The EU-funded Animal Welfare Indicators (AWIN) research project (2011-2015) aimed to improve animal welfare through the development of practical on-farm animal welfare assessment protocols. The present study describes the application of the AWIN approach to the development of a welfare assessment protocol for horses (Equus caballus). Its development required the following steps: (i) selection of potential welfare indicators; (ii) bridging gaps in knowledge; (iii) consulting stakeholders; and (iv) testing a prototype protocol on-farm. Compared to existing welfare assessment protocols for other species, the AWIN welfare assessment protocol for horses introduces a number of innovative aspects, such as implementation of a two-level strategy focused on improving on-farm feasibility and the use of electronic tools to achieve standardised data collection and so promote rapid outcomes. Further refinement to the AWIN welfare assessment protocol for horses is needed in order to firstly gather data from a larger reference population and, secondly, enhance the welfare assessment protocol with reference to different horse housing and husbandry conditions.
A truthful snapshot of horse welfare conditions is a prerequisite for predicting the impact of any actions intended to improve the quality of life of horses. This can be achieved when welfare information, gathered by different assessors in diverse geographical areas, is valid, comparable and collected in a harmonized way. This paper aims to present the first outcomes of the Animal Welfare Indicators (AWIN) approach: the results of on-farm assessment and a reliable and harmonized data collection system. A total of 355 sport and leisure horses, stabled in 40 facilities in Italy and in Germany, were evaluated by three trained assessors using the AWIN welfare assessment protocol for horses. The AWINHorse app was used to collect, store and send data to a common server. Identified welfare issues were obesity, unsatisfactory box dimensions, long periods of confinement and lack of social interaction. The digitalized data collection was feasible in an on-farm environment, and our results suggest that this approach could prove useful in identifying the most relevant welfare issues of horses in Europe or worldwide.
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Purpose The purpose of this paper is to identify perspective and feasible combinations of the existing revenue-driven methods with still more pervasive features of knowledge-based management and green management in hotel industry. The authors believe that the key path to success is in even closer, that is, daily personal orientation on customers, specifically on their satisfaction in both functional and emotional dimensions. Design/methodology/approach A research prototype of competitiveness modelling framework can be fully implemented in accordance with the methodology, proposed by Mitroff and Kilmann (1978). The key output of our conceptual modelling stage was causal loop diagram, showing relations among internal variables and determining overall dynamics of analyzed problem. In the implementation phase, the authors adopted system dynamics (SD) paradigm, which composes system behaviour from parametrically adjustable temporal accumulation of levels of internal resources. These resources (stocks) can be both quantitative (money, employees, services) and qualitative (trust, motivation, quality). After parameterization and validation, SD models are used for the analysis of real-world situations. Findings With the resultant interactive SD model, the authors designed and tested several scenarios, comparing the purely revenue-oriented hotel management with its customers-oriented and organizational knowledge-supported enhancement. The authors’ experiments showed that the proposed extension can contribute to the overall performance up to 15 per cent. According to the experimental findings, the primary reasons for the improvement are higher ratio of regularly returning customers and improved efficiency of internal processes as a result of continuous organizational learning. Originality/value So far, hotel managers use mainly simple analytic and planning tools, which cannot cover the practical complexity of surrounding market and internal processes. In comparison with purely revenue-based principles, advanced managerial practices, considering also qualitative and human-related matters, require additional viewpoints. The authors enhanced the hospitality domain with the introduction of dynamic hypotheses – feasible explanations of temporal behaviour of complex structures.
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