ADOPTION OF KNOWLEDGE MANAGEMENT IN PAKISTAN: AN INVESTIGATION OF CRITICAL SUCCESS FACTORS

Although, knowledge has been recognized as a key business asset, firms are still in the infancy stages of comprehending the practical implications of knowledge management. Developing countries are widely believed to be falling far behind in competitiveness and socio-economic development, due to their inability to develop capacities to enable themselves to take part in the emerging global networks of knowledge creation. There is a dire need for a more organized and purposeful study, on critical success factors for knowledge management adoption in developing countries like Pakistan. However, no research, so far, has been conducted to empirically investigate a detailed list of CSFs for KM adoption in Pakistan. This paper evaluates and disseminates the findings of a self-administered survey to investigate the critical success factors for the implementation of KM in banking sector of Pakistan. A survey questionnaire having 11 factors, consisting 66 items is adopted in this study, which is statistically tested for its validity as well as reliability. Data are collected from banking officials. The level of importance, as well as the ranking list of the critical success factors for KM adoption is statistically examined. This paper provides a priority list of CSFs—figured out in order of their importance—for KM adoption in the banking sector of Pakistan. Human resource management, motivational aids, and processes and activities are found to be the most important, while measurement and organizational infrastructure are found to be the least important factors, perceived by the bankers.

GESTÃO DE RESÍDUOS SÓLIDOS: UMA REFLEXÃO SOBRE PRÁTICAS EM UM MUNICÍPIO DO INTERIOR DO ESTADO DO PARANÁ

The respective work is an investigation on practices of urban solid waste management in the city of Fernandes Pinheiro-PR, with the objective of understanding the problems related to the disposal and disposal of solid waste with the intention of promoting new projects that favor citizens with guidance and marketing of recyclable waste. Having projects in partnership with the population to solve the problems of incorrect waste disposal and encourage selective collection, reuse and recycling are guidelines provided for in the National Solid Waste Policy (PNRS). Through the elaboration of a diagnosis of the situation of solid waste in the municipality and documentary analysis, among these, practices carried out by the public authorities were verified and the actions are being carried out, still potentiating good projects and proposing continuous improvement actions along with the adoption of new problem-oriented practices.

SUSTAINABLE URBAN MOBILITY DIAGNOSIS: APPLICABILITY OF A COMPOSITE INDEX

Sustainable urban mobility adds a new dimension to the circulation of goods and people in the city: sustainability. The increasing number of individual motor vehicles is an accurate urban mobility diagnostic, by highlighting strengths and weaknesses, to guide public policies aimed at improving the quality of urban life. In this paper, the Sustainable Urban Mobility Index has been discussed and then applied to evaluate the sustainable urban mobility in Campinas (SP, Brazil). For the period 2010-2014, the index shows a persistent insufficiency in the sustainable urban mobility of this city, even if there was a slight improvement in the period. This is due to the environmental dimension, considering the increasing fuel consumption. It is therefore necessary to look for possible solutions involving primarily collective transportation and non-motorized one, especially for short distance.

A SUSTENTABILIDADE SOB A PERSPECTIVA DO TRIPLE BOTTOM LINE NAS PEQUENAS EMPRESAS DE PRODUTOS VEGANOS

Economic and industrial development have enabled people to live better by developing products and services that make their lives easier. However, these processes generate impacts that have been increasingly questioned as to the forms of mitigation. Many companies already seek to analyze their processes from the perspective of the Triple Bottom Line (TBL), or Sustainability Tripod, considering the dimensions: financial, environmental and social. In this context, a market that has been developed in recent years is the one of vegan products, since its consumers have sustainable balance as one of their ideals. Innovation oriented to sustainability or sustainable innovation is related to innovations that contribute to TBL. This work aimed to analyze the sustainable innovation practices adopted by small companies of vegan products and to identify their contributions to each of the three dimensions of the TBL. Multiple case studies were carried out, the information was collected through semi-structured interviews with the managers of the organizations and subsequently, a content analysis was made for the sustainable practices adopted by the companies. It can be observed that companies adopt several innovation practices oriented to sustainability in the environmental dimension, such as reverse logistics of packaging, the use of biodegradable or reusable resources, energy and water saving policy and selection of sustainable suppliers. In the social sphere, health and safety practices at work, use of personal protective equipment, training, promotion of events and social projects were identified. These practices, in general, increased revenues by attracting more consumers to their products and improving the company's image. Therefore, the small companies of vegan products that were surveyed develop practices aimed at balancing the sustainable tripod, generating environmental and social value, and not just obtaining economic gains.

PERSONAL VALUES SCALE: BRAZILIAN ENTREPREUNERS’ STARTUPS SAMPLE VALIDATION

This study aims to validate the personal values that push up entrepreneurs to idealize startups in Brazil. The research respondents are incubated at SEBRAE’s centers, a Brazilian support service for micro and small companies, in Alto do Tietê region, São Paulo, Brazil. The empirical quantitative research used the PQV values scale, the Portrait Questionnaire Value, which evaluates individual values based on Schwartz's model of human values. Continuing the studies of this author, this research is made considering ten types of personal values and four areas that present the following indicators: 1. Conservation (conformity, tradition and security); 2. Openness to change (self-direction, stimulation and hedonism); 3. Self-enhancement (achievement and power); 4. Self-transcendence (benevolence and universalism or philanthropy). The scale contains 40 statements and describes people with different aims, interests and aspirations. A multidimensional scale (MDS), with the aid of R software, analyzed the results in order to position the values dimensions. The hypothesis that the predominant latent values are from the openness to change area was confirmed. Thus, the conclusion is that personal values related to openness to change, such as: self-determination, stimulation and hedonism or pleasure, are latent values in the entrepreneurs interviewed. These values are related to freedom, creativity, audacity and pleasure in their projects.

PRE-DEVELOPMENT OF PRODUCTS: METHODOLOGY APPLIED IN A PROPOSAL ORIENTED TO THE SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT GOALS

In a context of growing customer needs and requirements and worsening environmental issues, the Product Development Process must adapt to these circumstances, promoting measures that enable sustainable development, thus maintaining balance and synergy in the environmental, social and economic spheres. For this, it is essential to carry out the pre-development of business proposals. In this context, adopting a holistic approach that interrelates various areas of literature, brings together contributions in order to lead society to a resilient and resource-efficient environment. Thus, this research promotes the interrelationship between the Product Development Process and the Sustainable Development Goals and aims to realize the pre-development of a product under the perspective of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDG). To meet the proposed objective, the methodology adopted consists of the adaptation of a pre-development model, selected through bibliographic analysis. The results of this research present the pre-development of a product willing to meet the goals of SDG 6 (drinking water and sanitation) and SDG 7 (accessible and clean energy). It highlights the use of tools to structure and ensure the assertiveness of the proposal, such as IDEF0, SWOT analysis and FMEA.

CONNECTIVITY IS THE SHORTCUT TO PROSPERITY: HELPING HAND FOR IRON BROTHER (巴铁)- ECONOMIC IMPACT OF CPEC

As a symbol of Pak-China Friendship and the flagship project of One Belt One Road (OBOR), China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) is building the future of Pakistan. Thus, the purpose of this study is to evaluate the current and future performance of CPEC. To achieve the said purpose, we used published data from the official website of CPEC. By using Corridor Performance Indicators (CPI) techniques presented by Kunaka, C., & Carruthers, R. (2014), we found that the current performance of CPEC is pretty well. Based on the facts, we are also hoping that the future economic performance of CPEC will also viable and sustainable. Therefore, we can conclude the discussion by saying that CPEC is no doubt the lifeline for the economy of Pakistan.

HORTAS URBANAS NO BRASIL: EVOLUÇÃO, DESAFIOS E PERSPECTIVAS

The significant concentration of the world agricultural matrix in polluting sources and with prices subject to instabilities, such as pesticides, has increased the search of countries for alternative agroecological techniques, including urban gardens, as a way of increasing food and nutritional security in the country. population. Thus, through bibliographic research, the objective of this work consists of a descriptive narrative about the potential of urban agriculture, by studying the evolution, challenges and perspectives, consolidating itself in the Brazilian agroecological matrix and contributing in the long run to greater decentralization of food production with less dependence on pesticides. In this sense, Brazil, benefited by natural factors, has favorable conditions for the exploitation of this form of agriculture and experiences great evolution, with urban gardens being among the fastest growing in the country and being one of the most competitive sources of the Brazilian agroecological matrix. However, the need for incentive policies, awareness of the population, planning of farming spaces in urban environments, in addition to creating a new incentive policy for urban agriculture and making greater investments in research and development appear as important objectives to be achieved so that urban gardens can, in fact, consolidate themselves on the national scene.

Biorremediação dos efluentes do Rio São Francisco em Petrolina-PE: perspectivas de tratamento

Due to the increase in cities, which results in a greater production of domestic and industrial waste, huge environmental and public health losses can occur when they are not assisted by sewage and landfills. Often the effluents from these cities are dumped in inappropriate places, such as rivers, lakes, streams and the like. Thus, it is necessary that actions such as the bioremediation of effluents that are discharged into environments, or close to those where water is collected for human consumption, are increasingly active. Therefore, this research aims to prospect the main methods used in the bioremediation of aquatic environments intended for human consumption and to compare them with ordinary decontamination processes, as well as to identify the main benefits of these types of treatment in order to guarantee water quality. Data were collected through research on the Periodicals Capes platform. Based on themes related to basic sanitation, inadequate discharge of effluents in aquatic environments, contamination status of the São Francisco River in the regions of Petrolina-PE and Juazeiro-BA and the effluent bioremediation of water environments and these were analyzed by the method of Content Analysis of Bardin, using a qualitative approach. After the analysis of the results, it was observed that the cities of Petrolina-PE and Juazeiro-BA present several means for the discharge of effluents in water environments, such as, dumping of waste into streams that flow into the São Francisco river, sewage directly discharged on the São Francisco river. Although there are measures to clean up the river, it is difficult to find proposals on the bioremediation of the São Francisco River, despite the effective measures for bioremediation of river effluents pointed out by several theorists.

SIMULATION-BASED ANALYSIS OF THE EFFECT OF GREEN ROOFS ON THERMAL PERFORMANCE OF BUILDINGS IN A TROPICAL LANDSCAPE

Apart from the ever- increasing population of most tropical urban cities, high ambient temperature, deteriorated comfort conditions, highly polluted environments are but a few of the problems these cities are confronted with. In the long run, increase energy demands both for production and the provision of comfortable spaces becomes necessary even though it’s a very scarce resource. It is widely known that Urban heat island (UHI) can significantly affect building’s thermal performance and as such, this study was conducted to find out how green roof which is a mitigating factor can reduce the thermal discomfort in indoor spaces. By means of dynamic simulation in EnergyPlus software, a numerical comparative analysis between eight scenarios was done in a tropical climate of Ghana, taking into account climatological, thermal, and hydrological variables. Two factors: Leaf Area Index (LAI) and Soil depth were the main determinants of the comparative analysis. From the results, 5 out of the 8 scenarios was seen to all have performed better leading to a 1.5°C temperature reduction. Out of the 5, LAI5/70-150mm and LAI2/500mm suggest that at every point, there could be a reduction in indoor temperature if either LAI is larger or substrate depth is deep. A larger LAI and a deeper depth could also produce a favorable results (LAI5/500mm) though after a certain threshold, their effect weakens. Based on the findings, it is highly recommended that green roofs becomes part of the solution towards the fight against indoor thermal discomfort and not mechanical ventilation which could have a dire consequence on an already scare resource which is energy.