Determinants and barriers to lean implementation in food-processing SMEs – a multiple case analysis

This study explored contextual or determining factors and their impacts on lean manufacturing in small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) operating in food-processing industries. In order to get an in-depth insight into the real situation at the work floor, this study adopted a multiple-case-study research approach. The inherent characteristics of food industries, such as mandatory quality assurance requirements, low shelf life of food products, and the extremely volatile demand and supply presented barriers to lean manufacturing adoption. In addition, the challenges of ‘change’ in an SME environment are distinct from those faced by large organizations. The small size of the plant, the traditional setup, and inflexible layout make it difficult to implement lean manufacturing in food-processing SMEs. The knowledge of contextual factors influencing lean manufacturing adoption in food processing SMEs will be a contribution to current knowledge. Many studies have explored lean constructs and tools, while far fewer have explored the crucial element of actually implementing these. The study will also help practitioners to anticipate potential obstacles and take proper measures to deal with them during lean implementation.     

Sociodemographic Determinants of Occupational Risks of Exposure to COVID‐19 in Canada

The activities performed by Canadian workers in some occupations may increase the risk of exposure to infectious diseases such as COVID‐19. This research note explores how occupational exposure risks vary by labor force characteristics using publicly available Canadian data in combination with a data set providing information on the level of physical proximity and frequency of exposure to infections or diseases faced by workers in different occupations. The results show important sociodemographic differences. First, women work in occupations associated with significantly higher average risks of exposure to COVID‐19 than men. This is driven by their overrepresentation in high‐risk broad occupational categories such as health occupations. Second, older workers (65 years or more), a group vulnerable to COVID‐19, appear to work in occupations requiring performing activities characterized by a lower level of physical proximity than their younger colleagues, with minimal differences in the frequency of exposure to diseases or infections. Finally, workers in low‐income occupations are employed in occupations that put them at greater risk of exposure to COVID‐19 than other workers. This is especially the case for women, immigrants, and members of visible minority groups in low‐income occupations. More broadly, this research note provides insights into the health‐related dimension of the literature on occupational tasks and labor market stratification.     

Suicidal tendency,physical health problems and addictive behaviours among general practitioners: their relationship with burnout

The aim of this article is to analyse further the association of burnout with (poor) physical health, addictive behaviours and suicidal tendency among general practitioners (GPs). Four hypotheses were studied: (H1): burnout (i.e. emotional exhaustion, EE, and depersonalization, DP) will be positively associated with suicidal tendency; (H2): will be negatively related to physical health (i.e. large number of physical symptoms and long-lasting impairment); and (H3): positively linked to addictive behaviours (i.e. addiction to alcohol and psychotropic medication) of GPs. Based on the “spiral of losses” depicted by the conservation of resources theory, we also considered whether physical health mediates the relationships of burnout/suicidal tendency and burnout/addictive behaviours (H4). 1890 French GPs completed a questionnaire administered by phone. Information was collected on burnout, three physical health indicators (BMI, number of physical symptoms and lasting physical health problems), four health behaviours (consumption of tobacco, alcohol, anxiolytics and antidepressants) and suicidal tendency (ideation, plan and attempt). Concerning EE, the results supported the hypotheses, except for alcohol consumption. However, the findings showed that DP was associated with more positive outcomes when controlling for exhaustion. The difference in findings for EE and DP are discussed, together with the need for GPs to develop strategies for resilience.     

Festive traditions in modernity: the public sphere of the festival of the'Fallas'in Valencia (Spain)

Festive sociability is central for the transmission of tradition and is fundamental field of interaction between the festive tradition and modernity. This sociability has a reflexivity and a public sphere of its own. The dominant modernist opposition between tradition and modernity is questioned with the help of a recent study of the Fire Festival of the‘Fallas’(Valencia. Spain).     

A continuous rating method for preferential voting. The incomplete case

A method is given for quantitatively rating the social acceptance of different options which are the matter of a preferential vote. In contrast to a previous article, here the individual votes are allowed to be incomplete, that is, they need not express a comparison between every pair of options. This includes the case where each voter gives an ordered list restricted to a subset of most preferred options. In this connection, the proposed method (except for one of the given variants) carefully distinguishes a lack of information about a given pair of options from a proper tie between them. As in the special case of complete individual votes, the proposed generalization is proved to have certain desirable properties, which include:  the continuity of the rates with respect to the data,  a decomposition property that characterizes certain situations opposite to a tie,  the Condorcet–Smith principle,  and clone consistency.