The territorial planning approach to allocating productive forces is based on the fact that territories have competitive advantages in producing specific products. However, in agriculture, the advantages principle cannot be used to shape the allocation patterns, due to a variety of intervening factors, such as the climatic and environmental conditions for agricultural production and the quality of land and availability of water. In the case of Russia, one of the most diverse countries in terms of the territorial disparities in agricultural production, this study examines the location and development patterns of the agricultural sector. The study identifies the competitive advantages of territories by comparing localization of agricultural production, production costs, performance, and profitability of agricultural producers, as well as prices of agricultural products in 78 different administrative regions in Russia. The study reveals which regions have more advantageous conditions for over-concentrating energy capacities, labor resources, fixed capital, and investments. However, at a certain point, over-concentrated production forces can lead to a deterioration in the performance of farmers due to an increase in capital intensity. Therefore, countries with significant regional differences in agricultural production should adjust their spatial development patterns according to the parameters of territories’ comparative advantages.

The objectives of this qualitative research are to study problems and factors promoting success in the career path of government officials in the Ministry of Higher Education, Science, Research, and Innovation (MHESI) in Thailand. The study also finds out career path model to opinions between executives and government officials. This qualitative employed in-depth interview and focus group discussion with executives, academics, and civil servants. It found that the problem was the planning and management of career path due to lacking of standard pattern. Also, it found that the model of career path provides practitioners with career advancement opportunities and job titles from the very beginning to the very top where they can advance and can plan their career progression. The model also provides an opportunity to explore officers’ competencies, aptitudes, and interests that are appropriate for any type of work in the organization and able to prepare them to perform the job, which will affect the success of civil servants’ work and human resource management to create career path and develop oneself to be able to compete for academic and professional excellence, as well as prepare the government officers for appropriate positions in the future.

Effective small and medium enterprise (SME) leadership demands creative solutions to ensure organisations survive and thrive during the turbulent times that COVID-19 continues to bring. This paper explores how SME leaders (in micro and small organisations) prioritise and access the skills and development needed to provide effective and sustainable leadership to organisations, focusing on the role of resilience and the benefits it provides. Participants were selected through purposive and snowballing sampling. Online surveys and semi-structured interviews were conducted and provided qualitative data that contributes to an understanding of the role of resilience and the view of participants as to what is needed to effectively respond to a dynamic environment. Evidence shows that SME leaders prioritise learning and development opportunities that provide demonstrable benefits throughout the organisation. Building business resilience remains a fuzzy concept; however, viewing resilience as a multi-level construct offers benefits when designing and delivering development opportunities. It has been found that networking, partnerships, and relationship building promote resilience and may offer a solution to how to embed resilience building into development opportunities that SME leaders value and wish to engage with. This article contributes by illustrating and exploring leadership development within SMEs during a period of unexpected and untested uncertainty. The pandemic caused major shock waves within business communities, and SMEs were significantly affected. The research is limited in that it is expected to be a once-in-a lifetime event, and as such conditions may not be replicable, learning opportunities for other ‘shock’ events are possible. The findings of this paper have relevance to practice in that, while the event may be one-off, shocks to the business environment are not.

In this study, the development of rinnenkarren systems is analyzed. During the field studies, 36 rinnenkarren systems were investigated. The width and depth were measured at every 10 cm on the main channels and then shape was calculated to these places (the quotient of channel width and depth). Water flow was performed on artificial rinnenkarren system. A relation was looked for between the density of tributary channels and the average shape of the main channel, between the distance of tributary channels from each other and the shape of a given place of the main channel. The density and total length of the tributary channels on the lower and upper sections of the main channels being narrow at their lower end (11 pieces) and being wide at their lower end (10 pieces) of the rinnenkarren systems were calculated as well as their average proportional distance from the lower end of the main channel. The number of channel hollows was determined on the lower and upper sections of these main channels. It can be stated that the average shape of the main channel calculated to its total length depends on the density of the tributary channels and on the distance of tributary channels from each other. The main channel shape is smaller if less water flows on the floor for a long time because of the small density of the tributary channels and the great distance between the tributary channels. In this case, the channel deepens, but it does not widen. The width of the main channel depends on the number and location of the rivulets developing on channel-free relief. The main channel becomes narrow towards its lower end if the tributary rivulets are denser and longer on the upper part of the main rivulet developing on the channel-free, plain terrain and their distance is larger compared to the lower end. The channel hollows develop mainly at those places where the later developing tributary channels are hanging above the floor of the main channel. Thus, the former ones are younger than the latter ones. It can be stated that the morphology of the main channels (shape, channel hollows, and width changes of the main channel) is determined by the tributary channels (their number, location and age).

The expansion of road networks, taken place during the last decades, was driven by technological progress and economic growth. The most innovative products of this trend—modern motorways and international road corridors—provide an excellent level of service, traffic safety and necessary information to travelers. However, despite this undeniable progress, major impediments and respective challenges to road authorities and operators still remain. The present paper analytically presents the main current challenges in the road engineering field, namely: a) financing new projects, b) alternative energy resources, especially renewable energy, c) serviceability, including maintenance of road infrastructure, traffic congestion and quality of the network, d) climate change hazards due to greenhouse gas emissions increase, e) environmental impacts, f) safety on roads, streets and motorways, and g) economy and cost-effectiveness. In each country and over each network, challenges and concerns may vary, but, in most cases, competent authorities, engaged in road development policies, have to deal with most of these issues. The optimization of the means to achieve the best results seems to be an enduring stake. In the present paper, the origin and the main features of these challenges are outlined as well as their tendency to get amplified or diminished under the actual evolving economic conditions worldwide, where growth alternates with crisis and social hardship. Moreover, responses, meant to provide solutions to the said challenges, are suggested, including research findings of Aristotle University and innovative technological achievements, to drive the transition to a more sustainable future.