Princípios de responsabilidade social : como vão as coisas nas pequenas e médias empresas do Portugal periférico?

O presente trabalho aborda a problemática da Responsabilidade Social Empresarial no âmbito das Pequenas e Médias Empresas, e corresponde à dissertação exigida para conclusão do Mestrado em Gestão da Universidade de Évora. Analisa-se o 'estado da arte' naquela matéria, verifica-se que o problema da responsabilidade social não é uma novidade das últimas décadas e apresenta-se o resultado da aplicação no Alentejo de um inquérito utilizado no Brasil pela Ethos-Sebrae para medir a consciencialização das PME relativamente às questões da Responsabilidade Social. Conclui-se pela necessidade de implementar acções de formação, sensibilização e assessoria, junto dos pequenos empresários, através de Instituições sem fins lucrativos. ABSTRACT: This work is focused on the subjects of small and medium size enterprises concerning the Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR), and it is the required exposition for the conclusion of the Master’s degree in Management given by the University of Évora. lt contains the analysis of the "state of the art" in this subject, confirming that the problem of social responsibility is not a new concern in the last decades. Besides it presents the result of the application in Alentejo of an inquire used in Brazil by Ethos- Sebrae to measure the level of conscience of the small and medium size companies in what concerns to their social responsibility. lt comes to the conclusion it is required that non-profit institutions should implement workshops, actions of awareness and advisory directed to small enterprisers.

“A long-term mortality analysis of subsidized firms in rural areas: an empirical study in the Portuguese Alentejo region”

Studies have demonstrated that public policies to support private firms’ investment have the ability to promote entrepreneurship, but the sustainability of subsidized firms has not often been analysed. This paper aims to examine this dimension specifically through evaluating the mortality of subsidized firms in the long-term. The analysis focuses on a case study of the LEADER+ Programme in the Alentejo region of Portugal. With this purpose, the paper examines the activity status (active or not active) of 154 private, rural, for-profit firms in Alentejo that had received a subsidy to support investment between 2002 and 2008 under the LEADER+ Programme. The methodology is based on binary choice models in order to study the probability of these firms still being active. The explanatory variables used are the following: (1) the characteristics of entrepreneurs and managers’ strategic decisions, (2) firm profile and characteristics, (3) regional economic environment. Data assessment showed that the cumulative mortality rate of firms on 31st December 2013 is over 20 %. Interpretation of the regression model revealed that he probability of firms’ survival increases with higher investment, firm age and regional business concentration, whereas the number of applications made by firms has a negative impact on their survival. So it seems that for subsidized firms the amount of investment is as important as its frequency.