Port Authority of Cartagena: Evidence of a Sustainability Balanced Scorecard

This paper provides a deeper understanding to the development and implementation of a Sustainability Balanced Scorecard in the Port Authority of Cartagena, under exploratory research. Open-access documents available on different websites were used as data sources combined with semi-structured personal interviews, which took place at the highest level of the organisation from September 2021 to December 2022. The strategy developed by this government unit has changed over the years, until 2018 when a new review, led by the Planning and Management manager, established a turning point in its sustainable strategy with the introduction of the Balanced Scorecard, resulting in a major internal change for the organisation. The creation of the Strategy Planning Office, external advice from strategy-expertise consultants, IT solutions acquisition adapted to the new scenario, and several internal organisational changes, have been vital in this successful process. The Balanced Scorecard has been shown to be helpful in disseminating the sustainable strategy at all levels of the company: environmental and social actions were confined for years to the Sustainability Department, functioning as isolated actions, but now, they have reached the strategic level involving the whole organisation as part of the company's strategy. This successful process has put this organisation at the forefront of other Spanish ports, providing other port authority managers with a useful framework that can help them in their attempt to implement sustainable strategies by using the Balanced Scorecard—a framework not only valid for ports but which can also be extended to other government units

A Comprehensive Bibliometric Study of the Balanced Scorecard

This research provides a deeper knowledge in the Balanced Scorecard (BSC) insight by using the bibliometric technique. The existing gap between the traditional literatura reviews and previous bibliometric studies, is covered as it is the first comprehensive analysis carried out in applying quantity, quality, and structural indicators. Web of Science Core Collection was used as the source of information, considering it the most accurate and suitable data base for these studies. This research covers the wider period-of-time possible, from 1992 to 2020, with a final sample of 771 articles in 466 reviews. Quantity indicators show the high interest that the BSC still has in the scholar’s community, pointing out Kaplan and Norton as the most productive authors,and confirming that ‘management’, ‘business’ and ‘accountability’ are its most common field of activity, although others as ‘systems’ and sustainability’ are coming to prominence; ‘Balanced Scorecard’ appears as the most remarkable keyword. Quality indicators found 32,706 citations, with Kaplan and Norton occupying again top positions as well as ‘Harvard Business Review’ as the most impacting review both in cited articles and in average. Co-citation analysis reveals the existence of a triple corecluster for articles, based on the theory, literature reviews, and case-studies

Clusters into Poland and Spain: comparative case study of two clusters from the agricultural industry

The aim of the publication is to compare two clusters from different parts of Europe, detailing the stages of its development and make recommendations for the future development of the two. The methodology proposes using the case study examples of two clusters from Poland and Spain, both linked to the food area. While Agrofood is characterised by the large number of firms, a complementary industry, universities and research centres, the Ecological Food Valley cluster is at an initial development stage and still has not sufficient economic resources to be maintained with full autonomy, and to become competitive. The main recommendation is that the evolution of Agrofood illustrates the stages that the Ecological Food Valley cluster could go through in its own evolution

Complexity and family business

Tomando como base diversas perspectivas teóricas y la literatura sobre la empresa familiar, este trabajo teórico tiene como objetivo mostrar, mediante un modelo conceptual, el potencial que ofrecen los intangibles que presenta este tipo de organización para hacer frente al fenómeno de la complejidad. De acuerdo con este modelo, concluimos que la empresa familiar reúne las características propias de los sistemas complejos con capacidad de adaptación. Señalamos que este tipo de organización está dotado de un conjunto de intangibles específicos, básicos para el desarrollo de capacidades dinámicas que permitan hacer frente a la complejidad del entorno. La gestión de estas capacidades desde la perspectiva de la complejidad facilita el desarrollo de procesos de auto-organización que dan como resultado innovaciones en diversos ámbitos, permitiendo la adaptación a un entorno complejo.Taking as a reference various theoretical approaches as well as the literature on the family firm, and using a conceptual model, the present theoretical paper has as its aim to show the potential offered by the intangibles present in this type of organization, which allows it to face the phenomenon of complexity. The application of this model leads us to conclude that the family firm gathers the characteristics, which are typical of complex systems with an adaptation capacity. It is highlighted in our research work that such an organisation owns a set of specific intangibles, which turn out to be essential for the development of dynamic capabilities allowing it to cope with the complexity that characterises its business environment. The management of these capabilities from a complexity perspective makes it easier to develop self-organisation processes, which give rise to innovations in a variety of fields, thus permitting the adaptation to a complex environment

Does Green Intellectual Capital Affect Green Performance? The Mediation of Green Innovation

Nowadays, wineries have to cope with the many challenges that threaten their survival. In this context, environmental management and the development of intangible assets are two decisive elements for their survival. The following three research questions can be answered through this study: (1) does Green Intellectual Capital (GIC) influence Green Performance (GP)? (2) does Green Innovation (GI) influence the GIC-GP relationship? and (3) what measures can companies take to improve their GI? The results of the study show that there is a positive and significant relationship between GIC and GP, with this relationship being partially measured by the GI variable

ICTs, disruptive forces and the production paradox in tourism: Present and future issues in the Visitor Attraction sector

En el marco de colaboración entre la Glasgow Caledonian University (Escocia, Reino Unido) y la Universidad de Alicante (España) y con el objetivo de dar a conocer la producción investigadora de docentes e investigadores involucrados en el convenio de colaboración entre ambas universidades, publicamos este libro como medio de difusión científica para visibilizar, compendiar y compartir las investigaciones. El valor fundamental de la obra es el carácter internacional y multidisciplinar de las investigaciones en el área de ciencias sociales y económicas, enfocadas en temáticas tan diversas como el marketing, la economía, la comunicación o la moda, entre otras.As part of the cooperation between Glasgow Caledonian University (Scotland, United Kingdom) and the University of Alicante (Spain) and in order to publicize the research production of teachers and researchers involved in the collaboration agreement between the two universities, we publish this book as a means of scientific dissemination to visualize, summarize and share research. The fundamental value of the work is international and multidisciplinary research in the area of social and economic sciences, focused on topics as diverse as marketing, economics, communication and fashion, among others

Does institutional knowledge attract new firms in tourist districts?

This article focuses on the tourism sector, analysing the extent to which the degree of firm concentration in industry is higher or lower among the tourist districts located along the Spanish Mediterranean coastline depending on the knowledge resources generated by the institutions located at each destination (universities, vocational training centres (VTCs) and technological centres). Certain factors, such as the technical characteristics of the generated knowledge and the absorptive capacity of firms, influence the power of attraction that such institutions may exert for new firms to join the tourist district. For that reason, a U-shaped relationship between agglomeration and institutional knowledge is proposed. The empirical evidence supports this hypothesis for the knowledge generated by universities and higher-level VTCs, though not for the knowledge generated by medium-level VTCs and technological centres

Grado de aglomeración de los distritos turísticos españoles y procesos de internacionalización de empresas hoteleras

En este trabajo se juntan dos líneas de investigación que tradicionalmente la literatura ha tratado por separado: la generación de externalidades en los distritos industriales y el aprovechamiento de los recursos locales para iniciar una estrategia internacional. Aplicando los principios del enfoque de los distritos industriales, se identifican los distritos turísticos vacacionales de la costa española y se analiza en qué medida el grado de aglomeración de empresas propio de un destino, así como la presencia de instituciones generadoras de conocimiento técnico específico, están relacionados con la globalización del sector turístico, tanto en lo que se refiere a las cadenas hoteleras españolas que se han internacionalizado, como a los hoteles extranjeros que han decidido instalarse en nuestro país.In this paper are brought together two lines of research traditionally studied in different ways by literature: the generation of externalities in industrial districts and the international strategy based on location advantages. By applying the principles of the industrial districts approach, tourist districts are identified in the Spanish coastline. After that, It is analyzed the extent to which the degree of agglomeration of firms in each district, as well as the presence of institutions generating specific technical knowledge, are related to the globalization of the tourism sector: on the one hand the Spanish hotels internationalized and on the other hand hotels from abroad installed in Spain

Agglomeration, social capital and interorganizational ambidexterity in tourist districts

Knowledge is a basic factor of competitiveness with a firm’s exploration and exploitation capabilities acting as the main antecedents of innovation. However, a firm has two main options to obtain new knowledge: internal generation and external acquisition. This paper analyzes how tourism firms located in tourist districts develop ambidexterity through the combination of co-exploration and co-exploitation. Specifically, we study how the features that characterize a tourist district, such as the level of firm and institutional agglomeration, affect the development of co-exploration and co-exploitation capabilities, taking into account the mediation effect of social capital. The population under study includes all the Spanish hotels located in Spanish coastal towns, making a total sample of 210 establishments. The results confirm that agglomeration has a positive impact on the ambidexterity of Spanish hotels. Moreover, the results show that agglomeration causes an increase of social capital in hotels, and that social capital has a positive impact on ambidexterity. We find that social capital partially mediates the effect of agglomeration on ambidexterity. Some implications for managers and policymakers are presented

Intellectual capital management: An approach to organizational practices in Ecuador

Purpose: The present study has as its aim to identify the organizational management practices that involve intellectual capital as facilitators of innovation in its diverse formats, in Ecuador-based shrimp exporting companies. Design/methodology: The research of a qualitative nature was based on the Grounded Theory as a support for data analysis and collection. The personal interview was used in order to obtain the text corpus. The five resulting clusters served as the basis to apply inductive processes: open coding; axial coding; and selective coding, as a methodological activity meant to help interpret concepts and relationships. Findings: The organizational practices associated with intellectual capital in shrimp exporting companies are focused on structural and human capital management, where innovation has developed from the demands for the implementation of quality management systems in accordance with international regulations. Research limitations/implications: The main contribution made by the present study lies in establishing a primary reference framework for the design of strategic alternatives that involve strengthening intellectual capital as a way to generate sustainable competitive advantages in the companies belonging to this sector. Social implications: Shrimp exports, which stand out for being one of the most significant sources of income in Ecuador, contribute to local development by means of employment generation, mainly in rural communities. The exposure to organizational routines linked to intellectual capital provides a chance to come closer to the reality of this sector. This can prove useful for executives and public policy managers to prioritize an approach which influences the generation and maintenance of competitiveness at a firm level, and also impacts on the development of the regions where such business are located. Originality/value: Faced with the absence of works applied to this sector, the present work explores the reality of shrimp exporting companies, seeking to define a framework for the understanding of intellectual capital management, which might eventually imply a reference point for the design of strategies aimed at strengthening competitive positioning