Traceability management as a multidisciplinary topic: Trends and gaps in recent scholarly research

Traceability can be studied from different viewpoints. In this paper, we analyze it as a management tool whose implementation implies organizational changes for the firm, but via which improved competitiveness may be realized. More specifically, the aim of this paper is to analyze the evolution of traceability management topic over the past twenty years (1994-2014) through a literature review, to identify the related concepts and settings that have been considered, and further, to delineate possible research gaps in the literature. To achieve this objective we created a self-assembled database, which permitted us to carry out a descriptive analysis of papers and to derive relevant conclusions and different implications for the future. We found that the concept of traceability as a tool to improve organizational performance has gained legitimacy and consequently is now widespread. Hence, traceability is treated from different areas of the firm embracing implementation, control, information systems, consumers' opinion or supply chain. Additionally, we believe that traceability research has to progress furthermore so as to dismantle its sturdy focus on the food industry because traceability management can be meaningful for broad sectorial applications. This study contributes to the traceability body of literature as it permits defining the trends about this research field and it represents an orientated guide to enrich traceability studies in topics associated to business organizations

A framework for Open Innovation practices: Typology and characterisation

The research field of Open Innovation (OI) has grown exponentially since Chesbrough coined the term in 2003. However, after more than a decade of research, several essential areas in the OI literature, such as OI practices, are still fragmented and incomplete, as noted in the reviews of OI literature in recent years. The main objective of this research is to conduct a comprehensive literature review of OI practices, which is necessary to clarify the concept and propose more precise terminology. In this study, we develop a theoretical framework that identifies and defines 19 different OI practices typologies, according to three dimensions: direction of resources flow, innovation process stage, and type of relationship. This paper makes a relevant contribution from two perspectives: academic and managerial. From the academic perspective, our work opens the door to future research directions in the OI field that if based in the proposed theoretical framework, could help strengthen the theoretical foundations of this innovation management paradigm. In terms of the managerial view, this new typology of OI practices could help managers select more appropriate practices according to their needs and resources

Relevant factors influencing cognitive distance in the performance of collaborative research projects

The research scope of this paper is to reinforce the need to strengthen university-firm relationship. We consider that it is crucial that the interactions between researcher/university and managers/firms should be based on a win-win relationship. In this sense, it is relevant to determine the main drivers behind the success of collaborative research projects, and this study focuses on one of them: cognitive distance. The specific objective of this study is to analyze the main factors that determine the influence of cognitive distance in the individual relationship between researchers and practitioners in collaborative research projects. In the first stage, through a literature review of cognitive distance and collaborative research projects, we identified a list of seven factors that influence cognitive distance and the issues that may provoke in the empirical context. Second, we carried out an empirical study based on semi-structured interviews with coordinators of collaborative research projects managed by the Chair of Business Volkswagen Navarra - University of Navarra. This permitted us to build guidelines that show the main practical concerns associated with each factor and how they were managed in the analyzed projects. This enriches the cognitive distance literature on individual interactions between researchers and practitioners. We highlight the relevance of previous experience of both agents, the exploitation of projects versus exploratory ones, and the determinant role of support infrastructures to minimize the negative effect of high cognitive distance. Nowadays, there is a trend to develop collaborative research projects with firms, not only agreement collaborations. Therefore, our findings could be useful for analyzing the relationships between researchers and practitioners in action research studies developed inside a doctoral thesis or competitive research project. By considering the effect of cognitive distance when selecting collaborative research projects, it will help to increase the degree of success of these projects

Long daytime napping is associated with increased adiposity and type 2 diabetes in an elderly population with metabolic syndrome

Research examining associations between objectively-measured napping time and type 2 diabetes (T2D) is lacking. This study aimed to evaluate daytime napping in relation to T2D and adiposity measures in elderly individuals from the Mediterranean region. A cross-sectional analysis of baseline data from 2190 elderly participants with overweight/obesity and metabolic syndrome, in the PREDIMED-Plus trial, was carried out. Accelerometer-derived napping was measured. Prevalence ratios (PR) and 95% confidence intervals (CI) for T2D were obtained using multivariable-adjusted Cox regression with constant time. Linear regression models were fitted to examine associations of napping with body mass index (BMI) and waist circumference (WC). Participants napping ≥90 min had a higher prevalence of T2D (PR 1.37 (1.06, 1.78)) compared with those napping 5 to <30 min per day. Significant positive associations with BMI and WC were found in those participants napping ≥30 min as compared to those napping 5 to <30 min per day. The findings of this study suggest that longer daytime napping is associated with higher T2D prevalence and greater adiposity measures in an elderly Spanish population at high cardiovascular risk

Epidemiological trends of HIV/HCV coinfection in Spain, 2015-2019

Altres ajuts: Spanish AIDS Research Network; European Funding for Regional Development (FEDER).Objectives: We assessed the prevalence of anti-hepatitis C virus (HCV) antibodies and active HCV infection (HCV-RNA-positive) in people living with HIV (PLWH) in Spain in 2019 and compared the results with those of four similar studies performed during 2015-2018. Methods: The study was performed in 41 centres. Sample size was estimated for an accuracy of 1%. Patients were selected by random sampling with proportional allocation. Results: The reference population comprised 41 973 PLWH, and the sample size was 1325. HCV serostatus was known in 1316 PLWH (99.3%), of whom 376 (28.6%) were HCV antibody (Ab)-positive (78.7% were prior injection drug users); 29 were HCV-RNA-positive (2.2%). Of the 29 HCV-RNA-positive PLWH, infection was chronic in 24, it was acute/recent in one, and it was of unknown duration in four. Cirrhosis was present in 71 (5.4%) PLWH overall, three (10.3%) HCV-RNA-positive patients and 68 (23.4%) of those who cleared HCV after anti-HCV therapy (p = 0.04). The prevalence of anti-HCV antibodies decreased steadily from 37.7% in 2015 to 28.6% in 2019 (p < 0.001); the prevalence of active HCV infection decreased from 22.1% in 2015 to 2.2% in 2019 (p < 0.001). Uptake of anti-HCV treatment increased from 53.9% in 2015 to 95.0% in 2019 (p < 0.001). Conclusions: In Spain, the prevalence of active HCV infection among PLWH at the end of 2019 was 2.2%, i.e. 90.0% lower than in 2015. Increased exposure to DAAs was probably the main reason for this sharp reduction. Despite the high coverage of treatment with direct-acting antiviral agents, HCV-related cirrhosis remains significant in this population

Dietary diversity and nutritional adequacy among an older Spanish population with Metabolic Syndrome in the PREDIMED-Plus study: a cross-sectional analysis

Dietary guidelines emphasize the importance of a varied diet to provide an adequate nutrient intake. However, an older age is often associated with consumption of monotonous diets that can be nutritionally inadequate, increasing the risk for the development or progression of diet-related chronic diseases, such as metabolic syndrome (MetS). To assess the association between dietary diversity (DD) and nutrient intake adequacy and to identify demographic variables associated with DD, we cross-sectionally analyzed baseline data from the PREDIMED-Plus trial: 6587 Spanish adults aged 55–75 years, with overweight/obesity who also had MetS. An energy-adjusted dietary diversity score (DDS) was calculated using a 143-item validated semi-quantitative food frequency questionnaire (FFQ). Nutrient inadequacy was defined as an intake below 2/3 of the dietary reference intake (DRI) forat least four of 17 nutrients proposed by the Institute of Medicine (IOM). Logistic regression models were used to evaluate the association between DDS and the risk of nutritionally inadequate intakes. In the higher DDS quartile there were more women and less current smokers. Compared with subjects in the highest DDS quartile, those in the lowest DDS quartile had a higher risk of inadequate nutrient intake: odds ratio (OR) = 28.56 (95% confidence interval (CI) 20.80–39.21). When we estimated food varietyfor each of the food groups, participants in the lowest quartile had a higher risk of inadequate nutrient intake for the groups of vegetables, OR = 14.03 (95% CI 10.55–18.65), fruits OR = 11.62 (95% CI 6.81–19.81), dairy products OR = 6.54 (95% CI 4.64–9.22) and protein foods OR = 6.60 (95% CI 1.96–22.24). As DDS decreased, the risk of inadequate nutrients intake rose. Given the impact of nutrient intake adequacy on the prevention of non-communicable diseases, health policies should focus on the promotion of a healthy varied diet, specifically promoting the intake of vegetables and fruit among population groups with lower DDS such as men, smokers or widow(er)s. View Full-Tex

Monitoring, Operational Manager Efforts and Inventory Policy.

Operations managers are becoming more important in modern corporations. They do not only care on firms’ inventory management but also they are involved in firms’ strategic decisions. Within this setting we ask about the consequences in the inventory policy of this new role undertaken by these managers. To do so, we develop a model where a firm’s Operations Manager can devote some efforts to develop non-inventory related activities. These efforts, although non-verifiable, may be known with a certain probability if the owner monitors them. Interestingly, by monitoring these efforts, a firm’s owner may end up stimulating Operations Manager to achieve steep inventory cost reductions in the short-term. Basic idea is that Operations Manager, in general, avoids reducing inventory costs significantly in one period because this makes additional cost cuts difficult which, in turn, reduce expected future inventory-related retribution. However, by compensating those non-inventory-related efforts may offset these losses. Thus, although Operations Managers in modern corporations carry out non-inventory related responsibilities, this may bring about some benefits on inventory costs reduction

The role of Business Associations as drivers of strategic management of innovation

Traditionally, business associations have been representatives of the interests of companies. Additionally, they have become coordinators of business activity and facilitators of the flow of information in the industry. Currently, the associations go further, they are developing a new role as innovation intermediaries for their affiliated companies. This work, although very valuable is not evident, therefore, they suffer from invisibility for business and academic organizations. Consequently, this doctoral thesis aims to deepen the study of the role of associations as key agents of the processes of open and collaborative innovation in business ecosystems, that is denominated innovation intermediation. In order to meet this challenge, we developed an Action Research project with three phases that comprise the articulation of a theoretical framework, and two fieldworks with a group of associations from the community of Navarra (northern Spain). In the first phase, we present a robust theoretical framework on the strategic, innovation and creativity aspects that surround the dynamics of associations as innovation intermediaries. Likewise, we clarify the fundamental concepts of associations as organizations of a social and economic nature. Finally, we describe their new role as facilitators of the strategic innovation of companies in the industrial sectors. In the second phase, we designed and applied a survey of 21 business associations, which allowed us to define their innovation intermediation functions, the types of innovation they tend to promote among their companies, and their dynamic capacities for innovation intermediation. Subsequently, we performed a cluster analysis to propose a typology of business associations. Finally, as a result of the previous findings, in the third phase we carried out an interactive and participative work with managers from 16 associations that allowed us to propose a Maturity Model of Innovation Intermediation Capacity, and also to propose the concept of business associations as Communities of Collaborative Innovation

Participation of SCM Strategy in the definition of Business Strategy and its further conditions for operationalization. The status of SCM in LATAM

Supply Chain Management (SCM) is a discipline of management that can be seen in different ways. However, only a strategic approach of SCM derived into subsequent tactical decisions and an operational implementation will provide the benefit that promises. SCM decisions must be considered at the strategic level; this is because the decisions in SCM contain several edges that necessarily involve the coordination of multiple areas of the company and therefore their guidelines must be defined to the highest managerial level. In this thesis is emphasize the strategic nature of SCM and the importance of being considered this way. Most research on SCM focuses on the relationship among organizations within the supply chain; but scarce literature exists that addresses the issue of internal conditions that allow proper management of the supply chain out of the borders of the organization. The purpose of this paper is to explore how SCM strategy is taken into account when the organization delineates the business strategy and how those conditions have to be met internally within the organization to be successfully implemented at the tactical and operational levels. This research is centered in Latin America where SCM’s development from the strategic point of view is scarce, more than this, SCM’s development in this region is wrongly oriented. While not considering at the strategic level, any effort organizations want to make in the area of SCM will hardly get satisfactory results in the medium and long term. In order to get this, a set of constructs was explored, proposed and defined as critical, to be considered as the first steps for a successful implementation of a SCM strategy. As it will be developed through this work, seven constructs were conisdered: Degree of participation of SCM strategy in the business strategy; Parameters to guide segmentation of providers and customers; Culture of the organization; Distribution of benefits along the chain’s criteria; Internal alignment of all the firm’s areas that participate in the SCM strategy; Coherence between strategic SCM'S alignement and Incentive program for managers; SCM manager’s role and profile Through two qualitative field studies (a Delphi panel of experts, the first and a case study the second) conducted in Latin America, the aim was to demonstrate the status of SCM in the region and how, through a correct application of the constructs, the organizations can raise their SCM strategy and from there achieve a correct operationalization