Agricultural insurance mechanisms through mutualism: the case of an agricultural cooperative

O objetivo desse artigo foi verificar como o sistema de mutualismo é aplicado em uma cooperativa para a mitigação de riscos, como opção à contratação de seguros tradicionais. Para tanto, foi feito um estudo de caso único, holístico, em uma cooperativa agroindustrial no Estado do Paraná, com dados levantados entre junho e setembro de 2014. Foram identificadas quatro aplicações do mutualismo na cooperativa estudada, especificamente para mitigação de riscos de intempéries para produtores de grãos (milho, soja e feijão); para mitigação de riscos da volatilidade de preços de suínos; e para a mitigação de riscos de morte por raio, brucelose e tuberculose (bovinos). Foi verificado que por meio da mutualidade as cooperativas constituem soluções para problemas próprios do seu meio e específicos do setor do agronegócio. As cooperativas são coordenadoras e administradoras de todo o mecanismo de seguro mútuo para atender aos riscos envolvidos em atividades desenvolvidas nelas e/ou pelos seus cooperados. O mutualismo se mostrou eficaz em diversas situações identificadas de sinistros. Entretanto, a exemplo das formas de seguro tradicionais, em caso de catástrofes o sistema não alcança a cobertura necessária.El objetivo en este estudio fue verificar cómo se aplica el sistema de mutualismo en una cooperativa con el fin de mitigar el riesgo, como una alternativa al contrato de seguro tradicional. Para ello, se llevó a cabo un estudio de caso único, holístico, en una cooperativa agroindustrial ubicada en el estado de Paraná. Los datos fueron recolectados en el período comprendido entre junio y septiembre de 2014. Se identificaron cuatro aplicaciones del mutualismo en la cooperativa estudiada, específicamente para mitigar los riesgos de las intemperies para productores de granos (maíz, soja y frijoles/porotos); para mitigar los riesgos de la volatilidad de los precios del cerdo; y para mitigar los riesgos de muerte por rayos, brucelosis y tuberculosis (de vacunos). Se encontró que, por medio de la mutualidad, las cooperativas constituyen soluciones para problemas propios de su entorno y específicos de la agroindustria. Las cooperativas son coordinadoras y gestoras de todo el mecanismo de seguro mutuo para hacer frente a los riesgos involucrados en actividades desarrolladas en las mismas y/o por sus afiliados. El mutualismo se muestra eficaz en diversas situaciones identificadas de siniestros. Sin embargo, como en las formas de seguro tradicional, en caso de catástrofes, el sistema no alcanza la cobertura necesaria.The aim of this article is to verify how the mutualism model is applied in cooperatives to mitigate risks. We conducted a single, holistic case study of an agribusiness cooperative in Paraná State. The data were collected from June to September 2014. Four applications of the mutualism model were identified, specifically to mitigate risks of weather for grain (corn, beans and soybeans) farmers, death by lightning, brucellosis and tuberculosis for cattle farmers and the volatility of prices for pig farmers. Through the mutualism model, it was observed that cooperatives find solutions for their specific agribusiness sector problems. Cooperative companies are the managers and coordinators of the entire insurance mechanism to address the risks involved in their activities or/and the activities of their members. The mutualism model has been effective for covering common risks. However, like regular insurance, it proved to be ineffective in the case of catastrophes

Programas de gestão de ideias e inovação: as práticas das grandes empresas na região sul do Brasil

ABSTRACTResearch on the situation of idea management initiatives in large companies in Southern Brazil, undertaken as an exploratory descriptive survey using a quantitative approach. The survey population comprised 85 companies, resulting on 41 valid responses. The data allowed the identification of company profile characteristics, idea management practices, their benefits and obstacles, and the determining factors for adopting the initiatives. The results show that 70 percent of the companies surveyed have structured programs to seek, stimulate, evaluate, implement and reward ideas from employees. The perceived benefits were: a greater ability to generate ideas and turn them into projects, increased participation, teamwork and motivation among employees. The main obstacles to the implementation of idea management programs are low levels of employee involvement, communication problems, and insufficient rewards for participation. Regarding the effectiveness of the initiatives, structural equation modeling with partial least squares estimation (PLS) supports the conclusion that, even though idea management practices have a positive effect on innovation results, the initiatives must be supported by aspects of organizational culture, behavior and processes that contribute to promote learning, knowledge absorption and sharing, and the consequent development of innovative activities. Lastly, there is perceived need for more detailed studies about the role of culture, behavior, managerial practices and processes associated with knowledge management and innovation, and their impacts on innovative capacity

IDEA MANAGEMENT PROGRAMS AND INNOVATION: PRACTICES OF LARGE CORPORATIONS IN SOUTHERN BRAZIL

Investigação sobre a situação das iniciativas de gestão de ideias em empresas de grande porte do sul do Brasil, por meio de pesquisa exploratória e descritiva com abordagem quantitativa. A população da pesquisa foi de 85 empresas, com 41 respostas válidas. Os dados identificaram o perfil das empresas, as práticas de gestão de ideias, benefícios e obstáculos, e fatores determinantes da adoção de iniciativas. Os resultados indicam que 70% das empresas pesquisadas possuem programas estruturados para solicitar, estimular, avaliar, implementar e recompensar ideias oferecidas pelos funcionários. Os benefícios percebidos foram: capacidade maior de gerar ideias e transformá-las em projetos, o incremento da participação e trabalho em equipe, e o aumento da motivação entre os funcionários. Os principais fatores que dificultam a implantação dos programas de ideias são o baixo envolvimento do pessoal, problemas de comunicação e recompensas insuficientes à participação. Com relação à eficácia das iniciativas, a modelagem de equações estruturais com estimação por mínimos quadrados parciais (PLS) permite concluir que, embora as práticas de gestão de ideias influenciem positivamente os resultados de inovação, estas devem ser apoiadas por aspectos da cultura, comportamento e processos da empresa que contribuam para promover a aprendizagem, a absorção e compartilhamento do conhecimento, e o consequente desenvolvimento de atividades inovadoras. Finalmente, percebe-se a necessidade de estudos mais profundos sobre o papel da cultura, comportamentos, práticas gerenciais e processos associados à gestão do conhecimento e da inovação, e seus impactos na capacidade de inovar.Research on the situation of idea management initiatives in large companies in Southern Brazil, undertaken as an exploratory descriptive survey using a quantitative approach. The survey population comprised 85 companies, resulting on 41 valid responses. The data allowed the identification of company profile characteristics, idea management practices, their benefits and obstacles, and the determining factors for adopting the initiatives. The results show that 70 percent of the companies surveyed have structured programs to seek, stimulate, evaluate, implement and reward ideas from employees. The perceived benefits were: a greater ability to generate ideas and turn them into projects, increased participation, teamwork and motivation among employees. The main obstacles to the implementation of idea management programs are low levels of employee involvement, communication problems, and insufficient rewards for participation. Regarding the effectiveness of the initiatives, structural equation modeling with partial least squares estimation (PLS) supports the conclusion that, even though idea management practices have a positive effect on innovation results, the initiatives must be supported by aspects of organizational culture, behavior and processes that contribute to promote learning, knowledge absorption and sharing, and the consequent development of innovative activities. Lastly, there is perceived need for more detailed studies about the role of culture, behavior, managerial practices and processes associated with knowledge management and innovation, and their impacts on innovative capacity

South American Expert Roundtable : increasing adaptive governance capacity for coping with unintended side effects of digital transformation

This paper presents the main messages of a South American expert roundtable (ERT) on the unintended side effects (unseens) of digital transformation. The input of the ERT comprised 39 propositions from 20 experts representing 11 different perspectives. The two-day ERT discussed the main drivers and challenges as well as vulnerabilities or unseens and provided suggestions for: (i) the mechanisms underlying major unseens; (ii) understanding possible ways in which rebound effects of digital transformation may become the subject of overarching research in three main categories of impact: development factors, society, and individuals; and (iii) a set of potential action domains for transdisciplinary follow-up processes, including a case study in Brazil. A content analysis of the propositions and related mechanisms provided insights in the genesis of unseens by identifying 15 interrelated causal mechanisms related to critical issues/concerns. Additionally, a cluster analysis (CLA) was applied to structure the challenges and critical developments in South America. The discussion elaborated the genesis, dynamics, and impacts of (groups of) unseens such as the digital divide (that affects most countries that are not included in the development of digital business, management, production, etc. tools) or the challenge of restructuring small- and medium-sized enterprises (whose service is digitally substituted by digital devices). We identify specific issues and effects (for most South American countries) such as lack of governmental structure, challenging geographical structures (e.g., inclusion in high-performance transmission power), or the digital readiness of (wide parts) of society. One scientific contribution of the paper is related to the presented methodology that provides insights into the phenomena, the causal chains underlying “wanted/positive” and “unwanted/negative” effects, and the processes and mechanisms of societal changes caused by digitalization

Associations between depressive symptoms and disease progression in older patients with chronic kidney disease: results of the EQUAL study

Background Depressive symptoms are associated with adverse clinical outcomes in patients with end-stage kidney disease; however, few small studies have examined this association in patients with earlier phases of chronic kidney disease (CKD). We studied associations between baseline depressive symptoms and clinical outcomes in older patients with advanced CKD and examined whether these associations differed depending on sex. Methods CKD patients (>= 65 years; estimated glomerular filtration rate <= 20 mL/min/1.73 m(2)) were included from a European multicentre prospective cohort between 2012 and 2019. Depressive symptoms were measured by the five-item Mental Health Inventory (cut-off <= 70; 0-100 scale). Cox proportional hazard analysis was used to study associations between depressive symptoms and time to dialysis initiation, all-cause mortality and these outcomes combined. A joint model was used to study the association between depressive symptoms and kidney function over time. Analyses were adjusted for potential baseline confounders. Results Overall kidney function decline in 1326 patients was -0.12 mL/min/1.73 m(2)/month. A total of 515 patients showed depressive symptoms. No significant association was found between depressive symptoms and kidney function over time (P = 0.08). Unlike women, men with depressive symptoms had an increased mortality rate compared with those without symptoms [adjusted hazard ratio 1.41 (95% confidence interval 1.03-1.93)]. Depressive symptoms were not significantly associated with a higher hazard of dialysis initiation, or with the combined outcome (i.e. dialysis initiation and all-cause mortality). Conclusions There was no significant association between depressive symptoms at baseline and decline in kidney function over time in older patients with advanced CKD. Depressive symptoms at baseline were associated with a higher mortality rate in men

Knowledge management, market orientation, innovativeness and organizational results: a study in companies installed in Brazil

Esta tese apresenta o estudo das relações entre a gestão eficaz do conhecimento, a orientação da empresa para o mercado, a inovatividade e os resultados organizacionais. Parte do pressuposto de que o conhecimento é um recurso das empresas, e que pode ser gerido por meio dos processos ligados à sua captura, criação, compartilhamento, disseminação, organização e aplicação. Fundamenta-se na Teoria da Empresa Baseada em recursos Resource Based Theory of the Firm. A partir de uma survey realizada com executivos de 241 empresas em todo o Brasil, este estudo analisa as contribuições individuais e conjuntas da gestão do conhecimento, da orientação das empresas para o mercado, e da inovatividade para o alcance de resultados organizacionais. Para tanto, utilizou a modelagem de equações estruturais, cujas escalas de medição dos vários conceitos envolvidos foram adaptadas de outros estudos realizados fora do Brasil. Os resultados identificaram evidências de que a gestão do conhecimento é uma prática que colabora diretamente para a orientação das empresas para o mercado, oferecendo processos que facilitam a orientação para o cliente, a orientação para o competidor e a coordenação interfuncional. As evidências apontaram que a gestão do conhecimento não colabora diretamente para a inovatividade da empresa nem para os resultados organizacionais. Porém, quando mediada pela orientação para o mercado e pela inovatividade, a gestão do conhecimento se mostrou uma prática que colabora de forma importante para o alcance dos resultados das empresas. Da mesma forma, as evidências demonstraram que a orientação para o mercado e a inovatividade não colaboram diretamente para os resultados. Nesse sentido, o resultado negativo da colaboração da inovatvidade para o alcance de resultados não corroborou pesquisas anteriores já realizadas. As análises permitiram concluir também que o conhecimento, como um recurso das empresas, potencializa os demais recursos da empresa, ao mesmo tempo em que necessita de um direcionamento em relação aos objetivos organizacionais para que possa ser eficaz. Este resultado se constitui numa colaboração às discussões teóricas sobre a eficácia da gestão do conhecimento e do uso do conhecimento como recurso.This thesis introduces the study of the relationships among the effective knowledge management, market orientation, innovativeness and organizational results. Starts of the presupposition that the knowledge is a resource of the companies and that it can be managed through related processes for capture, creation, sharing, dissemination, organization and application. It is based in the Resource Based Theory of the Firm. Starting from a survey accomplished with executives of 241 companies throughout Brazil, this study analyzes the individual and jointly contributions of the knowledge management, market orientation, and innovativeness for reach organizational results. To this, was used the modeling of structural equations technique (SEM), whose scales of measurement of the several involved concepts were adapted of other studies accomplished out of Brazil. The results identified evidences that knowledge management is a practice that collaborates directly for market orientation, offering processes that facilitate the customer orientation, the competitor orientation and the interfunctional coordination. The evidences pointed that the knowledge management doesn\'t collaborate directly for the company innovativeness nor for the organizational results. However, when mediated by market orientation and innovativeness, the knowledge management was shown a practice that collaborates in an important way for the reach the results. In the same way, the evidences demonstrated that the market orientation and the innovativeness dont collaborate directly for the results. In that sense, the negative result of innovativeness collaboration for reach of results didn\'t corroborate previous researches accomplished already. The analyses allowed ending also that the knowledge, as a resource of the companies, potentiates the other resources of the company, at the same time in that it needs a way in relation to the organizational objectives so that it can be effective. This result is constituted in a collaboration to the theoretical discussions about the effectiveness of knowledge management and the use of the knowledge as resource

Knowledge management, market orientation, innovativeness and organizational outcomes: a study on companies operating in Brazil

This article analyzes the study of the relationship among knowledge management, the company's market orientation, innovativeness and organizational outcomes. The survey was conducted based on a survey held with executives from 241 companies in Brazil. The evidence found indicates that knowledge management directly contributes to market orientation, but it requires a clearly defined strategic direction to achieve results and innovativeness. It was also concluded that knowledge, as a resource, leverages other resources of the company, while it requires a direction in relation to the organizational goals in order to be effective

Agricultural insurance mechanisms through mutualism: the case of an agricultural cooperative

Abstract The aim of this article is to verify how the mutualism model is applied in cooperatives to mitigate risks. We conducted a single, holistic case study of an agribusiness cooperative in Paraná State. The data were collected from June to September 2014. Four applications of the mutualism model were identified, specifically to mitigate risks of weather for grain (corn, beans and soybeans) farmers, death by lightning, brucellosis and tuberculosis for cattle farmers and the volatility of prices for pig farmers. Through the mutualism model, it was observed that cooperatives find solutions for their specific agribusiness sector problems. Cooperative companies are the managers and coordinators of the entire insurance mechanism to address the risks involved in their activities or/and the activities of their members. The mutualism model has been effective for covering common risks. However, like regular insurance, it proved to be ineffective in the case of catastrophes