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An understanding of the social entrepreneurial behavior of key stakeholders in Participatory Irrigation Management (PIM) is of vital importance to the socioeconomic growth of a country. The term social entrepreneurship or social enterprise is relatively new to Sri Lanka just as it is with many other developing countries. Social entrepreneurs are those who solve social and environmental problems that hinder social inclusion, economic integration, and sustainable development. Though many entrepreneurs are operating across the different agricultural sectors for many years, the exact nature of social entrepreneurial behavior among them is still unknown. As an agricultural economy-based country, PIM policy encompassing many strategies has been implemented in Sri Lanka to eradicate poverty and hunger in society. Therefore, this chapter aims to focus on the socioentrepreneurship of five key stakeholders in PIM and to provide empirical evidence of their activities in the area of the Bata-atha branch canal in the Walawe irrigation scheme, Sri Lanka, where PIM has been implemented. This chapter finds that the establishment of the Bata-atha farm by the Ministry of Agricultural Development and the irrigation management of Bata-atha tail-end branch canal under the organizational efforts of the Agunukolapelessa block office of Mahaweli Authority of Sri Lanka presents a good example of an innovative and supportive farm management system that contributes to significant improvements in the socioeconomic situation of the vulnerable farming community. Moreover, this chapter shows that the collective action of active farmer organizations and successful sole proprietors in the area constitute social entrepreneurial behavior that contributes to the social transformation. This chapter concludes with a discussion of the implications this has for the irrigated agricultural sector and the need for further research to identify the potential for continued development by fostering the practices of socioentrepreneurship in the country.

Marketing Management, Consumer Behavior.

This case is suitable to be used in advanced undergraduate and MBA/MSc level.

This case attempts to highlight the issues pertaining to Hirdaramani Mihila CKT apparel factory’s implementation of the “green space” concept. The concept of “green space” has been well accepted by the factory employees, and their participation in the “green process” is quite evident. Hirdaramani Mihila CKT is an apparel manufacturing company located in Agalawatte, Matugama, in the Kalutara District of Sri Lanka. The Mihila CKT factory was established in conformance with green building specifications and as an eco-friendly apparel industry. The administration of Mihila CKT has achieved success in three key areas after implementing this concept: cutting down energy consumption, enhancing water security, and reusing fabric waste. The factory also maintains a garden that manifests biodiversity. This case underlines the challenges and successes faced by Mihila CKT in adopting and implementing green space concept.

This case illustrates the following:

• the importance of having green technology in the apparel industry to embrace green concept;

• the effectiveness of the green space concept in relation to global green standards; and

• the potential benefits to the local residents from the green technology initiatives of an apparel factory like Hirdaramani Mihila CKT.

the importance of having green technology in the apparel industry to embrace green concept;

the effectiveness of the green space concept in relation to global green standards; and

the potential benefits to the local residents from the green technology initiatives of an apparel factory like Hirdaramani Mihila CKT.

The environmental impact of energy supply is growing which has a significant impact on regional and global environmental issues. As a solution for this, both developed and developing nations paying attention to convert their energy productivity by using renewable energy like wind and solar energy. Sri Lankan government also aims to obtain the full amount of electricity required from local renewable sources by the year 2050 under the project called “sooryabala sangramaya” (the battle for solar energy). Currently, Sri Lanka’s power generation sector is heavily dependent on imported fuels, such as petroleum and coal, resulting in growing detrimental impacts on the country’s sustainable socioeconomic development. With the growing market of solar photovoltaic (PV) technology, Sri Lanka is turning its attention towards generating the total amount of electricity required from solar power by promoting the installation of arrays of PV panels on the rooftops of households, religious places, hotels, commercial establishments and industries. It also aims to deploy solar PV for sustainable rural development, mainly focused on uplifting people living in remote areas in the country. This chapter discusses how Sri Lanka has initiated a rooftop solar PV adoption program to lessen imported fuels’ socioeconomic and environmental impacts. Moreover, this case demonstrates that the adoption of rooftop solar PV brings many socioeconomic benefits to its consumers.

Low density polyethylene, commonly known as polythene, was first synthesised by Imperial Chemical Industries (ICI) in England in 1933. Due to its extensive usage as a packaging material, along with other uses, it has now begun to pose a serious threat to the entire ecosystem. This material, which was used to make a variety of consumer goods, is commonly used for packaging a wide range of products including foodstuffs. It has been estimated that approximately 20 billion polythene bags are used in Sri Lanka. Because polythene and plastics take a long time to decompose (20–100 years), these materials have been contributing heavily to the pollution of the environment. Unfortunately, much of the discarded polyethene ends up in garbage dumps, thereby posing a great threat not only to humans but also to animals. This study aimed to investigate the use of polythene in supermarkets in the Attanagalla division, the management of household polythene waste, and the search for alternatives to replace polythene and plastics. Data were collected by interviewing 40 consumers and getting their feedback on the use of polythene bags in which the goods were supplied to them. Observations were also made in the field. It was noted that some consumers liked to use polythene bags while many others disliked them. More than 95% of the supermarket products were packed in polythene and plastic containers and packs. It was observed that there were shortcomings in the production of reusable bags, and because of that disposable polythene bags had to be used, causing the supermarkets to incur huge costs. On average, more than five polythene bags were used per customer to pack his purchases per shop visit. This costs between Rs. 25 and Rs. 30. There seemed to be no alternative to polythene and plastic, due to the lack of suppliers for more environmentally friendly packaging materials. Therefore, it is suggested to establish a system that will supply more eco-friendly bags and educate the public on the use of environmentally friendly alternatives.

Tendering is a process undertaken to obtain offers from interested contractors to carry out specific packages of construction work. Presently, most construction stakeholders in developing countries use a paper-based tendering method, which is time-consuming, costly and labour-intensive. It may be argued that considering increased calls towards efficiency improvements in the construction industry, adopting e-tendering can bring about several benefits by allowing electronic exchange of information and avoiding the errors of traditional tendering. However, the question of readiness of construction stakeholders to embrace this change remains. The aim of this study is to investigate the readiness of Sri Lankan construction contractors and consultants (who are the two key parties involved in the tendering process) to adopt e-tendering.

A mixed-methods research approach was used to achieve the aim. Initially, a literature review was used to compare typical conventional and e-tendering processes. Subsequently, a questionnaire survey was conducted to identify the current level of usage of e-tendering and to investigate the readiness levels of consultants and contractors to implement e-tendering. Finally, seven expert interviews were conducted to propose suitable solutions to achieve a successful e-tendering implementation.

The analysed data revealed that both consultants and contractors used electronic media in the tendering process but they were still not ready for complete e-tendering implementation. However, consultants were more hesitant than contractors. The main barrier that limited e-tendering implementation was the lack of legal rules to cover e-tendering.

E-tendering implementation should be initiated from the government sector. Therefore, it is recommended to update the procurement guideline and required legal policies to enrich the current usage level of e-tendering among construction stakeholders.

The purpose of this study is to determine whether the pandemic affects the motivation and job satisfaction of university researchers as a whole and by their separate groups by gender, age, academic position (career stage) and degree.

The authors studied French universities for changes in motivation and job satisfaction among researchers under the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic. For this, two hypotheses were tested, using the one-way ANOVA parametric test and the Kruskal–Wallis nonparametric statistical test with the data collected during the in-depth interviews and surveys with university researchers from the Paris Diderot University and Jean Moulin University of Lyon III in 2019 and 2021.

There were found significant differences between changes in motivation and job satisfaction of respondent groups by gender, career stage and scientific degrees. All these differences in changes confirm hypothesis about the significant impact of the pandemic on certain motivators and elements of job satisfaction of various groups of university researchers. The study showed that pandemic restrictions and fears positively affect the motivation and job satisfaction of the younger generation of researchers and males, and negatively on the older generation and female researchers. During the pandemic, early-stage researchers are mostly unhappy only with the salary and the lack of teaching skills. While experienced and senior researchers do not have time to fulfill all their duties due to overload by a combination of different forms of teaching, many teaching hours, administrative duties and mastering new communication tools.

The results capture the selective impact of pandemic restrictions, its physical and mental effects on academic staff. Although only two universities in a single country were considered, the findings show the heterogeneity of the perception of new (pandemic) working conditions by different groups of university workers. If such heterogeneity is revealed in the example of two universities, then it is very likely to be observable also in broader studies.

The results of this study can help university administrations, higher education regulators and national research agencies address the needs of all groups of researchers, alleviating the most acute restrictions and fears caused by the pandemic and providing the necessary incentives for relevant groups, e.g. higher salary, teaching school and awards for young researchers and a lower teaching loading for experienced and senior researchers.

This is the first study that define pandemic impact on motivation and job satisfaction of university researchers in France.

The purpose of this paper is to investigate the styles that are desirable in a leader in the perspective of youth in Asia, particularly Brunei Darussalam and South Korea. Thus, by investigating it using the Path Goal Theory as its approach, this study provides leaders with the desirable leadership style to motivate and influence the youth.

The research used a quantitative method with a proportionate stratified sampling method using the criteria of age of youth defined by UNESCO. The data then collected using a face-to-face method of a questionnaire from February 2016 till June 2016.

The evidence depicts that Bruneian youth prefers directive leadership while South Korean youth prefers supportive leadership. This finding is based on the selected styles that are desirable by the youth and their choice is also influenced by culture. This may imply that culture has a large impact which can determine the leadership styles best suited to the environment.

Since the research has limited sample sizes and geographical location, this can lead to future research by considering more regions of different continents to determine whether different leadership preference still persists. This study can also be used as a basis to consider other factors in investigating leadership preference in Asian countries.

This paper identifies and encourages the need to study leadership style that is desirable among youth.

The quantity of e-taxi in Bangladesh is increasing day by day, especially in the municipality area. With the increase of this e-taxi quantity, it becomes hard to provide parking space for these consequences the illegal parking on road. This parking consequences traffic congestion on the road and obstructs the free flow of traffic. So, this paper aims to investigate the present scenario of this e-taxi parking problem and provides a solution by finding out a suitable location for an e-taxi station by the analytic hierarchy process (AHP) approach.

For the study, both primary and secondary data were collected. Primary data on existing parking points on the road of e-taxi which consequences traffic congestion are collected from the Municipality area. Secondary data on the existing road network of the Pabna Municipality has collected from the MIDP data also from the literature review. For the suitability analysis process for establishing an e-taxi station, six variables were determined. These variables are determined from the previous studies and the expert opinion survey. The six variables are land use of the study area, road network of the study area, proximity to the office area, proximity to the educational facilities, proximity from the market and finally,proximity from the hospital. After the selection of the variables ranking value was determined from the expert opinion. Then using The AHP method final weight value is determined and, finally, with the assist of geographical information system.

From the resulting total 4,285 spots were found as optimally suitable spots are found which is almost 21% of the suitable spot. No mostly suitable spots are found from the GIS analysis. The moderately suitable spots were found in the prime number of 14,817 spots, almost 75% of the suitable spot. Likely the most suitable spots no partly suitable spots were found but the number of very few suitable spots was found in the number of 918, 4% of the suitable spot. A total of 20,020 spots was found as suitable for the construction of E-taxi station.

Finding out a suitable spot for e-taxi stand the traffic congestion can be solved, accident risk can be minimized during loading and unloading of passengers and the municipality authority can find a permanent solution for the traffic congestion problem.