Encouraging internationalization and sustainable competitiveness in construction. A preliminary approach in Portugal

The Civil Construction and Public Works sector in Portugal has undergone huge oscillations over the last years, reflected on the number of companies, turnover and number of direct employees assigned to the activity. This sector is an important sector for economic growth and companies must adopt strategic analysis and control tools in order to survive and remain competitive. Companies operate in a large, highly competitive and demanding market, with new players and new business models. Companies need to find new ways of competing worldwide and internationalization emerges as one of the business responses to the challenge of globalization. Sustainability is a commitment to the future, a route that organizations must travel to search the best solutions to humankind problems, whether they are economic, social or environmental.

How social entrepreneurship can contribute to upscale social innovation practices?

In this paper, we address the research question of to what extent is it possible to discern theories of change being built into the business practices of nascent social enterprises in ways that lay foundations for the subsequent upscaling of their social innovations? We argue that social enterprises that are ‘ready-to-upscale’ are those that clearly produce a solution to an underlying problem, and where their activities are clearly derived from the underlying problem, and also those activities clearly connect forward to deliver consistent solutions. We apply a Theories of Change approach to the concept of social entrepreneurship as a means of setting a criterion for ‘ready-to-upscale’, studying six Sri Lankan micro-social enterprises in which we can trace stories of impact. This provides a means to develop a model of the ways that social entrepreneurship creates the foundations for structural changes that reduce systematic inequalities, and offers social enterprise funders a framework to better stimulate emergence of social enterprises ready-to-upscale and deliver social innovation.

Management Sustainability - past present and future trends

Research related to sustainable management is rapidly increasing in quantity and is found in divergent literature and disciplines. Now is the time to offer a comprehensive review that identifies, synthesizes, and integrates previous research and highlights knowledge gaps and the way forward. This methodical literature search helped systematize 86 articles in the Scopus database published by 2018. Using a systematic and in-depth content analysis using bibliometric techniques, the authors reviewed the articles and identified the main theories used and the methodological orientations in these. articles. This review helps to identify significant knowledge gaps in terms of theoretical orientation and core content. The main contributions of this paper are: to outline and summarize a multilevel analysis of emerging sustainable management literature; integrate and extract potential theoretical contributions in this field; and indicate directions for future research.

ICTs and the Localisation of the Sustainable Development Goals

The United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) are universally seen to be global in their nature and reach, but there is a growing acceptance that they have an important local dimension. At the same time, there is an increasing recognition of the need for appropriate Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) to support and monitor the SDGs. This article adopts a qualitative inductive research approach in examining a range of public authority and academic source material, and framework analysis is used to record, categorise and critique this material. The findings provide an overview of the role of the SDGs at the local level and an assessment of how the localisation of the SDGs is being addressed in some urban areas within Western Europe. The findings also indicate how ICTs are being deployed to support the localisation process in Western Europe and the wider world. This is followed by a discussion of some emergent issues related to the localisation of the SDGs, including the increasingly important role of ICTs.

Consumer Perception of Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) Through Retail Brand Labels Disclosure

Retail brands were initially introduced as low quality brands with low prices. Currently, customers understand that these brands are valuable price/quality options and have a preference for them. The increased competition among distribution companies have forced retailers to increasingly introduce sustainable practices, including in own brands. This paper analyses the corporate social responsibility (CSR) communication through the packaging of retailers’ products. Following a content analysis of 377 packages of private labels from seven retail chains in Portugal, the authors concluded that there is CSR information in packages disclosing a variety of themes. A survey to 539 consumer indicate that consumer perceptions of CSR in packages correspond to the issues most valued. Health topics and national origin are better perceived and valued, even when they are not the most prevalent themes in packages. Environmental signals are lower perceived and valued, even when a similar or higher prevalence in packages.

Circular economy, sharing and sustainability - Challenges for the social economy in a territory that wants to become a Smart Region

This study aims to analyse the predisposition of social economy agents to resource sharing. To achieve this, it was chosen to implement an exploratory qualitative approach directed to managers and an exploratory quantitative approach directed to employees. The results allowed to estimate that they do have a significant economic impact on number, paid work and business volume. It was shown the relationship between the interest demonstration on sharing and the appropriate qualification for the jobs of managers and employees. It was demonstrated the practice of informal and non-regulated sharing of own and third parties’ resources, among close partners, without the existence of a management model of knowledge, assets, time, use/reuse and exploitation. It is anticipated that the study could serve as scientific/methodological basis for a regional investment project, R&D and establishment of partnerships, reconciling interest in a smart region, as well as the application of circular economy principles.

Financial Inclusion through Financial Literacy

Financial literacy is a means to tackle the problem of financial exclusion. It is a combination of awareness, skills, knowledge, attitude and behaviors necessary to make sound financial decisions and achieve financial well being. Objective of this study is to analyze current policy, practices and evidences on financial literacy. The study has been carried out on the basis of review of literature and secondary data collected from a range of sources. It is found that the government of India, RBI and other regulatory bodies are running financial literacy campaigns through diverse mediums. Financial literacy centers (FLCs) are contributing for enhancement of financial literacy. However, they need to be strengthened by enhancing resources. Inclusion of financial education in school and college curriculum has also been recommended. Scope of the study is limited to Ghaziabad district of Uttar Pradesh in India. The study might be valuable for policymakers in enhancing financial inclusion.

Local Participation in Community Based Development Projects in Ghana

The study critically analyses how the local people in Ga West municipality perceive local participation and socio-cultural factors that influence local participation. The study used the mixed method design. The lottery method of the simple random sampling technique coupled with Neuman and Neuman’s (2006) recommendation on random convenience sampling were used to sample and collect data from 187 respondents. The study revealed that local participation provides the local people employment avenues. It was revealed that developmental projects brought to their communities do not allow the local people to be involved at the planning and implementation phases. The study further revealed that women were of the opinion that projects brought to them were not feminine enough and did not build their capacity. Education, social cohesion, peace and stability were among some of the sociocultural factors that influence participation. The study again recommended that every community member should participate, regardless of their gender, ethnic group or socio-cultural differences.

The Indian Farming-Community and their Health-Concerns for a Sustainable Agriculture

The exposure of farmers to agricultural hazards and risks has been increased in their work-places with the recent developments in agricultural sectors in most of the developing countries. This higher expose may be due to the enhanced need in meeting the food as well as monetary demand of farming house-holds. The agricultural-productivity has also been reduced in developing countries because of the exposure of farmers to work-related stresses affecting their well-being. Thus, an attempt was made in this study for exploring the mental-health disorders among the farmers and the farming-community in the state of Odisha in India for undertaking possible intervention strategies by the government and competent authorities.

Exploring the impacts of COVID-19 pandemic on Algeria’s energy used and climate change based on Olduvai theory

The Death of Industrial Civilization explains how the contemporary ecological crisis within industrial society is caused by the values inherent in unlimited economic growth and competitive materialism. It demonstrates the central role and importance of electricity, and what policy makers need to do in order to ensure that current and future systems remain reliable even as they are transformed by the rise of clean energy technologies. The novel COVID19 pandemic has created an unprecedented global health and economic crisis. The result of such a scenario is that energy demand contracts by 6%, the largest in 70 years in percentage terms and the largest ever in absolute terms. The impact of Covid19 on energy demand in 2020 would be more than seven times larger than the impact of the 2008 financial crisis on global energy demand and this is what the Olduvai theory is defined by e=energy production/population. It states that the life expectancy of Industrial Civilization is less than or equal to 100 years.