Green logistics: key elements for a well-functioning sustainable logistics system

A growing awareness of the modern society about the direct relationship between a growing global community with increasing total industrial activities on one hand and various environmental problems and a natural limitation of natural resources on the other hand set the base for sustainable or “green” approaches within the supply chain. This paper therefore will look at the issue of “Green Logistics” which seeks to reduce the environmental impact of logistics activities by taking into account functions such as recycling, waste and carbon emission reduction and the use of alternative sources of energy. In order to analyze how these approaches and ideas are being perceived by the system as a whole two models from the area of prospective and scenario planning are being used and described to identify the main drivers and tendencies within the system in order to create feasible hypothesis. Using the URCA/CHIVAS model allows us to identify the driver variables out of a high number of variables that best describe the system “Green Logistics”. Followed by the analysis of the actor’s strategies in the system with the Mactor model it is possible to reduce the complexity of a completely holistic system to a few key drivers that can be analyzed further on. Here the implications of URCA/CHIVAS and Mactor are being used to formulate hypotheses about the perception of Green Logistics and its successful implementation among logistics decision makers by an online survey. This research seeks to demonstrate the usefulness of scenario planning to a highly complex system observing it from all angles and extracting information about the relevant factors of it. The results of this demonstration indicate that there are drivers much beyond the factory walls that need to be considered when implementing successfully a system such as Green Logistics.

Transparência, a resposta institucional à pressão social: o caso do Tribunal de Contas do Estado do Rio de Janeiro

The present work aims to identify emerging organizational changes in the Court of Accounts of the State of Rio de Janeiro - TCE/RJ that are happening in the contemporary scenery known as the Age of Information. The search for the comprehension of the institutional dynamics is oriented by concepts originated from the theory of complexity, which believe that the public services external control system can be understood in a political, technical and legal environment with growing levels of learning and innovation. While chasing the possible causes of these changes, we try to prove the hypothesis that the TCE/RJ is turning into a more transparent organization. For this purpose, we define the outlines and reaches of the principle of transparency, based in bibliographical and documental researches, and analyze the phenomenon perceived in a explanation research through semi-structured interviews performed with two groups: a sample representing the universe under jurisdiction entities top level directors and the other obtained in the universe of formal and informal leaderships existing in the educational body of the institution. The conclusion of the present work confirms the initial questions, indicating that the organization is really becoming more and more transparent. The social-technical changes that are happening today at the TCE/RJ are caused by the growing social pressure for more effective results in the control of public expenditures. Under the systemic point of view, we observe cracks in the protective bell-glass that evolves the institution - previously hermetic to the external contingencies and that works today as a SAC - Adaptive Complex System. Aspects such as organization structural changes, the introduction of strategic planning and the growing democratization of the decision process are producing a new organizational culture. The seniority of the Technical Headcount contributes to establish the pre-conditions for the development of a administration where the participation of the TCE/RJ technical employees adds importance to its development as an institution that generates republican effects in the society from its less hermetic decision process.

Plano de carreira versus crescimento do indivíduo e eficácia das organizações - o caso Instituto Batista de Educação de Vitória (ES)

A temática aqui proposta tem por objetivo analisar até que ponto a implementação de um plano de carreira pode vir a ser um fator de crescimento do indivíduo e de maior eficácia no Instituto Batista de Educação de Vitória (ffiEV). Assim, no presente Estudo de Caso foram realizadas pesquisas bibliográficas e pesquisa de campo mediante aplicação de questionário (entrevistas focalizadas, semi-estruturadas) de forma a embasar conceitualmente a temática e com informações relevantes caracterizar a Instituição, para estabelecer a relação entre plano de carreira, plano de vida e a utilização do capital humano como um fator de crescimento do indivíduo e de maior eficácia organizacional. Os elementos que compõem o quadro de recursos humanos do ffiEV serão apresentados e interpretados sob um enfoque dialético compatível com as proposições de plano de carreira e plano de vida, dos autores elencados na bibliografia No transcorrer dessa dissertação serão contracenados os conceitos de plano de carreira e plano de vida que por um longo período de tempo e talvez ainda hoje, são pensados como não correlacionados. Isto acontece porque, para conseguirmos correlacionar estes conceitos e sistemas, necessitamos aprender a analisá-los de uma perspectiva macro. Neste ponto, pode-se juntar estes conceitos e entender as suas correlações. É claro que estes relacionamentos são complexos, o que é uma das razões pelas quais eles não são enxergados. Olhando para este quadro geral através do conceito plano de carreira/plano de vida, é fácil concluir que o ffiEV é um sistema complexo com subsistemas ativos (humano e técnico) e uma estrutura geral (estrutura). Esta estrutura irá prover meios com os quais os subsistemas irão interagir, e conseqüentemente prover diferentes possibilidades de interação. As interações entre os atores do sistema terão conseqüências que poderão ser medidas através de investigações quantitativas e qualitativas. Estas conseqüências são, por exemplo, qualidade, eficiência organizacional, lucro, satisfação com o trabalho, comprometimento com a organização, ou pode-se dizer de maneira mais geral que estas conseqüências são referentes à saúde do indivíduo e à saúde da organização. Este sistema complexo chamado ffiEV existe e interage em um sistema maior, chamado mercado, que por sua vez é parte de outro sistema, que é a sociedade. O ser humano é também um componente destes dois outros sistemas. Este, então, age e interage em ambientes distintos e correlacionados, que são a instituição (como funcionário), o mercado (como consumidor) e a sociedade (como membro). Por se constatar que o sistema humano em questão interage uma certa quantidade de horas exclusivamente ou quase exclusivamente com a instituição, e uma mesma ou maior quantidade de horas com a sociedade, então não podem ser excluídas realidades da vida de alguém, do seu trabalho na organização ou do seu convívio com família e amigos.

Punição, recompensa, persuasão e ajuda : estratégias regulatórias a partir do caso Nota Fiscal Paulista

Em 2007, o governo de São Paulo criou uma política regulatória chamada “Programa de Estímulo à Cidadania Fiscal” e apelidada de “Nota Fiscal Paulista”. Este programa busca estimular os consumidores a solicitarem os documentos fiscais nas compras que realizaram no varejo e a fazer com que contribuintes varejistas emitam o devido documento fiscal quando solicitado. Para atingir seus objetivos, o programa usa um complexo sistema de sanções premiais e de sanções punitivas - dentre outras estratégias - e envolve diferentes atores sociais, como contribuintes, consumidores e organizações da sociedade civil. Utilizando o método do estudo de caso, o presente trabalho busca descrever e analisar o programa Nota Fiscal Paulista, respondendo três principais questões: (i) Como funciona o programa Nota Fiscal Paulista? (ii) Como o programa Nota Fiscal Paulista foi criado? (iii) Quais são as estratégias regulatórias que ele utiliza para atingir seus objetivos e como elas podem ser organizadas? Coletando informações e argumentos desenvolvidos em cada uma dessas respostas, o trabalho busca discutir empiricamente a maneira pela qual as diferentes estratégias regulatórias foram utilizadas para a criação de uma política regulatória contemporânea, bem como destacar alguns de seus principais elementos e conceitos.

Utilização de mercados artificiais com formadores de mercado para análise de estratégias

Na modelagem de sistemas complexos, abordagens analíticas tradicionais com equações diferenciais muitas vezes resultam em soluções intratáveis. Para contornar este problema, Modelos Baseados em Agentes surgem como uma ferramenta complementar, onde o sistema é modelado a partir de suas entidades constituintes e interações. Mercados Financeiros são exemplos de sistemas complexos, e como tais, o uso de modelos baseados em agentes é aplicável. Este trabalho implementa um Mercado Financeiro Artificial composto por formadores de mercado, difusores de informações e um conjunto de agentes heterogêneos que negociam um ativo através de um mecanismo de Leilão Duplo Contínuo. Diversos aspectos da simulação são investigados para consolidar sua compreensão e assim contribuir com a concepção de modelos, onde podemos destacar entre outros: Diferenças do Leilão Duplo Contínuo contra o Discreto; Implicações da variação do spread praticado pelo Formador de Mercado; Efeito de Restrições Orçamentárias sobre os agentes e Análise da formação de preços na emissão de ofertas. Pensando na aderência do modelo com a realidade do mercado brasileiro, uma técnica auxiliar chamada Simulação Inversa, é utilizada para calibrar os parâmetros de entrada, de forma que trajetórias de preços simulados resultantes sejam próximas à séries de preços históricos observadas no mercado.

Understanding e-government technology transfer: evidence from the transfer of a patent management system from EPO to INPI

Drawing upon Brazilian experience, this research explores some of the key issues to be addressed in using e-government technical cooperation designed to enhance service provision of Patent Offices in developing countries. While the development of software applications is often seen merely as a technical engineering exercise, localization and adaptation are context bounded matters that are characterized by many entanglements of human and non-humans. In this work, technical, legal and policy implications of technical cooperation are also discussed in a complex and dynamic implementation environment characterized by the influence of powerful hidden agendas associated with the arena of intellectual property (IP), which are shaped by recent technological, economic and social developments in our current knowledge-based economy. This research employs two different theoretical lenses to examine the same case, which consists of transfer of a Patent Management System (PMS) from the European Patent Office (EPO) to the Brazilian Patent Office that is locally named ‘Instituto Nacional da Propriedade Industrial’ (INPI). Fundamentally, we have opted for a multi-paper thesis comprising an introduction, three scientific articles and a concluding chapter that discusses and compares the insights obtained from each article. The first article is dedicated to present an extensive literature review on e-government and technology transfer. This review allowed the proposition on an integrative meta-model of e-government technology transfer, which is named E-government Transfer Model (ETM). Subsequently, in the second article, we present Actor-Network Theory (ANT) as a framework for understanding the processes of transferring e-government technologies from Patent Offices in developed countries to Patent Offices in developing countries. Overall, ANT is seen as having a potentially wide area of application and being a promising theoretical vehicle in IS research to carry out a social analysis of messy and heterogeneous processes that drive technical change. Drawing particularly on the works of Bruno Latour, Michel Callon and John Law, this work applies this theory to a longitudinal study of the management information systems supporting the Brazilian Patent Office restructuration plan that involved the implementation of a European Patent Management System in Brazil. Based upon the ANT elements, we follow the actors to identify and understand patterns of group formation associated with the technical cooperation between the Brazilian Patent Office (INPI) and the European Patent Office (EPO). Therefore, this research explores the intricate relationships and interactions between human and non-human actors in their attempts to construct various network alliances, thereby demonstrating that technologies embodies compromise. Finally, the third article applies ETM model as a heuristic frame to examine the same case previously studied from an ANT perspective. We have found evidence that ETM has strong heuristic qualities that can guide practitioners who are engaged in the transfer of e-government systems from developed to developing countries. The successful implementation of e-government projects in developing countries is important to stimulate economic growth and, as a result, we need to understand the processes through which such projects are being implemented and succeed. Here, we attempt to improve understanding on the development and stabilization of a complex social-technical system in the arena of intellectual property. Our preliminary findings suggest that e-government technology transfer is an inherently political process and that successful outcomes require continuous incremental actions and improvisations to address the ongoing issues as they emerge.

Economic landscapes, what are they? an application to the Brazilian economy and to the sugar cane complex

In assessing the economic impact of a sector or group of sectors on a single or multiregional economy, input-output analysis has proven to be a popular method. . However, there has a problem in displaying all the information that can be obtained from this analytical approach. In this paper, we have tried to set new directions in the use of input-output analysis by presenting an improved way of looking at the economic landscapes. While this is not a new concept, a new meaning is explored in this paper; essentially, it will now be possible to visualize, in a simple picture, all the relations in the economy as well as being able to view how one sector is related to the other sectors/regions in the economy. These relations can be measured in terms of structural changes, production, value added, employment, imports, etc. While all the possibilities cannot be explored in this paper, the basic idea is given here and the smart reader can uncover all the various possibilities. To illustrate the power of analysis provided by the economic landscapes, an application is made to the sugar cane complex using an interregional inputoutput system for the Brazilian economy, constructed for 2 regions (Northeast and Rest of Brazil), for the years of 1985, 1992, and 1995.

Why banks want to be complex

We investigate whether and how bank complexity affects performance and systemic risk. We base the analysis on a complexity measure that captures diversification and diversity, controlling for size and other bank characteristics. We find that more complex banks exhibit a higher profitability, lower risk, and higher market share. Moreover, we show an inversely U-shaped relation between bank complexity and banks’ sensitivity to systemic shocks. The evidence challenges the view that higher bank complexity is per se bad and is consistent with theoretical models that show that diversity in the banking system is critical for financial stability.