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Real estate is a capital-intensive industry for which the asset values tend to be highly volatile and uncertain. Transaction costs in the industry are therefore high, and transparency for investors may be low. The need to signal reliable estimates of property assets, in the communication to external stakeholders, can therefore be expected to be of extra importance in this sector. The purpose of this paper is to investigate how real estate firms use big four auditors to signal quality.

The authors use Swedish firm level data containing all limited liability real estate companies in the country to determine the determinants of big four auditors. The data set consists of 34,306 observations and is analyzed through logit regressions.

The results show that big four companies are primarily contracted by large and mature companies, rather than new firms or firms with volatile financial records, although the latter could be expected to have a large need to signal quality. The authors also find that firms listed on the stock market and firms targeting public use real estate are more inclined to use big four companies.

Real estate is a capital-intensive industry for which the asset values tend to be highly volatile and uncertain. Transaction costs in the industry are therefore high, and transparency for investors may be low. The need to signal reliable estimates of property assets, in the communication to external stakeholders, can therefore be expected to be of extra importance in this sector. No prior study of this area has been detected.

The purpose of this study is to identify the possible efficiency gains in using tokenization for the execution of public expenditure on governmental investments.

Through design science research methodology, the exploratory research produced a tokenized prototype in the blockchain, through the Ernst and Young OpsChain traceability solution, allowing automated processes in the stages of public expense. A focus group composed of auditors from the public sector evaluated the possibility of improving the quality of information available in the audited entities, where the tokens created represent and register the actions of public agents in the blockchain Polygon.

The consensus of the experts in the focus group indicated that the use of tokenization could improve the quality of the information, since the possibility of recording the activities of public agents in the metadata of the tokens at each stage of the execution of the expenditure allows the audited entities the advantages of the information recorded on the blockchain, according to the following ranking: first the immutability of audited data, followed by reliability, transparency, accessibility and efficiency of data structures.

This research makes an empirical contribution to the real use of tokenization in blockchain technology to the public sector through a value chain in which tokens were created and moved between the wallets of public agents to represent, register and track the operations regarding public expense execution.

The purpose of this study was to develop and implement a new model to improve maintenance management and the production system through the concepts: maintenance, lean philosophy and Industry 4.0.

The methodology employed in this study includes conducting a bibliographic survey of existing models exploring the joint application of the concepts under study, critically analyzing these models, developing a model proposal and subsequently analyzing the results obtained. The model is implemented on a belt conveyor of a feed mill to improve its performance.

The proposed model contributes to improve maintenance and production system management, proving to be a useful tool to improve real-time decision-making. After its application, it was possible to verify that it increased the performance of the conveyor belt, as well as improved the skills of the operators who operate on it.

Limitation about the distance between the devices that make up the model. The implementation of autonomous maintenance can highlight some challenges within the company. The implementation was only in the belt conveyor, being useful to introduce this in the remaining areas of the factory.

The study presents an innovative, versatile, low-cost and easy-to-apply model to improve maintenance management by combining the three concepts. The model can be easily adapted to monitor condition parameters such as temperature, noise, among others, through the correct choice of devices and proper programming. This work also contributed to help in real-time decision-making for both the maintenance and production departments.

The paper aims to present a literary itinerary inspired in Julio Dinis’ novel An English Family (Uma Família Inglesa) through a comparative analysis of the places identified in the novel and the touristic attraction proposed by Visit Porto website. This novel is representative of the cultural identity and society of Porto city in the 19th century. Developing an itinerary based on this novel can facilitate the reading and understanding of the historical and cultural development of Porto.

This case study is based on the reading of the Julio Dinis’ novel An English Family (Uma Família Inglesa), whose storyline takes place in Porto city, Portugal in the 19th century. It used QGIS v. 3.12 software, a geographical information system to identify the places, to produce the maps and to create the itinerary.

The comparison between the places identified in the novel and the tourist attraction in Visit Porto website revealed that only 6 points in the novel are referenced on Visit Porto website. These points correspond to the ones in the historical city centre of Porto. However, the creation of an itinerary that brings together all the points mentioned by Julio Dinis in his novel, will allow the development of a new touristic itinerary, alternative to existing itineraries in the city and that can be seen as a distinguish offer that allows a different view of the urban space of Porto.

There are some limitations to this study that can be highlighted. First, it was difficult to find the correct location of some points identified in the novel, due to difficulty of finding historical maps with quality of the data. At the same time, as tourist information is dispersed by several sources, and most of those data is not georeferenced, it was time consuming the integration of all the information in the same geodatabase. The choice of the shortest path can also be considered as a limitation, rather than the route followed by the author in the novel, but geographic information systems operates on spatial and temporal scale, which can present a limitation in tourism analysis. In the case of this project, we have chosen the shortest path, assuming that tourist would prefer that.

This research allowed to address two areas of knowledge that are emerging in the study of urban centres as tourist areas: the use of GIS and literary tourism. Despite the fact that there are already articles on this subject, the originality focuses on the approach made around one of the greatest writers of Portugal in the 19th century, allowing to present a tourist itinerary about one of his literary works, and the comparison made between the places identified in the novel and the tourist points identified on the Visit Porto website.

This study aims to explore how young people in child and adolescent mental health services (CAMHS) in the UK, Ireland, The Netherlands and Croatia, experienced leaving CAMHS and identified a range of factors impeding optimal discharge or transition to adult mental health services (AMHS).

Interviews about discharge or transition planning, including what information was provided about their ongoing mental health needs, undertaken with 34 young people aged 17–24, all previous or current attendees of CAMHS. Some interviews included accounts by parents or carers. Data were thematically analysed.

A number of previously well-documented barriers to a well-delivered discharge or transition were noted. Two issues less frequently reported on were identified and further discussed; they are the provision of an adequately explained, timely and appropriately used diagnosis and post-CAMHS medication management. Overall, planning processes for discharging or transitioning young people from CAMHS are often sub-optimal. Practice with regard to how and when young people are given a diagnosis and arrangements for the continuation of prescribed medication appear to be areas requiring improvement.

Study participants came from a large cohort involving a wide range of different services and health systems in the first pan-European study exploring the CAMHS to adult service interface. Two novel and infrequently discussed issues in the literature about young people’s mental health transitions, diagnosis and medication management were identified in this cohort and worthy of further study.

Quality 4.0 is being presented as the new stage of quality development. However, its overlying concept and rationale are still hard to define. To better understand what different authors and studies advocate being Quality 4.0, a systematic literature review was undertaken on the topic. This paper presents the results of such review, providing some avenues for further research on quality management.

The documents for the systematic literature review have been searched on the Scopus database, using the search equation: [TITLE-ABS-KEY (“Quality 4.0”) OR TITLE-ABS-KEY (Quality Management” AND (“Industry 4.0” OR “Fourth Industr*” OR i4.0))]. Documents were filtered by language and by type. Of the 367 documents identified, 146 were submitted to exploratory content analysis.

The analyzed documents essentially provide theoretical discussions on what Quality 4.0 is or should be. Five categories have emerged from the content analysis undertaken: Industry 4.0 and the Rise of a New Approach to Quality; Motivations, Readiness Factors and Barriers to a Quality 4.0 Approach; Digital Quality Management Systems; Combination of Quality Tools and Lean Methodologies and Quality 4.0 Professionals.

It was hard to find studies reporting how quality is actually being managed in organizations that already operate in the Industry 4.0 paradigm. Answers could not be found to questions regarding actual practices, methodologies and tools being used in Quality 4.0 approaches. However, the research undertaken allowed to identify in the literature different ways of conceptualizing and analyzing Quality 4.0, opening up avenues for further research on quality management in the Industry 4.0 era.

This paper offers a broad look at how quality management is changing in response to the affirmation of the Industry 4.0 paradigm.

International business as a field values perspectives from various contexts, but scholars from emerging markets face a number of often-unseen challenges preventing them from fully contributing to the field. This study aims to explain those challenges and what the author has done to manage them.

This is a Reflexive piece in which the author makes sense of her own experience as a scholar not only of but also in an emerging market, as well as the experiences at her school in seeking to develop a high-quality doctoral program.

When leading scholars interact, whether in writing or in person, they tend to be in academically and otherwise well-resourced locations. This is true even for the leading international business scholars of emerging markets, and it imposes time and financial costs on scholars located in emerging markets wanting to participate in such conversations. Having experienced such challenges, the author worked with colleagues to design a doctoral program that could nurture rich scholarly conversations at the school. However, there remains a clear and pervasive tension between the inclusive aspirations of the field and the tendency for cutting-edge academic conversations to be concentrated in the developed world.

The experiences of emerging market scholars remain underrepresented in the field. By drawing on her own experience, both as a scholar and the head of the doctoral program at her school, the author provides suggestions for how to think about and develop a more inclusive scholarly conversation.

This study proposes a hierarchic segmentation that develops a tree-based classification model and classifies the cases into groups. This allows for the definition of e-commerce user profiles for each of the groups. Additionally, it facilitates the development of actions to improve the adoption of the online channel that is in such high demand in the current pandemic COVID-19 context.

Regarding the created segments, two extreme segments stand out due to their marked differences and high volume. Segment 3 with 23% of the sample is the group with the most predisposition to use the online channel and is characterised by a high level of trust, more habitual use in comparison with other groups and the belief that its use implies high performance, which indicates they believe it to be useful, quick and helpful for more an effective shopping experience. The other extreme is found in segment 7. This group makes up 17.7% of the total and is the most reluctant to use the online channel. These users are characterised by the complete opposite: they have a low level of trust in this channel. However, the effort expectancy is low, i.e. they consider that the adoption of the online channel does not involve many difficulties in its learning and use. Nevertheless, they use it less regularly than the others.

Based on the conclusions reached in this study, in the current pandemic context in which consumer demand for online shopping channels for all types of products is on the rise, it is recommended that companies focus on the following aspects. It is essential to build trust with the user and show them the real benefits of e-commerce, how it would improve their life and why they should use it. Additionally, it is vital that the user perceives it as an easy procedure that does not require a significant learning curve. Other fundamental aspects would be to reduce any uncertainty the user might have about the online shopping process, to make it as easy as possible, and to design a simple, intuitive and user-friendly interface. It is also recommendable to manage data usage efficiently. To do so, the authors recommend asking the user for the least amount of information possible, offering a data protection policy and assuring them that their information will not be misused nor shared with third parties. All of this provides a series of facilities to modify the online shopping habits of users.

As in most of the research, this study presents a series of limitations that should be debated and that could open future lines of investigation. Firstly, regarding the sample used that was limited to two neighbouring countries with similar profiles a priori; it would be necessary to compare their possible cultural differences according to Hofstede's dimensions as well as increase the number of European countries being analysed to reach a more generalised conclusions. Secondly, the variables used are a combination of those derived from the UTAUT2 model and others suggested in the literature as decisive in technology adoption by users, in this sense other theories and variables could be incorporated to complete a more holistic model.

This work contributes in a general way to (1) analysing the intention to use e-commerce platforms from a set of antecedents previously defined by their importance, after a period of economic and social restrictions derived from the pandemic; (2) determination of customer segments from the classification made by the CHAID analysis; (3) characterisation of the previously defined segments through the successive divisions that were proposed in the analysis carried out.

Other fundamental aspects would be to reduce any uncertainty the user might have about the online shopping process to make it as easy as possible, and to design a simple, intuitive, and user-friendly interface. It is also recommended to manage data usage efficiently. To do so, the authors recommend asking the user for the least amount of information possible, offering a data protection policy, and assuring them that their information will not be misused or shared with third parties.

The results obtained have allowed us to establish predictive and explanatory models of the behaviour of the segments and profiles created, which will help companies to improve their relationships with online customers in the coming years.

本研究擬提出一個會發展基於樹的分類模型、以及會把案例歸入不同的類別的層次細分。這讓我們能為每個類別考慮到電子商務用戶輪廓的定義和解釋；這亦促進我們優化採用在線渠道的發展工作,而在線渠道於現時2019冠狀病毒病肆虐的情況下,實在供不應求。

就創設的細分而言,兩個極端的細分因其明顯的差別和大批量而顯得突出。佔樣本百分之二十三的細分3是擁有最大使用在線渠道傾向的細分,而細分3的特徵包括他們對在線渠道呈高信任度,比其他類別更習慣地使用,以及其相信使用在線渠道會帶來更高的績效,這表示他們相信使用在線渠道是有效的,是快捷的,是可幫助帶來成功的購物體驗的。另外的極端在細分7內發現。這類別佔整體的百分之十七點七,而他們是最不願意使用在線渠道的類別。這類別的特徵和前述的剛剛相反：他們對在線渠道的信任程度是低的,唯其努力期望是低的,也就是說,他們認為使用在線渠道是不會涉及很多在學習上或在實際應用上的困難。即使是這樣,他們較其他人卻較少使用在線渠道。

基於研究的結論,我們的建議是：於目前大流行肆虐期間,消費者對於以在線渠道網購各類商品的需求不斷增加,企業應聚焦以下的範疇：企業必須建立消費者對電子商務的信心,並為他們展示電子商務的真正好處；企業也必須使消費者明瞭電子商務如何能改善其生活,以及他們為何要使用電子商務。更重要的是使消費者覺得使用電子商務是輕而易舉的,又不涉及陡峭的學習曲線。凡此種種,就成為消費者改變其網上購物習慣的動力和誘因。至於其他基本的考慮,包括減輕消費者對使用電子商務的不確定情緒,使電子商務易於使用,以及設計一個簡易的、憑直覺能知曉的、方便使用的介面。另外,值得推薦的是、數據使用情況須有效地管理。為此,我們建議應儘量向使用者索取最低限度的資料,為他們提供資料保護政策,保證他們的資料不會被濫用或與第三者分享。

與其他大多數的研究一樣,本研究展現了一系列值得辯論的局限,而這些局限或許會開展未來研究的領域。首先,考慮到使用了一個局限於兩個以因及果演繹而成的、概況相似的相鄰國家為樣本,我們或許需要根據霍夫斯泰德文化維度理論對這兩個國家進行比較,以瞭解它們的文化差異；另外,為求能達致可普遍適用的結論,我們也需把被分析的歐洲國家的數目增加。其次,被使用的變數是兩組變數的組合,他們是從UTAUT2模型中取得的變數,以及在有關的文獻裡,就技術採用而言、使用者認為是重要的變數。就此而言,若其他的理論和變數能被包含其中,則達致的模型將會是一個更為整體的模型。

本研究就一般而言有以下的貢獻：(一) 、 在因大流行病而引起的經濟和社會限制實施時期後,研究人員分析人們如何從一套過去被認定是電子商務平台的重要前身而選擇使用電子商務平台,本研究對這方面的分析作出了貢獻；(二) 、本研究幫助確定從透過CHAID分析而來的分類中得到的顧客細分；(三) 、本研究透過進行連續分解、幫助歸納過去被認定的細分的特徵。

企業必須建立消費者對電子商務的信心,並為他們展示電子商務的真正好處；企業也必須使消費者明瞭電子商務如何能改善其生活,以及他們為何要使用電子商務。更重要的是使消費者覺得使用電子商務是輕而易舉的,又不涉及陡峭的學習曲線。凡此種種,就成為消費者改變其網上購物習慣的動力和誘因。至於其他基本的考慮,包括減輕消費者對使用電子商務的不確定情緒,使電子商務易於使用,以及設計一個簡易的、憑直覺能知曉的、方便使用的介面。另外,值得推薦的是、數據使用情況須有效地管理。為此,我們建議應儘量向使用者索取最低限度的資料,為他們提供資料保護政策,保證他們的資料不會被濫用或與第三者分享。

本研究所得的結果,讓我們可以建立多個模型、以預測並解說有關的市場部分的行為和被創建的消費者簡介,這會幫助企業改善它們今後與網上顧客的關係。

This paper aims to seek the perceptions of potential future corporate managers and directors on the issues raised in the literature, especially recent articles in the corporate communications literature, concerning corporate board gender quotas. It focusses on the Czech Republic, where research on board gender diversity is sparse.

The study is part of much more comprehensive research into board gender diversity. It adopts a questionnaire approach, with this paper focussing on 13 research statements. A Likert Scale of 1–4 (Strongly Agree; Agree; Disagree; Strongly Disagree) was applied to the perceived views expressed. The questionnaires were completed by university students at a public university in the Czech Republic during March–April 2023. A pilot questionnaire was conducted in February 2023, resulting in minor changes being made. The data is analysed using SPSS and MedCalc® statistical software.

There is overwhelming opposition to quotas, even from women. The opinions expressed by the respondents to this research, in many respects, support the literature, but there is unmistakable evidence of gender bias. Regarding the positive female benefits of quotas, male respondents disagreed; regarding the negative issues of quotas, male respondents agreed more than their female counterparts.

The research findings have important implications for how women recruited through quotas may be received onto corporate boards – what challenges will they likely face? Some current female candidates for directorship, who would have been selected on merit and perceived as such by their male counterparts, may now be hesitant to apply for such positions if they are seen as being appointed due to quotas. Therefore, the selection procedure must continue to be based on merit and seen as such.

One of the important aspects of the paper is that it focusses on a country that has, until recently, resisted pressures to implement mandatory corporate board gender quotas; in this respect, it has a corpus of originality and value. The Czech Republic and other European countries will also be affected by the recent EU law on gender balance or corporate boards. The paper also highlights the perceptions of potential future directors on various issues of board gender quotas.