Abstract

The technological landscape in relation to the minors presents numerous challenges facing the telecommunication industry, with families and schools. However, academic literature still remains silence in showing the strategic policies that the industry is managing in order to address these challenges. Therefore, this article has two aims: to provide an overview of the state of the art in order to present the main findings of the child protection policies in international telecom companies (17), stressing the analysis regarding their products and services and how do they manage the collaboration with key stakeholders. Research was conducted using qualitative methodology: CSR reports and websites of the companies were analysed in order to define what are their strategic actions, as well as the individuals and institutions that collaborate with. The findings show interesting insights, even with some differences by regions, among the most significant policies pursued by the sector are: self-regulation, product innovation regarding protection tools and a network of collaborations with stakeholders have been established, as an opportunity for facilitating new policies and strategies. In conclusion, telecom industry needs to integrate their policies regarding minor protection, promoting an integral management approach that comprises not only product development but also strengthen relationships with the main stakeholders as parents and institutions.

Abstract

Kenya’s business environment has been weakening over recent years and this has limited the private sector’s ability to grow, create jobs, and contribute to economic development. Competitive domestic markets are necessary to boost Kenya’s competitiveness. There are two pillars that sustain effective competition policy: (i) opening markets and removing anticompetitive regulation; and (ii) effectively enforcing competition law. The main focus of this report is the identification of regulations that could restrict competition and distort markets and business decisions, having a negative effect on Kenya’s competitiveness and growth. This report contains results from a review of the regulatory framework in key areas identified using Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development's (OECD) Product Market Regulation (PMR) indicators, the World Bank Group’s framework to identify anticompetitive regulations, and interviews with stakeholders. This report is concerned only with certain regulations that affect market competition in select sectors and topical areas. The report stems from the policy dialogue with various Kenyan institutions, supported by the Kenya Investment Climate Program. This report contains three parts. Part one identifies restrictive regulations that affect the whole economy, while Part two focuses on select sectors. Part three provides policy recommendations to promote greater competition in Kenyan markets through the assessment and modification of regulations that create obstacles to competition. It also provides estimates of the potential benefits of reforming product market regulations.

Abstract

Despite growing literature on the different aspects of airline service quality in relation to behavioural intentions, less attention has been paid to some specific aspects of in-flight services. The focus of the present research is, therefore, on a multiple conceptual model of the quality of in-flight services in relation to passengers’ perception of value, followed by recommendations (word of mouth - WOM) of airlines, as well as the quality and comfort of airline seats. The study is performed using two databases of reviewers’/passengers’ opinions regarding the quality of in-flight airline services and airline seat comfort. Our research results reveal that the perceived comfort of the airplane seat is the most important factor of passengers’ perceived quality of in-flight airline services, which also considerably affects the passengers’ perception of value, and consequently moderates behavioural intentions (in our research, expressed through positive WOM). The analysis of the relative importance of the components of perceived airline seats’ comfort shows that seat width is the most significant factor that contributes to the overall perceived comfort of the airline seat. Kljub obsežni literaturi o različnih vidikih kakovosti letalskih storitev v povezavi z vedenjskimi namerami potnikov, so bili nekateri posebni vidiki kakovosti letalskih storitev med samim letom v preteklosti deležni manjše pozornosti. Tako je v ospredju pričujoče raziskave multipli konceptualni model zaznane kakovosti letalskih storitev med letom, v povezavi z zaznano vrednostjo s strani potnikov, kateri sledi priporočilo (“od ust do ust”) letalske družbe, kot tudi udobje ter zaznana kakovost letalskih sedežev. Raziskava temelji na dveh podatkovnih bazah, ki vsebujejo mnenja potnikov o zaznani kakovosti letalskih storitev med letom ter o udobnosti letalskih sedežev. Rezultati raziskave kažejo, da je zaznana kakovost letalskih sedežev s strani potnikov, najpomembnejši dejavnik zaznane kakovosti letalskih storitev med letom, ki hkrati znatno vpliva na zaznano vrednost storitve ter posledično oblikuje vedenjske namere (v naši raziskavi izražene s pozitivnim priporočilom “od ust do ust”). Analiza relativne pomembnosti posameznih komponent zaznane kakovosti letalskih sedežev pa kaže, da je širina sedeža najpomembnejši dejavnik, ki prispeva k celokupnemu zaznanemu udobju letalskega sedeža.

Abstract

The text considers the potential feasibility of a commercial vision of public libraries in which, while keeping the spirit of public service, they could offer spaces and innovative services without suffering deficiencies in facilities and equipment. Thus, funding sources such as advertising, catering or the sale of library-related products are proposed. Furthermore, the intent is to open the door to reflections on non-traditional uses of library spaces and the benefits that could result.

Abstract

Review of the technological advances that have influenced the evolution of the academic library, and description of the actions taken to accommodate them: developing repositories and open access, renovating spaces, providing services to researchers, offering search tools and ebooks. The general conclusions are that academic libraries are healthy because they have been able to anticipate change and that they have good prospects for the future.

Abstract

Cultural services, and specifically libraries, must justify to society -and to governments- their social and economic performance. They must prove they are not an expense but rather an investment that yields net benefits with a return on investment (ROI) that in some cases can reach 4.5%. Five methods to calculate the value of library services, and some Spanish initiatives with this purpose, are described. The conclusion is that information services have plenty of annual activity data, but the lack of knowledge about the necessary methodology limits the capacity to exploit these data.

Abstract

The origins, planning, and implementation process for the Valencian Community Social Economy Information Portal (www.ecsocial.com) are described. Details are provided of the methodology used to encourage participation by companies in this business realm. Changes that have taken place during the life of the project are detailed, along with the budget that has made this initiative possible.

Abstract

Since the beginning of the XX century, public libraries have been contested. Initially, the biggest criticism was focused on those libraries which seemed a book deposit, and how they could cooperate to the development of the industrial society and also, afterwards, the post-industrial society. With the coming of the information society, new challenges came up, like the transformation from the print to digital, the training of readers... New skills were demanded to librarians to overcome these challenges. Since their first years of existence, libraries have been understood as temples of knowledge and truth. Nowadays, political, economic and ideological interests support the post-truth crisis, over abundance of information, manipulation of the information and fake news. Within this context, identification and development of information skills has become essential. Moreover, it is a duty of public libraries to create the conditions to satisfy the new demands of the information & knowledge society. Based on comparative studies, a bibliographic review and qualitative methodologies, this article analyzes the community divide, the reading mediation, the information skills, both the return on investment (ROI) and the social return on investment (SROI), and to demonstrate how the new model of public library is able to cope with the needs of the XXI century’s citizens.

Abstract

The main purpose of this thesis is to investigate potential synergies between an electronic waybill (e-Waybill) and other Intelligent Transport System (ITS) services. An e-Waybill service, as presented in this thesis, should be able to perform the functions of a paper waybill (which is an important transport document and contains essential information about a consignment) and it should contain at least the information specified in a paper waybill. To investigate synergies between the e-Waybill solutions and ITS services, we present 5 conceptual e-Waybill solutions that differ in where the e-Waybill information is stored, read, and written. These solutions are further investigated for functional and technical requirements (non-functional requirements), which can potentially impose constraints on a potential system that should implement the e-Waybill service. A set of 20 ITS services are considered for synergy analysis in this thesis. These services are mainly for road transport, however most of them are relevant to be considered for utilization in other modes of transport as well. For information synergy analysis, the e-Waybill solutions are assessed based on their synergies with ITS services. For different ITS services, the required input information entities are identified; and if at least one information entity can be provided by an e-Waybill at the right location we regard it to be a synergy. The result from our synergy analysis may support the choice of practical e-Waybill systems, which has the possibility to provide high synergy with ITS services. This may lead to a higher utilization of ITS services and more sustainable transport, e.g., in terms of reduced congestion and emissions. Additionally, a service design method has been proposed for supporting the process of designing new ITS services, which primarily utilizes on functional synergies with already existing ITS services. In order to illustrate the usage of the suggested method, we have applied it for designing a new ITS service, i.e., the Liability Intelligent Transport System (LITS) service. The purpose of the LITS service is to support the process of identifying when, where, and by whom a consignment has been damaged and who was responsible when the consignment was damaged.