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Since developing and maintaining formally verified programs is an incremental activity, one is not only faced with the problem of constructing specifications, programs, and proofs, but also with the complex problem of determining what previous work remains valid following incremental changes. A system that reasons about changes must build a detailed model of each development and be able to apply its knowledge, the same kind of knowledge an expert would have, to integrate new or changed information into an existing model.

PurposeThe intense competitive and dynamic environment in mobile social-media market forces service providers to introduce incremental technological changes to achieve sustainable competitive advantage. The purpose of this paper is to investigate what and how the user attitude to change influences members' behavioral support for incremental technological change in mobile social media service.Design/methodology/approachUsing the tripartite model of attitude, this study examines the influence of the cognitive aspect (empowerment with change), affective aspect (arousal with change) and behavioral aspect (habit to change) of attitude toward change on members' behavioral support for incremental technological change. Drawing on the commitment to change theory, we assessed the underlying mechanism by which attitudes toward change influences behavioral support for incremental technological change through the two components of commitment to change (i.e. affective and normative commitment to change). We tested the model using structural equation modeling on the data collected from the popular mobile social media services in China.FindingsOur results indicate that the effect of empowerment with change, arousal with change and habit to change varies with different dimensions of commitment to change and significant influence of commitment to change on members' behavioral support for incremental technological change.Practical implicationsThe findings of this study contribute to better insights for services providers for implementing incremental technological change strategies.Originality/valueThis study contributes to the theory of incremental technological changes by empirical examination of the impacts of users' attitudes toward change on members' behavioral support for incremental technological change in mobile social media. The paper extends the commitment to change theory with the discussion of the mediating effect of commitment to change in the continuing members' behavioral support for incremental technological change in mobile social media.

Scholarship about both politics and policy tends to represent tools of direct democracy as veto points that are used to prevent policy change. In this study, we move beyond this unidimensional view and explain the conditions under which instruments of direct democracy can be conducive to policy change. We investigate both the direct and indirect effects of citizens’ initiatives to show that, under certain conditions, these can provide an opportunity for incremental yet potentially transformative policy change. We offer a systematic and comparative assessment of the policy effects generated by a set of European Citizens’ Initiatives (ECIs). ECIs provide an ideal setting for uncovering the potential indirect policy effects since they are not legally binding. Interestingly, some ECIs had tangible effects on EU policies, and these effects materialised over time and at different levels of the EU’s political system, and can be regarded as building blocks for potentially transformative policy change.

ABSTRACT In a mixed ownership reform context, the participation of state-owned capital in private enterprises affects re-innovation decisions after the failure of technological innovation. This article takes a sample of A-share pharmaceutical manufacturing listed companies in China to test the impact of state-owned shareholders and their shareholding ratios on the re-innovation decisions after these enterprises have experienced technological innovation failure. The research found that state-owned shareholders in these enterprises are more likely to reduce additional innovation and adopt new innovations after the experience of failing to implement technological innovation. This phenomenon is more obvious with the increased proportion of state-owned shareholders. In addition, government intervention can effectively suppress the positive impact of state-owned shareholders on new innovation in enterprises that have experienced technological innovation failure. This paper aims to provide a theoretical basis and decision-making reference for private enterprises to improve their governance structure by introducing state-owned capital shares and relevant government departments to stimulate and optimize their re-innovation decision after technological innovation failure through appropriate intervention in private enterprises’ technological innovation. RESUMEN En el contexto de la reforma de la propiedad mixta, la participación del capital estatal en las empresas privadas afectará sus decisiones de reinnovación después del fracaso de la innovación tecnológica. Este artículo toma como muestra de investigación a las empresas de fabricación farmacéutica de acciones A que cotizan en bolsa, en China para evaluar el impacto de los accionistas estatales y su proporción de acciones en las decisiones de reinnovación después de que estas empresas hayan experimentado el fracaso de la innovación tecnológica. El estudio encontró que después del fracaso de la innovación tecnológica en las empresas privadas, es más probable que los accionistas estatales reduzcan la innovación adicional y adopten nuevas formas de innovación. A medida que aumente la proporción de accionistas estatales, este fenómeno será más evidente. Además, la intervención gubernamental puede frenar efectivamente el impacto positivo de los accionistas estatales en la nueva innovación después del fracaso de las empresas privadas. El objetivo de este artículo es proporcionar una base teórica y una referencia para la toma de decisiones para que las empresas privadas introduzcan acciones de capital estatal para mejorar la estructura de gobernanza a través de una intervención adecuada en la innovación tecnológica de las empresas privadas, así como para que los departamentos gubernamentales pertinentes incentiven y optimicen sus decisiones de reinnovación después del fracaso de la innovación tecnológica. RESUMO No contexto da reforma da propriedade mista na China, a participação do capital estatal em empresas privadas afeta a decisão de inovar novamente após a empresa já ter falhado em implementar inovação tecnológica no passado. Este artigo toma as empresas listadas de fabricação farmacêutica de ações A na China como amostras de pesquisa para testar o impacto dos acionistas estatais e suas taxas de participação na decisão de uma nova inovação de empresas privadas após o fracasso da inovação tecnológica. A pesquisa descobriu que os acionistas estatais são mais propensos a reduzir a inovação adicional e adotar a nova inovação após o fracasso. Esse fenômeno será mais evidente com o aumento da proporção de acionistas estatais. Além disso, a intervenção governamental pode efetivamente suprimir o impacto positivo dos acionistas estatais sobre a nova inovação após o fracasso das empresas privadas. Este trabalho tem como objetivo fornecer base teórica e referência de tomada de decisão para que as empresas privadas melhorem sua estrutura de governança por meio da introdução de ações de capital estatais, e departamentos governamentais relevantes para estimular e otimizar sua decisão de inovar novamente após falha de inovação tecnológica por meio de intervenção adequada na inovação tecnológica das empresas privadas.

PurposeClimate finance is regularly not only seen as a tool to efficiently combat global warming but also to solve development problems in the recipient countries and to support the attainment of sustainable development goals. Thereby, conflicts between distributive and allocative objectives arise, which threaten the overall performance of such transfer schemes. Given the severity of the climate change problem, this study aims to raise concerns about whether the world can afford climate transfer schemes that do not focus on prevention of (and adaptation to) climate change but might be considered as a vehicle of rent-seeking by many agents.Design/methodology/approachFuture designs of international transfer schemes within the framework of the Paris Agreement are to be based on experience gained from existing mechanisms. Therefore, the authors examine different existing schemes using a graphical technique first proposed by David Pearce and describe the conflicts between allocative and distributional goals that arise.FindingsIn line with the famous Tinbergen rule, the authors argue that other sustainability problems and issues of global fairness should not be primarily addressed by climate finance but should be mainly tackled by other means.Research limitations/implicationsAs there is still ongoing, intense discussion about how the international transfer schemes addressed in Article 6 of the Paris Agreement should be designed, the research will help to sort some of the key arguments.Practical implicationsThere are prominent international documents (like the Paris Agreement and the UN 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development) seeking to address different goals simultaneously. While synergies between policies is desirable, there are major challenges for policy coordination. Addressing several different goals using fewer policy instruments, for example, will not succeed as the Tinbergen Rule points out.Social implicationsThe integration of co-benefits in the analysis allows for taking into account the social effects of climate policy. As the authors argue, climate finance approaches could become overstrained if policymakers would consider them as tools to also solve local sustainability problems.Originality/valueIn this paper, the authors will not only examine what can be learnt from the clean development mechanism (CDM) for future schemes under Article 6 of the Paris Agreement but also observe the experiences gained from a non-CDM scheme. So the authors pay attention to the Trust Fund of the Global Environment Facility (GEF) which was established with global benefit orientation, i.e. – unlike the CDM – it was not regarded as an additional goal to support local sustainable development. Yet, despite its disregard of local co-benefits, the authors think that it is of particular importance to include the GEF in the analysis, as some important lessons can be learnt from it.

This study aims to investigate whether, and to what extent, investors’ community differently perceives corporate intellectual capital (IC) management behaviours compared with non-financial IC disclosure policies. The hypotheses are tested by employing the multivariate regression analysis and the R2 decomposition technique. The analysis is carried out on Italian-listed companies over the period 2008–2011. The results suggest that a good management utilization of intellectual resources strongly contributes to explain the market assessments of firm value creation of high-tech companies. These companies when characterized by a higher intellectual capital management efficiency are recognized and rewarded by the investor community over time, independently from the dissemination of non-financial IC disclosure. Furthermore, it emerges that non-financial IC disclosure tends to lose its usefulness over periods of higher business and financial instability. For traditional companies, in contrast, non-financial IC disclosure keeps its usefulness over time but with an incremental contribution much lower than those of traditional financial performances, such as leverage and ROE. This study expands the existing empirical literature on market impact of IC by showing how investors differently recognize and “appreciate” IC management relative to non-financial IC disclosure behaviours. Furthermore, the authors assess how these behaviours differently contribute to the market evaluations over time.

Based on the theory of technology spillover in international trade, this paper discusses the technological innovation effect of trade by taking the influence of domestic trade into account. Under the constraint of the production possibility frontier, there is either complementarity or substitutability between domestic and foreign trade. It must be decided whether resources should be concentrated in one of the sectors （trade specialization） or instead allocated equally （trade equalization） between the two sectors. This paper firstly discusses how domestic trade and foreign trade work together to influence technological innovation, and how trade equalization and specialization affect different types of innovation. Using a provincial-level panel dataset from 2007 to 2015 in China, this paper constructs the indicators of domestic and foreign trade linkage and examines the impact of trade on innovation. The findings show that trade equalization mainly promotes incremental innovation, while trade specialization improves radical innovation. Thus, in the area of incremental innovation, attention should be paid to the equalized development of domestic and foreign trade, while in areas pursuing radical innovation, emphasis should be put on the specialization of the trade sector, avoiding equal allocation of resources to the two sectors.

Climate data from Empakaai Crater in northern Tanzania, covering the last 1200 years, are related to the establishment, development and decline of the ancient irrigation system at Engaruka. New dates for the system are linked to reconstructed climatic variations and historical data on longdistance and regional trade and migration patterns. A shift from a comparatively humid climate to drier conditions in the 1400s prompted the establishment of irrigated agriculture at Engaruka, and a flourishing long-distance trade increased its value as a water and food source for passing caravans. Once established, the land-use system at Engaruka was sufficiently resilient to survive and even intensify during much drier climate from c. 1500 to 1670 CE (Common Era) and during the decline of caravan trade between c. 1550 and 1750. The ancient land-use system probably reached its maximum extension during the humid conditions between 1670 and 1740, and was deserted in the early to mid 1800s, presumably as a result of the added effects of climate deterioration, the Maasai expansion, and change of livelihood strategies as agriculturalists became pastoralists. Towards the end of the 1800s irrigated agriculture was again established at Engaruka, in part driven by the transfer from pastoral to agricultural livelihoods caused by the Rinderpest.