Towards profitable customized solutions in small firms: a matter of relationships, modularity and expertise

Producción CientíficaPurpose.The decision concerning the degree of product and service customization is crucial, yet has scarcely been studied for small businesses in business-to-business (B2B) contexts. Although such a decision allows relationships with potential customers to be strengthened, it might involve high opportunity costs given the investment required. This paper aims to analyse the profitability of customization undertaken by small businesses in terms of cost–benefit and examine the drivers of profitable customized projects vis-à-vis the ability to strengthen relationships with clients (relationship investment and customer involvement) and the firm’s resources related to processes and technology (expertise and modularity). Design/methodology/approach.To test the proposed hypotheses, data were collected from 140 small Spanish firms involved in two sectors characterized by the offer of customized solutions: information and professional, scientific and technical services. Findings.Analysis reveals that customer involvement in the customized solution, even when it requires investing in equipment, time or human resources has a positive effect on customization and ultimately on profitability, as the cost of this customer interaction is lower than the revenue it provides. Likewise, supplier investment in the relationship allows for a solution that is adapted to the client, although it requires a cost associated with investing in specific assets. Such costs cancel out the positive indirect effect through the customized solution. Finally, expertise enables appropriate use of the flexibility derived from modularity to satisfy customer requirements, with both being key company resources for driving profitability through customized solutions. Originality/value. This study makes a contribution to the domain of customization. The authors extend current knowledge on B2B customization by proving that small firms can use their available capabilities and knowledge to achieve a successful customization strategy.Junta de Castilla y León y the European Regional Development Fund (Project VA219P20)Ministerio de Economía, Industria y Competitividad (Project ECO217-86628-P

Estudio y edición crítica del "Tratado del dormir y despertar" de Lope de Barrientos

Tesis de la Universidad Complutense de Madrid, Facultad de Filología, Departamento de Filología Española II, leída el 28-03-2001Depto. de Literaturas Hispánicas y BibliografíaFac. de FilologíaTRUEpu

Valoración de las asignaturas de Expresión Gráfica dentro de los planos de los proyectos fin de carrera

En la ETSII-UPM las asignaturas troncales de Dibujo Técnico bajo diferentes denominaciones se imparten en el primer curso de las titulaciones de Ingeniería Industrial e Ingeniería Química. Dado que suele ser el PFC el primer documento en el que generalmente los alumnos incluyen planos, se pretende conocer y valorar el empleo que hacen de los conocimientos adquiridos en las asignaturas de Dibujo Técnico en la elaboración de los planos de los PFC. A través del análisis de los planos incluidos en los PFC se pretende conocer el grado de aplicación de estos conocimientos específicos en las distintas intensificaciones, la temática de los proyectos, tipo de información que contienen, empleo adecuado de las normas, herramientas empleadas en su elaboración, normativas empleadas, etc., con el fin detectar deficiencias, errores en conocimientos, malas prácticas en su ejecución, etc. y así disponer de información adicional que permita ajustar los contenidos, evaluación y metodología de las materias impartidas con el fin de mejorar la docencia. El estudio se ha realizado tomando como referencia los PFC de los últimos 4 años, para todas las especialidades y convocatorias

Influencia de la Composición y Textura en las Características del Depósito Palustre de Sepiolita del Cerro de los Batallones (Cuenca de Madrid)

España presenta diversos yacimientos de sepiolita, entre los que destacan por sus reservas y calidad los existentes en la Cuenca de Madrid (Galán y Castillo, 1984). De acuerdo con estos autores, la sepiolita se presenta en la Cuenca de Madrid en dos tipos principales de yacimientos, unos ligado a las facies distales de abanicos aluviales (tipo Vicálvaro-Cabañas de la Sagra) y otros asociado a condiciones palustres (tipo Cerro de los Batallones)

Mesoporous silicas with tunable morphology for the immobilization of laccase

Siliceous ordered mesoporous materials (OMM) are gaining interest as supports for enzyme immobilization due to their uniform pore size, large surface area, tunable pore network and the introduction of organic components to mesoporous structure. We used SBA-15 type silica materials, which exhibit a regular 2D hexagonal packing of cylindrical mesopores of uniform size, for non-covalent immobilization of laccase. Synthesis conditions were adjusted in order to obtain supports with different particle shape, where those with shorter channels had higher loading capacity. Despite the similar isoelectric points of silica and laccase and the close match between the size of laccase and the pore dimensions of these SBA-15 materials, immobilization was achieved with very low leaching. Surface modification of macro-/mesoporous amorphous silica by grafting of amine moieties was proved to significantly increase the isoelectric point of this support and improve the immobilization yield. © 2014 by the authors.The authors thank the Spanish Government for financial support through the project MAT 2012-31127, and Ramiro Martinez (Novozymes, Spain) for his kind help with the supply of laccase. V. G. acknowledges Ministerio de Educación, Cultura y Deporte for a FPU PhD fellowship. We acknowledge support by the CSIC Open Access Publication Initiative through its Unit of Information Resources for Research (URICI)Peer Reviewe

Suppression of sweet taste-related responses by plant-derived bioactive compounds and eating. Part II: A systematic review in animals

This article, the second in a two-part series, continues the discussion on the nature of the relationship between the level of sweet taste suppression and eating behaviour, but in animal rather human subjects. In particular, the aim was to review the scientific literature on the impact that bioactive compounds that decrease oral sweet sensations have on intake, preference and physiological status in preclinical studies. This review was registered in the International Prospective Register of Systematic Reviews and conducted according to the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA) and the Scottish Intercollegiate Guidelines Network and covered original papers included in Web of Science, PubMed, Scopus, Food Science Source and Food Science and technology abstracts. We identified 28 peer-reviewed English-language studies that fit the topic and met the inclusion criteria. We identified three plant species, Gymnema sylvestre, Hovenia dulcis, and Ziziphus jujuba, that possess acute sweetness-inhibitory properties. When administered orally, these plants reduced neural responses to sweet stimuli and decreased consumption. However, studies on the longer-term effects of antisweet activity remain to be conducted. Translating the valuable insights into the mechanisms underlying the relationship between sweet taste impairment and eating behaviour into practical clinical applications are discussed.Grant PID2021-129042OA-I00 funded by MCIN/AEI/10.13039/501100011033 and “ERDF A way of making Europe”FPU Fellowship under Grant FPU20/02400 (Ministry of Universities, Spain)Funding for open access charge: Universidad de Granada/CBU

Suppression of sweet taste-related responses by plant-derived bioactive compounds and eating. Part I: A systematic review in humans

This study was supported in part by Grant PID2021-129042OA-I00, which was funded by MCIN/AEI/10.13039/501100011033 and "ERDF A way of making Europe" and by FPU Fellowship under Grant FPU20/02400 (Ministry of Universities, Spain) . Funding for open access charge: Universidad de Granada/CBUA.The taste of food plays a crucial role in determining what and how much we eat. Thus, interventions that temporarily block sweet taste receptors offer a promising approach to addressing unhealthy behaviours associated with sugary foods. However, the relationship between reduced sweet taste response and food consumption remains unclear, with contradictory findings. Certain studies suggest that a diminished perception of sweetness leads to a sense of fullness and results in reduced food intake, while others suggest the opposite effect. To shed some light, our systematic review looked into the relationship between diminished sweet taste response and food consumption by examining the effects of bioactive compounds that experimentally inhibit sweetness in healthy individuals. This review was registered in the International Prospective Register of Systematic Reviews and conducted according to the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA) and the Scottish Intercollegiate Guidelines Network, and covered original papers included in Web of Science, PubMed, Scopus, Food Science Source and Food Science and technology abstracts. We identified 33 peer-reviewed English-language studies that fit the topic and met the inclusion criteria. The current literature predominantly focuses on the immediate impact of oral gymnemic acids, failing to provide preliminary evidence in support of the specific threshold hypothesis, above which food consumption decreases and below which the opposite effect occurs. Additionally, there was inconsistency in the findings regarding the short-term desire to eat following sweetness inhibition. Considering the downstream effects on energy intake and their clinical applications, further research is needed to clarify both the acute within-session effects (i.e., not wanting any more now) and the longer-term effects (i.e., deciding not to start eating) linked to oral sweet-taste-suppressing compounds.MCIN/AEI PID2021-129042OA-I00ERDF A way of making EuropeMinistry of Universities, Spain FPU20/02400Universidad de Granada/CBU

Potential Antioxidant and Antiviral Activities of Hydroethanolic Extracts of Selected Lamiaceae Species

Medicinal and aromatic plants (MAPs) are potential sources of natural bioactive phytochemical compounds of an incredible worth for the food industry, such as polyphenols. Lamiaceae medicinal and aromatic plants from Granada’s high plateau, concretely Origanum bastetanum, Thymus zygis gracilis, Thymus longiflorus, Thymus membranaceus and Ziziphora hispanica, were evaluated under different conventional solid–liquid extraction conditions to obtain extracts enriched in bioactive compounds. Phenolic profile was detected by HPLC-QTOF-MS, identifying a high abundance of bioactive constituents. Furthermore, antioxidant and antiviral activities of the mentioned plants were studied as biological properties of interest for the improvement of food shelf-life. Thus, Origanum bastetanum showed the highest antioxidant potential for all assays. Antiviral activity was also tested against some important foodborne viruses, feline calicivirus (FCV), murine norovirus (MNV) and hepatitis A virus (HAV), with the highest activity obtained for Ziziphora hispanica, Thymus longiflorus and Origanum bastetanum. This research proposes the studied plants as rich sources of bioactive compounds with potential use as preservatives in the food industry.Research Group AGR279 Ciencias de la Alimentacion y Nutricion (University of Granada, Spain)Diputacion de GranadaJA PREDOC_0011