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This study builds on the practice-based view of strategy to examine whether the three most commonly prescribed strategic planning best practices – scanning, communication openness and participative decision-making – actually strengthen the planning-performance relationship.

The study uses objective performance data and data from a survey of 159 managers from 43 publicly listed US firms to test the hypothesized moderation effects of best practices. The analysis uses hierarchical regression.

At high levels of planning, firms high in participative decision-making and low in openness and scanning outperform firms low in participation and high in openness and scanning. The results reverse at low levels of planning.

This is a cross-sectional study with a small sample. The response rate was modest; hence, the results should be treated as exploratory. Since the sample is not random, the results may not be generalizable.

While managers may find a best practice label helpful, the best practices implemented within a firm need to fit existing planning processes in order to increase planning effectiveness.

While academic scholarship sometimes struggles with generating actionable prescriptions for improving strategic planning, recommendations by practitioners lack empirical backing. This study builds on the practice-based view of strategy to bridge this gap. These results are consistent with both academic and practitioner literature on strategic planning in finding that the best practices of scanning, openness and participative decision-making strengthen the planning-performance relationship at different planning levels, possibly by underpinning the firm’s dynamic capabilities.

This study focuses on urban lighting design, exploring its effect on citizens´ emotions. A methodology based on Kansei engineering is developed in response to the question: How does lighting of facades within the urban space influence people’s emotions?

Outdoor lighting design is a multidisciplinary topic that involves, among other aspects, design, energy savings, protection of nocturnal biodiversity and profitability, all of which are important functional and regulatory requirements. However, they do not necessarily consider user needs, which make perception and emotional response difficult parameters in the lighting design process. The studies carried out on lighting and its impact on emotions have mainly been done indoors. The objective of this work is to propose a methodology to evaluate emotional response to the illuminated nocturnal urban space with the purpose of providing knowledge to create emotionally efficient luminous spaces that improve people’s perception and well-being. The instrument used was the survey (online questionnaires), based on Kansei engineering, created to incorporate the emotional variable in product design. The research was carried out with participants from Peru, Spain and Germany. The results collected the reaction of the participants to different types of night-time luminous spaces presented, which contributes to a better understanding of user needs and activities regarding the space. This knowledge is intended to help designers meet their expectations.

The Kansei engineering method has made establishing relationships between the sensations experienced and the physical characteristics of the luminous space possible. From the point of view of outdoor lighting design planning, Kansei methodology can contribute to a better understanding of user needs within the urban space, serving as a guide to specialists when making lighting decisions and thus meeting their expectations. Therefore, it is considered a very useful and recommended instrument not only from the beginning of lighting projects but also applicable to lighting master plans. The method used contributes to a multidisciplinary design approach, performing a simultaneous analysis of all the requirements and design parameters (architectural, psychological, biological, environmental and social) that intervene from the first design phases of the project, which will allow qualitative lighting solutions aimed at user satisfaction with the urban night space. From a comprehensive point of view, the instrument generated enables identifying not only quantitative values of the urban night space (luminous spaces and technical descriptors) but also qualitative values (aesthetic descriptors), which are both decisive instruments when measuring user satisfaction.

Participants were only from Germany, Peru and Spain.

Traditionally, research aiming at user responses to lighting environment comes from the field of psychology or engineering, not considering parameters of lighting design that could effectively cater to specific user needs.

The purpose of this study is to develop a systematic approach by demonstrating the Design for Six Sigma (DFSS) approach for reliability improvement of moulded case circuit breaker (MCCB) (current rating 250A).

In this study, the Define, Measure, Analyze, Design and Verify (DMADV) methodology of DFSS has been used to improve the reliability of MCCB. Mechanical endurance test (MET), project risk management, customer-based product development (PD), and other tools and techniques are used appropriately in DMADV methodology for improving the reliability of MCCB.

It has been observed that the reliability of MCCB has been improved from 61.76% to 98.17% for 20,000 operating cycles by implementing suggested improvement measures and the Weibull distribution is the most suitable distribution for reliability analysis of collected data.

This study considered only the aspects of DMADV methodology of the DFSS approach and does not cover other PD approaches such as lean and green PD.

This study clearly shows an enhancement in the reliability of MCCB which further leads to an increase in the warranty period. This will attract more customers and enhance business.

The improvement in the reliability of MCCB would significantly reduce fatal accidents ensuring workplace safety in the industry.

The originality of this study is the reliability assessment using degradation analysis in the design phase of the DMADV process to predict failure during design verification.

This study aims to determine the degree of knowledge acquired by university professors after receiving virtual training on the sustainable development goals (SDGs) and their relationship with the contents of the subjects taught.

A 40-h virtual course on SGDs and higher education was designed. To evaluate professor knowledge, a questionnaire was administered to professors from different fields of knowledge. The questionnaire consists of 25 questions divided into two sections: Section 1: Q1–Q8 (knowledge and access to information) and Section 2: Q9–Q25 (the relationship of the subjects taught with the 17 SDGs). The virtual classroom was used to do the questionnaire and it lasted 10 min. The internal consistency of the different constructs was analyzed by Cronbach’s alpha, Kaiser–Meyer–Olkim test and Marlett test. Descriptive and inferential analysis were also performed.

Statistical analysis showed a high reliability for the constructs (smallest Cronbach’s alpha = 0.908). Virtual teaching to teachers significantly improves the results of Section 1 (Q1–Q8) (p < 0.001) and Section 2 (Q9–Q25) (p < 0.001) of the questionnaire. Teachers aged 40–50 years significantly associate the contents of their subjects with SDG1 (Q9, p = 0.02), SDG2 (Q10, p = 0.00) and SDG8 (Q16, p = 0.04) previous course. In addition, the area of origin may influence knowledge about the SDGs. At the end of the course, there were no significant differences between teachers by age, field of knowledge or academic category.

Virtual training on SDGs unifies the knowledge of university faculty, promoting academic curricula aligned to sustain-able training, regardless of age, gender, academic category or field of knowledge.

Based on the job-demands resources (JD-R) model and the self-determination theory (SDT), this paper aims to explore team empowerment (TEMP) as a mediating mechanism through which team climate (TC) marked by innovativeness, cohesion and trust and knowledge management (KM) in teams.

Using a convenience sampling method, data were gathered from 246 employees of Tunisian knowledge-intensive firms (KIFs) and involved within 69 R&D teams. The partial least square-structural equation modeling approach through SMART PLS 3.2 software was used to evaluate the constructs’ psychometric properties and hypotheses. The mediating effect in the model was evaluated through the non-parametric bootstrapping method.

Results highlight that TC marked by innovativeness, cohesion and trust represents a key team contextual antecedent promoting TEMP and KM in teams. In turn, TEMP, as a critical intrinsic task motivation factor, is revealed as a driver of KM practices. This research demonstrates that TEMP partially mediates the relationship between TC and KM in teams.

This study pioneers the examination of TEMP’s mediating role between a TC marked by innovativeness, trust and cohesion and KM. By applying insights from the JD-R model and SDT to team-level dynamics, it uniquely positions TEMP as an intrinsic motivational factor explaining the mechanism through which the contextual resources provided by a supportive TC promote KM practices. It provides practical insights for KIFs’ managers through highlighting how intrinsically motivated teams of knowledge workers, empowered by a cohesive, innovative and trust-based TC, can effectively navigate the challenges inherent in knowledge-intensive teamwork, leading to enhanced KM practices.