Enterprises' internationalisation strategy: skills in exportation and customs law

Economical development has always been connected to the commercial exchanges between people, due to the necessity to suppress their needs. With the increasing growth of international business and more competitive and demanding markets, exportation has become an important first step to internationalisation. Unlike what happened in the past, companies must be aware that the enrolment in the current global market is risky and requires elaborated technical procedures. Internationalisation should not be treated as an isolated event of business management. The first part of this paper aims to understand the export process and fit it in the current stage of international trade, keeping in mind the framework of export under the customs law. Then, we tried to understand how Portuguese companies should face this process in their internationalisation strategy, and what skills organisations must acquire to be able to export competitively in the current scenario of globalisation. The investigation was based on interviews in companies that, through a process of internationalisation by exportation, have implemented themselves strongly in extern markets. This investigation allowed us to analyse the companies’ motivations to become international, as well as the selection criteria for the export destinations. It was also possible to identify the main obstacles to the internationalisation of Portuguese companies. We concluded that companies that choose exportation as a way to become international acquire specific skills that enable them to become competitive in international trade. However, studies have failed to answer the second initial question about whether the measures implemented by Customs potentiate exports.

Taxonomy of broker's functions in virtual enterprises

Not just with the emergence but also with the growing of the electronic market, that is, the growth of online suppliers of services and products and Internet users (potential consumers), the necessary conditions to the affirmation of the agile/virtual enterprises (A/VE) as a present and future enterprise organizational model are created. In this context, it is our understanding that the broker may have an important role in its development, namely, if the broker performs functions for the A/VE with better efficacy and efficiency. In this article, we will present first a revision of the broker’s models in a structured form. We present a taxonomy of possible broker’s functions for the broker’s actuation near the A/VE and then the classification of the literature broker’s models. This classification will permit an analysis of a broker’s model and establish a mainframe for our broker’s model according to the BM_Virtual Enterprise Architecture Reference Model (BM_VEARM).

Analysis of the domain of applicability of an algorithm for a resources system selection problem for Distributed/Agile/Virtual Enterprises integration

The process of resources systems selection takes an important part in Distributed/Agile/Virtual Enterprises (D/A/V Es) integration. However, the resources systems selection is still a difficult matter to solve in a D/A/VE, as it is pointed out in this paper. Globally, we can say that the selection problem has been equated from different aspects, originating different kinds of models/algorithms to solve it. In order to assist the development of a web prototype tool (broker tool), intelligent and flexible, that integrates all the selection model activities and tools, and with the capacity to adequate to each D/A/V E project or instance (this is the major goal of our final project), we intend in this paper to show: a formulation of a kind of resources selection problem and the limitations of the algorithms proposed to solve it. We formulate a particular case of the problem as an integer programming, which is solved using simplex and branch and bound algorithms, and identify their performance limitations (in terms of processing time) based on simulation results. These limitations depend on the number of processing tasks and on the number of pre-selected resources per processing tasks, defining the domain of applicability of the algorithms for the problem studied. The limitations detected open the necessity of the application of other kind of algorithms (approximate solution algorithms) outside the domain of applicability founded for the algorithms simulated. However, for a broker tool it is very important the knowledge of algorithms limitations, in order to, based on problem features, develop and select the most suitable algorithm that guarantees a good performance.

The European challenge of KMN and innovation: a skills and competence portfolio for knowledge worker in SME's

Versão editor: http://www.isegi.unl.pt/docentes/acorreia/documentos/European_Challenge_KM_Innovation_2004.pdf

Estratégia de internacionalização das empresas competências na exportação e enquadramento no direito aduaneiro

Dissertação apresentada ao Instituto Superior de Contabilidade e Administração do Porto para a obtenção do Grau de Mestre em Empreendedorismo e Internacionalização

Language and trade: the (new) route of portuguese in the 21st century

Globalisation has eliminated frontiers and in the case of Europe helped the crossing of borders and changed forever the concept of social (and I would also say individual) geography: the rest of the world is out there; we can pretend not to see it, but we cannot avoid it. Moreover, Europe is undergoing a serious crisis, also economic, and new markets and business partners are welcome. In this context, cultural bonds like a common language can open new investment paths and give rise to successful stories. In this paper we intend to present an example of how low linguistic distance can lead to good business, even if a) in the internationalization process of the companies’ language is often forgotten as a management element and b) consumers of language products (like User Guides) are also not stimulating investment in language by the companies. Through the results of 2 studies carried out in 2010 and 2011 we will show how a pluricentric language like Portuguese is managed in multinational companies (MC) and Small and medium Enterprises (SMEs). The second study is based on an online survey questioning the effectiveness, efficiency and general quality of User Guides and the reaction of consumers to language. Results show that although playing a role in the internationalization process of companies in the same linguistic space, language is opportunistically used. On the other hand, Portuguese and Brazilian consumers show a very functional perception of the Portuguese language...

O recurso ao outsourcing na prestação de cuidados de saúde

Nos últimos anos verificou-se uma alteração das condições e modo de funcionamento de empresas e instituições, privadas e públicas, muitas delas através da introdução de novas ferramentas de gestão. De entre elas, podemos destacar o outsourcing, que apesar de não ser um fenómeno actual, é ainda em Portugal uma ferramenta recente e pouco explorada, que pode contribuir de forma decisiva para a modernização, flexibilidade e competitividade das empresas. O presente estudo pretende abordar a contratação de serviços externos nos serviços de saúde públicos, também conhecido como outsourcing, mediante uma análise prática da realidade de uma instituição hospitalar com sete serviços em regime de outsourcing, com recolha dos dados durante o triénio 2008-2010. No Serviço de Urgência durante 2010 o principal prestador recebeu mais 104,28% acima do valor referência/hora, no Serviço de Oftalmologia no ano de 2010 o prestador recebeu um valor superior em 24,91%, no Serviço de Limpeza, Higiene e Conforto é pago ao prestador durante o ano de 2010 um valor superior em 13,85%, no Serviço de Vigilância e Segurança o prestador recebeu durante o ano de 2010 um valor superior em 27,5%, caso a instituição hospitalar optasse por contratar, para os serviços atrás referidos, profissionais para o quadro de pessoal. Ainda em relação ao Serviço de Urgência foi pago mais 21,38% acima do valor de referência publicado por Despacho governamental. Em relação aos Serviços de Lavandaria e de Tratamento de Resíduos Sólidos, não foi possível recolher os dados necessários que pudessem levar a uma conclusão válida sobre os custos pagos pela instituição hospitalar. Pode-se concluir que a contratação de prestadores externos, para os serviços de saúde, essenciais e não essenciais, em regime de outsourcing, revela-se na maioria dos casos analisados a opção menos económica, com custos bastantes elevados.

O Contributo do sistema SAP R/3 no controlo interno na REFER

Dissertação apresentada ao Instituto Superior de Contabilidade para a obtenção do Grau de Mestre em Auditoria Orientador: Mestre Agostinho Sousa Pinto

As empresas municipais: um contributo para a caraterização da sua posição financeira

Dissertação de Mestrado em Finanças Empresariais

NCRF 21 – provisões, passivos contingentes e activos contingentes: suas implicações fiscais e de auditoria

Dissertação apresentada ao Instituto Superior de Contabilidade e Administração do Porto (ISCAP) para a obtenção do Grau de Mestre em Auditoria Docente orientador: Mestre Domingos da Silva Duarte

O papel do fundo de maneio das pequenas e médias empresas

Dissertação de Mestrado em Finanças Empresariais

Alianças estratégicas: análise do sector exportador de produtos português

Dissertação de Mestrado em Finanças Empresariais

A importância dos fluxos de caixa na análise da solvência, liquidez e visibilidade das empresas

Orientada por: Prof. Doutora Cláudia Lopes

A importância do relacionamento bancário no financiamento das PME

Dissertação de Mestrado em Finanças Empresariais

Factors influencing innovation decision making in Portuguese firms

There is an undeniable positive effect of innovation for both firms and the economy, with particular regards to the financial performance of firms. However, there is an important role of the decision making process for the allocation of resources to finance the innovation process. The aim of this paper is to understand what factors explain the decision making process in innovation activities of Portuguese firms. This is an empirical study, based on the modern theoretical approaches, which has relied on five key aspects for innovation: barriers, sources, cooperation, funding; and the decision making process. Primary data was collected through surveys to firms that have applied for innovation programmes within the Portuguese innovation agency. Univariate and multivariate statistical techniques were used. Our results suggest that the factors that mostly influence the Portuguese firms’ innovation decision-making processes are economical and financial (namely those related to profit increase and labour costs reduction).