Economic efficiency of members of protected designations of origin: sharing reputation indicators in the experience goods of wine and cheese

The aim of this paper is to analyse the economic efficiency of members of protected designations of origin (PDO). For the first time we analyse the value of PDO labels from the point of view of economic efficiency. The central hypothesis is that a PDO has a positive impact on the economic efficiency of its member companies and that this is because a PDO label is a collective reputation indicator that foments efficient investment in quality in terms of member returns. The methodology applied to test this hypothesis is based on data envelopment analysis to estimate economic efficiency, and econometric models to explain company efficiency through both the PDO label, as an indicator of collective reputation, and the characteristics of the company. The results obtained in the experience goods of wine and cheese in Spain show that PDO labels have a positive impact on economic efficiency. Additionally, the age and size of the company have a positive effect while the wage level of the company has a different influence on efficiency depending on the sector considered. Overall, the results reveal the importance of PDOs in industries in which the signal of reputation is not only reliant on the individual brands.

A new paradigm: cloud agile manufacturing

Cloud Agile Manufacturing is a new paradigm proposed in this article. The main objective of Cloud Agile Manufacturing is to offer industrial production systems as a service. Thus users can access any functionality available in the cloud of manufacturing (process design, production, management, business integration, factories virtualization, etc.) without knowledge — or at least without having to be experts — in managing the required resources. The proposal takes advantage of many of the benefits that can offer technologies and models like: Business Process Management (BPM), Cloud Computing, Service Oriented Architectures (SOA) and Ontologies. To develop the proposal has been taken as a starting point the Semantic Industrial Machinery as a Service (SIMaaS) proposed in previous work. This proposal facilitates the effective integration of industrial machinery in a computing environment, offering it as a network service. The work also includes an analysis of the benefits and disadvantages of the proposal.

Cloud agile manufacturing

This paper proposes a new manufacturing paradigm, we call Cloud Agile Manufacturing, and whose principal objective is to offer industrial production systems as a service. Thus users can access any functionality available in the cloud of manufacturing (process design, production, management, business integration, factories virtualization, etc.) without knowledge — or at least without having to be experts — in managing the required resources. The proposal takes advantage of many of the benefits that can offer technologies and models like: Business Process Management (BPM), Cloud Computing, Service Oriented Architectures (SOA) and Ontologies. To develop the proposal has been taken as a starting point the Semantic Industrial Machinery as a Service (SIMaaS) proposed in previous work. This proposal facilitates the effective integration of industrial machinery in a computing environment, offering it as a network service. The work also includes an analysis of the benefits and disadvantages of the proposal.

La restauración de la iglesia de San Sebastián, Orihuela (Alicante)

En esta comunicación se presentan los estudios previos y las intervenciones realizadas en la iglesia de San Sebastián de Orihuela, Alicante (España) con el fin de subsanar los problemas estructurales que presentaba, con múltiples grietas en arcos y bóvedas y eliminar la humedad presente en sus fábricas, además de las sales aportadas por el agua. En el estudio histórico y arquitectónico se ha comprobado que la iglesia se construyó sobre una ermita gótica y se finalizó en 1743 pero ha sufrido numerosas intervenciones. Es una iglesia de nave única con capillas laterales cubierta mediante bóvedas. Su fachada y las pilastras interiores son de piedra vista. Para el diagnóstico se han empleado diversas técnicas (ultrasonidos, higrómetro…) que han permitido deducir las causas de las lesiones. Las intervenciones se han dirigido a reforzar la estructura mediante cosidos e inyecciones, así como a ventilar la base mediante un forjado sanitario. También se ha saneado la piedra vista, tanto en interior como en fachada y se han sacado a la luz los arcos de piedra ocultos bajo un estucado. También se han restaurado los restos arqueológicos de época gótica.

The International Competitiveness of the Biscayan Iron and Steel Industry (1880-1913)

This study has a double objective: to provide foreign colleagues with an insight into the controversy surrounding the international competitiveness of pig iron produced in Bilbao and also to present previously unpublished documentation regarding the European iron industry, which I have retrieved from the historical archive of Credit Lyonnais of Paris. This information includes the costs of Biscayan, French, British, German and Belgium pig iron broken down into five components (iron ore, coke, flux, labour and other costs), which is useful in determining the reasons why the pig iron from Bilbao became less competitive. The article is made up of three parts. Firstly, I will synthesise the controversy surrounding the competitiveness of the Basque iron and steel industry. Then I will present the itemised costs which provide information to illustrate how Biscayan pig iron was not competitive because it was produced with English coal which was more expensive than that consumed by the European factories located "on top of" or near coal seams. The article will finish with a section that, by way of conclusion, explains the comparative advantage and disadvantage of Bilbao, applying the first model of Alfred Weber's Theory of Industrial Location to three technological advances, occurring between the 1860s and 1913 (malleable iron, Bessemer steel and Thomas steel).

Connecting Clinical Practices with Microbiological and Biochemical Technologies

The word technology refers to the knowledge of techniques, skills, methods or processes used to produce goods, services or to reach specific objectives (research, business, etc.). The concept technology can also be used to make reference to devices, computers and factories.

Entre économie de la fonctionnalité et monopole : la United Shoe Machinery Company dans la première moitié du XXe siècle

L’histoire de la United Shoe Machinery Company (USMC) montre que la réalité ne s’adapte pas toujours aux simplifications de la théorie. Comme le signale l’économie de la fonctionnalité, la stratégie de l’entreprise de vendre l’usage plutôt que la machine fournit plusieurs avantages importants, mais elle a également contribué au fait que les usines de chaussures subissent une véritable dépendance technologique de cette compagnie et au fait que l’USMC soit parvenue à une domination monopolistique du marché. D’autre part, en remettant en cause les rudiments généraux de la théorie économique néoclassique, cette position de monopole n’a pas empêché que l’entreprise ait un fonctionnement efficace et ait facilité la modernisation technologique de l’industrie de la chaussure, aux États-Unis et dans d’autres pays.

Empowering global software development with business intelligence

Context: Global Software Development (GSD) allows companies to take advantage of talent spread across the world. Most research has been focused on the development aspect. However, little if any attention has been paid to the management of GSD projects. Studies report a lack of adequate support for management’s decisions made during software development, further accentuated in GSD since information is scattered throughout multiple factories, stored in different formats and standards. Objective: This paper aims to improve GSD management by proposing a systematic method for adapting Business Intelligence techniques to software development environments. This would enhance the visibility of the development process and enable software managers to make informed decisions regarding how to proceed with GSD projects. Method: A combination of formal goal-modeling frameworks and data modeling techniques is used to elicitate the most relevant aspects to be measured by managers in GSD. The process is described in detail and applied to a real case study throughout the paper. A discussion regarding the generalisability of the method is presented afterwards. Results: The application of the approach generates an adapted BI framework tailored to software development according to the requirements posed by GSD managers. The resulting framework is capable of presenting previously inaccessible data through common and specific views and enabling data navigation according to the organization of software factories and projects in GSD. Conclusions: We can conclude that the proposed systematic approach allows us to successfully adapt Business Intelligence techniques to enhance GSD management beyond the information provided by traditional tools. The resulting framework is able to integrate and present the information in a single place, thereby enabling easy comparisons across multiple projects and factories and providing support for informed decisions in GSD management.