1)
- Ökosystemmanagement (1)
- Überschwemmung (1)
- Übervölkerung (1)
- Überzeugung (1)
- ökonomisches Verhalten (1)
Institut
- Fakultät Nachhaltigkeit (57)
- Frühere Fachbereiche (50)
- Fakultät Wirtschaftswissenschaften (44)
- Institut für Ökologie (IE) (28)
- Nachhaltigkeitsmgmt./-ökologie (19)
- VWL (15)
- Institut für Nachhaltigkeitssteuerung (INSUGO) (14)
- BWL (12)
- Institut für Nachhaltige Chemie und Umweltchemie (INUC) (12)
- Institut für Politikwissenschaft (IPW) (11)
In this dissertation, a multi-proxy study, which included palaeoecological, lithological, geochemical and geochronological methods, was carried out to investigate climatic and environmental changes and their interaction during the Quaternary in formerly glaciated and non-glaciated areas. The information obtained will be used to provide a better understanding of the regional stratigraphic framework and to establish broader regional terrestrial correlations within the global marine isotope stage (MIS) framework. This study was conducted on two key drillings, the Garding-2 research drill core in the German North Sea coastal area of Schleswig-Holstein and the GBY#2 archaeological core at the Gesher Benot Ya´aqov (GBY) site, in the Upper Jordan Valley in Israel. The results of this study are presented in three papers. Papers I and II focus on the study of the Garding-2 core, while the multi-proxy study of the GBY#2 core is presented in Paper III. The results of a variety of analyses conducted on the 240 m long Garding-2 sequence show interglacial-glacial cycles that are mainly controlled by variations in temperature. This sequence is composed of mainly fluvial-shallow marine sediments intercalated by muddy-peaty deposits. Based on the palynological and lithological findings, the Pliocene-Pleistocene transition was observed at 182.87 m. It is overlain by Praetiglian and the subsequent sediments of the Waalian and Bavelian Complexes. The boundary of either the second or third Cromerian Interglacial with younger sediments, which still belong to MIS 19, is marked by the last occurrence of Tsuga at 119.50 m and the development of mixed-deciduous forests. The palynologically equivalent sediments of the Bilshausen Interglacial were found below two Elsterian till layers, at 89.00 m-82.00 m. These sediments showed high and increased percentages of Pinus and Picea and scattered occurrences of Abies and Carpinus, which are similar to the features of the beginning of the Bilshausen or Rhume interglacial (Müller, 1992). An unconformity occurred at 80.29 m, at the bottom of late Holsteinian deposits, characterised by the occurrences of Fagus and Pterocarya, with low percentages of Abies and Carpinus and the absence of Buxus. These deposits are succeeded by sediments of the Fuhne cold period that shows higher percentages of NAP and occurrences of Ericales, Helianthemum and Selaginella selaginoides, which are unconformably overlain by Drenthian till at 73.00 m-71.00 m. A single peaty sample at 69.25 m with Pinus-Picea-Abies assemblage is correlated with the late Eemian Interglacial. This deposit is overlain by Weichselian glaciofluvial sediments. Middle-late Holocene sediments occurred from 20 m upwards, following a hiatus, which was caused by the Early Holocene transgression. A subsequent thin layer of marine Atlantic sediments is unconformably overlain by marine-tidal flat deposits up to 11.00 m. The first occurrence of Fagus (at 15.97 m) and Carpinus (at 15.03 m), which was optically stimulated luminescence (OSL)-dated to 3130 +/- 260 BP (at 16.22 m, Zhang et al., 2014), gives evidence for a Subboreal age for these deposits. Sandy sediments of the early Subatlantic, which were deposited between 11.00 m and the top of the Garding-2 sequence, indicate that local salt marshes, dunes and tidal flat vegetation expanded during this period. Due to regional features and the peculiarities of the local coastal environment, the expansions of Fagus and Carpinus, which are characteristic for the Subboreal-Subatlantic transition at about 2700 BP in northern Germany, are not clearly reflected in the Garding-2 pollen diagram. In the Mediterranean area, a 50 m long core of GBY#2, was drilled at the Acheulian site of Gesher Benot Ya´akov. The GBY#2 core provides a long Early-Middle Pleistocene geological, environmental and climatological record, which also enriches the knowledge of hominin-habitat relationships documented at the margins of the Hula Palaeo-lake. The sediment sequence of GBY#2 is under- and overlain by two basalt flows that are 40Ar/39Ar dated: two samples at the bottom of the core dated to 1195 +/- 67 ka (at 48.30 m) and 1137 +/- 69 ka (at 45.30 m), and another one at the top dated to 659 +/- 85 ka (at 14.90 m). With the additional chronological identification of the Matuyama Brunhes Boundary (MBB) and the correlation with the GBY excavation sites, the sedimentary sequence of GBY#2 provides the climatic history during the late part of the mid-Pleistocene transition (MPT, 1.2 Ma-0.5 Ma). Multi-proxy analyses including those of pollen and non-pollen palynomorphs, macro botanical remains, molluscs, ostracods, fish, amphibians and micromammals provide evidence for lake and lake-margin environments during MIS 20 and MIS 19. During MIS 20, relatively cool semi-moist conditions were followed by a pronounced dry phase. During the subsequent MIS 19, warm and moist interglacial conditions were characterised by Quercus-Pistacia woodlands in this area. The depositional environment changed from an open water lake during MIS 20 to a lake margin environment in MIS 19. This finding is at odds with changing climate conditions from relatively dry to moist. This discrepancy could be explained by the prograding pattern of the lake shore due to the infilling of the basin, which resulted in shallower water. Climatic changes during the Late Tertiary and the Quaternary in the high latitude regions in northwest Europe and during the Early-Middle Pleistocene in the mid latitude regions of the Middle East follow the patterns of global climatic changes, which are mainly controlled by orbital obliquity (+/-41 ka cycle) during the Early Pleistocene and by orbital eccentricity (+/-100 ka cycle) during the MPT (1.2 Ma-0.5 Ma) and the younger periods of the Quaternary. The results of this study also provide reliable evidence for long distance correlation of stratigraphic and climatic events of the Quaternary, which extends knowledge of regional and global impact of climatic fluctuations on the environment.
Does grass-roots civic engagement improve the quality of public services in countries in which formal oversight institutions are weak?´ It is obvious that formal oversight institutions are weak in developing countries, which causes low-quality public services. This weakness is particularly critical in the health sector - a service domain of crucial relevance for development. This observation has led practitioners to believe that the direct engagement of the beneficiaries of public services is a means to compensate the weakness of oversight institutions and to improve the quality of these services. Given that beneficiaries have incentives to demand good quality services, it is indeed logical to assume that their participation in the monitoring of public services helps to improve the quality of these very services. This positive view of grass-roots civic engagement resonates with the idea that an active civil society helps a political system to build up and sustain a high institutional performance In the eyes of the donors of development aid, this idea nurtures the expectation that strengthening civic engagement contributes to increased aid effectiveness. Accordingly, donor countries have increased their efforts to strengthen beneficiary participation since the 1990s, which moved the concepts of voice and accountability center-stage in the international development discourse. However, whether citizens´ capacity to exercise pressure on service providers and public officials really improves the effectiveness of development aid remains an unresolved question. Building upon recent experimental and comparative case study evidence, the thesis examines the role of citizens´ engagement in the effectiveness of development interventions. The focus is on such interventions in the health sector because population health is particularly critical for prosperity and development, and ultimately for democratization. The key question addressed is if and under what conditions ordinary people´s engagement in collective action and their inclination to raise their voice improves the effectiveness of development assistance for health (DAH). I analyze this question from an interactionist viewpoint, unraveling the complex interplay of civic engagement and health aid with three key institutional variables: (i) state capacity, (ii) liberal democracy and (iii) decentralized government. Drawing upon social capital theory, principal-agent theory, and selectorate theory, I provide compelling evidence that health aid effectiveness depends on (a) bo_om-up processes of demand from service users as well as (b) formal processes of top-down monitoring and horizontal oversight arrangements. In other words, the very interaction of behavioral and institutional factors drives the accountability in public service provision and thus the effectiveness of development assistance for health in recipient countries.
Comparable collaborations between farmers and institutions with communal catering have been less in research focus so far. Within the region of Lüneburg, an example for such a regional-organic cooperation is not known yet. Thus,this work represents the starting point to fill the research gap within the field of sustainable food systems in urban living labs as part of the research project GLOCULL (Globally and Locally-sustainable food-water-energy innovation in Urban Living Labs). The work aims at building up such a regional-organic food cooperation between a local farmer and a kindergarten community catering servicebased on scientific insights and practical persons’ knowledge.
In this dissertation the relation between time headway in car following and the subjective experience of a driver was researched. Three experiments were conducted in a driving simulator. Time headways in a range of 0.5 to 4.0 seconds were investigated at 50km/h, 100km/h, and 150km/h under varied visibility conditions and at differing levels of driver control over the car. The main research questions addressed the possible existence of a threshold effect for the subjective experience of time headways and the influence of vehicle speed, forward visibility, and vehicle control on the position of time headway thresholds. Furthermore, the validity of zero-risk driver behavior models was investigated. Results suggest that a threshold exists for the subjective experience of time headways in car following. This implies that the subjective experience of time headways stays constant for a range of time headways above a critical threshold. The subjective experience of a driver is only influenced by time headway once this critical time headway threshold is passed. Speed does not influence preferred time headway distances in self- and assisted-driving, i.e. time headway thresholds are constant for different speeds. However, in completely automated driving preferred time headways are influenced by vehicle speed. For higher speeds preferred time headways decrease. A reduction of forward visibility leads to a shift in preferred time headways towards larger time headways. Results of this dissertation give credence to zero-risk models of driver behavior.
This paper-based dissertation deals with capital structures and tax policies of German family businesses. The provision of sufficient financial resources is crucial for a firm’s survival and thus represents a central task for a firm’s management. Family firms as the predominant company form in Germany are mainly characterized by the overlapping of the two spheres family and business, both having different goal systems and preferences. This also has an impact on decision making with regard to corporate finance including the application of tax avoidance policies. In Germany, bank finance is the dominant financing source for family firms but there is a preference for internal finance since it comes along with more external independency. Extant research usually bases its results on samples of publicly listed companies. These studies come up with different results regarding family firms’ actual financing preferences and capture their heterogeneity only to a very little extent. In this light, the present dissertation and its three papers examine different research questions in the context of capital structure decisions and tax avoidance in family firms. All the three papers apply a quantitative empirical research design. The first paper is a comparison between capital structures of family firms and non-family firms. The paper examines differences in bank debt and trade credit ratios. Overall, the findings show that family firms have significantly higher overall and long-term debt levels compared to their non-family counterparts. The identity as a family firm, which leads to a leap of faith by banks, can be a possible explanation for these results. The second paper is an in-depth examination of drivers of bank debt levels within the group of family firms. Further, it addresses heterogeneity amongst family firms and combines survey results and corresponding financial information. This represents a first attempt to capture family firm heterogeneity and its link to financial issues. The study shows that the more power in the company is exerted via management or supervisory board by the family, the less bank debt is used. Paper three is an extension of the previous two studies as it sheds light on tax avoidance, a significant instrument to strengthen the internal financing capability of a firm. This also takes up a research gap as there is very little research on taxation in family firms. Contrary to the expectation, the study reveals that private family firms might pay less tax than their non-family peers.
The academic literature holds high expectations of crowdfunding to foster sustainable development by closing the funding gap for sustainable entrepreneurs. In particular, crowdfunding is considered a promising instrument for transforming existing socio-technical regimes by financing radical innovations of such entrepreneurs. However, this potential has not yet been fully explored. Large knowledge gaps exist especially in the area of investment-based crowdfunding. Therefore, this dissertation addresses the overarching research question of how sustainable entrepreneurs can exploit the full potential of investment-based crowdfunding to develop from niche operators to actors in the socio-technical regime. Five journal articles and one book chapter are included in this PhD project, which use a wide range of quantitative methodologies. In the framework paper, the findings are conceptually evaluated on a meta-level by applying the multi-level perspective. The key insights can be assigned to four categories, including the financing and marketing function, the target group, and the project presentation. The analysis shows that investment-based crowdfunding is suitable to equally fund and market the business ideas of environmental entrepreneurs, since the quest for entering the mass market is highest for such ventures. In contrast, purely social entrepreneurs tend to conduct crowdfunding projects on a smaller scale and probably aim to stay in the niche. Nevertheless, profit-oriented social entrepreneurs are still encouraged to use investment-based crowdfunding for funding and marketing purposes. The prominent display of environmental effects (e.g. the amount of compensated greenhouse gases) and financial incentives (e.g. high interest rates) has a high impact on the investment decision of individuals on investment-based crowdfunding platforms. The findings also suggest that the typical supporter of sustainability-oriented crowdfunding projects is younger than 50 years, has achieved at least a university degree and holds low levels of self-enhancement and conservative values. The case of fairafric is used as a best practice example to demonstrate how crowdfunding can be a stepping stone for sustainability-oriented niche actors to enter the mass market. The fair-trade and organic chocolate manufacturer has undergone six crowdfunding campaigns which enabled it to grow and build a strong community of supporters. The outcomes of this dissertation clarify how sustainable entrepreneurs can unleash the potential of investment-based crowdfunding for financing and marketing purposes.
Business Models for Sustainability Innovation : Conceptual Foundations and the Case of Solar Energy
(2013)
This dissertation deals with the relationships between the increasingly discussed business model notion, sustainability innovation, and the business case for sustainability concept. The main purpose of this research is to identify and define the so far insufficiently studied theoretical interrelations between these concepts. To this end, according theoretical foundations are developed and combined with empirical studies on selected aspects of the solar photovoltaic industry. This industry is particularly suitable for research on sustainability innovation and business models because of its increasing maturity paired with public policy and market dynamics that lead to a variety of business model-related managerial and entrepreneurial business case challenges. The overarching research question is: How can business models support the commercialisation of sustainability innovations and thus contribute to business cases for sustainability? A theoretical and conceptual foundation is developed based on a systematic literature review on the role of business models in the context of technological, organisational, and social sustainability innovation. Further, the importance of business model innovation is discussed and linked to sustainability strategies and the business case for sustainability concept. These theoretical foundations are applied in an in-depth case study on BP Solar, the former solar photovoltaic subsidiary of British Petroleum. Moreover, because supportive public policies and the availability of financial capital are known to be the most important preconditions for commercial success with innovations such as solar photovoltaic technologies, the solar studies include a comparative multiple-case study on the public policies of China, Germany, and the USA as well as a conjoint experiment to explore debt capital investors’ preferences for different types of photovoltaic projects and business models. As a result, the main contribution of this work is the business models for sustainability innovation (BMfSI) framework. This framework is based on the idea that the business model is an artificial and social construct that fulfils different functions resulting from social interaction and their deliberate construction. The BMfSI framework emphasises the so-called mediating function, i.e. the iterative alignment of business model elements with company-internal and external requirements as well as with the specific characteristics of environmentally and socially beneficial innovations. Against this backdrop, it becomes clear that practically-oriented knowledge based on BMfSI research might provide new and effective ways to support the achievement of corporate sustainability.
Despite growing research on sustainability transformations, our understanding of how transformative transdisciplinary research can support local actors who foster change towards sustainability is still somewhat limited. To contribute to this research question, the investigator conducted research in a transdisciplinary case study in Southern Transylvania, where non-governmental organizations (NGO) drive sustainability initiatives to foster desired changes (e.g., supporting small-scale farmers or conserving natural and cultural heritage). Interactions with these local actors and reflections on the research question shaped the research of this dissertation. In paper 1, the author conducted a literature review on amplification processes that describe actions, which local actors can apply to increase the impact of their sustainability initiatives. In paper 2, he conducted a literature review on the application of indigenous and local knowledge (ILK) in sustainability transformations research to understand whether this research engages with the conceptualization of transformations from local actors. The results show that ILK is generally applied to confirm and complement scientific knowledge in contexts of environmental, climate, social-ecological, and species change. In paper 3, the author derived principles that provide guidance for how to integrate sustainability initiatives from local actors in transformative transdisciplinary research. Based on his transdisciplinary research with the NGOs in Southern Transylvania and by using systems and futures thinking as an approach for analysis, he derived three principles that provide guidance for the co-design of sustainability intervention strategies that build on, strengthen, and complement existing initiatives from local actors. In paper 4, the author explored empirically how to identify relevant local actors for collaborations that seek to intervene in specific characteristics of a system (e.g., parameters or design of a system). He applied a leverage points' perspective to analyse the social networks of the NGOs in Southern Transylvania that amplify the impact of their initiatives. This dissertation as a whole contributes insights to three recommendations of how transformative transdisciplinary research can support local actors fostering change towards sustainability: First, by conducting research that studies and supports local actors who increase the impact of their sustainability initiatives via amplification processes (Paper 1 and 4); Second, by engaging specifically with the initiatives, networks, and knowledge from local actors, who foster bottom-up, place-based transformations (Paper 1-4); Third, by identifying and collaborating with local actors that are relevant for strategic systems interventions that build on, strengthen, and complement existing initiatives (Paper 3-4).
The German market for corporate bonds has experienced an unprecedented growth over the last decade. As a growing number of German firms have seized the opportunity to issue debt securities to the market, the need arises to evaluate their attempts to provide bondholders with private corporate information. This doctoral thesis centers on a research interest concerning the extent and effectiveness of corporate disclosure directed at the German bond market. It delivers unprecedented insights into bondholder relations practices and is thought to establish this topic as a research field that is complementary to previous work on shareholder-related disclosure. Taking information asymmetries between firms and bondholders as a basis, the empirical analyses are based on various arguments from the voluntary disclosure theory as well as from principal-agency and related frameworks. In essence, most parts of the thesis follow the key assumption that bondholders demand higher premiums for opaqueness and potentially detrimental behavior on behalf of a bond issuer’s management. The analyses deliver new insights into the role of corporate disclosure and close a gap between bondholder relations and financial as well as shareholder-related disclosure. They contribute to the stream of research that is concerned with corporate disclosure and its relationship to the cost of capital, the cost of debt, and even more specifically the yield (spread) of corporate bonds.
Through the expansion of human activities, humanity has evolved to become a driving force of global environmental change and influences a substantial and growing part of natural ecosystem trophic interactions and energy flows. However, by constructing and building its own niche, human distance from nature increased remarkably during the last decades due to processes of globalization and urbanization. This increasing disconnect has both material and immaterial consequences for how humans interact and connect with nature. Indeed, many regions across the world have disconnected themselves from the productivity of their regional environment by: (1) accessing biological products from distant places through international trade, and (2) using non-renewable resources from outside the biosphere to boost the productivity of their natural environment. Both mechanisms allow for greater resource use then would be possible otherwise, but also involve complex sustainability challenges and lead to fundamentally different feedbacks between humans and the environment. This dissertation empirically investigates the sustainability of biophysical human-nature connections and disconnections from a social-ecological systems perspective. The results provide new insights and concrete knowledge about biophysical human-nature disconnections and its sustainability implications, including pervasive issues of injustice. Through international trade and reliance on non-renewables, particularly higher-income regions appropriate an unproportional large share of global resources. Moreover, by enabling seemingly unconstrained consumption of resources and simultaneous conservation of regional ecosystems, increasing regional disconnectedness stimulates the misconception of decoupling. Whereas, in fact, the biophysically most disconnected regions exhibit the highest resource footprints and are, therefore, responsible for the largest environmental damages. The increasing biophysical disconnect between humans and nature effectively works to circumvent limitations and self-constraining feedbacks of natural cycles. The circumvention of environmental constraints is a crucial feature of niche construction. Human niche construction refers to the process of modifying natural environments to make them more useful for society. To ease integration of the chapters in this thesis, the framework paper uses human niche construction theory to understand the mechanisms and drivers behind increasing biophysical disconnections. The theory is employed to explain causal relationships and unsustainable trajectories from a holistic perspective. Moreover, as a process-oriented approach, it allows connecting the empirically assessed states of disconnectedness with insights about interventions and change for sustainability. For a sustainability transformation already entered paths of disconnectedness must be reversed to enable a genuine reconnection of human activities to the biosphere and its natural cycles. This thesis highlights the unsustainability of disconnectedness and opens up debate about how knowledge around sustainable human niche construction can be leveraged for a reconnection of humans to nature.
Biodiversity is quickly diminishing across the planet, primarily owing to human pressures. Protected areas are an essential tool for conserving biodiversity in response to increasing human pressures. However, their ecological effectiveness is contested and their capacity to resist human pressures differ. This dissertation aimed to assess the ecological effectiveness of different protection levels (from strict to less strictly protected: national park, game reserve, forest reserve, game-controlled area, and unprotected areas) in biodiversity (both mega diverse butterflies and mammals), maintaining habitat connectivity, and reducing anthropogenic threats at the wider landscape in the Katavi-Rukwa Ecosystem of southwestern Tanzania. To achieve this overarching goal, I employed an interdisciplinary approach.
First, I analyzed butterfly diversity and community composition patterns across protection levels in the Katavi-Rukwa Ecosystem. I found that species richness and abundance were highest in the game reserves and game-controlled areas, intermediate in the forest reserves, national park and unprotected areas. Species composition differed significantly among protection levels. Landscape heterogeneity, forest cover, and primary productivity influenced species composition. Land-use, burned areas, forest cover, and primary productivity explained the richness of species and functional traits. Game reserves hosted most indicator species.
Second, I modelled the spatial distribution of six large mammal target species (buffalo Syncerus caffer, elephant Loxodonta africana, giraffe Giraffa camelopardalis, hartebeest Alcelaphus buselaphus, topi Damaliscus korrigum, and zebra Equus burchellii) across environmental and protection gradients in the Katavi-Rukwa Ecosystem. Based on species-specific density surface models, I found relatively consistent effects of protection level and land-use variables on the spatial distribution of the target mammal species: relative densities were highest in the national park and game reserves, intermediate in forest reserves and game-controlled areas and lowest in un-protected areas. Beyond species-specific environmental predictors for relative densities, our results highlight consistent negative associations between relative densities of the target species and distance to cropland and avoidance of areas in proximity to houses.
Third, I examined temporal changes in land-use, population densities and distribution of six large mammal target species across protection levels between 1991 and 2018. During the surveyed period, cropland increased from 3.4 % to 9.6 % on unprotected land and from ≤0.05 % to <1 % on protected land. Wildlife densities of most, but not all target species declined across the entire landscape, yet the onset of the observed wildlife declines occurred several years before the onset of cropland expansion. Across protection levels, wildlife densities occurred at much greater densities in the national park and game reserves and lowest in the forest reserves, game-controlled areas and unprotected areas. Based on logistic regression models, target species preferred the national park over less strictly protection levels and areas distant to cropland. Because these analyses do not support a direct relationship between the timing of land-use change and wildlife population dynamics, other factors may account for the apparent ecosystem-wide decline in wildlife.
Fourth, I quantified land-use changes, modelled habitat suitability and connectivity of elephant over time across a large protected area network in southwestern Tanzania. Based on analyses of remotely-sensed data, cropland increased from 7% in 2000 to 13% in 2019, with an average expansion of 634 km2 per year. Based on ensemble models, distance from cropland influenced survey-specific habitat suitability for elephant the most. Despite cropland expansion, the locations of the modelled elephant corridors (n=10) remained similar throughout the survey period. According to ecological knowledge, nine of the modelled corridors were active, whereas one modelled corridor had been inactive since the 1970s. Based on circuit theory, I prioritize three corridors for protected area connectivity. Key indicators of corridor quality varied over time, whereas elephant movement through some corridors appears to have increased over time.
Overall, this dissertation underpins differences in ecological effectiveness of protected areas within one ecosystem. It highlights the need to utilize a landscape conservation approach to guide effective conservation across the entire protection gradient. It also suggests the need to enforcing land use plans and having alternative and sustainable forms for generating income from the land without impairing wildlife habitat.
Traditional farming landscapes typically support exceptional biodiversity. They evolved as tightly coupled social-ecological systems, in which traditional human land-use shaped highly heterogeneous landscapes. However, these landscapes are under severe threats of land-use change which potentially pose direct threats to biodiversity, in particular through land-use intensification and land abandonment. Navigating biodiversity conservation in such changing landscapes requires a thorough understanding of the drivers that maintain the social-ecological system. This dissertation aimed to identify system properties that facilitate biodiversity conservation in traditional farming landscape, focusing specifically on birds and large carnivores in the rapidly changing traditional farmland region of Southern Transylvania, Romania. In order to identify these properties, I first examined the effects of local and landscape scale land-use patterns on birds and large carnivores and how they may be affected by future land-use change (Chapters II-V). Second, to gauge the role of particular traditional land-use elements for biodiversity I focused on the conservation value of traditional wood pastures (Chapters VI-VIII). Third, I took a social-ecological systems approach to understand how links between the social and ecological parts of the system affect human-bear coexistence (Chapters IV and IX). Bird diversity was supported by the broad gradients of woody vegetation cover and compositional heterogeneity. Land-use intensification, and hence the loss of woody vegetation cover and homogenization of land covers, would thus negatively affect biodiversity. This was especially evident from predictions on the distribution of the corncrake (Crex crex) in response to potential future land cover homogenization. Here, a moderate reduction of land cover diversity could drastically reduce the extent of corncrake habitat. Further results showed that the brown bear (Ursus arctos) would mainly be affected by land-use change through the fragmentation of large forest blocks, especially if land-use change would reduce habitat connectivity to the presumed source population in the Carpathian Mountains. Moreover, this dissertation revealed that large carnivores (brown bear and wolf, Canis lupus) may have important and often ignored roles in structuring the ecosystem of traditional farming landscapes by limiting herbivores. Wood pastures were found to have a high conservation value. The combination of low-intensity used grasslands with old scattered trees provided important supplementary habitat for different forest species such as woodpeckers and the brown bear. Worryingly, current management of wood pastures differed from traditional techniques in several aspects, which may threaten their persistence in the landscape. The majority of people had a positive perception on human-bear coexistence. The use of traditional sheep herding techniques combined with the tolerance of some shepherds to occasional livestock predation facilitated coexistence in a region where both carnivores and livestock are present. More generally, the genuine links between people and their environment were important drivers of people´s positive views on coexistence. However, perceived failures of top-down managing institutions could potentially erode these links and reduce people´s tolerance towards bears. Through the consideration of two different animal taxa, this dissertation revealed six important system properties facilitating biodiversity conservation in traditional farming landscapes. Similar proportions of the main land-use types (arable land, grassland, and forests) support species richness at the regional scale possible through habitat connectivity and continuous spill-over between land-use types. Heterogeneous landscapes can further support biodiversity through complementation and supplementation of habitat at the landscape scale. Gradients of woody vegetation cover and heterogeneity, supported biodiversity at both local and landscape scales possibly through the provision of a wide range of resources. The heterogeneous character of the landscape is tightly linked to traditional land-use practices, which also maintain specific traditional land-use elements and facilitate human-carnivore coexistence. Top-down limitation of large carnivores on herbivores possibly enhances vegetation growth and tree regeneration. The genuine links between humans and nature support human-bear coexistence, and these links may form the core of people´s values and sustainable use of natural resources.
Tropical ecosystems are critical for biodiversity conservation and local people’s livelihood sustenance. However, these ecosystems are under high pressure from land-use and land cover (LULC) change, which is further projected to intensify and increase rapidly, thereby affecting biodiversity and the provisioning of vital ecosystem services (ES). It is thus important to understand how LULC might change in the future and how such changes could affect biodiversity and ES provisioning in a given landscape of tropical ecosystems. Scenario planning has become an increasingly popular tool and technique to produce narrative scenarios of the future landscape change. Thus, quantifying changes under different land-use scenarios could be a means to elucidate the synergies and trade-offs within the scenarios. In this dissertation, I examine the future of biodiversity and ES provisioning for different plausible land-use scenarios in southwestern Ethiopia.
First, I translated four future plausible narrative social-ecological land-use scenarios (namely, ‘Gain over grain’, ‘Coffee and conservation’, ‘Mining green gold’ and ‘Food first’) developed for southwestern Ethiopia by participatory scenario planning into spatially explicit LULC scenario maps. Results showed distinct LULC changes under each scenario. For instance, forest cover under the ‘Gain over grain’ and ‘Coffee and conservation’ scenarios remained similar to the current landscape covering about half of the landscape, in contrast it decreased by 27% and by about 18% under ‘Mining green gold’ and ‘Food first’ scenarios, respectively. Coffee plantation and arable land for cereal crop production covered about half of the landscape under ‘Mining green gold’ and ‘Food first’ scenarios, respectively. Second, I investigated the impact of these land-use scenarios on biodiversity by specifically modelling woody plant species richness in farmland and forest. Both indicators of human disturbance and environmental conditions were used. The results indicated that the ‘Mining green gold’ and ‘Food first’ scenarios would result in strong losses of biodiversity, whereas the ‘Gain over grain’ scenario largely maintained biodiversity relative to the baseline. Only the ‘Coffee and conservation’ scenario showed positive changes for biodiversity that are likely viable in the long run. Third, I also investigated the effect of these land-use scenarios on woody plant-based ES provisioning by combining woody plant species with household surveys on how woody plants were used by the local community. I modelled and predicted the current and future availability of woody plant-based ES under the four scenarios of landscape change. The results showed that land-use scenarios with intensified food or cash crop cultivation would lead to the contraction of woody-plant based ES from farmland to forest patches, implying increased pressure on remaining forest patches. In such a context, attempts to ‘spare’ forest patches from local people will likely be ineffective or alternatively, will have serious negative consequences for local livelihoods. I further modelled and mapped the spatial distribution of six ES: two regulating services (erosion control and carbon storage), three provisioning services (coffee production, crop production and livestock feed) and a supporting service (woody plant richness) for the current landscape and the four land-use scenarios. Results showed smallholder farmers specializing on cash crops (‘Gain over grain’ scenario) would likely cause little change to ES generation, but major losses in ES would result from intensification scenarios (‘Mining green gold’ and ‘Food first’). Finally, the ‘Coffee and conservation’ scenario appears to be the most sustainable scenario because it would secure diverse ES in the long run. This study provides methodological and empirical contributions to the developing fields of scenario planning, social-ecological systems analysis, conservation and landscape change sciences. In addition, it has practical implications for local stakeholders and decision-makers, who can draw on findings for a better-informed land-use management.
Overall, the findings of this dissertation showed the importance of integrating future land-use mapping with participatory, narrative-based scenarios to assess the social-ecological outcomes of alternative futures. The spatially explicit maps of LULC change, biodiversity and ES (at different scales) could be used as a valuable input to support stakeholders and decision-makers to weigh the advantages and disadvantages of different development trajectories on ecosystems and human well-being and to avoid or minimize future undesirable consequences. To this end, apart from the benefits of coffee production under ‘Mining green gold’ and crop production under ‘Food first’ scenarios, the findings under these scenarios of large-scale agricultural intensification point to a potentially high loss of biodiversity and ES. These two scenarios could have a negative long-term impact on ecosystems and human well-being. Finally, the ‘Coffee and conservation’ scenario, which involves the creation of a new biosphere reserve, appears to be the most sustainable scenario. This scenario could result in a sustainably managed, diversified landscape which could make major contributions to biodiversity conservation and human well-being in the region and beyond.
Water is an essential natural resource, yet we are experiencing a global water crisis. This crisis is first and foremost a crisis of governance rather than of actual physical resources. Capacities of single, unitary states are severely challenged by the complex, multi-scalar, and dynamic structure of contemporary problems in water resource management. New modes of governance stress the potential of public participation and scalar restructuring for effective and legitimate environmental decision-making. However, a lack evidence on the actual implementation and instrumental value of novel governance modes stands in stark contrast to the strong beliefs and assumptions that often see these being propagated as ´panaceas´ or ´universal remedies´. With this doctoral dissertation I aim to contribute to a deeper understanding of the implementation and performance of public participation and scalar restructuring in environmental governance, and particularly to engage in systematic research into the contextual factors that shape the performance of such governance innovations. Based on the conceptual approaches of participatory, multi-level governance and scale, I advance a conceptual framework specifying mechanisms and important contextual factors describing the potential of participation and rescaling to impact on the efficacy of environmental decision-making. Applying this framework, I employ a mixed-methods approach combining qualitative, quantitative, set-theoretic, and review methods, with the aim of maximising the validity of results. Drawing on the institutional frame of the European Water Framework Directive (WFD), I first assess the extent and conditions under which participation and rescaling are actually implemented in the European water resource management regime. Subsequent analyses examine whether these governance shifts, where implemented, actually lead to environmentally effective and legitimate political decisions, and foster social outcomes. Results indicate that actual changes in governance structures remain modest, whereas previous institutional structures and experiences prove rather durable. Hence, despite recent shifts distributing authority towards alternative actors and scales, the state has persisted in its role as central authority in the European water resource management regime. To the extent that they were implemented, public participation and rescaling were generally positively related with the environmental effectiveness and legitimacy of political outcomes. The analysis provides a context-sensitive understanding, by unravelling the supposedly linear relationship between governance inputs and outputs to develop a more nuanced picture of the governance process rather as a composition of multiple, interdependent causal mechanisms that, depending on their actual configuration, lead to various outcomes. In this way, particularly the tension between legitimacy and effectiveness of political outcomes is disentangled, with both being seen as the result of distinct but interrelated properties of the governance system and its contextual circumstances. The thesis furthermore provides insights of practical and policy relevance, highlighting the need and potential to take a context-sensitive perspective in policy design and decision-making. The framework paper and the Ph.D. thesis thus together enhance academic understanding of environmental governance and its potential contributions to sustainability transitions.
This dissertation presents an analysis of the relations to self and technology that emerge from and in the use of self-tracking technologies. The ethnographical study, combined with the Grounded Theory approach and a media analysis, demonstrates the complex intertwining or duality of control and care towards oneself that emerge or become possible in and through the application of ST technologies. ST devices assist in strengthening one's health and well-being in a playful way, building and maintaining a positive self-feeling, self-image and agency, and discovering unknown abilities and potentials within oneself. The ST technologies used provide orientation through complexity-reducing visualizations, highlighting patterns, and trend progression. They challenge through self-overload, dissatisfaction when not achieving goals, self-deception and distraction, narcissism and even loss of control - internally through compulsion to control as well as externally through loss of data otection and exploitation of private data by third parties, as well as handing over responsibility (in the form of decisions) to technology (algorithms) instead of self-responsibility. These two seemingly opposed yet concurrently existing self-relations reflect the dynamic between today's demands for self-responsibility (in health and performance terms) and the need for self-care and guidance for the many relevant, sometimes daily, decisions. They balance possibly existing tensions and ambiguities between the modes of self-relations that at first glance seem to be opposed and yet ultimately are jointly oriented towards the same goal, namely to master one's life (life maintenance) and to be in balance. The self-relations described in this thesis are supported, reinforced, or enabled by ST technology (and practice). Three different roles that ST technology can take in self-care and self-control were elaborated: technology as a means, a counterpart, and a promise. In relation to technology, another dialectic is visible, which shows the apparent contrast between its conception as a tool and means to achieve something and the approach to technology as an intimate counterpart (partner, nanny, coach) and a promise of salvation. The relationship with technology seems to intensify in and through the ST experience and takes on or is assigned a partner-like role by the users. Finally, the results indicate that the concept of (self-)optimization, contrary to its etymological meaning of a logic of increase, can also be understood differently, namely balancing. In this context, optimization does not necessarily mean the fastest, the highest, the strongest, but something that is achievable and satisfactory for the self - within the framework of the given and the desired. At the same time, the optimization understood as harmonizing and balancing in self-tracking becomes a lifelong task that, in principle, can never be completed because with the addition of new vital areas in life and throughout a lifetime also the individually understood and conceived balance often shifts.
The agreement on the 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) by the UN General Assembly in September 2015 was a milestone in the common history of international development and sustainability governance. However, in order to be effective, it is necessary to identify and to define suitable instruments that can be applied in order to fulfill the ambitious goal catalogue. Therefore, the underlying thesis examines the concept of Village Savings and Loan associations (VSLAs) with regard to its mechanisms that operate towards an attainment of the respective goal category. VSLAs are self-government, autonomous and democratically organized Microfinance Institutions (MFIs). They consist of a maximum of 25 mostly female members, who know and trust each other. The work is carried out within a qualitative-empirical research design applied in central Cameroon, which has to some extent exemplary character for sub-Saharan Africa. In this manner, guided experts interviews were conducted with VSLA-presidents as well as with field officers that are creating and accompanying VSLAs. A first part addresses the historical evolution of the SDGs and the theoretical and actual implications of Microfinance and the VSLA-methodology. After considering the methodological proceeding, the results are presented, discussed and summarized in a conclusion. All in all, 22 mechanisms for the attainment of nine SDG-categories are identified and described. Of particular importance is the key role of the credits to trigger fruitful activities that generate financial wealth, economic growth and employment. Furthermore, the savings of the members are an important factor for the school enrollment of the members´ children. Additionally, a combination of the credits and the solidarity fund improves the medical treatment of the members and their families. In contrast to that, direct mechanisms supporting the nutritional situation or gender equality in the research field are found to have a limited importance. Moreover, none of the identified mechanisms targets the environmental sphere of the SDG-catalogue. This is weighty in light of an increasing noticeability of the impacts of climate change for the involved population group. Nonetheless, the VSLA-concept is a simple way to effectively address the social and the economic aspects of the SDG-catalogue. In this manner, a further development of the instrument could include the canalization of the capital of international de-velopment cooperation through the VSLAs as democratic and transparent grassroots-institutions.
The EU electricity directive (96/92/EC) established the right of the member states to choose between Regulated and Negotiated Third Party Access (RTPA and NTPA). The interest group theory is able to explain whether the introduction of NTPA in Germany had been an interest group equilibrium under the restriction of EU-directive. Using the NTPA associations of electricity power suppliers, network monopolists and industrial consumers negotiated three agreements. The last one (AA VVII+) in December 2001 introduced a market comparison scheme with three structural features: “East-/West-Germany”, “consumption/population density”, and “cable rate”. These features are variables which are supposed to reflect cost differences between network suppliers. The theoretical analysis will derive the hypothesis that this conception allows to introduce a cost irrelevant factor and therefore to increase prices without harming firms which do not hold this factor. This hypothesis could be tested by analyzing the German low and medium voltage network suppliers in 2002 and 2003. Our estimations show that the use of structural feature “East-/West Germany” and “consumption/population density” could be explained by this hypothesis. But because we have no firm specific information about cost differences other explanations could not be excluded: Monopoly prices differ with marginal costs, and regulation could reflect real cost differences. The third structural feature “cable rate” has no influence in low voltage networks, but has an impact on access charges levied in medium voltage networks. This relationship is only given if we use the borderlines given by AA VVII+. Hence, we are not able to reject the interest group theory: The feature “cable rate” was introduced successfully to increase access charges for medium network suppliers which have high cable rates without having higher costs.
Assessment of forest functionality and the effectiveness of forest management and certification
(2021)
Forest ecosystems are complex systems that develop inherent structures and processes relevant for their functioning and the provisioning of ecosystem services that contribute to human wellbeing. With increasing climate change impacts, especially regulating ecosystem services such as microclimate regulation are ever more relevant to maintain forest functions and services. A key question is how forest management supports or undermines the ecosystems’ capacity to maintain those functions and services. The main objective of this thesis is the development of a concept to assess the functionality of forests and to evaluate the effectiveness of forest ecosystem management including certification. An ecosystem-based and participatory methodology, named ECOSEFFECT, was developed. The method comprises a theoretical and an empirical plausibility analysis. It was applied to the Russian National FSC Standard in the Arkhangelsk Region of the Russian Federation - where boreal forests are exploited to meet Europe's demand for timber. In addition, the influence of forestry interventions on temperature regulation in Scots pine and European beech forests in Germany was assessed during two extreme hot and dry years in 2018 and 2019. Microclimate regulation is a suitable proxy for forest functionality and can be applied easily to evaluate the effectiveness of forest management in safeguarding regulating forest functions relevant under climate change. Thus, the assessment of forest microclimate regulation serves as convenient tool to illustrate forest functionality. In the boreal and temperate forests studied in the frame of this thesis, timber harvesting reduced the capacity to self-regulate forests’ microclimate and thus impair a crucial part of ecosystem functionality. Changes in structural forest characteristics influenced by forest management and silviculture significantly affect microclimatic conditions and therefore forest ecosystems' vulnerability to climate change. Canopy coverage and the number of cut trees were most relevant for cooling maximum summer temperature in pine and beech forests in northern Germany. The Russian FSC standard has the potential to improve forest management and ecological outcomes, but there are shortcomings in the precision of targeting actual problems and ecological commitment. It is theoretically plausible that FSC prevents logging in high conservation value forests and intact forest landscapes, reduces the size and number of clearcuts, and prevents hydrological changes in the landscape. However, the standard was not sufficiently explicit and compulsory to generate a strong and positive influence on the identified problems and their drivers. Moreover, spatial data revealed, that the typical regular clearcut patterns of conventional timber harvesting continue to progress into the FSC-certified boreal forests, also if declared as "Intact Forest Landscape". This results in the need to verify the assumptions and postulates on the ground as it remains unclear and questionable if functions and services of boreal forests are maintained when FSC-certified clearcutting continues.The analysis of satellite-based data on tree cover loss showed that clearcutting causes secondary dieback in the surrounding of the cleared area. FSC-certification does not prevent the various negative impacts of clearcutting and thus fails to safeguard ecosystem functions. The postulated success in reducing identified environmental threats and stresses, e. g. through a smaller size of clearcuts, could not be verified on site. The empirical assessment does not support the hypothesis of effective improvements in the ecosystem. In practice, FSC-certification did not contribute to change clearcutting practices sufficiently to effectively improve the ecological performance. Sustainability standards that are unable to translate principles into effective outcomes fail in meeting the intended objectives of safeguarding ecosystem functioning. Clearcuts that carry sustainability labels are ecologically problematic and ineffective for the intended purpose of ecological sustainability.The overexploitation of provisioning services, i.e. timber extraction, diminishes the ecosystems' capacity to maintain other services of global significance. It also impairs ecosystem functions relevant to cope with and adapt to other stresses and disturbances that are rapidly increasing under climate change.