Bradford, T. (2021). Οικονομικά της Ενέργειας και Ενεργειακό Σύστημα: Τεχνολογικές διαστάσεις, Αγορές και Προτάσεις Πολιτικής (Vlados, Ch., Deniozos, Ν., Kounetas, K., & Chatzinikolaou, D. Copy Editors for the Greek Translation· Ι. Melas, Translation). Athens: Papazisis Publications., Nov 30, 2021
Bradford, T. (2021). Οικονομικά της ενέργειας και ενεργειακό σύστημα: Τεχνολογικές διαστάσεις, αγ... more Bradford, T. (2021). Οικονομικά της ενέργειας και ενεργειακό σύστημα: Τεχνολογικές διαστάσεις, αγορές και προτάσεις πολιτικής [The energy system: Technology, economics, markets, and policy] (Vlados, Ch., Deniozos, Ν., Kounetas, K., & Chatzinikolaou, D. Content Editors for the Greek Translation· Ι. Melas, Translation). Athens: Papazisis Publications. ISBN: 9789600237962.
……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….………………………………………………………………………………………………………………
Το παγκόσμιο ενεργειακό σύστημα αποτελεί τη ζωτική θεμελιώδη βάση της σύγχρονης ανθρώπινης βιομηχανικής κοινωνίας. Παραδοσιακά έχει αποτελέσει αντικείμενο αποσπασματικής μελέτης μέσω της μελέτης των επιμέρους κλάδων της μηχανικής, της οικονομίας ή της δημόσιας πολιτικής, για να γίνει πλήρως κατανοητό, όμως, οφείλει να μελετηθεί χρησιμοποιώντας προσέγγιση που ενσωματώνει αυτά τα εργαλεία. Το παρόν εγχειρίδιο είναι το πρώτο που υιοθετεί τη δυναμική προοπτική των ενεργειακών συστημάτων για την πλήρη κατανόησή τους, παρακολουθώντας την εξέλιξη της παραγωγής ενέργειας από την εξόρυξη του αρχικού πόρου έως τις τελικές ενεργειακές υπηρεσίες, μέσω της μακράς και έντασης κεφαλαίου αλυσίδας εφοδιασμού, η οποία βρίσκεται αντιμέτωπη με περιορισμούς τόσο από τα μακροοικονομικά συστήματα όσο και από τα συστήματα των φυσικών πόρων. Το βιβλίο παρουσιάζει αρχικά το πλαίσιο που θα συμβάλλει στην κατανόηση του τρόπου μετατροπής της ενέργειας καθώς αυτή κινείται μέσα στο σύστημα με τη βοήθεια διάφορων μορφών κεφαλαίου, με άλλα λόγια, πώς η κίνησή της επηρεάζεται από έναν συνδυασμό των τεχνικών συνθηκών, της αγοράς και της πολιτικής κατά την υπό εξέταση εποχή. Στη συνέχεια, εξετάζει τα τρία κύρια υποσυστήματα της ηλεκτρικής ενέργειας, των μεταφορών και της θερμικής ενέργειας, παρέχοντας επίσης εξηγήσεις σχετικά με ζητήματα όπως η σκέψη βάσει συστημάτων, η εκτίμηση κόστους, ο σχηματισμός κεφαλαίου, ο σχεδιασμός της αγοράς και τα εργαλεία πολιτικής. Τέλος, το βιβλίο επανεντάσσει αυτά τα υποσυστήματα και εξετάζει τη σχέση τους με το οικονομικό σύστημα και το οικοσύστημα στο οποίο εντάσσονται. Οι επαγγελματίες και οι θεωρητικοί από κάθε τομέα θα επωφεληθούν από τη βαθύτερη κατανόηση τόσο των υφιστάμενων δυναμικών διαδικασιών του ενεργειακού συστήματος όσο και των πιθανών εργαλείων παρέμβασης.
Uploads
Papers by Charis Vlados
This study aims to analyze the emergence of a new structural configuration of globalization, with the 2008 global financial crisis serving as the first symptom of this change. By introducing the “Evolutionary Structural Triptych” (EST), this research seeks to understand the basic components of the new evolutionary trajectory of global capitalism post-2008. The study places emphasis on its interdependent and coevolving economic, political and technological dynamic facets.
Design/methodology/approach
This research introduces the EST framework, critically contrasting it with conventional understandings in international political economy (IPE) to provide a comprehensive and structured analysis of global developments after 2008. It traces the phases of global capitalism since Second World War, examines the central dynamic dimensions during each evolutionary phase, identifies the basic patterns and delves into the foundational elements of the emerging era of globalization.
Findings
The analysis reveals three key findings. First, the emerging restructured globalization indicates a need for a new balance in the contemporary world system; however, this balance cannot be achieved within the architecture of the old system. Second, the new era of globalization necessitates a re-equilibrated approach across different dimensions of geopolitical stability, economic development and innovation. This approach should emphasize sustainability, adaptability, resilience and inclusivity and lean toward responsible, open and organic innovation models for a revamped global structure. Third, while many current IPE theories tend to compartmentalize aspects of the new globalization, the EST advocates for a holistic perspective that integrates politics, economics and technology within the framework of global trends. This perspective bridges existing gaps and offers actionable insights for a dynamic and inclusive global future.
Originality/value
The paper presents the EST as a novel analytical instrument in the realm of the modern IPE. This tool uniquely places technology and innovation at the forefront, parallel to economic and political spheres, to comprehend the progression of globalization. In doing so, it highlights the intertwined relationship of these structural dimensions in shaping the future of the subject of the IPE.
This paper aims to explore how the owners of less competitive micro-firms (MFs) perceive the “crisis–innovation–change management” triangle. It examines whether their understanding of these overarching entrepreneurship theory principles is inadequate compared to the relevant scientific literature.
Design/methodology/approach
This qualitative analysis follows principles based on the inductive method and grounded theory, thickly describing the results from research conducted in a sample of 38 tertiary-sector MFs in the Eastern Macedonia and Thrace region – one of the least developed and competitive areas across Europe. It triangulates the data with 11 respective small firms.
Findings
MF owners perceive the crisis as an ostensibly exogenous phenomenon, innovation as something quasi-unattainable – although vaguely significant – and change management as a relatively unknown process. This understanding lies somewhat distant from the extant literature that examines the structural nature of crises, the innovational power to exit profound restructurings and the rebalancing requisite for building new overall organizational methods to survive this internal–external transformation. In essence, the triangle crisis–innovation–change management is a blind spot for the examined MF owners as they ignore its significance as an adaptation mechanism – contrary to several direct competitors.
Social implications
Based on the reluctance of these individuals to cultivate their systematic business knowledge, it seems unrealistic that they would seek to pay the necessary high price for business consulting in the future. An ideal solution would be to build public entrepreneurship clinics to provide these less dynamic and adaptable organizations with free preliminary or in-depth counseling. The Institute of Local Development-Innovation could aim to provide free consulting services to reinforce organizational physiology by coordinating different socioeconomic actors.
Originality/value
To the best of our knowledge, this empirical research is one of the first to test the comprehension of weaker MFs – less competitive and developed in organizational terms – to the triangle crisis–innovation–change management.
This study aims to analyze the emergence of a new structural configuration of globalization, with the 2008 global financial crisis serving as the first symptom of this change. By introducing the “Evolutionary Structural Triptych” (EST), this research seeks to understand the basic components of the new evolutionary trajectory of global capitalism post-2008. The study places emphasis on its interdependent and coevolving economic, political and technological dynamic facets.
Design/methodology/approach
This research introduces the EST framework, critically contrasting it with conventional understandings in international political economy (IPE) to provide a comprehensive and structured analysis of global developments after 2008. It traces the phases of global capitalism since Second World War, examines the central dynamic dimensions during each evolutionary phase, identifies the basic patterns and delves into the foundational elements of the emerging era of globalization.
Findings
The analysis reveals three key findings. First, the emerging restructured globalization indicates a need for a new balance in the contemporary world system; however, this balance cannot be achieved within the architecture of the old system. Second, the new era of globalization necessitates a re-equilibrated approach across different dimensions of geopolitical stability, economic development and innovation. This approach should emphasize sustainability, adaptability, resilience and inclusivity and lean toward responsible, open and organic innovation models for a revamped global structure. Third, while many current IPE theories tend to compartmentalize aspects of the new globalization, the EST advocates for a holistic perspective that integrates politics, economics and technology within the framework of global trends. This perspective bridges existing gaps and offers actionable insights for a dynamic and inclusive global future.
Originality/value
The paper presents the EST as a novel analytical instrument in the realm of the modern IPE. This tool uniquely places technology and innovation at the forefront, parallel to economic and political spheres, to comprehend the progression of globalization. In doing so, it highlights the intertwined relationship of these structural dimensions in shaping the future of the subject of the IPE.
This paper aims to explore how the owners of less competitive micro-firms (MFs) perceive the “crisis–innovation–change management” triangle. It examines whether their understanding of these overarching entrepreneurship theory principles is inadequate compared to the relevant scientific literature.
Design/methodology/approach
This qualitative analysis follows principles based on the inductive method and grounded theory, thickly describing the results from research conducted in a sample of 38 tertiary-sector MFs in the Eastern Macedonia and Thrace region – one of the least developed and competitive areas across Europe. It triangulates the data with 11 respective small firms.
Findings
MF owners perceive the crisis as an ostensibly exogenous phenomenon, innovation as something quasi-unattainable – although vaguely significant – and change management as a relatively unknown process. This understanding lies somewhat distant from the extant literature that examines the structural nature of crises, the innovational power to exit profound restructurings and the rebalancing requisite for building new overall organizational methods to survive this internal–external transformation. In essence, the triangle crisis–innovation–change management is a blind spot for the examined MF owners as they ignore its significance as an adaptation mechanism – contrary to several direct competitors.
Social implications
Based on the reluctance of these individuals to cultivate their systematic business knowledge, it seems unrealistic that they would seek to pay the necessary high price for business consulting in the future. An ideal solution would be to build public entrepreneurship clinics to provide these less dynamic and adaptable organizations with free preliminary or in-depth counseling. The Institute of Local Development-Innovation could aim to provide free consulting services to reinforce organizational physiology by coordinating different socioeconomic actors.
Originality/value
To the best of our knowledge, this empirical research is one of the first to test the comprehension of weaker MFs – less competitive and developed in organizational terms – to the triangle crisis–innovation–change management.
Έγραψαν για το βιβλίο:
«Το βιβλίο αυτό αναδεικνύει τις αναλυτικές προτεραιότητες του Χάρη Βλάδου στο κρίσιμο πεδίο της οικονομικής ανάπτυξης: Καινοτομία και εξωστρέφεια στο περιβάλλον μιας δυναμικής παγκοσμιοποίησης. Ανεξάρτητα από το αν συμφωνεί η διαφωνεί κανείς με τις προτάσεις του Χάρη Βλάδου, οφείλει να τους αναγνωρίσει δύο βασικές αρετές. Πρώτον, διατρέχονται από έναν ευδιάκριτο αξιακό ιστό, ο οποίος διαπερνά τόσο το επιστημονικό έργο όσο και τη δημόσιο λόγο του συγγραφέα. Δεύτερον, ο Χάρης Βλάδος είναι ένας πανεπιστημιακός που θεωρεί τη δημόσια σφαίρα και το αμφιθέατρο ως συγκοινωνούντα δοχεία, γεγονός που αποτελεί τεκμήριο της επιστήμης ως λειτούργημα, της οικονομικής επιστήμης της ίδιας ως μηχανισμό οικονομικής ανάπτυξης…»
Ανδρέας Ανδρικόπουλος, Καθηγητής Χρηματοοικονομικής, Πανεπιστήμιο Αιγαίου
«Ο Χάρης Βλάδος με εντυπωσιάζει πάντα με τον ευγενικό, δομημένο, προφορικό ή γραπτό λόγο του, που ακόμα και σε δύσκολα θέματα και περιπτώσεις διαφωνίας ή αυστηρής κριτικής επί των ιδεών του ξέρει να επιχειρηματολογεί με τρόπο εντυπωσιακό. Εδώ μας προσφέρει ένα βιβλίο προβληματισμού, ιδεών, αναζήτησης και ώριμης πολιτικο-οικονομικής σκέψης σε θέματα όχι θεωρητικά και μακρινά, αλλά της καθημερινότητας και ανησυχιών όλων μας, γραμμένο με λόγο ευπροσήγορο και καθαρό. Αυτοτελή, διαχρονικά κεφάλαια που διαβάζονται και ξαναδιαβάζονται εύκολα-ευχάριστα από τον/την καθένα/μία με την σειρά που επιθυμεί…»
Περικλής Γκόγκας, Καθηγητής Οικονομικών, Δημοκρίτειο Πανεπιστήμιο Θράκης
«Μακάρι αυτή η συλλογή αναλύσεων να αποτελέσει οδηγό επιχειρηματικής και πολιτικής σκέψης. Τα άρθρα του βιβλίου αντιμετωπίζουν με ρεαλισμό και διεισδυτικότητα την νέα οικονομική και γεωπολιτική πραγματικότητα αλλά και τις ελληνικές μας ιδιαιτερότητες. Ο Χάρης Βλάδος δεν κρύβει τις προκλήσεις και περιγράφει την ανάγκη για υγιή επιχειρηματικότητα και ένα νέο εθνικό αναπτυξιακό μοντέλο. Και δεν διστάζει να μας εγκαλεί και να μας προσκαλεί να ανταποκριθούμε στις νέες απαιτήσεις μιας πολυπολικής, περίπλοκης και ανταγωνιστικής παγκόσμιας οικονομίας…»
Επαμεινώνδας Κορώνης, Καθηγητής Διοίκησης, Hult International Business School
«Εκτός από το εγνωσμένο ακαδημαϊκό κύρος του Δρ. Χάρη Βλάδου δύο είναι τα επιπλέον στοιχεία που μας συναρπάζουν στην επιστημονική του υπόσταση. Το πρώτο είναι η σχεδόν εφάμιλλη της «Πυθίας» ικανότητά του να προβλέπει τις οικονομικές εξελίξεις, όπως φαίνεται ανάγλυφα και από πολλά άρθρα του, και το δεύτερο η μοναδική του ικανότητα να μεταδίδει σε γλώσσα απλή και κατανοητή στον αναγνώστη ή τον ακροατή του την διεισδυτικότητα της σύγχρονης οικονομικής σκέψης…»
Ιωάννης Α. Φωτόπουλος, Editor in chief, oikonomia.gr
……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….………………………………………………………………………………………………………………
Το παγκόσμιο ενεργειακό σύστημα αποτελεί τη ζωτική θεμελιώδη βάση της σύγχρονης ανθρώπινης βιομηχανικής κοινωνίας. Παραδοσιακά έχει αποτελέσει αντικείμενο αποσπασματικής μελέτης μέσω της μελέτης των επιμέρους κλάδων της μηχανικής, της οικονομίας ή της δημόσιας πολιτικής, για να γίνει πλήρως κατανοητό, όμως, οφείλει να μελετηθεί χρησιμοποιώντας προσέγγιση που ενσωματώνει αυτά τα εργαλεία. Το παρόν εγχειρίδιο είναι το πρώτο που υιοθετεί τη δυναμική προοπτική των ενεργειακών συστημάτων για την πλήρη κατανόησή τους, παρακολουθώντας την εξέλιξη της παραγωγής ενέργειας από την εξόρυξη του αρχικού πόρου έως τις τελικές ενεργειακές υπηρεσίες, μέσω της μακράς και έντασης κεφαλαίου αλυσίδας εφοδιασμού, η οποία βρίσκεται αντιμέτωπη με περιορισμούς τόσο από τα μακροοικονομικά συστήματα όσο και από τα συστήματα των φυσικών πόρων. Το βιβλίο παρουσιάζει αρχικά το πλαίσιο που θα συμβάλλει στην κατανόηση του τρόπου μετατροπής της ενέργειας καθώς αυτή κινείται μέσα στο σύστημα με τη βοήθεια διάφορων μορφών κεφαλαίου, με άλλα λόγια, πώς η κίνησή της επηρεάζεται από έναν συνδυασμό των τεχνικών συνθηκών, της αγοράς και της πολιτικής κατά την υπό εξέταση εποχή. Στη συνέχεια, εξετάζει τα τρία κύρια υποσυστήματα της ηλεκτρικής ενέργειας, των μεταφορών και της θερμικής ενέργειας, παρέχοντας επίσης εξηγήσεις σχετικά με ζητήματα όπως η σκέψη βάσει συστημάτων, η εκτίμηση κόστους, ο σχηματισμός κεφαλαίου, ο σχεδιασμός της αγοράς και τα εργαλεία πολιτικής. Τέλος, το βιβλίο επανεντάσσει αυτά τα υποσυστήματα και εξετάζει τη σχέση τους με το οικονομικό σύστημα και το οικοσύστημα στο οποίο εντάσσονται. Οι επαγγελματίες και οι θεωρητικοί από κάθε τομέα θα επωφεληθούν από τη βαθύτερη κατανόηση τόσο των υφιστάμενων δυναμικών διαδικασιών του ενεργειακού συστήματος όσο και των πιθανών εργαλείων παρέμβασης.
The Covid-19 pandemic raised a few issues concerning how market participants react to a global pandemic. The pandemic was a black swan event on some levels; there had been few pandemics that have had such a global impact: the Spanish Flu of the late 1910s and 1957 influenza. Moreover, global interconnection means that the Covid-19 pandemic was able to spread across the globe quickly, thus indicating that extreme measures were needed to bring it under control. The policies taken by governments around the world had a significant adverse impact on the economy. It is with these factors in mind that we research the psychology of the market participants during the pandemic. Conversely, we introduce a new model of behaviour during uncertainty, which explains how market participants react during crises such as the Covid-19 pandemic. The model analyses the psychological issues, both emotional and cognitive, influencing the pandemic. We found that like any other crises, market participant reacted to government actions and announcements and the impact on the economy. Therefore, leading to the old issue of miscommunication and insufficient actions.
The New Zealand economy is in a parlous state and not simply because of the economic fall-out associated with the pandemic. For decades now, New Zealand has been falling further and further behind its OECD partners, with institutional inefficiencies, poor policy making and the almost willful refusal of successive governments to admit to (let alone confront) mounting economic problems, all combining to place us on the edge of a deep, and lasting, economic downturn. Across a broad plethora of areas and key economic indicators, New Zealand lags behind almost every other advanced country against which it has traditionally measured itself. These areas include the three pillars of social wellbeing (education, health, and social welfare), housing, tax, productivity and debt. In every case, we are either falling behind outcomes achieved in other countries (education, health, productivity), entrenching inequality through our failure to cater for the needs of our most vulnerable (housing, health, education, social welfare, tax), or failing to prepare adequately for looming economic and social costs – including those incurred by a rapidly aging population. If ignored, these problems will precipitate a crisis that may make the burden of recovering from Covid-19 pale by comparison (superannuation, health, debt). In its much anticipated post-Covid budget, the Labour Government needs to not only provide a clear blueprint for helping those who have been adversely affected by the pandemic and New Zealand’s subsequent lockdown, but also signal its intention to tackle the systemic weaknesses which have placed our economy at such risk, and which threaten to consign our future generations to unwelcome, and unnecessary, economic and social hardship.
In economics, the problematics of development and underdevelopment is a field of conceptual controversies and constant “re-comprehension,” already since classical economists’ fundamental explorations. Nowadays, especially within the particularly pressing conditions caused by the global pandemic of COVID-19, it seems that this field of research and scientific knowledge must be profoundly re-fertilized in analytical and explanatory terms. The current crisis seems to function as a catalyst for various structural changes globally, leading to a necessary theoretical reorientation of the related thematics towards exploring the inner evolutionary “mechanisms” that will drive socio-economic development (and underdevelopment) in the future. This article aims to study the conceptual evolution of the notions of development and underdevelopment in the light of modern evolutionary economics, which we think could offer a foundational repositioning at the interpretative level in response to the new emerging conditions. More specifically, this article tries to respond to what development and underdevelopment mean over time, where analytical readjustments the evolutionary economics lead to nowadays, and whether it is possible to counter-propose a multilevel approach that enriches the theoretical background for an interdisciplinary and unifying understanding of the specific problematics at the dawn of the new global reality that appears in the post-COVID-19 era. At first, we look at essential development and underdevelopment concepts by critically exploring corresponding basic definitions throughout time. Next, we study the essential and associated elements of evolutionary economics, in the light of the problematics of development and underdevelopment of our days, intending to reach a synthesizing theoretical perspective. We counter-propose the “development web” approach and analysis as a useful repositioned perspective on addressing the developmental/underdevelopmental problem since the compartmentalization of social sciences between the “micro, meso and macro” approaches seems progressively inadequate and sterile.
The COVID-19 pandemic gave minimal reaction time to governments around the world. While causing millions of deaths, it was also detrimental to the global economy. This paper is an attempt to understand what we can learn from our experience with the virus, with a focus on the United States. I discuss good and bad U.S. policies and the overall performance of institutions involved in pandemic response. The approach is economical because it connects what happened with some key economic principles. I talk about how markets helped us generate most of the knowledge we have on the virus, and I explain how existing regulations slowed down the production and distribution of essential items in the fight against Covid. Given the scarce nature of public attention, I also discuss the lack of consistent public messaging for the pandemic in the United States.
This book includes the following chapters that approach the phenomenon of global restructuring from converging perspectives:
I. An evolutionary approach to the global crisis
This chapter focuses on the structural and evolutionary examination of the current global crisis and restructuring of the global socioeconomic system. It supports in terms of methodology that every global crisis analysis must perceive the historical and evolutionary character of the dynamics of global socio-economic space from a unifying perspective. It suggests that all the dynamic dimensions in the world’s configuration—economic, technological, social, and geopolitical—should be examined together, in their dense dialectic co-adaptation and co-evolution. The multi-faceted crises and adjustments inside every socioeconomic system are both the products and the producers of globalization’s overall trajectory in a co-evolutionary course; while contemporary capitalism, respectively, intensifies the dialectic reproduction of the global interdependence unceasingly. This crisis condition, therefore, is sustained, nourished and reproduced by the absence of a “new wave” of innovations, throughout all the levels of socioeconomic activity, and it requires the installation and assimilation of new effective change management mechanisms in order for any socioeconomic system to escape from it. Arguably, the challenge of building a new global developmental trajectory engages with all the levels of analysis and intervention: the individual and the collective, the material and the symbolic, the national and the local, the social and the economic, the microeconomic, the mesoeconomic and the macroeconomic, the cultural and the political. The only sustainable way out of the global crisis, as a result, needs a progressive adaptation to new evolutionary thinking to perceive the global crisis dynamics.
II. The current global socio-economic crisis and restructuring: from a conjunctural to a structural and evolutionary perspective
The current global socio-economic crisis and restructuring reshape the terms of the study of the global dynamics as a whole. A new generation of interdisciplinary socio-economic research on the matter in question seems to be progressively emerging in international literature. Against this background, any attempt to interpret the partial socio-economic phenomena, which relate to the crisis and the attempt to restructure globalization, can only be inadequate and ineffective since it fails to adequately approach the current dynamics of globalization in synthetic and holistic terms. In this direction, new interpretative approaches seem to intensify the need for conceptual syntheses between the different fields of socio-economic sciences, in an increasingly unifying perspective by extensively “borrowing”—directly and indirectly—methods and theoretical “lenses” derived from systems science, chaos theory, and evolutionary economics. In the depth of this methodological rearrangement, according to the position put forward in this article, it is crucial that an effort is made to move from a conjunctural to a structural perception of the crisis. Ultimately, the great challenge for the field of study of global dynamics nowadays is the transition from the methodological principles of the traditional mechanistic interpretative method to a coherent and integrated evolutionary socio-economic perspective.
III. Global crisis, innovation, and change management
The “crisis of capitalism” is not, of course, an unprecedented discourse in the evolution of economics and the investigation of economic realities. In the Neo-Schumpeterian approach, crises constitute necessary evolutionary steps, intrinsically linked with breaking “moments” and change. However, what makes the current crisis different, and subversive, is its ever-increasing structural complexity and evolutionary-dialectic substance. The mixing of cooperation and competition, on an organizational and macro-economic level, reproduces on a global scale the need for a reconsideration of underlying economic regulation mechanisms. The crisis tends to undermine and rapidly destroy the mechanistic relations and structures of all kinds and dimensions that have managed to provide profitability and effectiveness over recent years. In this context, the search for strategic innovation, constant organizational renewal and the diffusion of production oriented at high technological expertise, seem to progressively become the critical synthetic components for building a new development model. This chapter focuses on the introduction of a three-tier question which could be put forward as follows. First, it asks what the current global restructuring crisis is and what would be a new growth model that would lead to the exit of it on a global scale. Second, it addresses the issue of the required innovation mechanisms for a new model of inter-spatial restructuring and development. Finally, it analyzes why this new innovative direction is a prerequisite for building new types of effective change management mechanisms. The starting point of this approach is the position that any fragmented approach in the partial aspects of the triangle of global crisis, innovation, and change management, is now analytically misguided and practically powerless. Only an effort to systemically and evolutionarily understand the phenomenon, in its continuous dialectic structure, is now a sufficient condition for outlining the future development path of globalization at all levels of action.
IV. Structuring an anti-crisis economic policy: The Greek experience
The objective of this study is to clarify the prevailing vague and sometimes misguided understanding regarding the articulation of economic policy, especially in the context of socioeconomic systems in structural crisis. The distortions of the economic policy keep reproducing and usually spreading because of three disorientating conceptual sources: a) the view of economic policy supposedly as a “de-ideologized” construction, or as a “detechnicalized” voluntarism, b) the view of economic policy supposedly as a “de-strategized” synthesis, c) the view of economic policy as a supposedly automatic, ungraded and timeless procedure. For a socioeconomic system to exit from its crisis, the interruption of this vicious circle of misconceptions is a prerequisite, towards the trajectory of a virtuous circle of understanding the meaning of the economic policy validly.
V. A new approach of local development in crisis conditions: Adopting a new local development policy to foster the local business ecosystems in Greece
The competitiveness of the Greek economy evolves, both in the present crisis and later on, according to the dynamic micro-level specific environments and transformations. This evolution depends on the SME’s abilities to claim a sustainable role in the new, competitive global environment, which is characterized by a continuous reshaping dynamic. Respectively, the goal of achieving development in the local scale becomes vital. This chapter attempts to define a new framework by proposing a new business ecosystems approach and policy, focusing on the implementation of a method for strengthening the SME’s “physiology.” This method proposes the construction of systematic knowledge and innovation creation and diffusion mechanisms, on a local scale; the Local Development and Innovation Institutes (LDI’s). Subsequently, this chapter analyzes regional data in Greece in order to highlight the most affected by the crisis region and to experimentally establish the Local Development and Innovation Institutes.
Cite as: Vlados, Ch., Deniozos, N., & Chatzinikolaou, D. (2019). Global Crisis and Restructuring: Theory, analysis, and the case of Greece. KSP Books. Available at: http://books.ksplibrary.org
This volume includes the following chapters that apply the aspects of the Stra.Tech.Man analysis:
I. The Greek firms into globalization: The Stra.Tech.Man approach Globalization is not a static and finished status quo: it is subject to a continuous transformation and restructuring. At the same time, globalization is not a timeless, a historical, and automatically homogenizing phenomenon. Every attempt of scientific understanding, interpretation, and prediction of the partial socioeconomic dynamics and developments is becoming increasingly infertile and disorientating, insofar as the rigid analytic division between the “national” and the “international” continues unaltered; globalization is a complex, dialectic, and evolutionary phenomenon. The study of globalization through the examination of the synthesizing and co-evolving incorporation of partial socioeconomic structures (social, economic and sectoral) and corporate subsystems in terms of strategy, technology, and management (“Stra.Tech.Man” triangle) constitutes a new approach for the study of the globalization process.
II. Innovation in Stra.Tech.Man terms Contrary to the conventional neoclassical perspective, the approaches focusing on the evolutionary nature of the capitalist firm are probably more comprehensive in the study of innovation. This chapter attempts a theoretical refocusing in the analysis of innovation, by following a perspective of “biological” type. It highlights the synthesis of “strategy-technology-management” as the organic center that generates and re-generates the phenomenon of innovation within the socioeconomic organizations.
III. Innovation in economics and management: The Stra.Tech.Man synthesis
Economics and the theoretical analysis of entrepreneurship and organizational theory keep up with producing innovation theories with remarkably various forms and analyses. This chapter suggests that economics and management science can be “analytically bridged” if we reposition the phenomenon of innovation into the evolutionary/physiological Stra.Tech.Man “core” of the organization. In this theoretical perspective, the firm as a “living organism” operates as structural co-creator of the economic sectors and the socioeconomic systems that host its entrepreneurial activity.
IV. Change management and innovation in Stra.Tech.Man terms
In the current context of globalization’s restructuring, the concepts of change management and innovation are co-evolving. A counter-proposed theoretical perspective in terms of the evolutionary Stra.Tech.Man triangle is useful for the successful innovative action of all socioeconomic organizations. This chapter suggests the concept of change management in Stra.Tech.Man terms in five consecutive steps as a novel approach to the phenomenon of organizational change.
V. Fostering micro and meso competitiveness in Stra.Tech.Man terms
In the current restructuring phase of globalization, since all partial socioeconomic systems are inescapably entering an ever-deeper process of “organic restructuring,” the content of competitiveness is changing structurally. To this end, it seems that a repositioned developmental economic policy is necessary, which can focus on fostering the competitiveness of the locally operating entrepreneurial actors. This chapter proposes specifically the concept of competitiveness as a synthesis of the three fundamental micro, meso, and macro levels that create and reproduce the systemic competitiveness. It also presents the Stra.Tech.Man perspective on the proposal of creation of the Local Development and Innovation Institutes (LDIs) as useful dimensions to strengthen local business systems in combined terms of meso- and micro- competitiveness.
In conclusion, the “Stra.Tech.Man approach” attempts to define a unifying and evolutionary field of research, by initiating its exploration on the inner “physiology” of the socioeconomic organization. This approach extends analytically from the micro to the meso- and macro- level of socioeconomic system dynamics and vice versa.
Cite as: Vlados, Ch. (2019). Stra.Tech.Man (Strategy-Technology-Management): Theory and Concepts. KSP Books. Available at: http://books.ksplibrary.org
ABSTRACT (In English)
G. Hadjiconstantinou’s work offers a significant node to the study of the concept of economic development in the Greek literature of economics. Over a long period of teaching and researching, G. Hadjiconstantinou has criticized the conventional perception of economic growth from multiple angles. Specifically, Hadjiconstantinou refers to the economic development concept as broader and more complex than the narrowly defined economic growth, including moral, value-oriented, and ideological dimensions (which “cannot be disarmed”). In this sense, from G. Hadjiconstantinou’s perspective, the issue of development becomes a simultaneous object of philosophical reflection and undivided ideological-political reach. This chapter aims to illuminate G. Hadjiconstantinou's contribution to economic thinking, focusing on this conceptual contrast between growth and development. Excerpts of his work are commented upon and highlighted, together with other recent significant contributions. The goal is to determine the potential theoretical convergence or divergence and the cross-fertilization and complementarity between the different approaches.
We conclude that G. Hadjiconstantinou’s contribution and the originality of his work lie in the fact that it analyzes with constant methodological consistency the economic development phenomenon from an integrated, cohesive, and worldview-type perspective. It attributes significant value to the methodological unity of the overall unfolding of contemporary social and natural sciences. To this end, G. Hadjiconstantinou’s work intensively criticizes any claim for analytical supremacy (theoretical and practical) by the “economism” and the unidimensional “homo economicus” in today’s economics. In this sense, it enriches the unified and indivisible socioeconomic orientation of our science.
TITLE (In English)