Daniel Palacios‐Marques, Alejandro Zegarra Saldaña and Jose Enrique Vila
Firms are adopting Web 2.0 technologies to improve collaboration, participation and communication; however there are few empirical studies testing the impact of this adoption. The…
Abstract
Purpose
Firms are adopting Web 2.0 technologies to improve collaboration, participation and communication; however there are few empirical studies testing the impact of this adoption. The purpose of this article is to analyze if there is a linkage amongst market orientation, Web 2.0 adoption and innovativeness.
Design/methodology/approach
Structural equation modeling was used to test the relationships amongst the variables. A sample of 244 firms of the hospitality industry was used. The theoretical approach is based on the market orientation and innovativeness, concepts, which have been studied by various authors in the literature.
Findings
A positive relationship was found between market orientation and Web 2.0 adoption and between Web 2.0 adoption and innovativeness.
Research limitations/implications
The study was developed in one industry, so in order to generalize the findings, additional testing in other industries should be developed. In addition a longitudinal study is encouraged.
Practical implications
Managers are advised to adopt Web 2.0 technologies to strengthen market orientation behaviors and innovativeness.
Originality/value
This article empirically tested the relationship between market orientation and Web 2.0 adoption and the impact of Web 2.0 adoption on innovativeness. Although some managers and researchers have reported some positive impacts of Web 2.0 on different aspects of the organization, there are still few empirical studies, and the authors contributed to fill this void.
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Ana M. Mejías, Enrique Paz and Juan E. Pardo
The purpose of this paper is to analyze the best way to implement sustainable practices in the Logistics Social Responsibility field. Using the best practices (BPs) approach, the…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to analyze the best way to implement sustainable practices in the Logistics Social Responsibility field. Using the best practices (BPs) approach, the authors have answered the question about how logistics function can take on board the principles of sustainability.
Design/methodology/approach
A systematic literature review has been applied, with an analysis of 194 papers from relevant logistics/supply chain management (SCM)-related journals over a 20-year time frame.
Findings
The authors have identified a first set of traditional BPs that are still relevant in the sustainability context, a second set of innovative sustainable BPs and a third set that can be considered sustainable BPs evolved from the traditional cost-efficiency approach, serving as a link between the other ones. This proposed taxonomy of BPs charts a progressive path toward integration of sustainable principles in SC-logistics operations.
Research limitations/implications
The methodological approaches applied entail inherent limitations. However, the authors have set out to ensure rigor by following a structured process approach.
Originality/value
The work contributes by filling two recurring gaps identified in the literature: the need to integrate social and environmental issues and develop more practical tools for implementing sustainable SCM. The progressive way of implementing sustainable BPs has advantages for logistics managers, especially when companies have limited resources for transforming their logistics process into a sustainable process. Additionally, future academic research topics are proposed.
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In this chapter I argue that the search for a sociological postcolonial critique of modernity should not restrict itself to academic sociology. In Latin America a strong tradition…
Abstract
In this chapter I argue that the search for a sociological postcolonial critique of modernity should not restrict itself to academic sociology. In Latin America a strong tradition of essayists has at times assumed genuinely sociological tasks. As I have argued elsewhere (Kozlarek, 2009) the Mexican poet and essayist Octavio Paz should be read in this fashion.In what follows I try to show that what could be termed Paz's sociological critique of modernity is essentially related to his critique of the teleological understanding of modernity that expresses itself in modernization theory. In a second step I argue that Paz's alternative sociology resembles a comparative sociology in which different experiences in the processes of modernizations are compared. Finally, I mention Paz's historical reconstruction of colonial and postcolonial experiences, and close with his description of pathological forms of social interaction that colonialism inscribed in the cultural fabric of everyday life.
Emmanuel Raufflet and Luz-Dinora Vera
Urban poverty, mobilization, leadership, communication
Abstract
Subject area
Urban poverty, mobilization, leadership, communication
Study level/applicability
This case is intended for graduate/postgraduate and MBA courses that discuss management issues in relation to corporate social responsibility, business and society or global issues. This case was successfully tested in an MBA course on sustainable development. These teaching notes result from this in-class experience.
Case overview
The morning of January 22, 2009. Cali, Colombia – Alicia Meneces was a member of the inaugural panel of the Simposio Internacional: Microfinanzas y Construcción de Paz (International Symposium: Microfinance as a Tool for Peacebuilding). The panel was composed of Álvaro Uribe (President of the Republic of Colombia), Enrique Garcia Rodriguez (President of the Development Bank of Latin America-CAF) and Luis Alberto Moreno (President of the Inter-American Development Bank). Her presence contrasted with that of the other panelists on several accounts: she was the only woman, she was the only panelist with direct and daily experience in poor neighborhoods and she was the only one familiar with the everyday processes of community mobilization in relation to microcredit in underprivileged communities. The case focuses on the message that Alicia Meneces intended to deliver to the audience of the Symposium based on her trajectory as a woman, as a community leader, and as the founder of the first Grameen microfinance institution in Colombia.
Expected learning outcomes
After using this case, students will be able to improve their understanding of poverty traps in developing countries; appreciate the challenges of living in poverty and the mechanisms of poverty production; and understand different forms of leadership.
Supplementary materials
Teaching Notes are available for educators only. Please contact your library to gain login details or email support@emeraldinsight.com to request teaching notes.
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THE VAST PORTIONS of land south of the United States, commonly known as Latin America, form a political, social and cultural structure which—with very few exceptions—owes its…
Abstract
THE VAST PORTIONS of land south of the United States, commonly known as Latin America, form a political, social and cultural structure which—with very few exceptions—owes its singularity to its spiritual ties with Spain and Portugal. Although sharp social and cultural contrasts among the Latin American nations do exist, the Spanish language is a formidable link which has helped to overcome many differences. Latin American literature, despite its very distinctive voices, proclaims in unison a literary wealth which ignores political and geographic boundaries. The development of modern Latin American literature springs from the modernista movement, which roughly spans the period between the late 1880's and the 1930's. The Nicaraguan Rubén Darío (1867–1916) is considered the focal point of this new literary school which led to “the discovery of the emotional life made by the romantic, the almost professional awareness of what literature and its latest fashions are” and “the pride of belonging to an Hispanic American generation which, for the first time, is able to specialize in art”. By the time Latin American literature reached European and North American shores during the late 1920's, a vigorous regionalist novel developed. Its basic themes were played against the background of the Argentinian pampa, the Venezuelan plains, the Andean mountains, the villages of revolutionary Mexico or the jungle of Brazil. In essence, this literature was concerned more with nature than with the social and cultural realities of city life. Writers sought to present exotic materials to the urban dwellers.
“A knowledge of different literatures is the best way to free one's self from the tyranny of any of them.” Jose Marti, Cuban writer, poet and statesman.
Diego Quer-Ramón, Enrique Claver-Cortés and Laura Rienda-García
Since the beginning of the 21st century, China’s outward foreign direct investment (OFDI) is growing steadily and Chinese multinationals (MNCs) are playing an increasingly…
Abstract
Purpose
Since the beginning of the 21st century, China’s outward foreign direct investment (OFDI) is growing steadily and Chinese multinationals (MNCs) are playing an increasingly important role in the global economy. Thus, the number of papers focusing on China’s OFDI and Chinese MNCs has been increasing during the last years. The aim of this chapter is to carry out a review of the empirical papers dealing with Chinese MNCs published between 2002 and 2012 in high-impact international business and management journals.
Design/methodology/approach
This chapter reviews 43 empirical papers focusing on Chinese MNCs that were published in nine major scholarly journals between 2002 and 2012.
Findings
We report individual and institutional contributions, the theories and methods used, the research topics, and the main findings. We also discuss implications for future research.
Originality/value
Some previous literature reviews have dealt with research on China’s OFDI and Chinese MNCs. Nevertheless, none of the earlier reviews dealt specifically with empirical papers; neither did they provide an analysis of both individual and institutional contributions.
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Niels Ketelhöhn and Enrique Ogliastri
The purpose of this article is to summarize the basic literature and concepts of innovation and entrepreneurship, emphasizing the relevant studies for Latin America. The authors…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this article is to summarize the basic literature and concepts of innovation and entrepreneurship, emphasizing the relevant studies for Latin America. The authors aim to assess the role of Latin America in the world innovative activity utilizing the production of USPTO patents.
Design/methodology/approac
To achieve the first objective, the authors review and summarize the relevant literature for innovation and entrepreneurship in Latin America. They also introduce each of the papers included in the current special issue of Academia. To achieve the second objective, the authors use the production of USPTO patents by Latin American residents, and examine those levels to the rest of the world.
Findings
The authors find Latin America to be a marginal contributor to the world innovative activity. Although the region represented 8.7 per cent of world GDP in 2011, it only generated 0.19 per cent of the world patents registered at the USPTO between 2008 and 2012, and only 0.17 per cent of all patents registered since 1976. However, countries such as Costa Rica and Uruguay have larger levels of patent production by 100,000 inhabitants with 7.05 and 4.72 for 1976-2012.
Originality/value
This introduction introduces work that continues the intense discussion on innovation and entrepreneurship in Latin America. It is to the extent of the authors' knowledge, one of the first attempts to measure the level of innovation at the regional level, and compare the performance of different countries. This special edition has implications for individuals, firms and governments striving to introduce new products, services and processes in a region that has historically confronted important barriers to innovation.
Resumen
En esta introducción presentamos algunos conceptos básicos sobre innovación y empresariado, y hacemos énfasis en la literatura que ha estudiado estos fenómenos en América Latina. Evaluamos, además, el papel de América Latina en la actividad innovadora mundial, utilizando la producción de patentes registradas en la Oficina de Patentes y Marcas de Estados Unidos (USPTO), y encontramos que América Latina desempeña un papel marginal con relación a otros centros mundiales de innovación. Finalmente, se presentan los artículos de este número de la revista Academia. Esta edición especial tiene implicaciones prácticas para individuos, empresas y gobiernos, que quieran introducir nuevos productos, servicios, y procesos desde una región que históricamente ha tenido que enfrentar barreras a la innovación.
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This study aims to question the psychiatric framework currently adopted by governments toward the traditional plants of great cultures, stigmatized by the paradigm of the…
Abstract
Purpose
This study aims to question the psychiatric framework currently adopted by governments toward the traditional plants of great cultures, stigmatized by the paradigm of the unfounded psychiatric doctrine and to propose the need for a change of outlook.
Design/methodology/approach
Documentary research of the “black history” of coca. Documentary research on academic contributions to the revaluation of coca.
Findings
This brief chronicle of the coca leaf in history, duly documented, proves that its medicinal and energetic prestige was proven and praised by the naturalistic and experimental medicine of the 19th century, a precedent buried by the psychiatric pathologizing version that invented “drug addictions” without any experimental support.
Research limitations/implications
Psychiatry can be revealed as the authoritarian and unpunished inquisition of the 20th century, in its arbitrary pathologizing version of coca leaf consumption and in most of its professional work. A scientific revolution is taking place (Kuhn, 1962), given that the psychopathological paradigm does not respond to the facts surrounding coca leaf consumption and virtues. The medical perspective must replace the negative psychiatric perspective that the law maintains
Practical implications
The author concludes that the way out would be to denounce before the Social and Economic Council of the United Nations, with evidence in hand, the fraud in the 1950 UN Commission on Coca Report, due to concealment on information.
Social implications
Taking advantage of the hygienic and medicinal virtues of plants stigmatized by psychiatry, such as the coca leaf, would put an end to an omnipresent war and give way to peace in the producing areas.
Originality/value
The questioning of the psychiatric frame of reference adopted by governments to deal with coca leaf consumption has led to the “war on drugs.”