Environmental proactivity and firms' performance: Mediation effect of competitive advantages in Spanish wineries

The main aim of this paper is to show the extent to which environmental proactivity is able to generate competitive advantages in a firm in order to improve their economic-financial performance by introducing the role of managerial perception into the analysis. This study focuses on Spanish wineries and their environmental practices and covers a total of 4598 wineries with a sample of 142 valid responses during the month of November 2015. The results can be summarized as follows. Firstly, there is positive environmental proactivity in terms of obtaining both cost-based and differentiation-based competitive advantages. Likewise, this proactivity has a positive impact on the manager’s perception of performance. Secondly, obtaining differentiation-based competitive advantages has a positive impact on the manager’s perception of performance although a negative impact on performance itself. There is, however, no significant evidence of the impact of cost-based competitive advantages on financial performance nor on the perception of performance itself, nor the impact of environmental proactivity on financial performance

Aprendizaje en recursos humanos: ¿existe un lugar para la novela?

El objetivo principal de este trabajo es mostrar cómo elementos tradicionalmente ajenos a la enseñanza en Administración de Empresas, como la literatura o el cine, pueden utilizarse como medio para fortalecer las habilidades directivas de los estudiantes. El origen de la idea parte de una profunda revisión de la literatura acerca de metodologías didácticas para Administración de Empresas. En concreto, el estudio consiste en una aplicación práctica de la idea al caso de la novela titulada ‘Estupor y Temblores’

Preventive command and control regulation: A Case Analysis

The aim of the current study is to evaluate new preventive command-and-control environmental regulation’s competitive effects on automobile manufacturers and their suppliers. The methodology that we have used is a case analysis, and its main aim is to study an unfamiliar situation. Therefore, we have chosen cases from each of the groups: two suppliers and one manufacturer. The new regulation obliges automobile companies to deeply modify their process technologies and their relationships with their suppliers (toughening requirements and strengthening long-term relationships) and to require their workers to train in environmental matters. Complying with regulation by suppliers will be possible if product and process designs are modified. However, only organisational actions, which include workers’ training in environmental and quality matters and activities to recover value in factories, are capable to achieve it. In any case, these factories have already been affected by trade-offs between environmental and other more classic manufacturing objectives, especially quality

¿Es realmente una herejía hablar de equidad, justicia y confianza en las organizaciones?

El objetivo de este trabajo era revisar las aportaciones de la literatura acerca de cómo evitar la destrucción de confianza y cómo crearla dentro de una organización, considerando que la misma constituye un recurso organizativo clave, especialmente en las organizaciones con determinadas características. Para ello, se revisaron las aportaciones de la teoría de la equidad y la justicia organizativa. La revisión de la literatura nos ha permitido concluir que el recurso confianza es escaso, fácil de destruir y prácticamente imposible de reconstrui

Environmental proactivity and firms' performance: Mediation effect of competitive advantages in Spanish wineries

The main aim of this paper is to show the extent to which environmental proactivity is able to generate competitive advantages in a firm in order to improve their economic-financial performance by introducing the role of managerial perception into the analysis. This study focuses on Spanish wineries and their environmental practices and covers a total of 4598 wineries with a sample of 142 valid responses during the month of November 2015. The results can be summarized as follows. Firstly, there is positive environmental proactivity in terms of obtaining both cost-based and differentiation-based competitive advantages. Likewise, this proactivity has a positive impact on the manager’s perception of performance. Secondly, obtaining differentiation-based competitive advantages has a positive impact on the manager’s perception of performance although a negative impact on performance itself. There is, however, no significant evidence of the impact of cost-based competitive advantages on financial performance nor on the perception of performance itself, nor the impact of environmental proactivity on financial performance

Posturas directivas ante las actuaciones medioambientales en las empresas industriales españolas

Texto dispoñible en galego e españolEste artigo pretende estudia-las actividades reais de xestión medioambiental emprendidas polas empresas e a súa relación coa percepción dos directivos responsables desta área acerca das vantaxes que poden obter da xestión, das dificultades que deberán afrontar para iso e da importancia das ferramentas que deben utilizar para a súa implantación. Os resultados mostran que a implantación de tecnoloxías de corrección industrial diferencia as empresas con directivos sensibles e insensibles á importancia das accións medioambientais. Por outro lado, as empresas que implantaron sistemas de xestión ambiental diferéncianse por unha mellor percepción das vantaxes, dificultades e ferramentas referidas ás actuacións no medio ambienteThe aim of the article is to study the activities of the environmental management in the companies and their relation to the perception of the managers about their advantages, obstacles and the importance of the tools for their implementation. The results show that the implementation of the end-of –pipe technologies distinguishes the companies with managers sensitive to the importance of the environmental actions. On the other hand, the companies with a environmental management system are different because of their better perception of the advantages, obstacles and tools in relation to their environmental actionsEste artículo pretende estudiar las actividades reales de gestión medioambiental emprendidas por las empresas y su relación con la percepción de los directivos responsables de esta área acerca de las ventajas que pueden obtener de la gestión, de las dificultades que deberán afrontar para ello y de la importancia de las herramientas que deben utilizar para su implantación. Los resultados muestran que la implantación de tecnologías de corrección industrial diferencia las empresas con directivos sensibles e insensibles a la importancia de las acciones medioambientales. Por otro lado, las empresas que han implantado sistemas de gestión medioambiental se diferencian por una mejor percepción de las ventajas, dificultades y herramientas referidas a las actuaciones medioambientalesS

Arrhythmia Mechanism and Scaling Effect on the Spectral Properties of Electroanatomical Maps with Manifold Harmonics

[EN] Introduction: Spatial and temporal processing of intracardiac electrograms provides relevant information to support the arrhythmia ablation during electrophysio-logical studies. Current cardiac navigation systems (CNS) and electrocardiographic imaging (ECGI) build detailed 3-D electroanatomical maps (EAM), which represent the spatial anatomical distribution of bioelectrical features, such as activation time or voltage. Objective: We present a principled methodology for spectral analysis of both EAM geometry and bioelectrical feature in CNS or ECGI, including their spectral representation, cutoff frequency, or spatial sampling rate (SSR). Methods: Existing manifold harmonic techniques for spectral mesh analysis are adapted to account for a fourth dimension, corresponding to the EAM bioelectrical feature. Appropriate scaling is required to address different magnitudes and units. Results: With our approach, simulated and real EAM showed strong SSR dependence on both the arrhythmia mechanism and the cardiac anatomical shape. For instance, high frequencies increased significantly the SSR because of the "early-meets-late" in flutter EAM, compared with the sinus rhythm. Besides, higher frequency components were obtained for the left atrium (more complex anatomy) than for the right atrium in sinus rhythm. Conclusion: The proposed manifold harmonics methodology opens the field toward new signal processing tools for principled EAM spatiofeature analysis in CNS and ECGI, and to an improved knowledge on arrhythmia mechanisms.This work was partly supported by Spanish Research Projects TEC2013-48439-C4-1-R, TEC2016-75361-R, and TEC2016-75161-C2-1-4.Sanroman-Junquera, M.; Mora-Jimenez, I.; Garcia-Alberola, A.; Caamano, AJ.; Trénor Gomis, BA.; Rojo-Alvarez, JL. (2018). Arrhythmia Mechanism and Scaling Effect on the Spectral Properties of Electroanatomical Maps with Manifold Harmonics. IEEE Transactions on Biomedical Engineering (Online). 65(4):723-732. https://doi.org/10.1109/TBME.2017.2716189S72373265

Primary cilia in chondrogenic differentiation of equine bone marrow mesenchymal stem cells: ultrastructural study

Locomotor system disorders in equine species, such as tendon lesions, osteoarthritis, or ligament injuries, are some of the most frequent causes of dramatic reduction in horse performance. Traditional therapies are aimed at the inflammatory process and pain, but they do not regenerate normal tendon or ligament matrix and do not reduce re-injured rates. Mesenchymal stem cells have started to use as therapeutic option to repair these injured tissues. Most studies have focused on their isolation, in vitro culture and pheno- typing. However, mesenchymal stem cell ultrastructure has been disregarded in the last years. We investigate the ultrastructural characteristics of these cells once differentiated into chondrocytes. Ultrastructural analysis was conducted on suspension cultures of differentiated chondrocytes from bone marrow mesenchymal stem cells by means of transmission electron microscopy. The morphologic characteristics of these cells, their ability to produce the extracellular matrix, and the presence of a single cilium could be indicative of the mesenchymal cells differentiation into chondrocyte phenotype. This study provides essential data to evaluate the degree of suitable phenotypic stability, for these cells can be used with repair purposes

Workshop to review and progress the reported lists of eu msfd descriptor 3 ( (WKD3LISTS)

info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Workshop to scope and preselect indicators for criterion D3C3 under MSFD decision (EU) 2017/848 (WKD3C3SCOPE)

The workshop to scope and preselect indicators for Descriptor 3 criterion 3 under MSFD Commission Decision (EU) 2017/848 (WKD3C3SCOPE) provided a platform for experts from the EU member states and relevant regional bodies to meet and support development and progress the assessment methodology, based on a request by the EC (DGENV). WKD3C3SCOPE is the first of a series of three workshops (WKD3C3THRESHOLDS and WKSIMULD3) to provide guidance in relation to operational indicators for MSFD D3C3. The workshop was organized as a series of presentations with intermittent group discussions. On the first day of the workshop the participants discussed what defines a ‘healthy population structure’ for species with different life history traits (ToR a). During the following days, the group discussed and identified relevant D3C3 indicators (ToR b) and developed criteria to select among the identified D3C3 indicators to allow further testing and setting of thresholds at WKD3C3THRESHOLDS (ToR c). The participants found that overall, healthy fish stocks are characterized by high productivity, wide age and size structuring in the population, and the ability to quickly recover from disturbances. The groups noted that environmental factors, along with stock biomass and fishing pressure, influence the productivity and health of a stock, with environment playing a particularly large role in the recruitment of short-lived stocks. It was suggested that the age structure of a stock might be more relevant for evaluating the health of long-lived stocks. However, it was acknowledged that not all stocks have sufficient data to evaluate all proposed indicators, and a single indicator is unlikely to suffice for all stocks. Data availability, species- specific factors and regional or sub-regional variation are thus also important considerations. In relation to ToR b, the participants presented their work on potential indicators including: recruitment time-series, proportion of fish larger than the mean size of first sexual maturation, F rec/Fbar, length distribution L 90, relative proportion of old fish above A 90, indicators of spawner quality, and SSB/R. A discussion on pros/cons, benefits to the population of high or low indicator values, benefits supported by empirical evidence, applicability to data-poor stocks and benefits supported by simulation/theoretical considerations followed the presentations. Finally, in relation to ToR c, the difficulty emerged in ranking the indicators alone without considering the data used to estimate them and a new set of evaluation criteria for use in WKD3C3THRESHOLDS were defined. Based on the outputs of the meeting a list of indicators to be further evaluated has been drafted, which also emphasizes the stocks for which studies have empirically demonstrated effects on productivity. In addition to the listed indicators, indicators of genetic diversity and proportion of fish with parasite infestation were mentioned but to the knowledge of the participants, widespread data for these are currently not publicly available.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio