Academic literature on the topic 'Conceptual-theoretical framework'

Informal Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) play a key role in their respective economies over the world particularly in the African continent. This paper reviews various theories on SMEs towards understanding the potential of the informal sector in the context of African countries. The paper uses a theoretical approach for the purpose of assessing the challenges that have affected the development of the informal SMEs sector over the years in both the developing and developed world. Economically developing countries in Africa pose unique challenges to informal SMEs development compared to the developed countries. The paper reviews the theories that define the rise to informality in Africa by identifying the key determinants for the emergence of informal SMEs. A conceptual framework for assessing informal SME’s potential for Africa is developed. The conceptual framework is based on the Fishbone diagram developed by Kaoru Ishikawa (1986). This paper discusses the intricacies of the applicability of the proposed conceptual framework to assess the potential of the informal SMEs in Africa and the way forward for the formalization debate.

The ageing of the population is a contemporary phenomenon, but its foundations were laid decades ago. Changing age structures and the consequent demographic ageing has only recently become the subject of theoretical (re)consideration, since the theory of demographic transition only values fertility and mortality trajectories. The emergence of ?new? demography takes into account the momentum created by the previous trends in population dynamics and explains the future rejuvenation or ageing of the population. The importance of inherited age structure can be illustrated using an approach that represents distorted cohort flows, showing that baby booms and baby busts can play a crucial role in the future ageing of the population. While in the past it was fertility that predominantly affected age structure, recent research has revealed that changes in life expectancy are becoming a more prominent factor in shaping expected population ageing trends. The general theory of population ageing would have to consider the possible compression of morbidity, dynamic equilibrium, or the expansion of morbidity, since the future course of (healthy) life expectancy is determining the scope of the old and fragile population. The status of theory in demography has long been problematic, since the ?grandiose? theory of demographic transition had to be reevaluated. Modern approaches apply more flexible theoretical frameworks to explain contemporary demographic changes and provide a conceptual background. As such, the important paradigm for the demography of ageing should be the prospective paradigm, which uses information about the longevity of the population and transposes it to population ageing research. The theory of population metabolism seems to adequately define why population ageing is important for cohorts and generation change, especially in cases where distorted cohort flows create prominent cohort oscillation. The need to create adequate policies for changing age composition morphology is highlighted in the domain of institutional adaptation, where the concept of population balance can provide the appropriate framework. Also, as life events tend to take place more often at certain points in the life cycle - for example during adulthood and entering old age - the idea of population densities should be further explored.

The concept of countries as brands has been increasingly recognized in the post-modern global world. The terms "national brand" or "country brand" define a symbolic construct, which emphasizes the attractive, unique and sustainable qualities of a nation. This paper argues that the national brand and its competitiveness, based on the new approaches of nation branding using sociological and economic theories and concepts, can establish and communicate a specific image of national identity. This paper presents some empirical findings of a study that investigate Croatian national brand. Nation branding might be obtained by a sustained dialog between government, decision makers, business, cultural and civil community, leaders, and individuals in the society. A country brand, therefore, consists of an identity and image, as a system of signs and codes, where nation branding applies widely used marketing concepts for promoting the country's image and attractiveness. Finally, the paper argues that "national brand" or "country brand“is not just a function individually performed by governments or companies, but an integrated and concerted effort on behalf of all interested stakeholders.

Strategic governance of sustainable spatial development is characterized by fragmentation and lack of coordina-tion. Therefore, issues of increasing the effectiveness of strategic governance of sustainable development of terri-tories are becoming of particular relevance, which testifies the necessity of theoretical and methodological sub-stantiation of the conceptual foundations for perfection of this process. Revealed that in the structure of available methodical approaches to assessing the level of sustainable city development and analyzing the efficiency of man-agement of this process there are some differences, which indicates the need for their improvement for application in the process of diagnostics. It is proposed to apply a synergistic approach to studying the problems of managing sustainable development of a city, which makes it possible to identify interethnic integration patterns of self-organization of a city as a complex socio-economic and ecological system.