77 research outputs found
Implementing electric vehicles in public services: a case study research
In the last years, most European countries have developed strategies to implement the use of electric vehicles. This paper uses a qualitative case study research in the automotive industry to evaluate the efficiencies concerning the implementation of the first electric light truck produced for public services. The results indicate that electric light trucks in public services are more efficient, economically reliable and contribute to the reduction of carbon dioxide emissions. Moreover, the strategy of using these vehicles is suitable for nocturnal collection of urban waste, to the extent that it reduces the daily traffic and, at the same time, drastically reduces the noise caused by diesel engines during night hours, thus, improving the quality of life on residential areas. By investing on such strategy, European governments are giving a step further to accomplish the European Commission requirements, which is stimulated by the reduction of the carbon dioxide footprint.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio
Civil-Military Cooperation: Integrated Logistics in Response to the COVID-19 Crisis
Background: This article addresses the civil-military cooperation in response to the COVID-19 crisis. In early 2021, the number of daily infections and the growing number of COVID-19 hospitalizations in Portugal were dramatic, reaching the highest rates in the world. In response, the Armed Forces were engaged and played a significant role in helping the National Health Service (NHS). The NHS is just one of many existing examples which demonstrate the relevance of logistical support from the Armed Forces so that civil institutions can return to a sustainable and autonomous situation. Methods: In order to understand and describe this real-life phenomenon, a qualitative and exploratory case study was conducted. Several sources of data collection were used for triangulation and corroboration. Results: The results suggest that, in emergency situations, logistical operations of the Armed Forces in support of civil society are divided into four major areas: planning and organizational activities; priority setting; combat service support; and training and self-reliance. Conclusions: Once the four areas of action of the Armed Forces were identified, the response to the COVID-19 crisis became more evident, as civil entities were able to make requests suited to military capabilities.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio
Implementing electric vehicles in public services: a case study research
In the last years, most European countries have developed strategies to implement the use of electric vehicles. This paper uses a qualitative case study research in the automotive industry to evaluate the efficiencies concerning the implementation of the first electric light truck produced for public services. The results indicate that electric light trucks in public services are more efficient, economically reliable and contribute to the reduction of carbon dioxide emissions. Moreover, the strategy of using these vehicles is suitable for nocturnal collection of urban waste, to the extent that it reduces the daily traffic and, at the same time, drastically reduces the noise caused by diesel engines during night hours, thus, improving the quality of life on residential areas. By investing on such strategy, European governments are giving a step further to accomplish the European Commission requirements, which is stimulated by the reduction of the carbon dioxide footprint.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio
Politics, Power, and Influence: Defense Industries in the Post-Cold War
The post-Cold War era is placing the defense industry at a crossroads. If, on the one hand,
it is under great pressure to guarantee warlike efforts around the world, with tight budgets and
uncertain lead-times, on the other hand, it is seen as a central instrument for national sovereignty and
foreign policy. The purpose of this research is to report the state-of-the-art of the existing literature
and explore the most relevant research areas in order to provide the conceptual basis for further
empirical research. To do so, this study uses a preferred reporting items for systematic review and
meta-analysis (PRISMA), which is an adequate technique as it allows one to discover concepts,
ideas, and debates about the defense industry. The results evidenced three different approaches
to the defense industry—integration, autarky, and domination. In that regard, we present several
case studies in which the defense industry is used as an instrument of foreign policy or national
sovereignty. Future studies may focus on empirical research to validate the theoretical findings or
to identify variables that lead some defense industries to seek synergies, resorting to mergers and
acquisitions, while other defense companies prefer to obtain State funds.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio
Serviços omni-canal na indústria de serviços bancários: investigação qualitativa multi-método
O art.º 64 (modalidade alternativa à tese) do regulamento de estudos da
Universidade de Aveiro contempla a possibilidade de apresentação de uma
modalidade alternativa para teses de doutoramento. Esta modalidade assinala
que “caso a tese seja substituída por um conjunto de trabalhos científicos já
publicados, estes terão de formar um conjunto coerente e relevante para a
área cientifica do doutoramento (...)”. Neste contexto, esta tese é baseada em
8 publicações científicas, já publicadas, ou aceites para publicação, onde estão
incluídas: comunicações orais em conferências internacionais, artigos em
revistas científicas e capítulos de livros. O interesse pelo tema foi aliado ao
crescente desenvolvimento da estratégia omni-canal na indústria de serviços
onde a banca tem sido pioneira. O objetivo é contribuir para a caracterização e
compreensão das implicações decorrentes de diferentes estratégias e
configurações de canal de serviço para a gestão de operações e,
consequentemente para a qualidade dos serviços e satisfação dos clientes.
A tese está dividida em seis capítulos. Inicia-se com duas revisões
sistemáticas da literatura, para analisar as oportunidades de investigação e
divulgar os caminhos de pesquisa para os serviços multicanal. Seguidamente,
explicam-se as opções metodológicas e o relacionamento que existe entre a
engenharia e gestão industrial e as ciências sociais. A partir desse momento,
entramos na fase empírica e, analisamos os serviços omni-canal à lente das
redes de negócio baseadas em tecnologia e da gestão de reclamações.
Terminamos a tese com uma breve conclusão, limitações e perspetivas de
investigação futura.
Com maior detalhe, a revisão da literatura sugeriu que à data, os estudos
existentes estavam predominantemente formulados sob a perspetiva do
marketing, sendo notória uma menor representatividade de estudos focados na
gestão de processos e operações de serviço. Neste contexto, o trabalho
desenvolvido vem oferecer algumas contribuições ao nível da gestão de
operações de serviços com recurso a múltiplos canais, permitindo
nomeadamente identificar, caraterizar e consolidar diferentes estratégias de
múltiplos canais, e discutir princípios para o alinhamento entre estratégias de
front-office de múltiplos canais e níveis operacionais da organização.
O trabalho adotou uma metodologia qualitativa multi-método (i.e., revisão
sistemática e estudo de caso) recorrendo a diferentes métodos e fontes para a
recolha de dados (e.g., entrevistas), bem como para a sua análise. O trabalho
permitiu também ilustrar como a estratégia multi-método oferece múltiplas
possibilidades de investigação que conduzem a resultados fiáveis para
estudos na área da engenharia. É geralmente equilibrada e integra estudos
teóricos e empíricos, o que dá maior enfase às dimensões de
desenvolvimento, triangulação e complementaridade.
A evidência empírica analisada no âmbito deste trabalho sugere que a
prestação de serviços através de múltiplos canais potencia novas sinergias
organizacionais, e cria novos desafios operacionais, ao permitir a configuração
de novos sistemas de serviço que oferecem aos clientes a integração de serviços e canais de diferentes prestadores, numa experiência única. As
operações de serviços omni-canal estão agora a basear-se em redes de
negócio com base tecnológica, já que as empresas estão a mudar a forma
como competem entre si. As empresas estão a adotar processos e canais de
modo a poderem colaborar em redes heterogéneas. Essas redes de empresas
geralmente combinam mais de um canal e serviços. O que origina uma
experiência multimarca, que ultrapassa claramente a experiência típica omnicanal.
Nesta perspetiva, a rede heterogénea de empresas é uma experiência
que envolve a combinação de uma tríade de diferentes elementos canaisserviços-
organizações. O que está implícito é que as redes de negócios
baseadas em tecnologia estão a revolucionar a indústria de serviços, embora
pouco se tenha investigado. Porém, o movimento para estratégias omni-canal
e de rede de negócios está longe de ser linear. Embora indesejáveis, as falhas
de serviço omni-canal são inevitáveis, nesse sentido, a gestão de reclamações
sempre foi considerada como uma ferramenta essencial para os gestores. Por
esse facto, o trabalho incluiu ainda uma abordagem às falhas e recuperação
de serviços num contexto omni-canal, bem como as debilidades da prestação
de serviços associadas às novas redes baseadas em tecnologia, no contexto
dos serviços financeiros. O estudo sugeriu que os clientes geralmente não
estão conscientes dos atributos de recuperação de cada canal e são muitas
vezes obrigados a procurar ajuda dos colaboradores de primeira linha, em
particular quando a resposta nos canais virtuais não estão a reagir de acordo
com as expectativas. Os clientes também já não estão dispostos a interagir
com um grande número de canais, o que implica um elevado número de
interações. Em alternativa, estão dispostos a aguardar por uma recuperação
personalizada quando percebem que uma falha específica pode exigir um
elevado nível de tomada de decisão. Essa tolerância ocorre quando os clientes
percebem que uma empresa está a realizar todos os esforços necessários
para a recuperação do serviço, de modo a garantir que a falha não se volte a
repetir. Os resultados evidenciaram a importância da recuperação de soluções
permanentes e da gestão de operações, para permitir processos de
recuperação efetivos no contexto dos serviços omni-canal e de rede de
negócio. No que diz respeito às redes de negócios baseadas em tecnologia,
encontrámos quatro tipos de debilidades: a) barreiras à estratégia de migração
de canais; b) barreiras à entrega automatizada de serviços; c) barreiras
baseadas na integração do serviço; d) barreiras à padronização de operações
em contextos de rede. Os gestores devem estar cientes das debilidades das
redes de negócio baseadas em tecnologia, porque a sua (in)atividade pode
afetar positivamente ou negativamente a imagem da marca de rede. A
resolução das debilidades Tb2N permite que as organizações sejam mais
sincronizadas e competitivas.
Os resultados apresentados nesta tese revelam que as estratégias de canais
múltiplos estão longe de estar ultrapassadas. Esta área de estudo requer
atenção permanente da comunidade académica de modo a compreender a
sua evolução, o aparecimento de novas estratégias e avançar a sua base de
conhecimento. Para terminar, estimulamos o desenvolvimento de
investigações futuras que permitam a realização de estudos empíricos dentro
das redes de negócio baseadas em tecnologia, e que se foquem não só na
recolha de dados de uma empresa, mas de toda a rede.The 64th article of the regulation of studies of the University of Aveiro
considers the possibility of presenting an alternative to the doctoral
thesis. This modality emphasis that “if the thesis is replaced by a set of
scientific papers already published, they will have to form a coherent and
relevant set for the scientific area of the doctorate (…)”. In this context,
this thesis is based on 8 scientific publications, some already published,
some accepted for publication, which include: oral communications in
international conferences, articles in scientific journals and book
chapters. The interest in the subject is coined with the growing
development of the omni-channel strategy in the service industry where
the banks have been pioneers. The objective is to contribute to the
characterization and understanding of the implications of different
strategies and configurations of the service channel strategies for the
management of operations and, consequently, for the service quality and
customer satisfaction.
The thesis is divided into six chapters. It begins with two systematic
reviews of literature: to analyze research opportunities and to disseminate
research paths for multi-channel services. From here on, the
methodological options are explained and so are the existing relationship
between the industrial engineering and the social sciences. The empirical
phase starts at this point as well as the analysis of the omni-channel
services in the lens of technology-based business networks and complaint
management. The literature review suggested, that, to date, the existing
studies were predominantly formulated from a marketing perspective, the
studies focused on process management and service operations are less
represented. In this context, the work developed offers some contributions
to the management of multiple channel service operations, to identify,
characterize and consolidate different multiple channel strategies, and
discuss principles for the alignment between multiple channel front-office
strategies and operational levels of the organization.
A qualitative multi-method methodology (i.e., systematic review and case
study) using different methods and sources was adopted for data collection
(e.g., interviews) as well for its analysis. The work also illustrated how the multimethod
strategy offers multiple research possibilities that lead to reliable results
for studies in the field of engineering. This strategy is generally balanced and
integrates theoretical and empirical studies, which give greater emphasis to the
dimensions of development, triangulation and complementarity.
The empirical evidence analyzed in this thesis suggests that service delivery
through multiple channels raises new organizational synergies and creates new
operational challenges, by allowing the configuration of new service systems
that offer customers the integration of different service and channels from
different providers in a unique experience. The omni-channel service
operations are now based on technology-based business networks, as
companies are changing the way they compete with each other.
Companies are adopting processes and channels so they can collaborate in
heterogeneous networks. These business networks generally combine more
than one channel and services, which creates a multi-brand experience, clearly
going beyond the typical omni-channel experience. In this perspective, the
heterogeneous network of companies is an experience that involves the
combination of a triad of different elements channel-service-organization. What
is implicit is that, although still unexplored, technology-based business
networks are revolutionizing the service industry. Nevertheless, the move to
omni-channel and business network strategies is far from linear. Although
undesirable, the omni-channel service failures are inevitable, thus complaint
management has always been considered an essential tool for managers. As a
result, this work also includes an approach to service failures and recovery in
an omni-channel context, as well as the weaknesses in the service delivery
concerning new technology-based networks, in the context of financial
services. The study suggested that clients are generally unaware of the
recovery attributes of each channel and are often forced to seek help from the
frontline employees, particularly when the recovery from the virtual channels
are not in agreement with the expectations. Customers are not willing to
interact with a large number of channels which would lead to a high number of
interactions. Alternatively, customers are willing to wait for a personalized
recovery when they realize that a specific failure may require a high level of
decision-making. This tolerance occurs when customers realize that a company
is making all the necessary efforts over the service recovery, in order to ensure
that the failure will not be repeated again. The results revealed the importance
of recovering permanent solutions and operations management, in order to
allow effective recovery processes in the context of omni-channel and business
network services. With regard to technology-based business networks, we
found four types of weaknesses: a) barriers to channel migration strategies; b)
barriers to automated service delivery; c) barriers to employee-technology
service integration; d) barriers to operations standardization in network
contexts. Managers should be aware of the weaknesses of technology-based
business networks because their (in)activity can affect either positively or
negatively network brand image. Solving Tb2N weaknesses allows
organizations to be more synchronized and competitive.
The results presented in this thesis reveal that the multiple-channel strategies
are far from being overcome. This area of study requires permanent attention
from the academic community in order to understand its evolution, the
emergence of new strategies and to advance its knowledge base. Finally, we
encourage the development of future research that allows the conduction of
empirical studies within technology-based business networks, focusing not only
on collecting data from one company but from the entire network.Programa Doutoral em Engenharia e Gestão Industria
Gender Inequalities in the Military Service: A Systematic Literature Review
This paper provides an in-depth analysis of the literature regarding gender inequalities
in the military service. In doing so, it discloses challenges and opportunities
for women’s integration and finds new avenues for future research. Recent scientific
research has evidenced that women still represent a growing minority in most Western
militaries. Women’s integration deserves equal opportunities across all branches
and levels of responsibility in the military, however, their expansion to ground combat
roles is still a challenge to the military and policy-makers. Scholars have also
reported about the decision to increase the number of women in combat roles, as
it may potentiate adverse experiences, due to closer proximity to men in circumstances
with little or no privacy. Conversely, scientific research has shown that more
egalitarian women reported significantly less sexual harassment victimization. Furthermore,
our insights suggest that it might be fruitful to integrate women in ground
combat roles as special forces’ operators, with a view to induce a reduction of marginalization
and sexual harassment, by gaining respect in a male-dominant culture.
The presented idea should be interpreted with caution and needs to be supported by
empirical research; although we are convinced that future research will be revealing
and might represent a game-changing situation to women inequalities in the armed
forces.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio
Addressing Service Failure and Recovery in Digital Service Systems: Opportunities and Challenges
Digital service systems are changing the world as we know it, enabling companies to embrace new forms of relationship with their customers. The aim of this article is to propose a categorization of service failures in digital service systems and an illustration of recovery solutions based on life situations. Thus, this article used an exploratory case study research conducted in a Portuguese private bank. Data collection involved multiple sources, such as semi-structured interviews, customer complaints from an online database, and direct observation. The case revealed that digital service systems are not failure proof and service failures are inevitable. As a result, companies are struggling to consistently maintain high service standards across all channels and, for that purpose, have essentially invested on automated interactions. On the other hand, humanized recovery solutions are expected to enable organizations to make significant progress, including prevention and corrective actions, that will mitigate the perception of poor service delivery. While current studies tend to focus on what is going wrong in digital engagement, researchers have hitherto not investigated sufficiently this digital breakdown and the subsequent recovery solutions.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio
O uso das Operações Especiais Portuguesas como Instrumento de Política Externa: O Estudo de Caso do Afeganistão (2015)
Relatório Detalhado de Atividade ProfissionalThe present professional activity report is a scientific work and reproduces the
Portuguese military experience at the special operations forces of the North Atlantic
Treaty Organization (NATO) in 2015, Afghanistan. The research methodology is
qualitative and consists of a systematic literature review and a case study. (...) The selected theme was based on the NATO international mission, at the
NATO Special Operations Component Command – Afghanistan (NSOCC-A) and the
result shows the use of the Portuguese Special Operations Forces (SOF) as an
instrument of foreign policy in complex theatres of operations – Afghanistan case
study, 2015 – in fighting terrorism and the materialization of the Portuguese
contribution to the development of the ANDSF.Este é um relatório detalhado sobre a atividade profissional (RDAP) das ciências
militares na especialidade de infantaria. O presente RDAP é obra científica e reflete a
experiência militar do capitão de infantaria João Carlos Gonçalves dos Reis no
comando das operações especiais da Organização do Tratado do Atlântico Norte
(OTAN), no Afeganistão, em 2015. A metodologia de investigação é qualitativa e
composta por uma revisão sistemática da literatura e por um estudo de caso. (...) O tema selecionado para discussão teve por base a missão internacional no
comando da componente de operações especiais da OTAN e os resultados expõem o
uso das operações especiais como instrumento de política externa em teatros de
operações complexos – estudo de caso do Afeganistão, 2015 –, no combate ao
terrorismo e na materialização do contributo português para o desenvolvimento das
forças de segurança e de defesa Afegãs
Impacts of Artificial Intelligence on Public Administration: A Systematic Literature Review
The advent of machines power-driven by Artificial Intelligence (AI) have strongly influenced the world in the 21st century. The future of AI is promising and is offering a wide range of opportunities for scholars and academics. Although the theme has received a considerable attention over the last years, much has been speculated and little is known about its impacts on the Public Administration. Thus, the purpose of this article is to make the result of those impacts less ambiguous. To this end, we have conducted a systematic review to provide a comprehensive analysis on the latest impacts of AI on the Public Administration. Our intent is to narrow the field of study, while AI is being continuously strengthened with new empirical evidences.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio
The Obstacles Women Face in Gaining Access to Special Operations Forces
Theaimofthisarticleistoprovideexploratoryinsightsregardingwomen integration in the special operations forces. The methodological approach is qualita- tive and employs a case study research in the Portuguese Army. It includes multiple sources of data collection for corroboration purposes, namely semi-structured inter- views, direct observation and official documents. Although it has been considered a hot-topic in the Portuguese armed forces, and as the Portuguese Republic establishes the legal means to integrate women in all professional areas, reality shows that up to the present days no women have been part of the special operations forces. In light with the above, we evidence some obstacles that women are facing in gaining access to the Portuguese special operations forces, and we present Portugal in comparative perspective with two successful case studies.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio
- …