Sustainability and local tourism branding in England's South Downs

This paper reports on a stakeholder consultation exercise that examined the tourism industry's perception of developing a local tourism branding scheme within the South Downs' protected areas in south-east England. The research shows that such schemes could offer potential benefits that are recognisable by the tourism industry, while helping to meet the statutory aims of the protected area. The paper records the perceptions of small tourism businesses, their fears, awareness of tourism impacts, perceptions of sustainable tourism and of local branding, and key criteria connected to the future organisation of a local tourism branding scheme. The conclusion lists the recommendations for the implementation of a local branding scheme, including grassroots stakeholder consultation that encourages ownership and participation, institutional frameworks that support capacity-building and the importance of developing core values within a local brand.

A videovigilância no local de trabalho

The emergence of new technologies has introduced significant changes in the citizens life’s. There is a constant evolution of technological means and profound impact of their use in the habits of life of the human being. These new technological media are important tools in labor relations. The working and businesses worlds are increasingly turning to these new technologies, so that the use of video surveillance in the workplace is nowadays common. New technologies in general and the use of video surveillance in workplace in particular are providing ways to allow control of the work performance that are desired by most employers. However, the collection of images in the workplace often collides with the fundamental rights and freedoms of workers, in particular, with the right to privacy. The subject concerns the question of investigating is whether the images collected in workplace can be used as evidence in disciplinary proceedings. In fact, this issue is controversial. Doctrine and jurisprudence defend, at least, two responses for the same question. Those who understand that the evidence may be admitted for not violate any right of the worker, and others who argue that the evidence should not be admitted in disciplinary office. In the Portuguese legal system, there is, even, a new intermediate theory that begins to be defended, that only on certain occasions the evidence may be admitted. The solution to this problem involves the study of employment law and data video surveillance processing. Analysis of workers fundamental rights is fundamental to come to a grounded conclusion.

Le rôle des organismes communautaires dans le développement économique local : le cas de Côte-des-Neiges/Notre-Dame-de-Grâce

Les changements économiques des dernières décennies telles que la mondialisation et la libéralisation des marchés ont modifié la structure des entreprises et les flux d’échanges, et ce en affectant l’organisation du territoire. Les services gouvernementaux, appuyés des organismes communautaires, ont réagi en développant diverses stratégies à l’échelle locale. Ainsi, ils répondent à une variété de besoins socioéconomiques et s'adaptent aux changements dans les quartiers montréalais. Sur le plan économique, diverses organisations favorisent l'entrepreneuriat local par diverses actions et stratégies. Cette recherche s'intéresse au rôle et aux effets des organismes communautaires dans le développement et la consolidation de petites entreprises via leur rôle sur la viabilité et la vitalité des entreprises dans l’un des arrondissements les plus hétérogènes de Montréal. Spécifiquement, elle s’intéresse à l’effet de ces actions sur le développement entrepreneuriale locale dans l’arrondissement de Côte-des-Neiges/ Notre-Dame-de-Grâce à cause de son caractère hétérogène sur le plan ethnique, sur le plan socio-économique et de ses particularités géographiques. Les résultats obtenus indiquent que la viabilité des entreprises est à la base de la majorité des actions et stratégies déployés par les organismes de soutien. Pour ce qui est de l’enracinement des entreprises, il y a beaucoup d’externalités liées au marché qui influencent les décisions du lieu d’établissement et de relocalisation et qui sont hors de portée des actions des organisations. Globalement, nous pouvons dire que Montréal est une ville résiliente. En effet, l’organisation du milieu communautaire permet, malgré quelques lacunes dans les stratégies de promotions et de répartitions des tâches, un soutien adéquat aux entrepreneurs. Du travail reste à faire afin de valoriser l’entrepreneuriat comme métier auprès de la population et encourager les universitaires à auto-entreprendre.

Environnement alimentaire local et son association avec les habitudes alimentaires de personnes âgées

Contexte : Un accès adéquat aux aliments sains dans les environnements résidentiels peut contribuer aux saines habitudes alimentaires. Un tel accès est d’autant plus important pour les personnes âgées, où les changements associés au vieillissement peuvent accentuer leur dépendance aux ressources disponibles dans le voisinage. Cependant, cette relation n’a pas encore été établie chez les aînés. Objectifs : La présente thèse vise à quantifier les associations entre l’environnement alimentaire local et les habitudes alimentaires de personnes âgées vivant à domicile en milieu urbain. La thèse s’est insérée dans un projet plus large qui a apparié les données provenant d’une cohorte d’aînés québécois vivant dans la région métropolitaine montréalaise avec des données provenant d’un système d’information géographique. Trois études répondent aux objectifs spécifiques suivants : (1) développer des indices relatifs de mixité alimentaire pour qualifier l’offre d’aliments sains dans les magasins d’alimentation et l’offre de restaurants situés dans les quartiers faisant partie du territoire à l’étude et en examiner la validité; (2) quantifier les associations entre la disponibilité relative de magasins d’alimentation et de restaurants près du domicile et les habitudes alimentaires des aînés; (3) examiner l’influence des connaissances subjectives en nutrition dans la relation entre l’environnement alimentaire près du domicile et les habitudes alimentaires chez les hommes et les femmes âgés. Méthodes : Le devis consiste en une analyse secondaire de données transversales provenant de trois sources : les données du cycle 1 pour 848 participants de l’Étude longitudinale québécoise « La nutrition comme déterminant d’un vieillissement réussi » (2003-2008), le Recensement de 2001 de Statistique Canada et un registre privé de commerces et services (2005), ces derniers regroupés dans un système d’information géographique nommé Mégaphone. Des analyses bivariées non paramétriques ont été appliquées pour répondre à l’objectif 1. Les associations entre l’exposition aux commerces alimentaires dans le voisinage et les habitudes alimentaires (objectif 2), ainsi que l’influence des connaissances subjectives en nutrition dans cette relation (objectif 3), ont été vérifiées au moyen d’analyses de régression linéaires. Résultats : Les analyses ont révélé trois résultats importants. Premièrement, l’utilisation d’indices relatifs pour caractériser l’offre alimentaire s’avère pertinente pour l’étude des habitudes alimentaires, plus particulièrement pour l’offre de restaurants-minute. Deuxièmement, l’omniprésence d’aspects défavorables dans l’environnement, caractérisé par une offre relativement plus élevée de restaurants-minute, semble nuire davantage aux saines habitudes alimentaires que la présence d’opportunités d’achats d’aliments sains dans les magasins d’alimentation. Troisièmement, un environnement alimentaire plus favorable aux saines habitudes pourrait réduire les écarts quant à la qualité de l’alimentation chez les femmes ayant de plus faibles connaissances subjectives en nutrition par rapport aux femmes mieux informées. Conclusion : Ces résultats mettent en relief la complexité des liens entre l’environnement local et l’alimentation. Dans l’éventualité où ces résultats seraient reproduits dans des recherches futures, des stratégies populationnelles visant à résoudre un déséquilibre entre l’accès aux sources d’aliments sains par rapport aux aliments peu nutritifs semblent prometteuses.

Plataforma Tecnológica Colaborativa Comunidad de Negocios San Antonio, Chile, red de aprovisionamiento local: OpenSupply

El proyecto que se quiere plantear es la creación de una Plataforma electrónica a través de la cual se pretende agrupar a los diferentes proveedores que intervienen en la cadena de abastecimiento de la comunidad logística de San Antonio, abriendo la posibilidad de participación de empresas grandes y pequeñas y más aun promoviendo la creación de las mismas por parte de los ciudadanos de la región, de esta manera, se eliminan las brechas asimétricas existentes entre la oferta y la demanda permitiendo que las empresas medianas y grandes accedan a ofertas y transacciones con empresas proveedoras medianas y pequeñas. Dicho proyecto, tiene como objetivo general el consolidar los procesos de abastecimiento implementados por las empresas a través de la organización y estandarización de los mismos mediante el uso del portal, planteado en el presente proyecto, como apoyo tecnológico. Existen dos conceptos básicos a analizar de manera teórica dentro del proyecto, el primero de ellos es el de clúster logístico-portuario, lo cuales son reconocidos como instrumentos importantes para el progreso del desarrollo industrial, innovación, competitividad y crecimiento, tomando como ejemplos a los puertos de Valencia y Long Beach en la ciudad de Los Ángeles. El segundo concepto es el de E-Procurement, el cual se desarrolla siguiendo los pasos básicos de una cadena de abastecimiento tradicional, sin embargo, lo que genera un cambio real dentro de los procesos es el hecho que los procesos de cotización y seguimiento de proveedores se van a llevar a cabo a través de una plataforma electrónica con base a las evaluaciones que se llevan a cabo por parte de las empresas demandantes de los productos o servicios ofrecidos por las compañías proveedoras. (Renko, 2011) De la misma manera, se tomaran varios proyectos de e-procurement desarrollados a nivel mundial como base comparativa y de apoyo para el presente proyecto tales como: HYDRA: Es un sistema que tiene su soporte en la web, el cual es orientado “en el medio” lo cual lo hace un sistema con una arquitectura híbrida, que posee tanto un diseño en capas como una estructura comprensiva para desarrollar integración de negocios, colaboración y monitoreo en la gestión de la cadena de suministro (Renko, 2011) IPT: BidNet ha proporcionado servicios de oferta de información a miles de proveedores y compradores de bienes en el ámbito gubernamental por más de 25 años. (Bidnet, 2013) E-BUYPLACE: E-buyplace.com es el 1° especialista en SupplierRelationship Management que ha desarrollado un original y singular SRM 100% a través de Internet. (e-buyplace, 2013) RosettaNet: La iniciativa RosettaNet anima a optimizar los procesos de la cadena de suministro mediante el establecimiento, implementación y promoción de estándares abiertos en el mercado e-Business (AQS, Advance Quality Solutions, 2002)

Exploring the market potential of 'local' in food systems

Local food initiatives create a niche market in many developed countries where consumer choice is being met with an expanding offering in both conventional as well as complementary retail outlets. Supermarkets in conjunction with the food service sector currently dominate food sales and consumption, and are likely to do so for the foreseeable future. However, the local food sector offers an opportunity for implementing niche marketing strategies for many businesses. Local food activities tend to be relatively independent activities and a clearer definition for “local” food would assist in consolidating this important component of the food system. Related to this, consumers would benefit from the establishment of some form of assurance system for the ‘localness’ of food. In the UK, with its well established local food market, farmers’ markets, farm shops and box schemes are currently having the largest impact in terms of total sales. Hence further research is required to confirm that support for similar business ventures in Australia would be a viable strategy for strengthening its local food systems.

The impact of big-boxes on local retail : What happens when IKEA comes to town?

The development of large discount retailers, or big-boxes as they are sometimes referred to, are often subject to heated debate and their entry on a market is greeted with either great enthusiasm or dread. For instance, the world’s largest retailer Wal-Mart (Forbes 2014) has a number of anti- and pro-groups dedicated to its being and the event of a Wal-Mart entry tends to be met with protests and campaigns (Decamme 2013) but also welcomed by, for instance, consumers (Davis & DeBonis 2013). Also in Sweden, the entry of a big box is a hot topic and before IKEA’s opening i Borlänge 2013, the first in Sweden in more than five years, great expectations were mixed with worry (Västerbottens-Kuriren 2011).The presence of large scale discount retailers is not, however, a novel phenomenon but a part of a long-term change in retailing that has taken place globally over the past couple of decades (Taylor & Smalling, 2005). As noted by Dawson (2006), the trend in Europe has over the past few decades gone towards an increasing concentration of large firms along with a decrease of smaller firms.This trend is also detectable in the Swedish retail industry. Over the past decade, the retailing industry in Sweden has increased by around 190 Billion SEK, and its share of GDP has risen from 2,7% to 2,9%, while the number of employees have increased from 200 000 to 250 000 (HUI 2013). This growth, however, has not been distributed evenly but rather it has been oriented mainly towards out-of-town retail clusters. Parallel to this development, the number of large retailers has risen at the expense of market shares of smaller independent firms (Rämme et al 2010). Thereby, the presence of large scale retailers is simply part of a changing retail landscape.The effects of this development, where large scale retailing agents relocate shopping to out-of-town shopping areas, have been heavily debated. On the one hand, the big-boxes are accused of displacing independent small retail businesses in the city-centers and the residential areas, resulting in, to some extent, reduced employment opportunities and less availability for the consumers - especially the elderly (Ljungberg et al 2006). In addition, as access to shopping now tends to require some sort of a motorized vehicle, environmental aspects to the discussion have emerged. Ultimately these types of concerns have resulted in calls for regulations against this development (Olsson 2010). On the other hand, the proponents of the new shopping landscape argue that this evolution implies productivity gains, the benefits of lower prices and an increased variety of products (Maican & Orth 2012). Moreover it is argued that it leads to, for instance, better services (such as longer opening hours) and a creative destruction transformation pressure on retailers, which brings about a renewal of city-centerIIretail and services, increasing their attractivity (Bergström 2010). The belief in benefits of a big box entry can be exemplified by the attractivity of IKEA, and the fact that municipalities are prepared to commit to expenses amounting up to hundreds of millions in order to attract the entry of this big-box. Borlänge municipality, for instance, agreed to expenses of about 350 million SEK in order to secure the entry of IKEA, which opened in 2013 (Blomgren 2009).Against this backdrop, the overall effects of large discount retailers become important: Are the economic benefits enough to warrant subsidies or are there, on the contrary, some very compelling grounds for regulations against these types of establishments? In other words; how is overall retail in a region where a store like IKEA enters affected? And how are local retail firms affected?In order to answer these questions, the purpose of this thesis is to study how entry of a big-box retailer affects the entry region. The object of this study is IKEA - one of the world’s largest retailers, with 345 stores, active in over 40 countries and with profits of about 3.3 billion (IKEA 2013; IKEA 2014). By studying the effects of IKEA-entry, both on an aggregated level and on firm level, this thesis intends to find indications of how large discount retail establishments in general can be expected to affect the economic development both in a region overall, but also on the local firm level, something which is of interest to both policymakers as well as the retailing industry in general.The first paper examines the effects of IKEA on retail revenues and employment in the municipalities that IKEA chose to enter between 2000 and 2011; Gothenburg, Haparanda, Kalmar and Karlstad. By means of a matching method we first identify non-entry municipalities that have a similar probability of IKEA entry as the true entry municipalities. Then, using these non-entry municipalities as a control group, the causal effects of IKEA entry can be estimated using a treatment-control approach. We also extend the analysis to examine the spatial impact of IKEA by estimating the effects on retail in neighboring municipalities. It is found that a new IKEA store increases revenues in durable goods trade with 20% in the entry municipality and the number of employees with 17%. Only small, and in most cases statistically insignificant, negative effects were found in neighboring municipalities.It appears that there is a positive net effect on durables retail sales and employment in the entry municipality. However, the analysis is based on data on an aggregated municipality level and thereby it remains unclear if and how the effects vary within the entry municipalities. In addition, the data used in the first study includes the sales and employment of IKEA itself, which could account for the majority of the increases in employment and retail. Thereby the potential spillover effects on incumbent retailers in the entry municipalities cannot be discerned in the first study.IIITo examine effects of IKEA entry on incumbent retail firms, the second paper in this thesis analyses how IKEA entry affects the revenues and employment of local retail firms in three municipalities; Haparanda, Kalmar and Karlstad, which experienced entry by IKEA between 2000 and 2010. In this second study, we exclude Gothenburg due to the fact that big-box entry appears to have weaker effects in metropolitan areas (as indicated by Artz & Stone 2006). By excluding Gothenburg we aim to reduce the geographical heterogeneity in our study. We obtain control municipalities that are as similar as possible to the three entry municipalities using the same method as in the previous study, but including a slightly different set of variables in the selection equation. Using similar retail firms in the control municipalities as our comparison group, we estimate the impact of IKEA entry on revenues and employment for retail firms located at varying distances from the IKEA entry site.The results generated in this study imply that entry by IKEA increases revenues in incumbent retail firms by, on average, 11% in the entry municipalities. In addition, we do not find any significant impact on retail revenues in the city centers of the entry municipalities. However, we do find that retail firms within 1 km of the IKEA experience increases in revenues of about 26%, which indicates large spillover effects in the area nearby the entry site. As expected, this impact decreases as we expand the buffer zone: firms located between 0-2 km experiences a 14% increase and firms in 2-5 km experiences an increase of 10%. We do not find any significant impacts on retail employment.

Arranjo produtivo local: o caso de São João Del Rei-MG

O objetivo dessa dissertação foi investigar o processo de formação do Arranjo Produtivo Local (APL) de estanho em São João del-Rei - A7 Estanho, particularizando suas contribuições para o desenvolvimento local do município. O trabalho foi conduzido mediante uma discussão teórica sobre a situação das micro e pequenas empresas no Brasil, sobre a importância econômica e social dos arranjos produtivos locais, seus impactos no desenvolvimento regional e/ou local, principalmente de municípios sem infra-estrutura para atrair grandes empresas, e sobre políticas públicas que estão em andamento e que se voltam para o fomento desse tipo de aglomerado. Foram realizadas cerca de quatorze entrevistas no município de São João del-Rei: seis integrantes da Associação, uma funcionária, dois representantes das principais instituições parceiras, um representante do governo local e quatro membros da sociedade civil, que possuíam informações relevantes sobre a A7. O método empregado no tratamento dos dados foi a análise de conteúdo. Como resultados, no que diz respeito à análise dos programas que deram origem e/ou sustentação ao aglomerado, verificou-se que dois programas foram mais contundentes em suas contribuições à Associação: o Programa Empreender, da Federaminas, que permitiu a união dos empresários em torno de um objetivo comum, e o Projeto Via Design, do Sebrae, que possibilitou uma série de vantagens ao grupo, solidificando-o no mercado. No que se refere à participação dos diversos atores (membros da A7, poder público, instituições parceiras, sociedade civil) na construção do APL, pode-se perceber que o nível de atuação e comprometimento variava de acordo com as motivações pessoais, cargos ou funções formais exercidas e grau de relacionamento com a Associação. As contribuições ao desenvolvimento local do município, geradas pelo arranjo produtivo, foram enumeradas como geração de emprego e renda, ainda de forma incipiente, mas com possibilidades de crescimento futuro, e divulgação do turismo e cultura sãojoanense.

Customer intimacy strategy in B2B technology businesses in Colombia

The main objective of this Thesis is to analyze Customer Intimacy Strategy in B2B technology businesses in Colombia and the variables that have a direct relationship with it like perception, trust and networking. And how a Customer Intimacy Strategy can affect a company to achieve positive or negative results in an operation, in terms of business opportunities, relations and profitable and sustainable sales if properly managed or mismanaged. With a population of almost 50 million people, GDP average growth of 4.22%(considering 2013 up to 2017), a strategic geographic location in Latin America close to the middle of the region with direct access to the Pacific and Atlantic oceans, on the verge to reach a peace agreement ending its long time social and security conflict with the local guerrillas, Colombia is a country with a stable economic present and promising future. But despite the appealing business landscape and opportunities both in number and size, it is a developing economy where firms who are willing to run a startup or who currently have B2B technology operations in this country will find out that uncertainty and mistrust are two of the most critical variables that need to be overcome in order to achieve success. Their relevance will vary from one region to another, but will still be considered of most importance throughout the country. This matter is highly important to B2B technology businesses in Colombia because few firms are aware of the importance of customer intimacy strategy, believing that it is just a matter of social relationships and not considering the diverse number of variables such us perception, trust and networking that compose it. Customer intimacy strategy at the end becomes the main and most relevant source of sales in a B2B technology environment in Colombia.

O arranjo produtivo local dos construtores de barcos artesanais: fundamentos para o desenvolvimento endógeno do Baixo - Tocantins (PA)

Este trabalho é um estudo de caso do Arranjo Produtivo Local – APL da indústria da construção naval artesanal no município de Igarapé-Miri região do Baixo – Tocantins. Atividade esta formado por estaleiros gerenciados por mestres trabalhadores detentores de um acervo intelectual tácito, passado de geração em geração. Objetiva investigar o potencial do APL da construção naval artesanal como fundamento do desenvolvimento endógeno na região. Deste modo, se analisou suas principais características, estrutura de produção, custo, ocupação, mercado e emprego nas pequenas empresas do APL da indústria naval bem como a dinâmica e a potencialidade do setor, os seus principais problemas e os entraves ao seu desenvolvimento. Dessa forma, a pesquisa constatou a crescente produção por tonelagem da indústria naval e os atores econômicos, políticos e sociais que dela tem se beneficiado. A pesquisa adotou o padrão metodológico das experiências de estudos de sistema de aprendizagem e inovações buscando entender sistemas e arranjos produtivos locais fundamentado na visão evolucionista sobre inovação e mudança tecnológica.

Processo de medição de desempenho em micro e pequenas empresas de um arranjo produtivo local

The local productive arrangements (LPA) are organizational mechanisms that enable the continuous performance of small businesses in production processes and business management models. To promote continuous improvement is essential that companies make decisions based on data that reflects business’ performance (performance measurement) and promote the cluster performance. This way, the aim of this article is to describe the performance measurement process that will support the corporate management of Micro and Small enterprises (SME) of a Local Productive Arrangement in Maringá, State of Paraná, Brazil. To develop this paper, the bibliographic search and action research methods were used. The field research was developed from the cooperation project (PROJVEST) conducted at the LPA, which goal is to deploy improvement actions in project’s participating companies. Metrics and performance indicators constructed from the diagnosis in the areas of Production, Quality and Ergonomics in companies will be presented. Among the main results, can be pointed out that the performance management of LPA is promoting the introduction of corporate management practices in SMEs, stimulating business cooperation, the continuous innovation in manufacturing processes and product quality and business processes.

La escala local, desde la periferia. Análisis de la industria de maquinaria agrícola en Las Parejas (provincia de Santa Fe, Argentina) relacionada con su contexto dentro de la economía argentina

El trabajo analiza las posibilidades que tienen las estrategias de desarrollo local, inspiradas en realidades como la europea, de ser aplicadas del mismo modo en países de la periferia como la Argentina. En esta descripción se diferencian el contexto global-nacional y local. Se realiza el análisis a partir de los discursos geográficos y también sociológicos y económicos que, a partir de la experiencia italiana, francesa, etc., relativizan la escala nacional como eje del análisis y se enfocan en el surgimiento de lo local como escala de referencia. Se utiliza el ejemplo de las empresas de maquinaria agrícola de la ciudad argentina de Las Parejas, provincia de Santa Fe, para graficar cómo una ciudad intermedia puede generar proyectos asociativos que ayudan a los actores a enfrentar el contexto, pero que éste sigue siendo una variable determinante de la performance empresaria y de la vida de los tejidos productivos locales.

La escala local, desde la periferia. Análisis de la industria de maquinaria agrícola en Las Parejas (provincia de Santa Fe, Argentina) relacionada con su contexto dentro de la economía argentina

El trabajo analiza las posibilidades que tienen las estrategias de desarrollo local, inspiradas en realidades como la europea, de ser aplicadas del mismo modo en países de la periferia como la Argentina. En esta descripción se diferencian el contexto global-nacional y local. Se realiza el análisis a partir de los discursos geográficos y también sociológicos y económicos que, a partir de la experiencia italiana, francesa, etc., relativizan la escala nacional como eje del análisis y se enfocan en el surgimiento de lo local como escala de referencia. Se utiliza el ejemplo de las empresas de maquinaria agrícola de la ciudad argentina de Las Parejas, provincia de Santa Fe, para graficar cómo una ciudad intermedia puede generar proyectos asociativos que ayudan a los actores a enfrentar el contexto, pero que éste sigue siendo una variable determinante de la performance empresaria y de la vida de los tejidos productivos locales.

La escala local, desde la periferia. Análisis de la industria de maquinaria agrícola en Las Parejas (provincia de Santa Fe, Argentina) relacionada con su contexto dentro de la economía argentina

El trabajo analiza las posibilidades que tienen las estrategias de desarrollo local, inspiradas en realidades como la europea, de ser aplicadas del mismo modo en países de la periferia como la Argentina. En esta descripción se diferencian el contexto global-nacional y local. Se realiza el análisis a partir de los discursos geográficos y también sociológicos y económicos que, a partir de la experiencia italiana, francesa, etc., relativizan la escala nacional como eje del análisis y se enfocan en el surgimiento de lo local como escala de referencia. Se utiliza el ejemplo de las empresas de maquinaria agrícola de la ciudad argentina de Las Parejas, provincia de Santa Fe, para graficar cómo una ciudad intermedia puede generar proyectos asociativos que ayudan a los actores a enfrentar el contexto, pero que éste sigue siendo una variable determinante de la performance empresaria y de la vida de los tejidos productivos locales.

Economic impact study of business link local service:final report

Final report evaluating the impact of Business Link local services on those businesses that received assistance in the 6 month period April to September 2003 and its impact over the subsequent period to May/June 2005"--BERR website (Reports & Publications).