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The paper seeks to ascertain some of the implications of the supply chain configuration for important elements of the chain's management at an automaker using the industrial condominium configuration.

In an attempt to identify the main motivating factors for the adoption of an industrial condominium configuration, a basic case study framework was built to guide and define the key content of the research. The framework considers simplification, cost reduction, process integration, and shared infrastructure as the four main interdependent factors that impel and drive an automaker's implementation of a condominium. It also considers product and process management, logistics management, performance assessment and relationship management as business processes significantly affected by implementation of the condominium. Using an intentional sampling approach, a case study was made of an automaker that uses the industrial condominium configuration, and of four of its representative suppliers.

The study confirmed that the supply chain's configuration is indeed a determining element in the way the automaker's relationship with its suppliers is conducted and substantiated the importance of the logistics management process within the context of the condominium.

The research reported involved only one case study.

The paper proposes and discusses four interdependent factors that motivate and drive an automaker's implementation of a contemporary industrial condominium in the auto industry.

The study was conducted in a supply chain with an automaker using an industrial condominium and four suppliers situated in different positions, and contributes mainly to the understanding of new forms of supply chain configuration.

Recently, automotive manufacturers have sought to outsource part of their traditional territory in an attempt to gain competitive advantages by decreasing production costs and increasing the speed of the development of new products. In order to do this, the modular consortium model has been introduced as a new and revolutionary approach to outsourcing assembly in automotive manufacturing. In November 1996, VW and seven module suppliers inaugurated a new truck and bus plant in Resende, a greenfield site in Brazil, using a pioneering pure modular consortium. As a radical case of outsourcing in the supply chain, the factory has aroused great interest and become a “laboratory” for the entire automotive industry. This article provides a brief description of the factory and discusses some managerial challenges and new business opportunities which have been introduced on both sides of the partnership with the establishment of the new plant.

The purpose of this paper is to systematically describe the key practical contributions of the theory of constraints (TOC) to outbound (distribution) logistics.

Based on theoretical research, this paper presents the main practical aspects of the approach suggested by TOC to outbound logistics and discusses the assumptions upon which it is based.

This paper corroborates the thesis defended by TOC, according to which the current ways of managing outbound logistics, based mainly on sales forecasts lead to difficulties in handling trade‐offs between logistics (stock and transportation) costs and stock‐out levels.

The reported research is of a theoretical nature.

TOC offers a proposal that is complementary in many aspects and very distinguishable in others about the way some key processes and elements of supply chain management (SCM) are managed, especially outbound logistics.

Considering the dearth of papers dealing with the conceptual articulation and organization of this subject, the paper contributes to systematize the knowledge currently available about the contributions of the TOC to outbound logistics, highlighting the practical implications of applying TOC to outbound logistics.

The purpose of this paper is to identify and analyse the difficulties encountered in the implementation of a voice picking system at a large multinational company of the tractor industrial segment, outlining a comparison related to the main critical factors concerning the system implementation at a Brazilian and a USA plant.

The methodology utilised was qualitative and exploratory conducted through case studies in the two plants of the multinational company. The main data were collected through interviews with key managers directly involved in the project of voice picking system implementation.

The results indicate that the picking processes in the two plants were similar, since both were designed for the production line and conducted using bar-code readers and paper lists. Nevertheless, the internal warehousing process in the USA was more mature and computerised, whereas the Brazilian process still had opportunity for improvement, such as, the visual storage process, where the operator was responsible for locating an empty position.

Since this research is an exploratory case study, its results cannot be generalised.

The paper provides relevant practical information and experiences to managers interested in implementing voice picking systems, as well as interested in improving the accuracy and productivity of logistics processes within warehouses.

The voice picking systems are more widespread in the USA than in Brazil, and therefore, companies around the world can use this studied case to better understand about the voice picking systems implementation process in both emerging and mature marketplaces.

This study analyzes the competencies toward sustainability in hotel facilities in order to identify the level of implementation of sustainability practices, as well as individual competencies for sustainability in the hospitality companies.

Interviews and a survey with hotel employees were conducted in two important touristic Brazilian cities, Florianopolis, and Rio de Janeiro, considering the TBL (triple bottom line) dimensions. The data were analyzed with content analysis and descriptive statistics and conjoint analysis.

Preventive competencies in the companies' management were identified. The research also revealed that competencies for sustainability are fairly present in the hospitality context yet, which demonstrates the urgency to discuss the theme in both academic and business practices.

The access to the hotel managers impaired the performing of a robust statistical analysis; the study provided new insights about the topics investigated and generated information for the theoretical framework about competencies for sustainability.

The research results emphasized the need for the hotel industry to invest in sustainable strategies to meet its target audience, but also to raise the level of its staff and reduce costs in the long term, offering benefits to society, the environment, and, to their businesses.

The research socially contributes through promoting discussion on sustainability, which is one of the most challenging and relevant issues for society. Besides, it can assist the diffusion of the competencies for sustainability in the hotel industry, as an attempt to decrease their negative externalities on the environment and primary audiences.

It was identified a distance between practice and the triple bottom line concept, which is linked only to environmental practices. Besides, it was found limited knowledge about the concepts of competencies in the companies.

Supply chains are among the most important, complex and risky systems in the modern world. Thus, managing risk is no longer an option, but a fundamental process in organizations. Given the lack of pathways that guide companies toward supply chain risk management (SCRM), the purpose of this study is to provide a conceptual reference, in the form of a maturity model, to support them in the evolution and improvement of this process.

The proposal covered a broad literature review, a survey and a multiple case study. The research was conducted in the aerospace industry and included companies from the supply chain of a leading aircraft manufacturer.

The model elaborated with the research results has eight attributes and four levels, addressing critical issues for SCRM to achieve its scope and purposes. The attributes include the structuring and scope of the SCRM process, the importance it receives within the organization, the resources used and the qualification of employees, the role of leadership and the inter-organizational collaboration.

Managing risk along supply chains is particularly challenging, demands resources and knowledge and requires a continuous effort. The proposed model offers a reference for improvement, helping to identify areas that need to be strengthened and practices to be implemented. Thus, it can guide the focus and efforts in a more efficient and systematic way, in addition to support evaluations and comparisons.

Although maturity models are abundant in different fields and several are available for risk management, models specifically developed for SCRM are scarce. This study broadens the understanding of SCRM with novel insights about how to improve this process in an evolutionary way. While many researchers focused their efforts on the SCRM process steps, this study identified critical issues that transcend these steps. The research was carried out in a sector with a long tradition in risk management and included companies belonging to a same supply chain, that is, using an approach still little explored in studies on SCRM or risk management maturity models.

The purpose of this paper is to examine the relationship between strategy and flexibility in new product development, and the operational and financial performance in the supply chain context. The motives for conducting this research are to introduce the supply chain strategies and new product development flexibility (NPDF) as constructs that could have the potential to contribute to the success of supply chain performance. Based on the relational view of the firm, the authors propose that supply chain strategy is an antecedent of NPDF and can create value for the buying firm in terms of better financial and non-financial performance.

The structural equation modeling approach was used to evaluate the proposed model and analyze hypothesized relationships. The analysis, based on data collected from 175 small- and medium-sized (SME) Canadian manufacturing companies.

The analysis shows that there are direct positive effects from strategy on NPDF. The findings indicate also a direct positive association between NPDF and performance and showed that the total effect (direct and indirect) positively influenced performance.

The literature did not reveal any study which attempted to examine strategy, NPDF, and performance in the supply chain context of SMEs. The current study fills this important gap in the literature.

Nobody concerned with political economy can neglect the history of economic doctrines. Structural changes in the economy and society influence economic thinking and, conversely, innovative thought structures and attitudes have almost always forced economic institutions and modes of behaviour to adjust. We learn from the history of economic doctrines how a particular theory emerged and whether, and in which environment, it could take root. We can see how a school evolves out of a common methodological perception and similar techniques of analysis, and how it has to establish itself. The interaction between unresolved problems on the one hand, and the search for better solutions or explanations on the other, leads to a change in paradigma and to the formation of new lines of reasoning. As long as the real world is subject to progress and change scientific search for explanation must out of necessity continue.

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.

We cannot immediately recall who it was that wrote of the pessimist, one of whose main regrets was that there was “nothing to eat but food ”, but it seems more than possible that there are still a number of people who feel this way when they are sitting down to their meals, because they are so acutely obsessed with the fear that what they are about to eat, or are tempted to eat, will do things to their weight, or to their figure. Every week our less responsible dailies, and the many monthly and weekly journals that cater for the housewife, and for the wants and interests of the feminine world in general, feature articles on the art of slimming, giving advice on how so to regulate diet and habits as to enable Venus‐like figures and lissome bodies to be acquired and preserved for all‐agers. And indeed, there is nothing wrong with the idea, but we fear that, like so many things that may be essentially good and proper, it has become more or less of a racket, gathering momentum from time to time from the stupid demands of the arbiters of feminine fashion, and fed by the nutritional ignorance of the would‐be slim, as well as sometimes, we fear, by the glib but imperfect knowledge of those who would guide and advise.