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Article
Publication date: 30 May 2008

L.C.R. Carpinetti and O.T. Oiko

The paper aims to focus on the development and application of a benchmarking information system designed for use within a cluster.

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Abstract

Purpose

The paper aims to focus on the development and application of a benchmarking information system designed for use within a cluster.

Design/methodology/approach

Case study as the field research methodology for theory testing and refinement.

Findings

Despite the difficulties and a lack of maturity for benchmarking and performance management to be overcome, the governing institutions and most of the companies have realized that implementation of the system in itself represents a step towards managing improvement of the clusters.

Research limitations/implications

Research is still at an early stage and applications of the information system need to be carried on further so as to review and validate it.

Practical implications

Absence of a culture of decision making based on analysis of information and lack of resources may create some difficulty in using metrics for a cluster of SMEs.

Originality/value

The paper proposes to apply the concepts and techniques of business performance management and improvement to manage performance of clusters of companies, offering a new approach on how to improve the collective efficiency of a cluster.

Details

Benchmarking: An International Journal, vol. 15 no. 3
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 1463-5771

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 29 May 2009

Bishnu Sharma and Pam Dyer

The purpose of this paper is to provide insight into the differences in residents' attitude to tourism by considering those who receive social and economic benefits from tourism…

7556

Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to provide insight into the differences in residents' attitude to tourism by considering those who receive social and economic benefits from tourism and those who perceive that they do not; and those who want to move away from the Sunshine Coast and those who do not.

Design/methodology/approach

In conducting this investigation, information is collected from Sunshine Coast residents by using a survey approach. Altogether, 732 responses are received with a response rate of 14.64 per cent. Social, economic and cultural benefits are considered.

Findings

The paper finds notable differences in residents' attitude according to the type of benefit they receive from tourism. Similar observations are made regarding residents who are willing to move away from the Sunshine Coast and those who are not.

Research limitations/implications

Not many studies are available comparing Sunshine Coast with other major cities such as Sydney or Melbourne in Australia. Therefore, in future research, it would be useful to establish some benchmarks that incorporate a seasonality aspect and to conduct comparative studies to identify residents' preferences for the development of tourist attractions and related developmental issues. Along with residents, it will be of some value to explore the visitors' perceptions of both positive and negative aspects of the Sunshine Coast Region as a tourist destination.

Originality/value

This paper identifies several notable differences which would assist the tourism planners in developing a policy for sustaining tourism development and aligning future growth with residents' desires. The findings of this paper are also useful in developing future benchmarking research projects in the hospitality and tourism industry.

Details

Benchmarking: An International Journal, vol. 16 no. 3
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 1463-5771

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 8 May 2019

Luciana Oranges Cezarino, Lara Bartocci Liboni, Nelson Oliveira Stefanelli, Bruno Garcia Oliveira and Lucas Conde Stocco

In this paper, the authors aim to explore the relationship between the concepts of Industry 4.0 and circular economy (CE) as a contribution to the management decision on emerging…

2832

Abstract

Purpose

In this paper, the authors aim to explore the relationship between the concepts of Industry 4.0 and circular economy (CE) as a contribution to the management decision on emerging countries. By analyzing the trends of scientific production to ascertain the interface of both constructs, the purpose of this paper is to identify limitations for Industry 4.0 and CE implementation in Brazil, as well to present an original framework and strategic pathways to overcome limitations for emerging countries.

Design/methodology/approach

Supported in the Brazilian case, the authors draw a framework using the structuralism approach to indicate pathways for the strategic positioning of emerging economies that consider their limitation and potential for competitive advantage. By understanding country-related limitations such as social and economic contingencies, the authors conceive a structure of implications for Brazil’s capacity to develop CE in the digital era.

Findings

Results show that Brazil has a reasonable, institutional and stable environment, as well as strong regulatory policies for solid waste that can stimulate CE in the country. However, it requires more communication between actors, especially public and private institutions, performing long-range relationships. Also, the country requires consolidation of industrial policies and investments in the remanufacturing process in the supply chain. Likewise, despite Brazil’s ability to take advantage of CE’s benefits, the country presents a huge lack of qualification to fulfill the competences that the digitization process demands. Economically, Brazil has been fighting against an economic crisis since 2014 that has limited general investments, especially in the industrial sector. Industry presents low performance and decreasing GDP participation, which leads to constant overseas production transfer as a consequence of the workforce’s high costs.

Research limitations/implications

The authors can affirm that Brazil is far behind developed countries in searching for the capacity to provide CE through technological industrial change. The main problems are related to the lack of articulation of public and private spheres to promote new digital business models. Therefore, the structured framework enables managers and public agents to provide solutions and to properly address supply chain bottlenecks in emerging economies.

Originality/value

Exploring the relationship between the concepts of Industry 4.0 and CE through the specific lens of the structuralist method, this work can contribute to the management decision on emerging countries, looking into four important perspectives: political, economic, social and technological.

Details

Management Decision, vol. 59 no. 8
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0025-1747

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 1 November 1991

Thomas O. Nitsch

Misbegotten, misnamed, antisocial homo oeconomicus is nowcontrasted with the more human personae of homo oeconomicushonorabilis, the “open”/ “Semi‐economic Man”of Pantaleoni and…

Abstract

Misbegotten, misnamed, antisocial homo oeconomicus is now contrasted with the more human personae of homo oeconomicus honorabilis, the “open”/ “Semi‐economic Man” of Pantaleoni and Marshall, the still arcane homo oeconomicus humanus of Nitsch and Malina, and (most recently) the positivistic (neo‐) homo socio‐economicus of Etzioni et al., which ‐‐in turn – harks back to Smith′s Theory of 1759‐90. Showing the essential identity of modern economics and Aristotle′s oikonomikē, and recognising the ozone layer as pre‐eminent among once‐free but now very scarce resources (chrēmata ) that have to be utilised efficiently and administered prudently, the author joins forces with Herman Daly et al. in proposing an Aristotelian/Biblical homo oeconomus as a “Good Steward” in the spirit of Frigerio′s L′Economo Prudente (1629) and qualitative improvement over the being who has masqueraded as homo oeconomicus. Uniting this prudent conservator and caretaker of our natural endowment with “Homo Faber, the Subject‐creator of Social Economy” of an earlier work yields the antithesis of the veritable homo oeconomicus impudens of Classical‐Neoclassical infamy.

Details

International Journal of Social Economics, vol. 18 no. 11/12
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0306-8293

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 1 June 1990

Thomas O. Nitsch

In previous efforts the author has examined the various“men” of economics or human‐nature assumptions of“economic thinkers” as a way of treating the history andphilosophy of the…

Abstract

In previous efforts the author has examined the various “men” of economics or human‐nature assumptions of “economic thinkers” as a way of treating the history and philosophy of the discipline. Here, under the thematic penumbra of “Man as the Centre of the Social Economy”, and hoping to incorporate the fruits of further inquiry into the matter, those “creatures” and their fashioners are critically reconsidered with a view towards arriving at a more adequate conception of a truly human “economiser” and – accordingly – science of human economy. In Part II, having presented homo oeconomicus in both his/her “impudent” and “honourable” versions, we shall attempt to transcend homo socioeconomicus and even our own (former) homo oeconomicus humanus as well.

Details

International Journal of Social Economics, vol. 17 no. 6
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0306-8293

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 1 June 1982

Thomas O. Nitsch

In my original efforts, I designated and depicted no less than nine “men” of economics. Essentially, I contended, as man has always tended to create God in his own image and…

477

Abstract

In my original efforts, I designated and depicted no less than nine “men” of economics. Essentially, I contended, as man has always tended to create God in his own image and likeness, so economists have fashioned man largely in their discipline's perceived nature and scope. These generic homines economici, that is, have thus been and perhaps cannot really be other than economists' “men”, and the study thereof provides accordingly a meaningful alternative approach to the history, nature and scope of economics itself.

Details

International Journal of Social Economics, vol. 9 no. 6/7
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0306-8293

Article
Publication date: 13 June 2016

Diana M. Hechavarría

Drawing on the multiplicity of context approach, this study investigates whether female entrepreneurs are more likely than male entrepreneurs to create environmentally oriented…

Abstract

Purpose

Drawing on the multiplicity of context approach, this study investigates whether female entrepreneurs are more likely than male entrepreneurs to create environmentally oriented organizations. This study aims to examine how context, measured by gender socialization stereotypes and post-materialism, differentially affects the kinds of organizations entrepreneurs choose to create.

Design/methodology/approach

To test the hypotheses, this study utilizes Global Entrepreneurship Monitor data from 2009 (n = 17,364) for nascent entrepreneurs, baby businesses owners and established business owners in 47 counties. This study also utilizes the World Values Surveys to measure gender ideologies and post-materialist cultural values at the country level. To test the hypotheses, a logistic multi-level model is estimated to identify the drivers of environmental venturing. Data are nested by countries, and this allows random intercepts by countries with a variance components covariance structure.

Findings

Findings indicate that female entrepreneurs are more likely to engage in ecological venturing. Societies with high levels of post-materialist national values are significantly more likely to affect female entrepreneurs to engage in environmental ventures when compared to male entrepreneurs. Moreover, traditional gender socialization stereotypes decrease the probability of engaging in environmental entrepreneurship. Likewise, female entrepreneurs in societies with strong stereotypes regarding gender socialization will more likely engage in environmental entrepreneurship than male entrepreneurs.

Research limitations/implications

The present study uses a gender analysis approach to investigate empirical differences in environmental entrepreneurial activity based on biological sex. However, this research assumes that gender is the driver behind variations in ecopreneurship emphasis between the engagement of males and females in venturing activity. The findings suggest that female entrepreneurs pursuing ecological ventures are more strongly influenced by contextual factors, when compared to male entrepreneurs. Future research can build upon these findings by applying a more nuanced view of gender via constructivist approaches.

Originality/value

This study is one of the few to investigate ecologically oriented ventures with large-scale empirical data by utilizing a 47-country data set. As a result, it begins to open the black box of environmental entrepreneurship by investigating the role of gender, seeking to understand if men and women entrepreneurs equally engage in environmental venturing. And it responds to calls that request more research at the intersection of gender and context in terms of environmental entrepreneurship.

Details

International Journal of Gender and Entrepreneurship, vol. 8 no. 2
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 1756-6266

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 1 December 2005

Milan Zafirovski

This article’s indented contribution is to provide novel theoretical insights and empirical observations on “who gets what” in the way of incomes, including wages. The article…

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Abstract

This article’s indented contribution is to provide novel theoretical insights and empirical observations on “who gets what” in the way of incomes, including wages. The article challenges the conventional wisdom about stratification, especially power and status, as an outcome or function of economic distribution. It posits that income distribution is conditional on pre‐existing social stratification expressed in antecedent differences in class, power, status and related factors.

Details

International Journal of Sociology and Social Policy, vol. 25 no. 12
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0144-333X

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 1 March 1987

Thomas O. Nitsch

In her popular Development of Economic Analysis, Ingrid Rima writes early on of the “compatibility” of “emphasis on the state as an instrument to achieve socially optimal…

Abstract

In her popular Development of Economic Analysis, Ingrid Rima writes early on of the “compatibility” of “emphasis on the state as an instrument to achieve socially optimal results…with what has come to be called social economics”. Subsequently (1978, p. 322; 1986, p. 396), she treats of J.M. Clark's “crucial” contribution to the development (1920s/1930s) of a new type of economics he describes as “social”. Similarly, George F. Rohrlich, in his 1970 introductory essay, “The Challenge of Social Economics”, wrote of “The emerging field of social economics”, and noted that “in the United States the term was used in the 1930s and occasionally thereafter”. More recently (1982), Samuel Cameron singles out Mark A. Lutz's 1980 USE contribution, e.g., for neglecting Charles Devas(op. cit., 1876–1907) “as a contributor to the founding of social economics”, while comparing Devas to “the modern social economist”.

Details

International Journal of Social Economics, vol. 14 no. 3/4/5
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0306-8293

Article
Publication date: 1 February 2004

Mónica Vasconi

Nuestra Señora de Lujan is situated in Lujan, Province of Buenos Aires. It is visited by about 5.000.000 pilgrims or religious campers (Catholics / Marianists) each year. These…

Abstract

Nuestra Señora de Lujan is situated in Lujan, Province of Buenos Aires. It is visited by about 5.000.000 pilgrims or religious campers (Catholics / Marianists) each year. These particular visitors cause geographical impacts or alterations on different aspects during an important period of the year (September — December). They affect the natural phenomena (by the Lujan River), the historical and cultural heritage, the urban and transportation development, and the religious, economic and social processes. To sum up, we could say that the “senses” of the City are affected.

Details

Tourism Review, vol. 59 no. 2
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 1660-5373

Keywords

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