Guidance on content patterns and key concepts: scope — actor maps — statute books — initiative books — resource books — three realm maps — government functions — industry sectors — municipal circles — contracts and claims — scope of claims
Classifications: macro, meso, micro, pico
Architecture: societal architecture
What are meso-level actors?
The actors at the meso-level include industry associations, (sector) labour unions, standards organisations, science and engineering academies, and specialized public sector agencies at national and international level.
These meso-level actors (and roles) are included in the Actor Atlas:
- AGORA-parl.org
- Bankers Association
- Civil service commission
- Department of Education
- e-Agriculture (Community of Practice)
- Energy access practitioner network
- Global Centre for ICT in Parliament
- Guideline Clearinghouse
- International Federation of Library Associations and Institutions (IFLA)
- International Federation of Reproduction Rights Organisations
- International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center
- International Rice Research Institute
- Inter-Parliamentary Union
- Kaggle
- League of Cities
- League of Municipalities
- League of Provinces
- League of Vice Governors
- Tax Justice Network
- Teacher and Teacher Educators from sub-Saharan Africa (TESSA)
- Teacher's Association
- United Nations Peacebuilding Commission
A key characteristics of these actors is their role in structuring claims to sector assets, and the governing and consolidating access to sectoral knowledge assets such as dominant designs, product architectures, standards and regulations.
Mutual competition is not typical among meso-level actors within a particular territory. They rather contribute to a business environment that is conducive for fair competition among the sector or industry participants (for instance, the members of the sector or industry association, labour unions agreeing equal labour costs for workers in a sector).
Why they matter?
Each part of the economy, such as ground transportation, agriculture, retail or banking involves a typical portfolio of processes and assets. It consumes a range and volume of material resources [1], and it emits a unique portfolio of gases, aerosols and waste that affect the environment and the climate in different ways and on different timescales [2].
Society benefits from translating scientific and technological advances into portfolios that reduce "environmental" footprints of the various parts of the economy, while ensuring equity.
Society also benefits from ensuring sector compliance to socio-economic and environmental principles, regulations and targets.
Meso-level actors are major instruments for an efficient, cost-effective and fair dialogue between society and corporate actors. In this dialogue society is represented by its macro-level actors, and the meso-level actors represent the corporate (micro) and pico actors (individual workers). Within the various parts of the economy these corporate actors handle the bulk of the operations: competitive, yet equally constrained by rules and equally supported with the fruits of the other parts of the economy.
Case studies
The paper on VAT-compliance in ERP Systems identifies a lack of meso-level resources as a cause of increased risks at companies. Also the Workshop on Orchestrating Industrial Data address typical meso-level issues.
Meso-level Classifications
Several classifications are relevant:
- ISIC Rev.4 (International Standard Industrial Classification of All Economic Activities, Rev.4; ref: http://unstats.un.org/unsd/cr/registry/regcst.asp?Cl=27&Lg=1)
- BEC (Classification by Broad Economic Categories; ref: http://unstats.un.org/unsd/cr/registry/regcst.asp?Cl=10&Lg=1)
- COPNI (Classification of the Purposes of Non-Profit Institutions Serving Households; ref: http://unstats.un.org/unsd/cr/registry/regcst.asp?Cl=6&Lg=1)
