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Neurostrategy is an abductive decision-making process developed from the knowledge generated within the network of decision-makers. It links cognitive style with the team's decisional adaptability in relation to the organization's purpose. Neurostrategy differs from traditional methods, in which it addresses negative utility or decisional trauma, highlighting the variety of interests that are the main cause of team misalignment and allowing for the development of strategies to address them. Neurostrategy enables the classification of strategy deficiencies based on cohesion, coordination, communication and conduction (Co4).

This paper introduces a novel approach called relational neurostrategy (RNS) to elucidate the knowledge processes influencing decision-making. RNS aims to “capture” the intricate processes guiding decisions, enabling the network's decisional plasticity in both forms and contents. This adaptability is crucial for effectively addressing posed challenges, while simultaneously mitigating the impact of diverse interests. The methodology also ensures transparency in the decision-making process and generates an effective solution strategy.

The RNS addresses two critical aspects of the decision-making process. Firstly, it reduces unnecessary variety stemming from multiple interpretations and secondly, it minimizes the adverse impact of diverse interests within the decision-making network. This approach results in strong and credible decisions that reflect the collective intelligence, cooperation and collaborative efforts of the network, rather than being imposed as absolute truths.

The RNS stands out as a distinctive decision-making method, setting itself apart from existing approaches. Its uniqueness becomes evident in its ability to address the question “what prevents the authors from … ?” from this inquiry, RNS successfully integrates unrequired variety and negative utility. By doing so, it strategically narrows down the search field to the universe of distinctions that truly constitute the problem. This innovative process not only enhances efficiency but also fosters a high level of participation in the strategic design of potential solutions. In essence, RNS brings unprecedented value by effectively navigating the intricacies of decision-making and maximizing the relevance of the identified problem space.

Smart tourist destinations (STDs) make use of new technologies to facilitate and improve the experience of tourists. So why not use these technologies to efficiently manage the destination? The aim of this work is to define and implement a methodology that provides value to STDs by defining their most important characteristics to monitor and quantify them automatically in real time.

The authors developed a conceptual framework to the smart tourism approach presented in previous studies, the latest technologies and the application of the smart tourism system (STS). Based on the focus group method with stakeholders from the tourism industry of the Spanish tourist municipality of Puerto de la Cruz, they defined the main KPIs for a municipal STD. Likewise, the authors specified the necessary technologies to obtain, manage and represent the data, and the method for quantifying the quality of the STD by using the AHP method. Lastly, they implemented the framework for the aforementioned municipality.

The implementation in a real context of the STS proposed for Puerto de la Cruz demonstrates its validity and the possibility of adapting it to any other municipal destination. In addition, the authors corroborate how this STS improves on other versions.

This paper provides a theoretical methodology to improve STD management and implements it. Other studies have focused only on the theoretical aspect. Moreover, automated management tools are emerging for STDs, but they lack the quality provided by the scientific approach employed herein.

This paper aims to examine the reaction of a local workforce to global restructuring in a transnational company (TNC), which entailed the closure of a manufacturing plant (La Monroe) in Northern Spain. The article explores the micro-political nature of the corporate decision to close the plant, the workforce reaction to relocation and the discourse legitimizing global restructuring. It also delves into the contra-hegemonic potential of labour as a main stakeholder in TNCs.

The methodological approach is qualitative. The article presents a theoretically informed and analytical case study based on the literature on micro-politics and power relations in TNCs. Fieldwork is based on semi-structured interviews carried out with relevant stakeholders and other external actors to the TNC.

The findings substantiate the dynamic role of micro-politics within TNCs. The article presents and discusses evidence of the formation of a broad multi-level political network of resistance to a plant closure plan.

More case study analysis would further support the findings in the paper and provide for a comparative approach.

The article substantiates the dynamic role of micro-politics and power relations in the reification of social norms and discourses on production relocation. It offers an empirical appraisal of the micro-political approach to global restructuring in TNCs. The article also puts labour strategies at the forefront of the analysis in corporate relocation.

The purpose of this paper is to examine European Union (EU) industrial relations in their development over time. It describes and analyzes their main constituent parts, which are deployed along four interlinked institutional dimensions: tripartite concertation; cross-industry social dialogue; sectoral social dialogue; and employee representation and negotiation at the transnational company level. The focus lies strictly on the emerging EU layer of industrial relations, which is common to the different Member States and not on comparative European industrial relations.

The paper is conceptual in nature. It considers the differences and mutually interdependent legal and political processes, policies and institutions between EU industrial relations and national industrial relations.

The findings substantiate that EU industrial relations constitute an incomplete but perfectly traceable transnational reality distinct from industrial relations in the Member States. EU industrial relations are not to supersede but to supplement national industrial relations. Neither the EU institutional framework nor the European social partners have the mandate, legitimation or desire to perform a more ambitious role.

More empirically oriented research would further support the findings in the paper.

The paper presents a conceptual review based on a comprehensive and critical reading of the literature on EU industrial relations. It also puts labor strategies at the forefront of the analysis in corporate relocation.

Additive manufacturing has disadvantages, such as the maximum part size being limited by the machine’s working volume. Therefore, if a part more considerable than the working volume is required, the part is produced in parts and joined together. Among the many methods of joining thermoplastic parts, adhesives and mechanical interlocking are considered. This study aims to characterize and optimize mechanically stressed adhesive joints combined with female and male mechanical interlocking on acrylonitrile butadiene styrene (ABS) specimens made with fused filament fabrication (FFF) so that the joint strength is as close as possible to the strength of the base material.

This study characterized the subject’s state of the art to justify the decisions regarding the experimental design planned in this research. Subsequently, this study designed, executed and analyzed the experiment using a statistical analysis of variance. The output variables were yield strength and tensile strength. The input variables were two different cyanoacrylate adhesives, two different types of mechanical interlock (truncated pyramid and cylindrical pin) and the dimensions of each type of mechanical interlock. This study used simple and factorial experiments to select the best adhesive and interlocking to be optimized using the response surface and the steep ascent method.

The two adhesives have no statistical difference, but they show different data dispersion. The design or yield stress was a determining factor for selecting the optimal specimen, with cylindrical geometry exhibiting higher resistance at initial failure. Geometry type is crucial due to the presence of stress concentrators. The cylindrical geometry with fewer stress concentrators demonstrated better tensile strength. Ultimately, the specimen with a mechanically reinforced joint featuring a cylindrical pin of radius 5.45 mm and height of 4.6 mm exhibited the maximum tensile and yield strength.

Previous research suggests that a research opportunity is the combination of bonding methods in FFF or fused deposition modeling, which is not a frequent topic, and this research to enrich that topic combines the adhesive with mechanically interlocked joints and studies it experimentally for FFF materials, to provide unpublished information of the performance of the adhesive joint with mechanical interlocking, to designers and manufacturers of this technology.

Links between urban areas and public space have always had a central presence in the field of Urban Sociology. During the last four decades, and in relation with globalization processes, reflection about city places and what constitutes the “public” has increasingly been in line with what has been called an “emplacing heritage process,” which emerged as a controversial point of intervention in urban areas. In this sense, itineraries have been considered of primary importance in urban heritage signification, recognition, and symbolic production. In short, these routes appear as ways in which public space is materially and symbolically occupied, becoming emplacing heritage processes in themselves.

In this chapter, we study two heritage-making processes through neighborhood itineraries, which are carried out in district territory and are located in two peripheral neighborhoods belonging to the City of Madrid (Hortaleza and Carabanchel). Ultimately, the point here is that these routes are not merely a pathway that “goes” along acknowledged heritage places; these itineraries are an emplacement and a signification of patrimony itself. These processes act as markers of iconic places and as remembrance performances of neighborhood memory. We would argue that routes around historical places in Carabanchel, as well as the “Three Wise Men” popular parades in Hortaleza bring shared geographical imaginaries, collective memory, and iconic places together in everyday experiences of both places. These itineraries change both urban sites in terms of their neighborhood heritage by disputing spatial discourses and imaginaries of heritage, urban place, and neighborhood.

The Ciclovía-Recreativa of Bogotá is a community programme in which streets are closed to motor vehicle traffic and open exclusively for people so they can enjoy a safe, free space for walking, jogging, cycling and skating. Currently, Ciclovía-type programmes have been implemented in cities from all the continents of the world. This case study aimed to assess the association between walking behaviours and Ciclovía participation among adults and older adults and the potential factors associated with the sustainability and scalability of this programme. Adults who reported participating in the Ciclovía were more likely to walk at least 150 minutes per week (POR 2.08, 95% CI 1.43–3.02). Likewise, among older adults, living in a neighbourhood with Ciclovía corridors was marginally associated with having walked for at least 150 minutes per week (POR 1.29, 95% CI 0.97–1.73). Main factors that could contribute to the development and sustainability of the programme include policies from different sectors concurrent with community support. Factors associated with the scalability of the Ciclovía include: (1) local officials that travelled the world to speak about Bogotá’s urban transformation, (2) a transnational network of sustainable transportation and public health advocates of the programme, (3) a network of Ciclovía experts that shared technical and administrative details needed to organise an event and (4) the digital technologies that made the viralisation of photos and videos of Bogotá possible. The Ciclovía is a multisectoral and scalable programme associated with the promotion of walking.

This article aims to develop an original conceptual approach for the research and analysis of European works councils (EWCs) through a critical examination of the theoretical debate on the Europeanization of industrial relations and the main results of the huge body of quantitative and qualitative empirical studies of these transnational bodies for effective worker participation.

Starting from the authors' own experiences in qualitative case‐study research, they summarise the main developments of EWCs as the most advanced institutional piece in the emerging dimension of European industrial relations and discuss the strength and weakness of the different approaches employed in EWC research.

From a perspective of “political economy of European integration” the development of EWCs shows the changing power constellations at the micro‐ and meso‐level of transnational firm complexes. More than 800 EWCs councils with thousands of workers' representatives generate hope for an emergent system of industrial relations, but globalization, economic crisis, intensification of regime competition or the consequences on employment of relocation, restructuring and downsizing are threatening advances in this fundamental piece of the European social project.

The paper offers not only a comprehensive state of the art of theoretical debate and empirical research on EWCs, but develops an original and innovative analytical approach for future research. In a meso‐political perspective, linking together micro‐politics with the interaction of the firm with other collective actors, namely public authorities, trade unions and employers' associations at different levels, transnational industrial relations at company level are best analysed as dynamic networks of actors embedded in the framework of the transnational corporation, conceived as a political complex with different actors struggling for increasing their influence on corporate decision‐making processes.

The purpose of this editorial is to introduce this special issue on “International trade union networks, European works' councils and international labour regimes”.

The editorial provides an overview and introduces the papers which make up the special issue.

These papers allow us to consider the social, political and institutional dimensions of grass roots organising across countries and continents.

The issue adds new insights into the topic in addition to the more typical focus on institutional levels of union engagement.