Agriculture plays an important role for sustainable development, promoting better social integration through job creation, contributing to healthier food and food security and above all raising awareness of land use processes and contributing to environmentally friendly farming practices. This article aims to contribute to a multidisciplinary perspective on sustainable development and to demonstrate how urban plots can contribute to sustainable development in cities. This study makes a theoretical contribution incorporating a specific Portuguese case. From a practical perspective, the paper discusses how by fostering policy formulation in local and national government levels help to promote and regulate the use of urban plots.
Purpose The complexity of the firm's external environment, with its constant changes, forces managers to develop novel strategies that can meet new strategic needs. The purpose of this study is to examine the role of reward systems (RSs) in strategic management, as well as their relationship to learning and entrepreneurial orientation (EO), commonly referred to as the driving force behind growth, competitive advantages (CAs) and improved performance. It also focuses on the study of the relationship between EO and business performance (BP), the introduction and testing of the possible antecedents of this relationship and potential mediating factors.
Design/methodology/approach A conceptual model was tested on a sample of 1,190 Portuguese firms using a structural equation model.
Findings It is shown for the first time that learning orientation (LO) is an antecedent of the RSs and, subsequently, of EO. Additionally, the CAs of differentiation and cost leadership play a mediating role in the relationship between EO and BP. Furthermore, RSs are also a driving force behind both CAs.
Originality/value This study makes several empirical and theoretical contributions, addressing the gap in the literature about the role of RSs in strategic management. It tests the relationship between LO and the firm's performance by taking the mediating effects of RSs, EO and CAs into account. Additionally, we discuss LO as an antecedent strategic variable of human resources practices, in particular, RSs. Finally, we broaden the scope of our research by examining these issues in the context of Portuguese SMEs from different industries.
PurposeThis study focuses on intellectual capital (IC) as a driver of better business performance. Recent studies suggest that a set of variables may mediate this relationship. This research discusses the mediating role of dynamic capabilities, network competence, technological capabilities, absorptive capabilities and innovation performance between intellectual capital and business performance.Design/methodology/approachThe conceptual model is tested using a sample of 533 Portuguese firms by means of a structural equation model.FindingsIt confirms that intellectual capital impacts business performance. Moreover, this only happens indirectly through the mediating chain defined by the variables dynamic capabilities, network competence, technological capabilities, absorptive capabilities and innovation performance.Originality/valueThis study analyzes new mediator variables between the dimensions of the intellectual capital and Portuguese business performance.
