Running your own business is an idea many women are attracted to. But it's also quite a frightening prospect. How do you make a decision over such a big question? Ideally, it…
Abstract
Running your own business is an idea many women are attracted to. But it's also quite a frightening prospect. How do you make a decision over such a big question? Ideally, it would make itself, but running a business that isn't going to bankrupt you needs a more positive line. Juliana Morgan is trying to decide right now whether to start a small business. She argues it out with herself here.
Juliana Conceição Noschang da Costa, Shirlei Miranda Camargo, Ana Maria Machado Toaldo and Simone Regina Didonet
The purpose of this paper is to analyze effects of absorptive capacity (ACAP) on organizational performance. The model looks at the mediating influence of marketing capabilities…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to analyze effects of absorptive capacity (ACAP) on organizational performance. The model looks at the mediating influence of marketing capabilities (innovative capability and new product development capability (NPDC)) and innovation performance (IP).
Design/methodology/approach
This study takes a quantitative approach by using survey data from 333 Brazilian manufacturer managers involved with strategic marketing processes. Structural equation modeling was used to test the theoretical hypotheses.
Findings
Results indicate that ACAP does not have a direct impact on organizational performance. The relation is fully mediated by marketing capabilities (innovative capability and NPDC) and IP.
Research limitations/implications
According to the research findings, managers should put efforts in the ACAP as well as marketing capabilities that will result in better organizational performance. This research is limited to the context of manufacturer firms in Brazil. However, it is suggested that an application of this research can be conducted in different industries and different countries.
Originality/value
This study contributes to theory and management practice. First, no study has explored all these constructs together. Through the relationship between ACAP and performance, the authors found that marketing capabilities and IP can fully mediate the former proposed relation. The authors’ contribution is the understanding of the role of ACAP influence on performance. Managers should be encouraged to invest in companies’ ACAP as well as marketing capabilities to differentiate themselves from competitors and improve performance.
Details
Keywords
Juliana Hsuan, Marin Jovanovic and Diego Honorato Clemente
This study shows various pathways manufacturers can take when embarking on digital servitization (DS) journeys. It builds on the DS and modularity literature to map the strategic…
Abstract
Purpose
This study shows various pathways manufacturers can take when embarking on digital servitization (DS) journeys. It builds on the DS and modularity literature to map the strategic trajectories of product–service–software (PSSw) configurations.
Design/methodology/approach
The study is exploratory and based on the inductive theory building method. The empirical data were gathered through a workshop with focus groups of 15 servitization manufacturers (with 22 respondents), an on-site workshop (in-depth case study), semi-structured interviews, observations and document study of archival data.
Findings
The DS trajectories are idiosyncratic and dependent on design architectures of PSSw modules, balancing choices between standardization and innovation. The adoption of software systems depends on the maturity of the industry-specific digital ecosystem. Decomposition and integration of PSSw modules facilitate DS transition through business model modularity. Seven testable propositions are presented.
Research limitations/implications
With the small sample size from different industries and one in-depth case study, generalizing the findings was not possible.
Practical implications
The mapping exercise is powerful when top management from different functional departments can participate together to share their expertise and achieve consensus. It logs the “states” that the manufacturer undergoes over time.
Originality/value
The Digital Servitization Cube serves as a conceptual framework for manufacturers to systematically map and categorize their current and future PSSw strategies. It bridges the cross-disciplinary theoretical discussion in DS.
Details
Keywords
Davllyn Santos Oliveira dos Anjos, Magda Duarte dos Anjos Scherer, Juliana Leal Ribeiro Cantalino and Everton Nunes da Silva
In 2011, Brazil introduced a national pay-for-performance (P4P) scheme called the National Program for Improving Primary Health Care Access and Quality (PMAQ), rolled out over…
Abstract
Purpose
In 2011, Brazil introduced a national pay-for-performance (P4P) scheme called the National Program for Improving Primary Health Care Access and Quality (PMAQ), rolled out over three cycles and reaching more than 5,000 municipalities and 40,000 family health teams (FHTs). There is little evidence on how the PMAQ was implemented locally and whether this variation in implementation affects performance, particularly, in terms of work process indicators. This study compared different cases of municipal-level PMAQ implementation (bonuses paid or not to FHTs) over the last two program cycles to analyze the quality of the work processes, actions and services of FHTs.
Design/methodology/approach
This was a cross-sectional analytical study using secondary data from an external evaluation of the Brazilian PMAQ. In total, 27,500 FHTs participated in the evaluation. They were divided into four clusters based on whether or not municipalities paid bonuses to workers during cycles 2 and 3 of the program (2013–2019). Variables regarding work processes, actions and services were classified as “Quality Assurance – QA” or “Continued Quality Improvement – CQI”, and an individual score was assigned based on the average score of each variable.
Findings
The four clusters displayed an increase in overall QA and CQI scores between the two program cycles; though this increase was small between the set of primary health care teams that received bonuses and those that did not.
Originality/value
This paper contributes to bridging the gap in the scientific literature for evaluative studies on the relationship between direct payment for performance to health professionals and better quality actions and services in low and middle-income countries.
Details
Keywords
Ângela Cristina Salgueiro Marques and Luís Mauro Sá Martino
Everyday conversation has not yet been assigned its full role in public discussion of citizen’s issues, despite the growing number of studies about it. Casual conversations are…
Abstract
Everyday conversation has not yet been assigned its full role in public discussion of citizen’s issues, despite the growing number of studies about it. Casual conversations are not usually regarded as a particularly privileged place for political discussions mainly because of its apparent lack of organization following the principles and rules of the deliberative tradition in Political Studies. However, due to its closeness, informality, and personal proximity, it is particularly adequate to rise political aspects of everyday lives that otherwise would not be publicly disclosed. But how to grasp the spontaneity of everyday conversation? This chapter argues that focus groups, as a research method, are fit to observe and understand real-time ordinary conversation on political issues. In what follows, the argument goes threefold: (1) it contrasts “conversation” with “deliberation” from a micro-point of view; (2) all conversation, as a discourse embroiled in power relations, is political in a broad sense (3) as it brings forward personal views and experiences, casual conversations defies the borders between public and private issues.
Details
Keywords
Nayara Louise Carvalho, Juliana Veiga Mendes, Erica Kushihara Akim, Ricardo Coser Mergulhão and José Geraldo Vidal Vieira
This article examines the extent of collaboration experienced by 191 Brazilian shippers, logistics service providers (LSPs) and carriers in their logistics operations in urban…
Abstract
Purpose
This article examines the extent of collaboration experienced by 191 Brazilian shippers, logistics service providers (LSPs) and carriers in their logistics operations in urban freight transport. This study investigates relationships over time, the type of service and the nuances associated with the frequency of meetings, frequency of technical visits and frequency of training.
Design/methodology/approach
The authors carried out a component analysis and, based on factor loadings, calculated indexes for use in non-linear canonical correlations to evaluate company-level differences in perceptions of the degree of collaboration and strength of relationship over time.
Findings
The results indicate that in the triad, LSPs are the strongest supporters of collaboration over time regardless of whether the logistics service is shared or dedicated; shippers demonstrate the weakest support for collaboration and prioritize relationships of one to three years in length. Carriers seek to develop short-term relationships and participate actively in meetings and technical visits because they strongly support strategic and interpersonal collaboration. Carriers also follow LSPs in terms of strategic and interpersonal collaboration and shared logistics services.
Originality/value
This article contributes to understanding the perceptions of interactions among specific logistics collaboration elements related to strategic, tactical and interpersonal relationships that the Brazilian companies face in their daily urban freight transport.
Details
Keywords
Amanda Oliveira Fontenelle and Juliana Keiko Sagawa
Lean manufacturing (LM) has advocated gains by reducing waste and intensifying continuous improvement. As a holistic organizational policy, it must overpass the limits of the…
Abstract
Purpose
Lean manufacturing (LM) has advocated gains by reducing waste and intensifying continuous improvement. As a holistic organizational policy, it must overpass the limits of the manufacturing function. Management accounting should be aligned to lean thinking, aiming to meet the demands and goals of a lean organization. This paper aims to investigate the degree of alignment between management accounting systems and LM practices.
Design/methodology/approach
Two representative case studies were carried out in industry leaders in the implementation of LM, in Brazil. The key research constructs and were identified by means of a systematic literature review. The rhetoric and practice concerning the alignment between management accounting and LM are discussed based on the existing theory and the conducted case studies.
Findings
The analysis showed that many of the principles that form the rhetoric of lean accounting are far from the accounting practices observed in the companies. Using the theory-building function of case studies, 10 propositions to be tested in future research are proposed. The main propositions are also summarized in a framework based on analogies with optical lenses.
Originality/value
To the best of the knowledge, there are no previous in-depth studies focusing on characterizing this alignment between management accounting and LM practices. The analysis yields prescriptive directions for managers that seek to improve this alignment in their business. This study also proposes a five-stage maturity model, which can be used by the managers to assess this alignment and to set goals for reaching more advanced levels of maturity.
Details
Keywords
Pablo Marlon Medeiros da Silva, Walid Abbas El-Aouar, Thaís Teles Firmino, Juliana Carvalho de Sousa and Wesley Vieira da Silva
This study aims to understand the contributions and challenges of voluntary organizations towards the integration of refugees into the job market.
Abstract
Purpose
This study aims to understand the contributions and challenges of voluntary organizations towards the integration of refugees into the job market.
Design/methodology/approach
Descriptive research with a qualitative approach based on interpretivism was used, applied to mediators of social entities in the city of São Paulo, Brazil.
Findings
The findings of this study support the importance of voluntary organizations in the employment of refugees, based on background that will contribute directly to the training of displaced persons in the Brazilian labor market. Meanwhile, difficulties such as post-employment refugee monitoring, legislative obstacles to the verification of skills, structural and human capital limitations of mediators, the national economic crisis and the lack of government support are identified as the main challenges for long-term assistance to refugees.
Practical implications
The results of the study can foster greater participation of public policymakers and society in supporting the third sector, aiming at a greater reach in the provision of services of mediators for the effective integration of refugees in Brazil.
Originality/value
This study contributes to the literature on the integration of refugees into the labor market by demonstrating the importance of voluntary organizations in this process. It also demonstrates how the main challenges of the third sector in the Brazilian context impact its support in facilitating and maintaining the employment of displaced persons.
Details
Keywords
Stela Cristina Hott Corrêa, João Luiz Soares, Juliana Maria Magalhães Christino, Marlusa de Sevilha Gosling and Carlos Alberto Gonçalves
This study aims to investigate the relationship between the follower’s engagement with YouTubers and his/her intention of using a brand they advertise or use. Self-connection…
Abstract
Purpose
This study aims to investigate the relationship between the follower’s engagement with YouTubers and his/her intention of using a brand they advertise or use. Self-connection, brand love and trust are mediating variables concerning the YouTuber–follower relationship and involvement is the antecedent variable of the engagement.
Design/methodology/approach
A survey was carried out and 272 YouTubers’ followers responded. The structural model was tested by covariance-based structural equation modeling using the software R, v3.6.0.
Findings
The present study reveals that the follower’s engagement with YouTubers presents itself within cognitive, affective and behavioural aspects; it rises from the involvement the followers have with their favourite YouTuber. Engagement, enhanced by self-connection, love and trust in the YouTuber, impacts the intention of use of a brand he/she indicates or uses.
Practical implications
YouTube is a relevant channel for advertising and promoting a brand. Hence, the company should bear in mind the fact that the YouTuber appointed to represent its image must be connected to the feelings and interests of their followers as well as those of the brands to be publicised.
Originality/value
The present research proposes a novel conceptual connection to engagement, established no longer by the brand of a product or service, but by YouTubers. It aims at rendering contribution to this subject as it investigates the correlation of use intention of a brand, subject to the engagement with a human brand, herein represented by YouTubers.
Details
Keywords
Abeer Aldawsari, Mai Alshareef, Abdulmajeed Albalawi and Abeer Bajandouh