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Drawing from recent research on the West African country the Gambia, the proposed chapter illustrates the interactions between climate change and land use and management in a developing country and, in addition, explores the drivers of national climate change impacts on agriculture and other land uses.

Existing research on the relationship between big data and organizational decision quality is still few and far between, and what does exist often assumes direct effects of big data on decision quality. More recent research indicates that such direct effects may be too simplistic, and in particular, an organization’s overall human skills are often not considered sufficiently. Inspired by the knowledge-based view, we therefore propose that interactions between three aspects of big data usage and management accountants’ data analytics skills may be key to reaching high-quality decisions. The purpose of this study is to test these predictions based on a survey of US firms.

The authors draw on survey data from 140 US firms. This survey has been conducted via MTurk in 2020.

The results of the study show that the quality of big data sources is associated with higher perceived levels of decision quality. However, according to the results, the breadth of big data sources and a data-driven culture only improve decision quality if management accountants’ data analytics skills are highly developed. These results point to the important, but so far unexamined role of an organization’s management accountants and their skills for translating big data into high-quality decisions.

The present study highlights the importance of an organization’s human skills in creating value out of big data. In particular, the findings imply that management accountants may need to increasingly draw on data analytics skills to make the most out of big data for their employers.

This study is among the first, to the best of the authors’ knowledge, to provide empirical proof of the relevance of an organization’s management accountants and their data analytics skills for reaching desirable firm-level outcomes. In addition, this study thus adds to the further advancement of the knowledge-based view by providing evidence that in contemporary big-data environments, interactions between tacit and explicit knowledge seem crucial for driving desirable firm-level outcomes.

Max Weber called the maxim “Time is Money” the surest, simplest expression of the spirit of capitalism. Coined in 1748 by Benjamin Franklin, this modern proverb now has a life of its own. In this paper, I examine the worldwide diffusion and sociocultural history of this paradigmatic expression. The intent is to explore the ways in which ideas of time and money appear in sedimented form in popular sayings.

My approach is sociological in orientation and multidisciplinary in method. Drawing upon the works of Max Weber, Antonio Gramsci, Wolfgang Mieder, and Dean Wolfe Manders, I explore the global spread of Ben Franklin’s famed adage in three ways: (1) via evidence from the field of “paremiology” – that is, the study of proverbs; (2) via online searches for the phrase “Time is Money” in 30-plus languages; and (3) via evidence from sociological and historical research.

The conviction that “Time is Money” has won global assent on an ever-expanding basis for more than 250 years now. In recent years, this phrase has reverberated to the far corners of the world in literally dozens of languages – above all, in the languages of Eastern Europe and East Asia.

Methodologically, this study unites several different ways of exploring the globalization of the capitalist spirit. The main substantive implication is that, as capitalism goes global, so too does the capitalist spirit. Evidence from popular sayings gives us a new foothold for insight into questions of this kind.

Organic food processing must include organic principles to be authentic. This qualitative study aims to understand the processors' understanding of organic food processing quality.

This study is based on semi-structured expert interviews with eight employees of six purely or partly organic dairies from Germany and Switzerland. Interview themes are (1) quality of organic milk processing in general, (2) assessment of specific processing techniques, (3) product quality of organic milk and (4) flow of information between producer and consumer. The interviews have been audio-recorded, transcribed verbatim and thematically analysed.

(1) Experts prefer minimal processing; some prefer artisanal processing, whilst others stress the advantages of mechanisation. (2) High temperature short time (HTST) pasteurisation and mechanical processing techniques are accepted; ultra-high-temperature (UHT) milk processing is partly rejected. (3) Traditional taste and valuable ingredients should be present in the final product. Natural variances are judged positively. (4) Consumers' low level of food technology literacy is challenging for communication.

The results cannot be generalised due to the qualitative study design. Further studies, e.g. qualitative case analyses and studies with a quantitative design, are necessary to deepen the results.

The paper shows which processing technologies experts consider suitable or unsuitable for organic milk. The paper also identifies opportunities to bridge the perceived gap between processors' and consumers' demands.

The study shows the challenges of processors in expressing the processors' understanding of process quality.