Flavia Cristina Silva, Fabio Ytoshi Shibao, Isak Kruglianskas, José Carlos Barbieri and Paulo Antonio Almeida Sinisgalli
In total, 19 practices of circular economy divided into three groups, internal environmental management, ecological design and investment recovery were studied in a local network…
Abstract
Purpose
In total, 19 practices of circular economy divided into three groups, internal environmental management, ecological design and investment recovery were studied in a local network composed of small companies and individual entrepreneurs related to common product and by-product flows. The paper aims to discuss these issues.
Design/methodology/approach
This research presents an applied nature, is characterized as exploratory and adopted the case study as a technical procedure using sources and methods of data collection. The primary data were collected through direct observation of the processes and semi-structured interviews with managers and owners.
Findings
The most widespread practices are related to product design. However, in most cases, the implementation was punctual and did not present continuous and corresponding actions, which highlights the embryonic contours of European Commission (EC) in the observed network. The practices from the management category were less observed, which revels the environmental variable is not included in the strategic business planning.
Research limitations/implications
The research documents the application of CE practices in a local network and brings this current paradigm shift to the Brazilian context.
Practical implications
To overcome barriers to the implementation of EC practices, it is suggested to restructure commercial relations, to formulate public policies and to develop infrastructures that facilitate the materiality of flows and the market.
Social implications
The study highlights the need of public policies that promotes cross-sectoral cooperation in accordance with NSWP objectives.
Originality/value
Despite the focus on EC implemented practices this study offers a framework of the research routes on the main barriers and suggests actions to overcome the challenges in the transition from the economy to the circular model.
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João Da Rocha Lima Júnior and Claudio Tavares De Alencar
The office market in São Paulo has been in recession since the year 2000. This situation came up due to two main factors: [i] the very aggressive attitude of developers during…
Abstract
The office market in São Paulo has been in recession since the year 2000. This situation came up due to two main factors: [i] the very aggressive attitude of developers during the period that comprises the year 1999 until 2000. At that time there was a very strong perception among investors that a new expansion era for new office buildings in São Paulo was about to begin and, moreover the Brazilian economy had started its recovery; [ii] The intense retraction of the Brazilian economy along with the political transition in 2002, which was mainly caused by the deterioration of the expectations in relation to the economic policies that would be performed by the new government.The recovery of the economic activity in the office building market firstly depends on the macroeconomic growth in Brazil and within the São Paulo metropolitan area. On the other hand, the expansion of the activity in the office buildings sector relies not only on the developers’ expectations of how and when the current vacant units will be rented, but also on the potential risk‐return composition of new buildings to be developed in the next years. This paper describes the economic scenario in which investment decisions to build new office buildings for rent in our local market are made and we also simulated both the necessary period of time for investments in the São Paulo office market to recover attractiveness and the time interval for the increase in the occupation rate absorb the actual vacant spaces. These simulations have taken place based on projections for the Brazilian GNP increase and they showed that for an annual increment of 4.5%, in 3 years could be reached both, attractiveness for new investment and occupation of vacant areas. For a 2.0% annual growth, the absorption of vacant spaces will take 4 years from now and new investment would be attractive only in 2012. Besides, we discuss the market prices fluctuations on the inflexion point where the transition from one phase of the real estate cycle (recession‐non attractiveness) to another (recovery‐attractiveness) occurs.
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Renata Guimarães Quelha de Sá and Alessandra de Sá Mello da Costa
This paper aims to discuss the constitution of the Memorial of Resistance of São Paulo (MRSP) by adopting the ANTi-History approach, thereby providing greater transparency to the…
Abstract
Purpose
This paper aims to discuss the constitution of the Memorial of Resistance of São Paulo (MRSP) by adopting the ANTi-History approach, thereby providing greater transparency to the socio-political relations of multiple actors involved in the constitution of this place as a site of memory.
Design/methodology/approach
By adopting the principles of ANTi-History, the researchers focused on the socio-politics of different human and nonhuman actors to examine how this site of memory was constituted. The researchers sought to turn the process of constituting the MRSP more transparent, putting together one of the possible historical versions of this phenomenon. The data collected included oral and documental sources (interviews, videos, books, newspapers and websites).
Findings
The findings support the notion of history as a socially constructed narrative that emerges through associations of heterogeneous actors in a dynamic and continuous process of (re)configuration. Additionally, by exposing the power relations and negotiations manoeuvres used by multiple actors, it allowed the researchers to highlight the complexity of the Memorial’s history as a black box, contextualizing them in a period of intense social upheaval, re-democratization and transitional justice within Brazilian society.
Originality/value
The paper outlines the process of listing the DEOPS/SP building and the social mobilization movements during the 1980s and 1990s in Brazil, illustrating some of the results obtained from a more extensive research project that dealt with the MRSP’s constitution process. It offers an in-depth example of using the ANTi-History approach in Organizational Studies, allowing the researchers to remove the organization’s veil of apparent simplicity and to bring back to life voices and actors that have been erased, disguised and silenced by the dominant version of events.
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Darticléia Almeida Sampaio da Rocha Soares, Eduardo Camargo Oliva, Edson Keyso de Miranda Kubo, Virginia Parente and Karen Talita Tanaka
This paper aims to assess the relationship between cultural profiles and the economic, environmental and social dimensions of electricity companies’ reporting based on the Global…
Abstract
Purpose
This paper aims to assess the relationship between cultural profiles and the economic, environmental and social dimensions of electricity companies’ reporting based on the Global Reporting Initiative’s (GRI) sustainability framework.
Design/methodology/approach
The authors used the competing values framework, developed by Cameron and Quinn, as the theoretical starting point, with primary data collected through surveys that assessed organizational culture and with secondary data collected through the GRI indicators reported by the companies.
Findings
First, the framework shows whether a company’s organizational culture corresponds with one of the following options: clan, adhocracy, market or hierarchy. The results show that most of the companies’ organizational cultures were hierarchical, characterized by a greater need for stability and control and a formal work environment. Clans were the second most popular type of organizational culture, characterized as having greater internal flexibility, more informal environments and fewer hierarchical levels. Second, by combining the above results with the assessment of the GRI indicators in the companies’ sustainability reports, the study checked whether the companies had strong (balanced) or non-balanced cultures. The results show that there was a greater correlation between a strong (balanced) culture and the total value of the reported indicators, compared to a non-balanced culture.
Originality/value
The paper takes an innovative approach by correlating two different but well-recognized methodologies as a way to create a more holistic assessment that can help stakeholders to understand both the way these companies work and how this choice reflects the transparency of their reporting.
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Abstract
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Elmir de Almeida, Marilena Nakano, Maria Elena Villar e Villar and Vanderlei Mariano
The paper presents final results of a comparative research on young Brazilian collegians in the 18–24-year-old age bracket. The objective was to understand the interactions and…
Abstract
Purpose
The paper presents final results of a comparative research on young Brazilian collegians in the 18–24-year-old age bracket. The objective was to understand the interactions and ways in which they transit within the physical and digital Web spaces and, within their transits, set up “circulatory territories,” deepen and enrich their secondary socialization setups and sociability, as well as their processes of individuation within the historic condition in which youth lives.
Methodology/approach
The study is supported by conceptual contributions offered by the sociology of youth, circulatory territory, socialization, sociability, and individuation. Research was carried out with students of two different universities: a public/state one and a public/municipal/foundational one situated in different urban centers of the southeastern region of the country. Procedures were qualitative and quantitative – closed questions forms, interviews, registries in field notebooks, etc.
Findings
The results of the investigation demonstrate: (a) that the representatives of the two student collectives studied circulate in physical and digital territories, setting up circulatory territories; (b) there are also different youth lifestyles, either due to social positions and the fact that they possess social capital, or because of differences and inequalities referring to gender, race/ethnicity (whites and non-whites), living situations.
Originality/value
In this manner, the study indicates the importance of questioning the homogenized image of connected youth since some collegians’ lives are limited due to their condition as young workers, while others live their youth condition as a social moratorium, being able to produce other manners of being and of living in the world.
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Fernando Ribeiro Serra, Manuel Portugal Ferreira and Martinho Isnard Ribeiro de Almeida
In this article, the authors aim to review the extant literature and analyze the theoretical influence in the academic research of organizational decline and related topics…
Abstract
Purpose
In this article, the authors aim to review the extant literature and analyze the theoretical influence in the academic research of organizational decline and related topics (turnaround and bankruptcy, for example). They examine the theoretical contribution and the most influential authors to better understand the intellectual structure that connects theories and authors that have researched organizational decline. This study makes it possible not only to understand the current state of the art of research on organizational decline but also to uncover and guide future studies on organizational decline, based on the conceptual gaps identified.
Design/methodology/approach
Empirically, the authors conduct a bibliometric study involving analyses of citations and co‐citations to uncover the connections between authors and theories used. The bibliometric study was performed in 18 top‐ranked management journals. Their sample of 104 articles was retrieved from ISI Web of Knowledge.
Findings
The authors identified four clusters of research areas, and conclude that evolutionary theories support a considerable number of works, including studies on the effects of inertia, isomorphism and adaptation. Sociological approaches have also been used, namely examining the adjustment of the internal structures and actions to enhance positioning. Other research on decline is based on works on learning and decision making as well as on decline and turnaround strategies.
Research limitations/implications
The main limitations concern the methods and the sample. Although the authors selected 18 top management journals, they do not encapsulate the entire stock of existing knowledge.
Originality/value
Well‐known and reputable corporations, not only the small entrepreneurial firms, also face organizational decline and failure. Although organizational decline is a reality, there is a notable scarcity of research on the topic. Organizational decline is more often studied in small companies and attributed to the liability of newness and a lack of several types of physical, technological, financial and social resources. Although the authors expected a priori to identify works using a resource‐based view, that was not the case, perhaps because since the 1990s strategy scholars' interest in studying organizational decline diminished. Notwithstanding, organizational ecologists continue to work on organizational decline as it is one of the central areas of their work.
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Carlos L. Antunes, Tony Richard O. Almeida, Nélia Raposeiro, Belarmino Gonçalves and Paulo Almeida
Due to its good mechanical and biocompatibility characteristics, nitinol SEMS is a popular endoprothesis used for relieving stricture problems in hollow organs due to carcinomas…
Abstract
Purpose
Due to its good mechanical and biocompatibility characteristics, nitinol SEMS is a popular endoprothesis used for relieving stricture problems in hollow organs due to carcinomas. Besides its mechanical application, SEMS can be regarded as well as potential electrode for performing RF ablation therapy on the tumor. The purpose of this work is to perform numerical and experimental analyses in order to characterize the lesion volume induced in biological tissue using this kind of tubular electrode.
Design/methodology/approach
Data concerning electrical conductivity and dimension of the damaged tissue after RF ablation procedure were obtained from ex vivo samples. Next, numerical models using 3D finite element method were obtained reassembling the conditions considered at experimentation setup and results were compared.
Findings
Numerical and experimental results show that a regular volume of damaged tissue can be obtained considering this type of electrode. Also, results obtained from numerical simulation are close to those obtained by experimentation.
Originality/value
SEMSs, commonly used as devices to minimize obstruction problems due to the growth of tumors, may still be considered as an active electrode for RF ablation procedures. A method considering this observation is presented in this paper. Also, numerical simulation can be regarded in this case as a tool for determining the lesion volume.
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Paulo Sérgio Almeida‐Santos, Andréia Carpes Dani, Débora Gomes Machado and Nayane Thais Krespi
The purpose of this paper is to identify if the open Brazilian companies that have family control manage their accounting results in a negative way, and if this influence is in a…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to identify if the open Brazilian companies that have family control manage their accounting results in a negative way, and if this influence is in a positive sense of pushing the results down, that is, worsening their present profits due to future results.
Design/methodology/approach
The empirical investigation is developed using as a sample 123 Brazilian companies listed on BM&FBovespa, totaling 1.353 observations for a period of 11 years (2000‐2010). Data analysis is conducted by means of regression with panel data, method of ordinary least squares (OLS), and random effects.
Findings
First, it was found that family‐type companies show lower profits compared to profits earned by non‐family companies. Nevertheless, it was observed that family businesses have negative discretionary accruals higher than those submitted by non‐family firms, and that family control has a positive influence on this type of earnings management.
Research limitations/implications
The article provides an extension to earlier work focused on the relationship between family ownership and earnings management results.
Practical implications
The paper provides a more critical look at family property, especially as regards the quality of their accounting information.
Originality/value
The study not only investigates whether family control is positively related to discretionary accruals of Brazilian companies; it also checks the influence of family property on the production of negative accruals – “take a bath”.
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Reviews the development of public libraries in Brazil, taking a close look at the reasons why such institutions have not developed their collections in a systematic manner. Posits…
Abstract
Reviews the development of public libraries in Brazil, taking a close look at the reasons why such institutions have not developed their collections in a systematic manner. Posits the necessity of organizing collection development activities rationally. Highlights the difficulties public libraries routinely face in Brazil for fulfilling this task. Argues that a better management of public library collections can bring concrete benefits to Brazilian society, as well as help librarians to obtain better support from their clientele and from more senior management.