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This paper explores the process of adoption of innovations in pig husbandry systems in the Netherlands, related to sustainability challenges that the pig sector is facing. It investigates the factors that influence farmers' decisions to build a new stable, as well as the choice to build either a conventional or a more sustainable stable. It demonstrates the impact of the adopter characteristics (such as age and knowledge), operation characteristics (such as type, size and location of the farm) and institutional setting (such as influence of government and other stakeholders) on these decisions. Jointly these represent the factors that shape the farmer's perception of the adoption of a more sustainable pig husbandry system. In the current policy context there is much interest in knowing how farmers respond to sustainability-oriented policies. Seen in this light it is reassuring that the present study shows that next to profit orientation, a positive attitude (based on knowledge about the environmental impact of farming) towards the environment is needed for the decision to build a more sustainable stable.

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An important concept in innovation literature is open innovation, where firms may use knowledge of other companies to develop new products or processes. However, there is a tension between the desire to be open, to profit from the knowledge of others, and the desire to be closed to prevent others from making use of the firms own profitable knowledge. Formal and non-formal intellectual property (IP) protection mechanisms may protect the company in an innovation alliance, but are often costly and may hinder flexibility and creativity. In the present paper the role of formal and non-formal IP protection arrangements and communication on the building and maintenance of trust and ultimately on performance has been investigated. A survey questionnaire was combined with semi-structured interviews of CEOs and R&D managers of seven companies and two commercial research organizations in the seed sector, one agrifood company, one commercial research organization in the agrifood and one commercial research organization in the high-tech sector. Thirty-three innovation alliances were investigated in total. It was found that for companies active in an innovation alliance it is important to understand how prior experiences, IP protection and communication influence the level of trust in an alliance, and that the level of trust is positively related to innovation performance. Recommendations are given for open innovation managers how to make optimal use of the innovation potential of the alliance partner(s), by fostering communication within the alliance and by using formal IP protection arrangements as a platform to create trust within the alliance.

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Effective management of physical assets should deliver maximum business value. Therefore, Asset Management standards such as PAS 55 and ISO 55000 ask for a life cycle approach. However, most existing methods focus only on the short term of the asset's life or the estimation of its remaining life. These methods do not consider alignment to changing corporate objectives in a variable context, nor do they adopt a multidisciplinary perspective. This chapter argues that, to create maximum value, Asset Management should be a multidisciplinary and strategic practice that considers the complete life cycle of the asset: Asset Life Cycle Management. A practical twelve-step approach is presented to develop an Asset Life Cycle Plan (ALCP) in which expert sessions are used to identify the main lifetime impacts that influence the creation of business value from the use of the asset. The steps are illustrated with an example from practice. The chapter concludes that the ALCP supports asset managers in making long-term strategic decisions in a timely and effective manner.

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