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This study focuses on intellectual capital (IC) as a driver of better business performance. Recent studies suggest that a set of variables may mediate this relationship. This research discusses the mediating role of dynamic capabilities, network competence, technological capabilities, absorptive capabilities and innovation performance between intellectual capital and business performance.

The conceptual model is tested using a sample of 533 Portuguese firms by means of a structural equation model.

It confirms that intellectual capital impacts business performance. Moreover, this only happens indirectly through the mediating chain defined by the variables dynamic capabilities, network competence, technological capabilities, absorptive capabilities and innovation performance.

This study analyzes new mediator variables between the dimensions of the intellectual capital and Portuguese business performance.

This paper aims to explore a new causal link between market orientation and business performance by introducing dynamic capabilities as a mediator of the relationship between market orientation and competitive advantages, which ultimately determine business performance.

The mediating roles of dynamic capabilities and competitive advantages are tested with a sample of 1,190 Portuguese firms using a structural equation model.

The results confirm the hypotheses regarding the mediating roles of the competitive advantages (differentiation and cost leadership) in the relationship between dynamic capabilities and business performance. Additionally, dynamic capabilities also mediate the relationship between market orientation and competitive advantages.

This study shows that business performance depends on the capacity of firms to collect the best market information on customers and competitors, to disseminate this information throughout their internal structure and ultimately optimize its use to respond appropriately to market challenges and trends. These will provide firms with a set of capabilities and a competitive advantage.

This study provides empirical evidence on the understanding of the relationship between market orientation and performance, through the mediating effects of both dynamic capabilities and competitive advantages.

This paper aims to explore a new causal link between learning, market and entrepreneurial orientations and firms' performance by introducing dynamic capabilities and competitive advantages as mediator variables.

The mediating role of dynamic capabilities and competitive advantages is tested using a sample of 1,190 Portuguese firms, and structural equation models.

It is shown that dynamic capabilities mediate the relationship between the three orientations–learning, market and entrepreneurial–and competitive advantages of differentiation and cost leadership, and both competitive advantages lead to firm's performance. It is also shown that learning orientation is an antecedent of market orientation and entrepreneurial orientation.

This research shows that firm's performance depends on the capacity of firms to learn, innovate, be proactive, take risks and collect the best market data. Indeed, by optimizing the internal management and knowledge dissemination, firms will develop a set of capabilities and competitive advantages that lead to an appropriate response to market challenges.

This study tests the relationship between strategic orientations and firm's performance by taking the mediating effects of dynamic capabilities and competitive advantages into account. This research was conducted in Portugal.

The complexity of the firm’s external environment, with its constant changes, forces managers to develop novel strategies that can meet new strategic needs. The purpose of this study is to examine the role of reward systems (RSs) in strategic management, as well as their relationship to learning and entrepreneurial orientation (EO), commonly referred to as the driving force behind growth, competitive advantages (CAs) and improved performance. It also focuses on the study of the relationship between EO and business performance (BP), the introduction and testing of the possible antecedents of this relationship and potential mediating factors.

A conceptual model was tested on a sample of 1,190 Portuguese firms using a structural equation model.

It is shown for the first time that learning orientation (LO) is an antecedent of the RSs and, subsequently, of EO. Additionally, the CAs of differentiation and cost leadership play a mediating role in the relationship between EO and BP. Furthermore, RSs are also a driving force behind both CAs.

This study makes several empirical and theoretical contributions, addressing the gap in the literature about the role of RSs in strategic management. It tests the relationship between LO and the firm’s performance by taking the mediating effects of RSs, EO and CAs into account. Additionally, we discuss LO as an antecedent strategic variable of human resources practices, in particular, RSs. Finally, we broaden the scope of our research by examining these issues in the context of Portuguese SMEs from different industries.

The purpose of this study is to examine the mediating role of manufacturing flexibility in the relationship between knowledge creation, technological turbulence and performance. In an increasingly competitive and changing environment, firms need to boost their technological and management know-how to adequately develop manufacturing flexibility.

This study analyzes survey data collected from 370 manufacturing firms. Validity and reliability analyses were conducted using SPSS and Amos. The research hypotheses were tested using covariance-based structural equation modelling.

The main findings show that knowledge creation positively and significantly affects business and operational performances directly, and indirectly, through manufacturing flexibility. Moreover, technological turbulence has a positive and significant effect on it. This finding contributes to understanding why some firms get better outcomes from manufacturing flexibility than others, a disputed issue in the literature.

This study highlights the need for manufacturing firms to foster cultures of knowledge creation, to better educate and train employees and to develop other instruments of knowledge creation.

This study makes several contributions to manufacturing flexibility literature: (1) establishing a link between technological turbulence and knowledge creation to develop manufacturing flexibility; (2) add empirical evidence on the relation between manufacturing flexibility and performance and (3) contributes to consolidating the mediation role of manufacturing flexibility in the relations between knowledge creation and business performance, as studies focussing on such a role are scarce in the literature.

Shifting demand and ever-shorter production cycles pressure manufacturing flexibility. Although the literature has established the positive effect of the firm's absorptive capacity on manufacturing flexibility, the separate role of the innovation competencies of exploitation and exploration in such a relationship is still under-investigated. In this study, the authors examine how these competencies affect manufacturing flexibility.

The authors use survey data from 370 manufacturing firms and analyze them using covariance-based structural equation modeling (CB–SEM).

The results indicate that absorptive capacity has a strong, positive and direct effect on exploitative and exploratory innovation competencies, proactive and responsive market orientations, and manufacturing flexibility. The authors’ findings also demonstrate that the exploitative innovation competencies mediate the relation between responsive market orientation and manufacturing flexibility. Essentially, these exploitative innovation competencies produce a direct positive effect on manufacturing flexibility while simultaneously being a vehicle for absorptive capacity's indirect effects on it. An exploration innovation strategy does not significantly affect manufacturing flexibility.

This study contributes by combining key strategic features of firms with manufacturing flexibility, while providing new empirical evidence of the mediation of the exploitative innovation competencies in the relation between responsive market orientation and manufacturing flexibility.

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.

The application of condition-based maintenance on selected equipment can allow online monitoring using fixed, half-fixed or portable sensors. The collected data not always allow a straightforward interpretation and many false alarms can happen. The paper aims to discuss these issues.

Statistical techniques can be used to perform early failure detection. With the application of Cumulative Sum (CUSUM) Modified Charts and the Exponentially Weighted Moving Average (EWMA) Charts, special causes of variation can be detected online and during the equipment functioning. Before applying these methods, it is important to check data for independence. When the independence condition is not verified, data should be modeled with an ARIMA (p, d, q) model. Parameters estimation is obtained using the Shewhart Traditional Charts.

With data monitoring and statistical methods, it is possible to detect any system or equipment failure trend, so that we can act at the right time to avoid catastrophic failures.

In this work, an electro pump condition is monitored. Through this process, an anomaly and four stages of aggravation are forced, and the CUSUM and EWMA modified control charts are applied to test an online equipment monitoring. When the detection occurs, the methodology will have rules to define the degree of intervention.

This paper investigates the relationship between technological uncertainty and the use of Industry 4.0 (I4.0) technologies, and its impact on the implementation of agile and lean supply chain strategies. It also examines the effect of both of these supply chain strategies on focal firm operational performance in terms of efficiency in manufacturing processes and delivery performance.

Survey data were gathered from 256 focal manufacturing companies in Spain using a structured questionnaire. Covariance-based structural equation modeling (CB-SEM) is used to test the conceptual model.

Underpinned by the Contingency Theory and the Resource Orchestration Theory, the results indicate that technology uncertainty has a strong association with I4.0 technology use. Furthermore, the use of I4.0 technologies facilitates the implementation of the lean supply chain strategy and the agile supply chain strategy. Focal firm operational performance was also observed to be affected by the two strategies in different ways.

This study extends the literature on operations management by studying the fit between the external environment and strategy by incorporating an in-between element: the use of I4.0 technologies. This research provides a unique empirical analysis of the role of technology uncertainty and integration between I4.0 technologies and supply chain strategies.

The purpose of this study is to apply the Meshless Local Petrov–Galerkin (MLPG) method to solve the bending problems of linear viscoelastic plates, considering Reissner’s theory.

The weak formulation for the set of equations that govern Reissner’s plate theory is implemented in conjunction with the integral formulation applied to viscoelastic constitutive expressions. A meshless method based on the Moving Least Squares (MLS) approximation is considered in the numerical implementation. The final equation system is assembled by adopting simple and efficient schemes for numerical integration, considering a simplified formulation through centralization of the local interpolation domains and Gaussian quadrature at the same field point. The results obtained are compared with available solutions to demonstrate the efficiency of the proposed formulation.

The hereditary integral approach proved to be the most general way to analyze the viscoelastic problem, especially when applied together with the modified scheme for numerical integration. In addition, the variable changing technique is demonstrated to be an efficient formulation for solving shear-locking effects in thin plate problems.

The differential of the present study is related to the manner in which the properties of linear viscoelastic materials are considered in the formulation. Although most authors consider this point through the application of the correspondence principle, the present study works with a hereditary integral formulation. In addition, the variable changing technique is applied to solve the shear-locking effects, and an alternative approximation technique is considered to speed up the numerical integration process.