Anete Alberton, Ana Paula Kieling, Franciane Reinert Lyra, Estela Maria Hoffmann, Mariana Pires Vidal Lopez and Silvio Roberto Stefano
This study analyzes the competencies toward sustainability in hotel facilities in order to identify the level of implementation of sustainability practices, as well as individual…
Abstract
Purpose
This study analyzes the competencies toward sustainability in hotel facilities in order to identify the level of implementation of sustainability practices, as well as individual competencies for sustainability in the hospitality companies.
Design/methodology/approach
Interviews and a survey with hotel employees were conducted in two important touristic Brazilian cities, Florianopolis, and Rio de Janeiro, considering the TBL (triple bottom line) dimensions. The data were analyzed with content analysis and descriptive statistics and conjoint analysis.
Findings
Preventive competencies in the companies' management were identified. The research also revealed that competencies for sustainability are fairly present in the hospitality context yet, which demonstrates the urgency to discuss the theme in both academic and business practices.
Research limitations/implications
The access to the hotel managers impaired the performing of a robust statistical analysis; the study provided new insights about the topics investigated and generated information for the theoretical framework about competencies for sustainability.
Practical implications
The research results emphasized the need for the hotel industry to invest in sustainable strategies to meet its target audience, but also to raise the level of its staff and reduce costs in the long term, offering benefits to society, the environment, and, to their businesses.
Social implications
The research socially contributes through promoting discussion on sustainability, which is one of the most challenging and relevant issues for society. Besides, it can assist the diffusion of the competencies for sustainability in the hotel industry, as an attempt to decrease their negative externalities on the environment and primary audiences.
Originality/value
It was identified a distance between practice and the triple bottom line concept, which is linked only to environmental practices. Besides, it was found limited knowledge about the concepts of competencies in the companies.
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Pedro José Raymundo, Diego Hernando Florez Ayala, Ullian Fadu Naatz and Anete Alberton
The aim is to enable debates about the need for changes in the restaurant's management posture regarding food waste.
Abstract
Purpose
The aim is to enable debates about the need for changes in the restaurant's management posture regarding food waste.
Design/methodology/approach
This study is a teaching case about a restaurant and was prepared based on information collected from the authors' experiences in teaching, consulting, and academic research. The plot, company name, and characters are fictitious.
Findings
The results are related to the classroom application to promote discussion and knowledge of topics such as finance, costs, sustainability, food waste, and the Demonstration of Results for the Exercise.
Research limitations/implications
The main limitation is that it is a fictitious study, but it allows applied research based on the authors' scientific knowledge and professional practice.
Practical implications
The theme contributes to anchoring decision-making by managers in the face of day-to-day business challenges. Furthermore, in a contemporary perspective, it involves a small establishment concerning the possibilities of contributing to the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Furthermore, due to the richness of details, the case constitutes an intriguing teaching tool to be applied in the classroom.
Social implications
It impacts social actions, according to the examples found in the narrative used in the teaching case.
Originality/value
Its originality is related to its interdisciplinarity and how it involves the themes of finance and sustainability applied in business practice.
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Adriano Stadler, Anete Alberton and Anne M.J. Smith
This paper examines entrepreneurship education (EE) in Brazil and Scotland and unpacks convergent and divergent practices in vocational education (VE). The authors evaluate access…
Abstract
Purpose
This paper examines entrepreneurship education (EE) in Brazil and Scotland and unpacks convergent and divergent practices in vocational education (VE). The authors evaluate access to EE in VE and suggest and how it might be advanced in Brazil.
Design/methodology/approach
The authors conducted an interpretative phenomenological analysis (IPA); interpretative analysis of interviewee experiences with 12 educationalists, in management and academic roles, from two Brazilian and two Scottish VE institutions, contextual findings inform advances.
Findings
In Scotland, there is a well-defined entrepreneurial ecosystem where government policy and partners support and monitor provision of and accessibility to EE. In Brazil, government does not regulate policy provision of EE, and there is no defined entrepreneurial ecosystem of partners. IPA enabled the authors to examine divergent entrepreneurial education provision and evaluate accessibility to EE in Brazil.
Research limitations/implications
Implications include ways to advance educational inclusivity and accessibility for VE students in Brazil and a call to address availability through policy is underpinned by empirical data. Contextual characteristics of the study might be considered limiting but address a broad call to contribute to EE in VE settings.
Practical implications
The findings of this study equip educationalists with new knowledge about advancing EE provision and delivery in VE, which in turn supports inclusivity.
Originality/value
The authors contribute directly to an agenda that will create impact for young Brazilians through accessible EE models that place EE in VE at the forefront of social change in Brazil.
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Rossano Linassi, Anete Alberton and Sidnei Vieira Marinho
This paper aims to examine whether using menu engineering (ME) together with activity-based costing (ABC) for menu analysis provides new insights into true menu profitability. The…
Abstract
Purpose
This paper aims to examine whether using menu engineering (ME) together with activity-based costing (ABC) for menu analysis provides new insights into true menu profitability. The traditional ME approach only uses food costs to determine the contribution margin (CM) of individual menu items. This combined approach uses both food and traceable operating costs to estimate CMs more accurately.
Design/methodology/approach
An improved ME model was developed and tested in an oriental restaurant in Brazil. Direct observation of restaurant activities allowed most costs to be traced (not simply allocated) to individual menu items.
Findings
The results revealed small differences in the rankings between the traditional approach and ABC/ME, demonstrating that the integration of ABC with ME made it to possible to identify increased food-costs and lower CMs for all groups of menu items. The results also show that ABC methods are applicable to an oriental-style restaurant.
Research limitations/implications
Just one restaurant and only 80 per cent of the menu were examined in this study. Future research should apply the model used here to other restaurant types located in different geographical areas to validate the approach.
Practical implications
The results suggest that ME can be improved upon by first assessing variable costs using ABC methods.
Originality/value
This paper combines two different analytic techniques (ME and ABC) into a new approach that reveals the true picture of profit and loss for a menu from a restaurant in Brazil.
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Barbara de Lima Voss, David Bernard Carter and Bruno Meirelles Salotti
We present a critical literature review debating Brazilian research on social and environmental accounting (SEA). The aim of this study is to understand the role of politics in…
Abstract
We present a critical literature review debating Brazilian research on social and environmental accounting (SEA). The aim of this study is to understand the role of politics in the construction of hegemonies in SEA research in Brazil. In particular, we examine the role of hegemony in relation to the co-option of SEA literature and sustainability in the Brazilian context by the logic of development for economic growth in emerging economies. The methodological approach adopts a post-structural perspective that reflects Laclau and Mouffe’s discourse theory. The study employs a hermeneutical, rhetorical approach to understand and classify 352 Brazilian research articles on SEA. We employ Brown and Fraser’s (2006) categorizations of SEA literature to help in our analysis: the business case, the stakeholder–accountability approach, and the critical case. We argue that the business case is prominent in Brazilian studies. Second-stage analysis suggests that the major themes under discussion include measurement, consulting, and descriptive approach. We argue that these themes illustrate the degree of influence of the hegemonic politics relevant to emerging economics, as these themes predominantly concern economic growth and a capitalist context. This paper discusses trends and practices in the Brazilian literature on SEA and argues that the focus means that SEA avoids critical debates of the role of capitalist logics in an emerging economy concerning sustainability. We urge the Brazilian academy to understand the implications of its reifying agenda and engage, counter-hegemonically, in a social and political agenda beyond the hegemonic support of a particular set of capitalist interests.
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Daiane Antonini Bortoluzzi, Rogério João Lunkes, Edicreia Andrade dos Santos and Alcindo Cipriano Argolo Mendes
This study aims to analyze the effect of online hotel reviews on the relationship between defender and prospector strategies and management control system (MCS) design.
Abstract
Purpose
This study aims to analyze the effect of online hotel reviews on the relationship between defender and prospector strategies and management control system (MCS) design.
Design/methodology/approach
To conduct the study, this paper administered a questionnaire to large Brazilian hotels and analyzed data from 204 hotels using structural equation modeling and fuzzy logic.
Findings
The main results show that online hotel reviews have a positive and significant effect on the relationship between prospector strategy and personnel and action control. In contrast, online reviews have a negative effect on the relationship between defender strategy and personnel, action and results controls. Thus, it is confirmed that online reviews change the relationship between strategy and MCS design.
Practical implications
The results show that online reviews play an important role in the decisions of hotel managers regarding MCS design. Customer demand evaluations, which are regularly available online on analysis websites, help managers adapt the MCS design, ensuring that their actions are aligned with the adopted strategy. This study adds to previous studies by showing that hotel managers use the information from customer evaluations to improve their performance.
Originality/value
The management literature based on the contingency theory indicates that strategy is a variable that affects MCS design. This study extends this discussion by indicating that online reviews, specifically in the hotel industry, can also be a determining factor in defining management controls. In addition, this paper points out that OHR impacts differently, depending on the strategy used and the type of management control.