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To characterize the consulting services provided by accountants to owner-managers of small businesses (OMSBs) in Brazil, addressing a significant gap in existing research.

A qualitative approach was employed, conducting 23 semi-structured interviews with OMSBs and specialists, analyzed using grounded theory techniques from an interpretivist perspective.

The study identifies three categories of accounting consultancy: tools, advisory and training. Accountant-consultants act as integrators, bridging diverse knowledge domains for less professionally managed businesses and connecting various resources or advisory professionals for more structured ones. Preparation in multiple areas, especially management, is considered crucial, alongside fostering trust and using clear, simple language. Collective consultancy and specialization in specific segments are suggested as mechanisms to ensure the economic viability of providing these services.

The study provides insights into the nature of accounting consultancy for small businesses in Brazil but may not capture the full spectrum of practices across different regions or industries. Future research could explore these variations for a more comprehensive understanding.

This study addresses a significant gap in the literature by providing a detailed understanding of the consulting services offered by accountants to small businesses in Brazil, offering practical insights for both professionals and policymakers aiming to support this vital sector of the economy.

Past research is mixed on family small and medium-sized enterprises’ (SMEs) use of external advisors and the limited empirical evidence is confined to developed markets. Drawing on the knowledge-based view of the firm, this research focuses on the “familiness” characteristic of SMEs and their use of external accountants as advisors in an emerging marketplace. Using internal resources for basic tasks is proposed to strengthen this relationship from a managerial cognition lens. Focusing also on SME internalization, this research probes the performance ramifications of using external accountants as advisors.

Hierarchical regression is used to test the hypotheses. The mediation hypothesis is tested by bootstrapping the indirect effect. The interaction hypothesis is visualized with simple slope analysis.

The results indicate that the familiness of SMEs is positively associated with the use of external advisors, and thereby, with high performance. SMEs with higher international exposure also use these external advisors to a greater degree. Family SMEs that have a focused use of internal resources for basic tasks benefit more from the use of external accountants for advising tasks.

This research sheds light on how family involvement in management influences firm performance, showing the moderating role of the use of internal advisors for basic tasks and the mediating role of the use of external accountants for advising. We add to the knowledge-based view by describing how family SMEs can utilize internal and external knowledge resources simultaneously.

This study aims to explore how small and medium-sized accounting practices (SMPs) make sense of and position themselves against the changing demand for services. It is argued that changing demand for services from pure compliance to advisory acts as a trigger for sensemaking among SMP owners.

A qualitative multiple case study research approach is adopted, including semistructured interviews with key informants from seven Norwegian SMPs as well as document analysis.

The findings suggest that there is heterogeneity in the small practitioner segment of the accounting profession in making sense of changing demand for the nature of services. Three different situations emerged due to sensemaking, thus, the three distinct positions. Metaphors, namely, chameleons, turtles and bulls, are used to represent the positioning of SMPs. The sensemaking of actors as an adaptation led them to act as chameleons while distancing and resistance resulted in their positioning as turtles, and bulls, respectively.

Despite the richness of data indicating a clear variation in interpretation among actors, the study is case based, with a limited number of SMPs, and caution should be exercised when generalising its conclusions.

The centrality of people as a driving force for positioning among SMPs and diversity among SMPs in value creation provide insights for both SMPs and their customers.

This study highlights the meaning and patterns of value creation and the positioning of accounting firms according to their sensemaking within an under-studied segment of the accounting profession.

Medical students experience higher rates of mental illness than the general population. With competition rising for success in medical school, and residency, increasing incidence of distress are leading this population to experience higher rates of thoughts of dropping out of school, and even suicide. Since many stigmas deter medical students from receiving mental health counseling, such as the perceived inability to handle the stresses of medical school, and the potential lack of competitiveness for residencies if reported, prevention of mental illness may be a better course to take in reducing prevalence in this population. Regular exercise has demonstrated a positive effect on not only promoting physical health, but also mental health. Exercise encourages a healthy mood, positive self esteem, and better cognition, while decreasing the chances of depression, anxiety, and burnout. Implementing exercise time into medical school curriculums, just like the basic sciences, albeit for less time in the day, could provide a feasible way to ensure that all students are taking time to partake in this important activity for their well being. Though medical schools are rigid with attempts to make changes in their curriculum, thirty minutes a day, three to five times a week of exercise of the students' choice not only is more cost effective than counseling, but it also reduces the chances that they will experience burnout, which if left untreated could transcend into a compromised training experience.

The CoViD-19 pandemic has brought about a panoply of institutional challenges both domestically and in the international arena. Classical constitutional theory thereby underwent a reinvention by the executive for the sake of speedy policy action and to the detriment of institutional control while favouring authoritarian forms of governance. This paper concerns itself with institutional responses to such developments, placing emphasis on the role of the judiciary and people*s in contesting emergency decrees and other executive orders, especially where fundamental rights are infringed upon. The paper aims to explore the difficulties arising with exerting absolute executive powers during the health crisis, the respective role assumed by constitutional courts and the impact of the new governance paradigm on forms of public contestation, also as a means of quasi institutional control.

Indeed, the right to health may be translated into political discourse and become foundational to security and public interest paradigms. This may result in a shrinking public space given the constraints to the freedom of movement. In the name of public safety, the (collective) right to assembly, expression and protest have been submitted to major limitations in that regard.

Ultimately, this re-opens debates on the meaning of absolute rights and contextualities of derogations, as well as the reconcilability of civil and political rights and economic, social and cultural rights. It also exposes social inequalities, social justice dimensions and vulnerabilities, often exacerbated by the health crisis; migrant rights demonstrably face particularly severe and intersectional forms of violations.

Particular values lie with the interdisciplinary approach embraced in this paper; the authors draw on a variety of social sciences disciplines to shed light on this very current issue. Both theoretical and empirical methods are used and combined here, making sense of the underlying logic of virus governance and its impacts on fundamental rights.

This paper aims to overview the need for tobacco harm reduction, the consumer products that facilitate tobacco harm reduction and the barriers to its implementation. The worldwide endemic of tobacco smoking results in the death of over seven million smokers a year. Cigarette quit rates are very low, from 3%–12%, and relapse rates are high, from 75%–80% in the first six months and 30%–40% even after one year of abstinence. In addition, some smokers do not desire to quit. Cigarette substitution in tobacco harm reduction is one strategy that may reduce the burden of morbidity and mortality.

This review examines the displacement of smoking through substitution of non-combustible low-risk products such as snus, heated tobacco products and e-cigarettes.

Toxicological testing, population studies, clinical trials and randomized controlled trials demonstrate the potential reductions in exposures for smokers. Many barriers impede the implementation of product substitution in tobacco harm reduction. These products have been subjected to regulatory bans and heavy taxation and are rejected by smokers and society based on misperceptions about nicotine, sensational media headlines and unsubstantiated fears of youth addiction. These barriers will need to be addressed if tobacco harm reduction is to make the maximum impact on the tobacco endemic.

This review provides the rationale for tobacco harm reduction, evaluates the current products available and identifies the barriers to implementation.

The study aims to investigate the time for social media posts and reviews in order to determine the best timing to ensure maximum outreach and interactions from users. The study intends to analytically investigate a company's Facebook and Instagram pages to get meaningful insights for effective post management.

“Great Deal Tires” company’s Facebook and Instagram business pages were taken as the case study and patterns and analytical insights for different posts using Facebook and Instagram analytics were identified. The study categorically selected posts from Facebook pages and Instagram pages that were posted at different times and assessed on their impact.

According to the study, Tuesday and Wednesday have higher engagement on the Great Deal Tires Facebook page, while Friday has higher engagement on Instagram. The study also provided valuable insights into post content and timing in order to increase the marketing impact of the posts.

The study provides an analytical framework for analyzing post and review timing on various company business pages, allowing marketers to initiate more user visits and interactions.

Smoke-free prison policies have been introduced in some countries, in part to address very high levels of tobacco use in people in prison. However, relapse rates post-release remain high. This papers aims to improve understanding of post-release smoking and/or vaping behaviour is necessary to inform support for a priority population.

The authors searched health, social science and criminal justice databases for studies about smoking/vaping behaviours among people released from smoke-free prisons. Studies were included if they reported primary data and were published between January 2017 and March 2024 in English; the population was adults/young people (16 yr+) imprisoned or formerly imprisoned, in prisons with comprehensive smoke-free policies; and at least one of the following was reported: pre-release intention to smoke, vape or remain abstinent post-release; smoking/vaping behaviour post-release and factors influencing smoking/vaping behaviour; attempts to quit again following post-release smoking/vaping relapse.

Nine studies met our criteria. The evidence base is small and mainly from the USA or Australia. Evidence continues to suggest that most people resume smoking after leaving a smoke-free prison. No new interventions have been successful in reducing relapse rates. No studies report on vaping post-release, although two studies report on perceived factors affecting smoking relapse post-release from prisons allowing vaping.

Given very high rates of relapse, there remains a significant need to better understand what approaches are feasible and acceptable for reducing return to smoking post-release.

This review updates the limited evidence on smoking behaviours after leaving a smoke-free prison.

The business landscapes in Asia and Africa are predominantly characterized by small and medium enterprises (SMEs) facing significant resource constraints. Understanding the capability dynamics of these enterprises in such contexts carries significant implications for theory and practice. This paper aims to addresses a crucial question of whether increasing customer involvement capability consistently yields the necessary rent for enterprises operating under resource constraints in emerging markets in Asia and Africa. By investigating this question, the paper offers SMEs a more nuanced approach to capability development, enabling them to achieve better returns on their investments.

To ensure the robustness of the findings, data were collected from SME service firms operating in two emerging economies: India (Asia) and Ghana (Africa). Data were collected in two waves to allow for catering to specific environmental conditions not accounted for in the study. Two-stage data analysis was then conducted to test the hypothesized relationships across the two countries.

The findings reveal that customer involvement capability does not always lead to an increase in firm-level competitiveness, and the effect follows an inverted U-shaped pattern. However, the nature of this relationship varies under different market conditions in both contexts. Specifically, in periods of low customer demand and intense competition, the relationship is linear and positive. On the other hand, in periods of high demand and competition, the relationship becomes inverted U-shaped, returning to a direct relationship with firm-level competitiveness.

This paper provides a resolution to the critical issue of whether customer involvement capability consistently delivers firm performance benefits, particularly for resource-constrained SMEs in emerging markets. By explaining how SMEs in emerging markets can fully capitalize on their capability development to optimize their resources, this paper makes a distinctive contribution. Moreover, it sheds light on the importance of aligning involvement capabilities with prevailing market conditions for SMEs to reap the maximum benefits.

In this study, the authors explore how sensing and seizing of market opportunities, asset reconfiguration and top management team (TMT) consensus on these elements jointly relate to a firm's international expansion. By doing this, the authors contribute to the existing literature by addressing dynamic managerial capabilities at the TMT level instead of considering them as individual executives' traits. The authors use the qualitative comparative analysis (QCA) method to analyze our data from 261 TMT executives in 63 firms. The findings indicate that sensing, seizing and reconfiguration capabilities are highly relevant for internationalization but in different configurations for specific stages and elements of international business. Presence of sensing as a part of configurations is observable, especially in connection to a firm having foreign customers and explicit internationalization strategies, while configurations where seizing and reconfiguration emerge are connected to firms showing continuity in the international markets. The authors’ results also indicate that a lack of TMT consensus in connection to dynamic managerial capabilities is a driving force that allows the firm not to stagnate with regards to internationalization. Yet, lack of TMT consensus combined with low reconfiguration capabilities seems to generate negative results, which suggests that different views are not helpful if the firm is incapable of changing its approaches.

This study uses data gathered with a questionnaire where the executives select either “yes” or “no” in response to statements describing the firm situation with regard different managerial aspects and progress of international growth. The authors analyze these data from 261 TMT executives from 63 firms using the QCA method.

The findings indicate that sensing, seizing and reconfiguration capabilities are highly relevant for internationalization but to different extents for specific elements of international business; generally, while sensing is needed, in particular, for having foreign customers and internationalization strategies in the first place, seizing and reconfiguration became relevant for continuity in the international markets. Consensus or rather lack of it on these elements also plays a role. It seems that some disagreement is a driving force that allows the firm not to stagnate with regards to internationalization. However, TMT disagreement combined with low reconfiguration capabilities seems to generate negative results, which suggests that different views are not helpful if the firm is incapable of changing its approaches.

The findings contribute to existing knowledge by exploring how managerial capabilities influence firm-level dynamic capabilities from the point of view of the TMT. The authors also add to existing research that has often focused on the relationships between TMT executives' demographic traits and TMT consensus and, further, the (subsequent) firm performance by looking at different configuration rather than linear linkages. Together, these notions further mean that the authors change the point of view on diversity. The authors consider the consensus on existing managerial dynamic capabilities rather than evaluate the functional diversity or the TMT executives' agreement on strategic moves.

All capabilities are important. TMT does not need to agree on everything, as long as they acknowledge where their problem areas are, and they can capture at least some of the relevant trends and opportunities. In fact, having some lack of consensus seems to be a driving force that allows capabilities to be questioned and potentially keeps (false) under-appreciation of existing capabilities from becoming a barrier to international expansion.

Unlike previous studies that have focused on the relationship between the TMT executives' demographic characteristics and firm performance or the relationship of the demographics and TMT strategic consensus at a general level – or studies that have explained international performance with TMT consensus (or with dynamic managerial capabilities), this study brings forth how the dynamic managerial capabilities and the TMT executives' strategic consensus with regard to these capabilities influence the firm's international expansion. Here, the authors consider internationalization widely, looking at whether the firm has foreign customers or international expansion strategy in place, and whether there this activity is sustained and continuous (with repeated trading and long-term international contracts, in particular). To our knowledge, there is no research on TMT strategic consensus that explains how the unanimity among executives on dynamic managerial capabilities connects to the firm's international expansion.