Who owns the largest firms around the world?

In this research paper we evaluate how corporate control around the world is defined and which variables, related to a firm's characteristics and the countries' infrastructures, influences this. We find that there is a small number of countries where firms are widely held. The role of financial institutions seems to be different in civil and common law-based countries. While they seem to act as a monitor of management in common law-based countries, in civil law countries they act as a monitor of large shareholders. Finally, we find that firm's size is the most important determinant of ultimate owners.

Avaliação das condições de ventilação de lares de idosos

Publicações Funchal, 16-19 Dezembro 2014 Cerqueira, F., Azevedo, S., Aelenei, D., Viegas, J., (2014). “Assessment of Ventilation in Elderly Care Centres”, 40th IAHS World Congress in Housing – Sustainable Housing Construction. Porto, 26 – 28 de Março 2015 Aelenei, D., Nogueira, S., Viegas, J., Mendes, A., Cano, M., Cerqueira, F. (2015), “Caracterização experimental das taxas de renovação horária em residências para pessoas idosas”, 5ª Conferência sobre Patologia e Reabilitação de Edifícios – PATORREB 2015

Archaeological Remains Accounting for the Presence and Exploitation of the North Atlantic Right Whale Eubalaena glacialis on the Portuguese Coast (Peniche, West Iberia), 16th to 17th Century

The former occurrence of the North Atlantic right whale Eubalaena glacialis on the Portuguese coast may be inferred from the historical range of that species in Europe and in NW Africa. It is generally accepted that it was the main prey of coastal whaling in the Middle Ages and in the pre-modern period, but this assumption still needs firming up based on biological and archaeological evidence. We describe the skeletal remains of right whales excavated at Peniche in 2001-2002, in association with archaeological artefacts. The whale bones were covered by sandy sediments on the old seashore and they have been tentatively dated around the 16th to 17th centuries. This study contributes material evidence to the former occurrence of E. glacialis in Portugal (West Iberia). Some whale bones show unequivocal man-made scars. These are associated to wounds from instruments with a sharp-cutting blade. This evidence for past human interaction may suggest that whaling for that species was active at Peniche around the early 17th century.

Public perspective towards social impact of chang e lunar probe program

The present article is based on the MA thesis of Hou Bowen (Ph.D candidate) and on the presentation made at the ISA World Congress of Sociology held in Yokohama (Japan) on July 2014 at the Session on “Assessing Technologies: Global Patterns of Trust and Distrust” of RC23-Sociology of Science and Technology.

The flow-performance relationship around the world

We use a new dataset to study how mutual fund flows depend on past performance across 28 countries. We show that there are marked differences in the flow-performance relationship across countries, suggesting that US findings concerning its shape do not apply universally. We find that mutual fund investors sell losers more and buy winners less in more developed countries. This is because investors in more developed countries are more sophisticated and face lower costs of participating in the mutual fund industry. Higher country-level convexity is positively associated with higher levels of risk taking by fund managers.

Analysis of world economic variables using multidimensional scaling

Waves of globalization reflect the historical technical progress and modern economic growth. The dynamics of this process are here approached using the multidimensional scaling (MDS) methodology to analyze the evolution of GDP per capita, international trade openness, life expectancy, and education tertiary enrollment in 14 countries. MDS provides the appropriate theoretical concepts and the exact mathematical tools to describe the joint evolution of these indicators of economic growth, globalization, welfare and human development of the world economy from 1977 up to 2012. The polarization dance of countries enlightens the convergence paths, potential warfare and present-day rivalries in the global geopolitical scene.

O poder dos media sociais no modelo de comunicação da World Cruising Club

O presente relatório descreve o trabalho desenvolvido durante o estágio na WCC (World Cruising Club), no departamento de Rally Control, que acompanha os diversos eventos da agência. Os serviços da empresa oferecem uma série de regatas à volta do mundo que dão, a quem participa, uma oportunidade de turismo diferente que inclui navegar, conhecer novos povos, países e culturas assim como muita diversão. O departamento do qual fiz parte, para além de toda organização do evento em cada destino visitado, desenvolve ainda projetos na área dos novos media com o intuito, não só, da promoção da empresa, mas também de mostrar às família e amigos dos participantes, que se encontram longe, onde os mesmos se encontram, as diferentes atividades e descobertas feitas em cada destino visitado. Procurou-se compreender quais as melhores estratégias de comunicação para a promoção desta empresa através dos novos meios de comunicação, recorrendo a conceitos do marketing digital, nomeadamente a promoção a partir das plataformas Facebook e Twitter.

The World Health Organization Multi-Professional Patient Safety Curriculum : implementation of key modules and its impact on patient safety knowledge, skills, and attitudes of medical students at the University of Algarve

ABSTRACT - Objectives: We attempted to show how the implementation of the key elements of the World Health Organization Patient Safety Curriculum Guide Multi-professional Edition in an undergraduate curriculum affected the knowledge, skills, and attitudes towards patient safety in a graduate entry Portuguese Medical School. Methods: After receiving formal recognition by the WHO as a Complementary Test Site and approval of the organizational ethics committee , the validated pre-course questionnaires measuring the knowledge, skills, and attitudes to patient safety were administered to the 2nd and3rd year students pursuing a four-year course (N = 46). The key modules of the curriculum were implemented over the academic year by employing a variety of learning strategies including expert lecturers, small group problem-based teaching sessions, and Simulation Laboratory sessions. The identical questionnaires were then administered and the impact was measured. The Curriculum Guide was evaluated as a health education tool in this context. Results: A significant number of the respondents, 47 % (n = 22), reported having received some form of prior patient safety training. The effect on Patient Safety Knowledge was assessed by using the percentage of correct pre- and post-course answers to construct 2 × 2 contingency tables and by applying Fishers’ test (two-tailed). No significant differences were detected (p < 0.05). To assess the effect of the intervention on Patient Safety skills and attitudes, the mean and standard deviation were calculated for the pre and post-course responses, and independent samples were subjected to Mann-Whitney’s test. The attitudinal survey indicated a very high baseline incidence of desirable attitudes and skills toward patient safety. Significant changes were detected (p < 0.05) regarding what should happen if an error is made (p = 0.016), the role of healthcare organizations in error reporting (p = 0.006), and the extent of medical error (p = 0.005). Conclusions: The implementation of selected modules of the WHO Patient Safety Curriculum was associated with a number of positive changes regarding patient safety skills and attitudes, with a baseline incidence of highly desirable patient safety attitudes, but no measureable change on the patient safety knowledge, at the University of Algarve Medical School. The significance of these results is discussed along with implications and suggestions for future research.

Incoherences of the Art World

Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia (FCT), Fundação Millennium bcp

Logoplaste: Conquering the world one bottle at a time

The “Logoplaste: Conquering the world one bottle at a time” case is based on the real story of the Botton family and their journey to build the globally known company Logoplaste. Famous for its “hole in the wall” strategy within the plastics industry, Logoplaste is not only one of the major plastic bottles manufacturers in the world, but also a company which has been proving us that a shared leadership system can be successful within a family business. This case intendeds to demonstrate the dynamics of a family business, illustrating the complexity of the decision making process and how they have successfully mastered dual management in a family firm. Moreover, it also aims to demonstrate that a family firm can be managed in such way that sustainable growth, as a key pillar, can be enabled through a strong focus on internationalization and innovation. A teaching note is available at the end of the case in order to guide students and teachers in their readings. Discussions questions, for debate in class environment, are also provided together with suggested answers drawn together to increase the critical sense and theoretical application of the themes studied in class.

Omni-channel retail strategies in the luxury world

It’s impossible to neglect the changes that internet and e-commerce caused in the retail sector, by increasing customers’ expectations and forcing retailers to adapt the business to the new digital era. Internet is characterized by the increase in accessibility to everyone, which can be good or not so. For instance, luxury products rely on the sense of exclusivity, instead of being accessible to everyone. Hence, internet represents a challenge for luxury brands once, although they are able to provide a fullness service to their customers, they need to maintain the exclusiveness in which luxury is sustained. Consequently, the appearance of omni-channel was more than a challenge for the luxury sector, in particular, given the need to provide a full integrated experience through different channels. The aim of this dissertation is to find out how important is omni-channel, even in the luxury industry, and how it’s actually implemented based on the case of one of the most successful companies on luxury fashion e-commerce industry – Farfetch. Even though the company started in London, its founder is a Portuguese entrepreneur, and it’s in Portugal where most of its employees work, divided in two offices – Guimarães e Porto. Therefore, a literature review was written on relevant concepts and ideas about luxury, e-commerce and the different channels’ approaches. There were formulated five propositions that were after discussed according to the information gathered about the company and its strategies. In the end, it was possible to identify which propositions are in accordance with theory and which are not, as well as understand which are the most important strategies and trends about omni-channel in the luxury fashion e-commerce sector.

A Presença islâmica em al-Qasr : uma análise sobre o urbanismo e o sistema defensivo

Alcácer do Sal é uma cidade que esteve desde sempre ligada ao rio Sado, permitindo essa mesma ligação, que nela se fossem fixando ao longo do tempo, distintos povos, provindos das mais diversas partes do mundo. Esta ocupação por parte das populações, só foi possível, porque o território era abundante em recursos naturais e, entre eles, possuía solos bastante férteis para a agricultura. Uma das comunidades que mais marcas deixou da sua presença naquele núcleo urbano, foi, sem dúvida, a muçulmana, tal como se pode verificar no topónimo que dá o nome à cidade, assim como pela presença dos vários vestígios materiais, como a imponente fortificação militar, que se ergue na colina mais alta da povoação, assim como pelas estruturas e espólios encontrados nas diversas intervenções arqueológicas realizadas naquela cidade. Tendo em conta estes aspetos, esta dissertação pretende fazer uma aproximação ao estudo do urbanismo da medina islâmica de al-Qasr, abarcando cronologicamente o século IX, altura em que os Banu Danis se fixam na cidade, até aos inícios do século XIII, correspondente à última fase de ocupação muçulmana da cidade.