Factors influencing automobile firms eco-innovation orientation

[EN] An eco-innovation is any innovation that reduces environmental damage. Even though eco-innovating is a key trend in industry today, relatively little research has been conducted on its implications for the automobile industry. In this article, the attitude toward the environment while innovating is analyzed using the SEM (Structural Equation Model) technique, applied to a data set of 223 Spanish automotive companies. Results of a statistical analysis with this data set show that companies which focus on processes and products when innovating tend to be more environmentally oriented and tend to highlight the importance of information sources more than those which do not have a focus on process and product innovation. Further, our results show that companies which see market information sources (coming from suppliers, clients, competitors, and external consultants) as important in the process of innovation and development of new products and markets are also more environmentally oriented. The consistency in our findings suggests that companies which look for more operational flexibility, increased production capacity, reduced labor costs per unit, or reduced energy consumption per unit when innovating are also more prepared to adopt an environmental orientation. These results have important managerial implications for firms that are trying to go greener as it highlights the variables that should be considered in their effort to be more environmentally oriented and the key elements to lead companies from innovation toward eco-innovation. Learning from this study will help managerial decision-making. The variety of variables analyzed allows practitioners to discover conclusions relevant to the engineering management field.The authors would like to thank the Spanish Economy and Competitiveness Ministry for its financial support through the research project (EC02011-27369) and the Universitat Politecnica de Valencia for its research funding to the project "Innovative impact on the companies' environmental performance: identifying moderating factors" (PAID-06-2011-1879).Segarra Oña, MDV.; Peiró Signes, A.; Paya Martinez, A. (2014). Factors influencing automobile firms eco-innovation orientation. EMJ - Engineering Management Journal. 26(1):31-38. https://doi.org/10.1080/10429247.2014.11432002S313826

Recommendation of soil fertility levels for willow in the southern highlands of Santa Catarina

The species Salix x rubens is being grown on the Southern Plateau of Santa Catarina since the 1940s, but so far the soil fertility requirements of the crop have not been assessed. This study is the first to evaluate the production profile of willow plantations in this region, based on the modified method of Summer & Farina (1986), for the recommendation of fertility levels for willow. By this method, based on the law of Minimum and of Maximum for willow production for the conditions on the Southern Plateau of Santa Catarina, the following ranges could be recommended: pH: 5.0-6.5; P: 12-89 mg dm-3; Mg: 3.2-7.5 mg; Zn: 5.0-8.3 mg dm-3; Cu: 0.8-4.6 mg dm-3; and Mn; 20-164 mg dm-3. The Ca/Mg ratio should be between 1.2 and 2.9. For K and Ca only the lower (sufficiency level), but not the upper threshold (excess) was established, with respectively 114 mg dm-3 and 5.3 cmol c dm-3. It was also possible to determine the upper threshold for Al and the Al/Ca ratio, i.e., 1.7 cmol c dm-3 and 0.28, respectively. For maximum yields, the clay in the soil surface layer should be below 320 g dm-3