Christoph Dörrenbächer, Mike Geppert and Aline Hoffmann
This paper addresses the so far hardly understood contemporary restructuring trends in European Multinational corporations (MNCs), their rationales and their labour-related…
Abstract
Purpose
This paper addresses the so far hardly understood contemporary restructuring trends in European Multinational corporations (MNCs), their rationales and their labour-related implications.
Design/methodology/approach
The paper is based on a systematic evaluation of academic and non-academic literature, as well as on more than 30 in-depth interviews with academic experts, management consultants, trade union consultants and workers’ representatives.
Findings
European MNCs continue to grow bigger, mostly through debt financed mergers and acquisitions. This triggers intensive cross-border standardization and reorganization activities that most prominently materialize as a sustained move towards global factories; a new wave of cross-border standardization in Human Resource Management, information technology and Big Data-driven, as well as compliance-induced reorganization measures.
Originality/value
This paper is the first to empirically map contemporary restructuring trends in European MNCs in a comprehensive way. Moreover, it addresses the managerial rationale underlying these restructuring trends. Based on these insights the paper assesses labour related implications that are both positive and negative.
Details
Keywords
Cátia Nara Tobaldini Frizon, Camila Augusto Perussello, José Alfredo Sturion, Aline Francielle Fracasso and Rosemary Hoffmann-Ribani
Forasmuch as the consumer’s demand for food products that provide nutrition and health benefits has considerably increased in the past decade, the authors decided to join two…
Abstract
Purpose
Forasmuch as the consumer’s demand for food products that provide nutrition and health benefits has considerably increased in the past decade, the authors decided to join two important Brazilian commodities in a high-nutrition drink: yerba mate (Ilex paraguariensis) is rich in several bioactive compounds, and soybean is a high-quality protein source. To optimize the design and maximize the acceptability of the beverage, the authors studied its stability during storage. The beverage developed allows enlarging of the potential market of yerba mate, taking profit of the growing call for the consumption of antioxidant foods and benefits small-scale producers.
Design/methodology/approach
Twelve beverages were formulated with extract of yerba mate from leaves of planted (P) and native trees (N), both enriched with water-soluble soy extract (WSE). Among all formulations, two of them, which were sensorially preferred in a previous study, were selected to investigate their market potential. During the six months of storage, microbiological analyses were performed and the parameters acidity, viscosity, pH and rutin content were assessed. Sensorial tests of acceptability and purchase intent were also conducted.
Findings
The drinks remained microbiologically adequate for consumption during six months of storage. High sensory acceptability and purchase intent scores were obtained for Beverage P. This drink resulted in smoother taste and presented a decrease in acidity and constant viscosity during the storage, while Beverage N had an increase in acidity and viscosity. The rutin loss at 120 days was 14.2 per cent for Drink P and 32.4 per cent for N, with a half-life of 423.6 and 185.3 days, respectively.
Originality/value
Given the quantified parameters, the beverage produced from leaves of planted trees (P) may be used as a novel high nutrition food suitable for the growing requirements of the yerba mate by-products market.
Details
Keywords
Filipe Carvalho Vieira, Leandro R.C. Bonfim and Aline Cristina da Cruz
The purpose of this paper is to map the process of opening an innovation network in the context of the Brazilian agroforestry sector.
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to map the process of opening an innovation network in the context of the Brazilian agroforestry sector.
Design/methodology/approach
Qualitative case study of the open innovation network Embrapa Florestas (17 semi-structured interviews, observation and documentary data). Social network analysis (SNA) of the open innovation network from primary data is available at Embrapa Florestas’ system.
Findings
Three primary triggers to the opening process of Embrapa Florestas’ innovation network were identified. The process starts with an innovation network with closed network characteristics. The process of opening the innovation network is motivated by a restructuring in its source of fundraising (trigger 1), by the change in strategic orientation toward the internationalization of its network activities (trigger 2) and by opening the black box of its innovation with greater proximity to the productive sector and partner universities (trigger 3). Comparing the pre-opening and post-opening networks (open innovation network), sociometric data allows us to verify that the opening of the innovation network presents better density, clustering and centrality indexes for the network as a whole and for the Embrapa Florestas specifically.
Originality/value
This is one of the first studies that aims to investigate the transition from a closed innovation network to an open innovation network by a public research institute. It may also be considered innovative because it presents practical and managerial relevance – in addition to contributions to public policy makers – which allows for improvements in the development of innovation and technology in the country's strategic sectors.
Details
Keywords
Enrique Bigne, Aline Simonetti and Diana Y.W. Shih
This study aims to investigate how brand love and brand loyalty for three brands evolved during critical moments of the 2020 pandemic, and how they performed in the long run up to…
Abstract
Purpose
This study aims to investigate how brand love and brand loyalty for three brands evolved during critical moments of the 2020 pandemic, and how they performed in the long run up to 2022.
Design/methodology/approach
An online longitudinal study, including a survey and Twitter data for three brands: Corona Extra, with a direct semantic association with the word coronavirus; Virus Vodka, with an indirect association; Modelo Especial, with no association with the virus name but from the same company as Corona Extra.
Findings
Despite external data indicating a harmful association between Corona Extra and coronavirus, this study's findings revealed that the brand maintained its brand love in the long run and increased brand loyalty during the critical moments of the pandemic. This study's data suggest that brand love and brand loyalty may be the underlying reasons for the increase in Corona Extra's brand equity during the pandemic.
Originality/value
The COVID-19 pandemic created a highly stressful situation for consumers and brands. Some brands' names had unfortunate semantic similarities with the virus terminology, which became an additional stressor during that time. This study harnessed the opportunity to investigate brand love and brand loyalty during the pandemic at four points in 2020 and one in 2022. The authors also examined relevant Twitter data during 2020.
Details
Keywords
As Big Data and Artificial Intelligence (AI) proliferate, calls have emerged for ethical reflection. Ethics guidelines have played a central role in this respect. While…
Abstract
Purpose
As Big Data and Artificial Intelligence (AI) proliferate, calls have emerged for ethical reflection. Ethics guidelines have played a central role in this respect. While quantitative research on the ethics guidelines of AI/Big Data has been undertaken, there has been a dearth of systematic qualitative analyses of these documents.
Design/methodology/approach
Aiming to address this research gap, this paper analyses 70 international ethics guidelines documents from academia, NGOs and the corporate realm, published between 2017 and 2020.
Findings
The article presents four key findings: existing ethics guidelines (1) promote a broad spectrum of values; (2) focus principally on AI, followed by (Big) Data and algorithms; (3) do not adequately define the term “ethics” and related terms; and (4) have most frequent recourse to the values of “transparency,” “privacy,” and “security.” Based on these findings, the article argues that the guidelines corpus exhibits discernible utilitarian tendencies; guidelines would benefit from greater reflexivity with respect to their ethical framework; and virtue ethical approaches have a valuable contribution to make to the process of guidelines development.
Originality/value
The paper provides qualitative insights into the ethical discourse surrounding AI guidelines, as well as a concise overview of different types of operative translations of theoretical ethical concepts vis-à-vis the sphere of AI. These may prove beneficial for (applied) ethicists, developers and regulators who understand these guidelines as policy.