Linking entrepreneural orientation to export performance: the role of intangible resources and dynamic capabilities

Understanding the determinants of international performance, and in particular, export performance is key for the success of international companies. Research in this area focuses mainly on how resources and capabilities allow companies to gain competitive advantage and superior performance in external markets. Building on the Resource-Based View (RBV) and the Dynamic Capabilities Approach (DCA), this study aims at analysing the effect of intangible resources and capabilities on export performance. Specifically, this study focuses on the proposition that entrepreneurial orientation potentiates the attraction of intangible resources, namely relational and informational resources. Moreover, we propose that these resources impact export performance both directly and indirectly through dynamic capabilities.

Personalisation of Networked Video

Following targeted advertising and product placement, TV and online media needs more personalised methods of engaging viewers by integrating advertising and informational messages into playout content, whether real-time broadcast or on-demand. Future advertising solutions need adaptivity to individuals or on-line groups to respond to the commercial requirements of clients and agencies.

Personalised placement in networked video

Personalised video can be achieved by inserting objects into a video play-out according to the viewer's profile. Content which has been authored and produced for general broadcast can take on additional commercial service features when personalised either for individual viewers or for groups of viewers participating in entertainment, training, gaming or informational activities. Although several scenarios and use-cases can be envisaged, we are focussed on the application of personalised product placement. Targeted advertising and product placement are currently garnering intense interest in the commercial networked media industries. Personalisation of product placement is a relevant and timely service for next generation online marketing and advertising and for many other revenue generating interactive services. This paper discusses the acquisition and insertion of media objects into a TV video play-out stream where the objects are determined by the profile of the viewer. The technology is based on MPEG-4 standards using object based video and MPEG-7 for metadata. No proprietary technology or protocol is proposed. To trade the objects into the video play-out, a Software-as-a-Service brokerage platform based on intelligent agent technology is adopted. Agencies, libraries and service providers are represented in a commercial negotiation to facilitate the contractual selection and usage of objects to be inserted into the video play-out.

Gest��o de stocks e armaz��m de mat��rias-primas

Relat��rio de Est��gio apresentado ao Instituto Polit��cnico do Porto para obten����o do Grau de Mestre em Log��stica Orientadores do Instituto: Professor Doutor Lu��s Barreto e Mestre Jonas Lima Orientador da empresa: Engenheiro V��tor Carvalho

Uma an��lise de comportamento informacional: a utiliza����o dos recursos da biblioteca escolar

Neste artigo, apresentamos um estudo de caso centrado na an��lise do comportamento informacional de uma amostra dos alunos frequentadores da rede municipal de bibliotecas escolares do concelho de Vila de Conde. Procur��mos conhecer as compet��ncias dos discentes para utilizarem as colec����es e os recursos tecnol��gicos dispon��veis no espa��o da biblioteca escolar, em particular as formas de pesquisa de informa����o ou de localiza����o e de uso dos documentos em livre acesso. Neste contexto, enfatiza-se o papel central da Ci��ncia da Informa����o e dos seus profissionais na biblioteca escolar, em especial na transmiss��o de compet��ncias de literacia da informa����o.

Preven����o e mitiga����o do risco de incumprimento mais eficaz na banca de retalho

O ��mbito deste trabalho �� o da preven����o e mitiga����o do risco de uma carteira de cr��dito de um Banco de retalho, com uma quota significativa no mercado Portugu��s. A antecipa����o de potencial incumprimento �� cr��tica para a atua����o atempada do Banco junto dos clientes. Pretendeu-se analisar o poder preditivo de uma base de informa����o ex��gena (a Central) que inclui as responsabilidades credit��cias dos clientes do Banco no Sistema Financeiro Portugu��s. As principais fases deste trabalho consistiram na an��lise e estrutura����o da informa����o da Central, de modo a integr��-la com a do Banco, compreens��o das condicionantes desta informa����o, nomeadamente o desfasamento temporal, e finalmente, no desenvolvimento de um modelo de scoring, compat��vel com os sistemas e tecnologias do Banco, e de modo a alavancar o processo existente.

Uma forma����o ��til para a literacia no novo contexto de Bolonha

A Declara����o de Bolonha (1999) obrigou a mudan��as v��rias, reconfigurando os modelos formativos no espa��o europeu do ensino superior, at�� 2010. A partir de 2006, em Portugal, com a cria����o e adequa����o dos cursos superiores existentes ao modelo de Bolonha, verificou-se uma generalizada redu����o da dura����o m��dia dos diferentes ciclos de estudo e a defini����o de compet��ncias gerais e espec��ficas para os cursos e estudantes. Reflecte-se sobre a import��ncia da literacia da informa����o, conceito evolutivo e abrangente, que se pode traduzir, sumariamente, em saber quando e porqu�� se tem uma necessidade informacional, onde encontrar a informa����o, como avali��-la, us��-la e comunic��-la de forma ��tica, incluindo as compet��ncias tecnol��gicas, defini����o que se inscreve na interdisciplinar Ci��ncia da Informa����o e no comportamento informacional. Destaca-se a vantagem de uma forma����o para a literacia da informa����o no ensino superior, a qual contribuir��, certamente, para dotar os estudantes das referidas compet��ncias e melhor��-las. Defende-se a necessidade de uma desej��vel inter-ac����o entre m��ltiplos agentes educativos, com destaque para a trilogia estudantes, bibliotec��rios e professores, sendo os primeiros encarados como protagonistas activos das suas aprendizagens e devendo ser dotados de compet��ncias de literacia da informa����o, factor determinante para o seu sucesso. Quanto ao Bibliotec��rio, dotado de novas compet��ncias, entre as quais as tecnol��gicas, deve ser um facilitador do processo de forma����o para a literacia - preferencialmente integrada num projecto pedag��gico e no curr��culo - articulando a sua ac����o educativa com estudantes e docentes. Corroborando a extens��o educativa das Bibliotecas e aliando-a ao uso inevit��vel das novas tecnologias da informa����o e comunica����o, sublinha-se o papel das Bibliotecas Digitais, que podem corresponder eficientemente aos anseios dos utilizadores no acesso a uma informa����o de qualidade, de forma c��moda, r��pida, a baixo custo, com personaliza����o dos servi��os online, com inter-ac����o e socializa����o, atrav��s de ferramentas de edi����o colaborativa, t��picas da Web 2.0.

Accounting accruals and information asymmetry in Europe

We investigate whether the positive relation between accounting accruals and information asymmetry documented for U.S. stock markets also holds for European markets, considered as a whole and at the country level. This research is relevant because this relation is likely to be affected by differences in accounting standards used by companies for financial reporting, in the traditional use of the banking system or capital markets for firm financing, in legal systems and cultural environment. We find that in European stock markets discretionary accruals are positively related with the Corwin and Schultz high-low spread estimator used as a proxy for information asymmetry. Our results suggest that the earnings management component of accruals outweighs the informational component, but the significance of the relation varies across countries. Further, such association tends to be stronger for firms with the highest levels of positive discretionary accruals. Consistent with the evidence provided by the authors, our results also suggest that the high-low spread estimator is more efficient than the closing bid-ask spread when analysing the impact of information quality on information asymmetry.

Video lectures and online activities to engage students in a flipped classroom

In recent years there have been several proposals for alternative pedagogical practices. Most of these proposals are based in the, so called, ���active learning���, in opposition to the common ���passive learning���, which is centered on transmission of information inside classrooms as well as recognized as teacher-centered procedure. In an active learning pedagogical structure, students have a more participative role in the overall learning/teaching process, being encouraged to face new learning challenges like, for instance, solving problems and developing projects, in an autonomous approach trying to make them, consequently, able to build their own knowledge. The flipped or ���inverted��� classroom is one of these active learning pedagogical methodologies that emphasizes a learner-centered instruction. According to this approach, the first contact that students have with the content on a particular curriculum subject is not transmitted by the lecturer in the classroom, this teaching strategy requires students to assess and analyze the specific subject before attending to class, therefore the informational component from the lecture is the homework, and class time is dedicated to exercises and assignments, always with support from the instructor, who acts as a facilitator, helping students when needed and offering supplementary explanation as required. The main objective of this paper is to discuss and explore how the use of different types of instructional videos and online activities may be implemented in the flipped classroom procedure (as means of incorporating new content and teaching new competencies) and to describe students��� perceptions of this approach within a course in a Higher Education Institution (HEI), presenting some positive and negative features of this pedagogical practice.