Search results

The purpose of this paper is to fill a gap in the management systems (MSs) field by addressing whether the implementation of an integrated management system (IMS) and the integration level of its elements bring benefits and/or challenges to companies and whether these are related to corporate financial performance (CFP).

Drawing on a Spanish sample of 76 organizations with at least an environmental and a quality MS, the authors perform a partial least squares (PLS) analysis.

The results showed evidence of a positive relationship of the integration benefits with respect to the integration level of MS documentation and the integration level of MS procedures that overweights the negative significant effect of difficulties of integration in relation to the integration level of MS documentation and the integration level of MS procedures. The authors also found new evidence on this topic, related to a positive significant relationship between the integration level of MS procedures and CFP that overweights the negative significant effect of integration level of MS documentation on CFP.

This study used cross-sectional data from interviewees who are Catalan managers. Furthermore, the mail survey was answered in 2010 at the beginning of the economic crisis from which results should be taken with caution given that the situation might have changed due to the continuation of the Spanish economic crisis.

The findings could allow companies’ managers to understand the extent to which the integration of quality management practices and environmental management practices influences some of the most relevant firms’ financial performance dimensions.

As far as the authors know, there are not empirical studies that address the relationship of IMS with a measure of performance such as CFP.

Over recent years, firms have been implementing novel human resource practices. The purpose of this paper is to analyse four specific training practices to determine if and up to what extent the adoption of such practices affects innovation and financial performance.

A Spanish sub-sample of the European Manufacturing Survey is used to contain the responses of 162 manufacturing firms.

The positive relation between T&D practices and innovative performance was partially accepted, as new-to-the-firm products and new services had a significant relation with these practices. Conversely, the hypothesis stating that there is a positive relation between a new-to-the-market product and the aforementioned T&D practices was rejected. Furthermore, the positive relation between these and financial performance was partially accepted.

This research presents the following limitation: the small number of responses restricts the general reliability of the findings. The inclusion of other countries’ data using the same questionnaire would further enrich the analysis.

First, general training and development is not enough; thus, the present study evidences the positive results of specific training practices such as training and development for creativity and innovation (TD4CI) on firm performances. Second, it also reveals a relation between training practices and innovation by differentiating among the three dimensions of innovation (new product to the firm, new product to the market and new services). Moreover, the present research highlights the benefits of implementing these types of practices, not only for innovation performance but also for financial performance. This paper also suggests that not all the training practices have the same impact on firm performance. Consequently, the company should be clear about their main aim to obtain the highest performance. The third contribution is based on the Spanish context wherein training is not considered as an important organisational function. Thus, this study provides positive results showing that TD4CI might enhance firm performance. Last, the degree of detail of the different training practices analysed, the recent nature of the data related to their implementation and the link between implementation and organisation performance are also part of the contribution of the present analyses.

This research offers recent and relevant data about implementing novel T&D practices and their relation with firm performance.

Using a theoretical and empirical focus on the power stakeholders exert, the purpose of this paper is to provide a better understanding of the factors that influence the subsidiaries of multinationals’ participation in corporate social responsibility (CSR) under the pressures (expectations and demands) their complex system of internal and external stakeholders’ places upon them.

Using an in-depth case study, the relationship a local subsidiary in the food and beverage industry has with its stakeholders as regards CSR is analyzed.

The findings illustrate three main aspects: how the local company is affected by and how it affects its stakeholders (an example of the multidirectionality of power and influence); the direct and indirect practices that are adopted to address challenges; and the importance of the role the local subsidiary plays as an implementer and diffuser of its parent organization’s responsible practices across the industry value chain.

To the best of authors’ knowledge, the focus is on analyzing the power stakeholders have in the context of multinational companies that has not been applied before, and the outcome of using this approach is that the authors have uncovered gaps in the literature for future research.

Extending existing research in a football context, this study explores how image and service quality influence spectator tribe satisfaction and loyalty and variations in behaviors depending on age, gender and emotional involvement.

Spectators aged 18 years and older who attended Barcelona Football Club home La Liga matches were sampled. Partial least squares structural equation modeling (PLS-SEM) was used to analyze the model, and hybrid multigroup PLS-SEM was used to explore observed heterogeneity.

Image and service quality both influence spectator satisfaction and loyalty. Satisfaction and loyalty are associated differently with three tribes: a nonpassionate tribe characterized by low emotional involvement and younger and older passionate tribes composed of emotionally involved spectators aged <30 and >30 years old, respectively.

This study’s results contribute to strengthening the suitability of PLS-SEM and multigroup in sport management, in particular for analyzing the behavior of specific groups of football spectators.

The findings of this study underline image and service quality as crucial to football spectator satisfaction and loyalty, with emotional involvement and age defining different consumer tribes as potential targets for marketing purposes.

The study aspires to enhance comprehension of the intricate interplay between supply chain management (SCM) and resilience in family businesses, thereby offering valuable insights to managers and policymakers endeavouring to foster resilience in uncertain environments.

Commencing from the premise that family businesses (FBs) prioritize the preservation of socio-emotional wealth (SEW) when formulating strategic decisions, this study endeavours to advance understanding of supply chain practices adopted by FBs and their direct impact on resilience during crisis situations or economically challenging periods. Through an exploratory case study of nine FBs, the present research reveals four pivotal strategies in SCM that contribute to their resilience: (i) reorganization of inventory management; (ii) cultivating close relationships with suppliers; (iii) emphasizing product quality and customer retention; and (iv) implementing cost reduction measures to bolster resilience. The aim of the study is to provide an in-depth understanding of the intricate interplay between SCM and resilience in FBs, thereby offering valuable insights to managers and policymakers endeavouring to foster resilience in uncertain environments.

Our approach offers a theoretical framework for SCM aligned with prior research on the interplay between characteristics of family businesses and resilience strategies. Furthermore, this paper illustrates how factors such as the emphasis on high-quality products and services by family businesses contribute to achieving non-economic objectives that owners adopt to reconcile family and business needs, creating intrinsic added value for the company. It reveals various challenges in SCM, including inventory organization changes, supplier closures and the significance of customer retention. Family businesses are implementing product and technology enhancements and leveraging digitization to enhance supply chain processes.

This paper contributes significantly to the field of FBs by highlighting the crucial role of SCM in enhancing business resilience during crises. It empirically examines how the SEW characteristics of FBs influence the reconfiguration of their supply chains to enhance resilience, presenting a theoretical model for this context. Our theoretical framework employs an SEW perspective to elucidate how FBs respond to the challenges posed by the COVID-19 pandemic by adapting their SCM processes to safeguard their social and emotional legitimacy, organizational visibility and reputation. These adaptations gain particular relevance during crises or turbulent conditions, potentially leading to alterations in how FBs formulate their supply chain strategies and manage supply chain-related processes.

The difficulties in the integration of management systems (MSs) and their relationship with innovation and customer satisfaction are explored by proposing a model that links these three concepts together. Integration, innovation and customer satisfaction are relevant issues for the competitiveness of companies, especially for the ones that have implemented several MS standards. The paper aims to discuss these issues.

Data for the study derives from a survey carried out in 76 Spanish organizations registered to at least both ISO 9001:2008 and ISO 14001:2004 standards for quality MSs and environmental MSs, respectively. An exploratory factor analysis and structural equation modeling (SEM) are utilized to assess and confirm the proposed scales validity and the relationships of the conceptual model.

Based on the empirical study, the second-order SEM shows that the difficulties of integration are directly and negatively related to both of MS documentation and procedures. This level is also directly related to the innovation and satisfaction. Nevertheless, no relationships were found between the difficulties of integration and the integration level of MS human resources. Moreover, no direct relationships were found between the difficulties of integration and both the constructs of innovation and satisfaction. Also, the results showed the integration level of MS procedures was not related to the construct of innovation.

This is one of the first studies to relate integration difficulties with innovation and customer satisfaction, with a conclusion that an organization should give more importance to the difficulties of integrated MSs that have been uncovered to have a relationship with innovation and customer satisfaction.

In recent years, organizations have been forced to compete in a new environment and to become more innovative, provide more quality and respond more effectively to consumers' needs and preferences. Within this context, the main objectives of this research are to propose scales and study the existing relationships among innovation, Management System Standards (MSSs) Integration and customer satisfaction in order to help organizations to manage these elements and increase their performance.

Data for this study derives from a survey carried out in 76 Spanish organizations registered to at least both ISO 9001:2008 and ISO 14001:2004. An Exploratory Factor Analysis (EFA) and Structural Equation Modelling (SEM) are utilised to assess and confirm the proposed scales validity and the relationships of the research model.

The conceptual model finds significant support based on the empirical study. Three of the four dimensions of innovation and the four dimensions of MSs Integration are confirmed. Besides, the findings show that the integration characteristics are positively related to innovation and satisfaction, whereas, innovation is only partially linked to satisfaction.

This study, which aims to shed light on the integration characteristics, is the first to propose a model that links the three concepts of integration, customer satisfaction and innovation together. These are relevant issues for the competitiveness of companies, willing to increase their performance, especially for companies which have implemented several ISO based systems, which have become a key part of the organisation's lifeline and a prerequisite for survival in the twenty‐first century.

In this article, the authors aim to start from the premise that management system standards (MSSs), such as ISO 9001 or ISO 14001, should not be considered individually, but in conjunction with other systems, because of the similarities and parallelisms among them and the potential benefits of adopting an integrated management system (IMS). This paper attempts to compare the usage of integrated management systems in two of the European countries with more tradition in the field of management systems standardization: England and Spain.

As an exploratory study, the authors used a case study approach based on the results of a questionnaire administered to quality and environmental managers working in firms registered to at least both ISO 9001 and ISO 14001 standards in the two countries.

The results of this exploratory study reveal some differences regarding the integration practices between the English and the Spanish organizations, namely in the audit process and in the difficulties and benefits encountered during the implementation of the IMS.

The main limitation of this study is the sample size, as the results of six organizations are not representative of the whole population. However, as an exploratory study, the results that the authors find can be useful for the analysis of the geographical dimension of IMS.

The results of the study contribute to characterize a phenomenon that occurs in many countries, the integration of management systems. The article helps to understand whether and how the location of companies impacts on the integration of MSSs. This is, as far as the authors know, the first empirical paper that tackles this topic.

In recent years, the number of management systems (MSs) has sharply increased. These MSs can be certified with, for example, the quality standard ISO 9001 or the environmental standard ISO 14001 and they can subsequently be integrated into one single, jointly managed system. The main purpose of this research is to study the relationships between the level of system integration, on one hand, and the difficulties encountered in the integration process, as well as the related benefits, on the other.

Data for this study derive from a survey carried out in 76 organizations registered to, at a minimum, both ISO 14001:2004 and ISO 9001:2008 standards for quality and environmental MSs. A descriptive and an exploratory factor analysis (EFA) are provided. Additionally, structural equation modelling (SEM) is applied to the responses of these organizations to a mailed survey.

From the results, the paper proposes a model of the difficulties related to systems integration that have an effect on the level of integration of several specific items of the MSs involved. A model related to the effect of the integration level on the benefits is also provided.

The study provides an original contribution to the understanding of how difficulties and benefits of MSs integration relate to the level of integration achieved in the participating companies.

Woman's use of violence has been mainly conceptualised through woman's experiences of victimization. However, more recent perspectives emphasise the female agency, responsibility and meaning of woman's violence. Listening to the voices of victims of women's abuse is a powerful way of learning about woman's use of violence and its impact on the victims. We conducted focus groups with 41 men from four countries who experienced female-perpetrated abuse. Four major types of abuse were identified: psychological abuse and coercive control followed by physical violence and sexual violence. Psychological abuse ranged from verbal assaults and gaslighting to provoking physical altercations and reporting false accusations. Patterns of control included deliberate isolation, threatening false accusations and financial domination. Men reported that women initiated physical violence for various reasons, including jealousy and rage. Some women used different objects that could seriously hurt, including knife, while others slapped, bit, punched or kicked. Several men reported female-perpetrated sexual abuse. Woman's use of violence in the intimate relationship should be treated seriously. A more gender-inclusive approach to partner abuse is required that can focus on a better prevention of abuse for all victims.