Morals in business organizations: an approach based on strategic value and strength for business management

[EN] In the last decades, the topic of business ethics has attracted great interest at the academic and professional levels. Nowadays business ethics is being increasingly implemented as a necessary discipline in universities’ study plans on business management. Moreover, its importance is also evident according to the worldwide increase of organizations and/or institutions that have implemented ethics systems. However, some approaches thoroughly do not consider the importance and the need of an ethical behaviour and are still guiding the actions and the way of thinking of many academics and professionals led to consider that the only responsibility of business is limited just to profit maximization.

La aplicación empresarial del marketing viral y el efecto boca-oreja electrónico. Opiniones de las empresas

[ES] La práctica tradicional del boca-oreja, natural desde hace años como modo de publicidad efectiva sin recurrir a grandes inversiones ni contrataciones en medios masivos se ha convertido en una nueva posibilidad de marketing con la llegada de las nuevas tecnologías e Internet. Así ha aparecido una nueva estrategia de marketing que consiste en explotar las redes sociales preexistentes para producir incrementos exponenciales en conocimiento de marca, denominada marketing viral. El efecto "boca-oreja online" que genera es una herramienta poderosa para las empresas, aunque su verdadero potencial está aún por descubrir. El objetivo del presente trabajo de investigación es analizar este fenómeno a través de una amplia revisión bibliográfica del término, así como un estudio empírico consistente en una entrevista en profundidad realizada a una muestra de importantes empresas españolas. Los resultados indican que el marketing viral puede ser empleado para el beneficio, tanto de grandes empresas con grandes presupuestos, como de pequeños negocios. Las experiencias exitosas de su utilización demuestran que, cuando se usa integrado en el resto de estrategias comerciales de la empresa, puede mejorar la recomendación de la marca e incrementar su notoriedad en el mercado. El marketing viral puede ser ventajoso a la hora de lanzar un nuevo producto al mercado, sin embargo, la efectividad y la medición de las campañas son vistas por muchos académicos y profesionales como un punto débil de la estrategia.

Online journalism: research methods. A multidisciplinary approach in comparative perspective

Journalism on digital networks, and specifically on Internet, is a relatively recent phenomenon, whose spread began in approximately 1994, in parallel to that of the World Wide Web. Study of this new communicative phenomenon began simultaneously in several countries. This, in its turn, was helped by the new possibilities for communication amongst academics - electronic mail, predating the WWW, was, and is, one of the most widely used tools of the university community. The spread of these new forms of global communication helped to raise mutual awareness between research groups, making it possible to form increasingly broad and cohesive networks.

Uptake and factors that influence the use of 'sit less, move more' occupational intervention strategies in Spanish office employees

Background: Little is known about the types of 'sit less, move more' strategies that appeal to office employees, or what factors influence their use. This study assessed the uptake of strategies in Spanish university office employees engaged in an intervention, and those factors that enabled or limited strategy uptake. Methods: The study used a mixed method design. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with academics and administrators (n = 12; 44 +/- 12 mean SD age; 6 women) at three points across the five-month intervention, and data used to identify factors that influenced the uptake of strategies. Employees who finished the intervention then completed a survey rating (n = 88; 42 +/- 8 mean SD age; 51 women) the extent to which strategies were used [never (1) to usually (4)]; additional survey items (generated from interviewee data) rated the impact of factors that enabled or limited strategy uptake [no influence (1) to very strong influence (4)]. Survey score distributions and averages were calculated and findings triangulated with interview data. Results: Relative to baseline, 67% of the sample increased step counts post intervention (n = 59); 60% decreased occupational sitting (n = 53). 'Active work tasks' and 'increases in walking intensity' were the strategies most frequently used by employees (89% and 94% sometimes or usually utilised these strategies); 'walk-talk meetings' and ` lunchtime walking groups' were the least used (80% and 96% hardly ever or never utilised these strategies). 'Sitting time and step count logging' was the most important enabler of behaviour change (mean survey score of 3.1 +/- 0.8); interviewees highlighted the motivational value of being able to view logged data through visual graphics in a dedicated website, and gain feedback on progress against set goals. 'Screen based work' (mean survey score of 3.2 +/- 0.8) was the most significant barrier limiting the uptake of strategies. Inherent time pressures and cultural norms that dictated sedentary work practices limited the adoption of 'walk-talk meetings' and ` lunch time walking groups'. Conclusions: The findings provide practical insights into which strategies and influences practitioners need to target to maximise the impact of 'sit less, move more' occupational intervention strategies.