Argues that the quality of the environment, and of course of human and non‐human life, depends on everybody's behaviour (men and companies). Laws are needed but above all it is…
Abstract
Argues that the quality of the environment, and of course of human and non‐human life, depends on everybody's behaviour (men and companies). Laws are needed but above all it is essential that nature conservation is everybody's goal – governments, companies and anonymous citizens. In companies it is the administration's duty to make decisions and it is accounting's duty to present relevant information about patrimonial realities that help in the decision‐making process of every user. Does accounting have the duty to reveal what is being done with the natural resources? Yes. Aims to find out what Portuguese companies have been doing about this matter. The annual reports and accounts, from 1997 to 2001, of a group of ten Portuguese companies representative of their industrial sectors, were scrutinised. The companies were chosen because of their undoubted environmental impacts. All were asked: are they presenting environmental information? Where is this information presented ? What kind of information is being presented? How are they presenting it?
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Mohammad Edalatifar, Jana Shafi, Majdi Khalid, Manuel Baro, Mikhail A. Sheremet and Mohammad Ghalambaz
This study aims to use deep neural networks (DNNs) to learn the conduction heat transfer physics and estimate temperature distribution images in a physical domain without using…
Abstract
Purpose
This study aims to use deep neural networks (DNNs) to learn the conduction heat transfer physics and estimate temperature distribution images in a physical domain without using any physical model or mathematical governing equation.
Design/methodology/approach
Two novel DNNs capable of learning the conduction heat transfer physics were defined. The first DNN (U-Net autoencoder residual network [UARN]) was designed to extract local and global features simultaneously. In the second DNN, a conditional generative adversarial network (CGAN) was used to enhance the accuracy of UARN, which is referred to as CGUARN. Then, novel loss functions, introduced based on outlier errors, were used to train the DNNs.
Findings
A UARN neural network could learn the physics of heat transfer. Within a few epochs, it reached mean and outlier errors that other DNNs could never reach after many epochs. The composite outlier-mean error as a loss function showed excellent performance in training DNNs for physical images. A UARN could excellently capture local and global features of conduction heat transfer, whereas the composite error could accurately guide DNN to extract high-level information by estimating temperature distribution images.
Originality/value
This study offers a unique approach to estimating physical information, moving from traditional mathematical and physical models to machine learning approaches. Developing novel DNNs and loss functions has shown promising results, opening up new avenues in heat transfer physics and potentially other fields.
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Manuel Castelo Branco, Catarina Delgado, Cristina Sousa and Manuel Sá
The purpose of this paper is to compare the internet and annual reports as media of intellectual capital disclosure (ICD) and analyse its determinants.
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to compare the internet and annual reports as media of intellectual capital disclosure (ICD) and analyse its determinants.
Design/methodology/approach
The paper examines ICD on the internet in 2009 and compares the internet and 2008 annual reports as disclosure media using content analysis. Non‐parametric statistical methods are used to analyse some factors which influence disclosure.
Findings
Portuguese companies attribute greater importance to the internet. The analysis showed that size is significant in explaining ICD only in the case of annual reports. The results also indicated that industrial affiliation is only partially a factor explaining ICD.
Research limitations/implications
The sample is small. There may be content analysis issues associated with subjectivity in the coding process and the use of a limited content analysis method.
Originality/value
The paper adds to the scarce research on ICD by Portuguese companies by providing new empirical data. This paper is one of the first to investigate ICD both in annual reports and on the internet.
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Manuel Castelo Branco, Catarina Delgado, Manuel Sá and Cristina Sousa
The purpose of this paper is to analyse annual reports as media of intellectual capital disclosure (ICD) by Portuguese listed companies and to evaluate size, industry and time…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to analyse annual reports as media of intellectual capital disclosure (ICD) by Portuguese listed companies and to evaluate size, industry and time effects on disclosure as well as the effects of ICD on the growth of a company.
Design/methodology/approach
The paper examines ICD in 2004, 2006 and 2008 annual reports using content analysis. Non‐parametric statistical methods are used to test size and industry effects on disclosure, the effects of the level of disclosure on the growth of a company and to determine the significance of the differences in disclosure between the years under analysis.
Findings
The analysis showed that size is significant in explaining ICD. The results also indicated that industrial affiliation is only partially a factor explaining ICD. It was not possible to confirm neither an increase in ICD over time, nor the relationship between ICD and growth.
Research limitations/implications
The sample is small. There may be content analysis issues associated with subjectivity in the coding process and the use of a limited content analysis method.
Originality/value
This paper adds to the scarce research on ICD by Portuguese companies by providing new empirical data.
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Manuel Castelo Branco, Catarina Delgado, Manuel Sá and Cristina Sousa
This study investigates the use of the internet by the largest companies based in Sweden and Spain to communicate their engagement in corporate social responsibility (CSR…
Abstract
Purpose
This study investigates the use of the internet by the largest companies based in Sweden and Spain to communicate their engagement in corporate social responsibility (CSR) activities. Its purpose is to analyse to what extent, if any, are there differences in the CSR communication on the web sites companies from these two countries.
Design/methodology/approach
The paper examines CSR communication on the internet by companies based in Sweden and Spain. Non-parametric statistics are used to analyse some factors that influence disclosure, namely country, industry affiliation, profitability, and size.
Findings
Findings suggest that in spite of the existence of a high degree of similarity between CSR communication practices, companies from Spain place social responsibility information in more prominent sections and devote more space to said information. Swedish companies are found to disclose more their codes of conduct/ethics and CSR-related press clips and published articles.
Research limitations/implications
The sample is small. There may be content analysis issues associated with subjectivity in the coding process.
Originality/value
It adds to the scarce research on CSR communication by companies in these countries by providing new empirical data and extends prior research comparing such practices in different international models of CSR.
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Ibtissem Alguirat, Fatma Lehyani and Alaeddine Zouari
Lean management tools are becoming increasingly applied in different types of organizations around the world. These tools have shown their significant contribution to improving…
Abstract
Purpose
Lean management tools are becoming increasingly applied in different types of organizations around the world. These tools have shown their significant contribution to improving business performance. In this vein, the purpose of this paper is to examine the influence of lean management on both occupational safety and operational excellence in Tunisian companies.
Design/methodology/approach
A survey was conducted among Tunisian companies, and it resulted in the collection of 62 responses that were analyzed using the software SPSS. In addition, a conceptual model linking the practices of the three basic concepts was designed to highlight the hypotheses of the research. Subsequently, factor analysis and structural equation method analysis were conducted to assess the validation of the assumptions.
Findings
The results obtained have shown that lean management has a significant impact on occupational safety. Similarly, occupational safety has a significant impact on operational excellence. However, lean management does not have a significant impact on operational excellence.
Originality/value
This work highlighted the involvement of small and medium-sized enterprise’s managers from emerging economies in the studied concepts’ practices. Likewise, it testified to the impacts of lean management on occupational safety and operational excellence in the Tunisian context.
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Mira Thoumy, Marie-Helene Jobin, Juliette Baroud and Claude El Nakhel Khalil
The purpose of this research is to study the impact of perceived adoption of Lean principles on operational performance in Lebanese pharmaceutical industries.
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this research is to study the impact of perceived adoption of Lean principles on operational performance in Lebanese pharmaceutical industries.
Design/methodology/approach
A quantitative method was implemented using a questionnaire that targeted 253 respondents working in eight good manufacturing practices (GMP) certified Lebanese pharmaceutical companies. Reliability analysis was performed using SPSS, and the research hypotheses were tested using regression analysis.
Findings
The results demonstrated that Lean principles positively and directly affected operational performance. It also positively affected operational performance factors of quality, cost and time. However, the analysis of each of Lean principles impact on operational performance cost was analyzed perfection, value, and value stream mapping (VSM) significantly increased operational performance. In addition, pull only positively augmented the cost reduction, whereas flow did not show any effects on any of operational performance’s factors.
Practical implications
In addition to enhancing operational performance, the positive effect of the perceived adoption of Lean principles on performance is also explained by managers’ efforts in studying the flow of actions in their processes to reduce wastes. To face uncertainty, training and building a workforce that is able to implement Lean principles, equipping this workforce with needed artifacts, and promoting a high-performance culture are crucial for the successful implementation of Lean principles.
Originality/value
Lean approach has become a major pathway of improvement especially in pharmaceutical companies. Few studies analyzed the impact of each of the Lean principles on the operational performance in companies that operate in era of uncertainty. Furthermore, the perceived adoption of Lean principles is under investigated in the Middle East in general and in Lebanon in particular.
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Avant d'aborder une étude qui ne peut, disons‐le tout de suite avoir le même contenu que l'excellent article de Mr Bowyer, paru en 1963 dans cette mme revue pour la…
Abstract
Avant d'aborder une étude qui ne peut, disons‐le tout de suite avoir le même contenu que l'excellent article de Mr Bowyer, paru en 1963 dans cette mme revue pour la Grande‐Bretagne, il convient de rappeler brièvement les grandes lignes de la structure universitaire française et de marquer les limites de notre enquête.
Subrata Talapatra, Kutub Uddin, Manuel Doiro and Gilberto Santos
The aim of this study is to investigate the perceived benefits offered by integrated management system (IMS) in the readymade garments (RMG) sector in Bangladesh and the…
Abstract
Purpose
The aim of this study is to investigate the perceived benefits offered by integrated management system (IMS) in the readymade garments (RMG) sector in Bangladesh and the respective linkage with corporate social responsibility (CSR) to promote sustainable development. This study presents a list of IMS benefits composed of different international management standards according to ISO 9001:2015, ISO 14001:2015, OSHAS 18001: 2007 and SA 8000:2014.
Design/methodology/approach
To identify the possible benefits of IMS, a systematic literature review was conducted from 2009 to 2019, namely, in the database of Elsevier, Emerald and John Wiley. A questionnaire survey was developed with the purpose of examining the perceived main benefits of IMS. The questionnaire was e-mailed to 355 representatives of 15 RMG sectors in Bangladesh. A total of 256 complete and useable responses were received, constituting the base of this work. Subsequently, statistical analysis was conducted using SPSS 20 software.
Findings
The main findings of the present study show that the most important five benefits of IMS in RMG sector in Bangladesh are better capacity to achieve organization’s objectives, optimum use of various resources, business sustainability, synergies of different management policies and reduction of duplication efforts.
Practical implications
Two major limitations of the study are as follows: first, it is not a longitudinal study; second, IMS benefits were examined in the national sector context. The present study has both theoretical and practical implications. The study presents a comprehensive list of IMS benefits that contribute to the existing literature from a theoretical point of view. On the other hand and from a practical point of view, this study encourages managers to implement IMS in their organizations.
Originality/value
This study helps in understanding the contribution of IMS benefits to cleaner production and CSR in Bangladesh. The focus on the benefits of IMS in the RMG sector in Bangladesh is another significant aspect of this study because it promotes the development of environmental policies linked to CSR with stakeholder engagement, as a driver to sustainable development.