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1 – 10 of 15Norberto Santos, Claudete Oliveira Moreira and Luís Silveira
Tourism in Coimbra today is influenced by the fact that the Univer(s)city was distinguished as a World Heritage Site in 2013. The number of visits has grown very significantly in…
Abstract
Purpose
Tourism in Coimbra today is influenced by the fact that the Univer(s)city was distinguished as a World Heritage Site in 2013. The number of visits has grown very significantly in recent years, but the diversification of the tourist offer is still weak and unable to take advantage of existing resources. This paper aims to present genealogy tourism as an alternative urban cultural tourism in Coimbra.
Design/methodology/approach
Methodology involved mapping the Jewish culture elements in the city of Coimbra, and a route was outlined and proposed.
Findings
Genealogy tourism resources are identified in the historic centre of the city. These alternative spaces need urban rehabilitation and (re)functionalisation, which allowed the authors to rethink tourism in Coimbra. They are the motivation to visit for all urban cultural tourists, especially Israelis/Jews, and provide contact with places where the experiences of ancestors combine with the history and memory of places, with recent discoveries and the elements of Jewish culture in the city.
Originality/value
It is concluded that the quantity, diversity, authenticity and singularity of the heritage resources that bear witness to the Jewish presence in Coimbra are sufficient assets to create a route, to enrich the tourist experience in the city and to include the destination in the Sephardic routes.
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Farhad Nazir, Norberto Santos and Luís Silveira
This paper aims to discern the potential dimensions amid the duality of heritage tourism and peace. Reflecting on the phases of destruction and rebuilding of Seated Buddha of…
Abstract
Purpose
This paper aims to discern the potential dimensions amid the duality of heritage tourism and peace. Reflecting on the phases of destruction and rebuilding of Seated Buddha of Jahanabad, this study used the content analysis of 40 news sources, to unravel the resultant avenues of heritage tourism and peace.
Design/methodology/approach
Following the qualitative research strategy, the interface of NVivo 12 has been used to transcribe the textual and visual content of media news. The media news aired on the incident of destruction phase in 2007, and rebuilding drive in 2012–2016 were the two sets of collected data. A hierarchy of thematic analysis was adopted to identify nodes, subthemes and themes.
Findings
Findings of this study highlighted six themes: peaceful imagery, PI; heritage dissonance, HD, vs interfaith harmony, IH; peace allegory through restoration, PAR; precursor of heritage sustainability, PHS; community heritage consonance, CHC; and heritage touristic valuation, HTV.
Research limitations/implications
This study lacks statistical data of the quantitative research domain. Aimed at a single heritage site, it analyzed limited number of news sources.
Practical implications
This study offers implications for industrial, theoretical, managerial and governmental stakeholders in their respective domains. Moreover, it also provides takeouts for common readers.
Originality/value
This study contends a significant research issue and analyzes the destruction and rebuilding of a heritage site in a developing country. Primarily in the sociogeographic context of the research issue, the resultant dimensions are novel and demanding.
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Farhad Nazir, Norberto Santos and Luis Avila Silveira
Tourism and health outbreaks share a symbiotic history (Hall, Scott, & Gössling, 2020; Ozbay, Sariisik, Ceylan, & Çakmak, 2021). Pandemics, epidemics, and endemics have…
Abstract
Tourism and health outbreaks share a symbiotic history (Hall, Scott, & Gössling, 2020; Ozbay, Sariisik, Ceylan, & Çakmak, 2021). Pandemics, epidemics, and endemics have transformed the perception of tourists. Previous outbreaks were geographically limited, resulting in the substitution effect (Prideaux, 2005; van der Veen, 2014). However, the COVID-19 pandemic urged the authorities to cease mobility worldwide. Evidently, mobility-oriented businesses like tourism have received immediate impacts from the pandemic. From shutdown to the minimum clearances, under strict restrictions, the tourism industry suffered atypical outcomes. Heat check-meters, contactless check-ins and check-outs, automotive service trays and counters, and reduced carrying capacity have been introduced to curb the impact of the pandemic on tourism. Tourism requires, throughout its cycle—before, during, and after the trip—the use of artificial intelligence, virtual reality, augmented reality, the internet of things, and geotargeting (Buhalis & Amaranggana, 2015). The usage of technology has been assured to be compatible with the prerequisites of restrictive and compliance measures (Lau, 2020). Moreover, in the supply sector, a competitive environment has also been created to market these new modified products and services. This chapter pursues the investigation of new offerings in a different normal, concerned with health issues, ethical behaviors, and trips with a social purpose to contribute to local development. Secondary data analysis has been performed to achieve this goal. This study implicates the new offerings duly implemented during the new normal.
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Sergio Morales and Oswaldo Morales
The contribution of the present case lies in the critical view that every business actor should exercise – be it general manager, middle management, supervisor or executive – when…
Abstract
Learning outcomes
The contribution of the present case lies in the critical view that every business actor should exercise – be it general manager, middle management, supervisor or executive – when building a strong organizational culture in corrupt political environments.
Case overview/synopsis
The purpose of this case study is to explore the dilemma in which Marcelo Odebrecht, once CEO of Odebrecht, found/determined whether to continue with the business model established by the founders of Odebrecht or take a new path for the organization. After exploring the corrupt acts of Odebrecht and the scope of Operation Lava Jato, the reader can reflect on the importance of organizational culture (according to the three levels proposed by Schein) in the face of the emergence of corruption. By generating discussions about organizational culture, business ethics, political culture and corruption, the organizational culture of Odebrecht is problematized in relation to its real behavior.
Complexity academic level
Students of administration, business and international business undergraduates and graduates, as well as members of senior management in companies in the infrastructure sector. Also, given the plurality of possible readings, it is recommended that the case also be used in courses or specializations in organizational psychology, organizational sociology or organizational anthropology.
Supplementary materials
Teaching Notes are available for educators only. Please contact your library to gain login details or email support@emeraldinsight.com to request teaching notes.
Subject code
CSS 5: International Business.
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Cyntia Vilasboas Calixto and Marina Amado Bahia Gama
We examine how home market political connexions can influence internationalisation as the number of foreign subsidiaries and the volume of investment abroad when targeting…
Abstract
Purpose
We examine how home market political connexions can influence internationalisation as the number of foreign subsidiaries and the volume of investment abroad when targeting specific host countries. Our aim is to provide in-depth insights into the relationship between multinational enterprises and home country institutions by presenting a teaching case about a Brazilian construction company operating in more than 20 countries.
Methodology/approach
We developed a longitudinal study based on the trajectory of Odebrecht, an important Emerging Market Multinational Enterprise, highlighting the relevance of governmental support for its international expansion.
Findings
We could reveal that international strategy is constituted not only by internal appraisal (availability of resources) and market factors, but also linked to national political priorities.
Research limitations/implications
We only used secondary data to develop this teaching case. Even though we built the case also using the information available on the company’s website and its annual report, we believe that newspaper articles might provide some bias in the way they were written. Then, we tried to be neutral and just use facts mentioned in the articles to understand the international strategy.
Originality/value
The literature tends to emphasise the role of institutions in international business activities. We contribute to the literature by presenting the benefits and consequences of political connexions for an EMNE’s internationalisation path. Moreover, our study brings light to the need of redefining the firm’s international strategy without taking into account the governmental alignment.
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Welington Norberto Carneiro, Jose Carlos Tiomatsu Oyadomari, Paulo Afonso, Ronaldo Gomes Dultra-de-Lima and Octavio Ribeiro de Mendonça Neto
This paper seeks to understand kaizen in practice as it travels through time and space in the organisational setting.
Abstract
Purpose
This paper seeks to understand kaizen in practice as it travels through time and space in the organisational setting.
Design/methodology/approach
A qualitative case study was carried out at a multinational company using mainly interviews for the data collection that were analysed from an actor-network theory (ANT) perspective.
Findings
This paper finds that the company deals with a series of paradoxes while managing the kaizen process. Efficiency and quality paradoxes are the basis for starting kaizen projects. Furthermore, intrinsic, and extrinsic motivation, emerge in these processes, and paradoxes relate to how spontaneous ideas emerge in a deliberated context of cost-saving objectives. The supply chain finance team coordinates kaizen projects with the collaboration of plant managers, promoting the paradox of autonomy and control. In addition, as kaizen mobilises and enrols the actors, some trials of strength emerge, showing actors who oppose the kaizen network and create competing networks that mutually exist in the firm.
Practical implications
This study presents valuable insights for professionals to successfully implement kaizen methodologies that take advantage of developing a network for problem-solving in organizations.
Originality/value
This study highlights the supply chain finance team's role in enrolling the actors within a network built by practitioners engaged in kaizen projects. Usually, engineers, quality, or manufacturing teams lead kaizen projects, and only occasionally, accounting and financial teams participate, including multidisciplinary teams.
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Jongwon Lee, Inwook Hwang, Keehoon Kim, Seungmoon Choi, Wan Kyun Chung and Young Soo Kim
The purpose of this paper is to present a surgical robot for spinal fusion and its control framework that provides higher operation accuracy, greater flexibility of robot position…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to present a surgical robot for spinal fusion and its control framework that provides higher operation accuracy, greater flexibility of robot position control, and improved ergonomics.
Design/methodology/approach
A human‐guided robot for the spinal fusion surgery has been developed with a dexterous end‐effector that is capable of high‐speed drilling for cortical layer gimleting and tele‐operated insertion of screws into the vertebrae. The end‐effector is position‐controlled by a five degrees‐of‐freedom robot body that has a kinematically closed structure to withstand strong reaction force occurring in the surgery. The robot also allows the surgeon to control cooperatively the position and orientation of the end‐effector in order to provide maximum flexibility in exploiting his or her expertise. Also incorporated for improved safety is a “drill‐by‐wire” mechanism wherein a screw is tele‐drilled by the surgeon in a mechanically decoupled master/slave system. Finally, a torque‐rendering algorithm that adds synthetic open‐loop high‐frequency components on feedback torque increases the realism of tele‐drilling in the screw‐by‐wire mechanism.
Findings
Experimental results indicated that this assistive robot for spinal fusion performs drilling tasks within the static regulation errors less than 0.1 μm for position control and less than 0.05° for orientation control. The users of the tele‐drilling reported subjectively that they experienced torque feedback similar to that of direct screw insertion.
Research limitations/implications
Although the robotic surgery system itself has been developed, integration with surgery planning and tracking systems is ongoing. Thus, the screw insertion accuracy of a whole surgery system with the assistive robot is to be investigated in the near future.
Originality/value
The paper arguably pioneers the dexterous end‐effector appropriately designed for spinal fusion, the cooperative robot position‐control algorithm, the screw‐by‐wire mechanism for indirect screw insertion, and the torque‐rendering algorithm for more realistic torque feedback. In particular, the system has the potential of circumventing the screw‐loosening problem, a common defect in the conventional surgeon‐operated or robot‐assisted spinal fusion surgery.
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