scholarly journals Training requirements for agro-food industry in Portugal

2015 ◽  
Vol 4 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Pedro D. Gaspar ◽  
Rita Pinheiro ◽  
Cláudia Domingues ◽  
Celestino Almeida ◽  
Teresa Paiva ◽  
...  

Agro-food companies are aware that the technical and soft skills of their employees directly influence business performance and, consequently, improving those skills will enhance the effectiveness and efficiency of their companies. This paper presents the main results of the AgriTraining project “Training requirements for the agro-food industry". Activities in pursuit of the objectives of this project involved: (1) analysis of the training needs in the agro-food industry in Portugal; (2) analysis of the training provision and the training organizations; (3) analysis of market trends; (4) definition of a training strategy; and (5) adjustment and development of training strategies for the agro-food sector. This last activity comprised the development of training curricula, suitable for the food sector as a whole and adjusted for the specific needs of some traditional industries, in order to promote the development and competitiveness of the agro-food industry in Portugal. Such training curricula aimed to promote the uptake of innovative technologies and methodologies, increase the ability of agro-food industries to invest and take risks, and enable adoption of European Community standards for production and marketing. Gaps in training supply were identified and the training provision was updated according to the needs of the agro-food companies. It was determined that companies need and demand knowledge and innovation to increase their competitive position for internationalization purposes. It was possible to define a training strategy based on market-orientation for agro-food differentiation.

Author(s):  
Navee Chiadamrong ◽  
Tran Thi Tham

Growing in the competitive environment, organizations need to find ways to improve their performance even better by ensuring that all key drivers are being developed and utilized effectively. Thai and Vietnamese food industries are rapidly growing sectors. This study investigates the relationships between supply chain capabilities and competitive advantages towards business performance, and compares the above mentioned relationships between Thai and Vietnamese food industries. The data were gathered from conducted surveys with the food manufacturing companies in both countries, and tested by Structural Equation Modeling. The empirical results show that supply chain capabilities play an important role in business improvement in both countries. While, supply chain integration is considered as a critical factor for the Vietnamese food industry, human resource management is much regarded as important for the Thai food industry. These findings help companies in each country decide the best strategy for differentiating themselves in their business environment.


Author(s):  
Navee Chiadamrong ◽  
Tran Thi Tham

Growing in the competitive environment, organizations need to find ways to improve their performance even better by ensuring that all key drivers are being developed and utilized effectively. Thai and Vietnamese food industries are rapidly growing sectors. This study investigates the relationships between supply chain capabilities and competitive advantages towards business performance, and compares the above mentioned relationships between Thai and Vietnamese food industries. The data were gathered from conducted surveys with the food manufacturing companies in both countries, and tested by Structural Equation Modeling. The empirical results show that supply chain capabilities play an important role in business improvement in both countries. While, supply chain integration is considered as a critical factor for the Vietnamese food industry, human resource management is much regarded as important for the Thai food industry. These findings help companies in each country decide the best strategy for differentiating themselves in their business environment.


2021 ◽  
Vol 9 (3) ◽  
pp. 705-710 ◽  
Author(s):  
Dhian Tyas Untari ◽  
Budi Satria

The food sector is a sector with great potential to be developed, especially in the Bekasi Regency area in Indonesia. Tight business competition and limited resources have forced entrepreneurs to reconsider production processes, one of which is by implementing Supply Chain Management (SCM). With MSC analysis, it is expected that business processes can be more responsive, so that they can respond quickly, effectively, and efficiently to all forms of changes in the market and further increase business competitiveness. The study involved 87 SME entrepreneurs in the food sector who were randomly obtained from several developing SME communities in Bekasi Regency, West Java and 5 experts related to the food industry. Research variables include; Supply Chain Management (SCM), Business Performance and Business Competitiveness. The results showed that in creating a business competitiveness, entrepreneurs need to improve the SCM system. SCM can affect Business Competitiveness directly, as well as through the Business Performance variable.


2019 ◽  
Vol 25 (24) ◽  
pp. 2661-2676 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sundaresan Bhavaniramya ◽  
Ramar Vanajothi ◽  
Selvaraju Vishnupriya ◽  
Kumpati Premkumar ◽  
Mohammad S. Al-Aboody ◽  
...  

Enzymes exhibit a great catalytic activity for several physiological processes. Utilization of immobilized enzymes has a great potential in several food industries due to their excellent functional properties, simple processing and cost effectiveness during the past decades. Though they have several applications, they still exhibit some challenges. To overcome the challenges, nanoparticles with their unique physicochemical properties act as very attractive carriers for enzyme immobilization. The enzyme immobilization method is not only widely used in the food industry but is also a component methodology in the pharmaceutical industry. Compared to the free enzymes, immobilized forms are more robust and resistant to environmental changes. In this method, the mobility of enzymes is artificially restricted to changing their structure and properties. Due to their sensitive nature, the classical immobilization methods are still limited as a result of the reduction of enzyme activity. In order to improve the enzyme activity and their properties, nanomaterials are used as a carrier for enzyme immobilization. Recently, much attention has been directed towards the research on the potentiality of the immobilized enzymes in the food industry. Hence, the present review emphasizes the different types of immobilization methods that is presently used in the food industry and other applications. Various types of nanomaterials such as nanofibers, nanoflowers and magnetic nanoparticles are significantly used as a support material in the immobilization methods. However, several numbers of immobilized enzymes are used in the food industries to improve the processing methods which not only reduce the production cost but also the effluents from the industry.


Gold Bulletin ◽  
2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Saeed Paidari ◽  
Salam Adnan Ibrahim

AbstractIn the past few decades, there have been remarkable advances in our knowledge of gold nanoparticles (AuNPs) and synthesizing methods. AuNPs have become increasingly important in biomedical and industrial applications. As a newly implemented method, AuNPs are being used in nanopackaging industries for their therapeutic and antibacterial characteristics as well as their inert and nontoxic nature. As with other NPs, AuNPs have privileges and disadvantages when utilized in the food sector, yet a significant body of research has shown that, due to the specific nontoxic characteristics, AuNPs could be used to address other NP flaws. In this mini review, we present synthesizing methods, food industry applications, and mechanisms of action of gold nanoparticles. Regarding the investigations, gold nanoparticles can play a major role to reduce microbial load in foodstuff and therefore can be implemented in food packaging as an effective approach.


Businesses ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 1 (1) ◽  
pp. 36-50
Author(s):  
Konstantina Ragazou

Crisis, in whatever form it takes, is a challenge for modern business. The challenge lies in the fact that a company is prepared to balance the difficult conditions that are created, while preserving their business interest and efficiency. Thus, companies focus only on their perceived fixed bases, those that are in the internal environment such as the human capital. The need for better human resource management is more urgent than ever, and the burden on the business department is particularly great. The aim of this qualitative research is to highlight the strategies that were developed by agri-food companies in Greece and contribute to the maintenance and motivation of employees in the context of economic crisis. The methodology of this study is based on in depth interviews that were conducted in focus group discussion. Eleven companies from the agri-food sector in the region of Central Greece participated in the research. The executives highlighted three different strategies that were developed by agri-food companies in Greece, which focused on internal mobility, training and appraisal performance. Companies had to face different difficulties to use these strategies, but most of them proved that they can face their weaknesses and apply these strategies in a turbulent period like a financial crisis.


2021 ◽  
Vol 34 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Liang Sun ◽  
Zhizheng Ye ◽  
Fuwei Lu ◽  
Rongjiang Cui ◽  
Chuanyu Wu

AbstractIsomorphism detection is fundamental to the synthesis and innovative design of kinematic chains (KCs). The detection can be performed accurately by using the similarity of KCs. However, there are very few works on isomorphism detection based on the properties of similar vertices. In this paper, an ameliorated multi-order adjacent vertex assignment sequence (AMAVS) method is proposed to seek out similar vertices and identify the isomorphism of the planar KCs. First, the specific definition of AMAVS is described. Through the calculation of the AMAVS, the adjacent vertex value sequence reflecting the uniqueness of the topology features is established. Based on the value sequence, all possible similar vertices, corresponding relations, and isomorphism discrimination can be realized. By checking the topological graph of KCs with a different number of links, the effectiveness and efficiency of the proposed method are verified. Finally, the method is employed to implement the similar vertices and isomorphism detection of all the 9-link 2-DOF(degree of freedom) planar KCs.


2021 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  

Purpose The purpose of this study is to investigate whether hard-skills trainers and soft-skills trainers have different perspectives regarding the instructional skills and knowledge they require. Design/methodology/approach From the previous training literature the authors used 14 items covering relevant instructional knowledge and skills in a questionnaire which was applied online. Following an exploratory factor analysis a one-way multivariate analysis of variance [MANOVA] was conducted with the training content being the independent variable and the training requirements being the dependent variables. Findings Soft-skills trainers and hard-skills trainers differed in the variety of instructional methods and in their emphasis on interpersonal relations and interactions, group management and communication. Those trainers with train-the-trainer certificates did not differ significantly from those who did not have them. Trainers with a university degree in educational science/psychology were more likely to teach soft skills than hard skills but did not agree more with the relevance of instructional skills and knowledge than those without such a degree. Research limitations/implications The authors note that the results reflect the subjective perceptions of instructional requirements by trainers rather than objective requirements which would need to be tested by other means. Practical implications This study has a range of practical implications including the importance of skill and knowledge content and that of the trainers' perceptions in determining the extent to which what is learned is transferred into day-to-day work. Originality/value Previous literature has given little attention to the content of training and it has been unclear how this might affect learning and its transfer.


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