The determinants of eco innovation in green supply chains: evidence form an Italian sectoral study

In the last years attention has increased to the eco-innovation topic. Empirical studies have demonstrated that innovating firms grow faster, have higher productivity and are more profitable than their less innovative counterparts (Geroski et al., 1993; Roper and Hewitt-Dundas, 1998). Drawing upon a database of over 300 enterprises operating within eight defined green production chains working in the Province of Milan, this paper assesses the determinants and drawbacks of innovation. In particular, using an econometrical approach, we tested the following propositions: a) small dimension of enterprises is an obstacle to their innovation power; b) The adoption of an international strategy of production and commercialisation is an opportunity and a stimulus to eco-innovation; c) cooperation with research partners can help SMEs to overcome difficulties and help them to develop and offer eco-sustainable products and services. The econometric analysis shows a positive impact of dimension and level of internationalization on innovation capabilities. In addition, cooperation with research centers and access to capital market are positively related with effective innovations.SME, eco-innovation, supply chain, green economy.

Communicating Intellectual Capital: Evidence from Social and Sustainability Reporting

Since the work of Guthrie & Petty (2000) several studies on intellectual capital (IC) reporting have been made to analyze the company disclosure process both public and private communication channels. Within public communication channels, company annual report is the most used document but in general it shows a low level of IC information. Other analyzed public channels are the initial public offering (IPO) prospectuses (Bukh et al. 2005; Cordazzo, 2007), the intellectual capital statements (Bukh et al., 2001; Mouritsen et al., 2001, 2002) and the web sites (Gerpott et al., 2008), all showing different level of IC information. The aim of this paper is to assess in depth the intellectual capital disclosure (ICD) communicated through social and sustainability reports in a sample of 37 Italian listed companies by a longitudinal content analysis (2005, 2006). IC disclosure (on human, organizational and relation capital) is analyzed in quantitative & qualitative, time dimension and financial & non financial terms in order to analyzed more in depth the ICD process. Findings show an overall increase in all categories of intellectual capital over the two years with a particular relevance for the organizational capital category. Overall the amount of ICD is higher when compared to the majority of previous studies based on annual report and it demonstrates the need to investigate more in depth a wide range of company reports to understand carefully the companies intellectual capital disclosure process and the possibility to integrate intellectual capital report and social and sustainability reporting in a single report.

What factors influence the uptake of GPP (Green Public Procurement) practices? New evidence from an Italian survey

Green Public Procurement (GPP) is becoming a cornerstone of environmental policies both at European Union and Member State level. Drawing upon a database of public authorities located in three Italian Regions, this paper assesses the determinants and drawbacks of green procurement adoption. In particular, using an econometrical approach we tested the following propositions: i) the existing awareness on GPP practices, tools and regulations does support public authorities to develop GPP strategies; (ii) the support of external experts in purchasing function does support public authorities to develop GPP practices; (iii) the small dimension of public authority is an obstacle to adopting GPP practices; (iv) ISO 14001 certified public authorities are more likely to develop GPP practices. The econometric analysis shows that the dimension of public authorities and the level of awareness of the existing tools for supporting GPP have a positive and significant effect on the probability that they adopt GPP practices.green public procurement, local authorities, ISO 14001, environment.

Intellectual capital communication: evidence from social and sustainability reporting

The purpose of this study is to investigate the level and quality of intellectual capital information communicated through social and sustainability report for a sample of 37 Italian listed company over two years (2005 and 2006). The study use the resource based theory to explain the relationship between corporate social responsibility and intellectual capital. Content analysis is applied through a multidimensional framework composed by three main disclosure profiles(time orientation, nature and type of information) which permits to analyse in depth the quality of intellectual capital information. The results highlight significant and increasing presence of intellectual capital information in CSR reports which is communicated principally in non financial, quantitative and non time specific terms. Human capital is the most reported category followed by relational and organisational capital. There are many similarities between the two typology of report contributing to the ongoing debate on corporate reporting practices.The results suggest that the integration between IC report and CSR report is a plausible issue and that could be useful to enhance the transparency and the understanding of company processes and activities both for internal and external stakeholders. Very few studies have analysed the intellectual capital in CSR report in atheoretical and mono-dimensional way. Moreover the resource base theory has been scarcely applied to explain the disclosure of intellectual capital even if there are several similarities between the two perspectives.intellectual capital, disclosure, social and sustainability reporting, resource based view, corporate social responsibility

Optimized Design of Thermoelectric Energy Harvesting Systems for Waste Heat Recovery from Exhaust Pipes

With the increasing interest in energy efficiency and resource protection, waste heat recovery processes have gained importance. Thereby, one possibility is the conversion of the heat energy into electrical energy by thermoelectric generators. Here, a thermoelectric energy harvesting system is developed to convert the waste heat from exhaust pipes, which are very often used to transport the heat, e.g., in automobiles, in industrial facilities or in heating systems. That is why a mockup of a heating is built-up, and the developed energy harvesting system is attached. To build-up this system, a model-based development process is used. The setup of the developed energy harvesting system is very flexible to test different variants and an optimized system can be found in order to increase the energy yield for concrete application examples. A corresponding simulation model is also presented, based on previously developed libraries in Modelica®/Dymola®. In the end, it can be shown—with measurement and simulation results—that a thermoelectric energy harvesting system on the exhaust pipe of a heating system delivers extra energy and thus delivers a contribution for a more efficient usage of the inserted primary energy carrier

Diseño de una prueba diagnóstica en matemáticas para estudiantes que ingresan a primer semestre a la Corporación Universitaria Minuto de Dios-Sede Bogotá

El presente artículo da cuenta del proceso investigativo generado frente a la construcción e implementación de una prueba diagnóstica dirigida a los estudiantes que ingresan a primer semestre a UNIMINUTO con el ánimo de establecer su nivel de desempeño en el campo del pensamiento geométrico y variacional. El instrumento se construyó teniendo en cuenta otras pruebas ya validadas y soportadas en los niveles de Van Hiele, y en el manejo de la variable real, se aplicó con el apoyo de un ambiente en moodle a un total de 630 estudiantes pertenecientes a 11 programas. El desempeño de los estudiantes fue básico con mayor dificultad en el campo de la geometría y un mejor desempeño en el uso de la incógnita

A literature review on the links between environmental regulation and competitiveness

The effects of environmental regulation on competitiveness is always a topic under debate for policymakers and practitioners. The article describes the different ways of defining and measuring the effects of environmental regulation on competition and market forces and synthesizes the most updated findings on the relationship between these dimensions. It also proposes an in depth analysis of the most recent empirical studies, with a particular focus on the buildings and construction (B&C) sector, which often is a substantial contributor to the most important countries’ economic indicators. We find that two variables have proved to be both (i) key in defining to what extent and under what conditions environmental regulation exerts adverse or positive effects on competitiveness and (ii) difficult to nail down: forms of regulation and responses by business.

Fostering the Circular Economy with Blockchain Technology: Insights from a Bibliometric Approach

: The circular economy is an emerging paradigm with important economic, environmental, and societal implications. As the world faces such paradigm shifts, new and radical technologies are urgently needed to enable it; blockchain technology can assist to accomplish the aforementioned circular economy shift given its decentralization and distributiveness principles as well as its smart contract capability. This study represents one of the first attempts to analyze those academic research domains together adopting a science mapping technique. By adopting such approach, the study envisages research challenges, highlights important research gaps, and proposes future paths in the blockchain and circular economy fields. Among the others, key findings show that blockchain technology as a tool for promoting the circular economy has been extensively researched at the micro (i.e., firm) and meso levels (i.e., supply chain) more effort on how blockchain can support the development of circular smart cites and measurement tools for providing information to stakeholders and assisting in policy creation expresses the greatest potential in terms of novel research. Moreover, the research suggests that another possible stream of research might be dealing on how blockchain together with physical technologies (e.g., 3D printing, RFID), can support the transition towards the circular economy