RCAAP Repository

This study aims to identify the legitimacy strategies of Suchman's typology (1995) evidenced in the CEO letters of Banco BPN, ascertain whether there is evidence in those documents of narcissistic personality traits of the CEO and how these influenced the way the legitimacy strategies were implemented . The research is based on a case study, BPN, and an analysis of letters from the CEO to shareholders for the period 2001 to 2011 was made. We chose the BPN, because it was a bank that grew very rapidly and due to his bad corporate behavior, was nationalized to preventing its bankruptcy and later sold to Banco BIC. Through content analysis the accounting narratives contained in the CEO letters were analised. Findings show that BPN adopted predominantly strategies to gain legitimacy in the period 2001-2007, and strategies to restore legitimacy in the period until 2010. It is also possible to say that the change occurred in the strategies adopted was due to the occurrence of a negative event that has damaged, deeply, the legitimacy of the organization, not to the CEO change. Despite the legitimacy of strategies have been adopted correctly, the fall of the bank was inevitable. Findings clearly document several factors associated with bank failure, as executive fraud, misleading financial reports, inadequate disclosure, among others. The CEO letters do not show traces of destructive narcissism.

In 2009, a privileged tax system to attract high value-added foreigners and thus promote investment and raise the skill levels in the workforce was incorporated into the Portuguese legal system. In spite of not being a pioneering experience in the field of taxation, it has revealed  to  be  truly  competitive  when  compared  to  the  other applicable systems in the European Union, namely in terms of scope, criteria and duration of application. The inevitable interaction between this system and the Conventions to avoid Double Taxation and the principle of non-discrimination has led to a cross-cutting analysis and enabled a global and systematic assessment of the underlying benefits. Possible constraints as to the Conventions to avoid Double Taxation, although real and of difficult elimination, sometimes result in ·extremely auspicious situations for the beneficiaries, as it is the case of double exemption for foreign-sourced pensions. In addition to this, we consider that the fact of .shaping a clear tax benefit and thus promoting derogation from the general rule of VAT taxation does not jeopardize the constitutional principle of non­discrimination.

Nowadays the market is saturated by never ending messages issued through the media which makes attracting customers a difficult task for the brands. Guerrilla marketing emerges as a solution to this communication problem by offering an innovator method given the content and the transmission paths of a message to the public. This resource allies creativity to social networks allowing catching customers’ eyes and strengthen the relationship with them while having a reduced investment. This study seeks to understand the impact guerrilla marketing on social net- works, in this case Facebook, has on the relationship of the customer with a brand, namely the factors that lead the customers to interact with guerrilla con- tents and the impact those contents have on the brand's image. A mixed method research was adopted, using first focus groups and then a questionnaire. The results suggest that the interaction between customer and brand presents a strong relation with the characteristics of the content published on Facebook. It was found that funny guerrilla marketing contents appealing to humor enhance the relationship with customers, increasing the interaction. Opposing to this, contents considered offensive generate adverse reactions on customers as well as reduced interaction levels. The research also shows the user profile relates to the interaction level. Frequent Facebook users show a greater predisposition to interact with guerrilla marketing contents. Furthermore, the characteristics of the guerrilla marketing content present a strong association with the brand's image. Funny guerrilla content affects positively the brand's image while offensive ones tend to affect it negatively.

This study aims to identify the motivations/reasons why the Portuguese companies with securities listed on the Euronext, between the years of 2006-2013 decided by a governance model over another(s). For this purpose, it is intended primarily to understand and find out what are the factors that explain why, between 2006 and 2007, a considerable number of companies decided to abandon the Simple Latin Model and adopt the Reinforced Latin Model. Secondly, sought to fin empirical evidence to explain, why organizations choose between the Latin model and Anglo-Saxon on existing literature we defined as independent variables: Shareholder Concentration, Independence of tile Board of Directors, Corporate Governance Robustness, Saxon model, the logistic regression model (logit), we found a negative relationship between the size and between the periods 2006-2013. Based Internationalization, Dimension, Debt, Profitability, Shareholder Structure, Type of Auditor and Listing Status. Using Reinforced Latin Model, concluding that, between the years 2006 and 2007 were the smaller companies that have moved from Simple Latin Model for Reinforced Latin Model. Relative to the larger study between the years 2006-2013 (Latin Model vs. Model Anglo-Saxon) the results were more comprehensive and found more variables with explanatory capabilities, all with a positive association: the independence of Board of Directors, the Corporate Governance robustness and the presence of public funds in the shareholder structure.

O nº12 da série IV da Revista Estudos anuncia o final do ano de 2015 com uma miríade de artigos que, situados no âmbito da gestão, das finanças, do marketing e dos sistemas de informação e linguagens para a governação pública, realçam a natureza multidisciplinar do conhecimento pedagógico e científico que nos comprometemos a divulgar – aquele que se tem vindo a desenvolver dentro e fora dos muros do ISCA e da Universidade de Aveiro. As variadas abordagens - centradas nos domínios das finanças empresariais, dos processos de co-criação de valor, das atitudes perante o consumo e das estratégias de governação pública - convidam a comunidade científica e a pedagógica a reflexões (continuamos a acreditar e a lutar por isso) que não deixarão de alimentar futuros estudos e consequentes publicações. (...)

The main objective of this article is reflected in the analysis of the effect of corporate performance indicators in the stock price accounted for by the Portuguese capital market using fundamental analysis. In the empirical study conducted was used as the sample listed financial institutions in PSI 20 and the estimated results are obtained by applying the OLS and report to 31 December of the years 2002 to 2012. The estimated results suggest that indicators of business performance is likely to explain the present market price of the shares of financial companies, finding a significant effect of almost all variables. Thus protrudes significantly positive effect of variable profitability of assets and lending variable. There seems to be a positive relationship between return on assets and the performance of listed financial institutions in the Portuguese PSI 20, as well as these institutions increase the financing market also contribute to increase the price of its shares. In turn, the net result, the number of shares issued and the ratio of loans in arrears are statistically significant variables in explaining the stock price but with a negative sign.

The process of co-creation is a relevant way to support the innovation process and build sustainable competitive advantage. The Service-Dominant Logic (SDL) has increasingly received interest from researchers, as an important milestone in the marketing discipline as science, business and social function. The present study has the aim of analyse the proximities and distances of John Deere and its dealer network in relation to SDL. From the case study, the results showed, paradoxically, that John Deere has more proximities to SDL than its dealers do.

Given the barbecue consumption in the state of Rio Grande do Sul (RS) as one of the main courses and traditionalism symbol of southern Brazil, we intend to discuss in this article factors influencing their consumption. The goal is to test the model Thorsdottir et al. (2012), by applying a questionnaire with 200 students of the Federal University of Santa Maria / RS. Thus, it analyzed the consumption by constructs: consumption in childhood, involvement with health, sensory beliefs, attitude, social pressure, barbecue preparation and skill for cooking. It was concluded that the respondents were young men and women, students and mostly from the middle class; most do not roast / BBQ prepare and consume it four times or more per month; consumption had higher averages in the attitude constructs, sensory beliefs, consumption in childhood and social pressure, and that involvement with health and preparing barbecue / cooking skills were the constructs that had lower averages. To identify how the profile of respondents influences the barbecue consumption, it was found that men have a more positive attitude toward the barbecue consumption, they become more likely to consume it often are safer and have greater knowledge how to prepare it; those who do not prepare barbecue have a greater concern for health; those who have had more contact with barbecue in childhood, consume more often and those who consume barbecue 5 times or more per month are safer and have greater knowledge about their preparation.

In a crisis context we have a scenario of new functions emerging from the center of an enlarged public sector as an entity created and defined by the System of National Accounts (SNA2008) and the European System of Accounts (ESA2010) for the best understanding of the general government impact on the economic system and for the survival of a Welfare State plenty of interactions with the market and the risky society. The presentation and analysis of some public sectors, from different countries (European or not), will be the scope of this study based on the national accounting framework and language. It is proposed, in line with the diversity or even the convergence of the strategies for the wealth and the welfare, a new governance paradigm. The referred paradigm will be sustained by the urgent need of the institutions governance new approach to face the challenge of the “Balance Sheet Recession”.

O nº11 da série IV da Revista Estudos inicia o ano de 2015 com um conjunto de artigos que, pelo seu alargado âmbito e diversidade clarificam a natureza multidisciplinar do conhecimento pedagógico e científico que nos comprometemos a divulgar – aquele que se tem vindo a desenvolver dentro e fora dos muros do ISCA e da Universidade de Aveiro.As variadas abordagens - centradas nos domínios das estratégias de marketing e do ensino/aprendizagem, dos paradigmas da consultoria de gestão e dos determinantes da falência das PME – convidam a comunidade científica e pedagógica a reflexões que não deixarão de alimentar futuros estudos e consequentes publicações. (...)

This research seeked to investigate and identify product attributes that are decisive on purchase of footwear by the consumers, from the view of retailers and/or sellers of the mono brands stores of women's shoes of the shopping malls in Porto Alegre - RS, Brazil, in order to provide important information to products development and actions marketing about shoes. The descriptive method relied with bibliographical revision and Survey. The research through interviews used non-probability sampling technique for trial. All gathered data was analyzed and described. The results indicate ways in products development, because indicated the attributes of the shoes searched by segment consumers. Through this brief result, we can understand the points that should receive more attention and emphasis to think the mix of products to be developed and launched in the shoes collections. The results indicate a direction for the efforts in research and industry technology and, it can also, to contribute in brand positioning and marketing strategies in the footwear sector.

In a historical retrospective, although the existing literature describes the management consulting industry as a remarkable sector and a unique phenomenon in the business context, in fact these statements are not accompanied by a number of academic studies that highlight the importance of the effective work of management consultants. To combat the lack of studies in this emerging field this article aims to construct a definition of management consultancy that is widely accepted. The results of the empirical analysis in the form of semi-structured interviews and questionnaires with management consultants and SME managers in Portugal, are thereby redefining the paradox of the management consulting concept from the analysis perspective of consultants and customers in Portugal. This redefinition comes at the light of a perspective linked to the search field of strategy-as-practice, focusing on the four paradigms of business management consulting and on the macro and micro perspectives of analysis that constitute the search field of strategy-as-practice.

This masters dissertation pretends to take a look to the way as the new communications technologies, used in a specific environment - supermarkets, can be explored to be used as marketing tools. Following the research about the state of the art in the utilization of the new communications technologies at indoor spaces, was conducted an exploratory study, in a specific environment, e.g. some supermarket, with the purpose to get information, thought the consumers, about the utilization of new technological tools and their tendency to the use of new applications in the future. We realise that despite the end users have access to the most advanced technologies the results that we have got show resistance in use some of these technologies in commercial spaces,. We have concluded, without surprises that are the younger with highest rate of education who more likely will use these new tools in the future.

The present study aimed to assess the effects that the senses have on wine tourism and its influence on consumer experience, addressing the relationship between the cellar door experience and the emotional behavior of the visitor. The research highlights that the use of certain elements in the environment affect positively the consumer experience in wine tourism. For this, Caves Aliança while multi-sensory brand, which uses many ways to stimulate and relate with their consumers in offering unique experiences through infinity of themes involving art and wine, was adopted as a case study. In order to fulfil this goal, combined qualitative and quantitative methodologies. For data analysis, criteria have been established, such as architecture, decor, layout, furnishings, colours, lighting and some elements present in the places, previously tested by other researchers. The results obtained show that the main reasons to visit a wine cellar are very varied and sensory elements of the environment stimulate the five senses and create conditions for intensification the expectations of extraordinary experiences that are reflected in consumer behaviour.

It has been highlighted by the business world that audit quality and corporate governance can play critical roles in various corporate scandals. Understanding how the relationships between effective corporate governance and audit quality is important, requires investigating their components more precisely. So, the present study aims to carry out a comprehensive review and comparative summarizing the results of the published works on the effectiveness of corporate governance mechanisms, as well as audit committee’s influencing factors, in order to investigate their probable effects on audit quality. In this regard, despite audit quality influencing factors and auditor specifications were found to be able to affect the audit quality significantly, audit firm size has been identified as the most important factor affecting audit quality. Moreover, both board of directors and audit committees specifications were identified as critical influencing factors in the effectiveness of corporate governance which interacts with audit quality. As a consequence, changes in effectiveness of the corporate governance should be considered as an important factor, when assessing the audit quality.

In the last decades we have witnessed major reforms in public sectors of developed countries, following the implementation of the New Public Management, in the United Kingdom. These reforms aimed at increasing competition, orientation to the end consumer and rational use of public resources. In Portugal, the reforms we have witnessed in the past years in the public service in general and the health setor in particular, fall into this new management model. Proposals for changes in the management and organization of portuguese health facilities reached greater emphasis through the corporatization process that began in late 2002. Thus, the hospitals have adopted private management models, in the aim of cost savings, increase efficiency, focus on performance and user satisfaction This study aims to analyze the efficiency of a sample of 16 health facilities, through the period of 2003-2011 in order to evaluate if the private management rules are delivering the intended effect, ie, if the hospital efficiency has positive evolution over time. It used the technique Data Envelopment Analysis, which builds a efficiency border by calculating optimal weights between inputs and outputs. The main conclusions of this study point to a greater effort in rationalizing resources in the last two years of this study (2010 and 2011), confirming the fact that the cost reduction is more evident in this period. The year 2004 is the one with best results of average efficiency. It also highlights the existence of three fully effective health units throughout the period analyzed: “hospital of Santa Maria Maior”, “centro hospitalar Tâmega e Sousa” and “IPO de Coimbra”.

A truly Lean enterprise – best exemplified by Toyota Production System in its physical operations design – right designs the operation around products and product families, which creates an environment that aligns nearly all incidence of costs – both direct costs and support functions – directly to the products. Due to the very nature of a Lean operation, the production factors are direct aspects of producing a product. This situation allows the simple, straightforwardability to directly associate costs with products. A case study was done in a company member of Mondelēz International Inc., assessing the implementation of Lean/Kaizen methodologies through Six Sigma tools.

The aim of this dissertation is to assess the impact of decentralization and delegation of powers from central government to local government in the period between 2007 and 2013.Through the different stages of this research project – in process design; data collection and interpretation and information contextualization – we decided for a qualitative and quantitative methodology, with a view to validating, explaining and reinterpreting the data obtained from the Municipalities of Vale de Cambra, S. João da Madeira and Santa Maria da Feira.Supported by this study we analyse the municipality reorganization as well as the process of competencies to be transfered from the central to the municipalities of Vale de Cambra, S.João da Madeira e Santa Maria da Feira. New insights are highlighted by the Law nº 75/2003 of September 18, which presents itself as a decisive factor in the process of functions to be transfered to parishes.

The increases in competition, the globalization of the markets, the technological developments, the deregulation or privatization are regressive factors in the consolidation of client share.On the other hand, the clients are becoming more sophisticated and more price sensitive, less label sensitive, more demanding and less loyal; or they have less time and want better quality and access to goods and services. The above factors have contributed strongly to a bigger client spread leading to a reduction in customer loyalty. The CRM became a management tool, helping to maximize the communication relationship between companies and companies with their stakeholders, with the objective of achieving excellence.The best path to achieve this objective is to know who the best clients are, and to develop with them a long and close relationship, using the development of relationship marketing.This dissertation illustrates the study of the relationship between CRM and the client’s loyalty. The objective of this study is to find out if the adoption of this CRM system by the companies of the cork sector, in B2B markets allows them to achieve bigger levels of loyalty.Thus, we developed an empirical study using questionnaire via internet and proceeded to statistical analysis using SPSS (Statistical Package for the Social Sciences).The results show that whether or not the company implemented a CRM system, levels of satisfaction, trust and commitment do not change significantly. However, these three levels are strongly correlated, being decisive in the pursuit of loyalty.

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. (...)