Environmental and social supply chain management sustainability practices: construct development and measurement

The purpose of this paper is to conceptualise and operationalise the concept of supply chain management sustainability practices. Based on a multi-stage procedure involving a literature review, expert Q-sort and pre-test process, pilot test and survey of 156 supply chain directors and managers in Ireland, we develop a multidimensional conceptualisation and measure of social and environmental supply chain management sustainability practices. The research findings show theoretically sound constructs based on four underlying sustainable supply chain management practices: monitoring, implementing systems, new product and process development and strategy redefinition. A two-factor model is then identified as the most reliable: comprising process-based and market-based practices.     

Waste identification diagrams

Value Stream Mapping (VSM) is a very popular tool in lean environments to represent production flows, mapping value stream of a product or family of products, and helps to identify some types of waste. Although very popular, this tool has some limitations as already described in many publications, especially in terms of restrictions in showing most types of waste as well as in its inability to represent various production routes. The purpose of this study is to introduce the waste identification diagram (WID), a new tool to represent production units with its different forms of waste, which overcomes some VSM limitations. The originality of WID comes from the use of its symbols’ dimensions to convey, in a visual and immediate way, relevant information about a production unit. In this paper, WID is applied on a production unit of a lift manufacturer, for testing its performance and comparing it to VSM. The main findings are that WID is in general more effective than VSM in terms of representation of complex production units and in terms of identification of more forms of waste. WID must however overcome some of its limitations such as the lack of information-flow representation and the links to suppliers and clients.     

国外公共托育服务发展实践及其对上海的启示

我国现行公共托育制度设计依然秉承将儿童养育视为家庭内部事务的理念,政府职能主要聚焦家庭功能缺失后的责任承担,属于政府引导模式.未来政府在公共托育服务发展中,一是要做好知情者,摸清本地区托育服务真实供需状况,推动实现托育资源有效供给;二是要做好掌舵人,制定公共托育服务发展的总体规划;三是要做好监管者,健全精细化、智能化的监督管理体系.     

供应链管理课程教学现状及对策探析

供应链管理课程教学过程中存在一些问题,作为教师需要深刻重视这方面的问题,要改变教学理念,改革教学模式,并为学生创造有效的学习环境,这样学生才能全面掌握专业知识,并具备应用能力.该文就供应链管理课程教学现状及对策进行分析和探讨,以供相关人员参考.     

信息过载影响消费者决策研究的知识图谱分析

以CNKI数据库中收录的553篇相关论文为研究对象,本文使用CiteSpace可视化分析工具绘制关键词图谱。结果显示:国内对信息过载和消费者决策研究以应对策略为主,分为以消费者为中心的策略、以信息处理为中心的策略和以技术为中心的策略。     

Essence taxonomy of Brazilian family businesses and conceptual implications for governance strategy

Journal of Management and Governance - This study advances the discussion on the governance of family businesses in emerging markets by exploring a taxonomy based on the F-PEC model in order to...     

A variable selection procedure for depth measures

AStA Advances in Statistical Analysis - We herein introduce variable selection procedures based on depth similarity, aimed at identifying a small subset of variables that can better explain the...     

Piketty comes to South Africa

One of the most valuable features of Capital and Ideology is its concern to take history seriously and consider how the emergence of different political and economic regimes relate to discourses about fairness and justice across time. This paper pushes this agenda further by acknowledging that the experience of a few developed nations should not be taken as the template for the generalized study of inequality dynamics across time and space. In this paper, we interrogate Piketty's analysis and policy proposals against specificities that are central to understanding the production and reproduction of inequalities within South Africa. We reflect on the South African case, the structure of inequality and its changes since 1994. We review a battery of policy interventions that have been implemented to address inequality in the last 25 years. We emphasize that the long shadow cast by centuries of colonialism and various forms of apartheid strongly affirm Piketty's emphasis on understanding history. But this is both affirmation and critique given the foundational, imbedded impact that this specific legacy has had on post‐apartheid society and its policies. Piketty is aware that the levels of inequality in South Africa are so high that this is “unknown territory.” We map out some of this territory to reveal how these extreme initial wealth and racial inequities inform the reproduction of inequalities in all dimensions and undermine well intentioned policies. We claim that understanding extractive histories, imbedded wealth inequalities, and complex social and political institutions allows us to understand and confront some of the reasons why even in light of progressive policies, many of which are in line with the proposals from Piketty, government interventions have thus far failed to reduce inequality.     

Moral Challenges When Suspecting Abuse and Neglect in School Children: A Mixed Method Study

The World Health Organization (WHO), concludes that child maltreatment is a global concern calling for a multi sectoral interdisciplinary approach. School professionals, such as social workers, teachers, and health care professionals are in positions to discover and report maltreatment enabling social workers to intervene. However, a variety of reports reveal an evident gap between incidences and frequency of number of cases reported. A review of relevant research indicates that the problem of “not reporting” suggests that moral conflicts are activated in the process of decision-making. The aim was to gain a deeper understanding of school professionals’ experiences of reporting suspected neglect and abuse to the Social Welfare Board. In a mixed method approach 32 school professionals, such as teachers, social workers, nurses and psychologists participated in interviews and responded to questionnaires. Findings from the qualitative content analysis were compared to the quantitative analysis in a meta-analysis. Moral conflicts occur when faced with making decisions about how to best deal with a child’s situation. Thoughts about the child’s best interest and relationship with his/her parents as well as the informants´ own safety, were central. The comparative meta- analysis of both data sets revealed these conflicts commence with a moral sensitivity of possible negative consequences for the child. Moral sensitivity can be viewed as a “good” personal attribute, it paradoxically might lead to moral stress despite an open ethical climate. Based on the results of this study, further research on the interpersonal aspects of dealing with moral conflicts involved in reporting suspected child abuse is indicated.

     

Appraisals and de/legitimation of classroom well-being: A study based on Chilean students' voices

This study analysed, from a social justice perspective, how students from two Chilean public schools evaluate, legitimise and delegitimise processes and social actors associated with classroom well-being. Using a participatory qualitative design, fifty-nine (59) seventh grade students were asked to take and then select photographs about their school experience, and later participated in semi-structured interviews and a group workshop. Findings regarding the classroom context showed that children legitimised active learning methodologies, teachers to whom they feel close, and the use of technology for learning. They delegitimised punishment and teachers who ignored minority students or those with learning difficulties.