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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Daniel de Bortoli, Fauzan Adziman, Eduardo A. de Souza Neto and Francisco M. Andrade Pires
The purpose of this work is to apply a recently proposed constitutive model for mechanically induced martensitic transformations to the prediction of transformation loci…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this work is to apply a recently proposed constitutive model for mechanically induced martensitic transformations to the prediction of transformation loci. Additionally, this study aims to elucidate if a stress-assisted criterion can account for transformations in the so-called strain-induced regime.
Design/methodology/approach
The model is derived by generalising the stress-based criterion of Patel and Cohen (1953), relying on lattice information obtained using the Phenomenological Theory of Martensite Crystallography. Transformation multipliers (cf. plastic multipliers) are introduced, from which the martensite volume fraction evolution ensues. The associated transformation functions provide a variant selection mechanism. Austenite plasticity follows a classical single crystal formulation, to account for transformations in the strain-induced regime. The resulting model is incorporated into a fully implicit RVE-based computational homogenisation finite element code.
Findings
Results show good agreement with experimental data for a meta-stable austenitic stainless steel. In particular, the transformation locus is well reproduced, even in a material with considerable slip plasticity at the martensite onset, corroborating the hypothesis that an energy-based criterion can account for transformations in both stress-assisted and strain-induced regimes.
Originality/value
A recently developed constitutive model for mechanically induced martensitic transformations is further assessed and validated. Its formulation is fundamentally based on a physical metallurgical mechanism and derived in a thermodynamically consistent way, inheriting a consistent mechanical dissipation. This model draws on a reduced number of phenomenological elements and is a step towards the fully predictive modelling of materials that exhibit such phenomena.
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Marcio Luis Vila, Silvio Eduardo Alvarez Candido, Gustavo Mendonca Ferratti and Mário Sacomano Neto
This study aims to analyze the configuration of the board of directors of the five largest banks operating in Brazil, which are members of a financial elite that directly…
Abstract
Purpose
This study aims to analyze the configuration of the board of directors of the five largest banks operating in Brazil, which are members of a financial elite that directly influences the socioeconomic life in Latin America.
Design/methodology/approach
This assessment is inspired by Bourdieu's sociological approach and in the discussion on his work in organization studies and economic sociology. It addresses the organization as a field and investigates its associated field of power. The authors conducted qualitative research and relationally analyzed data related to the trajectory and the social properties of the councilors using the statistical technique called multiple correspondence analysis (MCA).
Findings
The results show that forms of social and cultural capital are particularly influential in the production of distinctions among banks' board members. Moreover, councils' priorities and configurations are diverse: some idealized and based on knowledge, others pragmatic and based on customs, others still anchored in a double logic of market satisfaction and family wealth preservation.
Practical implications
Understanding the objective power relations among these top agents may be crucial for effectively regulating certain aspects of their activities. Furthermore, understanding how different forms of capital affect the relative position of the board members may help us reduce representative bias in what seems today an inner circle.
Originality/value
This study is relevant because it makes an in-depth analysis of the composition of one of the most influential financial elites in Latin America, combining sociological theory and advanced statistical techniques for qualitative grouping (MCA).
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Deniz D. Somer, D Peric, Eduardo Alberto de Souza Neto and Wulf G Dettmer
The purpose of this paper is to present knowledge in estimating yield surfaces of heterogeneous media by use of homogenization, especially where the macroscopic behaviour is…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to present knowledge in estimating yield surfaces of heterogeneous media by use of homogenization, especially where the macroscopic behaviour is driven by weak interfaces between phase constituents.
Design/methodology/approach
A computational homogenization procedure is used to determine the yield surface of a Representative Volume Element (RVE) that contains a fully debonded inclusion embedded within ideally plastic matrix, whereby the interface is modelled by a Coulomb type friction law.
Findings
The macroscopic behaviour of the RVE is shown to coincide an RVE with a hole for expanding loads, whereas for compressive loads, it was shown to approach an RVE with a fully bonded inclusion.
Originality/value
The present paper builds on Gurson’s work in estimating macroscopic yield surfaces of heterogeneous materials. The work is novel in the sense that there had been no previous publications discussing influence of weak interfaces on yield surfaces.
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This essay examines how two Marxist anti-colonial intellectuals from Portuguese India and French India – Aquino de Bragança and V Subbiah – differentially theorized movements for…
Abstract
This essay examines how two Marxist anti-colonial intellectuals from Portuguese India and French India – Aquino de Bragança and V Subbiah – differentially theorized movements for independence from colonial rule. Through the analysis of primary source documents in French, Portuguese, Italian and English, I compare V Subbiah's Dalit, anti-fascist anti-colonial Marxism to Aquino de Bragança's internationalist anti-colonial Marxism. Both theorists' approaches have similarities in (1) theorizing the relationship between fascism and colonialism given that the Portuguese Empire was administered by Salazar's Estado Novo and the French Empire was under Vichy rule, (2) rethinking Marxism to better fit the Global South context and (3) intellectual and political connections to Algeria were critically important for theory and praxis. Despite the distinct geographic and social spaces in which they lived and worked, both produced remarkably similar theories of anti-imperialism.
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Pedro Carvalho Burnier, Diego de Sousa Guerra and Eduardo Eugênio Spers
Information on scales for measuring dimensions related to consumer concerns over production processes is scarce in the literature. The purpose of this study was to develop a more…
Abstract
Purpose
Information on scales for measuring dimensions related to consumer concerns over production processes is scarce in the literature. The purpose of this study was to develop a more comprehensive scale for measuring concern over the production process (CPP).
Design/methodology/approach
The authors derive the concept based on the results of a bibliographic review, existing certification criteria, an interview with five experts and two consumer focus groups. The authors interviewed 725 frequent beef meat consumers to test the scale.
Findings
Statistical tests and purification yielded a final scale with 18 items and six latent variables: animal welfare, traceability, social responsibility, environmental responsibility, legality and sanitation in slaughterhouses. The authors confirmed the nomological validity of the instrument using product involvement as an antecedent construct and attitude related to sustainable consumption as a consequent of CPP.
Research limitations/implications
The research results may lack generalisability. New research avenues are suggested for testing the scale in other cultural contexts and with different groups of consumers and food types.
Practical implications
This study provides insights for cattle ranchers, the industry and the retail sector in formulating communication strategies and product/brand positioning in response to consumer concerns about the production process.
Originality/value
There is no study at present that fully addresses the use of a scale to measure dimensions of production processes. The creation of the CPP scale is a relevant academic contribution that aids in assessing the influence of the environmental dimension in conjunction with other essential constructs.
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Mauricio Centeno Lobão, Rob Eve, D.R.J. Owen and Eduardo Alberto de Souza Neto
The mechanical response of the skeleton of a porous medium is highly dependent on its seepage behaviour as pore pressure modifications affect the in situ stress field. The purpose…
Abstract
Purpose
The mechanical response of the skeleton of a porous medium is highly dependent on its seepage behaviour as pore pressure modifications affect the in situ stress field. The purpose of this paper is to describe how u‐p formulation is employed using an explicit time integration scheme where fully saturated and single‐phase partially saturated analyse are incorporated for 2D and 3D cases.
Design/methodology/approach
Owing to their inherent simplicity, low‐order elements provide an excellent framework in which contact conditions coupled with crack propagation can be dealt with in an effective manner. For linear elements this implies single point integration which, however, can result in spurious zero‐energy modes which necessitates introduction of a stabilization technique to provide reliable results.
Findings
The success of the modelling strategy ultimately depends on the inter‐dependence of different phenomena. The linking between the displacements components, network and pore pressures represents an important role in the efficiency of the overall coupling procedure. Therefore, a master‐slave technique is proposed to link seepage and network fields, proving to be particularly attractive from a computational cost point of view. Another development that has provided substantial savings in CPU times is the use of an explicit‐explicit subcycling scheme.
Originality/value
Significant reduction in computational cost is achievable using a master‐slave procedure to link seepage and fracture network‐flows and an explicit‐explicit subcycling scheme. Special attention is focused on the investigation of the influence of plastic zones in oil production problems.
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Eduardo Márcio Santos Galdino da Silva, Alessandra Ferrari Weber, Marina Figueiredo Moreira and Severino Moreira da Silva
The purpose of this article is to investigate the interrelationships between innovation climate and human capital in the development of dynamic capabilities related to innovation…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this article is to investigate the interrelationships between innovation climate and human capital in the development of dynamic capabilities related to innovation. The study presents a set of concepts about variables involved in the innovation process and their interrelationship, addressing the analysis of international scientific production related to the antecedents of the innovation climate, human capital and dynamic capabilities.
Design/methodology/approach
A review of the literature from 1998 to 2018 was carried out, using descriptive statistical methods, at first, and qualitative analysis of the results in order to visualize the current configuration of the field of study of innovation background.
Findings
The results demonstrate a significant number of studies relating human capital and dynamic capabilities and little quantitative significance in studies relating to a climate of innovation and dynamic capabilities. The research describes how the dynamic capabilities of innovation have been approached in a conceptual model based on the perspective of human capital and innovation climate.
Research limitations/implications
The study did not contemplate the analysis of the interrelationship between the resource configuration construct and the dynamic innovation capacities (part of the gap pointed out by Tuzovic, Wirtz and Heracleous (2018), constituting a perceptible limitation of the analyzes carried out in this article.
Practical implications
The influence of the innovation climate construct and its relationship with dynamic innovation capabilities deserves greater attention in research with an empirical approach, constituting a field to be explored by scientific research in organizations.
Originality/value
The research sought to investigate the gap involving the interrelations between innovation climate and human capital in the development of dynamic capabilities related to innovation, indicating the need for further empirical studies on the subject.
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Cangaço was a form of banditry that occurred in the North-East of Brazil between 1870 and 1940. The movement has inspired many films over the years. This chapter explores the…
Abstract
Cangaço was a form of banditry that occurred in the North-East of Brazil between 1870 and 1940. The movement has inspired many films over the years. This chapter explores the contribution of Cangaço-inspired productions to Brazilian cinema, as well as the particular characteristics of what constitutes the Cangaço genre.
Following a historical survey of the Cangaço, the films were divided into different categories and ranked in terms of relevance. Only the most important are discussed in this chapter.
The Cangaço has been portrayed in Brazilian cinema through the decades in diverse ways, dating back to the 1920s. After becoming a consolidated film genre in the 1950s, then known as Nordestern, the Cangaço finally acquired a proper structure, featuring multiple Western references among its common characteristics. In the 1960s, Glauber Rocha, one of the most prominent filmmakers of the Cinema Novo avant-garde movement, added his own symbolism to the genre. Eventually, the Cangaço was also revisited by directors who combined it with other genres such as comedy, documentary, and erotic films. Another relevant reinterpretation came in the 1990s, when filmmakers of the so-called New Brazilian Cinema offered a new view on the subject.
Despite its strong association with Brazil, the Cangaço has not been thoroughly investigated by researchers. This chapter presents a historical survey and analysis of Cangaço films, highlighting their relevance to Brazilian cinema.
Emerson D. Pacheco, Flávio I. Kubota, Eduardo K. Yamakawa, Edson P. Paladini, Lucila M.S. Campos and Paulo A. Cauchick-Miguel
Increased competition and access to information are forcing companies to provide quality to their products and services, aligned with a growing society pressure for less harmful…
Abstract
Purpose
Increased competition and access to information are forcing companies to provide quality to their products and services, aligned with a growing society pressure for less harmful environmental practices. The purpose of this paper is to demonstrate how the adoption of reverse logistics (RL) may contribute to the generation of competitive advantage and improved quality in a part substitution process of a household appliance company.
Design/methodology/approach
This paper carried out a single case study in a household appliance company. The study collected data through semi-structured interviews in addition to document analysis and observation.
Findings
The implemented practices enhanced service maintenance and customer services and provided a more effective monitoring of defective parts. Moreover, such practices reduced unnecessary part substitutions, consumer dissatisfaction and undesired disposal in the environment. RL in the studied company has offered a potential contribution to the company quality strategies by providing more part returns, assuring cost savings, and reducing time to solve field problems.
Research limitations/implications
The study was limited to a single case study. Thus, the study findings are not subject to generalization for other similar organizations.
Originality/value
This paper is one of the few studies on RL in a household company in the context of an emerging economy. Such feature denotes in a singular scenario in RL investigations about recovering defective parts.