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1 – 10 of 367Santiago Renedo, Inés Martínez-Corts, Donatella Di Marco and Francisco J. Medina
Family small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) represent a substantial part of many economies. In these organizations, close and informal relationships between employers and…
Abstract
Purpose
Family small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) represent a substantial part of many economies. In these organizations, close and informal relationships between employers and employees often foster a mutual understanding of each other’s needs, facilitating the negotiation of idiosyncratic deals (i-deals), special employment conditions tailored for individual employees. However, research on how i-deals are negotiated in family SMEs, especially regarding power dynamics and influence, remains limited. This study aims to identify the types of i-deals negotiated in family SMEs and explore the role of power and influence in these negotiations.
Design/methodology/approach
Semi-structured interviews were conducted with 45 employees and 15 employers from Spanish family SMEs. Data were analyzed using ATLAS.ti 8, and thematic analysis was performed.
Findings
The study concludes that task, flexibility, financial and development i-deals are particularly negotiated in family SMEs. It identifies that referent and expert power play an important role in initiating these negotiations. Furthermore, rational tactics are generally employed for negotiating work performance, soft tactics for employment-related aspects and hard tactics for work flexibility. Additionally, the study identified gender differences in the negotiation of i-deals.
Research limitations/implications
This study enhances i-deal literature by highlighting the distinct characteristics of family SMEs and their impact on i-deal negotiations. The findings suggest that power dynamics and influence tactics in family SMEs differ from those in larger firms. Moreover, certain i-deals may encounter resistance due to concerns about organizational performance and economic implications. Understanding these factors is essential for developing effective negotiation strategies in family SMEs.
Originality/value
This study offers a dual perspective, analyzing the power and influence tactics used by both employees and employers in family SME i-deal negotiations and highlighting gendered dynamics in these processes.
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Clara Inés Pardo Martínez and William H. Alfonso P.
This research analyses and evaluates the trends and perspectives of climate change in Colombia. This study aims to understand the main ideas and concepts of climate change in five…
Abstract
Purpose
This research analyses and evaluates the trends and perspectives of climate change in Colombia. This study aims to understand the main ideas and concepts of climate change in five regions of the country by analysing attitudes and values, information habits, institutionalism and the social appropriation of science and technology.
Design/methodology/approach
The research study involved a focus group technique. Ten focus groups in five regions of the country, including rural regions, were administered. The selection of cities and municipalities in this study took into account vulnerability scenarios based on the two criteria of temperature and precipitation for the 2011-2040 period.
Findings
The participants of the focus groups believe that climate change began 10 years ago and that human activities have caused climate change. The main effects of climate change are believed to be droughts and floods that have appeared in the past several years and have negatively impacted agricultural activities and the quality of life of the population. Moreover, the participants believe that it is important to design and apply adequate measures to adapt to and mitigate climate change.
Originality/value
This study makes an important contribution to the extant climate change literature by identifying and categorising the main ideas and knowledge on this issue from the perspective of the population in Colombia. In developing countries with high climate change vulnerability, it is especially important to analyse this issue to determine relevant official policy instruments that could promote adequate actions and instruments to prevent, adapt to and mitigate climate change.
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Francisco J. Medina, Amapola Povedano, Ines Martinez and Lourdes Munduate
The main aim of this study is to analyze the perception of influence tactics used by male and female representatives in order to gain the commitment of their constituencies when…
Abstract
Purpose
The main aim of this study is to analyze the perception of influence tactics used by male and female representatives in order to gain the commitment of their constituencies when accounting for the outcomes reached in a collective bargaining round.
Design/methodology/approach
An experimental design was used to manipulate agreement – favorable vs unfavorable – using collective bargaining scenarios, and measurements were made of subjects' perceptions of the use of hard and soft influence tactics and constituency commitment. Participants stated which influence tactics they would use to inform their constituents about a positive or negative agreement, and the level of commitment they would expect from their constituency.
Findings
Results show that hard tactics are perceived as being more effective than soft tactics for enhancing constituency commitment to unfavorable results. Women perceive that they use more soft tactics than men to announce unfavorable agreements, while men perceive that they use more soft tactics than women to announce favorable agreements between parties. Overall, the perception of influence exercised over the constituency is strongly affected by gender, along the lines that men tend to explain and justify their successes and not their failures, while women tend to justify their failures and not their successes.
Research limitations/implications
As the evidence in this study came from self‐report measures, future studies should corroborate findings by observing representative behavior.
Practical implications
The findings have important implications for training programs of representatives in collective bargaining, particularly in the exercise of influence at the second negotiation round.
Originality/value
The paper demonstrates that gender is an important moderator in representative‐constituency negotiation.
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The purpose of this paper is twofold. The first is to examine in detail energy efficiency performance of German and Colombian food industries. The second is to explain the factors…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is twofold. The first is to examine in detail energy efficiency performance of German and Colombian food industries. The second is to explain the factors that have influenced energy efficiency.
Design/methodology/approach
Using data at the three‐digit level of aggregation, the paper compares energy efficiency across sectors of the food industry for the period 1998‐2005. Energy efficiency is analysed using the energy intensity (EI) indicator as well as a decomposition analysis. To determine the factors that have influenced energy efficiency performance, the concept of the production function is used.
Findings
The results show that both countries' food industries improved energy efficiency. During the period of study, energy consumption in the German food industry increased by an average of 1.3 per cent per year and the EI decreased 7 per cent, whereas the Colombian food industry decreased its energy consumption by an average of 1.9 per cent per the year and the EI decreased 11 per cent. However, the Colombian food industry needs 2.2 times more energy than the German food industry to produce a unit of gross production. A decomposition analysis indicated that economic and technical factors have played an important role in the energy efficiency performance because increases in economic growth and technology improvements increase the industrial sector's ability to improve energy efficiency. A second‐stage empirical analysis reveals that capital, material, investments and value‐added variables had a positive influence on energy efficiency performance in both countries. Energy prices are shown to have a positive influence on energy efficiency in the German food industry, whereas the sizes of enterprises and concentration processes played an important role on energy efficiency performance in the Colombian food industry.
Originality/value
The literature indicates the relative lack of attention paid to the analysis of energy use across sectors of food industry as well as the lack of studies determining the factors that have affected energy consumption and energy efficiency performance using cross‐country and cross‐sectoral comparisons.
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Francisco J. Medina, Lourdes Munduate, Miguel A. Dorado, Inés Martínez and José M. Guerra
Seeks to evaluate the link between task and relationship conflict, and their influence on some employees' affective reactions such as satisfaction, wellbeing, and propensity to…
Abstract
Purpose
Seeks to evaluate the link between task and relationship conflict, and their influence on some employees' affective reactions such as satisfaction, wellbeing, and propensity to leave a job; and to analyse the mediated and moderated role of relationship conflict.
Design/methodology/approach
The study involved 169 employees from six service organizations (hotels) in Andalusia (Spain). A questionnaire was used containing different measures: task and relationship conflict, wellbeing, job satisfaction, and propensity to leave the job.
Findings
The two types of conflict have different consequences. Data show that relationship conflict is negatively associated with affective reactions, while task conflict does not relate directly to affective reactions in a predictable way; relationship conflict has a positive influence on the desire to leave the current job, while task conflict does not affect it negatively; the interactive effect of relationships and task conflict shows that this interaction contributes substantially to predict the propensity to leave the current job; and relationship conflict mediates in the link between task conflict and affective reactions.
Research limitations/implications
A high level of task conflict may backfire by boosting relationship conflict as well, thus having a negative effect on affective reactions. Thus some conclusions can be drawn with a view to improving conflict management in teams. First an attempt must be made to understand the type of conflict that is taking place. Second, managers should encourage open discussion of task‐related issues. Third, special attention should be paid to the level of each conflict because of its interactive effects on some affective outcomes. Thus, in spite of the generally beneficial effects associated with task conflict, the intensification of task‐related conflict may backfire when interacting with dysfunctional affective‐dissent.
Originality/value
Serves too analyze the mediated and moderated role of relationship conflict and to test the role of types of conflict on affective reactions such as wellbeing and propensity to leave the job.
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Murat Tunc, Kayhan Kaplan, Sedat Sisbot and Unal Camdali
This paper aims to present the results of energy management and optimization studies in one Turkish textile factory. In a case study of a print and dye factory in Istanbul, the…
Abstract
Purpose
This paper aims to present the results of energy management and optimization studies in one Turkish textile factory. In a case study of a print and dye factory in Istanbul, the authors identified energy-sensitive processes and proposed energy management applications.
Design/methodology/approach
Appropriate energy management methods have been implemented in the factory, and the results were examined in terms of energy efficiency and cost reduction.
Findings
By applying the methods for fuel distribution optimization, the authors demonstrated that energy costs could be decreased by approximately.
Originality/value
Energy management is a vital issue for industries particularly in developing countries such as Turkey. Turkey is an energy poor country and imports more than half of its energy to satisfy its increasing domestic demands. An important share of these demands stems from the presence of a strong textile industry that operates throughout the country.
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The purpose of this paper is to recognize whether consumers on long time perspective have an influence on the increase of energy efficiency in manufacturing industries.
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to recognize whether consumers on long time perspective have an influence on the increase of energy efficiency in manufacturing industries.
Design/methodology/approach
Literature review, online survey, in‐depth interviews.
Findings
Although the connection between consumer and energy efficiency promotion in manufacturing companies is currently weak, the growing trend to purchase “green” products may have an influence on companies’ decisions regarding energy efficiency issues. Furthermore, this would be necessary to take into account in development of new state energy efficiency policy instruments for industry.
Practical implications
The results of this study can be taken into consideration in the development of new energy efficiency policy instruments for the industrial sector.
Originality/value
The paper highlights the importance of consumers purchasing behavior and its possible influence on energy efficiency increase in manufacturing industry.
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The purpose of this paper is to assess the potential effects of climate change on the habitat and human settlements in Mexico, through an analysis of three regions that are…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to assess the potential effects of climate change on the habitat and human settlements in Mexico, through an analysis of three regions that are vulnerable to hydrometeorological hazards such as droughts, floods and hurricanes.
Design/methodology/approach
The research process included fieldwork in the states of Oaxaca, Tabasco and Yucatán, and a historical study of hydrometeorological events in each region. The authors sought to identify a means of interpreting these events linked to climate variability, on the basis of the history of disasters, the environment and the habitat. The local climatic indications were compared to the IPCC’s global successes, to show that contradictions do not exist but that it is difficult to apply the IPCC’s findings at a local level, given the considerable margin of uncertainty.
Findings
The indications of the effects of climate change make it possible to foresee that the most vulnerable populations will be the ones facing the strongest impact in the future.
Practical implications
The research has direct implications on urban and housing policies, offering a roadmap to design climate change adaptation strategies; adaptive capacity not only requires political commitment.
Social implications
It is also related to social and economic development and an “integral risk management” approach rather than a “civil protection” strategy.
Originality/value
The main interest of this research is to show that a multidisciplinary approach is essential in order to understand the local implications of climate change.
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