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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Mário Dias Lousã, Henrique Teixeira and José Carlos Pereira de Morais
This study aims to investigate the evolution of cybersecurity in autonomous vehicles over the past decade, focusing on influential publications, leading authors, key themes and…
Abstract
Purpose
This study aims to investigate the evolution of cybersecurity in autonomous vehicles over the past decade, focusing on influential publications, leading authors, key themes and emerging research trends.
Design/methodology/approach
A systematic literature review was conducted using the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses approach, with data extracted from The Lens database and analyzed using VOSviewer and Bibliometrix. This study provides a quantitative overview of academic trends from 2014 to 2023. The analysis reveals significant growth in scientific production, predominantly driven by the USA, China and the UK. Central themes include network security, cyberattack prevention and regulatory frameworks.
Findings
The findings emphasize that cybersecurity, artificial intelligence (AI) and regulation are critical for developing secure and reliable vehicular systems.
Research limitations/implications
Future research should focus on enhancing security in vehicle-to-everything, vehicle-to-vehicle and vehicle-to-infrastructure communications by improving protocols and integrating AI.
Practical implications
Key themes identified include trust in security, reliability and user experience.
Social implications
The analysis highlights future research directions, particularly the integration of AI with sustainable development and autonomous transportation policies.
Originality/value
This study provides a quantitative overview of academic trends from 2014 to 2023 regarding the theme of cybersecurity and self-driving cars.
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José Carlos Pereira de Morais, Nelson Castro Neves, Luís Abranches Soveral and João Lima
There is a growing urgent concern in involving higher education institutions (HEIs) towards an international effort in implementing a more suitable role as conductors of…
Abstract
Purpose
There is a growing urgent concern in involving higher education institutions (HEIs) towards an international effort in implementing a more suitable role as conductors of sustainable development. This paper/study aims to present the application of light emiting diode (LED) technology in an HEI assuming technology innovation as part of a larger institutional innovation management strategy addressing multiple dimensions in sustainability.
Design/methodology/approach
Investments in LED technology are analyzed for their impact on consumption results and quantitative comparisons between 2008 and 2022 are impaired with detailed information on the types of luminaires and the amount of installed energy.
Findings
The collected data shows a clear economic advantage of using LED technology, and the results subsidize institutional planning, considering not only ongoing technological innovation, but also educational components and community involvement in the organization sustainability strategy.
Research limitations/implications
The study is limited to a specific HEI and further comparative research should be carried out.
Practical implications
A holistic approach on sustainability objectives encourages further investment in environmental-friendly technology, example to other HEIs.
Social implications
The strategic vision of innovation is confirmed with the involvement of the community, at various levels, such as the academic community, local community, scientific international community.
Originality/value
This study addresses the lack of examples in the literature of structural planning and management systems that see sustainability as a strategy built in HEIs. The elaboration of an environmental sustainability plan places environmental sustainability at the confluence of themes such as education, investigation, use of natural resources, waste separation. For each topic are listed measures, actions, environment improvements, institution improvements and their results.
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Rodrigo Cortopassi Goron Lobo, Susan Gilbertz and Jose Carlos Pereira de Morais
Marek Michalski, Jose Luis Montes-Botella and Whashington Guevara Piedra
This article presents a new approach to modeling the relationships of eco-innovation. The impact of eco-innovation on organizational performance is well known, but the opposite…
Abstract
Purpose
This article presents a new approach to modeling the relationships of eco-innovation. The impact of eco-innovation on organizational performance is well known, but the opposite direction has not been explored.
Design/methodology/approach
The research used an online questionnaire survey emailed to 100 Ecuadorian managers. Data obtained from the 62 respondents were analyzed through structural equation modeling.
Findings
The results confirm that while eco-innovation increases company performance, higher performance is negatively related to eco-innovation, with managers preferring to dedicate company resources to projects with more significant benefits and lower outlay.
Research limitations/implications
This study was conducted in one country, so generalizability may be limited. Moreover, the cross-sectional data prevent inferences of causality.
Practical implications
Eco-innovation activities are important to managers and can help them with a new definition of company strategy. The findings confirm that eco-innovation drives performance but not vice versa. It could be necessary to modify the strategy to create a sustainable business.
Originality/value
The results elucidate both directions of the relationship between eco-innovation and performance, representing a new contribution to the literature. The results also confirm that eco-innovation activities are valuable tools in building and developing emerging economies.
Propósito
Este documento presenta un nuevo enfoque del modelo de la eco-innovación. La relación entre la eco-innovación y el resultado empresarial es bien conocida. Sin embargo, la relación inversa no ha sido investigada con la misma dedicación.
Diseño/metodología/enfoque
En nuestra investigación utilizamos el método de encuesta electrónica. Se enviaron cuestionarios a 100 gerentes ecuatorianos, recibiendo las 62 respuestas válidas. Los datos obtenidos se analizaron mediante modelos de ecuaciones estructurales.
Hallazgos
Los resultados confirman que las eco-innovaciones aumentan el resultado de la empresa. Sin embargo, la relación inversa tiene signo negativo; en este contexto, los directivos prefieren dedicar los recursos de la empresa a diferentes proyectos con mayores beneficios y menor gasto que aquellos centrados en la eco-innovación.
Originalidad
Nuestros resultados completan el análisis de las relaciones entre la eco-innovación y el rendimiento empresarial y representan una nueva contribución a la Academia. Los resultados también confirman que las actividades de eco-innovaciones son herramientas valiosas para construir y desarrollar economías en mercados emergentes.
Limitaciones/implicaciones de la investigación
Este estudio se realizó en un entorno específico de un país, por lo que las generalizaciones son limitadas. Nuestros datos son intersectoriales, lo que dificulta establecer relaciones de causalidad.
Implicaciones prácticas
Los resultados de las actividades relacionadas con la eco-innovación son importantes para los gerentes y pueden ayudarlos redefinir la estrategia de la empresa. Los resultados confirman que la eco-innovación impulsa el rendimiento y muestra que no existe la misma relación entre el rendimiento y las eco-innovaciones. Se podría sugerir que es necesario modificar su estrategia para crear un negocio sostenible.
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Paulo Fuchs, Carlos Raulino, Diogo Conceição, Samara Neiva, Wellyngton Silva de Amorim, Thiago Coelho Soares, Maurício Andrade de Lima, Carlos Rogerio Montenegro De Lima, João Coelho Soares and José Baltazar Salgueirinho Osório de Andrade Andrade Guerra
Sustainability is understood as a complex and integrating area, involving the most diverse areas and fields of knowledge. Because of the innumerable socio-environmental challenges…
Abstract
Purpose
Sustainability is understood as a complex and integrating area, involving the most diverse areas and fields of knowledge. Because of the innumerable socio-environmental challenges in the current scenario, a sustainable development that finds the necessary changes and advances for communities, industry and the various stakeholders involved is required. In this process of promoting sustainable development, universities stand out for being institutions capable of taking an analytical and questioning look at the directions of the society in which they are inserted and not just helping them to pursue them, serving as a model and living laboratory for the implementation of greener practices in cities. One of the actions that contributes to the consolidation process of a more sustainable university and the development of the green campus is the use of green marketing, understood as a set of all the practices that involve conventional marketing, focused on the search to reduce the negative impact or promote positive effects on the relationship between the institution and the environment. This paper aims, based on the balanced scorecard (BSC), to propose a strategic management tool as support for green marketing strategies, thus promoting, more quickly, the promotion of sustainable development in higher education institutions (HEIs).
Design/methodology/approach
Four universities were chosen, from the literature, in terms of best practices for sustainable development, where the main dimensions used by green marketing were mapped. Based on them, the BSC structure was adapted to enhance its strategies.
Findings
To achieve the objective of this work, this paper proposed an adaptation of the original BSC for better management of green marketing strategies for universities, based on four dimensions: community members, university members, product and strategy.
Originality/value
The main contribution of this paper is to propose a BSC as a strategic management system focused on the green marketing of universities to accelerate the promotion of sustainable development in HEIs.
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Diversified trading networks have recently drawn a great deal of attention. In the process, the importance of diversity has perhaps been overemphasized. Using the trade in port…
Abstract
Diversified trading networks have recently drawn a great deal of attention. In the process, the importance of diversity has perhaps been overemphasized. Using the trade in port wine from Portugal to Britain as an example, this essay attempts to show how a market once dominated by general, diversified traders was taken over by dedicated specialists whose success might almost be measured by the degree to which they rejected diversification to form a dedicated “commodity chain.” The essay suggests that this strategy was better able to handle matters of quality and the specialized knowledge that port wine required. The essay also highlights the question of power in such a chain. Endemic commodity-chain struggles are clearest in the vertical brand war that broke out in the nineteenth century, which, by concentrating power, marked the final stage in the transformation of the trade from network to vertical integration.
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Maria Angela Cruz Macedo dos Santos, Lucas Melo Vellame, Alisson Jadavi Pereira Silva, José Carlos de Araújo and Alisson Macendo Amaral
This paper aims to determine and evaluate the calibration curve for low-cost electronic sensors in soils from a reclaimed and degraded area in the Brazilian semiarid region.
Abstract
Purpose
This paper aims to determine and evaluate the calibration curve for low-cost electronic sensors in soils from a reclaimed and degraded area in the Brazilian semiarid region.
Design/methodology/approach
The probes were made, programmed and inserted in soil previously conditioned in polyethylene cylinders. The sets “cylinder + probe + soil” were subjected to saturation for a period of 24 h and, subsequently, gravitational drainage at room temperature and daily weighings were performed. When the set reached constant weight, the samples were taken to dry in an oven at 105°C to determine the dry mass and later, determine the gravimetric moisture and convert it into volumetric. The volumetric moistures obtained were related to measured frequency variations and the adjustments were analyzed by regression, which was subjected to analysis of variance (p = 0.05), and related by a third-degree polynomial equation whose quality of the fit was verified with coefficient of determination (R2).
Findings
The obtained moistures were related to the estimated moistures and evaluated by the root-mean-square error and straight 1:1. The results demonstrate that the sensors are not accurate for moistures in saturation, but representative and statistically acceptable results for moistures up to field capacity.
Originality/value
This paper has not been published before in its current, or similar form.
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Gustavo Silva, Leandro F. Pereira, José Crespo Carvalho, Rui Vinhas da Silva and Ana Simoes
This study aims to conduct a pertinent assessment of the concept of business competitiveness and how Portugal can progress in that field, for the sake of becoming a more…
Abstract
Purpose
This study aims to conduct a pertinent assessment of the concept of business competitiveness and how Portugal can progress in that field, for the sake of becoming a more sustainable and wealth-creator economy.
Design/methodology/approach
The research was elaborated with 65 in-depth interviews with expert persons from the Portuguese business ecosystem, who were asked to reflect on the state of the economy and competitiveness of the country.
Findings
There is much room for improvement in almost all areas of activity, in particular by promoting an innovative, value-adding and exporting private sector and a lighter and more efficient public sector. The conclusions point to modernisation of the Portuguese economy as a way of making it more competitive in a highly competitive and demanding global scenario.
Originality/value
To the best of the authors’ knowledge, it is the first time that a reflection with experts of the local Portuguese economy has been carried out, especially after a difficult period of COVID.