Digital Transformation and Loyalty Programs in the Grocery Retail Sector: From a Conceptual Model to an Implementation Framework

Digital Transformation, increased competition and globalization are trends that affect firms in the grocery retail business sector. The high costs of acquiring new clients lead companies to implement customers’ loyalty programs, aiming to retain and increase market share. Nevertheless, there is limited information about how retail companies are adopting Digital Transformation to retain clients. The research project described in this paper aims to understand how the grocery retail companies may successfully implement a loyalty program in a digitalization scenario. Therefore, a framework is proposed, regarding the implementation process of an effective loyalty program, in a Digital Transformation context in the retail sector. The methodology used is the Design Science Research. A case study in “company X” and interviews with grocery retail industry representatives from other international companies operating in Portugal were used to validate the framework. From this research, it is possible to confirm the positive impact that Digital Transformation has on the implementation of loyalty programs. The framework contributes to implement programs that enable companies to improve services and offer a better value proposition, leading to the customers’ loyalty

Reporting Model for Decision Support Based on the SAF-T Standard

The purpose of this paper is to summarize the results and conclusions obtained during an investigation aiming to reveal the usefulness and added value of the SAF-T when used to support decision making and the internal management of organizations. The research addresses the SAF-T standard as a source of knowledge for decision support and intelligent auditing. The research contextualizes the contribution of the SAF-T based model as a scalable way to make intelligent audits, implement new business processes and manage electronic control. The information quality of this report and digital model is also stressed. Upon automatic reporting based on SAF-T data one can draw financial conclusions and decide changes on a firm´s commercial scope. This article also highlights the advantages of decision making based on the proposed model and report. A set of hints and suggestions for further re-search work on this topic is also provided

Digital Transformation of Tourism in Cabo Verde: Case Study

The article deals with the study of the impact of digital technologies on the transformation of the tourism industry. It is established that the tourism industry is information-rich, as it is characterized by a variety of business relationships with partners, the dynamic nature of business processes, the customization of tourism services, technological enhancement, and a highly competitive environment. The digital transformation process in tourism aims to develop an ecosystem of services based on an electronic platform with advanced functionalities. This platform includes, for example, virtual reality technologies that allow visitors to interact with the destination or attraction from a distance, and augmented reality that enables visitors to have on their smartphone the thematic routes or their location in the advertising of tourism products as well as in the support in guided tours, for educational and recreational purposes and for the development of social tourism. A proposal for application of the platform adapted to the reality of Cabo Verde is presented

Digital Transformation in the Healthcare Sector – Innovation in the Purchasing Process

Health care is an activity sector with an enormous personal, social and economic importance. The procurement process in the public hospital is critical and very complex due to the need to satisfy in a timely manner the numerous requests for purchase of a large quantity of goods and services, quite diversified, while ensuring the demand for adequate quality and quantity, cost containment and compliance with the extensive legal regulations governing this process. The Public Procurement Code, by allowing the use of electronic platforms, created a potential for innovation in the procurement process of public entities. However, a significant effort is still needed to change traditional work practices, and to adopt new routines and behaviours, so that the organization will profit from the potential benefits of digital transformation. This paper presents a project developed in a public hospital that seeks to increase the speed in meeting the needs of goods and services, and to maintain the governance of the process, based on: (i) elimination of activities; (ii) training of employees; and (iii) automation of activities

Implementation of a Decision Support System for Energy Production in the Navigator Company

The production of utilities is essential for productive processes in the pulp and paper industry, due to thermal energy requirements for evaporation, drying and heating processes, and the intensive electrical power consumption of the mills. The possibility of combined steam and electricity production in cogeneration plants allows the pulp and paper industry to define operation modes of the facilities that meet the needs of internal consumers, enhancing the production and sale of electricity to the national grid. The present project aims to fulfil the difficulties reported in the decision-making process on the most appropriate operational alternatives for power generation at the Setúbal site of The Navigator Company. The analysis of the current situation allowed to identify the problem under study and the objectives of a potential solution, supporting the development and implementation of a decision support system for power generation, which: i) provides relevant information to the main decision-makers; ii) allows the simulation of process data for modelling the production of thermal and electrical power; iii) presents the simulated scenarios results in graphical and summarized forms. The development of an artefact, named Energy Decision Support System (EDSS), responds to the problem and objectives outlined, allowing the decision maker to select the most adequate alternative, respecting the pulp and paper process needs and boosting electricity sales and profits

Rarity of monodominance in hyperdiverse Amazonian forests.

Tropical forests are known for their high diversity. Yet, forest patches do occur in the tropics where a single tree species is dominant. Such "monodominant" forests are known from all of the main tropical regions. For Amazonia, we sampled the occurrence of monodominance in a massive, basin-wide database of forest-inventory plots from the Amazon Tree Diversity Network (ATDN). Utilizing a simple defining metric of at least half of the trees ≥ 10 cm diameter belonging to one species, we found only a few occurrences of monodominance in Amazonia, and the phenomenon was not significantly linked to previously hypothesized life history traits such wood density, seed mass, ectomycorrhizal associations, or Rhizobium nodulation. In our analysis, coppicing (the formation of sprouts at the base of the tree or on roots) was the only trait significantly linked to monodominance. While at specific locales coppicing or ectomycorrhizal associations may confer a considerable advantage to a tree species and lead to its monodominance, very few species have these traits. Mining of the ATDN dataset suggests that monodominance is quite rare in Amazonia, and may be linked primarily to edaphic factors

Long-term thermal sensitivity of Earth’s tropical forests

The sensitivity of tropical forest carbon to climate is a key uncertainty in predicting global climate change. Although short-term drying and warming are known to affect forests, it is unknown if such effects translate into long-term responses. Here, we analyze 590 permanent plots measured across the tropics to derive the equilibrium climate controls on forest carbon. Maximum temperature is the most important predictor of aboveground biomass (−9.1 megagrams of carbon per hectare per degree Celsius), primarily by reducing woody productivity, and has a greater impact per °C in the hottest forests (>32.2°C). Our results nevertheless reveal greater thermal resilience than observations of short-term variation imply. To realize the long-term climate adaptation potential of tropical forests requires both protecting them and stabilizing Earth’s climate

Geographic patterns of tree dispersal modes in Amazonia and their ecological correlates

Aim: To investigate the geographic patterns and ecological correlates in the geographic distribution of the most common tree dispersal modes in Amazonia (endozoochory, synzoochory, anemochory and hydrochory). We examined if the proportional abundance of these dispersal modes could be explained by the availability of dispersal agents (disperser-availability hypothesis) and/or the availability of resources for constructing zoochorous fruits (resource-availability hypothesis). Time period: Tree-inventory plots established between 1934 and 2019. Major taxa studied: Trees with a diameter at breast height (DBH) ≥ 9.55 cm. Location: Amazonia, here defined as the lowland rain forests of the Amazon River basin and the Guiana Shield. Methods: We assigned dispersal modes to a total of 5433 species and morphospecies within 1877 tree-inventory plots across terra-firme, seasonally flooded, and permanently flooded forests. We investigated geographic patterns in the proportional abundance of dispersal modes. We performed an abundance-weighted mean pairwise distance (MPD) test and fit generalized linear models (GLMs) to explain the geographic distribution of dispersal modes. Results: Anemochory was significantly, positively associated with mean annual wind speed, and hydrochory was significantly higher in flooded forests. Dispersal modes did not consistently show significant associations with the availability of resources for constructing zoochorous fruits. A lower dissimilarity in dispersal modes, resulting from a higher dominance of endozoochory, occurred in terra-firme forests (excluding podzols) compared to flooded forests. Main conclusions: The disperser-availability hypothesis was well supported for abiotic dispersal modes (anemochory and hydrochory). The availability of resources for constructing zoochorous fruits seems an unlikely explanation for the distribution of dispersal modes in Amazonia. The association between frugivores and the proportional abundance of zoochory requires further research, as tree recruitment not only depends on dispersal vectors but also on conditions that favour or limit seedling recruitment across forest types

Geography and ecology shape the phylogenetic composition of Amazonian tree communities

AimAmazonia hosts more tree species from numerous evolutionary lineages, both young and ancient, than any other biogeographic region. Previous studies have shown that tree lineages colonized multiple edaphic environments and dispersed widely across Amazonia, leading to a hypothesis, which we test, that lineages should not be strongly associated with either geographic regions or edaphic forest types.LocationAmazonia.TaxonAngiosperms (Magnoliids; Monocots; Eudicots).MethodsData for the abundance of 5082 tree species in 1989 plots were combined with a mega-phylogeny. We applied evolutionary ordination to assess how phylogenetic composition varies across Amazonia. We used variation partitioning and Moran's eigenvector maps (MEM) to test and quantify the separate and joint contributions of spatial and environmental variables to explain the phylogenetic composition of plots. We tested the indicator value of lineages for geographic regions and edaphic forest types and mapped associations onto the phylogeny.ResultsIn the terra firme and várzea forest types, the phylogenetic composition varies by geographic region, but the igapó and white-sand forest types retain a unique evolutionary signature regardless of region. Overall, we find that soil chemistry, climate and topography explain 24% of the variation in phylogenetic composition, with 79% of that variation being spatially structured (R2 = 19% overall for combined spatial/environmental effects). The phylogenetic composition also shows substantial spatial patterns not related to the environmental variables we quantified (R2 = 28%). A greater number of lineages were significant indicators of geographic regions than forest types.Main ConclusionNumerous tree lineages, including some ancient ones (>66 Ma), show strong associations with geographic regions and edaphic forest types of Amazonia. This shows that specialization in specific edaphic environments has played a long-standing role in the evolutionary assembly of Amazonian forests. Furthermore, many lineages, even those that have dispersed across Amazonia, dominate within a specific region, likely because of phylogenetically conserved niches for environmental conditions that are prevalent within regions

Geography and ecology shape the phylogenetic composition of Amazonian tree communities

Aim: Amazonia hosts more tree species from numerous evolutionary lineages, both young and ancient, than any other biogeographic region. Previous studies have shown that tree lineages colonized multiple edaphic environments and dispersed widely across Amazonia, leading to a hypothesis, which we test, that lineages should not be strongly associated with either geographic regions or edaphic forest types. Location: Amazonia. Taxon: Angiosperms (Magnoliids; Monocots; Eudicots). Methods: Data for the abundance of 5082 tree species in 1989 plots were combined with a mega-phylogeny. We applied evolutionary ordination to assess how phylogenetic composition varies across Amazonia. We used variation partitioning and Moran\u27s eigenvector maps (MEM) to test and quantify the separate and joint contributions of spatial and environmental variables to explain the phylogenetic composition of plots. We tested the indicator value of lineages for geographic regions and edaphic forest types and mapped associations onto the phylogeny. Results: In the terra firme and várzea forest types, the phylogenetic composition varies by geographic region, but the igapó and white-sand forest types retain a unique evolutionary signature regardless of region. Overall, we find that soil chemistry, climate and topography explain 24% of the variation in phylogenetic composition, with 79% of that variation being spatially structured (R$^{2}$ = 19% overall for combined spatial/environmental effects). The phylogenetic composition also shows substantial spatial patterns not related to the environmental variables we quantified (R$^{2}$ = 28%). A greater number of lineages were significant indicators of geographic regions than forest types. Main Conclusion: Numerous tree lineages, including some ancient ones (>66 Ma), show strong associations with geographic regions and edaphic forest types of Amazonia. This shows that specialization in specific edaphic environments has played a long-standing role in the evolutionary assembly of Amazonian forests. Furthermore, many lineages, even those that have dispersed across Amazonia, dominate within a specific region, likely because of phylogenetically conserved niches for environmental conditions that are prevalent within regions