Management control systems : a case study on a portuguese law firm

The present study was carried out as part of the curricular internship in the management control department in a law firm in Portugal, between September 2021 and February 2022. This study aims to analyse which management control tools are most used in the legal practice in Portugal. The legal industry in Portugal is very institutionalised and has undergone little external change, limiting the space for innovation. However, this panorama has experienced some changes (S. S. Samuelson, 1989). Through a qualitative case study of the legal industry in Portugal, this paper shows how management control systems have been adapted, through digital tools and artificial intelligence, putting the dominant logic under threat. Through a questionnaire conducted by the ROOX company that characterises the legal industry in Portugal, it is possible to conclude that law firms do not use the potential of Business Process Management and Business Intelligence in their management performance, although there is an awareness for their use. This work contrasts the conservative vision of law firms with innovative practices that the firm under study has been adapting. Consequently, this work contributes to our understanding of digital innovation and digital transformation within highly institutional industries, as well as the interaction between the enterprise resource planning system and the management control system leading to an improvement in firm performance.O presente estudo foi realizado no âmbito do estágio curricular no departamento de controlo de gestão numa empresa de advocacia em Portugal, entre setembro de 2021 a fevereiro de 2022. Este estudo visa analisar quais as ferramentas de controlo de gestão mais utilizadas na advocacia em Portugal. A indústria jurídica em Portugal está muito institucionalizada e tem sofrido poucas mudanças externas, limitando o espaço para inovação. Contudo, este panorama tem experienciado algumas alterações (S. S. Samuelson, 1989). Através de um estudo de caso qualitativo da indústria jurídica em Portugal, este trabalho apresenta como os sistemas de controlo de gestão têm sido adaptados, através de ferramentas digitais e de inteligência artificial, colocando a lógica dominante sob ameaça. Através de um questionário realizado pela empresa ROOX que caracteriza a indústria jurídica em Portugal, é possível concluir que os escritórios não usam o potencial do BPM e BI na sua performance de gestão, embora haja uma consciencialização para a sua utilização. Este trabalho contrasta a visão conservadora dos escritórios de advocacia com práticas inovadoras que a empresa em estudo tem vindo a adaptar. Consequentemente, este trabalho contribui para a nossa compreensão da inovação digital e da transformação digital no seio de indústrias altamente institucionais, bem como a interação entre o sistema de planeamento de recursos empresariais e o sistema de controlo de gestão, levando a uma melhoria do desempenho da empresa

Urban space living in a changing city: sidewalks of Curitiba / Espaço urbano viver numa cidade em mudança: calçadas de Curitiba

This article aims to discuss the experience of the urban space, focusing on the conditions for pedestrian circulation, in the use of sidewalks, in Curitiba-PR, Brazil. In this city, as well as in the rest of the country, the use of public space is changing due to several factors, among them, the following stand out: the aging of the population and the greater participation of minority groups in decisions regarding public space, such as pedestrian groups. There was a problematic situation consisting of urban spaces designed primarily for automobiles, making it difficult for pedestrians to use such space or even preventing it in many cases. From this problem, it is questioned how the pedestrian, in three points of view, is using the sidewalks in Curitiba: a) the risks of being trampled; b) accessibility; and c) in terms of constructions and design quality. The assumption adopted is that the use of urban space by the pedestrian is a fundamental factor for sustainability by providing the practices of living and collective enjoyment of the same, by establishing relationships of sociability, physical exercises, recreation and leisure. The methodology used was based on the collection of information from municipal public agencies and bibliographical review of literature and academic research, using some categories of analysis: the public user; the building pattern; environmental conditions and municipal management practices. An analysis was made of the Strategic Plan of Sidewalks (PlanCal) of Curitiba and also the legislation regarding the construction and maintenance of public tours. The preliminary results showed that, in a city where the public transportation system was modeled on the Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) model, there is currently a high rate of individual motorization, the highest growth between 2001 and 2014 in the metropolitan Brazilian Regions areas, and an attention to the pedestrian that demands greater detailing and prioritization of work, investments and maintenance. Among the difficulties for the pedestrian are the following: the risks of being run over; low quality of accessibility; and problems in the execution and maintenance of the public tours, besides the need to expand the spaces destined to walking. This paper was originally published at Changing Cities 3rd International Conference on Changing Cities: Spatial, Design, Landscape & Socio-economic Dimensions- 2017. Here is published an update version

Hybrid particle swarm optimization with spiral-shaped mechanism for solving high-dimension problems

Particle swarm optimization (PSO) is a well-known metaheuristic, whose performance for solving global optimization problems has been thoroughly explored. It has been established that without proper manipulation of the inertia weight parameter, the search for a global optima may fail. In order to handle this problem, we investigate the experimental performance of a PSO-based metaheuristic known as HPSO-SSM, which uses a logistic map sequence to control the inertia weight to enhance the diversity in the search process, and a spiral-shaped mechanism as a local search operator, as well as two dynamic correction factors to the position formula. Thus, we present an application of this variant for solving high-dimensional optimization problems, and evaluate its effectiveness against 24 benchmark functions. A comparison between both methods showed that the proposed variant can escape from local optima, and demonstrates faster convergence for almost every evaluated function

Waste assessment in distribution and marketing logistics of horticultural products: evidence from Brazil

Worldwide, one-third of the food produced is inconsumable due to marketable quality losses. Parallelly, and given the growing world population, levels of waste have become unacceptable. Supply channels play a fundamental role in establishing strategies for food waste mitigation. The objective of this research was to analyze if good operational practices with different dimensions of distribution and commercialization logistics may contribute to reduce fruit and vegetable waste. The studied dimensions were: logistics, operations, technology, trade and management. Several questionnaires were administered to 83 specialized wholesale merchants from a large supply center in Brazil, for lettuce, potato, orange, papaya and tomato. The results indicated that for papaya and potato, low and high waste generation are associated with a greater number of anti-waste actions (p = 0.0071 and p = 0.0469 respectively). For tomato, lettuce and orange, no significant differences for found. These results represent a first approach to understanding the reasons for food waste at wholesale centers. Highlights: Worldwide, one-third of the food produced is inconsumable due to marketable quality losses. In Brazil, about 40 thousand tons of food is wasted per year. Food waste in the fruit and vegetable supply chain is associated with the following dimensions: logistics, operation, technology, trade and management. For papaya and potatoes, low levels of residues are associated with a greater number of anti-waste actions such use of a cold chamber and use of promotional pricing, respectively. For tomato, lettuce and orange, no significant differences  was found for high and low levels of waste in relation to the number of actions undertaken in these chains.Worldwide, one-third of the food produced is inconsumable due to marketable quality losses. Parallelly, and given the growing world population, levels of waste have become unacceptable. Supply channels play a fundamental role in establishing strategies for food waste mitigation. The objective of this research was to analyze if good operational practices with different dimensions of distribution and commercialization logistics may contribute to reduce fruit and vegetable waste. The studied dimensions were: logistics, operations, technology, trade and management. Several questionnaires were administered to 83 specialized wholesale merchants from a large supply center in Brazil, for lettuce, potato, orange, papaya and tomato. The results indicated that for papaya and potato, low and high waste generation are associated with a greater number of anti-waste actions (p = 0.0071 and p = 0.0469 respectively). For tomato, lettuce and orange, no significant differences for found. These results represent a first approach to understanding the reasons for food waste at wholesale centers. Highlights: Worldwide, one-third of the food produced is inconsumable due to marketable quality losses. In Brazil, about 40 thousand tons of food is wasted per year. Food waste in the fruit and vegetable supply chain is associated with the following dimensions: logistics, operation, technology, trade and management. For papaya and potatoes, low levels of residues are associated with a greater number of anti-waste actions such use of a cold chamber and use of promotional pricing, respectively. For tomato, lettuce and orange, no significant differences  was found for high and low levels of waste in relation to the number of actions undertaken in these chains

BALANCED SCORECARD COMO SISTEMA DE AVALIAÇÃO DE DESEMPENHO DE UMA INSTITUIÇÃO DE ENSINO SUPERIOR PÚBLICA MUNICIPAL

Este artigo tem por objetivo desenvolver um modelo de avaliação de desempenho por meio da estruturação do Balanced Scorecard (BSC) em uma Instituição de Ensino Superior Pública Municipal, a Faculdade Municipal da Palhoça (FMP), no estado de Santa Catarina. Para tanto, a revisão sistemática da literatura científica internacional (por meio de um procedimento bibliométrico), permitiu a elaboração de uma estrutura de BSC adaptada para IES públicas, com indicadores e categorias baseados na literatura e alinhados de acordo com a missão, a visão, os valores, os objetivos e as metas da FMP. A construção dessa estrutura adaptada do BSC foi validada pelos gestores da FMP utilizando questionários e entrevistas para construção das funções de valor e taxas de compensação, que auxiliaram na construção de um mapa estratégico e na proposição de recomendações para melhoria do desempenho da IES. Como resultado, observou-se que Sustentabilidade foi a perspectiva com maior relevância para a FMP (50%), e com menor desempenho, este sendo 34,06; seguido por Stakeholders (20%), com baixo desempenho, equivalente a 37,72; Aprendizado e Crescimento (16%), com o melhor desempenho entre as perspectivas, equivalente a 68,15; e Processos Internos (14%), com o desempenho equivalente a 45,46