José A. Blanco, David W. Gillingham and John H. Lewko
The purpose of this paper is to propose a simple heuristic model that provides diagnostic capabilities and prevention insights.
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to propose a simple heuristic model that provides diagnostic capabilities and prevention insights.
Design/methodology/approach
The paper brings together findings from previous research including injury statistics from several industries to illustrate that the model's predicted results can be found in practice. This is a conceptual paper that applies a simple heuristic model to existing data. The model leads to an equation with four parameters: a rate of improvement reflecting prevention, a rate of deterioration reflecting obsolescence and lapsing of procedures and practices, an intrinsic limit reflecting technological capability, and a “viscosity” that adds the impact of management system malfunction to the technological limits and normal delays.
Findings
The model says that, on the average, injury rates decrease with time if the rate of rejection is greater than the rate of mortality. If “r”<“m” injury rates increase exponentially with time, and drastic results can follow. When “r”=”m” the model produces a constant rate of failure that will continue until something is done to increase “r” or decrease “m”. A constant rate of failure means that an apparent safety limit has been reached. Unless this corresponds to the technological limit, a constant rate means that some preventable failures are recurring with regularity: they risk being accepted as “hazards of the job”. Stable periods may be normal, but they can lead to complacency.
Practical implications
The heuristic power of the model is evident in that parameters and insights from applying it can help define prevention activities to reduce the rate of injury and, by implication, to lengthen operational periods between consecutive injuries.
Originality/value
The drum model can help managers understand the separate but related effects of technology and management on injury rates. The model can be used to seek prevention possibilities hidden in the aggregate data, and it can help the manager to use period data to identify areas or groups in need of help.
Sarah Lee, Jacob A. Massoud and Chang Seob Yeo
Primary and secondary data were used to prepare this case. For primary data, the company’s owner was interviewed on multiple occasions. The authors also used Vino Mundo company…
Abstract
Research methodology
Primary and secondary data were used to prepare this case. For primary data, the company’s owner was interviewed on multiple occasions. The authors also used Vino Mundo company materials, websites and internal reports in developing the case. Other secondary data sources were used to obtain information on the external environment, industry, demographics and market. Secondary data sources included the World Bank, INEC and Urban and Cities Platform data sets.
Case overview/synopsis
Vino Mundo was a restaurant and event space in a beautiful mountain villa outside of San Jose, Costa Rica. It offered international cuisine and wine. The founder and owner, Guillermo Aguilar, faced challenges with sustaining and growing his business in the wake of the global pandemic in 2022. Although he had a strong vision for Vino Mundo, he needed to revisit his strategic plan, especially in marketing. He had many decisions to make in 2023.
Complexity academic level
The case is primarily designed for upper-level undergraduate and graduate marketing courses. It is well-suited for subjects such as marketing management, entrepreneurial marketing, marketing in emerging markets, family and small business marketing and global marketing. It covers topics including marketing strategy and tactics, new product development, segmentation, targeting, positioning, strategic marketing management, family businesses and emerging markets.
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Gustavo Morales-Alonso, José Antonio Blanco-Serrano, Yilsy Núñez Guerrero, Mercedes Grijalvo and Francisco José Blanco Jimenez
This research aims at the theory of planned behavior (TPB) and the global entrepreneurship monitor (GEM) framework – How can cognitive traits for entrepreneurship be used by…
Abstract
Purpose
This research aims at the theory of planned behavior (TPB) and the global entrepreneurship monitor (GEM) framework – How can cognitive traits for entrepreneurship be used by incubators and accelerators?
Design/methodology/approach
In this research the authors analyze the factors that catalyze the founding of new technology-based firms. From a practitioner stand-point, the GEM posits that these factors can be classified as contextual, social and individual factors. The present study focuses on the latter, looking into how demographic characteristics, possession of human capital and cognitive traits interrelate. The authors rely on a sample of 141 technological new ventures being incubated in Madrid, Spain, which is analyzed with the multilayer perceptron technique.
Findings
The results show that cognitive traits, as defined in the TPB, act as the “last mile” in the entrepreneurial decision process, while demographic and human capital factors appear to antecede them. These results are relevant for incubators and accelerators, which now gain a better, more complete understanding of success factors of their incubatees.
Originality/value
This research deals both with practitioners' view of entrepreneurship and with scientific literature, intertwining both with the purpose of providing valuable information for incubators and accelerators.
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Nielson Veloso Medeiros, Emanuel Negrão Macêdo, Rui Nelson Otoni Magno, Claudio José Cavalcante Blanco and João Nazareno Nonato Quaresma
The aim of this paper is related to an analysis of hydrodynamic lubrication of circular thrust bearings.
Abstract
Purpose
The aim of this paper is related to an analysis of hydrodynamic lubrication of circular thrust bearings.
Design/methodology/approach
The modified Reynolds equation was treated to obtain a hybrid numerical-analytical solution through the generalized integral transform technique (GITT) for the problem.
Findings
Numerical results for the engineering parameters such as pressure field, load capacity and power consumption were thus produced as functions of the radial and circumferential directions. These parameters depend on the geometry of sector-shaped used: Rayleigh pad with 4, 8 and 16 steps. Comparing among them, on the numerical point of view, the Rayleigh pad geometry with N = 16 steps has a better satisfactory performance because it has a lower power consumption.
Originality/value
The present GITT results and those obtained by the finite volume method (FVM) from previous works in the literature were confronted to verify whether the results are consistent and to demonstrate the capacity of the GITT approach in handling thrust bearing problems.
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José Roberto Díaz-Reza, Jorge Luis García-Alcaraz, Alfonso Jesus Gil-López, Julio Blanco-Fernández and Emilio Jimenez-Macias
The purpose of this paper is to measure the relationships between advanced manufacturing technologies (AMTs) categories (stand-alone, intermediated and integrated systems…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to measure the relationships between advanced manufacturing technologies (AMTs) categories (stand-alone, intermediated and integrated systems) implementation and design, process and commercial benefits obtained.
Design/methodology/approach
A survey is designed with benefits gained from AMT implementation as well as its categories, which is applied to the maquiladora industry. A structural equation model with data from 383 responses is used to measure the relationship between AMT categories and benefits gained using nine hypotheses that are tested statistically significant using partial least squares. Also, using conditional probabilities, a sensitivity analysis reports how low and high levels from AMT implementation influence on the obtained benefits.
Findings
Integrated systems are the most important AMT for maquiladoras and have the strongest impact on design, processes and commercial benefits.
Research limitations/implications
Data obtained support the model, but results may be different in another industrial sector and countries with different labor culture and technological level.
Practical implications
Managers in maquiladora industry must focus their attention on integrated manufacturing systems, because high implementation levels guarantee the biggest probability to gain benefits in design, production process and commercial.
Originality/value
The relationship between AMT and their benefits has not been measured in depth, and this paper contributes to understand that problem. In addition, this paper is the first to report a sensitivity analysis that enables managers to acknowledge the probability of obtaining certain benefits.
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Fabio Blanco-Mesa, Anna Maria Gil-Lafuente and Jose M. Merigo
The purpose of this paper is to develop a novel method to analyse dynamic interactions of stakeholders to explain how a set of agents can act by considering the power/influence…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to develop a novel method to analyse dynamic interactions of stakeholders to explain how a set of agents can act by considering the power/influence positions.
Design/methodology/approach
A novel mathematical application uses the importance of characteristics algorithm in combination with composition max-min to compare, group and order information according to the importance of its characteristics. The mathematical application is focused on a strategic analysis, evaluating stakeholder dynamics through power relationships.
Findings
The results show a comparison of the relationships among each of the stakeholders to obtain the relative intensity and importance of relationships between them, given by the fuzzy matrix FRInM and the fuzzy matrix FRIM, respectively. This application provides a useful tool for a dynamic analysis of stakeholders in a complex environment, where the best approach to performing a strategic analysis process is sought.
Research limitations/implications
The main implication of the proposed approach is taking into account the importance of information to establish the boundaries and relationships of each characteristic according to its intensity. However, limitations are due to the nature of this research, based on theoretical assumptions regarding stakeholders and the use of a hypothetical example to show the operation of algorithms.
Originality/value
The primary advantage of this proposition is that it takes into account the importance of information to establish the relationships among the characteristics according to their intensity. In addition, it performs multiple comparisons among each characteristic of the information. The interests and opinions of decision makers can be parameterised. A mathematical application shows how each interest group could be classified and related according to subjective information.
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Juan Manuel Menéndez Blanco and José Luis Montes Botella
This paper aims to explore how companies could adapt to challenges derived from globalization, competitiveness and knowledge-based economy through resiliency as organizational…
Abstract
Purpose
This paper aims to explore how companies could adapt to challenges derived from globalization, competitiveness and knowledge-based economy through resiliency as organizational property. It delves to into the factors enhancing the termed nurtured, especially those related to human resources and innovation.
Design/methodology/approach
The research approach is framed within the long run analysis of the internal perspective of resources and business performance (resources-based model) and the theory of complex adaptive systems. According to these approaches, methods and variables for empirically assess company resilience are proposed.
Findings
Main findings indicate a considerable contribution of human resources and innovation to company resilience. Besides, adaptive company resilience requires product diversification and productivity. By strengthening and developing nurtured resilience, a company is equipped to quickly recovering after being adversely affected by a shock, withstand shocks and avoid shocks.
Practical implications
Resilience focus management could be an additional tool for managing the unexpected and also complementary to early warning systems.
Originality/value
This paper regards resilience as an integrated and overall framework for developing company internal capabilities balancing efficiency and adaptability (and does not consider it, merely, as an add-on).
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This chapter intends to make an extended periodization of economic discussions that have taken place in Latin America throughout its history. The task is ambitious; we begin…
Abstract
This chapter intends to make an extended periodization of economic discussions that have taken place in Latin America throughout its history. The task is ambitious; we begin, however, with the periodization elaborated by Oreste Popescu, which we then expand and modify. As educators, we still have to work on the training of Latin American economists, due to the lack of knowledge they have not only about the region as a whole, but also of the economic debates that took place within it. This work is a first approximation and provocation aimed to jumpstart a discussion on these issues.
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Manuel Guisado-González, Jennifer González-Blanco and José Luis Coca-Pérez
Although most of the literature supports the existence of a substitutive relationship between exploration and exploitation, some authors suggest that this relationship is…
Abstract
Purpose
Although most of the literature supports the existence of a substitutive relationship between exploration and exploitation, some authors suggest that this relationship is complementary (ambidexterity), and others argue that there is no relationship. This paper aims to introduce organizational innovation into the analysis and discusses which of these three relationships prevails.
Design/methodology/approach
Analyses were performed using data from Spanish Technological Innovation Panel for the period 2008-2013. It should be emphasized that the use of panel data is essential in the analysis of the interaction of exploration and exploitation, as exploration only makes sense in the long run. Econometric strategy uses a two-stage selection model, estimated using the Wooldridge’s (1995) consistent estimator for panel data with sample selection. To perform the test, the hypothesis uses the approach of complementarity.
Findings
The results show that the relationships exploration-organizational innovation and exploitation-organizational innovation are complementary, provided that the analysis is performed on companies that simultaneously carry out exploration and exploitation activities, respectively. This indicates that the achievement of ambidexterity is strongly conditioned by the simultaneous realization of organizational innovations.
Practical implications
Managers and policymakers should be aware that the simultaneous implementation of exploration and exploitation yields better results when the corresponding organizational innovations are also implemented.
Originality/value
This paper extends the empirical investigation of the relationship between exploration and exploitation, seen in conjunction with organizational innovation, and using the complementarity approach as a research tool.