Repositório RCAAP

The notes to financial statements became a priority under the accounting frame of reference: Accounting Normalization System. As a result of a gradual demand from business stakeholders, the disclosure of accounting information and its international comparability and harmonization are critical factors within an organization.Under this context the present study examines the level of disclosure compliance with the Accounting Standard and Financial Reporting 18 (Inventories) in the years 2010 and 2011. This study also intends to provide evidence of the explanatory factors related of such level of compliance.The notes of the financial statements of 31 non-finance companies not listed on a regulated Stock Exchange market were content analysed and a disclosure index was computed. Main findings indicate that companies fulfill the disclosure requirements of the Portuguese Accounting Standard and Financial Reporting 18 in 80,4% and 81% in 2010 and 2011, respectively. We could also conclude that older companies with more liquidity and lower profitability present the highest level of compliance.

This paper aims to identify the profile of younger who download more software pirates; understand young people's behavior in relation to digital piracy; verify if this profile impact in young justice perception and attitude toward digital piracy . The research is characterized by quantitative and descriptive, using Suki, Suki and Ramayah (2011) model in a 397 student sample. The results showed that: the using of software pirates is more high among men and who made less use of software pirates are young people with higher incomes; the younger are less influenced by others to make use of digital piracy and demonstrate a small intention to use it; and it was found that the respondents’ profile has a moderate effect on the behavior about piracy (34.67% variable) and, among the those, the variables that most cause impact are: gender (100 %), habit (40 %), income (20 %) and knowledge (13.33 %).

Despite having a large contemporary importance, in addition to historical, linked to the provision of products to the lower income stratum of urban population, the theoretic contribution of the researches versed to flea markets is still very insipid and inconclusive. Thereby, this research aims to analyze the type of consumption of frequenters of a flea market. Thereunto, a Likert scale was applied, which measures the consumer types, to 251 participants while doing their shopping at the Fair Aníbal Pinto, at the city of Temuco, Chile. Thus, four factors were distinguished: “Utilitarian”, “Hedonic”, “Search for Stimuli” and “Accessibility”. The results show no significant differences in the reasons for consumption between men and women, but it was found that younger people have a higher consumption “Search for Stimuli”. Regarding socioeconomic status, low income people have higher “Hedonic” and “Search for Stimuli” consumption than in the other levels. Furthermore, the flea markets continue to resist the advances of the modern temples of consume attracting a large public that looks also for fun and leisure. Its frequenters form a contingent of consumption that has different ideals in contrast with the pragmatic and simplistic logic imagined by companies. At the end, the limitations and suggestions for future research are presented.

This paper aims to present a proposal for strategic planning for a gas station based on your strengths and weaknesses. The proposal followed the model of strategic planning Balanced Scorecard (BSC). The research is characterized by being an exploratory case study. Were used qualitative informations, collected through semi-structured interviews and participant observation, which were held in three months. A SWOT analysis to assess your strengths and weaknesses, opportunities and threats thus identify strategies visible internal and external environment was also performed. The preparation of the proposal defined the mission, vision, principles and goals of the company. Finally, strategies are suggested to be used by the company, which may serve as an example for other companies that also suffer from the same problems.

Goodwill has been a permanent object of research and analysis within the scientific community motivating wide debates characterized by the lack of consensus regarding its recognition as an asset as well as its initial and subsequent measurement. The recent change imposed by the main regulatory bodies, both international and national level, the accountig for goodwill ceased to suffer systematic amortization for extended periods wich, ultimatelly, could be 40 years and giving place to annual tests of impairment losses. The existent literature about subsequent measurement of goodwill is wide, based on various studies, corroborates the thesis that the new model is subject to evaluation procedures that are highly influenced by professional judgments often leading to earnings management. The main objective of this work is to understand, through a case study, if the entities that recorded goodwill in its assets in Portugal, comply with the precepts of the rules by making goodwill impairment tests annually, and if these tests are performed according to the requirements of the new accounting model, allowing the correct recognition and measurement of this asset and, if not, why. The investigation leads the conclusion also that the realization of goodwill impairment testing, is a complex process and that the entities that perform, experience difficulties in the correct application and compliance. The investigation leads the conclusion also that the realization of goodwill impairment testing, is a complex process and that the entities that perform, experience difficulties in the correct application and compliance.

The present work aims to study the importance of the olfactory stimulus as part of an in-store sensorial atmosphere. The methods applied attempted to measure the effects that the scent may produce on consumers’ evaluations and feelings about the in-store environment, as well as on their behavior. In order to fulfill this objective, this investigation had, at first, an exploratory stage, which consisted in an extensive bibliographic review. This part was followed by an experimental stage, which included a field study, carried out in a real retail environment through the application of a quantitative survey. For the empirical study, the case of "Zara Home" was adopted. The shop undertakes an olfactory marketing stagey focusing on the experience it might engender.  For the data analysis, the Environmental Psychology Model, provided Mehrabian & Russell and adapted by Donovan & Rossiter, was adopted as a reference framework. The results show that the presence of an in-store olfactory stimulus may positively influence consumers’ evaluations regarding the place, as well as their feelings during the experience. It was possible to conclude that the adoption of the olfactory stimulus as an in-store marketing strategy may cause consumers to perceive the place as more pleasant and interesting, as well as to enhance their satisfaction and happiness feelings within that space. The results also showed that investigations in this field of study are still limited. Thus, a significant array of managerial implications is yet to be unveiled by researchers willing to deepen in this area.

In the current context of economic crisis, the luxury market does not seem to suffer from what is happening around, and has grown mainly because luxury customers have financial power and maintain their lust for luxury. However, in a market with an strong competition is not enough to have a strong brand, it is essential to add value, and holistic marketing can contribute strongly to this result.Thereby, the purpose of this paper is to analyze the specificities of the luxury market compared with the non-luxury market, and, assess the level of valorization and enforcement by the luxury brands of each of the four dimensions of holistic marketing (relationship marketing, internal marketing, integrated marketing and performance marketing). For this purpose the Portuguese sector of luxury tourism has been chosen, specifically, the luxury hotels.Data were collected by means of interviews with hoteliers directors or marketing managers of six luxury hotels located in Portugal and were treated with a qualitative method of thematic content analysis by recourse to MAXqda® software.The results provide evidence that the luxury market is more complex to manage than the non-luxury market, and is also worth mentioning that luxury emphasizes each of the dimensions inherent in the philosophy of holistic marketing.This paper contributes with critical information that might help cast light over recent theories and practices of marketing on luxury market.

The role of corporate social responsibility has assumed paramount importance recently due to the economic instability we are experiencing. The most recent economic and financial crisis that began at end 2007 in United States because of liquidity shortage and loss of reputation in the banking system has led companies to take a greater interest in issues related to Corporate Social Responsibility, this leads to increasing concern of businesses understand the concept and dimensions and incorporate them into your reality. Since the financial sector has been indicted of being the main culprit of the current global financial and economic crisis, this research aims to analyze the differences in the level of disclosure of information about social responsibility among four banks of Portugal and four banks of Spain, and review differences over the years 2006, 2008 and 2010, and analyze the correlation between the level of disclosure of information about social responsibility and a set of economic variables and financial performance. The results showed an increase in disclosure levels and decreased levels of profitability and depositor confidence, between 2006 and 2010 in both countries. However it was not observed significant differences in average rates of disclosure of information about social responsibility among the banks of the two countries, Spain and Portugal, and over the three study years.  The research hypotheses were only partially accepted, once only found positive and negative correlations between the level of disclosure of information about social responsibility with economic variables and financial performance in just a few banks and not on the entire sampl.

O nº9 da série IV da Revista Estudos continua, em 2014, com a divulgação de artigos que, erguidos pelo saber e dedicação de seus autores, usufruem, também, da experiência de supervisão da nossa comissão científica de avaliação; com efeito, neste número, a materialização dessa cadeia de valor concretiza-se através de variados enfoques que, centrados nos domínios da contabilidade, da gestão, da informática e do marketing, aparecem ao leitor e à comunidade científica e pedagógica suportados por modelos teóricos e empíricos, desafiando a complexidade e a dinâmica dos variados contextos de Portugal, Brasil e Chile. (...)

The evolution of technology provides new ways of planning, management and control of the work, but these new forms need to be aligned with the organization's goals. The implementation of a new system brings many benefits the administrative point of view, but set up as a novelty which implies awareness of its relevance with users, training and adequacy of existing limitations, as well as reconfiguration to better serve users. This article aims to diagnose the impacts of the implementation process and system utilization SIAPE-Health, by raising its positives and improvements resulting from the use of an organizational design and analysis related processes. For this we used the strategy of case study data collection through observation, documentary research and application of interviews with employees using the system described. Notably, evidence from this study that besides the inconsistencies of the system, the lack of options releases and other operational problems, there is a difficulty in understanding the processes and work routines, creating an overlap of activities and responsibilities. The solutions of the problems identified by users in general are beyond the reach of the same in terms of responsibility and skills needed, creating a need for the involvement of employees to better adapt the system to your everyday reality and subsequent reconfiguration of the same.

Dividends and their distribution decisions, being a component of the compensation of investors are a constant financial worry within companies, thus revealing one of the themes highlighted in the context of the financial literature. Study will address the factors determining the dividend policy practiced by companies listed in the Portuguese stock market. The latter will be 47 non-financial companies listed on the Euronext Lisbon during 2009 until 2011. The two samples that have been investigated include the representative of the majority of non-financial companies listed on Euronext Lisbon and the other financial companies members of the PSI 20. The methodology adopted is one of the ordinary least squares regression and the amount of dividends per share distributed was used in determining the dependent variable. In relation to the independent variables, six explanatory factors were chosen. These include profitability, stability of dividend policy, size, growth, risk and investment opportunities. The conclusion suggests that the most important factors to explain the amount of dividends distributed are profitability and stability of dividend policy. There after, growth and risk factors, as well as factors that explain the amount of dividends distributed are also relevant. The remaining variables obtained were insufficient evidence pointing to a significant effect in explaining the dividend policy of Portuguese companies in the sample. The conclusion also states that differences exist in the importance of the explanatory factors to the amount of dividends distributed between the study samples, given the differentiation of dividend policies, followed by companies from each group analyzed.

Interactions between companies and customers have changed throughout the years and, due to many reasons like sociocultural, legal, political, economic, ecological and technological evolution, these relationships have increased considerably in the last decades. As a result, the marketing strategy is no longer based on a purely transactional marketing approach but one of new marketing with a much more relational perspective. The companies’ priorities have changed and they are presently more concerned about their relationship with customers, rather than with production which used to be a priority.Many companies have already started using CRM (Customer Relationship Management) to store, manage and organize customers’ contacts by means of web-based software that support these actions but social networks turned out to be another way of attracting new customers and keeping previous customers' creating a relationship of trust and making relationship management easier. Social network websites have therefore a growing importance in the relationship between companies end consumers.The present thesis assesses the level of use and the impact of social networks in the customer relationships management, as far as companies are concerned. Within this framework, an empirical study based on a quiz enquiry has been made in companies in the scope of the district of Aveiro. We intend therefore to try to understand whether companies are aware of this new reality and in what way they are managing it.

In this dissertation it is intend to study business risks, and their report analysis, in Portuguese enterprises with shares listed on Euronext Lisbon. The risk concept and the importance of risk report inherent in the business, are essential subjects during the current globalization age, characterized by a set of changes and uncertainties, where investors and stakeholders are increasingly demanding, being a crucial point for the economic and financial viability of an organization. The level of importance of reporting is supported by literature based on theories of report justification and new ways of reporting. This study aims to characterize the enterprises  and  its  own  reports  of  risks,  and  within  this,  an analysis of content was made to the annual reports of non- financial companies listed on Euronext Lisbon in 2010 to identify and measure the several types of risks involved. Based on this identification of risks, indices reports of types of risks involved were calculated to allow us to apply the different statistical models, such as regression tests and contingency analysis, to verify the existence of relevant connation between variables characterizing enterprises and the risk report.The test made to the formulated hypotheses showed evidences of significant and positive relation between dimension and systematic risk (just for a single semester), and/or and risks report. On the other hand, there were no evidences of any connation between variables of performance, leverage and systematic risk (first semester).Regarding the characterization of business risks report accomplished by the enterprises belonging to the sample, it was found that the risks disclosure is mainly relative to the past, non-monetarily and essentially regarding positive results.

The tax planning is an area that has been developed in Portugal in recent years. However, the line between tax planning, also called fiscal management, and abusive tax planning, is sometimes tenuous, and collides with the freedom of choice of taxpayers.The crisis environment in which we live today fosters and encourages evasive behavior of taxpayers; however, the abusive tax planning, for the reduction, mitigation or deferral of taxation, is most visible in the larger taxpayers, given the complexity of the operations involved.Obviously, it is up to the legislator, to launch legislative instruments that allow counteract such practices. The application of specific antiabuse rules, the  general  antiabuse  clause,  and more  recently,  the  duty  of  disclosure  under  Decree-Law  n.  º 29/2008 of 25 February, are tools to combat tax planning abusive.Is a competence of the Tax Administration to detect the use of these abusive taxes planning schemes, leading to a decrease in taxes collected by the state. The development of the tax audit takes special importance, since only the correct definition of it can allow the detection of abusive tax planning schemes.This dissertation has the objective to show how with a careful and strict tax audit procedure, essentially at the planning level, the Tax Authority can find complex  abusive tax planning schemes. Therefore a practical case is here presented based in real facts, in which the tax audit procedure was implemented through three phases: planning, execution and conclusion.

Although the development of information technologies have marked the past twenty years as something truly revolutionary that can initiate radical changes in the society, this may not be sufficient to determine the structure of society in general and labor organizations in particular. This article intend to show that although the inclusion of technology would be beneficial to the organizations, the development of strategies should be viewed from an integrated point of view by adding creativity and synergy, both acting as natural companions of competitive advantage. In this context, the "Outsourcing" arise as a key component of the strategic process, that although may include or not technology, must always be seen as something revolutionary in the development of new services in terms of operational efficiency.

Through agent-based simulation was modeled a market where alliances between companies to complement the competences and abilities are fundamental to exploiting new opportunities. The strategic enterprise behavior based on management, in order to attend the goals of stakeholders or shareholders must affect the alliances and their levels. Enterprises facing market opportunities which request strategic alliances can or cannot cooperate on the others according to their strategic behavior profiles and according to the historical cooperation evaluation of their potential partners. The model of agent-based simulation proposed for such essay, uses roles based on Sugarscape, on prisoner dilemma for n-players and concepts existents about cooperation, stakeholders and shareholders theories and enterprise alliances. It has been verified that the emergence of cooperation can occur, but depends on how fierce is the competition in terms of existing firms in the market initially and the diversity of firms in terms of their internal cost structures.

The rapid growth of the service sector in almost every economy in the world has created a significant amount of interest in service operations. And a good performance of these operations supports competitiveness and establishes a relationship with the customer, consolidating the brand, market communications and etc. This study aims to evaluate the quality of services provided in two Leader Training Centers (LTC’s) in Santa Maria city – RS/Brazil, as well as identify which attributes of the dimensions of quality that surpass or not customers' expectations. To collect the data we elaborated a questionnaire adapted from the SERVQUAL model in its various dimensions of the quality in services. The results showed that, in general, companies have satisfactory results with regard to customer satisfaction. But have gaps for improvement.

The European accounting harmonization process led to the publication of the Regulation (EC) 1606/2002, introducing the obligation to use of IFRS in the consolidated financial statements of publicly traded companies established in EU member states. Also the national accounting standards have changed, approaching these standards, as was the case of Portugal with the implementation of SNC. Based on a qualitative methodology and documental evidence, we have performed a literature review of the most significant studies on the impacts and implications caused by the transition from the accounting standards and also on the perception of preparers of information about the change of accounting standards. The reviewed studies on the adoption of IFRS in Portugal, as well as SNC, showed that it cannot be said that the impacts on equity and net income are statistically significant. Although this conclusion has also been found in some EU member states, significant impacts were detected in some other EU countries. The perception of preparers of information is also in the sense that the impact in income was reduced or inexistent. However preparers consider that this model leads to improved quality of financial information, facilitates comparability and their use by supervisors and regulators. Focusing in Portugal, preparers recognize a number of advantages with the introduction of the SNC, but consider that the new standard does not fit the reality of domestic firms. Studies conducted in different periods have different results regarding the implications on the profession.

According to Xenos & Moy (2007), the use of new media together with traditional media has become the core of any political campaign in democratic countries, since Barack Obama was elected President of the United States in 2008. Portugal is no exception: during the Presidential campaign in 2011, the 6 political candidates used altogether 35% of all different types of new media available; this amount rose to 52% for the winning candidate Cavaco Silva (Barbosa & Motta, 2011). The use of new media in political communication has been studied by a number of scholars.The main aim of the present research consists in analyzing the new media’s campaign strategy used by the political communications apparatus of the five major political parties that presented candidates for legislative office in Portugal, in the election and campaign period occurring in May-June 2011.Furthermore, data concerning the frequency and type of new media used, and the level of involvement with the voter in the web site and the social networks Facebook and Twitter was quantified.Regarding the investigation methodology, an online content analysis was applied, as a qualitative and a quantitative research instrument.

This dissertation has become particularly relevant and current, given the level of growth and diversification of the Nonprofit Setor Entities. This study aims to compare the accounting standards applicable to these entities in Portugal and Spain, with emphasis given to the recognition, measurement, presentation and disclosure of financial information issued by the entities of both countries. This type of research is descriptive and inductive, there were developed concepts, ideas and opinions based on patterns found in the data. In this study, one of the main conclusions lead to the harmonization of the Framework, oppositely to what occurs on the accounting standards of Portugal and Spain. However, we believe that the standards recently adopted in Portugal are an important step in the homogenization and adaptation of accounting standards for nonprofit sector entities and it is believed to contribute to improving the quality and transparency of the financial information of these entities.