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Book part
Publication date: 23 March 2017

Barbara de Lima Voss, David Bernard Carter and Bruno Meirelles Salotti

We present a critical literature review debating Brazilian research on social and environmental accounting (SEA). The aim of this study is to understand the role of politics in…

Abstract

We present a critical literature review debating Brazilian research on social and environmental accounting (SEA). The aim of this study is to understand the role of politics in the construction of hegemonies in SEA research in Brazil. In particular, we examine the role of hegemony in relation to the co-option of SEA literature and sustainability in the Brazilian context by the logic of development for economic growth in emerging economies. The methodological approach adopts a post-structural perspective that reflects Laclau and Mouffe’s discourse theory. The study employs a hermeneutical, rhetorical approach to understand and classify 352 Brazilian research articles on SEA. We employ Brown and Fraser’s (2006) categorizations of SEA literature to help in our analysis: the business case, the stakeholder–accountability approach, and the critical case. We argue that the business case is prominent in Brazilian studies. Second-stage analysis suggests that the major themes under discussion include measurement, consulting, and descriptive approach. We argue that these themes illustrate the degree of influence of the hegemonic politics relevant to emerging economics, as these themes predominantly concern economic growth and a capitalist context. This paper discusses trends and practices in the Brazilian literature on SEA and argues that the focus means that SEA avoids critical debates of the role of capitalist logics in an emerging economy concerning sustainability. We urge the Brazilian academy to understand the implications of its reifying agenda and engage, counter-hegemonically, in a social and political agenda beyond the hegemonic support of a particular set of capitalist interests.

Details

Advances in Environmental Accounting & Management: Social and Environmental Accounting in Brazil
Type: Book
ISBN: 978-1-78635-376-4

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 23 June 2023

Sílvio Aparecido Verdério Júnior, Pedro J. Coelho, Vicente Luiz Scalon and Santiago del Rio Oliveira

The purpose of this study is to numerically and experimentally investigate the natural convection heat transfer in flat plates and plates with square, trapezoidal and triangular…

Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this study is to numerically and experimentally investigate the natural convection heat transfer in flat plates and plates with square, trapezoidal and triangular corrugations.

Design/methodology/approach

This work is an extension of the previous studies by Verderio et al. (2021a, 2021b, 2021c, 2021d, 2022a). An experimental apparatus was built to measure the plates’ temperatures during the natural convection cooling process. Several physical parameters were evaluated through the experimental methodology. Free and open-source computational tools were used to simulate the experimental conditions and to quantitatively and qualitatively evaluate the thermal plume characteristics over the plates.

Findings

The numerical results were experimentally validated with reasonable accuracy in the range of studied RaLP for the different plates. Empirical correlations of Nu¯LPexp=f(RaLP), h¯conv=f(RaLP) and Nu¯LPexp(A/AP)=f(RaLP), with good accuracy and statistical representativeness, were obtained for the studied geometries. The convective thermal efficiency of corrugated plates (Δη), as a function of RaLP, was also experimentally studied quantitatively. In agreement with the findings of Oosthuizen and Garrett (2001), the experimental and numerical results proved that the increase in the heat exchange area of the corrugations has a greater influence on the convective exchange and the thermal efficiency than the disturbances caused in the flow (which reduce h¯conv). The plate with trapezoidal corrugations presented the highest convective thermal efficiency, followed by the plates with square and triangular corrugations. It was also proved that the thermal efficiency of corrugated plates increases with RaLP.

Practical implications

The results demonstrate that corrugated surfaces have greater thermal efficiency than flat plates in heating and/or cooling systems by natural convection. This way, corrugated plates can reduce the dependence on auxiliary forced convection systems, with application in technological areas and Industry 4.0.

Originality/value

The empirical correlations obtained for the corrected Nusselt number and thermal efficiency for the corrugated plate geometries studied are original and unpublished, as well as the experimental validation of the developed three-dimensional numerical code.

Details

International Journal of Numerical Methods for Heat & Fluid Flow, vol. 33 no. 9
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0961-5539

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 5 March 2018

Gabriela Fonseca Amorim, Pedro Paulo Balestrassi, Rapinder Sawhney, Mariângela de Oliveira-Abans and Diogo Leonardo Ferreira da Silva

This paper aims to propose a learning evaluation model for Green Belts and Black Belts at the training level. A question bank has been developed on the basis of Bloom’s learning…

1940

Abstract

Purpose

This paper aims to propose a learning evaluation model for Green Belts and Black Belts at the training level. A question bank has been developed on the basis of Bloom’s learning classification and applied to a group of employees who were being trained in Six Sigma (SS). Their results were then used to decide on the students’ approval and to guide the instructor’s plan of teaching for the next classes.

Design/methodology/approach

An action research has been conducted to develop a question bank of 310 questions based on the revised Bloom’s Taxonomy, to implement the evaluation model, and to apply it during the SS training.

Findings

The evaluation model has been designed so that the students do not proceed unless they have acquired the conceptual knowledge at each step of the DMAIC (Define, Measure, Analyze, Improve and Control) roadmap. At the end of the evaluation process, the students’ results have been analyzed. The number of mistakes in all stages of DMAIC was equal, implying that the training was uniform the entire roadmap. However, the opposite happened in each of the Bloom’s Taxonomy levels, showing that some skills need to be better stimulated by the instructor than others.

Research limitations/implications

The learning evaluation model proposed in this paper has been applied to a group of 70 employees who were being trained in SS at a Brazilian aircraft manufacturer. The data have been analyzed using Microsoft Excel® and Minitab® 17 Statistical Software.

Originality/value

Despite the abundance of courses offering the SS Green Belt and Black Belt certifications, there is no standard evaluation to ensure the training quality. Thus, this paper proposes an innovative learning evaluation model.

Details

International Journal of Lean Six Sigma, vol. 9 no. 1
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 2040-4166

Keywords

Abstract

Purpose

This conceptual paper examines and evaluates patronage and clientage as a system of interrelated dyadic exchanges between unequals through which goods and services circulate, flowing both up and down through stratified societies. The parties involved may be in different places socially and geographically.

Design/methodology/approach

Data are presented for Brazil from the period of the Old Republic beginning in the 1890s, through the end of the Military Dictatorship in mid-1980s, and finally to the present, ending with today’s conditional cash transfer programs. The data are examined against the background of a 15th century book, O Livro da Virtuosa Bemfeituria (The Book of the Virtuous Benefits), written by a Portuguese Prince influential in the expansion and discoveries as a guide for princes and great lords that is used in the paper very much in the way that Adam Smith’s writings are used for most economic behavior today.

Findings and implications

There are striking parallels over this long historical period in the behaviors referred to as patronage and clientage that may be conceptualized as an older (traditional) way of ordering the flow of goods and services (distributing them), alternative and parallel to market mechanisms that have, and continue to operate in Brazilian society.

Social implications

Patronage and clientage are often-misunderstood behaviors, sometimes referred to as corrupt, that alternatively may be explained and understood as part of a still viable and operational socio-cultural system that goes back to a period before the colonization of Brazil.

Details

Production, Consumption, Business and the Economy: Structural Ideals and Moral Realities
Type: Book
ISBN: 978-1-78441-055-1

Keywords

Open Access
Article
Publication date: 27 November 2023

Gustavo Quiroga Souki, Alessandro Silva de Oliveira, Marco Túlio Correa Barcelos, Maria Manuela Martins Guerreiro, Júlio da Costa Mendes and Luiz Rodrigo Cunha Moura

Hotels offer high-quality guest experiences to positively impact their emotions, satisfaction, perceived value, word-of-mouth (WOM) and electronic word-of-mouth (eWOM). This study…

Abstract

Purpose

Hotels offer high-quality guest experiences to positively impact their emotions, satisfaction, perceived value, word-of-mouth (WOM) and electronic word-of-mouth (eWOM). This study aims to investigate the impacts of the quality perceived by hotel guests on their positive emotions, negative emotions, perceived value and satisfaction; verify the impacts of the price on perceived value and satisfaction; examine the impacts of satisfaction on WOM and eWOM; and test the moderating effect of hotel guests’ behavioural engagement on social networking sites (HGBE-SNS) on the relationship between satisfaction and eWOM.

Design/methodology/approach

This survey included 371 guests who assessed their experiences at three Brazilian hotels. Structural equation modelling tested the hypothetical model supported by the stimulus-organism-response (S-O-R) theory (Mehrabian and Russell, 1974).

Findings

The quality perceived by hotel guests (stimulus) positively impacts perceived value, positive emotions and satisfaction and negatively affects negative emotions (organism). Price (stimulus) negatively impacts perceived value but does not affect satisfaction. Perceived value positively impacts satisfaction. Satisfaction positively impacts WOM and eWOM (responses). The HGBE-SNS moderates the relationship between satisfaction and eWOM.

Originality/value

To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this study is the first that simultaneously demonstrates the relationships between perceived quality, price, perceived value, positive and negative emotions, satisfaction, WOM, eWOM and HGBE-SNS. Hotels must offer their guests high-quality services to positively impact’ perceived value, positive emotions, satisfaction and WOM. Low prices boost the perceived value but do not directly increase guest satisfaction. Satisfied hotel guests share their experiences via WOM, but high HGBE-SNS is crucial to boost eWOM.

Propósito

Los hoteles ofrecen experiencias de alta calidad a sus huéspedes para influir positivamente en sus emociones, satisfacción, valor percibido, boca a boca (WOM) y boca a boca electrónico (eWOM). Este estudio tiene como objetivo a) investigar el impacto de la calidad percibida por los huéspedes del hotel en sus emociones positivas, emociones negativas, valor percibido y satisfacción; b) verificar el impacto del precio en el valor percibido y la satisfacción; c) examinar el impacto de la satisfacción en el WOM y eWOM; d) probar el efecto moderador del compromiso conductual de los huéspedes del hotel en las redes sociales (HGBE-SNS) en la relación entre satisfacción y eWOM.

Diseño

En esta encuesta participaron 371 huéspedes que evaluaron sus experiencias en tres hoteles brasileños. La modelización de ecuaciones estructurales puso a prueba el modelo hipotético apoyado en la teoría estímulo-organismo-respuesta (S-O-R) (Mehrabian y Russell, 1974).

Conclusiones

La calidad percibida por los clientes del hotel (estímulo) influye positivamente en el valor percibido, las emociones positivas y la satisfacción, y negativamente en las emociones negativas (organismo). El precio (estímulo) afecta negativamente al valor percibido, pero no a la satisfacción. El valor percibido afecta positivamente a la satisfacción. La satisfacción afecta positivamente al WOM y al eWOM (respuestas). El HGBE-SNS modera la relación entre satisfacción y eWOM.

Originalidad/valor

Este estudio es el primero que demuestra simultáneamente las relaciones entre calidad percibida, precio, valor percibido, emociones positivas y negativas, satisfacción, WOM, eWOM y HGBE-SNS. Los hoteles deben ofrecer a sus clientes servicios de alta calidad para influir positivamente en el valor percibido, las emociones positivas, la satisfacción y el WOM. Los precios bajos aumentan el valor percibido pero no incrementan directamente la satisfacción de los huéspedes. Los huéspedes satisfechos comparten sus experiencias a través del WOM, pero un alto nivel de HGBE-SNS es crucial para impulsar el eWOM.

目的

酒店提供高质量的宾客体验, 对宾客的情绪、满意度、感知价值、口碑(WOM)和电子口碑(eWOM)产生积极影响。本研究旨在 a) 调查酒店客人感知到的质量对其积极情绪、消极情绪、感知价值和满意度的影响; b) 验证价格对感知价值和满意度的影响; c) 检验满意度对 WOM 和电子口碑的影响; d) 检验酒店客人在社交网站上的行为参与(HGBE-SNS)对满意度和电子口碑之间关系的调节作用。

设计

本次调查包括 371 位客人, 他们对自己在巴西三家酒店的入住体验进行了评估。结构方程模型检验了由刺激-组织-反应(S-O-R)理论(Mehrabian 和 Russell, 1974 年)支持的假设模型。

研究结果

酒店客人感知到的质量(刺激因素)对感知价值、积极情绪和满意度有积极影响, 而对消极情绪(有机体)有消极影响。价格(刺激因素)对感知价值有负面影响, 但不影响满意度。感知价值对满意度有积极影响。满意度对 WOM 和 eWOM(反应)产生积极影响。HGBE-SNS 可调节满意度与网络口碑之间的关系。

原创性/价值

本研究首次同时展示了感知质量、价格、感知价值、积极和消极情绪、满意度、WOM、eWOM 和 HGBE-SNS 之间的关系。酒店必须为客人提供高质量的服务, 才能对 “感知价值"、"积极情绪"、"满意度 “和 “WOM “产生积极影响。低价会提升感知价值, 但不会直接提高客人满意度。满意的酒店客人会通过 WOM 分享他们的体验, 但高 HGBE-SNS 对促进 eWOM 至关重要。

Article
Publication date: 22 January 2021

Pedro Mota Veiga, Ronnie Figueiredo, João J. M. Ferreira and Filipe Ambrósio

The objective of this article is to empirically study the influence of the characteristics of small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in the processes of knowledge creation…

Abstract

Purpose

The objective of this article is to empirically study the influence of the characteristics of small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in the processes of knowledge creation, knowledge transfer and innovation in conjunction with the utilisation of private and public knowledge (KM) in accordance with the “spinner innovation model” (SIM).

Design/methodology/approach

The article deploys a sample of primary data generated by a questionnaire applied to the managers of hotel SMEs in Portugal. This involved the application of the covariance and multiple regression analytical methods.

Findings

The results demonstrate that some of the SME characteristics return significant impacts on private and public KM: the processes of knowledge creation, transfers of knowledge and innovation. The results also identify how private KM statistically predicts the processes of knowledge creation and transfer and innovation while public KM shapes and influences the creation of knowledge.

Research limitations/implications

As with any other such study, the key limitation stems from the sample made up of 82 hotel directors, which represents only a low rate of response even though the project deployed all of the procedures available to avoid such an outcome.

Practical implications

The SIM approach to the innovation process may assist strategic decision-makers to improve their tools and relations, avoid repeated working overlaps in existing processes as well as enabling more competitive approaches in terms of innovation.

Social implications

Furthermore, the responses ascertained reflect only the universe of study, conditioned by the context that produced them; hence, any generalisation of the results requires due caution.

Originality/value

This is the first study to empirically analyse the influence of the characteristics of SMEs over the processes of creating and transferring knowledge and innovation based upon applying the SIM and observing the extent of public and private knowledge in the hotel sector of Europe, more specifically, Portugal.

Details

Business Process Management Journal, vol. 27 no. 2
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 1463-7154

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 23 August 2023

Pedro Henrique de Oliveira, Fernando César Almada Santos, Marco Antônio Catussi Paschoalotto, Diego Valério de Godoy Delmônico and Ana Cláudia Fernandes Terence

Despite the school organizational culture broad literature, there is still a gap on culture and educational management, mainly in the public environment. To fill out this space…

Abstract

Purpose

Despite the school organizational culture broad literature, there is still a gap on culture and educational management, mainly in the public environment. To fill out this space, this article wants to point out the cultural factors that creates school management change in the Brazilian public school context.

Design/methodology/approach

The sample is a polar multi-case approach with two high performance and two low performance Brazilian schools. The authors conducted 12 interviews, three each school, with school principal, pedagogical coordinator and administrative officer. To analyze the data, the authors applied synthetic analysis to identify the cultural factors and your conduciveness to change in schools.

Findings

The results point out organizational culture as low understood in public municipal schools. These results also indicate the cultural dimensions power distance, uncertainty avoidance, individualism, masculinity, long-term orientation and indulgence as influencers of school management. Therefore, organizational culture is a factor to change and improve performance in public school management.

Research limitations/implications

Despite the low comprehensiveness by the school managers, the authors pointed out the importance of the cultural factors, such as power distance, uncertainty avoidance, individualism, masculinity, long-term orientation and indulgence, in the school management. Future research could assess quantitatively the cultural factors presented here.

Social implications

The paper provides cultural aspects in the school environment that should be considered in the school management improvement process and school principals’ actions.

Originality/value

The results fulfil the gap of organizational culture and school management in the public sector studies, by pointing out cultural factors of change in the school environment.

Details

International Journal of Educational Management, vol. 37 no. 6/7
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0951-354X

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 7 July 2021

Pedro Mendonça Silva, Victor Ferreira Moutinho and Vera Teixeira Vale

The purpose of this paper is to examine the relationship between product innovation and network and their export performance, particularly in trade fair context. Moreover, this…

Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to examine the relationship between product innovation and network and their export performance, particularly in trade fair context. Moreover, this paper conducts a comparative study among services/industrial small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) and considers the home-country context. Innovation and internationalization are stagnant themes in the recent literature on trade fairs, so they require to be renewed.

Design/methodology/approach

The empirical study includes a survey with 341 SMEs’ respondents separated into both industrial/producer and service/other. A conceptual model was developed and examined from three different perspectives: Model A encompasses all surveyed SMEs, Model B includes only industrial/producer SMEs and Model C comprises service/other SMEs. Data analysis happened in two steps. The first step included the structural equation model (SEM) and the assessment of hypotheses (from three different perspectives). Thus, it was possible to make a comparative analysis between the models. In the second step, the ordered logit model (OLM) is used to study relationships between control variables and the criteria variable export performance.

Findings

The SEM’s results confirm a conceptual model about a dynamic trajectory that SMEs, mainly industrial/producer, can take advantage of: innovate to networking and networking to export. The results allowed to verify when comparing services/industrial SMEs that the tangibility which characterizes the innovation of industrial SMEs' products contributed significantly to the performance of business networks and exports. The study also reveals, through the OLM, two catalysts for the success of the SME’s export performance: export experience and continued participation in trade fairs. The OLM results also reveal that the size of the companies is not relevant, so trade fairs are marketing tools accessible to any company, regardless of their size. Finally, the study considered home-country context of the surveyed SMEs, which allowed additional interpretations to be drawn.

Research limitations/implications

The study does not reflect the individual's personality in his network capacity and the export performance was measured based on the level of satisfaction and not on real sales results. However, the study provides relevant practical implications and can support future studies.

Practical implications

The study offers important implications for SME. The results reveal that presenting product innovations at trade fairs is a useful tool for SMEs to create networks, which facilitates their export performance, especially for industrial SMEs residing in small economies such as Portugal. This study is also relevant for business associations of industrial SMEs and/or public or semi-public SME promotion agencies.

Originality/value

This paper contributes to the literature on trade fairs, suggesting a new innovation, networking, export (INE) framework to reflect on the participation in international trade fairs. So, this research especially combines product INE performance in a particular context – international trade fairs for SME. It also considers the home-country context of the SMEs, which adds depth to the study. Finally, the comparative study also provides insightful implications for industrial SMEs on how to improve the export performance from trade fairs by leveraging innovation and networking.

Details

Journal of Business & Industrial Marketing, vol. 37 no. 3
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0885-8624

Keywords

Book part
Publication date: 9 June 2020

Sidney M. Greenfield

The second decade of the twenty-first century finds Brazil racked by a series of scandals that are extreme even by world standards. This chapter presents an explanation for one of…

Abstract

The second decade of the twenty-first century finds Brazil racked by a series of scandals that are extreme even by world standards. This chapter presents an explanation for one of the behaviors that have produced these scandals. Specifically, it is the offering of bribes to public officials by individuals or companies that stand to benefit from contracts to perform public services and, furthermore, the paying of kickbacks to the officials if the contract is awarded. I liken this behavior to the making of vows to the saints in the “popular” or “folk” form of Catholicism – and other popular religions that accept its basic premises – and the fulfillment of the promise if and when the otherworldly being provides what the petitioner requested. Part 1 of the chapter examines an election for mayor of the city of Fortaleza in 2012 in which the office was “bought” for what seemed to be an exorbitant amount of money. I hypothesize that this is to be explained by the anticipation of the city receiving government contracts to build a soccer stadium, a rail system, and other projects related to the 2014 World Cup. In Part 2, I examine Brazil’s religions beginning with popular Catholicism, to show that the normative way of gaining something desired from a supernatural – be it the restoration of health or the recovery of a lost item – is to offer it something it values and then fulfilling the promise if and when the petitioner receives what was requested. I contend that this important religious pattern continues to provide the template for the secular behavior that is being judged to be corrupt by standards other than those found in the religiously based worldview of many Brazilians.

Details

Anthropological Enquiries into Policy, Debt, Business, and Capitalism
Type: Book
ISBN: 978-1-83909-659-4

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 4 January 2021

Angelo Vumiliya, Ani Luo, Heping Liu and Andrés González

This paper aims to propose a study on the static behavior of prismatic tensegrity structures and an innovative form for determining the effect of mechanical properties and…

210

Abstract

Purpose

This paper aims to propose a study on the static behavior of prismatic tensegrity structures and an innovative form for determining the effect of mechanical properties and geometric parameters on the minimal mass design of these structures.

Design/methodology/approach

The minimal mass design in this paper considers a stable class-two tensegrity tower built through stable models. Using the proposed structures, comprehensive parametric studies are performed to examine the mass (in which the masses of joints are ignored), the mass ratio between a class-two tensegrity tower and a single element, both having the same diameter and length and afterward determine a reliable mass saving structure under various circumstances.

Findings

The simulations show that the mass ratio versus the number of units is a nonlinear regressive curve and predicts that the proposed model outperforms the standard model when the variation parameter considered is a vertical force. The difference in mass between these structures is visible when the gap gradually decreases while the number of units increases. On the geometrical aspect, the gap between the masses is not significant.

Originality/value

This paper helps to understand the influences of geometric parameters and the mechanical properties on the design of cylinder tensegrity structures dealing with a compressive force.

Details

Engineering Computations, vol. 38 no. 3
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0264-4401

Keywords

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