scholarly journals REVERSE LOGISTICS: THE PORTUGUESE COMPANIES' PERSPECTIVE

Author(s):  
Mélodine Fernandes Gonçalves ◽  
Ângela Esteves Silva

The Reverse Logistics has been object of great interest by the whole community. In Portugal, Reverse Logistics is an unfamiliar word in the business world. Due to this fact, that will be interesting to analyze and characterize the Portuguese companies’ perspective based on three aspects: The Concept, the Returns and the Environment. For this, semi structured interviews were applied to ten Portuguese companies of different dimensions and industrial sectors. The results showed all the large companies are aware of Reverse Logistics, the product returns strategies are reuse, sale to the scrap or recycling industries and the environment strategies mostly used by small and medium-size enterprise’s (besides waste recycling) are their reuse in the packaging of loads, and by large companies is directed towards recycling, planning routes and the use of recycled materials and reusable packaging. It is understood that, a lot of work in Reverse Logistics is still needed in the context, concerning the companies’ awareness to know all their logistics chain (forward and reverse) and in spite of the small and medium-size enterprise’s lack of knowledge of the this area, they practice some returns and environmental strategies, but still in a very incipient way.

Ethnicities ◽  
2021 ◽  
pp. 146879682110018
Author(s):  
Sheymaa Ali Nurein ◽  
Humera Iqbal

Young Black Muslim Women (BMW) have complex, intersectional identities and exist at the margins of various identity groupings. Given this, members of the community can face societal relegation across, not only race and gender lines, but across religious ones, too. This paper explores the lived experiences of intragroup discrimination, identity and belonging in 11 young Black Muslim Women in the United Kingdom. In-depth, semi-structured interviews were conducted with participants and thematically analysed through the lens of intersectionality. The use of an intersectional framework facilitated an understanding of the manner in which the sample was multiply marginalised. Two key themes emerged from the interviews: firstly, around experiences of intragroup and intersectional discrimination and, secondly, around the challenges of responding to and coping with the negative effects of such discrimination. Participants discussed the cross-cutting nature through which they faced discrimination: from within the Black community; from within the Muslim community; and as a result of their gender. The non-exclusivity of these three identities result in constant encounters of discrimination along different dimensions to their personal identity. They also developed diverse means of coping with this marginalisation including drawing from religious beliefs and mobile identifications, i.e. performing different aspects of their identities in different contexts. The present study contributes to existing knowledge in its focus on an under-researched group and emphasises the negative effects of intragroup discrimination. The paper importantly highlights the diversity within the Black community and considers the (in)visibility of Black Muslim Women within society.


Author(s):  
Roberts Pūgulis ◽  
◽  
Līga Bieziņa ◽  
Raimonds Ernšteins ◽  
◽  
...  

Cycling and general sustainable mobility has become a topical issue around Europe, and gradually also in Latvia, including Valmiera – a medium size town, which is a research-base for this study where the governance and development of the municipal cycling infrastructure is analysed. The rapid growth of cycling in Valmiera not only highlights some deficiencies in urban infrastructure developments, but also reveals the management problems: the expectations and needs of users of different means of transportation and also pedestrians are not met. Looking towards solving various cycling development issues, it is necessary, first of all, to develop an understanding of system’s approach and the systemic governance of the cycling infrastructure. The urban transport/mobility system must be developed as a whole, integrating cycling mobility in it as an independently and continuously developing component, promoting a process of cooperation between all parties involved. Thus, to facilitate the cycling mobility of inhabitants in Valmiera, the involvement/participation of all the interested parties shall be pro-actively communicated – informed, educated/trained, pro-cycling behaviour encouraged. During this integrative case study, both quantitative and qualitative research methods were applied complementary: analysis of documents, infrastructure observations in the town with photo documentation, survey of inhabitants, also in-depth semi-structured interviews with open-ended questions. Additionally, a participatory observation was conducted through participation in cycling activities, forums, working groups, etc., elaborating suggestions for the municipal planning document - Transport Infrastructure Development Concept of Valmiera.


2021 ◽  
Vol 1034 ◽  
pp. 169-175
Author(s):  
Giuseppe Ciaburro

The use of recycled materials to replace natural and artificial materials represents an interesting and real possibility for all industrial sectors to contribute to the reduction of the amount of waste disposed of and non-renewable resources consumed. This study reports the results of the measurements of the sound absorption coefficient carried out on specimens obtained from the recycling of different materials. A sustainable development of our planet requires us to adopt materials recycling policies to ensure the economical use of resources. Two types of materials have been studied: material obtained from the recycling of plastic bottles, and a material obtained from the recycling of asphalt milled. Both materials showed interesting sound absorption performances covering different frequency ranges.


2016 ◽  
Vol 19 (3) ◽  
pp. 317-336 ◽  
Author(s):  
Merli Reidolf

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to develop a framework for analysing the configuration of knowledge networks used by innovative rural small- and medium-sized enterprises, and the nature of the relationships between knowledge transferring actors. Design/methodology/approach – The research is based on semi-structured interviews with rural innovative entrepreneurs and regional key informants. Social network analysis (SNA) was used to identify configuration of relationships, and content analysis to understand the nature of the knowledge relationships. Findings – Higher innovation levels are related to proactive and strong relationships with extra-local actors, usually from the international level, mainly from the Baltic Sea region. The actors, who have a greater role in innovation, are special customers, scientific organisations and non-human actors (e.g. trade fairs). Greater variety in proactive relationships helps achieve higher-level innovations. Reactive and weaker relationships tend to be related to lower innovation levels. Originality/value – This study contributes to the development of rural innovation research practice through the development of a framework for analysing the configuration of knowledge networks and the nature (activity and strength) of relations between actors. Thus, two different dimensions not used together previously are combined and advanced. In addition, in this paper, the relations that go beyond a region’s borders are also included, compared to earlier studies, where SNA was commonly used only with reference to relations inside a territory. An example from Central and Eastern Europe supplied to the literature on rural innovation networks is of additional value.


2015 ◽  
Vol 33 (4) ◽  
pp. 617-636 ◽  
Author(s):  
Latesha Murphy-Edwards ◽  
Kate van Heugten

This article reports on the qualitative phase of mixed method research conducted in a medium-size city in New Zealand, which examined 14 parents’ experiences of child- and youth-perpetrated domestic property violence (DPV). The research used semi-structured interviews and interpretative phenomenological analysis, enabling parents’ perceptions of the causes and impacts of this form of family violence to be explored in depth. Three superordinate themes were identified in the analysis: damage done, the various impacts of DPV; staying safe and sane; and making sense of DPV, parents’ perspectives. An ecological meaning-making theory emerged from the data and provided an overarching interpretative framework for considering the themes both separately and together. The findings showed that DPV is a distinct form of parent abuse and one that can have serious impacts of a financial, emotional, and relational nature. The theoretical and practical implications of the findings are discussed along with ideas for further research into this problem.


2018 ◽  
Vol 15 (2) ◽  
pp. 235-259
Author(s):  
Siti Fadhilah

Open innovation is an approach that involves not only internal company, but also external parties in developing and integrating new ideas optimally for the benefit of the company. This approach is more applied by companies in innovating to cope with the business world whom very competitive. However, research through this approach is still minimal and the concept has not been fully adopted in Indonesia. Therefore, the purpose of this research is to know how the influence of open innovation approach and the factors supporting the development of innovation on innovation performance in Indonesian companies. The scope of this research is Indonesian companies engaged in all industrial sectors (both manufacturing and service sectors), which conducts innovation activities for the last 3 years, from 2011 to 2013. The research method is quantitative with statistical data analysis descriptive and inferential ie regression analysis. The result of the research shows that the open innovation approach model has a significant influence on the innovation performance of the company, but only two of the three variables approach are inter-organizational collaboration and technology acquisition which has significant influence. For both factors supporting the development of innovation ie the source of information (both internal and external) and internal R D, factors that have a significant influence on innovation performance of the company only internal R D alone.


2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (10) ◽  
pp. 636
Author(s):  
Andreia Filipa Teixeira ◽  
Maria José Angélico Gonçalves ◽  
Maria de Lourdes Machado Taylor

In recent years, the rapid development of technological innovation has transformed the business world. Digital transformation improves the economic positioning of companies, contributing to society and the environment, but beyond technological evolution, it also brings social and cultural changes. With the new trends, companies saw the need to train people with digital skills and higher education institutions (HEIs) were forced to change their teaching methods to keep up with the new demands of the labour market. In this context, it is intended to identify the influence that HEIs play in the digital development of regions, in this case, the influence of Public Polytechnic Institutes of Porto in the development of the Metropolitan Area of Porto. The methodology adopted to answer the objectives of this study and research questions formulated, was an exploratory study, using semi-structured interviews and questionnaires. The results obtained allowed us to verify the positive influence of HEIs in the digital development of the Metropolitan Area of Porto. As well as identify the motivations that lead companies to participate in digital transformation initiatives, identify the skills needed to meet the demands of the labour market and identify the efforts made by HEIs to keep up with the digital evolution of society.


Author(s):  
Firmansyah David ◽  
Peter van der Sijde ◽  
Peter van den Besselaar

The study in this chapter aimed to explore the perception of university managers and academics towards incentives and obstacles of university-business co-operation. For this purpose, case studies were conducted in a public and a private university in Indonesia. Data was collected through semi-structured interviews with university managers: University Vice President and the Head of Research and Community Service Office; and with academics at the department of electrical engineering and computer science. The results suggest that both organizational actors at both universities share a common perception that industrial funding; organizational and individual reputation; trust from industries and applied research are the incentives in the creation of university-business co-operation; whilst bureaucracy, industrial commitment, different in vision and orientation, teaching obligation and basic research have been considered as the obstacles. This study proposes a managerial implication. University managers should ‘recognize' the ‘skills' of individual academics in business before engaging them in university-business co-operation. Furthermore, individual academics should able to manage the different vision and orientation with the business world.


Author(s):  
Norsiah Abdul Hamid ◽  
Mohd Sobhi Ishak ◽  
Norhafezah Yusof ◽  
Halimah Badioze Zaman

The concept of Knowledge Society (KS) began due to recognition of the importance of knowledge and information in the development of a society. This chapter proposes a holistic view of knowledge society based on the development of composite indicators in nine different dimensions. The objective of the study is to propose a multi-dimensional approach comprising human capital, ICT, spirituality, economy, social, institutional and sustainability as determinants towards achieving a KS. These dimensions are discussed in-depth by the experts in semi-structured interviews and also validated by using Exploratory Factor Analysis (EFA) and Confirmatory Factor Analysis (CFA). The semi-structured interview data are presented in a verbatim manner so as to provide readers with in-depth feedback from the experts, while the EFA and CFA results of composite indicators are presented in graphics. Thus, this chapter contributes to the understanding of composite indicators of a knowledge society which can then be used by policy makers for future policy-making decision.


2020 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Wogene Tesfaye ◽  
Daniel Kitaw

Purpose Plastics waste management is a critical agenda for the global community. Recycling is the most important strategy option for recovering plastics wastes. This study aims to review reverse logistics (RL) implementation practices and conceptualizing it to the plastic recycling system. Design/methodology/approach The paper is organized after evaluating the studies related to plastics waste recycling and analyzing the available frameworks to use RL as a strategic tool. Findings The paper has investigated that previous research on RL implementation focused on a few stages of RL activities and did not include the most important issues. However, for successful RL implementation, taking into account the whole stage and including the most important factors is very important. To elaborate on this finding a new conceptual framework is developed. Research limitations/implications The paper is fully based on literature review and international reports. The developed framework is required for further empirical validation in the plastics sector. Practical implications The paper has considered the important issues and the applications of those factors that can improve plastics recycling performances. Social implications This study can enhance the active involvement of main actors (plastics producers, users, municipal and recyclers) in the plastics recycling system. Originality/value This paper deliberates on how RL can be conceptualized and implemented in plastics recycling systems in considering the most important factors for plastics recycling.


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