Live or let die: strategies for coping with COVID-19 from a business perspective in São Luís, Maranhão, Brazil

This study aimed to identify the strategies developed by micro and small tourism companies to face COVID-19 crisis in São Luís, Maranhão, Brazil. In addition, the effects of the pandemic on business were examined. Therefore, a qualitative, cross-sectional, descriptive, and exploratory research project was developed with micro and small business in the following sectors: lodging, transportation, agency, F&B, consultancy, ceremonies, and events. Data were collected through a semi-structured script containing the categories crisis impacts, crisis planning, implementation of crisis management and post-crisis management. A content analysis technique was used. The results show negative impacts, such as ‘financial difficulties’, and positive impacts, such as ‘professional qualification opportunities’. F&B companies achieved ‘improvements in revenue’ due to delivery. The strategies used to face the pandemic deal with marketing, finances, operational and HR management, and they vary according to the type of segments and stakeholders involved. In general, companies do not make contingency plans and act responsively to crises. Findings also point out the performance of public and private institutions in ‘technical and financial support’ to businesses, although ‘slow access to financial subsidies’ has been jeopardizing the future of businesses. For the post-crisis period, firms aim for strategies that are in line with the new normal and that strengthen consumers’ sense of safety.

INTRODUCTION
Since March 2020, the world has been challenged by a global pandemic, caused by a rapid spread of the SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus -COVID-19 -whose unprecedented impacts range from a severe global economic crisis to a large-scale loss in human lives (Baum & Hai, 2020;UNWTO, 2020). This pandemic is the biggest public health crisis in living memory (OECD, 2020) and has resulted in a significant reduction and/or total stoppage of hospitality and tourism operations in many countries (Chinazzi et al., 2020) -a situation that has imposed enormous challenges on tourism sector (Bartik et al., 2020) and, in particular, on micro and small companies (SMEs) (Dube, Nhamo, & Chikodzi, 2020).
Despite the contributions of SMEs to the global socioeconomic system (Inan & Bititci, 2015), these companies are challenged by strong competition and market turbulence (Castor, 2009). In Brazil, 98.5% of the approximately 5 million enterprises are SMEs (Nassif, Corrêa, & Rossetto, 2020); therefore, these small businesses are susceptible to market fluctuations and to a fragile economic environment (Asgary, Ozdemir, & Özyürek, 2020), especially in adverse scenarios, such as the one caused by  Bearing in mind that tourism is susceptible to natural disasters and pandemics that result in substantial financial losses (Kim, Lee, & Tang, 2020), with COVID-19, smaller tourism businesses are facing an imminent collapse (Dube et al., 2020). SMEs are more vulnerable to crises than larger businesses (Hall, Scott, & Gössling, 2020) because they suffer from a lack of management mechanisms, a smaller workforce and limited inputs and financial resources to deal with unforeseen events (Bourletidis, 2013;Giannacourou, Kantari, & Christopoulou, 2015). Therefore, the effects of this pandemic, whose ending is still uncertain (Wenzel, Stanske, & Lieberman, 2020), will be uneven in space and time for tourist organisations (Hall et al., 2020). It is estimated that more than 75% of European and American tourism SMEs will not reopen after the pandemic (Baum & Hai, 2020), and a good part of them have already closed their operations (Bartik et al., 2020). In Brazil, the impacts of COVID-19 on businesses demonstrate that in segments such as corporate tourism, closures will be closer to 90%, as they are involved in such activities as transportation, lodging and insurance (ABRACORP, 2020). Other studies show that economic losses, compared to the sector's GDP in 2019, will be in the order of R$ 116.7 billion in the 2020-2021 biennium, representing a loss of 21.5% in total production of the period (FGV, 2020).
Based on these figures, the tourism sector must develop measures that consider their idiosyncrasies, so that businesses will know how to act in the new normal (Dube et al., 2020). Since forming competitive strategies can be a process of learning and adapting (Whittington, 2002), an essential reactive posture of SMEs is both to respond to the pandemic crisis and to survive it .
Through this reasoning, the following question emerges: how are SMEs responding, in strategic terms, to the crisis caused by the new coronavirus? Therefore, the objective of this study is to identify the strategies developed by tourism SMEs in São Luís do Maranhão to face the COVID-19 pandemic and to verify the impacts on SMEs resulting from this pandemic.
The justification of this paper is supported by Kraus et al. (2020), who recommended researching crisis management in different countries to deepen knowledge about the subject. Kim et al. (2020) suggested continuous studies on the impacts of pandemic illnesses, considering the increasing appearance of new diseases. Specifically looking at tourism, Tito and Araújo (2019) alleged a lack of investigations into crisis management (CM) for the Brazilian context; these studies are usually related to the hospitality sector. Thus, we also considered the research agenda of Silva et al. (2018), advising researchers to explore the strategies developed by tourist organisations, in different segments, to deal with moments of crisis.
This work is structured as follows: (i) theoretical framework on crisis management and SME strategies; (ii) methodology; (iii) results and discussions; (iv) conclusions, managerial contributions, study limitations and research agenda.

CRISIS MANAGEMENT IN SMALL BUSINESSES
From a conceptual point of view, a crisis is an unwanted, a commonly unexpected and a time-limited process, whose outcome is possibly ambiguous (Glaesser, 2006). A crisis is not just an isolated event but a process that develops and evolves in phases (Miranda, 2017). The longer the crisis lasts, the scarcer financial resources become (Wenzel et al., 2020). This situation leads to the possible bankruptcy of companies (Bartik et al., 2020), which requires immediate decision making (Glaesser, 2006) and adaptation strategies (Whittington, 2002).
In times of crisis, SMEs tend to be pioneers and the main victims (Bourletidis, 2013). SMEs suffer disproportionate impacts in the context of an economic slowdown due to their financial limitations and dependence on bank loans with high interest rates (Bourletidis & Triantafyllopoulos, 2014). The financial fragility of SMEs is also linked to their vulnerability caused by the pressure from large suppliers and customers (Castor, 2009). In addition, deficiencies in technological, administrative, and human capabilities can reduce the competitive strength of SMEs to overcome crises (Bourletidis, 2013;Giannacourou et al., 2015). Thus, these companies face internal and external obstacles that make their survival harder (Miranda, 2017).
Yet some authors believe that SMEs are less vulnerable to crises than larger businesses (Bourletidis, 2013) due to their superior and faster adaptability capacity (Gregory, Harvie, & Lee, 2002) in exploring niche markets (Bourletidis, 2013) and copying best business practices (Wright, Kroll, & Parnell, 2015). SMEs' capacities are favoured by their reduced bureaucracy ; thus, it is necessary for companies to manage crises (Tito & Araújo, 2019).
Crisis management (CM) refers to a set of strategies as well as planning and implementation measures, aiming at preventing and coping with crises (Glaesser, 2006). The CM is guided by processes (Hong, Huang, & Li, 2012) of continuous improvement, which incorporate past lessons to minimise risks in the next crisis . Crises generate anomalies in business performance (Kurschus, Sarapovas, & Cvilikas, 2015), and for SMEs, these turbulences can cause incremental or radical changes (Iancu & Ciubotaru, 2013). CM comprises three stages (Kraus et al., 2020): pre-crisis prevention, implementation of crisis management and post-crisis results. For Ansoff (1957), trying to anticipate unpredictable events can be a waste of time and energy, which should be directed to other activities. Perhaps this explains Chien and Law's (2003) position that companies rarely have plans to face crises, which hinders preventive measures when they occur. This result was also found by Andirin, Moital and Cardoso (2017) in the events segment, in which crisis management is more closely related to spontaneous decision making than consulting contingency plans. Therefore, CM, in the strategy context, constitutes a more emergent characteristic (Whittington, 2002).
In the search for how to respond strategically to crises, studies on SMEs in different areas have been identified. At the international context, small South Korean businesses have excelled in strengthening technological innovation and marketing (Gregory et al., 2002). In Turkey, increasing expenditures related to sales and promotion operations was mentioned (Koksal & Ozgul, 2007). Hamdani and Wirawan (2012) asserted that SMEs in Indonesia needed to develop innovative strategies based on new products and marketing, in addition to redefining prices and forming partnerships to face periods of recession.
Looking at the resilience of New Zealand SMEs, Vargo and Serville (2011) recognised the importance of leaders who make cautious decisions and have a positive attitude, organisational cultures that value planning and innovation as well as responsive teams to deal with a chaotic situation. In research by Alonso-Almeida and Bremser (2013) looking at small Madrid hotels, they concluded that maintaining the quality of services and strengthening brand and consumer loyalty were the best strategies to mitigate the harmful effects of crisis. Projects that cut costs, in contrast, hurt their performance. For North American SMEs, the CM strategies focused on worker remuneration, transparent communication with suppliers and consumers and creativity in order to increase operational performance and market value (Wilson, 2016). All of these results were studied in the context of two major crises that affected world tourism: September 11, 2001 and the 2008 crisis.
As soon as the new coronavirus appeared and began to spread, Chinese SMEs acted to overcome the crisis, focusing on five areas: operations, finance, HR, products, and networks . These authors also suggested increasing customer relationships and focusing on products, finances, dynamic learning, and hardware. A large work of Bartik et al. (2020), examining 5,800 North American SMEs, showed that many companies had reduced financial capital in the beginning of the pandemic, which demanded drastic spending cuts, taking on additional debts or declaring bankruptcy. These are plausible strategies, especially for those companies that will probably not get financial assistance in a short time. In this sense, Alves et al. (2020) advised improving resilience strategies instead of waiting for government support.
Even so, Bartik et al. (2020) insisted on stakeholder support, such as government agencies, in consolidating economic and public health measures that mitigate the effects of the crisis. As an addendum, the study emphasised that internal procedures can generate greater competitiveness (Miranda, 2017) as well as relationships with customers, suppliers and partners (Wright et al., 2015). Among stakeholders, support institutions (SIs) -government organisations, business associations, funding agencies, universities etc. -provide technical-financial support, specialised services and they act as a repository of knowledge, which can improve business competitiveness (Hoffmann & Campos, 2013).
In the Portuguese pandemic context, small companies have used their dynamic capabilities related to entrepreneurship, innovation, accumulation of knowledge, and partnerships to develop new products (Dias et al., 2020). In five other European countries, an investigation with family businesses, including SMEs, identified managerial concerns about liquidity, reduced costs, and workload as well as government support. Specific adjustments to COVID-19 included the adoption of social distance, hygiene measures and communication with employees, aiming to overcome fears related to the disease (Kraus et al., 2020).
In the food and beverage (F&B) sector in several countries, Dube et al. (2020) observed some coping strategies: adopting personalised measures so that businesses can return under the new normal; taking care of customers and employees; developing and/or adopting health protocols; aiming to obtain certain certifications; making business adjustments such as resizing businesses; networking and collaborating; and accessing financial stimulus packages. Kim et al. (2020) emphasised that some corporate characteristics, such as brand reliability, protect businesses in the F&B sector, indicating such strategies as advertising aimed at clarifying sanitary conditions, remodelling packaging, and offering special menus.
In Brazil, Tito and Araújo's (2019) bibliometrics confirmed a small number of publications on the theme of tourist SMEs. Hoffmann, Vieira and Reyes Jr.'s (2015) and Silva et al.'s (2018) investigations were not carried out, specifically, with hotel SMEs, but also contemplated smaller companies in the sample. Both identified interorganisational relationships as a differential strategy to face crises, and in Silva et al.'s (2018) study, the findings suggested the following strategies: improving products, promoting on virtual channels, negotiating with suppliers and customers, reducing costs, developing trainings, and offering financial rewards.
Regarding the relationships cited above -translated as cooperation networks -Bouças da Silva, Hoffmann and Costa (2020) suggested their use in strengthening business competitiveness. Networking provides greater possibilities for raising and sharing complementary resources from partners (Costa & Albuquerque, 2013) -such as knowledge and information -reducing uncertainties, obtaining economies of scale and acquiring joint financing (Hoffmann et al., 2015). These partnerships can be motivated by the desire to achieve common goals (Balestrin & Verschoore, 2014), such as the need to solve costly problems, which, in isolation, the entrepreneurs would not be able to settle by themselves (Dyer & Singh, 1998). It should also be noted that these alliances, which can be initiated through the intermediation of SIs (Bouças da , can accelerate the adaptive response to externalities (Costa et al., 2008), such as sanitary and economic crises.
Examining companies of various sizes, Wenzel et al.'s (2020) bibliometrics mapped out the following typical crisis strategies: reducing costs, keeping operations on track, developing strategic innovation and/or ending operations. Kraus et al. (2020) argued that crises offer opportunities for adjustment and available time for training and creating operational safeguards. For tourist cities, Wang and Lopez (2020) suggested that official promotional strategies, in times of pandemic, can highlight security in the destinations in order to strengthen their image. This position is validated by Golets et al. (2020), who verified that sense of security, absence of risk, and sanitation controls are the main conditions for consumers to travel again. In general, companies that adequately modify their strategies can maintain or improve their performance during crises (Koksal & Ozgul, 2007).

METHODOLOGY
This qualitative, transversal, descriptive, and exploratory investigation (Flick, 2009) follows the recommendations of Andirin et al. (2017) about the need for qualitative studies on crisis and of Kraus et al. (2020) who understand the present pandemic as an unprecedented crisis that demands exploratory approaches to better understand it.
São Luís do Maranhão was the chosen destination for this study. It is an important Brazilian destination (Santos & Flores, 2017) and is included in category A, designating it as one of the best performing cities in the national tourism economy (MTur, 2019). The capital of Maranhão is one of the spots of arrival and/or departure of travellers in the Route of Emotions (Rota das Emoções), especially Lençóis Maranhenses National Park and its anchor locations, Santo Amaro and Barreirinhas (Bouças da . For data collection, a semi-structured script was used, containing four categories -crisis impacts, crisis planning, crisis management and post-crisis management -whose creation was based on Glaesser (2006) Table 1).  Kraus et al. (2020) Source: The authors based on the theoretical framework.
The unit of analysis refers to the SMEs related to tourism, that is, companies with up to 19 employees (SEBRAE, 2014). We are aware that the number of employees is the most common indicator to differentiate SMEs from larger enterprises (Inan & Bititci, 2015). For sample determination, the criteria of adherence and theoretical saturation were used, following Falquetto and Farias' (2016) guidelines for data systematisation and treatment. According to them, the specific literature has identified saturation in the 12 th interview and, in this study, two additional interviews were carried out to confirm the saturation point. Thus, we arrived at 14 SMEs from a total of 2,993 companies (SEBRAE, 2020) belonging to various segments of the tourism sector ( Table 2). The number of SMEs interviewed fits the analyses, since the ideal qualitative sample is the one that reflects, in intensity and quantity, the different dimensions of the studied phenomenon (Minayo, 2017). The in-depth interviews were recorded with the consent of the interviewees (Veal, 2011), between 14 and 28 May 2020, through Google Meet, Skype, WhatsApp, and Zoom, following the preferences of the investigated entrepreneurs. The recordings, averaging 35 minutes each (494 minutes in total), were transcribed and resulted in a corpus of 37,046 words distributed in 115 pages.
The transcribed data were analysed according to Bardin's (2016) content analysis technique, of the a priori categorical type. This analytical procedure is recommended for research in the tourism field (Sousa & Tomazzoni, 2017), and it is guided by a mixed grid of categories, which can generate new possibilities in the act of analysis (Vergara, 2015). Thus, after reading the text, it was grouped by meaning and inserted in the predefined categories and subcategories (Table 1).

RESULTS AND DISCUSSION
First of all, we aimed to understand the impacts of COVID-19 on the SMEs (Table 3). Some negative consequences of the crisis are common to any economic sector, due to the need for social distancing as the most important protective measure in the absence of treatments and of a vaccine for the new coronavirus (Hall et al., 2020). Considering the specificities of the sector, the almost complete stoppage of tourism operations (Chinazzi et al., 2020), in businesses such as transportation, lodging, and travel, resulted in the 'cancellation of the contracted services' and in the 'interruption and/or reduction in sales'. For events and ceremonies enterprises, the pandemic meant the 'temporary suspension of activities'; in the SMEs context (Castor, 2009), diseases have the power to generate anomalies in the performance of businesses (Kurschus et al., 2015), leading to their imminent collapse (Dube et al., 2020).
In this sense, the highlighted negative impacts on SMEs refers to 'financial difficulties', an expected consequence in crises (Asgary et al., 2020;Kim et al., 2020), but the impacts are deepened by the SMEs' limited capital and access to bank credit (Bourletidis & Triantafyllopoulos, 2014). Although the entrepreneurs did not express the intention and/or need to close their businesses, the longer this crisis lasts, the greater the 'bankruptcy' risk (Bartik et al., 2020), according to several of the accounts. Company D mentioned that before the pandemic, it worked in two different segments and, therefore, could mitigate its initial difficulties. In this case, diversification can be a strategy that minimises the impacts of the crisis.
As regards positive impacts, there was an 'improvement in the relationships with external stakeholders', an action highlighted by Bartik et al. (2020) as essential to reduce the effects of the pandemic. In addition, 'benchmarking' was eased by the rapprochement with other organisations (Wright et al., 2015). These two practices reinforce that business competitiveness mean the companies' capacity to overcome internal and external obstacles (Miranda, 2017).
An important finding refers to the 'legal changes that benefit business', arising from PM 1 Nº. 948/2020, which released companies from reimbursing consumers for a certain period of time in the case of cancellations of services, reservations and events in the tourism and culture sectors due to the pandemic (Brasil, 2020). This provisional measure reduces the pressure from suppliers and customers on SMEs (Castor, 2009) and consolidates the relevance of governmental support in crisis contexts (Bartik et al., 2020;Dias et al., 2020). Company C supported this claim: 'to adapt, we used all the provisional measures that the government issued. We grabbed PM 948 [...] and we could take a deep breath'.
'Rethinking the business model' and 'professional qualification opportunities' obtained a higher number of citations, which show that crises should be used for business adjustments (Dube et al., 2020) and to increase in training and development (Kraus et al., 2020). Two F&B companies claimed 'revenue improvements' due to the intensification of delivery services, a different result from what had been found in the other segments investigated. This is another example showing that the consequences of COVID-19 have been felt by tourist organisations unevenly in space and time (Hall et al., 2020).
Regarding crisis planning, Company A was the only one with a 'preventive strategy' -financial management -to face possible contingencies, as we noted below: '[...] I had a test of this situation. 9/11 gave some weapons to learn about now [...] I know what it is like not to have customers for five months. I learned to always be prepared to deal with scarcity, with limited resources'. According to this company, CM is a process of continuous improvement; it considers past lessons in the preparation of dealing with future problems . Accumulated knowledge was also used by Portuguese SMEs to react to the pandemic (Dias et al., 2020). Furthermore, 13 of the companies surveyed did not establish crisis prevention plans, which suggests that this is a common situation not only for event firms (Andirin et al., 2017) but also for the tourism sector as a whole (Chien & Law, 2003). Company F's statement highlights this understanding: 'we made our crisis plan in order to be able to anticipate what would come in the next months [...] a week before, in fact, this whole process starts'.
Regarding the implementation of CM, the companies' coping strategies for dealing with the pandemic, based on internal changes, will be presented, as their decisions involve 'employees and customers' (Table 4), in addition to other stakeholders, such as 'suppliers and competitors' (Table 5) and 'support institutions' ( Table  6).  Market penetration, found in the classic literature on strategy (Ansoff, 1957), was verified as the 'provision of services to new consumers' carried out by tourism agencies and lodging firms. Furthermore, some SMEs sought 'promotional packages sales', considering the financial difficulties of the consumers, which pressure decision makers (Giannacourou et al., 2015) to make adjustments in the fares offered (Hamdani & Wirawan, 2012). 'Product and service innovation' had fewer citations, but it is a CM strategy already identified in past (Hamdani & Wirawan, 2012;Vargo & Serville, 2011) and present (Dias et al., 2020;Wenzel et al., 2020) studies on crises.
Financial management was an indispensable adjustment to SMEs, mainly due to their financial limitations (Bourletidis & Triantafyllopoulos, 2014) to deal with unpredictability (Bourletidis, 2013;Giannacourou et al., 2015). In this sense, interviewees decided to carry out 'cost management' by significantly reducing the payment of workers, rent, and production inputs in order to avoid their immediate bankruptcy (Bartik et al., 2020). Some businesses alternatively sought 'third-party capital' in order to increase their chances of survival (Dube et al., 2020). Financial adaptation measures have been adopted extensively around the world as a strategy to safeguard SMEs against the advancement of the new coronavirus Bartik et al., 2020;Dube et al., 2020;Wenzel et al., 2020).
Regarding operational management, the 'adoption of sanitation protocols' was identified in enterprises with active operations, though in a reduced way, in the segments of accommodation, transportation and F&B. These measures mirror the social distancing and sanitary measures observed around the world (Kraus et al., 2020). It is worth mentioning the recommendation to develop certifications (Dube et al., 2020), like the Clean & Safe badge, which aims to inform travellers about the fulfilment of requirements for the prevention and control of COVID-19 in Portuguese tourist companies (CTP, 2020).
SMEs that restricted their activities -events, ceremonial and outbound travel agencies -moved from faceto-face interaction in their physical stores to 'home office and online customer service', motivated by the concern to keep in touch with their customers. In fact, virtual interaction is a past guideline to strengthen the competitiveness of outbound agencies (Sarquis et al., 2015). The third change for F&B companies refers to 'strengthening delivery/take away' through the adoption of new technologies and practices (OECD, 2020) and the exploration of niche markets (Bourletidis, 2013) -that is, a substantial change in F&B operations to react to the crisis .
The highlighted human resource (HR) practice was 'motivational support' to deal with the psychological impacts caused by COVID-19. This communication with employees helps to reduce the fears associated with the disease (Kraus et al., 2020). The review of aspects related to 'positions and salaries' -overtime and bonuses -has served to motivate and keep employees productive, even in adverse situations (Wilson, 2016). The last initiative for HR management identified was 'technical support to outsourced workers', which entails providing information about governmental labour measures, once it was necessary to take care of the company's staff (Dube et al., 2020). The sum of measures adopted shows that crises can cause incremental and radical changes to SMEs (Iancu & Ciubotaru, 2013).
The focus of crisis management directed at another group of stakeholders -suppliers and competitors (Table  5) -was 'negotiating with suppliers' (Silva et al., 2018;Wright et al., 2015); this was expressed in requests to maintain the prices of tariffs, rescheduling services, providing discounts, extending payment deadlines and implementing payment instalments. Yet these dialogues must take place with maximum transparency (Wilson, 2016) in order to reduce the vulnerability of SMEs due to the negative pressure from these actors (Castor, 2009). C, E, F, J, M, N Even the competitors got closer. We began to look for solutions for the tourism sector and not only for our individual business […] some groups were created to generate ideas to face the pandemic (Company J).

Technical support to suppliers and competitors
We have a lot of online training with new customers [suppliers] who worked in international outbound tourism [...] with competitors, we are working together on training with tour operators (Company C).
A, C, D, H, J, L I turned my Instagram into a content channel for entrepreneurs. I give ideas, tips and I talk about good practices. I shared an error management spreadsheet [...] many entrepreneurs have copied it (Company H).

Exchange of resources
We have two close competitors who help us, when we need something [inputs] […] We ask them and they lend to us. This also happens the other way around (Company I).

I, N
Alliances to exert pressure on the government With competitors, demanding some actions from the secretariat [of municipal and state tourism] to help our sector was what really brought us together [...] because they are responsible for the publicity campaigns. C Source: Research data.
The other contingency strategies act as cooperation practices between companies, as recommended in previous crises in the hospitality sector (Hoffmann et al., 2015;Silva et al., 2018), which have contributed to how these companies have reacted to . 'Joint decisions about the future of businesses' and 'technical support to suppliers and competitors' can be translated as informal cooperation (Bouças da  -vertical (companies-suppliers) and horizontal (companies-competitors) -and these partnerships enable sharing commercial information and knowledge (Hoffmann et al., 2015), which can guide current and future strategies.
As mentioned by Company I, the 'exchange of resources' (Costa & Albuquerque, 2013), in this case inputs, illustrates the need for alliances, as SMEs suffer from a lack of fundamental resources in their operations (Costa et al., 2008). 'Alliances to exert pressure on the government' generated collective benefits and confirmed that cooperation can help to solve common problems (Balestrin & Verschoore, 2014) in which entrepreneurs, by themselves, would hardly be able to settle (Dyer & Singh, 1998).
The action of SIs is also relevant ( Table 6). Support institutions can offer 'technical and financial support' (Hoffmann & Campos, 2013), mainly institutions with scope of helping SMEs -such as SEBRAE -by providing management guidelines in addition to the support of public banks, such as Caixa Econômica and Banco do Nordeste. This initiative highlights the role of government institutions, addressed by Kraus et al. (2020), in protecting SMEs in times of crisis. 'Seeking subsidies from the federal government' was also mentioned, considering its importance in reducing managerial concerns regarding finances and labour issues (Kraus et al., 2020). ABAV, ABIH, ABRAPE, Associação Comercial, BELTA, among others, were the mentioned SIs. This result highlights the role of business associations in reaching the collective interests that ensure the competitiveness of small companies (Hoffmann & Campos, 2013). In the investigated context, SIs exerted collective pressure on the government, resulting in benefits to the sector, including segments that do not have representative associations at the national level. Seeking subsidies from the federal government ABAV together with several tourism associations forced the federal government [...] to elaborate upon this provisional measure. In the beginning, it was only for airlines, but they also got it [credit] for travel agencies, lodging and event companies [...] Financial credit for the various tourist enterprises (Company C).
A, C, D, J, K

Initiating joint actions
With the role intermediation of ABAV and BELTA, we got close to the other associates, so we could elaborate publicity campaigns for the survival of our sector. The SIs contributed 'initiating joint actions' (Bouças da  among SMEs, such as promoting their business. Yet the complaint about the 'slow access to financial subsidies' promised by the federal government to ensure their economic viability and payment to their workers (Portal Panrotas, 2020) must be emphasised. One manager claimed that 'as this delay occurred [...] we had to fire people because of force majeure' (Company G). This occurrence proves the role of government agencies in technical and financial support in crisis situations (Bartik et al., 2020;OECD, 2020), although some authors addressed the concomitant improvement of other resilience strategies .
With regard to post-crisis management (Table7), managers aim to improve operational management in terms of 'developing, adopting and communicating sanitation protocols', considering the fear that must permeate travellers' imagination nowadays (Wang & Lopez, 2020). We maintain that the most competitive destinations and businesses in the post-pandemic will be those who pay more attention to customers and service providers (Dube et al., 2020). Therefore, official promotional efforts in tourist cities should reinforce these messages in order to ensure an image of a safe place to visit (Wang & Lopez, 2020). This is, in fact, one of the conditions for Brazilian tourists travelling again (Golets et al., 2020). In addition, the recommended social distance leads to 'working from home more often' and, consequently, 'rethinking the need for physical stores', given the increase in operating costs. Baum (2020) believes that the need to review operating costs results in increased prices and, therefore, reduced travel for tourism purposes. In order to improve marketing management, SMEs aimed to 'expand their participation in virtual channels', such as social networks and the development of their own applications, looking for the diversification of their communication and sales tools (Sarquis et al., 2015). Only one respondent said he had developed an app. The 'innovation of products and services' was essential, mainly in the event and ceremonies sectors, considering that their activities involve agglomerations, which urges the adaptation of these companies (Gregory et al., 2002).
From another point of view, the current and successful experience of jointly finding solutions to the crisis probably motivated managers to 'intensify interorganisational relationships' with suppliers, competitors and SIs, as previously stated by Balestrin and Verschoore (2014). In addition, the managers highlighted the 'flexibility of employment relationships' through commissioning instead of hiring. Temporary workers can distinguish success from failure in these enterprises (Miranda, 2017). The fear of new moments of crisis, besides the actual experience, drives these decisions.

CONCLUSIONS
This study aimed to identify the strategies developed by tourism SMEs in São Luís do Maranhão to face the COVID-19 crisis. In addition, we verified the pandemic's impact on businesses. Following the instructions of Tito and Araújo (2019), companies from various segments were interviewed -lodging, travel agencies, transportation, F&B, consulting, events and ceremonies -regarding the following themes: (i) impacts of the crisis; and (ii) crisis management (crisis planning, implementation of crisis management and post-crisis management).
In relation to category (i), which follows the research suggestion of Kim et al. (2020), the negative impacts included 'cancellation of contracted services' and the 'interruption and/or reduction in sales', especially for such segments as transportation, lodging, and travel agencies. For event and ceremonies firms, the pandemic meant the 'temporary suspension of activities', once they require agglomerations. All segments suffered from 'financial difficulties', mainly for being SMEs, and some interviewees confirmed the 'bankruptcy of companies'. The positive impacts included 'improvement in relationships with external stakeholders', which facilitates 'benchmarking'. Managers also mentioned the 'legal changes that benefit business', in addition to 'rethinking the business model' and 'professional qualification opportunities'. For some F&B companies, there were 'revenue improvements' coming from the exploitation of delivery services, motivated by the closing of physical stores. Thus, SMEs were impacted by the crisis but with different degrees of exposure between the most different segments.
Category (ii) corroborates the research agenda of Kraus et al. (2020) and Silva et al. (2018) by highlighting the strategies at each moment of the CM. Regarding planning, it was noted that companies tend to show responsive attitudes instead of developing contingency plans. Only one of the entrepreneurs -Company Amentioned having a 'preventive strategy' of financial management, motivated by its past experience of facing the 2001 crisis in the airline sector. This shows that CM is a continuous process of learning and organisational adjustment. In general, the COVID-19 crisis was unexpected, required a fast decision make and, consequently, demanded a reactive managerial attitude to face the threatening circumstances.
For implementing crisis management, the strategies were subdivided by group of stakeholders. As for consumers and employees, marketing directed to 'relationships and negotiation with customers' was identified by some SMEs, mainly event and ceremonies companies, because the fear of cancellations and the uncertainties of the ending of COVID-19 crisis enlarged concerns about the sharp drop in businesses performance.
The 'promotion on virtual and/or traditional channels' is translated through social networks, applications and radio broadcasts. Despite the focus on digital marketing, traditional media remains active in the business world. Commercial activities are aimed at the 'provision of services to new consumers', especially travel agencies and lodging companies and at 'promotional packages sales', a common practice to deal with an economic recession. 'Product and service innovation' appeared less frequently and illustrates a current gap.
Regarding financial management, there was 'cost management' related to labour, rent, and production inputs as well as access to 'third-party capital'. These typical measures are adopted by SMEs in critical periods, considering the financial constraints that quickly suffocate them and jeopardise their existence. The operational management required the 'adoption of sanitation protocols' for companies who kept working, mainly in lodging, transportation, and F&B. For those who faced more restrictive issues -events, ceremonies, and outbound travel agencies -the entrepreneurs started 'home office and online customer services'. Exclusive to those operating in the F&B sector, these protocols were fundamental to 'strengthen delivery/take away'. HR management practices involved 'motivational support', 'positions and salaries', and 'technical support to outsourced workers' in order to reassure employees.
For other stakeholders, the main strategies were 'negotiating with suppliers' through maintaining tariffs, rescheduling services, offering discounts, extending payment deadlines, and implementing payment instalments. Other practices included informal cooperation between companies, which amplify their capacity to respond to crises, such as 'joint decisions about the future of businesses', 'technical support to suppliers and competitors', and the 'exchange of resources'. In addition, 'alliances to exert pressure on the government' were highlighted, which shows that networking can achieve common goals. The strategies relying on SIs, mainly for public and private institutions, served as 'technical and financial support' to aid businesses.
An important finding referred to the proactivity of SIs, especially business associations, 'seeking subsidies from the federal government', which collectively benefited the varied segments of the tourism sector. Yet SIs reinforced their potential to raise cooperation networks in tourist territories. It is worth mentioning the 'slow access to financial subsidies', promised by the federal government, which jeopardises the future of Brazilian SMEs.
Regarding post-crisis management, entrepreneurs mentioned their desire to 'work from home more often' and 'rethink the need for physical stores'; after all, COVID-19 has demanded social distancing and isolation. Some companies have already leased their physical space as a strategy to lower costs. In this context, there is a need to 'expand their participation in virtual channels', since consumers are increasingly interested and influenced by user-generated content. Furthermore, the search for 'product and service innovation' and the 'flexible employment relationships' -due to recent changes in the Brazilian legal framework -were referred.
As the most cited strategy, there was a concern to 'develop, adopt and communicate sanitation protocols' in order to attract new consumers and stimulate purchasing. Overcoming the fear of travelling depends on the destination as a whole -instead of part of the tourism companies -which must attend to the official health agencies requirements needed for the new normal.
These conclusions support some managerial strategies to face future crises: networking with other companies to raise common strategies and to access competitive resources; reducing costs without losing quality; innovating continuously and attending different consumers and niches; focusing on CM process with a clearer understanding of costs and revenues; investing in virtual tools that promote greater interactivity and amplify sales channels; developing, adopting, and communicating sanitation protocols; improving human resource management practices that motivate and value employees; seeking technical and financial support from SIs; and developing certifications attesting to the security in the companies. Some limitations of this paper include the locus, segments, and economic sectors surveyed as well as the focus of the discussion. Furthermore, it was not possible to examine the effectiveness of the strategies adopted. As a research agenda, we suggest to investigate other economic sectors or different segments of tourism; to extend the research to other locations in Brazil and the world; to develop quantitative approaches considering the categories and variables of this study and/or using other qualitative techniques of data collection and analysis; and to conduct longitudinal studies on crisis impacts and CM.
It is also worth noting that future analyses on this topic will take place in the post-pandemic context of COVID-19, which will demand facing new challenges to destinations and organisations in an uncertain horizon; after all, 'COVID-19 means the future of tourism is a blank piece of paper' (Yeoman, 2020, p. 119).


Sustainability practices in container terminals in Brazil

Paper aims: This paper aims to investigate which sustainability practices are being applied in port terminals in Brazil and to identify the driving forces and obstacles to the implementation of these practices. Originality: The research contributes to fill gaps that still remain in the literature, such as the need to identify and analyze sustainability requirements in the port industry in a more tangible way, bringing new evidence to a better understanding of how the port industry perceives and addresses sustainability issues. Research method: The paper presents an in-depth multiple case study in the five largest terminals in Brazil, which correspond to approximately 60% of the Brazilian handling of containers. Main findings: The results present evidence of the evolution of the commitment to environmental preservation and the progressive dissemination of sustainability practices. The main difficulties are the high costs and lack of support from the port authority to encourage the implementation of some practices. Implications for theory and practice: This study aimed to disclose sustainability practices adopted at container terminals in Brazil, as well as provide some content, both for academia and companies, that may assist in developing new research on this theme and implementing these practices in other organizations.

modernizing the industry based on sustainability principles and with a focus on the public interest. The SEP follows and coordinates environmental licensing procedures for the areas of public ports, private use terminals, and land and maritime access works (Brasil, 2014).
However, according to Galpin et al. (2015), it is possible to observe gaps between the principles and sustainable models discussed in theory and the organizational policies applied in practice. The measurement of sustainable development in activities and/or port areas is a theme that has not been thoroughly studied thus far. According to Di Vaio & Varriale (2018), the literature still lacks further studies to identify and analyze the sustainability requirements in the port industry in a more tangible way. For Ashrafi et al. (2019), it is important to carry out more case studies to analyze how ports realize and approach sustainability. Schrobback & Meath (2020) claim that the existing literature on sustainability in the port context provides a limited view of how the theme is dealt with on a corporate level. In addition, Zheng et al. (2020), in a recent study on research trends on port sustainability, emphasize the importance of new qualitative studies on the topic and suggest expanding the scope of this research to other regions of the world such as Asia, Africa and South America.
In this context, this study aimed to identify which sustainability practices have been implemented by container terminals in Brazil and the driving forces and obstacles to the implementation of these practices.
This study was divided into six sections as follows. Section 1 presents the introduction of this study and its objectives. Section 2 presents the theoretical background that supports this study. References are presented regarding the environmental and sustainability practices in seaports and port terminals. Section 3 presents the methodology used. Section 4 shows the data obtained in the field study, while section 5 analyzes and discusses these data. Section 6 describes the conclusions obtained and presents suggestions for future research on the theme.

Sustainability practices in ports
The sustainability principles emerged in a social-historical context of environmental abuses, considering a general social awakening regarding issues that involve the relation with the planet. As ports are organizations that play an important role in integrating supply chain operations, they need to adopt sustainability requirements in their operations, which has received considerable recognition. Lu et al. (2016a) defined port sustainability as the "company strategies and activities that meet the current and future needs of the port and its interested parties, while protecting and sustaining human and natural resources".
A proposal to apply environment management systems in specific ports, as well as a system of port sustainability indicators, was carried out by Peris-Mora et al. (2005) at the Port of Valencia as a part of the Ecoport project, using a multicriteria methodology that could be expanded to European ports. Puig et al. (2015) analyzed the environmental priorities of 79 European ports according to their characteristics based on European Sea Ports Organisation (ESPO) reports and a preliminary selection of environmental performance indicators. Schrobback & Meath (2020) also suggest the definition of objectives and targets for environmental management practices.
These contributions clearly identify with the classical view of sustainability and the environment. While the number of proposals is already limited, proposals that introduce suitable elements and dimensions to the concept of sustainable development are even scarcer. After including and analyzing the economic aspects in the reports on sustainability in Spanish ports, Asgari et al. (2015) applied the analytical hierarchy process (AHP) to the ports in Great Britain to establish a ranking of these ports based on economic and environmental aspects. Finally, Shiau & Chuang (2015), using the procedure of the social construction of technology (SCOT), were able to identify sustainable development indicators for the Port of Keelung regarding environmental, economic and social dimensions.
Throughout the years, the focus on port sustainability has become increasingly important on a global scale. Gupta et al. (2005) discussed the Environmental Management Plan (EMP) using a variety of methods to protect the environment, as well as prevent and control pollution during the construction and operation of a large terminal. Saengsupavanich et al. (2009) proposed the 12 Environmental Performance Indicators (EPIs) to evaluate industrial ports. Peris-Mora et al. (2005) proposed an Environmental Indicator System (EIS) according to different levels of managerial decisions. In addition to the economic aspect, the authors focused on the environmental indicators.
According to Dinwoodie et al. (2012), ports have adopted a mix of awareness training and rigid regulation to fill the gap between environmental aspirations and practices. The Council Directive CE85/337 of the European Union (later altered to EC97/11) recommended ports to perform an environmental audit, covering handling and storage areas for prescribed materials, waste emissions, waste disposal areas, fishing, wetlands and specific zones of scientific and cultural interest, compliance with conventions and codes related to sea pollution and hazardous goods and prioritizing environmental protection issues. Audits are not mandatory; however, port managers are responsible for environmental damage, with subsequent punitive damages. Di Vaio & Varriale (2018) evidenced that environmental regulations should also provide guidelines for monitoring and measure the effects of environmental choices.
Organizational actions, such as investment in equipment to mitigate pollution, usually reflect managers' decisions, which are sustained by an underlying sustainability strategy. Nevertheless, the development of environmental awareness in ports and input-output modeling based on process systems of environmental port management are still little explored. According to Dinwoodie et al. (2012), few ports in Europe have effective management, with 32% planning to outsource environmental management activities and 22% hiring specialists.

Sustainability practices in container terminals
A research project in the academic literature on container terminals reveals only a few studies on sustainable container terminals. Sisson (2006) and Pedrick (2006) presented definitions of sustainable container terminals and drew attention to their characteristics. Lazic (2006) and Clarke (2006) suggested that automated equipment and semiautomated cargo handling may be elements of a sustainable container terminal. A series of articles address topics related to a general description of sustainable ports without providing any empirical analysis (Yang, 2015).
While previous studies addressed several research topics on the environmental aspects in sustainable ports, few studies focused on these issues in container terminals. In Europe, the Environmental Code of Practice for ports in the EU was established in 1994 and updated in 2003. In 2000, the port authority of Valencia was the first to try to implement a system of environmental port management, developed within the EcoPort project (2013), in which the self-diagnosis method (SDM) and the Port Environmental Review System (PERS) were established (Yang, 2015).
According to Davarzani et al. (2016), ports started to encourage ships to turn off their engines and generators while docked and to connect to an onshore power supply, a process called "cold ironing". The same practice was suggested by Schrobback & Meath (2020).
For multimodality and sustainability, the Port of Gothenburg works as a model because half of the container volume is transported to the countryside through an extensive domestic railway network that extends to Norway (Notteboom, 2013). In addition, the Port of Gothenburg was the first port in the world to offer high-tension onshore power supply (OPS) for cargo ships in 2000. OPS replaces the onboard power supply generated by auxiliary diesel engines with power generated onshore, resulting in a significant reduction in greenhouse gas emissions in the port industry (Hakam & Solvang, 2013).
According to Hakam & Solvang (2013), the Port of Oslo in Norway released the Oslofjord Clean Up project in 2000 to remove contaminated sediments deposited on the bottom of the canal over a century of industrial activity. Baumgartner et al. (2008) developed a qualitative research project to investigate how computerized systems for routing and scheduling of trucks that arrive at the port have a positive impact on CO 2 emissions. Ashrafi et al. (2019) rated ports that monitor and control their sustainability practices using ISO standards and found that 65% of them adopt some of these practices, such as performance indicators, green certifications, and sustainability reports.
In the US, the California Air Resources Board (CARB) had a great impact on most sustainable initiatives implemented in the main container ports of Los Angeles, Long Beach and Oakland. An important rule imposed on the ships by the CARB program in 2008 is that, within 40 nautical miles from the Californian coast, marine fuels with a low sulfur concentration must be used instead of fuel oil (Cannon, 2008). For the docked ships, it was mandatory to reduce the emissions of nitrogen dioxide and particles by 10% in 2010, while it is expected that they meet the demand to reduce such emissions by 80% by 2020 (Cannon, 2008). For container ships, the change towards natural gas seems to become a common decision. In 2013, there were over 50 ships ready or on request, powered by natural gas across the world (Hakam & Solvang, 2013).
According to Hakam & Solvang (2013), the practices of five container ports in Asia and America present similarities and differences among their policies, concepts and environmental management measures. The research results revealed that Shenzhen (China) and Hong Kong were reducing the emissions related to ships and ports to become sustainable ports, and the authors suggested that sustainable ports should encourage stronger cross-border collaboration. DP World -the terminal operator based in Dubai -successfully implemented the replacement of diesel engines with electric engines in rubber-tyred gantry (RTG) cranes, thus reducing the monthly diesel consumption by approximately 109,000 liters (Haine, 2009). According to Vujičić et al. (2013), the environmental impacts between conventional and electric RTG cranes differ by approximately 2.5%. Yang (2015) developed a classification of sustainability practices by port terminal operation, which includes berth areas, yard areas, gates areas for transport vehicles, and integration practices among terminal areas. This classification was obtained by means of interviews with the terminal managers, who ranked the level of importance of each practice within its area of operation. Based on the areas of operation defined by Yang (2015), the sustainability practices in port terminals identified in the literature are consolidated in Table 1. Table 1. Consolidation of sustainability practices in port terminals identified in the literature.

Terminal Area Practices Authors Berth Area
Deployment of on-shore power supplies Yang (2015) Yang (2015) Shortened moving distance of tractor-trailers or handling equipment in the CT Yang (2015) Optimal CT layout for energy conservation and carbon reduction Yang (2015) Reduction in speed of ships near the port Yang (2015) Installation of a gate assignment system to reduce external trucks' queuing time and gate passage time Yang (2015), Baumgartner et al. (2008) Control of harbour and stevedore operations via electronic data transmissions Yang (2015) Requiring that external vehicles turn off their engines while idling and queuing to enter the gate Hakam & Solvang (2013), Yang (2015) Use of IC tags or smart cards to facilitate passage through control points Yang (2015) Replacement of road modal by rail modal Hakam & Solvang (2013), Notteboom (2013)

Integrated Area
Use of hybrid and environmentally-friendly vehicles and the use of ultra-low-sulphur fuel oil to reduce air pollution emissions Yang (2015) Restriction on entry into the port area by older vehicles, while encouraging replacement by environmentally-friendly vehicles

Scope
The consolidation of practices presented in Table 1 was used to elaborate the research protocol for the field studies. Container terminals were selected from the three largest Brazilian ports -Port of Santos, Port of Paranaguá, and Port of Itajaí, which correspond to approximately 60% of the Brazilian handling of containers. The first terminal analyzed was BTP (Brasil Terminal Portuário), located at the Port of Santos. The second terminal was APM Terminals, which originated as an operational branch of the Maersk Line, located at the Port of Itajaí. The third terminal was Santos Brasil Participações S/A (Santos Brasil), a Brazilian container operation and logistics company located at the Port of Santos. The fourth terminal was Grupo Libra, one of the largest ports and logistics operators of foreign trade in Brazil. The fifth terminal was TCP (Terminal de Contêineres de Paranaguá) located at the Port of Paranaguá.

Methodology
This research had an exploratory objective, using the method of multiple cases studies in the specific context of container port terminals in Brazil. The replication logic was used in five container terminals in the three largest Brazilian ports, which due to their size and characteristics cause impacts on the social, economic, and environmental dimensions in their respective regions. A principle underlying data collection in case studies is triangularization, that is, the combination and use of different methods to study the same phenomenon. The data regarding practices used by the participating companies were obtained through in-loco observations, analysis of documents and records related to sustainability and face-to-face interviews. The interviews were recorded on audio and had an average duration of about one hour with professionals in management positions of the environment and operations areas.
A database was used to store the information generated from the multiple sources of evidence and information, structured in a way to establish a logical link between the various sources of evidence and the various research variables. The data analysis used the content analysis technique and consisted of deepening and examining the data set of all the evidence collected at the five terminals, as proposed in the conceptual model of the study, to obtain an analytical result and identify if the sustainability practices, highlighted by the academic literature, are implemented in these terminals. The amount of information obtained did not justify the use of software for data analysis.
The results are presented in binary form, with YES or NO answers, that is, whether the sustainability practice is implemented or not. This form was adopted to facilitate the analysis and enable the achievement of the proposed objectives and represent the final conclusion of the researchers after evaluating the data obtained from different sources.

Results and analysis
This section describes the sustainability practices observed at the terminals under study and analyzes the results obtained, based on the practices presented in Table 1.
This study included five large-scale terminals (Santos Brasil, Libra Terminais Santos, Brasil Terminais Portuários -BTP, APM Terminals, and Terminal de Containêres de Paranaguá -TCP), according to the classification adopted by the National Bank for Economic and Social Development (BNDES), while APM Terminals is the only multinational company. Although all terminals are considered to be large-scale, the Santos Brasil and BTP terminals have superior handling (see Figure 1). The reason for this change is that these terminals are located at the Port of Santos, the largest in Latin America, while TCP and APM are located in ports with lower handling levels.
Analyzing the numbers related to electric power and water consumption from an environmental perspective, it is possible to establish a direct relation between the handling at the terminal and consumption (see Figure 2).
To provide a general view of the results collected, it is possible to observe that Figure 3 presents the adoption of sustainability practices at the terminals by operation area, according to the classification by Yang (2015).
The figure shows what was observed in the case studies, revealing that the most adopted practices are those made mandatory by the port authority and/or controlling agencies. These practices are concentrated at the terminals' gate areas, where they concern the way to inspect the cargoes, and at integration among the areas, in which they usually concern follow-up practices and environmental information management demanded by the controlling agencies. 6/13 -Berth Area The first area of operation defined by Yang (2015) is called the berth area, in which all ship loading and unloading takes place. The literature identifies eight practices regarding sustainability in this area.
As shown in Table 2, four practices are not adopted by any of the five Brazilian terminals. Two of them, deployment of onshore power supplies and layout of automatic mooring system, depend for their implementation on large investments that require incentives from the port authority, which does not happen in the Brazilian scenario. Davarzani et al. (2016) and Schrobback & Meath (2020) describe cases in which the implementation of these practices had incentives from the port authority as in ports in Australia and New Zealand, in contrast   to the Brazilian case. The other two practices not implemented by any of the terminals, incentives for ships with gas emission reduction plan and transformation of contaminated dredging sediments into other substances, do not depend on large investments, but on the regulation and coordination of the same port authority, in the Brazilian case controlled by federal government.
The other four practices were observed in most terminals because they presented economic and environmental advantages to the terminals. Yang (2015) classifies the gantry cranes with twin-lift or tandem-lift operating capabilities sustainability practice as the one with the most importance in the berth area. The result shows that this practice is also considered to be especially important in Brazilian terminals, as all of them have equipment that allows this type of operation. However, terminals only use twin-lift gantry cranes as a consolidated practice, different from tandem-lift gantry cranes, which are not used because they require a larger side area and new technologies that are not available in Brazilian terminals. The second most used practice in Brazilian terminals is also mentioned as highly important by Yang (2015). The shortened moving distance of tractor-trailers or handling equipment in the CT follows the trend of the main terminals around the world. The reason why only one terminal does not use this practice is the need for space and the area layout that separates the handling flows of ship operations and yards. Reduction in speed of ships near the port and optimal CT layout for energy conservation and carbon reduction practices, only adopted by some terminals under study, respectively, are practices in which the focus is not sustainability but operational performance. The former is applied to ships by safety regulations imposed by the port authority -which controls the entry and exit of ships at the ports -and which, for safety reasons, requires ships to reduce their speed when entering the port canal to dock. Therefore, this is an initiative from the port authorities and not from the terminals. The latter is the result of a search for better productivity in operations (decreasing the flow of vehicles), which also lowers the number of pollutants emitted by the equipment. To implement this practice, the terminal needs an area that allows storage planning with these premises -Libra Terminals is limited regarding this condition because it has a smaller area available, different from APM Terminals, which still does not measure or control its carbon emissions. Two practices that are not adopted by any terminal layout of automatic mooring system and deployment of on-shore power supplies have high implementation costs that are not part of the investment plans of Brazilian terminals. Two practices that are not used by any terminal incentives for ships with gas emission reduction plan and transformation of contaminated dredging sediments into other substances are managed by the port authority, and the terminals have no responsibility or autonomy to implement them.
Ports in other regions have a greater number of sustainability practices implemented in the Berth Area due to the active participation of the port authority and other government agencies. This factor can be identified in the studies by Cannon (2008), Yang (2015), Davarzani et al. (2016) and Schrobback & Meath (2020). This participation through incentives, investments and strategic partnerships is the main reason to explain why Brazilian port terminals are lagging behind Asian, North American and European ports.

-Yard Area
The second operational area defined by Yang (2015) is called the yard area, a place in which containers that have been unloaded or loaded are stored. The literature identifies six practices regarding sustainability in this area.
As Table 3 shows, two practices were not observed in any of the five terminals. One of the practices use of automated handling equipment was not implemented due to its high purchasing cost and a lack of short-term investments, and the other practice temperature control in low energy for containers reefers was not implemented because it depends on the ship companies (owners of reefer containers) to gradually modernize their reefer containers, considering that they consume a large amount of power as they are old and obsolete. Two practices are used in most terminals, as they are mandatory by the port authority, and two others are partially used by some terminals, as they require high investment. Yang (2015) classifies the use of automated handling equipment as the sustainability practice of utmost importance in the yard area, which is corroborated by Hakam & Solvang (2013), Lazic (2006), and Clarke (2006). In Brazilian terminals, however, nonautomated gantry crane equipment is used, thus requiring a manual operator. None of the terminals plans to replace manual equipment with automated equipment, as its high cost compared to the workforce does not justify the investment. The second most important practice classified by Yang (2015), also presented by Hakam & Solvang (2013) and Vujičić et al. (2013), is conversion of diesel equipment to electric power systems. It is possible to observe an increase in the adoption of this practice in Brazil, as some terminals have already started converting diesel equipment, while others are planning to take this measure. The importance of this practice is demonstrated by Davarzani et al. (2016), who calculate that the gain in reducing power consumption may reach approximately 30%.
It was possible to observe that Brazilian terminals present more use of two sustainability practices recommended for the yard area. The first is the installation of wireless remote-control systems or laser sensor technology in operating system, which are used in all terminals because wireless remote-control technology is easily understood and applied by all collaborators. Another commonly used practice is the adoption of measures to reduce tractor-trailer engine idling. The reduction of vehicle emissions is obtained by training operators and drivers on how to drive in a way that consumes less fuel, as well as adopting preventive maintenance and strategies that decrease the vehicles' journey. The temperature control in low energy for containers reefers and replacement of old equipment or acquisition of electric-powered equipment are practices that are less adopted in Brazilian terminals because they require high investments that are not viable at present, given the current economic situation of the terminals and uncertainties in the political and economic scenarios of Brazil.

-Gate Area
The third operational area defined by Yang (2015) is called gate area of containers, where containers that will embark are received and containers that were disembarked are removed. The literature identifies six practices regarding sustainability in this area.
According to Table 4, only one practice was not observed in any of the five terminals -the control of harbor and stevedore operations via electronic data transmissions practice -which requires the use of information technology, infrastructure adapted to this technology at the gate area, and a specialized workforce. From the terminals' perspective, the investment needed to adapt to this technology is too high, and the financial return is low. Due to this understanding, the practice is not applied. Two practices are used in all terminals because the  port authority makes them mandatory, and three other practices are partially used by some terminals because they are not the port terminals' responsibility or because of a lack of investment. The establishment of OCR and RFID systems to speed up the passage of tractor-trailers through the gate area is identified by Yang (2015) as the most important practice at the gate area of the terminals. This practice is adopted in all Brazilian terminals that were part of this research, as it was required by the respective port authorities to accelerate the passage of vehicles through the gates. Another practice that was found in all terminals is the adoption of installation of a gate assignment system to reduce external trucks' queuing time and gate passage time, suggested by Léonardi & Baumgartner (2004) and Baumgartner et al. (2008), as the port authorities required terminals to plan to receive and remove containers according to their internal handling capacity, thus enabling a reduction in queues and emissions to the environment. The other practices suggested for the gate area of the terminal present a low adoption level, as they either require high investment in equipment and technology by the terminals or are the responsibility of the port authorities or other public agencies. The requiring that external vehicles turn off their engines while idling and queuing to enter the gate practice is only adopted at the BTP terminal as guidance through integration videos, booklets given to drivers and information signs. Terminals are not allowed to make drivers turn their vehicles off; therefore, this practice is only guidance. The use of IC tags or smart cards to facilitate passage through control points is only adopted at the BTP terminal by means of a card that the driver receives at the entrance gate, indicating the address where the loading or unloading of the container should take place. In this way, drivers do not waste time locating themselves, which makes their stay at the terminal faster. The replacement of road modal by rail modal practice could be observed at the Santos Brasil and TCP terminals, as they have had railway lines connected to their yards since their implementation. For the other terminals to connect to the railway network, public investments must be made in the port complex to connect the existing railway networks to their yards. Currently, there are no investment plans in this regard approved by the federal government.

-Integrated Area
The fourth operational area defined by Yang (2015) is called integrated area -the corporate practice that involves the whole terminal. The literature identifies nine practices regarding sustainability in this area.
As Table 5 shows, only one practice was not observed in any of the five terminals. The establishment of elevated roadways out of the port area requires the involvement and initiative from the port authority and city halls, which are responsible for the traffic management plan and investments in this area. Some practices are applied in all terminals because the controlling agencies require them and they involve low investment, while others depend on each terminal's economic capacity. The use of hybrid and environmentally friendly vehicles and the use of ultra-low-sulfur fuel oil to reduce air pollution emissions is classified by Yang (2015) as the most important practice in terminal integration areas. However, this practice is rarely adopted at the terminals under study due to the high cost of replacing the current fleet with a fleet of vehicles with lower indices of pollutant emission. Only the BTP and Santos Brazil terminals have developed studies on the future adoption of less harmful vehicles to the environment. Environmental monitoring around the port, implementation and monitoring of sustainability indicators and focus on port land, air and water quality, ecological protection, and pollution prevention are adopted at all terminals under study because they are demanded by the controlling agencies. In addition to being mandatory practices, Ashrafi et al. (2019) indicated that 65% of ports monitor and control the environment through indicators, certifications and reports, a fact also observed in Brazilian terminals. These indicators are used by the port authority to compare and classify the places that require more attention, which was also suggested by Laxe et al. (2016). The lack of monitoring may result in fines or even the prohibition of operation of the terminal by the controlling agencies. The audits of environmental regulations, in addition to being requested by the port authority in Brazil, have become important to managers due to their possible accountability in case of environmental damage, which was also evidenced by Di Vaio & Varriale (2018) in other cases. The existence of indicators and audits allows port terminals to define their strategic goals and objectives related to sustainability, as proposed by Saengsupavanich et al. (2009) and suggested by Schrobback & Meath (2020).
The restriction on entry into the port area by older vehicles, while encouraging replacement by environmentallyfriendly vehicles practice is adopted in two terminals, although only for informational purposes. The terminals do not have any rules regarding prevention of access, as the renewal of vehicle fleets depends on public policies of incentive and large investments from the carriers. The traffic police only inspect and fine the most severe cases. The implementation of energy conservation and carbon reduction measures in offices is adopted in two terminals with the use of LED lightbulbs, automatic stop water faucets in toilets and awareness programs. The generation of energy through friendly systems (wind or biomass) is only adopted at the BTP terminal with the use of solar panels in some buildings, such as the cafeteria and smaller facilities. As the sustainability practices in this case involve all areas of the terminal, the difficulties faced in the adoption of some of them are the high investments needed and the shared responsibility among the terminals, port authority and public agencies. Figure 4 shows the correlation between the size of the terminals under study in terms of the quantity of containers handled per year and the number of sustainability practices adopted. One reason why larger terminals adopt more sustainability practices is their greater financial capacity. Another observed factor that directly contributes to this correlation is that larger terminals have more structured environmental departments, with dedicated and skilled collaborators in sustainable activities. The creation and maintenance of these departments depend on the financial capacity to invest in these corporate structures. However, the smaller terminals have also been working on planning and implementing these structures. The pattern in this figure occurs in the Brazilian scenario because port terminals with greater movement and revenue have a greater likelihood of obtaining financial resources to implement sustainability practices since the responsibility for this implementation rests entirely with the terminals, unlike in other countries, where the port authority has an important role in financing such developments. Examples of this arrangement can be seen in the studies by Hakam & Solvang (2013) and Notteboom (2013). Yang (2015) highlights the need for port companies to seek a balance between economic development and environmental protection.

Discussion
The BTP terminal contends that the greatest difficulties in adopting sustainability practices are a lack of state and federal regulations and the constant policy changes on the topic, which result in additional costs as the terminals adapt to the new legislation. The greatest motivation for adopting sustainable practices mentioned by this terminal is clients' growing awareness and demands, which force the terminal to adapt. The APM terminal highlights that the driving force behind applying sustainability practices is national and international regulatory pressure, mainly related to fulfilling the terminal's lease contract. Another driving force mentioned is the value that customers attribute to the terminals that adopt sustainability practices. Through an analysis of the difficulties, it is possible to highlight the high costs of environmental programs and the lack of commitment to sustainability among the ports' top management as factors that block faster development of these practices. These perceptions corroborate those mentioned by Hou & Geerlings (2016), who highlight the importance of changing attitudes among decision makers, and by Chan & Wong (2006), who highlight budgetary and other limitations. The Santos Brazil and Libra terminals share the same perceptions, answering that the main driving forces behind adoption of the practices are national and international regulations, while the main difficulty is the high implementation costs, mainly those involving changes in equipment and infrastructure. The respondents add another difficulty -collaborators' lack of awareness at all hierarchical levels. The TCP terminal also highlights that growing awareness and customer demand are the main driving forces of applying sustainability practices and considers the main difficulty to be the high costs of purchasing new equipment and infrastructure to reduce environmental impacts.
According to the literature, companies are trying to see sustainability practices as an opportunity to improve their competitiveness, seeking motivation to overcome the difficulties regarding their adoption (Centobelli et al., 2017;Stocchetti, 2012). The framework found in Brazilian terminals only partially corroborates this statement. The results obtained demonstrate that there are several practices that are only infrequently implemented at Brazilian terminals or not implemented at all, unlike in other regions of the world where sustainability practices are applied more frequently. However, several obstacles and difficulties identified in the Brazilian case can also be found in other scenarios. The lack of integration of sustainability objectives in the decision-making and strategy-definition processes, for example, is also verified in the study by Ashrafi et al. (2019) of Canadian and North American ports. Schrobback and Meath (2020) also highlight the existence of engagement gaps in Australian and New Zealand ports regarding the implementation of sustainability practices.
It is possible to identify the existence of sustainability practices in all areas of port terminals, albeit with a smaller number in operational areas (Berth and Yard areas). The main reasons for this are related to financial and regulatory challenges, as already described in several referenced studies.

Conclusions
The handling of containers in Brazil and all over the world grows every year, making port terminals play an increasingly important role in world trade. Therefore, the environmental impacts that ports and port terminals may cause have also raised concerns. Thus, ports and port terminals all over the world have introduced related policies and applied sustainability practices in their operations, aiming at the sustainable growth of the container handling chain. This empirical study, by means of multiple case studies, aimed at identifying which sustainability practices are adopted at the main container terminals in Brazil. This study included five terminals of the three main Brazilian ports, which correspond to 60% of container handling in the country. As a reference to carry out this research, the classification proposed by Yang (2015) and the sustainability practices in port terminals identified in the literature were used.
The research results show that the area referred to by Yang (2015) as integration is the area where most sustainability practices are adopted in Brazilian terminals. This statement may be explained by the obligation imposed by Brazilian legislation to control data regarding pollutant emissions and environmental quality. In the other areas of berth, gates and yards, the practices adopted are aimed at improving the terminal's operational productivity, which positively impacts the sustainability aspects.
This integration strategy of operational and environmental gains has led Brazilian ports to improve their implementation of sustainability practices, corroborating the study by Schrobback & Meath (2020), which states that the sustainability corporate strategy must focus on multiple components. The practices with a lower level of adoption by the Brazilian terminals considered in this study are those that require high investments, which are usually hindered by the terminals' lack of financial capacity. One example is the use of automated gantry crane equipment, which is highlighted in Yang's (2015) research but has a low implementation level in the Brazilian context.
Although the managers of Brazilian terminals consider sustainable practices to be important for the development of the terminal, there is a lack of ambitious strategies, investment plans and implementation of these practices. The driving forces that foster the implementation of practices in other terminals, such as the development of an organizational culture focused on sustainability, operational risk management and corporate citizenship, are rarely observed in Brazil.
The lack of support and management from the government agencies that control the port areas where the terminals operate and the instability of the political scenario over the last years prevent investments due to the managers' low trust in the political stability of the country. In any case, based on the results of this research, it is possible to emphasize the evolution of the commitment to preserve the environment and progressively disseminate sustainability practices in Brazilian terminals over the last years.
This study aimed to disclose sustainability practices adopted at container terminals in Brazil, as well as provide some content, both for academia and companies, that may assist in developing new research on this theme and implementing these practices in other organizations.
It is suggested that future studies be carried out in a wider sampling universe to support the discussion on how to adopt sustainability practices and how to overcome the challenges faced when implementing these practices. Future research projects that measure the economic, social and environmental gains that sustainability practices can generate for the terminals and their surrounding communities may also be relevant.