Alexandre Simon, Herbert Scheidl, Renan Stenico Campos and Gleison Matana
This paper analyzes managerial practices currently used for outsourced logistics activities in mechanized cutting, loading and transportation (CLT) of sugarcane in a Brazilian…
Abstract
Purpose
This paper analyzes managerial practices currently used for outsourced logistics activities in mechanized cutting, loading and transportation (CLT) of sugarcane in a Brazilian company using performance-based logistics contracts (PBL) as reference.
Design/methodology/approach
The methodology draws on literature review, design of an analysis model, small group meetings with academics/industry professionals and practical application through a case study. The model is based on PBL and its construction involved choosing the analysis axes, defining evaluation items and respective measurement scale and the means and sources of data collection.
Findings
When comparing the evaluation results with PBL recommendations, it is possible to see that there are still many improvement opportunities. In contracting axis, decision-making process was poor-rated due to the absence of strategic considerations to support outsourcing decision. Procurement, contract and implementation are in intermediate level. Performance management is the most mature axis. However, quality analysis showed intermediate level. In relationship axis, the most relevant gap is the lack of expectations alignment. Remaining items showed intermediate levels of compliance but still need focusing on communication, establishing a structured relationship management development.
Originality/value
This study contributes first to develop an analysis model based on PBL to evaluate the level of relationship integration between company and logistics service provider, and second, to apply the model to an empirical case in a CLT company operation. As a result, the analysis model presents guidelines for the company, not to just contract/rent equipment and manpower but hire results.
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Alexandre Tadeu Simon, Eduardo Guilherme Satolo, Herbert Abude Scheidl and Luiz Carlos Di Sério
Despite the increasing interests in supply chain management (SCM) within academy and industrial environment, there is still a lack of academic literature concerning topics such as…
Abstract
Purpose
Despite the increasing interests in supply chain management (SCM) within academy and industrial environment, there is still a lack of academic literature concerning topics such as methodologies to guide and support supply chain integration. The paper aims to discuss these issues.
Design/methodology/approach
This article presents the application of a diagnosis method in a Brazilian company from the sugar and ethanol industry to identify the level of supply chain integration. The diagnosis method is based on Cooper, Lambert and Pagh reference model for SCM. The method involves nine referential axes established from the eighth key business processes of the reference model.
Findings
It was pre-tested and supplemented with findings from interviews with academics and practitioners. Additionally, an illustration application was conducted in three relevant companies.
Originality/value
The application results were useful for refining the method that can be considered as a diagnosis instrument to permit companies to evaluate its supply chain integration.
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Fernanda Cagnin, Maria Celia Oliveira, Alexandre Tadeu Simon, André Luis Helleno and Matheus Phelipe Vendramini
Due to the warming at the automotive market in the last years and consequently the growth of vehicle production has been moved and placed emphasis on the segment. In recent years…
Abstract
Purpose
Due to the warming at the automotive market in the last years and consequently the growth of vehicle production has been moved and placed emphasis on the segment. In recent years, some have known, for example, as the earthquake that struck Japan in 2011 was able to disrupt the suppliers of the country. Due to these events, supply chain risk management has become essential to the supply chain operations success. The purpose of this paper is to evaluate the supplier’s systematic selection at the automotive industry compared with the identified models in the literature.
Design/methodology/approach
A case study applied at the automotive to propose a method for selecting suppliers considering the risk management.
Findings
These results indicate that the organization has established criteria for suppliers selection, this systematic aims to identify the potential risks in the supply chain before the supplier award the project but it’s also the current practice can be improved using as reference the comparative method as applied in this study.
Originality/value
The risk management, a few discussed topic but on the rise among researches, show that the companies, especially those inserted in the automotive segment has been used different techniques for selecting suppliers to focus in a better supply chain control. Establish criteria for selecting suppliers means identifying in advanced the potential risks that the suppliers may offer to the organization during the supply to avoid any interruptions to supply.
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Eduardo Guilherme Satolo and Alexandre Tadeu Simon
Sustainability is in vogue nowadays. It is a new concept and it has yet to be studied in more depth and rigor to create a stronger understanding. There are several lines of…
Abstract
Purpose
Sustainability is in vogue nowadays. It is a new concept and it has yet to be studied in more depth and rigor to create a stronger understanding. There are several lines of research and development in this area, each one using a specific template for measuring sustainability what poses even greater difficulties to those interested in the subject. The purpose of this paper is to discuss and compare current models for measuring organizational sustainability.
Design/methodology/approach
The paper presents a literature review identifying six models that have synergies in their structures and methods for measuring sustainability. It also analyzes each model highlighting key individual features identifying similarities and differences.
Findings
Results indicates it is necessary to improve existing models and gathering positive features of each model may be the starting point for obtaining a measurement model of sustainability.
Research limitations/implications
This work is restricted to perform a critical analysis of models for measuring intra-organizational sustainability.
Originality/value
This is one of the first studies to investigate models that assess sustainability from the intra-organizational perspective.
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Paulo Sampaio, Maria Sameiro Carvalho and Ana Cristina Fernandes
John Cantwell and Jessica Salmon
Scholars have examined, in various ways, the complexity of knowledge in innovation. Recently, research has begun to focus on the role of a continuous process of knowledge…
Abstract
Scholars have examined, in various ways, the complexity of knowledge in innovation. Recently, research has begun to focus on the role of a continuous process of knowledge recombination in our understanding of a changing structure of knowledge complexity and knowledge accumulation. Furthermore, we also claim that this process may reflect changes in the underlying innovation paradigm, or in other words the arrival of the information age. Yet, little is known about how knowledge complexity is increasing in the broader context of globalization, in which the influence of a rising diversity of locational sources may feature more prominently. We consider how knowledge recombination that relies upon the global spread of innovation activities will affect our theory of the relationship through which earlier contributions to knowledge become inputs to subsequent knowledge building that generates more (or less) complex knowledge artifacts. We propose that knowledge complexity rises when recombined elements are sourced across two dimensions of distance simultaneously, namely when sources which are derived from (i) disparate knowledge fields and (ii) distinct geographic locations are combined. We thereby develop an international business perspective on knowledge complexity through recombination by better appreciating the processes that may be necessary when knowledge is combined along global value chains. We also suggest some implications for changing organizational forms by highlighting the value of connecting previously unconnected geographically distant elements, which suggests a greater potential for more informal and indirectly diffused knowledge-based connections.
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The Europe issue was long a basis of intra-party divisions within the Conservative Party, and the 2016 referendum on the United Kingdom's continued membership of the European…
Abstract
The Europe issue was long a basis of intra-party divisions within the Conservative Party, and the 2016 referendum on the United Kingdom's continued membership of the European Union revealed the extent of the divide. The decision of the UK electorate to leave the EU was expected to resolve the issue and allow for a return to unity within the Conservative Party. Yet, under the leadership of Theresa May, divisions on the Europe issue endured. Boris Johnson succeeded, where his predecessors had failed, in restoring intra-party unity. He successfully secured the backing of party members and the electorate, and the loyalty of the parliamentary party, by strategically prioritising the politics of support and placing Brexit at the core of his statecraft. However, it was also the extent to which Johnson was willing to go so as to silence opponents of his Brexit policy that characterised his leadership.
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Matteo Cristofaro, Alexandre Anatolievich Bachkirov, Nicholas Burton, Oana Fodor, Christian Julmi and Francesca Loia
Neuza Ribeiro, Manish Gupta, Daniel Gomes and Nelia Alexandre
The purpose of this study is to examine the mediating role of affective well-being (AWB) in the relationship between psychological capital (PsyCap) and affective commitment.
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this study is to examine the mediating role of affective well-being (AWB) in the relationship between psychological capital (PsyCap) and affective commitment.
Design/methodology/approach
The sample included 226 employees from diverse Portuguese organizations. Based on a survey, respondents reported their perceptions of own PsyCap, AWB and affective commitment to their organization.
Findings
Results from structural equation modeling suggested presence of mediation by AWB in the relationship between PsyCap and affective commitment.
Practical implications
Managers are encouraged to gain from this finding by emphasizing more on the emotional health of individuals to increase their attachment with the company.
Originality/value
Though there are several studies indicating the positive consequences of PsyCap on employees, studies on how PsyCap affects affective commitment through AWB is scarce. These results advance the broaden-and-build theory by suggesting that the relationship between PsyCap and affective commitment is much more complex.
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Baumol’s impact on the development of managerial theories of the firm is investigated here through the material found in Galbraith’s archives. In 1957, Galbraith published a paper…
Abstract
Baumol’s impact on the development of managerial theories of the firm is investigated here through the material found in Galbraith’s archives. In 1957, Galbraith published a paper claiming that the impact of macroeconomic policies varies with market structures (competitive versus oligopolistic). That publication prompted Baumol (1958b) to send Galbraith a manuscript dealing extensively with a crucial question of managerial theories of the firm, namely, the trade-off between sales and profits. I argue that Baumol’s critiques and Galbraith’s answers largely explain the way Baumol (1958a, 1959) framed his alternative model of the behavior of corporations. He reasoned in terms of maximization of sales with a profit constraint as their main objective. In return, Business Behavior, Value and Growth fostered the development of Marris’ (1964) and Galbraith’s (1967) theories of the corporation. While Tullock (1978) provides a narrative in which the sales maximization hypothesis has two main branches – Baumol for the one and Galbraith–Marris for the other – the paper demonstrates that these branches are intimately connected.