Introduction to Special Issue “Advances in Sustainability-Oriented Innovations”

8836This Special Issue focuses on the study of Sustainability-Oriented Innovations (SOIs). Our purpose is to shed light on the SOIs literature regarding their determining factors, implications and new challenges for the future. In this editorial, we are delighted to present the three papers included in this Special Issue. Each of them tackles di erent issues related to SOIs having important academic and managerial implications. Two papers analyze the influence of SOIs on urban development and resource productivity, respectively, and the third studies SOIs determinants, in particular, cooperation networks. Moreover, two of the papers analyze SOIs considering territory (cities or countries) as their unit of analysis while the third focuses on firms. This denotes that SOIs’ actions are important whatever the level of analysis and as either a determinant or a consequence.S

Estimating product efficiency through a hedonic pricing best practice frontier

A complex critical decision in marketing and economics is pricing. Finding the right price for a product requires careful assessment of the product attributes. Product efficiency evaluation establishes the relative appeal of a product, when compared with the observable attributes and prices of competing products. The main contribution of this paper is combining hedonic pricing with frontier analysis to estimate product efficiency, which is a novel approach. We apply this method to the running shoes market. We find four attributes as main drivers of price: Stability, Cushioning, Flexibility and Response. The model also identifies overpriced products and predicts the price reductions needed in order to be comparatively competitive, a prerequisite for overall business performance. Our results show the dynamics of price adjustments in the market. Overpriced products adjust prices down quickly gaining comparative appeal. Another interesting finding is that product efficiency strongly correlates with the evaluations made by independent experts. JEL classification: M31, L11, C13, Keywords: Hedonic pricing, Stochastic frontier analysis, Product efficiency, Running shoe

La construcción de subjetividades en el Tercer Sector: aproximación a las Empresas de Inserción en el marco del Capitalismo Flexible

El presente trabajo de Tesis Doctoral pretende realizar una aproximación a las Empresas de Inserción, sus prácticas, lógicas y efectos en el marco de las entidades del Tercer Sector. El objetivo que perseguimos al aproximarnos a las Empresas de Inserción es describir su situación en la sociedad actual atendiendo al papel que juegan las entidades en la construcción de subjetividades. Hacerlo posibilitará la comprensión y el análisis de las prácticas concretas que se desarrollan en las Empresas de Inserción, así como la comprensión y análisis de las lógicas seguidas por las entidades que las desarrollan. Para contextualizar el análisis emplearemos los desarrollos teóricos y metodológicos de Luc Boltanski, Laurent Thévenot y Eve Chiapello, los cuales nos posibilitan situar lo que sucede en una Empresa de Inserción vinculándolo a las lógicas de funcionamiento en la sociedad actual.Especialmente relevantes para nuestro análisis se muestran los conceptos, acuñados por estos autores, de Tercer Espíritu del Capitalismo y Ciudad por Proyectos. El Tercer Espíritu del Capitalismo se corresponde con el momento histórico que vivimos que, según los autores, ha de ser isomorfo a un capitalismo mundializado que se sirve de las nuevas tecnologías, un capitalismo informacional en una sociedad-red. Por su parte, la Ciudad por Proyectos es el concepto usado para designar el nuevo aparato justificativo de adhesión al capitalismo que estaría formándose en la actualidad en el marco del Tercer Espíritu del Capitalismo (BOLTANSKI y CHIAPELLO, 2002).This work Doctoral Thesis aims to make an approach to integration enterprises, practices, logical and effects in the framework of the Third Sector. The goal we seek as we approach integration enterprises is to describe their situation in today's society serving the role of entities in the construction of subjectivities. Doing so will enable understanding and analysis of the specific practices developed in integration enterprises, as well as understanding and analysis of the logic followed by the entities that develop.  To contextualize the analysis will use the theoretical and methodological developments of Luc Boltanski, Laurent Thevenot and Eve Chiapello, which enable us to situate what happens in an integration company linking it to the logic operating in the actual.Especialmente relevant to our analysis company show concepts, coined by these authors, Third Spirit of Capitalism and the Project City. The Third Spirit of Capitalism corresponds to the historical moment we live, according to the authors, must be isomorphic to a globalized capitalism that uses new technologies, an informational capitalism in a network society. For its part, the City for Projects is the concept used to describe the new supporting apparatus accession to capitalism today would be formed under the Third Spirit of Capitalism (Boltanski and CHIAPELLO, 2002)

Corporate Governance and Innovation: a Theoretical Review

p. 266-284Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to present a review of the literature on two lines of research, corporate governance and innovation, explaining how different internal corporate governance mechanisms may be determinants of business innovation. Design/methodology/approach – It explores the theoretical background and the empirical evidence regarding the influence of both ownership structure and the board of directors on company innovation. Then, conclusions are drawn and possible future research lines are presented. Findings – No consensus was observed regarding the relation between corporate governance and innovation, with both positive and negative arguments being found, and with empirical evidence not always pointing in the same direction. Thus, new studies trying to clarify this relationship are needed. Originality/value – Over recent years, interest has grown in the influence of governance mechanisms on innovation decisions taken by the management. Innovation efforts and results depend on factors that are influenced by corporate governance, such as ownership structure or the functioning of the board of directors. Thus, the paper shows an updated state of the art in this field proposing future lines for empirical research.S

Study protocol on social return on investment (SROI) project of the surgical waiting list management system

In Andalusia, the right to maximum waiting times for healthcare clashes with the available supply, leading to an increase in demand in the form of waiting lists. To address this situation, the activity of private centers has been created for certain diagnostic tests. The Social Return on Investment (SROI) model evaluates an intervention from an economic and stakeholder perspective. However, there are no studies on the suitability of waiting lists using SROI, which is why it is intended to be studied as a decision-making tool for the clinical and healthcare management of waiting lists. This research protocol is designed to determine the quality of life gained, with the EuroQol-5D-5L questionnaire, and its social assessment, with the specific survey of the SROI method, and, thus, analyze the social return on investment and determine the suitability of the intervention (diagnostic endoscopy activity arranged in a contracted center). After the study, we will know the economic (cost in public health centers and the incremental cost of extraordinary health resources), social (quality of life with health), and environmental scenarios of the concerted activity intervention in order to adjust waiting list timesPartial funding for open access charge: Universidad de Málag

Software fires detection and extinction for forest

This article shows the most usual fire detection and forest extinction application technologies at present. We will see all different methods used by these applications that can be found in the Market and some examples. Also, some basic questions about the most influent parameters when a fire must be extinct are shown. Finally, after having shown all the technologies, we will build a model about an intelligent system which not only detects, but also extinguish wildfire

Online voluntary transparency in spanish retail firms. Measurement index and CSR-related factors as determinants

Information transparency is a key aspect of the Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) strategy. The new information and communication technologies, such as the Internet, allow companies to disseminate relevant corporate information to different stakeholders and society, promoting voluntary online transparency. The analysis of social responsibility information published on corporate websites permits, among other issues, the development of disclosure and transparency indexes that facilitate comparisons between companies, and the assessment of potential drivers of the transparency strategy. In this sense, this study has two main objectives: (1) To develop a measurement index of voluntary online transparency, and (2) to identify relevant factors that influence on such transparency. The empirical research was carried out by analyzing the websites of a 176 large Spanish retail companies. Regression analysis was used to test the proposed hypotheses. The results obtained show that online voluntary transparency is encouraged by the implementation of CSR principles in store management and by the particular type of contributions in which the social commitment of the retail is materialized (monetary versus non-monetary), as well as by the fact that employees and/or society as a whole represent the main beneficiaries of CSR activities

Static load behavior and energy absorption of safety guardrails for construction works = Comportamiento bajo cargas estáticas y absorción de energía de barandillas de seguridad para obras

One of the requirements which must be met by the temporary edge protection systems (TEPS) is to stop a worker who walks, stumbles, falls and knocks against the system. The effect of the worker?s crash with the protection system is a dynamic type stress applied as an impact. The capacity of the system to withstand the impact depends on its ductility and its ability to absorb energy. The area enclosed by the load-displacement graph of a TEPS when the load is statically applied is an indicator of its ductility and its ability to absorb energy. In Europe, the EN 13374 standard specifies the requirements to be fulfilled by the TEPS. For systems placed in floor slabs with a slope smaller than 10° (class A systems), the standard indicates that the testing should be performed using static loads. In this work, TEPS manufactured from steel, wood, injected plastic, and composites have been tested with the static loads test system specified in the EN 13374 standard for assessing class A systems. Subsequently, the areas enclosed in the load-displacement diagram have been tested and have been compared with the estimated values of impact energy

Online teaching in COVID-19 times. Student satisfaction and analysis of their academic performance

[EN] Online teaching has grown exponentially as a result of COVID-19. Universities and teaching institutions the world over have had to adapt their curricula to this new teaching and learning model. The main goal of this study is to analyse various teaching methodologies used on a sample of university students to analyse their effectiveness in terms of satisfaction, competencies and academic performance. The results suggest that methodologies that include greater student-teacher interaction or the use of videoconferencing for classes and problem-solving help to raise student satisfaction. Students also positively assess online teaching as it allows them to acquire new competencies and even to identify business opportunities. The online evaluation method used also seems to have been appropriate, as it led students to obtain better grades than in face-to-face teaching contexts. The study offers several implications for university teachers of Social Sciences who wish to adopt this type of teaching method

Sugar metabolism, redox balance and oxidative stress response in the respiratory yeast Kluyveromyces lactis

A lot of studies have been carried out on Saccharomyces cerevisiae, an yeast with a predominant fermentative metabolism under aerobic conditions, which allows exploring the complex response induced by oxidative stress. S. cerevisiae is considered a eukaryote model for these studies. We propose Kluyveromyces lactis as a good alternative model to analyse variants in the oxidative stress response, since the respiratory metabolism in this yeast is predominant under aerobic conditions and it shows other important differences with S. cerevisiae in catabolic repression and carbohydrate utilization. The knowledge of oxidative stress response in K. lactis is still a developing field. In this article, we summarize the state of the art derived from experimental approaches and we provide a global vision on the characteristics of the putative K. lactis components of the oxidative stress response pathway, inferred from their sequence homology with the S. cerevisiae counterparts. Since K. lactis is also a well-established alternative host for industrial production of native enzymes and heterologous proteins, relevant differences in the oxidative stress response pathway and their potential in biotechnological uses of this yeast are also reviewed