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Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to summarize the main methods and themes used on organizational learning (OL) and learning organization (LO) research in Latin American and the Caribbean. Design/methodology/approach: A literature review was conducted by means of a broad and systematic strategy to locating, selecting and analyzing papers on OL/LO, written in different languages (English, Portuguese and Spanish). Systematic searches were carried out at the two databases (Web of Science's Social Sciences Citation Index and Scopus), and 15 specific Latin American and Caribbean journals were identified as data sources for the review. A thematic analysis was carried out using NVivo and cluster analysis. Findings: In all 79 papers published between 2000 and 2017 were included in the synthesis and results: 18 are theoretical papers and literature reviews and 61 are empirical papers (30 qualitative, 24 quantitative and 7 multiple methods). These empirical papers revealed the study of the OL/LO concepts in organizations located mainly in Brazil, Venezuela, Chile, Colombia, El Salvador, Mexico and Costa Rica. Five topics represent the main themes addressed on OL/LO studies in Latin America and the Caribbean and are avenues for future research in the field: (i) knowledge and KM (i.e. knowledge management), (ii) culture and leadership, (iii) innovation and improvement, (iv) learning (for example, learning process, learning styles), and (v) entrepreneurship and sustainability. Originality/value: This paper provides a summary of the research methods and themes used in the OL/LO field in Latin America and the Caribbean, suggesting insights for future research. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose The majority of the supply chain sustainability (SCS) literature is based on research perspectives and findings from studies conducted in developed countries. The purpose of this paper is to analyse the current Latin American publications on SCS (2007–2016) to explore whether another perspective exists.Design/methodology/approach As part of a structured literature review, 123 peer-reviewed articles published in four Latin American databases were scanned. This literature review was combined with a qualitative content analysis using an inductive and deductive approach to move away from top–down approaches and to illuminate the Latin American perspective on SCS.Findings The analysis of the scientific literature demonstrates that the traditional three pillars of sustainability are not enough to understand the specificities of the region. This review shows that cultural and institutional dimensions enhance the understanding of SCS locally. In addition, three major triggers for SCS in Latin American economies were found: green supply chain management practices, local development and stakeholder engagement.Research limitations/implications A deeper understanding of the Latin American perspective can support scholars worldwide in developing the field of SCS in relevant directions and in comprehending the specificities of their own countries by infusing cultural and institutional elements into their conceptualisations of SCS.Originality/value This paper provides an unexplored perspective on SCS because it analyses Latin American publications and presents a mapping of current SCS issues and research gaps that offers insights to guide future research in the field. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: This paper explores working mothers' coping strategies concerning paid and unpaid work in Chile and Argentina during the Covid-19 pandemic. The paper aimed to understand the influence of cultural norms on motherhood and neoliberal workplace practices on mothers' sensemaking processes and coping strategies. This study focuses on mothers living in Chile and Argentina where governments established mandatory lockdowns between March and September 2020. Drawing on the notion of neoliberal motherhood, women's demands were analyzed when paid work and mothering duties collide in time and space. Design/methodology/approach: Open-ended interviews were conducted with 17 women in Chile and Argentina. All interviewees had at least 1 child below the age of 6 and were working from home during the lockdown. Findings: Neoliberal workplace demands, and disadvantageous government policies greatly heightened the dual burdens of working mothers. Women were expected to fulfill the discourses of the neoliberal worker and the good mother, while also adopting additional strategies in the wake of the lockdown. The data highlights mothers' strategies to cope with care and work duties by adjusting to new routines involving their partners, relatives and the wider community. Research limitations/implications: The generalizability of the results is limited by the small sample of 17 interviewees, all from middle to middle-upper class. The changing scenario due to Covid-19 makes the collected data not sufficient to grasp the impact of the pandemic, as during the interviews (December 2020 and January 2021) the process was still ongoing. Practical implications: Organizations should assess their role in the management of paid and unpaid work for both genders, as the neoliberal discourse views the worker as masculine, full-time, always available and productive, ignoring women's additional care duties outside of the workplace. Originality/value: The Covid-19 pandemic provides a unique opportunity to reflect on care work and gender, collective versus individual responses to care and work demands and the idea of organizing. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: This editorial article introduces and analyzes a variety of new organizational forms that rapidly emerged in Africa, Asia, Latin America and Eastern Europe in the latest two decades. Among the others, these include: business model partnerships, business platforms, incubators and hubs, public–private partnerships, agribusiness companies' foundations and spin-offs, short supply chains, community-supported agriculture and other community self-organizing experiences. Building upon the recent literature and the five selected papers in this special issue, the authors discuss what is novel in these organizations and why, when and how they emerge and evolve over time. Design/methodology/approach: The authors identify three elements that, when considered together, explain and predict the emergence and evolution of these new organizational forms: institutions, strategies and learning processes. Findings: The authors demonstrate that societal actors seeking to (re)design these new organizational forms need to consider these three elements to combine the pursuit of their interests of their own constituencies with the sustainable development goals (SDGs). Originality/value: Taking stock from the literature, the authors invite future research on new organizational forms to take explicitly the pursuit of the SDGs into consideration; to build upon a process ontology; and to deeply reflect on our positionality of scientists studying and sometimes engaging in these organizations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to describe the diversity of trauma Latin American (LA) refugee children in the USA experience across migration. It proposes ways that practitioners and policymakers can use knowledge from existing research to improve services and respect the rights of LA children. Design/methodology/approach: The paper used a systematic review approach supplemented by additional sources to capture current representative knowledge. The paper uses staged migration and social ecological approaches for organization and discussion. Findings: LA children have historically and contemporarily been exposed to more instances and types of trauma than their non-immigrant US counterparts. LA refugee children have a high need for international protection that is not reflected in the US policy. Practical implications: Knowledge of possible trauma types among LA children can inform practitioner expectations and prepare them for care management. Officers must be well-trained in both potential trauma-related content and geographic context and have excellent interviewing skills. Lawyers, advocates and judges – the latter who create precedent – play a critical role in children's cases and should have access to high-quality, geographically and historically relevant and contemporary information. Social implications: The levels of violence in Latin America; the rate of child trauma; and the spike in unaccompanied children at the border compels the USA to reassess their positions on (a) refugee caps, (b) asylum screenings and (c) interception-related policies, protocol and practice. Originality/value: This the first review to specifically focus on empirical trauma research specific to the LA child's migration experience. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose - The purpose of this paper is to demonstrate the utility of combining event-centred and variablecentred approaches when analysing big data for higher education institutions. It uses a large, university-wide data set to demonstrate the methodology for this analysis by using the case study method. It presents empirical findings about relationships between student behaviours in a learning management system (LMS) and the learning outcomes of students, and further explores these findings using process modelling techniques. Design/methodology/approach - The paper describes a two-year study in a Chilean university, using big data from a LMS and from the central university database of student results and demographics. Descriptive statistics of LMS use in different years presents an overall picture of student use of the system. Process mining is described as an event-centred approach to give a deeper level of understanding of these findings. Findings - The study found evidence to support the idea that instructors do not strongly influence student use of an LMS. It replicates existing studies to show that higher-performing students use an LMS differently from the lower-performing students. It shows the value of combining variable- and event-centred approaches to learning analytics. Research limitations/implications - The study is limited by its institutional context, its two-year time frame and by its exploratory mode of investigation to create a case study. Practical implications - The paper is useful for institutions in developing a methodology for using big data from a LMS to make use of event-centred approaches. Originality/value - The paper is valuable in replicating and extending recent studies using event-centred approaches to analysis of learning data. The study here is on a larger scale than the existing studies (using a university-wide data set), in a novel context (Latin America), that provides a clear description for how and why the methodology should inform institutional approaches. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose This paper aims to examine the accuracy of the trade statistics between the People’s Republic of China and 20 Latin American countries: Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Cuba, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, El Salvador, Guatemala, Haiti, Honduras, Mexico, Nicaragua, Panama, Paraguay, Peru, Uruguay and Venezuela.Design/methodology/approach This paper contrasts the mirror trade statistics between China and 20 Latin American countries during 2009-2014, after adding to the Chinese side the trade figures corresponding to Hong Kong and adjusting for some valuation issues. Using the resulting panel data, the paper then explores some of the possible explanatory variables, in the case of Latin America, which can account for the significant trade misinvoicing that is found among most of the countries involved.Findings Trade misinvoicing, be that from the part of China or of its partners, varies substantially across Latin America. It is quite large in the case of some countries such as Bolivia, Costa Rica, Mexico, Panama and Paraguay, and, on the opposite side, relatively small in the case of other countries such as Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Guatemala and Venezuela. It is found that, from a Latin American perspective, trade misinvoicing is positively related to the countries’ lack of statistical capacity and their degree of financial openness.Originality/value This is the first empirical paper that examines the mirror trade statistics between China and Latin American. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: This paper aims to contribute to the debate regarding the understanding of the multiple manifestations and alternatives for the implementation of sustainable development goals (SDGs) across national borders. For this purpose, the Colombian context is taken as a case study. Design/methodology/approach: The present study performs an exploration of SDGs implementation in Colombia, cutting across the macro and meso levels and the perspectives of governance-making and governance-taking. To answer the research questions, this study applies a two-stage qualitative research design with summative content analysis. Findings: The study finds that the companies in Colombia are showing an interest in incorporating the SDGs into their corporate sustainability reporting. Although companies show a general interest in adopting the SDGs as part of their sustainability strategies, the findings demonstrate that very few would go deeply into the analysis of the SDG targets. The Colombian case might be a good example of how local governments are taking actions for the implementation of SDGs in their national action plans, policies and strategies. Research limitations/implications: As is frequent with qualitative research, and particularly with content analysis, the generalizability of the findings obtained may only be applicable to those organizations included in the sample. The analysis at the meso level is limited to the private sector, and the findings are not applicable to other organizational actors, such as civil society organizations or academia. Future research can broaden the spectrum of analysis, both at a national and cross-national level. Practical implications: The paper is of use for actors from the public, private and civil society sectors in Colombia, as well as for international actors with an interest in the ways in which the global sustainable development agenda can be translated into local action. Originality/value: This paper contributes to the understanding of the different ways in which the sustainable development agenda is moving from the global level to the local implementation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: The present paper uses Twitter to analyze the current state of the worldwide, Spanish-language, independent publishing market. The main purposes are to determine whether certain Latin American Spanish-language independent publishers function as gatekeepers of world literature and to analyze the geopolitical structure of this global market, addressing both the Europe-America dialectic and neocolonial practices. Design/methodology/approach: After selecting the sample of publishers, the authors conducted a search for their Twitter profiles and located 131; they then downloaded data from the corresponding Twitter APIs. Finally, they applied social network analysis to study the presence of and interaction between the sample of independent publishers on this social media. Findings: The results provide data-based evidence supporting the hypothesis of some literary critics who suggest that in Latin America, certain publishers act as gatekeepers to the mainstream book market. Therefore, Twitter could be considered a valid source of information to address the independent book market in Spanish. By extension, this approach could be applied to other cultural industries in which small and medium-sized agents develop a digital presence in social media. Originality/value: This paper combines social network analysis and literary criticism to provide new evidence about the Spanish-language book market. It helps validate the aforementioned hypothesis proposed by literary critics and opens up new paths along which to pursue an interpretative, comparative analysis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to challenge the default portrayal of street trade as an informal occupation and spatial practice, by examining comparatively the changes in the regulatory frameworks of two politically distinct city administrations in Latin America since the introduction of the informal economy debate.Design/methodology/approach This paper draws from a comparative case study design to synthesize evidence from historical administrative records, secondary research and materials from a two-year fieldwork carried out in Lima and Bogotá in 2008 and 2009.Findings The author argues that the incorporation of the informal economy framework into local governments’ policymaking has reframed street trade as a subject of policy. Since the 1970s, the author traces a shift from worker-centered initiatives, through the deregulation of street trade, to entrepreneurial-centered approaches. Nowadays, both, Lima’s neoliberal governance focusing on “formalizing” and Bogotá’s socialist/progressive governance aiming at “upgrading” street trade respond more explicitly to distinct assessments about the informal economy – legalist and dualist, respectively. Yet, both cities converge in that the closer street trade is perceived as an informal occupation; the more likely policy initiatives decouple the right to work from the right to access public space, spurring more marginal forms of street vending.Originality/value Even though the informal economy framework has helped to draw attention to important policy issues locally, nationally and internationally, this paper calls for a critical revision of such framing at the local level to allow for inclusive urban governance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to discuss the pedagogical tools that can enhance transdisciplinarity in higher education and stimulate sustainability transitions, based on the case study of a partnership between the University of Brasilia and an ecovillage in Brazil. Design/methodology/approach: A qualitative study was carried out, based on professors' experience, students' reports and registration data. Emergent themes were discussed based on the concepts of sustainability transitions, transdisciplinarity and active/experiential learning methods. Findings: Undergraduate classes at the ecovillage have motivated students to work towards sustainability transitions by presenting them with new repertoires of sociotechnical configurations and social practices, by promoting a feeling of belonging and co-responsibility for the world and by a horizontal sharing of knowledge and affections that instigated reflections about their purposes in personal and professional life. Practical implications: This experience demonstrates the potential of transdisciplinary pedagogical approaches to education for sustainability that promote collaboration with different stakeholders and the reflection on individual and collective motives and values – the inner dimension of sustainability. Originality/value: It describes an innovative and transformative initiative in the heart of Latin America. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to do a systematic assessment and testing of identified human rights norms alongside social determinant approaches in relation to identified health issues of concern in four Latin American countries (Argentina, Chile, Paraguay and Uruguay) to show how social determinants and human rights frameworks improve population health. Design/methodology/approach: To do so, in the first part the authors analyze the inequalities both between and within each of the selected countries in terms of health status and health determinants of the population. Then, in the second section, the authors analyze the level of recognition, institutionalisation and accountability of the right to health in each country. Findings: From the data used in this paper it is possible to conclude that the four analysed countries have improved their results in terms of health status, health care and health behaviours. This improvement coincides with the recognition, institutionalisation and creation of accountability mechanisms of human rights principles and standards in terms of health and that a human rights approach to health and its relation with other social determinants have extended universal health coverage and health systems in the four analysed countries. Originality/value: Despite of the importance of the relation between human rights and social determinants of health, there are few human right scholars working on the issues of social determinants of health and human rights. Most of the literature of health and human rights has been focussed specific relations between specific rights and the right to health, but less human right scholar working on social determinants of health. On the other hand, just a few epidemiologists and people working on social medicine have actually started to use a universal human rights frame and discourse. In fact, according to Vnkatapuram, Bell and Marmot: "while health and human rights advocates have from the start taken a global perspective, social medicine and social epidemiology have been slower to catch up". [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose -- The purpose of this paper is to analyze a variety of factors that can explain the differences in commercial bank efficiency among 17 countries in Latin America (LatAm). Design/methodology/approach -- In a first stage, data envelopment analysis (DEA) and conditional efficiency analysis techniques are used to assess the relative efficiency level of 409 banks for the 2014-2016 period. The conditional efficiency approach considers environmental variables (that are beyond the manager's control), which could influence the shape and the level of the boundary of the attainable set. In the second stage, the resulting conditional efficiency scores are correlated with internal variables (those that are under the manager's control), which might affect the distribution of the inefficiencies. For this purpose, an econometric approach developed by Simar and Wilson (2007) is used. Findings -- First stage scores reveal the heterogeneity of average efficiency within the region. Regarding the factors that may explain the differences in performance in the LatAm banking sector, the results allow us to state that certain internal variables such as bank size, the ratio of loans to total assets and the ratio of non- performing loans show the expected relationship to efficiency, in line withmuch of the previous literature. Originality/value -- This is the first time that conditional efficiency and Simar and Wilson (2007) approaches have been applied at the same time to analyse the LatAm banking industry. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to analyze the dependence between the Chinese and Market Integrated Latin America (MILA) stock markets.Design/methodology/approach The authors adjust the multivariate probability distribution Variance Gamma (VG) on data yields from the Hang Seng Index (HSI) and MILA and they use the estimated parameters under VG to find a robust estimator of the correlation matrix yields.Findings The degree of dependence between stock indices from China, Peru, Mexico, Colombia and Chile. In addition, the impact of the change in the HSI affects mostly the movements of the selective stock price index (IPSA) and equally affects the index of the Mexican stock exchange (IPC) and Lima Stock Exchange (S&P/BVL). The effect on index of the Colombia Stock Exchange (COLCAP) is not significant.Research limitations/implications Over time there are different structural changes so the time has been restricted to the years 2000-2015, but could extend the analysis to other time periods and sectors of listed companies in the indices.Practical implications The results can guide policy makers to assess the effect of a random crash on stock markets and measure the level of risk from other markets.Social implications The results can generate a greater understanding of the relationship between the stock markets of China and the emerging countries of Latin America.Originality/value The value of this paper is to focus on alternative methodology to calculate the correlation matrix yields and measure the dependence between the Chinese and MILA stock markets. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to analyze the performance and the relationship between competitiveness, real gross domestic product (GDP) growth and human development in 20 countries of the Latin America and Caribbean region during the 2006-2015 period. The main argument to uphold here is that – from the perspective of virtuous circle – countries with better conditions of competitiveness are those with better economic performance and with better conditions for human development.Design/methodology/approach Time series data were organized at three levels: individual countries, groups of nations and Latin America and Caribbean as a whole. Indicators used were: index of competitiveness, rates of change in real GDP and Human Development Index. Cluster analysis tests were performed: data ranges were determined and quintiles were established. Countries were ranked in five categories and comparative position matrices were determined for each variable. Linear correlations between indexes were calculated. Linear correlation coefficients were determined in terms of groups of countries and considering Latin America and Caribbean as a whole.Findings Findings revealed that decreasing conditions in competitiveness and economic growth indicators are the representative situation since 2009. The most competitive country in the region is Chile, and the weakest is Venezuela. Nevertheless, all Latin American and Caribbean countries analyzed seem to have made progress in terms of human, economic and social development. Regarding correlations, Dominican Republic showed an inverse relationship between competitiveness and economic growth, while Jamaica and Venezuela showed inverse relationships between competitiveness and human development. At the individual country level, no statistically significant relationship between economic growth and human development was detected.Research limitations/implications Findings highlight the necessity of future research that result in a deeper understanding of the transmission mechanisms between economic and social performance in Latin American and Caribbean countries. Particular reasons at the micro level that explain improvements or deteriorations in competitiveness and human development must also be analyzed. Based on the degrees of freedom, time series could have included more years, but a lack of information was found for some countries. It would also be necessary to observe each particular case considering the type of economy, production characteristics and export/import composition.Practical implications Results complement the existing literature by exploring competitiveness and its relationship with economic and social variables in developing countries. The authors also believe that this paper is relevant for macroeconomic and social policy debates involving competitiveness and human well-being in this region of the world.Originality/value This paper supports an important argument: human well-being and national development must be the ultimate goal of competitiveness. Traditional literature focuses on levels and determinants of competitiveness in developed countries, but it usually does not take into account social and human aspects of the process in developing countries. Little attention has been paid to analyze the relationship between competitiveness and socioeconomic variables in developing countries. Methods and findings of this paper complement the existing literature by studying the relationships among competitiveness, real GDP growth and human development in Latin American and Caribbean countries, using correlation analysis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose - The purpose of this paper is to analyze the relationship between Latin American migrants and the Spanish healthcare system, from the users' perspective, in order to examine the socio-cultural determinants for access and attention, as well as the possible difficulties faced when attending institutional facilities. Design/methodology/approach - This work is based on qualitative ethnographic research with the Latin American community established in the region of Castile and León, Spain. Analysis was established through a thematic approach and illustrated with the testimonies of participants involved, to inspect personal meanings and interpretations, as well as specific practices regarding healthcare. Findings - The encounter between foreigners and health services is frequently expressed with negative emotions, such as feelings of fear facing a system that is perceived as designed "for others." For many Latin American immigrants in Spain, institutional healthcare is not considered their first choice for treating illness. This has been related to economic, bureaucratic, ideological and emotional factors. Originality/value - Most of the existing literature about immigrant healthcare in Spain has focused on sanitary conditions or patterns of service use from an institutional perspective and a quantitative approach. This paper highlights the perceptions of users to enrich comprehension of the rapport betweenmigrants and medical care. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: In most Latin American countries, the provision of legal assistance to the vulnerable population is carried out by public defender's offices (PDOs), agencies composed of state-paid career lawyers. The aim of this paper is to explain the cross-country variation in regarding the autonomy levels of Latin American PDOs. Design/methodology/approach: A scale to measure autonomy was built allowing access to the autonomy of sixteen different PDOs. Data were gathered through content analysis of the statutes that organize the PDOs and analyzed through qualitative comparative analysis (QCA). Findings: The results demonstrate different levels of autonomy among Latin American PDOs. Furthermore, conditions related to institutional and social contexts, such as levels of income, human development, democracy, and the complexity of the political systems, presented sufficient relationships for high levels of autonomy. Research limitations/implications: It was not possible to interview representatives of the PDOs analyzed. This could help the interpretation of the legislation applied to PDOs, as well as the observation of regulations that may not have come to the knowledge of researchers. Thus, analyses were made according to what was observed in the legislation of each country. It is also noteworthy that this research covered only nationwide PDOs, not involving subnational PDOs. In addition, the data have only internal validity, and cannot be extrapolated to the population. Practical implications: The creation of a scale to measure the autonomy of public agencies stands out as an original comparative data set of PDOs covering a large amount of Latin American countries. Social implications: This study was able to characterize the institutional arrangements of sixteen national PDOs, allowing broad comparison between legal aid agencies for the vulnerable population in a region of the world that still suffers from high levels of poverty. Originality/value: The article presents possible explanations on the variations of PDOs' level of autonomy, showing PDOs' idiosyncrasies, whose autonomy is influenced also by social context variables, in view of the nature of their mission. It should be noted that factors related to the social context are not widely considered by the literature on autonomy of public agencies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose Indicators for quality of schooling are not only relatively new in the world but also unavailable for a sizable share of the world’s population. In their absence, some proxy measures have been devised. One simple but powerful idea has been to use the schooling premium for migrant workers in the USA (Bratsberg and Terrell, 2002). The purpose of this paper is to extend this idea and compute measures for the schooling premium of immigrant workers in the USA over a span of five decades.Design/methodology/approach In this paper, the authors focus on the schooling premia for the Latin American and the Caribbean region and compare them to those of migrants from other regions, particularly from East Asia and Pacific, India, Northern Europe and Southern Europe, all relative to immigrants from former Soviet Republics. The available data allow us to measure such premia for workers who graduated from school, either at the secondary or tertiary levels, in their home countries between 1940 and 2010.Findings The results show that the schooling premia in Latin America have been steadily low throughout the whole period of analysis. The results stand after controlling for selective migration in different ways. This contradicts the popular belief in policy circles that the education quality of the region has deteriorated in recent years. In contrast, schooling premium in India shows an impressive improvement in recent decades, especially at the tertiary level.Originality/value In this paper, the authors extend the idea of computing schooling premium for migrant workers in the USA (Bratsberg and Terrell, 2002) and present comparative estimates of the evolution of schooling premia in 17 Latin American countries for both secondary and tertiary schooling levels. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to analyze politically exposed persons (PEPs) according to Financial Action Task Force (FATF) Recommendations and assess the identification process followed by financial institutions to create a harmonized regional model for PEPs identification in Latin America. Design/methodology/approach: FATF Recommendation No.12 states that financial institutions should identify PEPs. To do so, the latter uses either an internal identification system or an external database. Within this framework, the purpose of the research work is to determine whether the procedure adopted by the regulated entities complies with the requirements of the regulations. Both analytical and interpretative methods have been used for this purpose. Findings: In accordance with FATF Recommendation No.12, national and foreign PEPs, as well as officials of relevant international organizations, close relatives and closest associates must be identified. This wide range of people forms an hybrid type of PEPs. Because of the lack of a harmonized identification policy, it is likely that some people who meet these conditions may not be spotted. Originality/value: PEPs control success relies on accurate and prompt identification. Therefore, it is crucial to create an inter-state model of harmonized identification at a regional level in Latin America. It includes not only the participation of the obligated subjects but also the sector entities associated to the concerned economic activity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose – This paper aims to critically review the contributions made by the articles in this theme issue with reference to the literature and by examining the link between tourism and poverty and the conditions that shape this link in Latin America. Design/methodology/approach – The paper reviews the most important contributions through critical content analysis of the papers contained in the theme issue. Findings – Tourism matters to the poor, but its relevance is defined by a number of factors including economic development, inequality, and destination life cycle. Alternative tourism, while promising, may be too limited in scope and scale to affect poverty alleviation that is broad and fast enough to benefit Latin America. Research limitations/implications – More research is needed to understand the link between tourism and poverty reduction, and the conditions that determine the strength of the link in Latin America. Originality/value – The theme issue explores the tourism poverty link from different perspectives with inputs from multiple stakeholders with experience and expertise in poverty alleviation in Latin America. This approach offers the reader a unique opportunity to explore different facets of the tourism development conundrum in the region. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to assess the determinants of the early termination of infrastructure projects implemented under public–private partnerships (PPP), concessions or privately managed divested assets. Design/methodology/approach: Cross-section and duration model estimations were applied to a sample of 2,655 infrastructure projects implemented in Latin America and the Caribbean for the period 1993–2017. Estimation techniques consist of a logistic model and cox proportional hazards model (CPHM) applied to alternative specifications, including diverse causal factors. Findings: Evidence is found that early termination of infrastructure projects is determined by intrinsic and extrinsic factors. Among the intrinsic factors, the main characteristics of projects that increase the likelihood of failure are the size or scale of the project, the sector in which the project is developed (transport and water and sanitation) and being investments in divested assets. Extrinsic factors that showed a negative impact on the risk of early termination are good regulatory quality and domestic macroeconomic stability. Likewise, external real and financial shocks also contribute importantly to explain the likelihood of early termination of infrastructure projects. Practical implications: The results reveal that particular care must be put in design and supervision of large-scale projects, either in transport or water and sanitation. As well, risks associated with external shocks must be explicitly acknowledged in project design, with appropriate remedies and safeguards. The prevalence of relatively high rates of early termination in projects in divested assets in contrast with PPP suggests the importance of introducing simpler way out mechanisms for concessionaires. Finally, the results show the key importance of institutional factors like regulatory quality in determining project failure on economic performance of infrastructure projects. Originality/value: In contrast to the previous literature, the analysis shows the decisive role played by financial external factors and institutional factors of Latin American and Caribbean countries in early termination of private participation in infrastructure projects. As well, the finding of a higher likelihood of failure in projects that involve investments in divested assets versus concession or PPP suggests the need of investigate further the tradeoffs regarding the balance that must exist among guarantees offered to investors in infrastructure projects and the need to keep contractual decisions in line with market signals. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to investigate whether and to what extent different forms of symbiotic relationships (named mutualism and collaboration) within a usage centre lead to different levels of value in use for its resource integrators. This study focusses on the educational services provided in deprived neighbourhoods to potentially vulnerable adolescents. Design/methodology/approach: This study applies a two-phase sequential exploratory mixed-method design. The first phase included a qualitative study that involved both the focal (the students) and peripheral resource integrators (the students' parents) of a Brazilian educational institution that had exceptional results. The qualitative findings were used to build a comparative multi-group survey with four subgroups in which 530 peripheral resource integrators participated. Findings: A mutualistic educational institution in which the participation of students' parents is mandatory creates more value in use than collaborative institutions in which parental participation is optional. In the context of educational services for vulnerable adolescents, value in use is echoed in the coexistence of families, greater caring about the students, and the encouragement from the adolescents' positive beliefs about education and respectful relationships with others. Social implications: Initiatives aimed at addressing social issues regarding children or adolescents in situations of vulnerability will achieve better results if their families are contemplated and involved. Originality/value: This study is the first to empirically test Kleinaltenkamp et al.'s usage centre framework (2017). In so doing, the study advances the understanding of how the interdependence of actors in the usage processes leads to value creation for vulnerable populations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: This paper aims to investigate the effect of monetary policy indicators on Latin America's renewable energy development. The authors conduct several regressions as well as a Principal Component Analysis (PCA) to unveil relationships among possible driving factors among others the current account balance, interest rates, money flow and energy trade balance for Latin America's energy mix. Design/methodology/approach: The analysis was a two-part process. First, the authors used multiple regression to identify if monetary policy affects the development of renewable energy usage at all. To investigate the singular effects of each of the nine macro-economic variables and four energy indicators, collected from the World Bank (2017) database, several regressions were run where the authors regressed each economic indicator on each energy variable. Then, the authors conducted a principal component analysis with all 13 variables. Findings: The authors found a significant relationship between the clean energy share and governmental spending boosting GDP as well as a significant relationship between governmental spending and the amount of foreign exchange reserves. Declining net energy imports indicate that countries in Latin America are getting more and more energy autonomous for the price of building up huge amounts of foreign exchange reserves. Research limitations/implications: Renewable energy indicators are not always available for all Latin American countries. Data tend to be scattered. However, sources such as the International Renewable Energy Agency and the World Bank database can be complementary. Practical implications: The understanding of the effects and impacts of some of the monetary policy related indicators can provide insights for improving renewable energy financing policies. In turn, such policies can have increased influence on renewable energy sustainability and potentially contribute to improving environmental policies. Originality/value: The specific impact of the selected variables on renewable energy has not been studied. This study attempts to discern the impact of such variables to understand how they influence the renewable energy mix. The insights can in turn inform and modify existing policies and guidelines as well as advise new policy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to examine the effects of length of service and ethical ideologies on cognitive moral development (CMD) and ethical behavioral intentions among public sector tax auditors in Brazil. Design/methodology/approach: The research data were collected via survey questionnaires from a sample of 625 auditors who work for the Brazilian tax authority. Participants voluntarily complete an online instrument which included three scenarios with context-specific moral dilemmas, questions about the specific scenarios and an ethics position questionnaire. Multinomial logistic and ordinary least squares regressions were used to analyze the data. Findings: The findings reveal that public sector tax auditors with shorter length of service are more likely to be at higher stages of moral development; relativistic ideology among public sector auditors is positively associated with more lenient ethical behavioral intention; idealistic ideology among public sector auditors is positively associated with stricter ethical behavioral intention; public sector auditors classified as absolutists are stricter in their ethical behavioral intentions; and public sector auditors classified as absolutists with length of service between 5 and 15 years are more likely to be at higher stages of moral development when compared to public sector tax auditors with longer length of service. Originality/value: To the best of the authors' knowledge, the study is one of the first studies that attempt to understand the effects of length of service and ethical ideology on CMD and ethical behavioral intention among public sector auditors. Additionally, it examines these issues in the context of Latin America. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to evaluate whether the effect of inflation uncertainty on inflation has changed over time in Latin America.Design/methodology/approach The authors use a stochastic volatility in mean (SVM) model with time-varying parameters (TVP) as proposed by Chan (2017).Findings Considering inflation series for the last two decades, we report evidences of high uncertainty from 1996 to early 2000s. Moreover, despite being positive throughout the sample, the overall relationship between inflation uncertainty and inflation has changed over the years in Latin America, underscoring the importance of our time-varying specification.Practical/implication There are evidences of a greater volatile inflation behavior in the beginning of the sample period in comparison to the last few years. Overall, the considered Latin American economies seem to have endured relatively well the external adverse shocks from the 2008 global financial crisis.Originality/value The use of an SVM model with TVP in order to assess the effect of inflation uncertainty on inflation is new to the Latin America literature. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to analyse the impact of corporate social responsibility (CSR) on firm performance in six Latin American economies. Firm performance includes five distinct dimensions, namely, firm turnover, labour productivity, innovativeness, product differentiation and technological transfer. The countries under scrutiny are Argentina, Bolivia, Chile, Colombia, Ecuador and Mexico.Design/methodology/approach Propensity score matching techniques are used to identify the causal effect of CSR on firm performance. To this end, World Bank Enterprise Survey (2006 wave) is used. This data set collects relevant firm-level data.Findings CSR has a positive impact on the outcome variables analysed, suggesting that corporate goals are compatible with conscious business operations. The results also vary across countries.Research limitations/implications The pattern that emerges from the analysis seems to suggest that the positive effects of CSR depend on countries’ stage of industrialisation. In particular, the least developed the economy, the wider the scope of CSR. Nonetheless, the relationship between conscious business operations, firm performance and countries’ level of development is not directly tested in the present work.Practical implications The main practical implication of the study is that Latin American firms should adopt CSR. This is because corporate responsible practices either improve firm performance or they are not shown to have a detrimental effect.Social implications The major policy implication is that emerging countries’ governments as well as international organisation should provide meaningful incentives towards CSR adoption.Originality/value The paper provides three major original contributions. First, it brings new descriptive evidence on CSR practices in Latin America. Second, it uses a broader and novel definition of firm performance, which is aimed at capturing developing countries’ business dynamics as well as at overcoming data limitations. Finally, it reassesses and extends the empirical evidence on the impact of CSR on firm performance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to deploy an export dependency index to identify the sectors and countries in Latin America which are most exposed to fluctuations in Chinese demand. Bilateral trade between China and Latin America has grown very quickly in the past decade. As a consequence, economic relationships with Latin America intensified tremendously, as growing demand for resources drove China into relatively unexplored frontiers.Design/methodology/approach The Index measures the relative exposure of Latin American exporters to shifts in demand from China and is scaled from 0 to 1 (the higher the score, the more exposed an exporter is to disruptions of trade with China). The authors undertook the analysis using six-digit trade figures from the United Nations COMTRADE database (Harmonized System 2007 nomenclature) to ensure granularity and consistency and contrasted their results across two points in time, 2008 and 2014. The analysis was very comprehensive, covering the products that accounted for 80 per cent or more of all exports to China in 2014, for all countries in Latin America and the Caribbean.Findings According to our estimates, dependency on China increased overboard across Latin America for all countries and all sectors between 2008 and 2014. Absolute dependency levels were highest in Costa Rica, Colombia, Uruguay, Venezuela, Brazil, Panama, Peru, Chile, Guyana and Argentina. Of these, the largest exporters to China, namely, Brazil, Argentina, Chile, Peru, Colombia and Venezuela, featured high dependencies concentrated around just four commodities: soy in the form of soybeans and soybean oil; crude oil; copper in the form of copper ore, copper cathodes and unrefined copper; and iron ore. These four commodities accounted for 80 per cent of the regions’ total exports to China.Originality/value This is one of few studies that look into Latin America’s commodity export dependency on China at such granular level. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: In the past, simply fulfilling economic performance alone was critical to ensuring the success of companies and their shareholders, but this traditional perspective is not compatible with society's current demands, as there is increasing social pressure on organizations to become more sustainable and reduce impacts on the environment, promoting sustainable results in their business processes. In this context, the specialized literature states that human resources management (HRM) is considered a central aspect for building sustainable organizations, in particular, the area of green human resources management (GHRM). Thus, this study analyzes the relationship between GHRM and corporate social responsibility (CSR) in Brazilian companies. Company's age, size, ISO 9001 and 14001 certifications are the control variables. Design/methodology/approach: The authors adopted a quantitative approach in conducting the survey. Four waves of email were sent to HR and CSR managers from 853 Brazilian companies from the metallurgical, automotive and chemical industries. In total, 79 questionnaires were fully answered, higher than the minimum sample calculated by the G*Power 3.1 software, which corresponds to a return rate of 9.26%. For the analysis of the results, the partial least squares method was used. Findings: This research identifies that GHRM practices, in fact, positively influence CSR practices. The findings evidence that practices of performance evaluation, teamwork and recruitment and selection are the most important for a better CSR performance. The research results indicate that the "ISO 9001 certification" control variable also has a positive and significant effect on CSR and that the size of the company, the age of the company and the ISO 14001 certification, in the analyzed sample, were not relevant (as control variables) for CSR. Originality/value: Current literature highlights the gap between GHRM and CSR. This relationship is not explored in Brazil. The study uses a new theoretical model, and it fills the gap identified in the literature. This paper brings important theoretical and managerial contributions. It is the first in the literature to show, in an empirical way, the positive relationship between GHRM and CSR, contributing in an original way to the state of the art of the GHRM and CSR theme. In addition, this research adds empirical evidence on GHRM and CSR in Latin America/South America/Brazil. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to analyze the effect of political instability on rural credit in Lima between 1835 and 1865. In particular, it explores the effects of wars on interest rates for the agricultural sector. Design/methodology/approach: The paper relies on primary sources for the study of the early credit market of Lima. In particular, the study relies on a sample of more than 800 notarized loans for 1835–1865, collected from the National Archives of Peru, to determine the effect of wars on the cost of credit. Findings: The evidence shows that wars increased interest rates on rural loans and that the impact of wars on the cost of credit was greater when the State lacked fiscal resources. Political instability made funding more costly for landlords and farmers, especially in the late 1830s and early 1840s. Originality/value: This paper is one of the few historical studies on the role of wars on rural credit in Latin America. It contributes to our understanding of the linkages between political instability and financial development. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: The purpose of this study is to determine the perception of communication and PR agency directors in Colombia regarding strategic communication and its relationship with consultancy when involved with three types of activities: bringing the context close to the organization, providing new knowledge and facilitating change. Design/methodology/approach: This paper provides an exploratory study based on semi-structured interviews of a sample of 55 communication and PR agency directors. Findings: Among the directors interviewed, there are different criteria concerning strategic communication and the services this entails. Although the literature mentions that consultancy should focus on counseling, accompanying, advising and orienting without making decisions for the client or performing any operative activities, many Colombian agencies offer these services, in addition to other technical ones. This is because these are the most requested ones by their clients and so are important in acquiring contracts in the country's communication sector. Research limitations/implications: The limitation of this study is the absence of a regularly and systematically updated directory and database with the current size of the communications sector and its yearly revenue in Colombia. Practical implications: Lack of consensus regarding strategic communication consultancy may lead to unfair competition on prices and confounding strategic and nonstrategic services in the market. Social implications: New academic knowledge for the communication practices in communication agencies in Colombia and Latin America. Originality/value: This article arises from initial research done in Colombia on the perceptions of the communication sector's directors regarding the meaning of strategic communication and key capacities in the provision of services under that remit. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to link public relations to peacebuilding. Although scholarship has discussed public relations as relationship management, the nexus between public relations and peace building has been understudied. To address this deficiency, this research studies the negotiations between the Government of Colombia and the FARC-EP separatist group that lead to the landmark peace treaty between the two entities that had fought for over five decades with thousands of deaths. Three research questions addressed the communication factors that contributed to the two sworn enemies – FARC-EP and the Colombian Government – finally sealing a peace agreement; the specific public relations strategies and techniques that led to relationship building between the two sides leading to the landmark peace agreement; and the use of the indicators of relationship building proposed by scholarship in the negotiations between the Colombian Government and FARC-EP. Design/methodology/approach: The case study method was used and a purposive sample of news reports from three national newspapers at specific key dates yielding a final sample consisted of 504 articles was analysed. A codebook with deductive and inductive categories was developed specially to study the existing communication factors (RQ1), public relations strategies and techniques (RQ2), as well as contributions by relationship indicators (RQ3). Given the sensitivity of the issues, only secondary data could be relied upon for this study. Findings: The results of RQ1 fall within the scope of Grunig's (2001), Sriramesh's (1992) and Hung's (2001) notion of the personal influence model where the leveraging of individuals' network is important to facilitate communication. Indeed, the relations already existing and established with third parties are revealed to be fundamental to the success of the negotiation process. As for RQ2, findings demonstrate that the Colombian Government used third-party mediation, principled and distributive strategies, while FARC-EP mainly used contending strategies. But results showed that both used compromising during the whole process, and that both transitioned from one-way asymmetrical strategies, such as principled or contending towards compromising along the peace talks. Finally, findings demonstrate evidence of the four indicators of the relationship and their link with public relations techniques. The most evidenced indicators of the relationship were trust, commitment and control mutuality. Trust was the indicator of the relationship the most evidenced in the Colombian case. The dimension was built during the whole process and evolved continually. Distrust was the total between the two enemies at the beginning of the pre-negotiation. However, as parties entered into a relationship, confidence and trust increased. Research limitations/implications: The inability to obtain primary data is the major limitation of this study. It was caused by the sensitivity of the topic. Practical implications: This study links public relations to a very practical case that is also vastly understudied/underreported – peacemaking/peacebuilding – while also addressing communication by governments and civil society in Latin America – an area that is largely understudied. Originality/value: This is the first study that links public relations with peacebuilding. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The aim of this paper is to analyse whether institutional factors determine the level of corporate governance compliance among major listed companies in emerging markets of Latin America, a region characterized by a poor legal system, highly concentrated ownership structures, and capital markets relatively less developed. The paper used an unbalanced panel data consisting of 826 observations of the highest ranked companies on the stock exchange indices of Argentina, Brazil, Chile and Mexico during the period 2004-2010. The results provide strong empirical evidence that board independence, ownership concentration and stakeholder orientation affect positively corporate governance ratings, while board size decreases corporate governance compliance in Latin American countries. The study fills a gap in the Latin American literature, providing useful information for determining policies on corporate governance and, in general, for managers and investors of listed companies in Latin America. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose -- The Latin American region experienced an electoral shift to the political left during the 2000s but this leftist shift did not radically alter the political economy of the region. Following Jessop's (2008) strategic-relational approach to theorizing about the state, this paper focuses on the perspective that the structure of the state is both an outcome of prior social struggles and a structuring mechanism for the social actors that attempt to enact political and economic reforms. Methodology/approach -- After demonstrating what this has historically meant for the types of state that have existed in Latin America during the past century by reviewing some of the literature on the corporatist and bureaucratic-authoritarian states and clientelism, this paper argues that the neoliberal reforms of the 1980s and 1990s constituted a new type of state -- the Latin American neoliberal state. This analysis is then focused on the literature that seeks to describe the new lefts in the region, while continuing to focus on the role of the neoliberal state in structuring these new lefts' terrain of struggle. Findings -- Understanding the new lefts in Latin America and the types of reforms that they are capable of making requires that we better understand this new type of state. Due to the structural limitations imposed by the neoliberal state, the lefts are not able to radically alter the region's political economy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to explore the relationship between clientelist relationships and economics in public relations practice in European Mediterranean countries and Latin America. It considers the cases of Greece, Italy, Portugal, Spain, Brazil, Chile, and Mexico. Design/methodology/approach – This paper uses a critical-conceptual method through a re-conceptualization of themes from secondary qualitative analyses of existing qualitative data sets and reviews of published qualitative papers. Findings – The public relations practice in these two regions is similar. The characteristics of the public relations landscape in these countries must be understood in relation to a broader history of clientelism and economics emphasizing government relationships at the expense of other publics, as well as the lack of scale economies. Persuasive models are prevalent, although a number of forces – including integration in supranational organizations, democratization, and globalization – have strengthened the use of symmetrical models. Research limitations/implications – This is not an empirical survey, there is a need of quantitative studies among practitioners and government officials that can measure empirically the nature of their relationships in a number of countries. This essay opens a door for future studies and cross-cultural comparisons about the role that clientelism plays in the PR practice of cultures and countries. Practical implications – The paper offers useful background information, such as the primacy that media relations still have in the public relations practice, for foreign public relations executives, agency heads, and managers of public relations who are directly involved with or managing international public relations campaigns in these countries. Social implications – Clientelism is a cultural concept that translates to the work of organizations and consequently public relations as a form of organizational behavior. Originality/value – This paper brings to the table the importance of the concept of clientelism in the PR practice as well as the existence of a similar PR culture between countries that are on different continents. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose -- This study aims to enhance the knowledge that managers and scholars have on franchising expansion. In this sense, it is worth mentioning that although the body of literature on international management focusing on emerging markets is growing, the attention paid to the Latin American context continues to be limited. This is surprising given the substantive economic importance of the region with a population over 590 million, and a gross domestic product of approximately US$5 trillion. To cover this gap, the present study examines how a number of market conditions may drive diffusion of franchising into Latin America: geographical distance, cultural distance, political stability and economic development. The authors also controlled for the host country's market potential, transparency, unemployment rate and efficiency of contract enforcement. Design/methodology/approach -- This study uses a quantitative approach applied to a sample of 77 Spanish franchisors operating through 4,064 franchisee outlets across 21 Latin American countries in late 2012. They are: Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Cuba, Dominican Republic, Bolivia, Ecuador, El Salvador, Guatemala, Haiti, Honduras, Mexico, Nicaragua, Panama, Paraguay, Peru, Puerto Rico, Uruguay and Venezuela. Findings -- Results conclude that geographical distance between the host and home countries, as well as the level of host country's political stability, economic development, market potential and transparency are able to drive the spread of international franchising across Latin American nations. Research limitations/implications -- This study provides readers with a general overview of the current state of global franchising diffusion overseas. Results obtained in this study are useful for understanding and predicting the demand for franchising in Latin American countries. Practical implications -- Economics reports argue that by 2050, the largest economies in the world will be China, the USA, India, Brazil and Mexico. This fact highlights the substantive importance of Latin America for foreign investors willing to expand their business abroad. In an attempt to give insights from the Latin American context, the present paper develops and tests a model that can be useful to franchisors willing to establish new outlets in the region. In addition, our findings offer guidance to firm managers seeking to target their franchises in Latin America. Franchisors may then use the results of this study as a starting point for identifying such regions whose characteristics best meet their needs of expansion. Originality/value -- This paper explores how market conditions may drive international diffusion of franchising into Latin American markets. The scant theoretical or empirical attention given to this topic has usually been examined from the USA and British base and focused on developed markets. To fill this gap, the present study analyzes the international spread of the Spanish franchise system into Latin America as a market for franchising expansion. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose This paper aims to review the latest management developments across the globe and pinpoint practical implications from cutting-edge research and case studies.Design/methodology/approach This briefing is prepared by an independent writer who adds their own impartial comments and places the articles in context.Findings It is said that Latin America is one of the hardest places in which to do business, and within Latin America as well as considering the differing challenges that Argentina or Columbia may present, Brazil is perhaps the most difficult place to go to in order to develop trade and commercial agreements. In addition to the different language as compared to the rest of the region, there is a very specific culture and life view that will be wholly alien to many business people, whether they are from developed or developing countries around the world.Practical implications The paper provides strategic insights and practical thinking that have influenced some of the world’s leading organizations.Originality/value The briefing saves busy executives and researchers hours of reading time by selecting only the very best, most pertinent information and presenting it in a condensed and easy-to-digest format. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to propose and analyze a model to obtain a total factor productivity of an industry through quantitative empirical analysis in order to determine the joint contribution of the production and technology function, and the change and technical progress. The case of the Peruvian large shipbuilding industry between the years 1969 and 1990 was considered for the analysis of the proposed model. The large shipbuilding in Peru finished in 1992 and has restarted in 2014. The importance of the study lies in the fact that the analysis is focused on an industry which is resurfacing, and in this regards, the study of the first production period will yield more and accurate information to make decisions regarding its future development.Design/methodology/approach One way of considering the several effects of technical progress, in line with Sato (1970) such as growth and bias, is to specify a production function maintaining the linear homogeneity property, such as: Y(t)=F [A(t)K(t), B(t)L(t)], where Y(t) is the aggregate product over a period of time (t); K(t) is the capital; L(t) is the labor; and A(t) and B(t) are the efficiencies or augmentations of K(t) and L(t), respectively. Based on the regression analysis data, the value of σ can be estimated to a residual growth rate (Kennedy and Thirlwall, 1972) that allows assessing the technical knowledge that is not attributable to the factors’ efficiency grains: TCTR = T ˙ / T − ( α ( A ˙ / A ) + β ( B ˙ / B ) ) . This last expression measures the residual technological growth rate (TCTR, by its Spanish acronym).Findings The results of the analysis of the large shipbuilding at SIMA-Callao during the given period (22 years of operation, between 1969 and 1990) show that the necessary installed capacity and the technological knowledge was available in order to develop a complex industrial process in the South Pacific region, thus, contributing to the sector’s growth in the country. The evolution of the shipbuilding activities coincides with the GDP expansion and decline periods in Peru. According to the results, the total factor productivity increased during 1969-1976, 1979-1982, and 1986-1987 periods and it has been confirmed that the contribution of the efficiencies of the production factors were inversely related to the economies of scale and output growth.Practical implications The analysis is based on the activities carried out throughout 22 years of operations in SIMA-Callao shipyards (1969-1990). The data regarding the product, labor, imported materials costs, local material costs, direct expenses, wages, and man-day costs was obtained from several sources within the shipyard. Direct expenses correspond to classification, inspections, administrative expenses (dock, quality control, equipment rental, etc.), drawings, technical data, insurance, and materials freight. Additionally, the sources of information are project construction contracts, annual expenses reports, and man-day cost quarterly reports of the shipbuilding area. The man-day cost includes salary, social benefits, and the company’s functional cost.Originality/value There are different ways to obtain productivity index. In this case, the authors used the stated model. In addition, based on this experience, this can be applied to other industries. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to focus on the Festival Internacional Cervantino, which represents one of the major cultural events in Latin America. Based on theoretical propositions regarding tourism as an experience, perception of visitors was studied focussing on emotional factors. Urban perception was also addressed, especially where public service failure affected the experience and therefore, the placemaking.Design/methodology/approach A mixed methodology was applied. First, the event experience scale (EES) methodology for visitors’ perception was performed in order to collect data directly from tourists. The relationship between the festival and the visit to heritage resources and attractions was especially highlighted and analysed. Urban field work focussed on expressing the location of the most visited areas during festival days. Public services were also assessed where perception was affected negatively. Interviews were applied to public administration officials and public policy-related documents were collected in order to understand the expectation of visitors, previous to the experience itself. Local perception was also contrasted with the rest of the data.Findings Attracted by information about the historic and colonial nature of the city, tourists gather massively in Guanajuato during the festival. This event in particular yields in some aspects to a transient placemaking, mainly related to inner perception and the event as such is highly appreciated. It was also found that the foreign figure of Cervantes was incorporated into the intangible heritage discourse of the city and linked to the event itself. However, some urban spaces and services need improvement to consolidate a positive experience of visitors who complain about specific factors such as traffic, accessibility, waste disposal and environmental noise.Social implications The fact that the event has caused some problems in a number of urban aspects suggests that new policies might be proposed in order to fill these gaps, especially by the corresponding government agencies. Another issue relates to the concentration of the economic profits and its lack of distribution, which right now does not contribute to social sustainability, yet the event demands high actions and costs to the city and local people.Originality/value The research has been useful to give another point of view to existing surveys and conclusions of the impact of the festival. The application of EES has yielded some improvements that could be made in further applications of the same methodology. Application of EES to assess the impact of events in urban spaces and services can be applied to many other cities that host festivals in their city centres. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose This purpose of this study is to examine the extent to which accreditation of public affairs programs can be a tool to advance social equity, diversity, and inclusion. The paper is presented in the context of the widespread acceptance of the importance of addressing social inequalities in Latin America and the critical role that public policy and public administration can have on advancing these goals.Design/methodology/approach International and national accreditation standards are compared using content analysis for their reference to social equity and diversity in their standards regarding faculty, students, curriculum content and learning outcomes. The research applies content analysis of key documents and thematic coding.Findings International accrediting agencies that focused explicitly on programs in public affairs place a much greater emphasis on social equity and diversity than their national counterparts which accredit a full range of programs and institutions. National accrediting agencies assert the value of diversity, but their standards and reporting requirements suggest otherwise.Research limitations/implications The research suggests that international accreditation standards have the potential to advance social equity goals more effectively than national standards and that there is great potential to enhance this component of national accreditation standards. Implications for policymakers, accreditation professionals and scholars are identified.Originality/value The research is original in its focus on the role of accreditation in promoting social equity and its comparison of national and international standards. Although limited to Latin America and public affairs programs, the research provides a basis for examining similar patterns with respect to other disciplines and professions, and in other regions of the world. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose This paper aims to review the latest management developments across the globe and pinpoint practical implications from cutting-edge research and case studies.Design/methodology/approach This briefing is prepared by an independent writer who adds their own impartial comments and places the articles in context.Findings There is nothing more satisfying than seeing once dominant force get its comeuppance from the new kid in town. Whether it is in the movies or in sport, the narrative of a king being usurped by a young pretender is played out time after time, and it never ceases to fascinate. We see it in business as well, and usually it is an established but slow-moving firm being disrupted by a smaller, more nimble, more agile adversary who seems to simply pull the rug from right under their feet.Originality/value The briefing saves busy executives and researchers hours of reading time by selecting only the very best, most pertinent information and presenting it in a condensed and easy-to-digest format. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose – This paper aims to clarify the relationship between institutional framework, concentration of ownership in family firms and results. Design/methodology/approach – Data comprises two samples of family firms from eight Latin American countries and Spain in the year 2010. The first sample contains the largest 20 corporations from each country. The second comprises the 20 largest listed family corporations in each country. To test the hypothesis, the study uses ordinary least squares. Findings – First, firms located in countries with a higher than average quality of the institutional and regulatory frameworks are less concentrated in ownership than firms located in countries with lower than average quality and development of institutional and regulatory framework. Second, the influence of the concentration of the ownership in the performance is more important in countries with higher developed institutional and regulatory frameworks. Finally, first-generation large family firms obtain higher results than large family firms in second generation or beyond. Research limitations/implications – The study is limited to one year and there are few family firms in Latin American countries. The study only considers some features of ownership, and there is no information about board of directors ' composition. Practical implications – Institutional framework determines concentration of ownership in family firms and the influence of concentration of ownership in performance. Originality/value – The study provides new evidence in areas of corporate governance and family firms, analysing a sample of Latin American and Spanish firms, representatives of the civil legal system and a weaker institutional framework. The study uses the corruption perception index like a control variable. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose -- The purpose of this paper is to conduct a quantitative analysis of the university accreditation processes in Chilean universities. The aim is to determine the effects of the different variables, especially the type of institutions (state- and privately owned, with and without state financial support) on the results obtained. Design/methodology/approach -- Univariate and multivariate statistical analysis of official data. Findings -- Results indicate consistency in the accreditation processes in Chilean universities, as those variables directly associated with the processes accounted for approximately 70 per cent of the variation in the length of accreditation periods (between 0 and seven years), these variables being the ones that defined the type of universities. High dispersion was found in six state-owned universities that behaved as if they were private universities and in two private universities that behaved as if they were state universities. However, a high percentage of the universities included in the analysis maintained their affiliation to their corresponding legal group, when their performance in accreditation processes was analyzed. Originality/value -- The results of the university accreditation processes in Chile have been the focus of a intense debate due to the legal and economic conflicts between the different types of universities. This study constitutes the first scientific analysis of the results of these processes, especially in terms of the performance of the different types of universities, thus enabling a better interpretation of the results. This information is useful not only in the terms of the legal reforms that are being carried out in Chile, but they also help the understanding of the processes of accreditation of higher education in other Latin American countries. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: A project to improve productivity in one of the largest retail firms in Latin America demonstrates how a tailor-made training intervention can improve workers' performance and how — and by how much — investing in soft-skills can lead to productivity gains. Design/methodology/approach: Individual-level longitudinal information gathered from the firm. Findings: The training intervention was shown to have a positive and significant effect on both store-level sales and transactions per worker. This result was confirmed by a cost/benefit analysis. This provides clear evidence that productivity can be boosted with a high quality, well-designed and optimally-delivered training programme targeted to increase socio-emotional skills. This assertion has been corroborated by an empirical analysis of the project carried out by specialists from the Inter-American Development Bank and the Department of Economics, University of Maryland. Originality/value: The project is one of the first to be subject to a detailed analysis to provide evidence of the causal impact of training on direct productivity measures. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to investigate the literacy practices of the families and communities of first-generation college students in Latin America, and how community and family literacies can inform the understanding of first-generation college students' identity and cultural values. Design/methodology/approach: This transnational ethnography was conducted in local communities around three public universities in Mexico, Colombia and Costa Rica. Participants included nine fist-generation college students and more than 50 people in their families and communities (i.e. relatives, parents and friends). Data gathering occurred at the university outside the formal space of the classroom, at home, and in the community. Data were interpreted through the lens of the community cultural wealth framework. Findings: The author found that first-generation college students and their families and communities engaged in rich literacy practices that have been overlooked in policy, research, and media. It is argued that the concept literacy capital is necessary to acknowledge the critical literacy practices communities engage in. Literacy capital was manifested in these communities to preserve cultural traditions, to sponsor literacy practices and to question and resist unjust sociopolitical circumstances. Practical implications: The findings of this study should inform a culturally sustaining pedagogy of academic literacies in higher education. Beyond asset-based approaches to academic literacies in Latin America, critical perspectives to academic literacies teaching and learning are needed that acknowledge the Latin American complexities. Originality/value: These findings are significant because they unveiled how people in local communities were informed about the sociopolitical dynamics at the national and international scale that affected or even threatened their local culture, and how they used their literacy capital to react critically to those situations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: Despite the increasing interest on multi-stakeholder platforms (MSPs) as novel organizational forms addressing grand challenges surrounding agri-food systems, the literature on how MSPs influence farmers' innovation remains scattered across sub-disciplines and geographies and, overall, of limited help for informing managerial and policy action and reflection. Design/methodology/approach: To address this gap, this systematic literature review (SRL) provides an overview on what MSPs are and how they influence farmers' innovation in emerging economies. Findings: The selected sample included n = 44 publications in 2004–2018, focussing for 70% on Africa, with minor shares in Latin America and Asia, and with a strong theoretical and methodological segmentation across five sub-disciplines (agribusiness management, agricultural economics, agricultural innovation systems, agricultural research for development and public policy and governance). Overall, this SRL leads to three findings. First, a key distinctive organizational feature of MSPs relative to other novel organizational forms in emerging economies entails the presence of a virtual and/or physical interface spanning across multiple heterogeneous stakeholders. Second, in relation to their impact pathways towards farmers' innovation, MSPs tend to achieve different intermediary outcomes and levels of innovation depending on their organizational goals and activities. Research limitations/implications: These findings also reveal four key limitations of the extant MSP literature – namely, disciplinary silos thinking, linear thinking, limited focus on the role of informal institutions and little emphasis on power dynamics – which could inform managers and policy makers on how MSPs could influence farmers; innovation. Originality/value: This study offers a SLR with the goal of providing practitioners and academics with first, a holistic view of the available research on the impact of MSPs on farmers innovation, and second, propose an impact pathway framework to understand how and under which circumstances MSPs support farmers' innovation given their functioning, structure and the governance mechanisms of MSPs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper describes the changes in ownership and internationalization of the brokerage firms in Colombia as a result of the regional integration process of its stock exchange market through the Latin American Integrated Market (MILA). It proposes that the integration of stock exchanges generated transformations within the brokerage sector, and affected companies in response pursue different strategies to remain competitive in the current state of affairs. In the case of Colombia, stock exchange integration through MILA has resulted into mergers between local brokerage firms, acquisitions from both national and international companies and changes in ownership. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: Few people living in informal settlements in the Global South spontaneously claim that they are "resilient" or "adapting" to disaster risk or climate change. Surely, they often overcome multiple challenges, including natural hazards exacerbated by climate change. Yet their actions are increasingly examined through the framework of resilience, a notion developed in the North, and increasingly adopted in the South. To what extent eliminate' do these initiatives correspond to the concepts that scholars and authorities place under the resilience framework? Design/methodology/approach: Three longitudinal case studies in Yumbo, Salgar and San Andrés (Colombia) serve to investigate narratives of disaster risks and responses to them. Methods include narrative analysis from policy and project documents, presentations, five workshops, six focus groups and 24 interviews. Findings: The discourse adopted by most international scholars and local authorities differs greatly from that used by citizens to explain risk and masks the politics involved in disaster reduction and the search for social justice. Besides, narratives of social change, aspirations and social status are increasingly masked in disaster risk explanations. Tensions are also concealed, including those regarding the winners and losers of interventions and the responsibilities for disaster risk reduction. Originality/value: Our findings confirm previous results that have shown that the resilience framework contributes to "depoliticize" the analysis of risk and serves to mask and dilute the responsibility of political and economic elites in disaster risk creation. But they also show that resilience fails to explain the type of socioeconomic change that is required to reduce vulnerabilities in Latin America. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: The aim of this research is to investigate the causal relationship between trade openness (TO) and life expectancy (LE) at birth in Latin American countries over the period of 1980–2014. Design/methodology/approach: The bootstrap panel Granger causality test proposed by Emirmahmutoglu and Kose (2011) was used to determine the direction of causality in the presence of cross-sectional dependency and heterogeneity among Latin American countries. Also, four different tests were employed in order to determine the cross-sectional dependency and slope homogeneity. The stationarity properties of variables were inspected by employing a unit root test. Findings: The findings indicated that Granger causality existed between TO and LE, at birth which was running from the former to the latter for panel. On a country basis, TO Granger caused LE at birth for countries with low level of economic development and higher taxes on income and profits. Practical implications: This study provides new insights for policymaking regarding the role of TO in achieving comprehensive economic reforms to increase LE at birth during a period of intense trade rivalry across nations. Originality/value: Although research in the literature has mainly focused on the impact of TO on LE at birth with panel data, most studies ignored the regional effects. It is the authors' concern that the direction of causality can be country-specific and have regional characteristics. In this regard, instead of dividing countries for a specific region into two parts such as developing and developed, the authors investigated the pattern of trade–health link for a specific region, Latin America. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: This is a comparative investigation of how university libraries in the United States, Canada and Spanish-speaking Latin America are responding to predatory publishing. Design/methodology/approach: The Times Higher Education World University Rankings was used to identify the top ten universities from each of the US and Canada, as well as the top 20 Spanish-language universities in Latin America. Each university library's website was scrutinized to discover whether the libraries employed scholarly communication librarians, whether they offered scholarly communication workshops, or whether they shared information about scholarly communication on their websites. This information was further examined to determine if it discussed predatory publishing specifically. Findings: Most libraries in the US/Canada sample employ scholarly communication librarians and nearly half offer workshops on predatory publishing. No library in the Latin America sample employed a scholarly communication specialist and just one offered a workshop addressing predatory publishing. The websites of the libraries in the US and Canada addressed predatory publishing both indirectly and directly, with US libraries favoring the former approach and Canadian libraries tending towards the latter. Predatory publishing was rarely addressed directly by the libraries in the Latin America sample; however, all discussed self-archiving and/or Open Access. Research limitations/implications: Brazilian universities were excluded owing to the researchers' language limitations. Data were collected between September 15 and 30, 2019, so it represents a snapshot of information available at that time. The study was limited to an analysis of library websites using a fixed set of keywords, and it did not investigate whether other campus units were involved or whether other methods of informing researchers about predatory publishing were being used. Originality/value: The study reveals some best practices leading to recommendations to help academic libraries combat predatory publishing and improve scholarly publishing literacy among researchers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This symposium analyses the mutually constitutive relationship between economic knowledge and political order. Through a wide range of case studies from Europe, Africa, and Latin America, the essays collected shed new light on the choices and constraints faced by economists under authoritarian rule in the twentieth century. The contribution of the symposium is twofold. Firstly, it expands the geographical and chronological scope of the conversation on the politics of economics. Secondly, it encourages a more nuanced understanding of economists' agency in their different guises as educators, party propagandists, policy-makers, model-builders, and dissidents. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]