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The objective of this chapter is to outline an integrating picture of the situation, representativeness, contradictions, and challenges that the treatment of diversity assumes in Brazilian society and in its organizations. The aim is to reply to the research question: “How are public policies and organizational practices constructing ways of inserting and valuing the diversity of Brazilians?” We provide a brief background of the changes in the global and Brazilian contexts over the last few decades and analyze the demographic data presented in the 2010 Census and in studies on diversity that were published in the main periodicals in the Administration area in Brazil, between 2000 and 2014 with regard to the segments most widely studied in the academic literature: Afro-descendants, homosexuals, the elderly, Indians, women, and people with a disability. The conclusion reached is that, in a short period of time, Brazil has made great strides in constructing the mechanisms and legal devices for recognizing the rights of its diverse population and that private companies are in the initial stages of introducing diversity programs.

The aim of this paper is to analyze and compare the effect of different hotel characteristics and room attributes on room rates of hotels in the cities of Lisbon and Porto, the capital and second most important city in Portugal.

Using the hedonic pricing method, hotel characteristics are decomposed and analyzed, giving us the perception of the impact of each hotel attributes on the room rates and the people’s willingness to pay for this. Ordinary least square regression analysis was applied to the hedonic price model to find which variables could explain differences in the hotel room rates in Lisbon and Porto.

The results suggest that in Lisbon and in Porto, a number of common characteristics have significant effects on consumer willingness to pay for a stay in a hotel as star rating, consumer rating and the room size. In Porto, the existence of a fitness centre and in Lisbon, the distance to the city centre are also attributes that create a premium in room rates.

The knowledge of the most valued characteristics by consumers is an important tool for hotel managers to define a price strategy. Also important is the knowledge of the attributes that provide more added value for consumers as these should be taken into account in new investment decisions.

This study highlights the implications of the way one defines and measures qualitative hotel characteristics in hedonic pricing. Although the hedonic method has been applied in several studies, to our knowledge, in Portugal, there are few studies applied only to hotel room rates, and there are no studies comparing hotel room rates in different Portuguese cities. Moreover, the research highlights the critical role of a proper definition and measurement of the variables in hedonic pricing in general and the hotel star in particular.

Humanized digital solutions that provide better access, understanding and use of health services enable better decisions and better patient’s experience focused on humanization of care. This translates into better health literacy in the digital area.

Currently health care is inseparable from digital health, and this evidence was highlighted during the COVID-19 pandemic. For this analysis, a cross-sectional study was carried out, with 335 valid answers in a quantitative and qualitative research to evaluate the opinion of the respondents regarding their digital health use and the means used, as well as the perception of emotions generated before and during the pandemic. A qualitative content analysis was also performed on the open question about the future of health.

The results showed a humanization in digital is essential and that it is necessary to prioritize the human relationship and find the meaning of space, communication and proximity of health face-to-face, respecting as differences.

This chapter will also propose the presentation of challenges and results from the application of health literacy on patient empowerment in the health system, based on humanized digital solutions.

The turbulent phase of COVID-19 has caused uncertainty as governments fail to develop coherent strategies for cutting emissions and are struggling to match the rhetoric of sustainable activities with actions (Barbier & Burgess, 2020; Cawthorn, Kennaugh, & Ferreira, 2021). In the recent past, firms have failed in their plans to decarbonise their key sectors such as the retail sector in the United Kingdom So far, retailers' commitment to achieving net zero emissions has been an important pledge but delivery is nowhere closer to their promises (Henriques, 2020). The firms' climate targets are not going to be met by magic as serious action is needed to fulfil the promises.

Fossil fuels have led to a drastic increase in carbon emissions in the world over the last decade. Firms championing cleaner energy and low carbon technologies are needed to cut emissions. Renewable energy sources such as wind energy can help reducing the dependency of fossil fuels (Boretti, 2020; Ebhota & Jen, 2020). Wind is an indirect form of solar energy which can provide environment-friendly option in uncertain times and can provide long-term sustainability of global economy. Solar energy technologies have the potential to decrease climate change through energy-related emissions (Li, Dai, & Cui, 2020). Increasing energy demand has initiated a focus on using hydrogen from water as a substitute for oil and fossil fuels (Boretti, 2020).

The first part of the chapter discusses theoretical perspectives of sustainable development and environmental performance with regards to three main issues: energy, water and carbon emissions, whereas the later part highlights the importance of solar technology as a low-polluted alternative to fossil fuels in the retail sector. Sustainable development of energy, water and environmental precautions such as reducing carbon emissions are of interest to wider branches of industries including retail, energy and water sector, governmental policymakers, researchers, educators and society. The purpose of this chapter is to increase the debate of the key issues of sustainable development regarding environment, energy and water in the modern times.

The authors examine the impact of CEO generalist experience on firm performance. Using 522 listed firms in Indonesia for the period 2010–2018, the authors find that the generalist CEO is negatively associated with firm performance. Generalist CEOs tend to experience ambiguity in adjustments in the new environment. In order to decrease the impact of a generalist CEO, our empirical evidence finds that CEO tenure does not significantly moderate the association between the two. This is because generalist CEOs with longer tenure tend to avoid changing strategies, and therefore the negative impact of CEO generalist is not altered. The results of this study provide suggestions for the firm in the developing country to appoint a CEO with generalist experience.

The purpose of this paper is to investigate the relationship between organisations' sustainability performance management practices and sustainability performance.

Data for the study were collected from 314 medium to large organisations operating in Australia. A mailed printed questionnaire was used to collect the data. Personal interviews with 20 senior executives were conducted to pilot test and refine the questionnaire.

The results indicate the organisations apply eight sustainability performance management practices (SPMPs) to improve seven different sustainability performance indicators (SPIs). Each of the eight SPMPs is positively associated with at least one or more SPIs. The paper finds that customer value, new product development and information capital performance indicators are each associated with a single SPMP, while the other four performance indicators (environmental, employee value, social responsibility, and financial performance) are each associated with multiple SPMPs. Overall, the results indicate that increasing the level of an organisation's focus on its individual SPMPs is positively associated with its better performance under one or more SPIs.

This study provides empirical evidence concerning which SPMPs are positively associated with particular SPIs. A framework of the identified SPMPs and SPIs is developed with a view towards promoting future research and practical applications to foster organisational sustainability performance.

This paper investigates the effect of the fit between supply and demand uncertainty (SDU) and supply chain responsiveness (SCR) (SC fit) on business and innovation performance in Brazilian companies.

The study presented an analysis carried out on an empirical study based on a sample of 150 manufacturing companies. Business and innovation performance of companies with different types of SC fit ( high–high and low–low fits) and misfit (positive and negative) are compared and discussed.

The results indicated that SC fit had a positive effect on both business and innovation performance. Further analyses suggested that companies with SC fit present similar business performance, independent of the level of SDU that characterizes the environment where they compete, while companies in environments with higher levels of uncertainty tend to present superior innovation performance. Companies with positive and negative misfit present similar performance.

An analysis of the literature showed that there is no consensus when it comes to the definitions and measurements of SC fit. The paper investigates the effects of SC fit on business and innovation performance, while previous empirical studies have mainly addressed its impact on financial performance. Moreover, this study compares the effects of two types of fit and two types of misfit and assesses SC fit in Brazilian manufacturing companies, analyzing the context of an under-researched reality.

People are increasingly concerned about food and health and are seeking enriched products. One way to add nutritional value to yogurt consists of the addition of nutritional flour. However, it is necessary to optimize formulations that meet the consumers’ expectations. Thus, the purpose of this paper is to aim at sensory optimization of a strawberry yogurt enriched with different flours.

The optimal concentrations of each flour were defined using the Just-about-right-scale test. Then, an acceptance test was used to assess the samples at optimal concentrations.

It was observed that the strawberry yogurt should include 1.275 percent golden flaxseed flour, 1.093 percent green banana flour, 1.075 percent eggplant flour and 3.420 percent oatmeal flour. All formulations had good acceptability and the yogurt added with the addition of golden flax flour and the traditional product received similar sensory acceptance. Thus, it is possible to add nutritional value to strawberry yogurt by maintaining its sensory quality.

More detailed studies on the shelf-life of yogurt are necessary to enable the incorporation of flours into yogurt as heat, light and oxygen can reduce the beneficial effects of flours. Therefore, researchers should test the proposed propositions further.

Optimization of an enriched yogurt is a good alternative to provide a product that meets consumers’ expectations, besides adding value to the product. However, there are technological challenges when adding functional components in foods. Thus, this study aimed at sensory optimization of a strawberry yogurt enriched with different flours.

The authors aimed to provide a healthy product to the market as well as contribute toward product variety in the market.

There are few studies in respect to the sensory aspects of enriched yogurts. Therefore, this work will aid future studies, supporting the optimization of functional products and contributing toward product variety in the market.

The purpose of this study is twofold. First, this study proposes to investigate the impact of inter-functional value co-creation (VCC) in a manufacturing firm’s value chain on supply chain performance, considering the moderating role of external integration. Second, this study proposes to validate a modified version of the VCC considering the inter-functional interaction context.

Quantitative data were collected using survey approach from 129 managers from 51 departments of 22 manufacturing firms performing roles in several areas, such as procurement, logistics, sales, marketing and production. This study uses a PLS-SEM to analyze the model measurement, through confirmatory factor analysis.

The empirical data supported the proposition of this study that the VCC degree (i.e. value co-production/value in use) between functions of the firm has significant positive effects on the performance of the supply chain, in customer service and flexibility.

This study could be exceedingly useful for practitioners suggesting them to improve inter-functional integration by adopting VCC practices grounded on “value co-production” and “value in use.” Such practices may help to maximize supply chain performance.

The coordination theory was useful to deepen the analysis of its quadrant named “participatory design,” considering the relationship between VCC and inter-functional integration. This paper extended the knowledge about the relationship between the participatory design quadrant and the quadrant referring to organizational structures and processes.

The research debate on the direct relationship between environmental strategy and environmental management accounting (EMA) is quite popular; however, integration challenges between these two factors still persist at the firm level. This paper seeks to adopt the contingency theory perspective to examine how EMA implementation varies across organizations with different intensity levels of environmental management strategy implementation (i.e. environmental management maturity, EMM).

The paper uses a web-based survey, designed and administered to public listed companies and members of three industry chambers in Sri Lanka.

This study finds that EMA implementation is significantly different among organizations at varying EMM stages. Further, it is observed that organizations at higher stages of EMM use significantly greater domain-based EMA tools and EMA for functional purposes. Therefore, the results show that when organizations progress from reactive to proactive environmental strategies, the EMA evolves to encapsulate and diversify to deal with more-sophisticated environmental management activities.

This is the first study to provide cross-sectional evidence on the relationship between the application of EMA tools and functional uses and the intensity of the environmental strategy pursuance (or EMM). It also proposes a multi-item comprehensive measurement tool for EMA implementation.