The effect of knowledge management, organizational culture and organizational learning on innovation in automotive industry

The main objective of this study was to examine the direct and indirect effects of organizational culture, knowledge management and organizational learning on innovation. The study combined knowledge-based view theory (KBV), competitive value framework to develop a new original theoretical framework for investigation of factors that affect innovation. Data was gathered from a survey of 279 companies supplying automobile parts to Iran Khodro Company, an Iranian leading automobile manufacturer. Study discovered that organizational culture and knowledge management influenced organizational innovation. Besides that, organizational learning played a significant role as a mediator in that relationship. However, knowledge management was not considered as a mediator in the relationship between organizational culture and organizational innovation. As a practical contribution, the findings of the study serve as a guideline for policy makers and managers in the formulation of policies and strategies for sustainable innovation. Knowing the effectiveness of the innovation can help the government to make decisions about the continuation of this policy. Moreover, study contributes to firm management in formulation of policies and strategies for sustainability in innovation context. Innovation assists organizations supplying the product or service in the automotive sector to operate innovatively, competitively and profitably

Multiple criteria assessment of methods for forecasting building thermal energy demand

Nowadays worldwide directives have focused the attention on improving energy efficiency in the building sector. The research of models able to predict the energy consumption from the first design and energy planning phase is conducted to improve building sustainability. Use of traditional forecasting tools for building thermal energy demand tends to encounter difficulties relevant to the amount of data required, implementation of the models, computational costs and inability to generalize the output. Therefore, many studies focused on the research and development of alternative resolution methods, but the choice of the most convenient is not clear and simple. Single comparison of statistical quality indexes does not allow an adequate identification of the most efficient method, as the necessary efforts for implementation of the methods from the initial data collection to the use phase are not considered. In this work, the authors propose to apply, for the first time, the multicriteria assessment to determine the most efficient alternative method, used for forecasting of building thermal energy demand. Three alternative “black-box” methods, previously investigated by the authors, were compared by the multiple criteria Complex Proportional Assessment Method. Such a procedure revealed ranking of the methods in four phases, namely Pre-processing, Implementation, Post-processing and Use, as well as overall assessment and selection of the most efficient method in terms of evaluated criteria. This first application could represent an incentive for future multi-criteria analyses involving a growing number of alternative forecasting methods

Timber Houses in the Mediterranean Area: A Challenge to Face

About 40% of European energy consumption and most of the environmental impacts are related to the construction sector. A key role in decarbonizing the construction sector plays the timber buildings. Wood is a sustainable resource and has excellent thermophysical and acoustic characteristics compared to traditional building materials, with short production times that affect not only the construction phase but also costs. Although wooden houses are very common in the countries of Northern Europe, in Italy, and in general in the Mediterranean countries, this type of building is not very widespread today. The hot climate, characterized by a long cooling season, has always directed builders to build massive buildings. Because today building a timber house means creating energy-efficient buildings, it is proposed to study the energy-environmental performance of timber buildings in a Mediterranean climate. In this work, the performance of a building made with traditional construction will be compared with a simulated wooden building at different latitudes and climatic conditions. At the same time, a simplified assessment of the economic aspects will be carried out. For each model, the main thermophysical and geometric characteristics necessary to achieve the energy comfort requirements will be identified using MATLAB. The first results show that a wooden house has an energy saving of around 17% with payback times of 10 years compared to a traditional house