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Book part
Publication date: 23 July 2019

Vinod Shastri

Every year, tonnes of flower waste from religious places is dumped into India’s holiest river Ganges, polluting it to virtual death. Pesticides and insecticides used in growing…

Abstract

Every year, tonnes of flower waste from religious places is dumped into India’s holiest river Ganges, polluting it to virtual death. Pesticides and insecticides used in growing these flowers mix with the water, affecting millions of lives through water-borne diseases. Most others may just lament these facts, Ankit Agarwal and Karan Rastogi, childhood friends from Kanpur, used them as inspiration to innovate. Two years of relentless experimentation led to a brilliant idea; that of recycling the flower waste. They founded HelpUsGreen® in 2014 to convert the waste into bio-fertilisers and lifestyle products. Widely appreciated and heavily awarded now, success has not come easy for this well-educated duo. HelpUsGreen® processes hundreds of kilos of flower waste, creating employment for hundreds of underprivileged women. An entirely bootstrapped project with no carbon foot print, the venture hopes to revive the Ganges through Flowercycling®. Currently at 8.5 tonnes per day and at the tipping point of scaling, HelpUsGreen® hopes to process over 50 tonnes of flower waste per day by 2020. Apart from the environmental impact, HelpUsGreen® has achieved huge societal impact, employing over a thousand women who did not previously have formal employment. What also makes the social entrepreneurs stand apart is their entrepreneurial market savviness. They have positioned their products not at the sympathy market but at the high-end premium market. Their products sell under the name ‘Phool’. HelpUsGreen® has set its eyes firmly on spreading operations across 2,000 kilometres along the Ganges and creating over 25,000 jobs for women.

Article
Publication date: 7 November 2016

Segundo J. Castro-Gonzáles, Orquídea Arias Díaz and Anamari Irizarry Quintero

Using a proposed model, the purpose of this paper is to categorize small and medium enterprises’ (SMEs) owners/managers’ perceptions of customer service, and of the manifestations…

Abstract

Purpose

Using a proposed model, the purpose of this paper is to categorize small and medium enterprises’ (SMEs) owners/managers’ perceptions of customer service, and of the manifestations and observable behaviors in relation to the most frequent repercussions of domestic violence in the workplace.

Design/methodology/approach

A sample of 73 SME owners/managers was selected; a survey with 44 variables was used for data collection; and factorial and canonical analysis techniques were used to analyze the data.

Findings

The following were found: among the most frequent manifestations of domestic violence in SME customer services, there are four categories that explain 69.46 percent of the model of variance: threats and continuous absences, frequent mistakes and bad relationships, physical damage/lack of concentration and negative manifestation with low self-esteem; among observable behavior at the workplace, there are four categories that explain 65.35 percent of the model of variance: lack of concentration/tearfulness, fear/insecurity, limited attention to customers and continuous threats; finally there is a 96.70 percent probability of the SMEs’ productivity being affected (loss of customers and low production), through three manifestations of domestic violence detected in the employees: tiredness, sleepiness and tearfulness.

Research limitations/implications

This research is circumscribed to only one geographical zone in Puerto Rico.

Practical implications

Even only three manifestations of domestic violence in workers will significantly decrease productivity. When SME managers detect these, they can take action to mitigate the problem for the benefit of the workers.

Originality/value

This study is a pioneer proposal in its analytical quantitative approach on domestic violence in Puerto Rico and its repercussions on the productivity of the service sector, using canonical analysis.

Propósito

Este estudio categoriza mediante un modelo propuesto, la percepción que tienen los gerentes/dueños de pequeñas y medianas empresas (pymes) de servicio al cliente, sobre las manifestaciones y los comportamientos observables con respecto a las repercusiones más frecuentes que tiene la violencia doméstica en el lugar de trabajo.

Diseño/Metodología

Se seleccionó una muestra de 73 dueños/gerentes de pymes; como herramienta de recolección de datos se utilizó una encuesta con 44 variables y para encontrar los resultados se usaron técnicas de análisis factorial y análisis canónico.

Hallazgos

Se encontró lo siguiente: 1) entre las manifestaciones más frecuentes de violencia doméstica en las pymes de servicio al cliente, existen cuatro categorías que explican un 69.46% de varianza del modelo: amenazas y ausencias continuas, errores frecuentes y mala relación, daños físicos/desconcentración y manifestaciones negativas con baja autoestima; 2) entre los comportamientos observables en el lugar de trabajo, existen cuatro categorías que explican el 65.35% de varianza del modelo: falta de concentración/lloroso, temor/inseguridad, poca atención a clientes y amenazas continuas; finalmente 3) las pymes son afectadas en su productividad (pérdida de clientes y baja producción) con una probabilidad del 96.70% cuando se detectan en los trabajadores, tres manifestaciones de violencia domestica: cansado/a, dormido/a y lloroso/a.

Implicancias prácticas

Los dueños o gerentes de pymes al detectar en sus trabajadores solo tres manifestaciones de violencia doméstica es probable que tengan un efecto significativo en la disminución de su productividad y ayudará para que los gerentes tomen acciones a fin de mitigar este problema en beneficio de sus trabajadores.

Limitaciones

esta investigación está solo circunscrita a una zona geográfica de Puerto Rico.

Originalidad

Propuesta analítica cuantitativa pionera sobre la violencia doméstica en PR y sus repercusiones en la productividad en el sector servicios, usando análisis canónico.

Details

Academia Revista Latinoamericana de Administración, vol. 29 no. 4
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 1012-8255

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 1 January 1987

Nicholas W. Balabkins

In 1988, German‐speaking economists plan to celebrate the 150th anniversary of Gustav von Schmoller. Yet, in contemporary America, Schmoller is hardly known. His work is almost…

Abstract

In 1988, German‐speaking economists plan to celebrate the 150th anniversary of Gustav von Schmoller. Yet, in contemporary America, Schmoller is hardly known. His work is almost completely locked up in the German language, save for his The Mercantile System and its Historical Significance, published in 1888 and his essay on “The Idea of Justice in Political Economy”. Furthermore, because he was not an econometrician or a mathematical economist, nobody has much use for Schmoller today anyway.

Details

International Journal of Social Economics, vol. 14 no. 1
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0306-8293

Article
Publication date: 9 May 2019

Luis Vargas, Claudia Mac-Lean and Jean Huge

In the past few decades, sustainability in higher education has become ever more prevalent, although the diversity in pace of adoption and the wide range of interpretations and…

Abstract

Purpose

In the past few decades, sustainability in higher education has become ever more prevalent, although the diversity in pace of adoption and the wide range of interpretations and practices is huge. The purpose of this study is to present recent research on organizational change processes in universities.

Design/methodology/approach

The methodological approach applied corresponds to the social issue maturation framework, to identify, describe and assess patterns of change across higher education institutions. The maturation of sustainability in universities can be divided into four stages: emergence, popularization, formalization and maturity.

Findings

The findings indicate that sustainability processes often begin as ad hoc processes which grow and mature over time as a range of different actors join in. However, sustainability in universities is increasingly connected with sustainability in the private sector and with other public actors. Moreover, there is a growing acknowledgement of the interactions between society, industry and academia.

Originality/value

The value of the paper is to provide a critical assessment of the potential of living lab projects initiated in Belgium (Brussels) and Chile (Santiago de Chile) to anchor sustainability firmly both in the functioning of the university and in the interactions with the neighborhood. The authors reflect on the requirements and the implementation of these initiatives as a strong indication of mature sustainability integration in, and by way of, universities.

Details

International Journal of Sustainability in Higher Education, vol. 20 no. 3
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 1467-6370

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 21 December 2021

Adel Achi

The purpose of this paper is to evaluate the efficiency of Algerian banks and examine the effects of explanatory factors on their performance.

Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to evaluate the efficiency of Algerian banks and examine the effects of explanatory factors on their performance.

Design/methodology/approach

In this paper, a methodology of two-stage network data envelopment analysis (DEA) is used to explore the efficiency of a sample of 13 Algerian banks during the 2013–2017 period. In the first stage, the network DEA is used to assess the overall and stages efficiencies. In the second stage, the partial least squares (PLS) regression is conducted to determine the potential effects of explanatory factors on stages efficiency.

Findings

The main empirical results indicate that Algerian banks need an efficiency improvement in both stages. The overall efficiency of the Algerian banking system improves over the study period. The deposit producing efficiency is positively affected by bank size and bank age. The revenue earning efficiency is negatively associated with bank size and bank age. The domestic banks are more efficient than foreign banks in the deposit producing stage and the foreign banks are more efficient than domestic banks in the revenue earning stage.

Practical implications

The results might be used as guidelines for both managers and policymakers in order to improve banks and banking system performance.

Originality/value

To the best of our knowledge, this study is the first that uses the DEA in investigating the efficiency of Algerian banks by dividing the overall efficiency into deposit producing and revenue earning efficiencies. Unlike most studies that have usually used OLS regression, Tobit regression and bootstrapped truncated regression, this study is the first in the bank efficiency literature that uses PLS regression to investigate the potential effect of explanatory variables on deposit producing and revenue earning efficiencies.

Details

International Journal of Productivity and Performance Management, vol. 72 no. 5
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 1741-0401

Keywords

Book part
Publication date: 15 September 2017

Till Düppe

Economic ideas are the product of contemplation, but also of our economic lives. In the history of ideas, Gérard Debreu’s shining book of 1959, Theory of Value, represents the…

Abstract

Economic ideas are the product of contemplation, but also of our economic lives. In the history of ideas, Gérard Debreu’s shining book of 1959, Theory of Value, represents the pinnacle of purity in contemplating economic life. Rather than contextualizing this oeuvre through his intellectual life, as is usually done, this essay describes his axiomatic analysis by contextualizing it through his economic life. What do we learn about Debreu’s axioms on consumption when thinking of his own consumption? What do we learn about his theory of value when thinking of his own values? Historiographically, this approach permits the use of a widely neglected source in the history of economics: anecdotes. Epistemologically, blending axioms and anecdotes offers a description of how axioms regulate an economic discourse. Finally, this essay offers a language for the material dimensions of economic life that are so underexposed in Debreu’s own work.

Details

Including a Symposium on the Historical Epistemology of Economics
Type: Book
ISBN: 978-1-78714-537-5

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 29 November 2018

Maysoon Mohammed Yaseen, Rateb J. Sweis, Ayman Bahjat Abdallah, Bader Yousef Obeidat and Nadia J. Sweis

The purpose of this paper is to establish practical guidelines for benchmarking eight total quality management (TQM) practices vital to pharmaceutical companies’ performance. The…

Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to establish practical guidelines for benchmarking eight total quality management (TQM) practices vital to pharmaceutical companies’ performance. The paper also proposes the use of an analytic total quality index (TQI) as a benchmarking tool and illustrates the importance and effectiveness of this benchmarking methodology by applying it in two comparative studies of three Jordanian pharmaceutical companies.

Design/methodology/approach

In order to achieve the above-mentioned purpose, the data were gathered through a questionnaire that was used to evaluate the gap between the ideal and current status of the quality management system and distributed to the quality units from three companies: pharmaceutical manufacturing company, a pharmaceutical manufacturing company working in the same field and a pharmaceutical service providing research services to a pharmaceutical manufacturing companies. And the mean differences between the current and ideal states for the eight critical TQM practices were compared for these two comparative studies using the t-test.

Findings

Each of the two comparisons reveals statistically significant differences regarding the perceptions of actual and ideal scores for manufacturing and service companies on five out of eight critical factors and, on two out of eight critical factors for manufacturing and manufacturing companies.

Practical implications

The pharmaceutical companies, regardless of whether they are manufacturing or service company, can adopt benchmarking techniques which were applied in this case study to improve their performance and their product/service quality.

Originality/value

The consequences of this research can support organization managers and policy makers in effectively benchmarking the identified TQM practices in their organizations using the proposed TQI benchmarking tool.

Details

Benchmarking: An International Journal, vol. 25 no. 9
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 1463-5771

Keywords

Book part
Publication date: 19 July 2018

Justyna Berniak-Woźny

The purpose of this chapter is to evaluate the role of business schools in corporate social responsibility (CSR) and responsible management education from the business school…

Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this chapter is to evaluate the role of business schools in corporate social responsibility (CSR) and responsible management education from the business school students’ perspective, and to develop a framework for effective CSR education that meets the Polish students’ expectations.

Design/methodology/approach

The chapter starts with a review of CSR concept evolution and importance, with a strong focus on Poland. Next, the review of the responsible management education state in Europe and Poland is presented. Then, an evaluation of CSR and responsible management education in Polish business schools from the students’ perspective is conducted. The evaluation is based on a survey amongst business students of a non-public Polish business school. The practical dimension of the chapter takes the form of a framework of effective CSR education in Polish business schools, presented at the end.

Findings

To sum up, the demand for CSR competencies and responsible management is on the rise, both amongst students and employers. The existing international initiatives and accreditation standards give a general idea about the shape of responsible management education, but the exact model must be developed on the regional/country level, as it must include various factors such as the economy, history, culture, academia-business relations or even the dominating teaching model.

Originality/value

The chapter provides a conceptual framework for CSR and responsible management education for those business schools operating in the Polish business context.

Details

The Critical State of Corporate Social Responsibility in Europe
Type: Book
ISBN: 978-1-78756-149-6

Keywords

Abstract

Details

Politics and the Life Sciences: The State of the Discipline
Type: Book
ISBN: 978-1-78441-108-4

41 – 50 of 185