The outcome of six years’ experience with practical, knowledge and scientific projects has also been recorded in a number of books. A survey of these books and where they may be obtained is provided below.
SUSTAINABLE AGRICULTURAL ENTREPRENEURSHIP: THE SIX GUISES OF THE SUCCESSFUL AGRICULTURAL ENTREPRENEUR
Successful entrepreneurs have in common an ability to spot opportunities in the areas they work in. This book describes the experiences of agricultural entrepreneurs wishing to respond to the latest developments in their field: the effects of advanced urbanisation and the need for sustainably produced, high-quality food.
Over the past six years, pioneers in the field of Dutch agriculture have, via 35 projects, shown that investing in the sustainable development of agriculture is the only path if agriculture is to survive. These pioneers – business-minded farmers – took part in these projects together with researchers, government agencies and non-governmental organisations, jointly developing new sustainable earnings-models. This book discusses three strategies on the basis of nine practical case studies: 1) Sustainable improvement 2) Sustainable commercialisation, and 3) Sustainable innovation.
Entrepreneurs must moreover be able to adopt a number of different guises for the successful development and realisation of their 3P earnings model. The book describes six of these, namely: project developer, coach, strategist, game-leader, spider in the web and winner.
Sustainable Agricultural Entrepreneurship will be available at www.amazon.com.
THE TRANSFORUM MODEL: TRANSFORMING AGRO INNOVATION TOWARD SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT
Innovation, sustainable development and agriculture: these are the keywords in this academic publication. This English-language book presents new insights into how innovation can be deployed for the realisation of more sustainable development.
Innovation has been key in recent decades to the realisation of greater production and productivity. The negative effects of these developments on both the physical and the social environment necessitate a transformation of the agrosector towards sustainable development. A change of the agro-innovation system is an important factor in this regard.
The book presents the results of scientific research carried out under the TransForum programme in recent years. The research was conducted in the context of the practical projects supported by TransForum. The book illustrates how knowledge and (scientific) research can be deployed for sustainable development in practice.
The book concludes with a model of six principles for the stimulation of sustainable development. The model provides usable tools for putting sustainable agricultural innovations into practice.
Price: € 139.95
To order: From uitgeverij Springer via http://www.springer.com/life+sciences/agriculture/book/978-90-481-9780-4
ISBN: 978-90-481-9780-4
TRIPLE P BUSINESS DEVELOPMENT IN THE DUTCH AGRO-FOOD SECTOR: NINE CASES OF STRATEGIC INNOVATION
In recent years TransForum has developed and supported a number of initiatives in the field of metropolitan agriculture. Apart from improvements in the environmental and social fields, commercial development has also been an important part of these initiatives. This results in the creation of new activity with attention to people (social values ), planet (environmental and nature conservation values) and profit (economic values). These are also referred to as Triple P business cases.
In order to obtain an understanding of and insight into the underlying Triple P business cases, Nyenrode Business University and Ynnovate analysed nine TransForum practical projects. These cases are all embedded in the Dutch agro-food sector and the businesses concerned all fall into the small and medium-sized enterprise category. These business cases have been brought together in the English-language book ‘Triple P Business Development in the Dutch agro-food sector: 9 cases of strategic innovation’.
Four questions were key:
- What is the ‘triple P- business idea’ of the case?
- What are the crucial decisions in the development of the business idea and what are the underlying considerations?
- What does the Triple P value creation in the chain look like and how is this underpinned financially (investment plans, costs, benefits )?
- What are the most important learning points from the cases?
Price: € 46.75
To order: From uitgeverij Van Gorcum or available from the secretariat of
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ISBN: 978-90-232-4676-3
THE ART OF COOPERATION
This book contains stories by people from the practical fields dealt with by TransForum. They tell about their experiences with network management. Working with them we try to put our finger on the success factors behind and crucial competencies of ‘the network manager’.
Cooperation: something that has now become a key concept in innovative projects. Increasingly, it is realised that breakthroughs can only be achieved with the aid of some new kind of technology. Breakthroughs do, however, require an interaction among all sorts of differing actors. An interaction in which knowledge is combined, objections are transformed into design criteria and opportunities are linked up. The art also lies however in ensuring that cooperation does not lead to endless give-and-take and compromises but to breakthroughs that have backing.
Cooperation has been at the heart of all TransForum projects: cooperation among entrepreneurs, scientists, civil servants and politicians, but also among community groups. Many people will groan inwardly at the idea of cooperation and all this brings to mind: endless negotiations, innumerable ifs and buts and above all an exceptionally inefficient process. The opposite, however, turns out to be true. Many TransForum projects achieve both a better and a quicker result – although often not without setbacks and difficulties. The question rightly arises: to what is this success is attributable? Can any critical success factors be identified that make or break cooperation? And above all, how do you manage such a process? How do you manage not just a project, but an entire network?
This Dutch version of the book can be downloaded here: De_Kunst_van_het_Samenwerken.pdf
MULTI-ACTOR PROCESS MANAGEMENT
‘How can we live together as diverse people in a shared world?’ This question is central when it comes to agrofood, mobility, care, energy, education, construction, water and the financial world. Project leaders, programme managers, line managers, politicians and policymakers – anyone operating purposefully in a complex field of actors – needs to reflect on these matters. The book ‘Multi-actor procesmanagement in theorie en praktijk’ (‘Multi-actor process management in theory and practice’) provides specific tools for achieving results with a wide range of actors in day-to-day practice.
There is considerable interest in usable answers. The series ‘Samenleving in perspectief’ provides a theoretical framework and practical instruments to this end. With the support of TransForum, the practical handbook ‘Multi-actor procesmanagement in theorie en praktijk’ has now been issued as part of this series.
This book by Henk Diepenmaat [part 4 in the series] contains a practical translation of the Multi-actor process management concept as a whole. How do you get a grip on a large number of parties? How do you achieve results with a large number of actors in day-to-day practice? The book covers theory and practice, provides examples drawn from Diepenmaat’s consultancy activities, for example at TransForum, and offers selected assignments for application in your particular situation.
A foretaste of this book: Inkijkexemplaar_Multi-actor_procesmanagement.pdf
Price: € 35
To order: From uitgeverij Parthenon via http://www.uitgeverijparthenon.nl/parthenon_diepenmaat_werkboek.html
ISBN: 978 90 79578 160
