The purpose of this research was to examine how social issues are perceived and addressed in the food and drink sector, focusing on the narrower context of Nigerian purchasing practices, identifying the drivers, and barriers to the adoption of socially responsible purchasing (SRP) in the organisational supply chains. This research is underpinned by the stakeholder and institutional theories with the use of Carroll's CSR pyramid to explain the perceptions of stakeholders and the level at which each of the practices is in the pyramid. An in-depth study was conducted in multinational and indigenous food and drink organisations in Nigeria. Data was gathered from practitioners comprising of employees, managers, and executives by means of questionnaires and semi-structured face-to-face interviews to triangulate data sources. Drawing on the data collected, respondents' perspective of the meaning of socially responsible purchasing provided new insights into the phenomenon with various meanings and contestations. The findings suggest that socially responsible purchasing practices have a moderate positive influence on the organisations' supply chains within an unstable economic environment. Some of the practices were perceived to be voluntary and having an ethical underpinning while others were related to legal responsibilities. The findings suggest that the moderate influence is due to internal and external factors within the institutional environment. This research context was restricted to private organisations in the food and drink sector in Nigeria which might limit the generalisation of the findings. However, the findings may be transferable to other sectors of the economy where socially responsible purchasing issues are addressed in the supply chains. In practice, SRP is perceived to be an important element of CSR and supply chains despite the barriers to its implementation. The practices should be properly implemented to help in the sustenance of organisational supply chains. This research will be insightful for other industrial sectors as well as developing economies in Africa. The findings advance the stakeholder and institutional theories by providing an in-depth perception of various stakeholders and SRP practices within the institutional environment of organisations' supply chains. The research has contributed to enriching the literature on CSR and supply chains sustainability in Nigeria which has a relative shortage of literature on CSR and supply chain.

No description available.

The aim of this thesis is to identify and to study the micro and macro determinants of export performance. The results of micro determinants suggest that there is no significant relationship between export performance and R&amp / D intensity, which could be a result of underreport of R&amp / D expenditures in income statements of firms and the realization of its effects in the long-term. The results for marketing intensity, ratio of foreign exchange profits in total sales, fixed investment intensity and capital intensity are in the same way. On the other hand, bank loans and previous year&amp / #8217 / s export performance is strongly related with export performance. Moreover, it is found that there is no significant difference between low technology industries&amp / #8217 / and medium and high technology industries&amp / #8217 / export behavior. On the other hand, from the macro-economic determinants perspective, the implementation of flexible exchange rate policy has favorable effects on the volume of exports. While export intensity is positively affected by the major devaluations experienced in 1994 and 2001.

Using a cross-sectional sample of 94 medium to large-sized manufacturing organisations in Iran, this study utilised cluster, regression, and gap analyses to study the relationships among extent of use, predictive value, and information availability for 63 performance measures. Based on the results, it appears that the studied Iranian manufacturing organisations do not overemphasise financial measures at the expense of other important performance measures related to the competitive, strategic environment, operational efficiency, and the human resource development. The Iranian executives appear to overlook the innovation aspects of organisational performance. The implications of this research are highlighted in relation to the findings and the conclusions. The conceptual framework in Figure 1 is offered for future research, which deals with performance management and its interaction with the economic and cultural facets.

This research explores the nature and extent of training and development (TD) provision, as well as top managers' and TD personnel's attitudes towards the TD function within the medium and large-size private manufacturing organisations of Saudi Arabia. Extensive details of the TD situation are provided and assessed for their adequacy, covering among other elements a descriptive analysis of the main characteristics of the organisations concerned, an evaluation of their TD plans and policies, and a review of their budget allocation and funding. The research then proceeds to describe and discuss the extent to which such organisations are applying a systems approach to TD, both in terms of its design and implementation. Thereafter, the main factors impeding the effectiveness of TD programmes are examined, followed by a consideration of the future challenges that are likely to increase the importance of TD for the organisations in question. The research has adopted a mainly descriptive approach and uses both quantitative and qualitative analytical methods. The required data were gathered through a combination of semi-structural interviews with a number of top managers, and survey questionnaires addressed to the persons responsible for TD within the targeted organisations. The sampling strategy was disproportional stratified random sampling. In total 16 senior executives, 132 medium-size organisations and 94 large-size organisations took part in the study. The findings reveal that although attitudes towards the value of TD are generally favourable, in practice in the majority of cases TD is under-resourced, unplanned and patchy, hardly the ideal features of a systematic model of TD that will enable private manufacturing business to successfully meet the challenges of the future ahead. The research ends with a number of specific and practical recommendations intended to improve the effectiveness of TD in the private manufacturing sector of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, as well as a number of suggestions for further research. / Government of Saudi Arabia

The way firms innovate has notably changed in recent years. A clear example is the manufacturing sector which has been experiencing a new revolution in production and innovation. Linked to this industrial shift, manufacturing firms have been adopting more open and collaborative practices to innovate. This phenomenon, known as Open Innovation (OI), is helping firms to acquire and explore knowledge from external sources (inbound process) and to exploit knowledge via the commercialisation of ideas and technology (outbound process). Even though numerous researchers have studied the adoption of OI and its relation to numerous strategic and organisational results, very few studies have focused on investigating the positive influence of diverse OI approaches and practices on multiple dimensions of firm performance from different angles. These drawbacks hinder the diffusion of OI practices and raise the question of whether it is convenient for any firm in any industry to adopt or not to adopt OI. Thus, this thesis helps to fill this gap by examining the extent to which OI practices are adopted by firms and other actors in unexplored mature manufacturing industries and by understanding the unidentified roles that these practices play in relation to different dimensions of firm and industrial performance.  This thesis brings together different methodologies and data to investigate OI practices with a novel multi-perspective approach. Hence, OI practices are framed within the industrial context of manufacturing firms in Italy and Sweden, several actors in the food industry, small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) from the Italian foundry industry, and also within worldwide SMEs designing and producing supercars. More specifically, using data from 247 European manufacturing firms collected through a tailored OI survey, this thesis supports the relevance of internal context characteristics such as firm size and provides evidence of the relation between configurations of OI models and innovation performance. Through two case studies in the food industry, this thesis demonstrates novel forms of OI practices that can be characterised and adopted by different innovation actors within and around this mature industry. Likewise, drawing from 30 rigorous case studies of small and medium-sized foundries, this research for the first time illuminates the relation between the aggregations of some innovation practices (specifically internal R&amp;D and inbound OI) with a contemporarily relevant dimension of environmental and industrial performance such as energy efficiency. Although foregrounding the practical implications of adopting OI practices, this project also investigates and attempts to contrast some of the theoretical perspectives used when researching OI in mature manufacturing industries. This thesis concludes with an integrative study of the main aspects of the research project to demonstrate the advantages of using a multi-perspective approach to study OI. This last study, originally inspired from two case studies of small carmakers, involved collecting data from 48 small and medium-sized manufacturers of supercars with a survey designed to evaluate OI influence on several types of firm performance. Collectively, the results from this thesis confirm the validity of OI in new research contexts and reveal a combined influence of specific innovation practices on innovativeness, but also on the dimensions of industrial, environmental, and social performance. This thesis contributes to theory and practice by empirically showing that even though OI and the results of practicing it are highly context dependent, adopting OI practices can definitely have a positive influence in the overall performance of firms in mature manufacturing industries, including SMEs and other small actors. / Det sätt på vilket företagen innoverar har förändrats märkbart under de senaste åren. Den här situationen syns tydligt inom tillverkningssektorn, som upplever en ny produktions- och innovationsrevolution. Med tanke på detta inför tillverkningsföretagen öppnare och mer samarbetsbaserade metoder. Detta fenomen, benämnt öppen innovation (Open Innovation, OI), hjälper organisationer att förvärva och utforska kunskaper från externa källor (ingående process) och att utforska kunskaper genom kommersialisering av idéer och teknik (utgående process). Även om ett flertal forskare har studerat införandet av OI och hur det hänger samman med olika strategiska och organisatoriska resultat, har endast mycket få studier lagt fokus på att undersöka de positiva effekter som olika former av OI-metoder och -praxis har på flera dimensioner av företagens resultat och ur olika synvinklar. Den här bristen hindrar spridningen av OI-praxis och väcker frågan om huruvida det är fördelaktigt för ett företag i en viss bransch att införa eller inte införa OI. Denna avhandling hjälper till att fylla det här tomrummet genom att undersöka i vilken utsträckning öppen innovationspraxis har införts av företag och andra aktörer i outforskade, mogna tillverkningsbranscher och vilka oidentifierade roller sådan praxis spelar i förhållande till olika dimensioner av företagsresultat och branschresultat. Denna avhandling för samman olika metoder och data för att undersöka OI-praxis ur ett nytt multiperspektiv. Det industriella sammanhanget för studien av OI-praxis är därför tillverkningsföretag i Italien och Sverige, flera aktörer inom livsmedelsindustrin, små och medelstora företag från den italienska gjuteriindustrin samt små och medelstora företag världen över som utformar och tillverkar superbilar. Denna avhandling använder data från 247 europeiska tillverkningsföretag, som samlats in genom en skräddarsydd enkät om öppen innovation, för att bekräfta betydelsen av det interna sammanhangets egenskaper, t.ex. företagets storlek, och lägga fram bevis för relationen mellan OI-modellkonfigurationer och innovationsresultat. Genom två fallstudier inom livsmedelsindustrin visar denna avhandling nya sätt på vilka OI-praxis kan karakteriseras och införas av olika innovationsaktörer inom och omkring den här mogna branschen. Forskningsprojektet utgår även från 30 noggrant genomförda fallstudier av små och medelstora gjuterier för att för första gången belysa relationen mellan samlingar av vissa former av innovationspraxis (nämligen intern FoU och ingående OI) och en samtida relevant dimension av miljö- och branschresultat, t.ex. energieffektivitet. Detta projekt bildar förgrunden till de praktiska följderna av att införa OI-praxis, men undersöker även och försöker kontrastera till några av de teoretiska perspektiv som används vid forskning kring OI i mogna tillverkningsbranscher. Denna avhandling avslutas med en integrerande studie av forskningsprojektets huvudsakliga aspekter för att påvisa fördelarna med att använda en multiperspektivmetod vid studier av OI. Den sista studien, till vilken inspirationen ursprungligen hämtades från två fallstudier av små biltillverkare, innebar insamling av data från 48 små och medelstora tillverkare av superbilar med en enkät avsedd att utvärdera OI:s påverkan på flera typer av företagsresultat. De sammantagna resultaten från denna avhandling bekräftar OI:s giltighet i nya forskningssammanhang och avslöjar en kombinerad effekt av vissa former av innovationspraxis på innovationsförmåga, men även på dimensionerna industriella, miljömässiga och sociala resultat. Avhandlingen bidrar till teori och praktik genom att empiriskt påvisa att även om OI och resultaten av OI-praxis är starkt kontextberoende, kan införande av OI-praxis säkerligen ha ett positivt inflytande på det totala resultatet för företag i mogna tillverkningsbranscher, däribland små och medelstora företag och andra mindre aktörer. / Il modo in cui le imprese stanno innovando è notevolmente cambiato negli ultimi anni. Un chiaro esempio è il settore manifatturiero, che sta reagendo a una nuova rivoluzione nella produzione e innovazione. Collegato a questo cambiamento industriale, le aziende del settore della manifattura stanno acquisendo nuove pratiche più aperte e collaborative per innovare. Questo fenomeno, noto come ‘Open Innovation’ (OI), sta aiutando alle aziende ad acquistare e esplorare le conoscenze dalle fonti esterne (processo ‘inbound’) e di sfruttare la conoscenza tramite la commercializzazione delle idee e delle tecnologie (processo ‘outbound’). Anche se numerosi ricercatori hanno studiato l’adozione della OI e la sua relazione con numerosi risultati strategici ed organizzativi, in pochi studi si sono concentrati sullo studio dell’influenza positiva di diversi approcci e pratiche sulle multipli dimensioni della performance aziendale di diverse angolature della OI. Questi inconvenienti ostacolano la diffusione delle pratiche OI ed evidenziano la questione se è pure conveniente per qualsiasi tipo d’azienda in qualsiasi tipo d’industria adottare o non adottare OI. Così, questa tesi contribuisce a riempire questa lacuna tramite la esaminazione delle misure in cui le pratiche della OI vengono adottate dalle aziende ed altri attori nelle inesplorate industrie mature della manifattura e attraverso la comprensione dei ruoli non identificati che queste pratiche giocano in relazione alle diverse dimensioni della performance aziendale e industriale.   Questa tesi mette insieme le diverse metodologie e i dati ad indagare sulle pratiche della OI con un nuovo approccio multi-prospettico. Quindi, le pratiche OI sono inquadrate nel contesto industriale delle aziende manifatturiere in Italia e in Svezia, i diversi attori nel settore alimentare, le piccole e medie imprese (PMI) del settore della fonderia italiana, e anche nelle PMI di tutto il mondo che disegnano e producono i supercars. In particolare, utilizzando i dati di 247 aziende manifatturiere europee raccolti attraverso un sondaggio, questa tesi sostiene la rilevanza delle caratteristiche del contesto interno come la dimensione della azienda e fornisce la prova della relazione tra configurazioni dei modelli OI e la capacità di innovazione. Attraverso due casi di studio nel settore alimentare, questa tesi dimostra delle nuove forme di pratiche OI che possono essere caratterizzate e adottate dai diversi attori dell’innovazione all’interno ed all’intorno di questo settore maturo. Allo stesso modo, raccolto da 30 rigorosi casi di studio delle piccole e delle medie fonderie, questa ricerca per la prima volta illumina la relazione tra le aggregazioni di alcune pratiche di innovazione (in particolare le pratiche interne di R&amp;S e di OI inbound) con una dimensione contemporaneamente rilevante delle prestazioni ambientali ed industriali quali l’efficienza energetica.   Anche se in primo piano le implicazioni pratiche dell’adozione delle pratiche della OI sono accentate, il progetto indaga anche e cerca di contrastare alcune delle prospettive teoriche utilizzate nella ricerca nelle mature industrie manifatturiere. Questa tesi finisce con uno studio integrativo degli aspetti principali del progetto di ricerca per dimostrare i vantaggi di utilizzare un approccio multi-prospettiva per studiare la OI. Quest’ultimo studio, originariamente ispirato da due casi di studio di piccole case automobilistiche, ha coinvolto la raccolta dei dati provenienti da 48 piccole e medie produttori di supercars tramite un sondaggio per valutare l’influenza dei diversi tipi di performance aziendale. Collettivamente, i risultati di questa tesi confermano la validità di OI in nuovi contesti di ricerca e rivelano una influenza combinata di pratiche d’innovazione specifica su innovazione, ma anche sulle dimensioni della performance industriale, ambientale e sociale. Questa tesi contribuisce alla teoria e alla pratica, che empiricamente mostra che se anche la OI ed i risultati di praticarla sono molto dipendenti dal contesto, l’adozione delle pratiche OI può sicuramente avere un effetto positivo nelle prestazioni complessive delle aziende nella industria manifatturiere matura, comprese le PMI ed altri piccoli attori. / <p>This thesis is produced as part of the EMJD Programme <em>European Doctorate in Industrial Management (EDIM) </em>funded by the European Commission, Erasmus Mundus Action 1.</p><p>EDIM is run by a consortium consisting of the industrial management departments of three institutions.</p><p>•KTH Royal Institute of Technology, Stockholm, Sweden</p><p>•Politecnico de Milano, POLIMI, Milan, Italy</p><p>•Universidad Politécnica de Madrid, UPM, Madrid, Spain</p><p>QC 20160128</p> / European Doctorate in Industrial Management

Thesis (MBA (Business Management))--Stellenbosch University, 2008. / ENGLISH ABSTRACT: The concept of a business existing to fulfil the wants and needs of the various stakeholders acknowledges that the prime goal of any commercial business is that of profit maximisation and the resultant stock price maximisation (Brigham & Ehrhardt, 2002:10). Any decision by the senior management or the board of an organisation should be primarily in the interest of its shareholders. It follows that any decision that does not add shareholder value subtracts from shareholder value; in other words, decisions must impact the bottom line financially. The manufacturing sector has seen its fair share of methods, interventions and programmes aimed at cost reduction and profit maximisation through a variety of total quality management (TOM), statistical process control (SPC), right/downsizing, efficiency improvements and yield maximisation. One of the most enduring and successful of these has been the advent of the lean manufacturing philosophy, defined as the complete and thorough elimination of waste to reduce the time line from receipt of customer order to delivery. It is a process-focused philosophy and not results focused, the belief being that the elimination of waste from all aspects of the process will ultimately result in financial success. Toyota have developed, and perfected more than most, the concept of lean manufacturing. They have termed their lean initiative the Toyota Production System (TPS). At the core of TPS is the concept of one piece flow controlled by customer pull. Given the success derived from TPS by Toyota it is only natural that other organisations have shown interest and have attempted, in varying degrees of success, to copy the TPS. But the magnitude of attempting to change the philosophy of an organisation in the short term is a daunting task and it is understandable why adopters of a lean way forward have rather turned to the lean tools as drivers of the process and value. The attraction of lean tools is that they can be applied in many areas of an organisation independent of one another. Organisations have a range of needs that need to be satisfied which include growth, increased profits, cash now and talent retention. The need to decide what interventions to apply when and where and what impact to profit and share value is of paramount importance to decision makers of organisations. By analysis of the results of a global industrial packaging company's efforts to implement lean through a tool-based approach, this study attempts to offer guidance to those organisations interested in implementing lean tools. The tools employed comprise four operational and three commercial tools. A financial model examining the impact of the tools on financial metrics is then developed and tested. The results show that the impact of the applied tools impact directly financial metrics used by investors to assess the relative attractiveness of an organisation's shares for the period 2003 to 2007. Further research should be conducted to determine the performance of the organisation for a ten to fifteen-year period to determine future success. / AFRIKAANSE OPSOMMING: Die konsep dat 'n sakeondememing bestaan om die verwagtinge en behoeftes van die onderskeie rolspelers te dien erken dat maksimale wins en die gevolglike optimale aandeleprys die primere doelwitte van enige kommersiele onderneming is (Brigham & Ehrhardt, 2002:10). Enige besluit deur die senior bestuur of the direksie van 'n ondememing behoort dus primer in die belang van sodanige ondememing se aandeelhouers te wees. Gevolglik sal enige besluit wat geen waarde tot die aandeelhouer bied nie, sodanige waarde verminder en moontlik lei tot disinvestering; met ander woorde, besluite moet finansieel 'n invloed op winsgewendheid he. Die vervaardigingsektor het al verskeie metodes, ingrypings en programme beleef wat gemik is op kostevermindering en winsverhoging deur middel van 'n verskeidenheid van algehele kwaliteitsbestuur ("total quality management"), statistiese prosesbeheer ("statistical process control"), herstrukturering deur middel van sogenaamde afskaling ("rightdownsizing"), verbetering van effektiwiteit en opbrengs. Een van die standhoudendste en suksesvolste van hierdie is die skep van die "spilvrye" vervaardigingsfilosofie ("lean manufacturing philosophy") wat gedefinieer word as: die totale en volledige eliminering van verspilling om die tydsverloop tussen die ontvangs van die klient se bestelling tot die aflewering te verminder. Die aanname word gemaak dat die eliminering van verspilling vanuit alle aspekte van die proses uiteindelik finansiele sukses tot gevolg sal he. Die filosofie is dus gefokus op die proses en nie op resultate nie. Toyota het die konsep van "spilvrye"-vervaardiging ontwikkel en, meer as ander, vervolmaak en verwys na hul inisiatief as die "Toyota Production System" of TPS. Sentraal tot die TPS is die konsep van enkel-aaneenlopende produksievloei beheer deur klienteopdrag en -behoefte. As gevolg van Toyota se sukses met die toepassing van die TPS is dit te verwagte dat ander organisasies belangstelling sou toon en met wisselende sukses gepoog het om die TPS na te boots. Om die filosofie van 'n organisasie in die kort termyn te verander is so 'n omvangryke taak dat dit begryplik is waarom nuwe bekeerlinge tot die "spilvrye" -filosofie eerder "spilvrye"-instrumente verkies as die dryfvere van die proses en waarde. Die aantrekkingskrag van "spilvrye"-instrumente is dat dit onafhanklik van mekaar in baie areas van 'n organisasie deur individue, werkspanne of konsultante aangewend kan word. Insluitend groei, die verhoging van wins, kontantvloei en die behoud van talent, het organisasies uiteenlopende behoeftes wat aangespreek moet word. Dit is van die uiterste belang vir besluitnemers van organisasies om te besluit op toepaslike ingryping, wanneer en waar, asook die uitwerking op wins en aandeelwaarde. As 'n poging om belangstellende organisasies te help, bied hierdie studie 'n analise van die resultate voortspruitend uit 'n globale industriele verpakkingsmaatskappy se pogings om die "spilvrye" konsep deur middel van 'n instrument-gebaseerde benadering te implementeer. Die resultate toon dat die impak van die toegepaste instrumente 'n direkte invloed het op die finansiele meetinstrumente, wat deur beleggers aangewend word om die relatiewe aantrekkingskrag van 'n organisasie se aandele vir die tydperk 2003 tot 2007 te bepaal. Om toekomstige sukses te bepaal behoort verdere navorsing egter gedoen te word ten opsigte van die organisasie se prestasie oor 'n tien- tot vyftien-jaar tydperk.

The growth of the service sector, after the Second World War, represented one of the changes brought by the Third Industrial Revolution. Nowadays, the service sector makes up the bulk of today’s economies around the world. However, too much emphasize on the development of the service sector, can be harmful for the economies in the long run. Therefore, the manufacturing sector should not be neglected, but developed along with the service sector. During the past decades, the manufacturing and the service sectors “worked” alongside through the servitization. The product and service integrations that manufacturers are offering, not only create additional value for the products, but also allow the manufacturers to expand their market share, gain higher revenues, attract new customers, etc. The development of the new technologies have enhanced and stimulated the product and service integration, which creates additional value. The additional created value is not beneficial only for the companies, but also for the customers, since it increases the customers’ satisfaction. Moreover, due to the creation of hi-tech products, the manufacturers include expertise and training as part of the integrated offers, which is a benefit plus for the customers.

Des données de Statistique Canada montrent que le Québec a perdu 86 700 emplois manufacturiers nets entre 2004 et 2008, ce qui représente un recul de 13,8% (Bernard, 2009). Un dollar canadien fort, la concurrence internationale, les délocalisations de la production et les consolidations globales d'opérations sont souvent mentionnés comme étant les causes des difficultés du secteur manufacturier canadien - principalement concentré au Québec et en Ontario. La crise financière amorcée à l’été 2007, a contribué à aggraver la crise propre au secteur manufacturier dont les origines remontent au début des années 2000 (Weir, 2007; AgirE, 2008; Pilat et al., 2006). Cette recherche examine le processus de restructuration du secteur manufacturier québécois de manière détaillée au niveau des établissements afin d’en évaluer l’ampleur et la nature entre 2003 et 2008. Les données colligées permettent de poser un regard unique et original sur les restructurations ayant impliqué des licenciements collectifs au Québec. Ces données sont issues de deux sources. D'abord, nous avons utilisé une liste d‘entreprises qui ont envoyé un avis de licenciement collectif au Ministère de l’Emploi et de la Solidarité sociale du Québec entre 2003 et 2008. En second lieu, nous avons eu recours aux archives en ligne des médias pour trouver d’autres évènements de restructuration non rapportés par le ministère ainsi que pour obtenir des informations complémentaires sur les évènements déjà compilés dans la liste du ministère. Notre méthodologie de recherche et notre typologie analytique des types de restructuration sont basées sur celles développées par l’European Monitoring Center on Change (EMCC) et reprises dans certaines études comme celles de Bronfenbrenner et Luce (2004) et Hickey et Schenk (soumis). Les résultats, présentés en termes d’événements de restructuration et d’emplois perdus, sont ventilés en fonction de quelques variables (année d’occurrence, taille de l’établissement, sous-secteur d’activité, intensité technologique, région administrative, types de restructuration). Les raisons données par l’entreprise afin de justifier la restructuration ont aussi été colligées. Au cours de la période étudiée, nous avons identifié au total 1 631 évènements de restructurations dans le secteur manufacturier à travers toutes les régions du Québec, qui ont entraîné la perte de 129 383 emplois. Ainsi, 78 246 emplois ont été perdus suite à la réduction des activités de l‘établissement et 51 137 emplois l’ont été suite à la fermeture de leur établissement. La forme la plus fréquente de restructuration est la restructuration interne, suivi par la faillite/fermeture. Les types de restructuration qui ont engendré le plus de pertes d’emplois en moyenne par évènement sont dans l’ordre, la délocalisation, la sous-traitance, la consolidation d’activités ainsi que la fusion-acquisition. L’année 2008 fut celle où il y a eu le plus grand nombre de restructurations. Montréal et la Montérégie sont les régions qui ont le plus été touchées par la restructuration, les pertes d’emplois et les fermetures d’établissements. Les industries à faible intensité technologique ont davantage été frappées par la crise manufacturière. C’est le sous-secteur du papier et du bois qui connu le plus grand nombre d’événements de restructurations. Ce sous-secteur a aussi subi les pertes d’emplois les plus importantes, suivi par le sous-secteur du textile et du vêtement. Ces deux industries se partagent plus de la moitié des fermetures d’établissements. L’insuffisance de la demande (22,1%), la concurrence internationale (14,3%), la hausse de la valeur du dollar canadien (11,2%), la réorganisation interne de l’entreprise (11,1%), la rationalisation des coûts visant une augmentation de la profitabilité (10,1%) ainsi que les difficultés financières (9,9%) sont les motifs principaux donnés par les employeurs. Nos résultats montrent qu’il y a eu deux temps dans l’évolution de la restructuration du secteur manufacturier au Québec. Un premier temps au début de la période où des changements structurels profonds ont été observés dans certaines industries (p.ex. le bois-papier et le textile-vêtement) et un second temps, en fin de période caractérisé par des changements davantage liés à la conjoncture en raison de la crise économique dont les effets commençaient à se faire sentir à ce moment (Institut de la statistique du Québec, 2009a). / Data from Statistics Canada show that Quebec lost 86.700 manufacturing jobs between 2004 and 2008, which represents a withdraw of -13,8% (Bernard, 2009). A high value Canadian dollar, international competition, production shifts and global operations consolidations are often mentioned as causes of the difficulties in Canadian manufacturing — mainly concentrated in Quebec and Ontario, which have both been severely hit. The financial crisis that broke out in the summer 2007, contributed to worsen the crisis, specific to the manufacturing sector whose origins go up at the beginning of the years 2000 (Weir, 2007; AgirE, 2008; Pilat and al., 2006). This paper examines these aspects in some detail at the establishment level, in order to assess its extent and nature between 2003 and 2008. The data set featured provides a unique overview of the specific aspects of the restructuring processes that involve job losses in Quebec. Two original sources contributed to our study. First, we consulted the list of companies that sent a notification of mass termination to the Quebec Ministry of Labour between 2003 and 2008. Second, we searched electronic media archives to find new cases of plant closures not reported by the Ministry and additional information on the cases found with the Ministry database. Our tracking methodology and analytical typology of restructuring processes are based on those developed by the European Monitoring Center on Change (EMCC) and used in other studies by Bronfenbrenner and Luce (2004) and by Hickey and Schenk (submitted). The results, presented in terms of restructuring events and job losses, are broken down into a few variables (year of occurrence, facility size, sub-sector, technological intensity, administrative region, restructuring type). In total for the study period, we have identified 1,631 restructuring events within Quebec’s regions, which resulted in the loss of 129,383 jobs. Thus, 78,246 workers lost their jobs due to downsizing and 51,137 workers lost their jobs due to closures. Internal restructuring is the most frequent form of restructuring, followed by bankruptcy/closure. Offshoring, outsourcing, relocation and merger/acquisition are the types of restructuring that have resulted on average, in more job losses per event in Quebec's manufacturing sector during the study period. The year 2008 was one that generated the most restructuring events. Montreal and Monteregie are the regions that were the most affected by restructuring events, job losses and plant closures. Overall, it’s the low-technology industries that were the most impacted by the manufacturing crisis. The paper and wood industry had the greatest amount of restructuring events. This sub-sector also had the most job losses, followed by the textiles and clothing industry. These two industries share more than half of the closures. Demand shortage (22.1%), global competition (14.3%), the rise of Canadian dollar (11.2%), internal corporate reorganization (11.1%), cost rationalization to increase profitability (10.1%) and financial difficulties (9.9%) were the main reasons given by employers. Our results show that there were two stages in the evolution of the restructuring events within Quebec’s manufacturing sector. First, structural changes were observed in some industries (e.g. wood and paper and textile-garment) at the beginning of the period and a second phase characterized by economic related changes , due to the economic crisis, whose effects began to be felt at that time (Quebec Institute of Statistics, 2009a).

Com o advento da geração do consumo e conforto, depara-se hoje com o aumento exponencial da quantidade de resíduos sólidos, que são lançados em áreas nem sempre apropriadas. Cada vez mais, e em função do crescimento, os administradores das cidades estão encontrando dificuldades para escolher áreas próprias para a destinação final dos resíduos sólidos, causando inúmeros impactos ambientais, áreas estas, que muitas vezes se apresentam no caminho do crescimento municipal. Nesse sentido, esta pesquisa estuda a possibilidade de utilização de áreas anteriormente degradadas pela disposição de resíduos sólidos, como alternativa locacional para disposição de resíduos sólidos, gerados pelo setor calçadista do municipio de Jaú-SP, após a recuperação da mesma. Este estudo vai ser realizado no lixão de Jaú, onde deverão ser coletadas amostras de água em poços de monitoramento localizados no entorno da área e amostras de chorume. Um dos alicerces que sustenta um município e proporciona desenvolvimento ao mesmo, é o crescimento do setor industrial, já que seus habitantes precisam de uma ocupação e serem remunerados dignamente por ela. O município de Jaú gera nas suas indústrias cerca de 30 toneladas diárias de resíduos sólidos, sendo 60% proveniente de indústrias calçadistas, o que torna a pesquisa interessante, já que serão analisados dados que envolverão o resultado do descarte de resíduos sólidos, durante vários anos e seu comportamento após esse período. / With the onset of consumption and comfort generation, exponential increase of solid waste quantities can be seen, which are dumped in not always adequate areas. More and more, and due to urban growth, municipal administrators are facing difficulties in choosing adequate areas for final disposal of solid waste, causing uncountable environmental impacts, such as areas which often show up as a result of urban growth. From this viewpoint, this research studies the feasibility of using areas which have formerly been degraded by disposal of solid waste, as alternative sites for a disposal of solid waste from the shoe manufacturing sector in the municipality of Jaú-SP, after their recovery. This study shall be carried out at the garbage dump of Jaú, where water samples shall be taken from monitoring wells placed around the area, as well samples of leachate. One of the pillars which supports any municipality and promotes its development is the growth of the industrial sector, since the inhabitants need jobs and decent wages. The industries in the municipality of Jaú produce about 30 tons of solid waste daily, whereof 60% come from the shoe manufacturers, which makes this study quite interesting due to analyses of data which involve the result of solid waste dumping for a period of several years and its behavior after this period of time.