Three of the fundamental aspects under which current development programs operate are self‐interest‐based plans, compartmentalized regulatory environments, and unbalanced…
Abstract
Three of the fundamental aspects under which current development programs operate are self‐interest‐based plans, compartmentalized regulatory environments, and unbalanced competition. These forces are important components of traditional sustainable development frameworks as they allow for processes based on maximization, partial regulation, and system dominance. It is pointed out in this paper, using qualitative comparative means, that these forces are drivers of sustained development, but not of true sustainability. And the reason is that under true sustainability, there is no maximization; there is no partial regulation; and there are no dominated systems.
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The recent economic/environmental discourse on development issues has led to a new paradigm of development, called here the “eco‐economic development model”, but usually known as…
Abstract
The recent economic/environmental discourse on development issues has led to a new paradigm of development, called here the “eco‐economic development model”, but usually known as sustainable development (including both ecological and economic concerns), which has successfully substituted the traditional model of economic development in general acceptance. However, new models usually imply new rules and perhaps a new type of market, yet policy issues within the eco‐economic development paradigm are being addressed with theoretical constructs and a state of mind as if we were still in the old paradigm – perhaps because the nature and the internal structure of the new paradigm are not yet well known and understood, as nobody has apparently looked into this. It should be expected that the two paradigms are not equivalent to each other, and therefore, they should be addressed differently. This paper presents a qualitative approach, from a systematic point of view, which can be used to highlight how different the two paradigms are in terms of structure and policy implications. Then, this information is used to provide an answer to three questions: is the economic development market the same as the eco‐economic development market; if not, how many invisible hands are there in the eco‐economic development market; and what are the environmental, social, and economic policy implications of this situation?. Shows that new paradigms require a new line of thinking to market policy and planning.
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The purpose of this paper is to analyze the restructuring approach followed by the highly profitable Telefónica in its 2011 redundancy plan, and explores unions’ response to…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to analyze the restructuring approach followed by the highly profitable Telefónica in its 2011 redundancy plan, and explores unions’ response to management strategy.
Design/methodology/approach
The research follows a case study approach constructing a dataset with information from company reports, committee records, union documents, press releases, and other available sources such as specialized journals and newspapers.
Findings
Specifically this case study tries to show how massive job cuts have been implemented through a labour-mediated downsizing strategy that mitigates contestation and industrial conflict.
Originality/value
The paper tackles the relevant question of how unions respond to corporate restructuring (involving downsizing) in countries where industrial relations institutions remain relatively strongly embedded and proactive.
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Pedro Limón López and Sergio Claudio González García
Links between urban areas and public space have always had a central presence in the field of Urban Sociology. During the last four decades, and in relation with globalization…
Abstract
Links between urban areas and public space have always had a central presence in the field of Urban Sociology. During the last four decades, and in relation with globalization processes, reflection about city places and what constitutes the “public” has increasingly been in line with what has been called an “emplacing heritage process,” which emerged as a controversial point of intervention in urban areas. In this sense, itineraries have been considered of primary importance in urban heritage signification, recognition, and symbolic production. In short, these routes appear as ways in which public space is materially and symbolically occupied, becoming emplacing heritage processes in themselves.
In this chapter, we study two heritage-making processes through neighborhood itineraries, which are carried out in district territory and are located in two peripheral neighborhoods belonging to the City of Madrid (Hortaleza and Carabanchel). Ultimately, the point here is that these routes are not merely a pathway that “goes” along acknowledged heritage places; these itineraries are an emplacement and a signification of patrimony itself. These processes act as markers of iconic places and as remembrance performances of neighborhood memory. We would argue that routes around historical places in Carabanchel, as well as the “Three Wise Men” popular parades in Hortaleza bring shared geographical imaginaries, collective memory, and iconic places together in everyday experiences of both places. These itineraries change both urban sites in terms of their neighborhood heritage by disputing spatial discourses and imaginaries of heritage, urban place, and neighborhood.
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This paper aims to study the development of new forms of management systems such as quality management in the context of the Spanish public administration.
Abstract
Purpose
This paper aims to study the development of new forms of management systems such as quality management in the context of the Spanish public administration.
Design/methodology/approach
It reviews the main literature on the topic and relevant policy texts.
Findings
The organisation of work within the private sector has undergone important transformations compared with the model of industrial worker that existed in the mid‐twentieth century. In the public sector, these changes have been less noticeable, at least within the Spanish context. Yet, it has undergone and is still undergoing important changes as far as its economic and social standing, targets and procedures are concerned. Organisational adjustment to such changes has been limited, especially in the area of work organisation.
Research limitations/implications
It is a general overview of key developments.
Practical implications
It is relevant for a discussion of the general trends and dynamic of public sector industrial relations in Spain.
Originality/value
It manages to take an overview of changes in the public sector and point to the uncertain development of a new market approach.
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Lúcio Flavio Vasconcelos, Tiago F.A.C. Sigahi, Jefferson de Souza Pinto, Izabela Simon Rampasso and Rosley Anholon
Organizations and markets are constantly developing and changing, impacting how organizations create value and manage supply chains. This paper aims to identify the motor themes…
Abstract
Purpose
Organizations and markets are constantly developing and changing, impacting how organizations create value and manage supply chains. This paper aims to identify the motor themes and subthemes of academic research that relate supply chain management (SCM) maturity and business models (BMs).
Design/methodology/approach
The Science Mapping Analysis Tool (SciMAT) was used to conduct a seven-step bibliometric analysis of 889 documents indexed in the Scopus database clustering by relatedness of works and keywords. The methodological approach included content analysis of the literature, longitudinal analysis and strategic diagram analysis.
Findings
The thematic evolution analysis revealed that three themes drive the studies on SCM maturity and BM: industry 4.0 (motor theme), environmental management (transversal theme) and product management (highly developed and isolated theme). The strategic diagrams and co-word networks allowed to graphically identify the main topics connecting SCM maturity and BM. Considering this connection, the scientific mapping emphasizes the significance and strength of the link between digital technologies, technology management and manufacturing management in Industry 4.0. In addition, the connections between the subthemes revealed that circular economy and green human resource management are important concepts to advance theory and practice on the connection between SCM maturity and BM.
Originality/value
This research extends the knowledge base by providing an analysis of the key themes and the links with subthemes in the literature that relate to SCM maturity and BM. Key studies are analyzed and linked with the key topics identified using the SciMAT software. Future research avenues are outlined, providing new insights to advance theory and practice.
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The purpose of this paper is to explore the effects of changes in employment regulation in Spain on individual labour market trajectories. It is well known that the Spanish labour…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to explore the effects of changes in employment regulation in Spain on individual labour market trajectories. It is well known that the Spanish labour market has been strongly hit by the 2007 recession. Furthermore, after 2010 and in the benchmark of “austerity”, several reforms were implemented to further flexibilise employment regulation. At the same time, public sector budgets suffered severe cutbacks, that impacted working conditions and prospects of public sector workers. These reforms were implemented by different governments and substantially changed previous existing patterns of employment. This paper explains how these reforms have reinforced previous existing trends towards greater flexibility and weaker employment protection and how they lead to a shift in the position of work in society.
Design/methodology/approach
The emerging patterns that these changes provoked are illustrated thorough data from narrative biographies of workers affected by a job loss or a downgrading of working conditions. The workers of the sample had relatively stable positions and careers and were affected by changes that substantially modified their paths.
Findings
The paper shows how reforms have expanded work and employment insecurities and have broken career paths. It demonstrates how the reforms have weakened the position of work and organised labour in society and how, when institutional supports are jeopardised, the capacity to plan and act is harassed by the traditional social inequalities.
Originality/value
The paper enhances the knowledge about the impact of institutional changes by analysing their effects in individual working lives by means of narrative biographies.
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Yonghao Liu and Yu Mu
In recent years, there has been an impressive increase in the use of artificial intelligence (AI) in medical treatment. Studies have explored many topics in the field of medical…
Abstract
In recent years, there has been an impressive increase in the use of artificial intelligence (AI) in medical treatment. Studies have explored many topics in the field of medical AI; however, few of them have systematically reviewed the overall area. This chapter retrieves 532 papers on medical AI from Social Sciences Citation Index core database of the Web of Science from 2013 to 2022. Two bibliometric and network analysis tools, including CiteSpace and HistCite, are used to identify the time-and-space knowledge map, research hotspots, emerging trends and key studies of medical AI research. A co-word network of medical AI is constructed to reveal that the field focuses more on the topic of machine learning. The analysis of the burst literature on medical AI indicates the research trends in the sub-sections such as law and ethics. Furthermore, the analysis of the co-citation uncovers the key studies in the field of medical AI. The results of bibliometric analysis illustrate the current situation, past evolution, and future trends in medical AI research, and identify hotspots and future research directions.
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Muriel Lamarque and Lourdes Moro-Gutiérrez
The purpose of this paper is to analyze the relationship between Latin American migrants and the Spanish healthcare system, from the users’ perspective, in order to examine the…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to analyze the relationship between Latin American migrants and the Spanish healthcare system, from the users’ perspective, in order to examine the socio-cultural determinants for access and attention, as well as the possible difficulties faced when attending institutional facilities.
Design/methodology/approach
This work is based on qualitative ethnographic research with the Latin American community established in the region of Castile and León, Spain. Analysis was established through a thematic approach and illustrated with the testimonies of participants involved, to inspect personal meanings and interpretations, as well as specific practices regarding healthcare.
Findings
The encounter between foreigners and health services is frequently expressed with negative emotions, such as feelings of fear facing a system that is perceived as designed “for others.” For many Latin American immigrants in Spain, institutional healthcare is not considered their first choice for treating illness. This has been related to economic, bureaucratic, ideological and emotional factors.
Originality/value
Most of the existing literature about immigrant healthcare in Spain has focused on sanitary conditions or patterns of service use from an institutional perspective and a quantitative approach. This paper highlights the perceptions of users to enrich comprehension of the rapport between migrants and medical care.
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Luis Cárdenas and Paloma Villanueva
This study aims to analyse the institutional changes in the Spanish labour market in the light of the measures introduced to support workers during the COVID-19 crisis. Applying…
Abstract
Purpose
This study aims to analyse the institutional changes in the Spanish labour market in the light of the measures introduced to support workers during the COVID-19 crisis. Applying the theoretical framework the authors’ hypothesis is that the labour policy response to the crisis provoked by COVID-19 in Spain has ranged from strategy of preservation of the social democratic coalition to the anti-bourgeois bloc coalition with a greater presence of social pacts and the support of the social partners.
Design/methodology/approach
Combining the institutional theory of liberalisation trajectories, the four ideal-typical reform strategies and the social pacts literature, the authors analyse the change in the labour market policy orientation during the COVID-19 economic crisis in Spain.
Findings
In comparison to the Great Recession labour policy response, short-time work schemes and new benefits have characterised the 2020 labour policy strategy. Then, the labour policy response has oscillated between, on the one hand, a strategy of preservation of the social democratic coalition, which is characterised by measures to protect workers on the margins of the labour market without affecting the discretionary power of employers. On the other hand, a strategy of the anti-bourgeois bloc coalition, reflected in the employment safeguard clause that attempts to limit both external numerical flexibility and the increase in unemployment. Finally, the authors have analysed whether the labour policies after the COVID-19 crisis constitute a new round of social pacts in Spain and how this took place. They conclude that the main measures approved in the area of employment protection have been supported by social pacts and the social partners (trade unions and employers), as reflected in the signing of the Social Agreement in Defence of Employment (ASDE).
Originality/value
To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this is a significant contribution as it is the first article to point out that the labour policy represents a change in the trajectory of liberalisation, limiting the discretionary power of employers and re-regulating the labour market. The main measure of (re)regulation has been to safeguard employment and to avoid objective or unfair dismissals, which is the traditional form of adjustment. In other words, internal numerical flexibility has been promoted over external flexibility, thus significantly modifying the orientation of labour policy. Finally, the authors have found that social pacts have allowed for greater institutional coherence between legal changes and the behaviour of employers and workers.