Search results

The main objective of this paper is to check whether the youngest small and medium‐size enterprises (SMEs) have potential in comparison with those that we could consider established and at the same time to show the main weaknesses that they could face at the beginning of the 21st century. We have used a 67‐industrial SMEs sample located in the Castilla‐La Mancha Autonomous Community. The information acquired about those firms refers to the years 1994, 1995 and 1996. We have divided this sample into two groups: one formed by newly created firms and another by those companies that have been able to survive their first years of life and develop an activity that we could consider to be established. In order to make the division, we considered new enterprises as those established within the previous five years (created between 1991 and 1994) and established enterprises as those created five or more years previously (created before 1991). The first group consists of 19 enterprises and the second 48 enterprises. A study of those variables that better reflect the potential of the business was carried out. The level of risk, the growth and the profitability, characteristics that we consider very important in order to determine the future viability of any activity were analysed. An early version of this paper was presented at the 22nd Institute for Small Business Affairs Policy and Research Conference held in Leeds, UK, in November 1999.

This paper aims to show the relationships between corporate social responsibility, job satisfaction (in its different facets or aspects) and employee commitment. In addition, the paper aims to identify the mediating role that facets of job satisfaction in the relationship between CSR and worker commitment.

The authors propose a model of relations between the variables indicated and the use of a variance-based structural equation modelling technique to identify the relations in a sample of 318 workers from Ecuadorian companies who answered a questionnaire. Specifically, the partial least squares (PLS) methodology was employed using the Smart PLS software.

The results and findings of this work confirm the theoretical hypotheses specific to the influence of CSR on the five facets of job satisfaction. On the other hand, it should be stressed that only job satisfaction in itself has positive effects on employee engagement. Furthermore, our study shows that satisfaction with co-workers has a negative effect on commitment. However, this study's most relevant contribution is the consideration of the mediating nature of some aspects of job satisfaction in the relationship between CSR and organisational commitment: positive for job satisfaction itself and negative in the case of satisfaction with co-workers. Therefore, implementing CSR practices can be useful for organisations that wish to foster positive attitudes among their employees.

The work enriches specific knowledge about the relationships between CSR and some employee attitudes and behaviours: commitment and job satisfaction. Of particular relevance is the fact that CSR favourably conditions the commitment of employees through the satisfaction derived from the work itself. The presence of a negative impact of co-worker satisfaction on engagement highlights the need to examine CSR actions that generate adverse impacts on this facet of satisfaction.

Fans are proactive consumers of pop culture products, who can be seen as prosumers. Fanvideo production is one of their most widespread practices in the participatory culture scenario. Thus, the aim of the present study is to analyze how ludic prosumption is featured on plays performed in Brazilian fanvideos based on successful pop culture franchises.

Research based on the interpretive content analysis of fanvideos of plays produced by Brazilian fans based on five emblematic pop culture franchises and published on YouTube.

Results have shown six play types in the analyzed fanvideos – i.e. child's play, performing powers, cosplay, play in social rites, teaching to play and “zuêra” –, which revealed a way of having fun in different situations through different practices based on ludic consumption experiences in different spheres of social life.

CCT-based studies focused on investigating plays as ludic consumption phenomenon, as well as fan culture, remain at early research stage. Thus, the main contribution of the present study lies on associating such concepts based on the concept of prosumption.

This case study seeks to develop the analytical and critical thinking skills of the students so that they can not only understand and carry out a comprehensive diagnosis of the case in its facets of entrepreneurship but also see reflected the inherent difficulties of the process and how these can be overcome, based on available resources and capabilities. In the same way, it seeks to develop students’ capacity for critical analysis when making a decision in which, on the one hand, there is a very large market potential that they can try to exploit, taking into account the political transformation that modifies the rules of the game with which the business began, in addition, of course, to the case of a security breach specified in the case and, on the other hand, the possibility of resigning, avoiding greater losses.

This case study exposes the situation of the company Max Drone Venezuela, which had been dedicated to the service, repair and training of drones. This family-owned company had gone through a series of stages that clearly exemplified how environmental factors served to identify opportunities in the early stages of the business, promote strategic actions to maintain itself, guide the course to sustain itself and seek development in hostile environments.

Given the characteristics of this case study, it can be used for the teaching and learning of business or business administration, marketing, economics or related students, at higher or postgraduate levels (graduate school).

Teaching notes are available for educators only.

CSS3: Entrepreneurship.

Seaports seek to find innovative technological solutions to deal with the ever-increasing growth of transportation and increasing the intensity of competition through the use of emerging technology such as digital twin technology to improve the quality of their logistics operations. Despite the success of digital twins in many industries, there is still a lack of their application in the field of seaports where ports play a central role as part of global transportation chains. Seaports sustainability comprises three main aspects: the social aspect that encompasses more job opportunities, the economic aspect that enhances foreign trade, and the environmental aspect that refers to the process of managing and operating ports in a way that saves the environment. This chapter discusses how to apply digital twins’ technology on the imported Twenty equivalent foot unit (TEUs) taking into consideration the population growth, and the capacity of the storage area of the container terminals in an attempt to explore the impact on Kuwait’s seaports sustainability. The study provides a framework for capacity management in an attempt to initiate the next generation of smart seaports cities and consequently impact society, economy, and well-being in Kuwait and Gulf region. The results of the study showed that there is a strong correlation between population growth and imported TEUs growth during the essential stage of the study. The correlation factor was 0.97, and this correlation will support the prediction until Kuwait vision 2040.

This paper aims to propose a set of quantitative statistical indicators for measuring the scientific relevance of research groups and researchers, based on high-impact open-access digital production repositories.

An action research (AR) methodology is proposed in which research is associated with the practice; research informs practice and practice is responsible for informing research in a cooperative way. AR is divided into five phases, beginning with the definition of the problematic scenario and an analysis of the state of the art and ending with conducting tests and publishing the results.

The proposed indicators were used to characterise group and individual output in a major public university in south-eastern Mexico. University campuses hosting a large number of high-impact research groups. These indicators were very useful in generating information that confirmed specific assumptions about the scientific production of the university.

The data used here were retrieved from Scopus and open access national repository of Mexico. It would be possible to use other data sources to calculate these indicators.

The system used to implement the proposed indicators is independent of any particular technological tool and is based on standards for metadata description and exchange, thus facilitating the easy integration of new elements for evaluation.

Many organisations evaluate researchers according to specific criteria, one of which is the prestige of journals. Although the guidelines differ between evaluation bodies, relevance is measured based on elements that can be adapted and where some have greater weight than others, including the prestige of the journal, the degree of collaboration with other researchers and individual production, etc. The proposed indicators can be used by various entities to evaluate researchers and research groups. Each country has its own organisations that are responsible for evaluation, using various criteria based on the impact of the publications.

The proposed indicators assess based on the importance of the types of publications and the degree of collaborations. However, they can be adapted to other similar scenarios.

This study empirically tests a model of human capital (HC) factors affecting the organisational competitiveness (OC) of automotive parts suppliers in the Industry 4.0 framework, including concepts such as Toyota Kata (TK), Kaizen and Quality 4.0, during the coronavirus disease 2019 pandemic.

An instrument was created to measure emotional intelligence (EI) and analytical skill (AS) as input variables and OC as the output variable. The instrument was distributed electronically to Tier 1 non-technical employees in Nuevo León and Querétaro, México. A total of 195 surveys were obtained. The instrument used stepwise multiple linear regression.

This study proposes a model to strengthen the OC of Tier 1 automotive parts supply industry from the perspective of HC factors. Furthermore, it is shown that EI and AS have a positive and significant impact on OC.

From an HC perspective, this study provides a useful basis to improve OC for researchers, industry experts and managers at different levels of the automotive industry, including the triple helix (academia, industry and the government).

No studies simultaneously test the relationship of EI and AS to OC; therefore, this study fills a gap in the literature. Furthermore, the study explored the literature on individual Kaizen (IK) and TK, leading to a contrast between the definitions of EI and AS. Finally, for EI, a reference to motivation was found in the IK. In the case of AS, an orientation to ability of problem solving was found in TK.

Hispanic-serving institutions (HSIs), like other universities, are faced with challenges related to faculty diversity. The literature related to faculty at HSIs is scant and so this paper aims to address this gap by problematizing faculty diversity at these institutions.

By means of a document analysis, the authors have scoured the data on faculty demographics at these institutions and the findings of the study are threefold.

First, a lack of accessible and transparent data exists. Second, there is a lack of available demographic information and third, this creates a dismal narrative regarding faculty diversity at HSIs.

Further critical research is warranted as a means to uncover data on faculty diversity at HSIs.

This study supports the need for a critical consciousness lens to problematize faculty diversity at HSIs.