CSR Policies: Effects on Labour Productivity in Spanish Micro and Small Manufacturing Companies

This paper analyses empirical evidence of efforts to enable Spanish micro and small manufacturing companies to boost their labour productivity rates through the development of the main pillars of their corporate social responsibility (CSR) policies. This study aims to develop new approaches and sensibilities towards work from an ethical, values (virtues) and CSR perspective, showing how internal dimensions of CSR, such those related to relationships with employees and responsibility in processes and product quality, can improve labour performance and labour efficiency, thereby contributing to a better society. The results of a sample of 929 small businesses indicate that the social responsibility policies that most contributed to a short-term increase in labour productivity are those related to internal aspects of the company, in particular its involvement in the quality of processes and products, promotion of innovation and employee care. However, the impact on labour productivity of CSR policies related to external factors, such as relationship with stakeholders and environmental concern, could not be empirically proven in this paper.

How small and medium enterprises can begin their implementation of ITIL?

Sequencing of Information Technology Infrastructure Library (ITIL) processes related to their order of implementation is one of the pending issues in the ITIL handbooks. Other frameworks and process models related to service management (e.g., COBIT, COSO and CMMI-SVC) are quite well described in the literature and their handbooks. However, the identifi cation of the fi rst process to be implemented has not been deeply analysed in the previous frameworks and models, and it is also a complex question to answer for organizations, especially Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs). Moreover, SMEs are the organizations that have the largest presence in the world economy; offi cial data of General Business Directory, show that their range of presence in different countries around the world is between 93% and 99%, and the average of employment contribution is around 60%. Consequently, the improvement of information technology service management is of vital importance to accomplish in this type of enterprises. This research has focused on two surveys that aim at helping SMEs to select the ITIL process by which starting the implementation of ITIL. In the fi rst survey, data were gathered through a questionnaire to SMEs registered in the region of Madrid. The second survey obtained data from experts and enterprises in countries as Spain, Ecuador, Chile, Luxembourg, Colombia, Norway, El Salvador, and Venezuela. Finally, the results of both surveys show that the tendency for starting an ITIL implementation in SMEs points to one of the processes included in the Service Operation.

Hydration of C3S, C2S and their Blends. Micro- and Nanoscale Characterization

This study forms part of wider research conducted under a EU 7 th Framework Programme (COmputationally Driven design of Innovative CEment-based materials or CODICE). The ultimate aim is the multi-scale modelling of the variations in mechanical performance in degraded and non-degraded cementitious matrices. The model is being experimentally validated by hydrating the main tri-calcium silicate (T1-C3S) and bi-calcium silicate (β-C2S), phases present in Portland cement and their blends. The present paper discusses micro- and nanoscale studies of the cementitious skeletons forming during the hydration of C3S, C2S and 70 % / 30 % blends of both C3S/C2S and C2S/C3S with a water/cement ratio of 0.4. The hydrated pastes were characterized at different curing ages with 29 Si NMR, SEM/TEM/EDS, BET, and nanoindentation. The findings served as a basis for the micro- and nanoscale characterization of the hydration products formed, especially C-S-H gels. Differences were identified in composition, structure and mechanical behaviour (nanoindentation), depending on whether the gels formed in C3S or C2S pastes. The C3S gels had more compact morphologies, smaller BET-N2 specific surface area and lesser porosity than the gels from C2S-rich pastes. The results of nanoindentation tests appear to indicate that the various C-S-H phases formed in hydrated C3S and C2S have the same mechanical properties as those formed in Portland cement paste. Compared to the C3S sample, the hydrated C2S specimen was dominated by the loose-packed (LP) and the low-density (LD) C-S-H phases, and had a much lower content of the high density (HD) C-S-H phase

The role of secretion systems and small molecules in soft-rot enterobacteriaceae pathogenicity

Soft-rot Enterobacteriaceae (SRE), which belong to the genera Pectobacterium and Dickeya, consist mainly of broad host-range pathogens that cause wilt, rot, and blackleg diseases on a wide range of plants. They are found in plants, insects, soil, and water in agricultural regions worldwide. SRE encode all six known protein secretion systems present in gram-negative bacteria, and these systems are involved in attacking host plants and competing bacteria. They also produce and detect multiple types of small molecules to coordinate pathogenesis, modify the plant environment, attack competing microbes, and perhaps to attract insect vectors. This review integrates new information about the role protein secretion and detection and production of ions and small molecules play in soft-rot pathogenicity.

ITIL in Small to Medium-Sized Enterprises: toward a proposal based on an ITIL processes implementation sequence and a pofile scheme strategy for implementing the first process in the sequence

The backdrop of actual problematic about the implementation of Information Technology (IT) services management in Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) will be described. It will be exposed the reasons why reaching a maturity/capability level through well-known standards or the implementation of good software engineering practices by means of IT infrastructure Library are really difficult to achieve by SMEs. Also, the solutions to the exposed problems will be explained. Also master thesis goals are presented in terms of: purpose, research questions, research goals, objectives and scope. Finally, thesis structure is described.

Mathematical models for the arrangement and the cleaning of the river basin and surroundings of the river sandy grounds to its passage by the city of Salta (Argentina)

The province of Salta is located the Northwest of Argentina in the border with Bolivia, Chile and Paraguay. Its Capital is the city of Salta that concentrates half of the inhabitants of the province and has grown to 600000 hab., from a small active Spanish town well founded in 1583. The city is crossed by the Arenales River descending from close mountains at North, source of water and end of sewers. But with actual growing it has become a focus of infection and of remarkable unhealthiness. It is necessary to undertake a plan for the recovery of the river, directed to the attainment of the well-being and to improve the life?s quality of the Community. The fundamental idea of the plan is to obtain an ordering of the river basin and an integral management of the channel and its surroundings, including the cleaning out. The improvement of the water?s quality, the healthiness of the surroundings and the improvement of the environment, must go hand by hand with the development of sport activities, of relaxation, tourism, establishment of breeding grounds, kitchen gardens, micro enterprises with clean production and other actions that contribute to their benefit by the society, that being a basic factor for their care and sustainable use. The present pollution is organic, chemical, industrial, domestic, due to the disposition of sweepings and sewer effluents that affects not only the flora and small fauna, destroying the biodiversity, but also to the health of people living in their margins. Within the plan it will be necessary to consider, besides hydric and environmental cleaning and the prevention of floods, the planning of the extraction of aggregates, the infrastructure and consolidation of margins works and the arrangement of all the river basin. It will be necessary to consider the public intervention at state, provincial and local level, and the private intervention. In the model it has been necessary to include the sub-model corresponding to the election of the entity to be the optimal instrument to reach the proposed objectives, giving an answer to the social, environmental and economic requirements. For that the authors have used multi-criteria decision methods to qualify and select alternatives, and for the programming of their implementation. In the model the authors have contemplated the short, average and long term actions. They conform a Paretooptimal alternative which secures the ordering, integral and suitable management of the basin of the Arenales River, focusing on its passage by the city of Salta.

Inter-organizational information systems adoption for service innovation in building sector

The building sector has experienced a significant decline in recent years in Spain and Europe as a result of the financial crisis that began in 2007. This drop accompanies a low penetration of information and communication technologies in inter-organizational oriented business processes. The market decrease is causing a slowdown in the building sector, where only flexible small and medium enterprises (SMEs) survive thanks to specialization and innovation in services, which allow them to face new market demands. Inter-organizational information systems (IOISs) support innovation in services, and are thus a strategic tool for SMEs to obtain competitive advantage. Because of the inherent complexity of IOIS adoption, this research extends Kurnia and Johnston's (2000) theoretical model of IOIS adoption with an empirical model of IOIS characterization. The resultant model identifies the factors influencing IOIS adoption in SMEs in the building sector, to promote further service innovation for competitive and collaborative advantages. An empirical longitudinal study over six consecutive years using data from Spanish SMEs in the building sector validates the model, using the partial least squares technique and analyzing temporal stability. The main findings of this research are the four ways an IOIS might contribute to service innovation in the building sector. Namely: a) improving client interfaces and the link between service providers and end users; b) defining a specific market where SMEs can develop new service concepts; c) enhancing the service delivery system in traditional customer?supplier relationships; and d) introducing information and communication technologies and tools to improve information management.

Adults'Education and Agricultural Innovation: A Social Learning Approach

Social learning processes can be the basis of a method of agricultural innovation that involves expert and empirical knowledge. In this sense, the objective of this study was to determine the effectiveness and sustainability of an innovation process, understood as social learning, in a group of small farmers in the southern highlands of Peru. Innovative proposals and its permanence three years after the process finished were evaluated. It was observed that innovation processes generated are maintained over time; however, new innovations are not subsequently generated. We conclude that adult learning processes and innovation based on social learning are more effective and sustainable; however, the farmers internalization in innovation processes is given longer term.