Motivations to visit and image destination of Guimarães: differences between Portuguese and foreign tourists during 2012 Guimarães European Capital of Culture (ECOC)

Guimarães hosted the European Capital of Culture (ECOC) during the year of 2012. This study investigates the differences between Portuguese and foreign tourists regarding the main motivations to visit Guimarães and the retained perceived image of the destination. To achieve that purpose a survey was administered to 390 tourists that visited the city during the cultural event. The results show that tourists who visited Guimarães are relatively young, wealthy, employed and well educated. They are touring around the northern part of the country which includes an itinerary beginning in Porto, and extended to other important neighboring cities such as Braga or Viana do Castelo. The main motivations to visit the city, for both Portuguese and foreign tourists, are its historical heritage and the title of ECOC, the associated cultural events and celebrations that take place during 2012. However, these items were more valued by foreigners than Portuguese tourists. Using a factor analysis the tourists’ perceived attributes of Guimarães were described in four dimensions: “material heritage”, “intangible heritage”, “cultural performance”, and “sport and education”. Although foreigners and nationals perceived the tourism attributes of the city differently, the comparison of the mean scores of the four factors across Portuguese and foreigner tourists reveals that the most valued and least valued factors are common to both groups.

Determinants of environmental disclosure in the annual reports of large companies operating in Portugal

Similarly to what has happened in other countries, since the early 1990s Portuguese companies have developed corporate environmental reporting practices in response to internal and external factors. This paper is based on empirical research directed to both the study of environmental reporting practices developed by Portuguese companies and the identification of the factors that explain the extent to which these companies disclose environmental information. This study focuses on the environmental disclosures made in the annual reports by a sample of 109 large firms operating in Portugal during the period 2002-04. Using the content analysis technique we have developed an index in order to assess the presence of the environmental disclosures in companies’ annual reports and their breadth. Based on the extant literature, several characteristics relating to firms’ attributes were selected and their influence on the level of environmental disclosure was tested empirically. The selected explanatory variables were firm size, industry membership, profitability, foreign ownership, quotation on the stock market and environmental certification. The results reveal that, in spite of the fact that the level of environmental information disclosed during the period 2002-04 is low, the extent of environmental disclosure has increased as well as the number of Portuguese companies that disclose environmental information. Moreover, the firm size and the fact that a company is listed on the stock market are positively related to the extent of environmental disclosure. This study adds to the international research on environmental disclosure by providing empirical data from a country, Portugal, where empirical evidence is still relatively unknown, extending the scope of the current understanding of the environmental reporting practices.

The estimation of the return on firms’ investments – as to ISO 9001

The aim of this paper was to estimate the return on investment in QMS (quality management systems) certification undertaken in Portuguese firms, according to the ISO 9000 series. A total of 426 certified Portuguese firms were surveyed. The response rate was 61.03 percent. The different payback periods were validated through statistical analysis and the relationship between expected and perceived payback periods was discussed. This study suggests that a firm’s sector of activity, size and degree of internationalization are related to the length of the investment in QMS certification recovery period. Furthermore, our findings suggest, that the time taken to obtain the certification is not directly related to the economic component of the certification. The majority of Portuguese firms (58.9%) took up to three years to recoup their investment and 35.5% of companies said they had not yet recovered the initial investment made. The recoup of investment was measured by the increase in the number of customers and consequent volume of deliveries, improved profitability and productivity of the company, improvement of competitive position and performance (cost savings), reduction in the number of external complaints and internal defects/scrap, achievement of some important clientele, among others. We compared our work to similar studies undertaken in other countries. This paper provides a contribution to the research related to the return on investment for costs related to the certification QMS according to ISO 9000. This paper provides a valuable contribution to the field and is one of the first studies to undertake this type of analysis in Portugal.

Transaction costs: an empirical analysis of their relationship with investment and foreign direct investment

As stated by the New Institutional Economics theory, transaction costs play a relevant role in economics and, according to the extent of such costs, agents make investment decisions. Actually, transaction costs may represent a disincentive to entrepreneurship. This work aims to verify whether transaction costs are related to investment rate and foreign direct investment rate (FDI) in different business environments. The results suggest that foreign investors do not have precise information about other countries as domestic investors do; as it is observed, only the relation between transaction costs and investment rate is significant. Furthermore, there is evidence that the business environments of BRIC countries are less developed when compared to business environments of other countries in the study

Corporate social responsibility practices at brazilian firms

Corporate Social Responsibility practices have been on the rise in recent years in firms all over the world. Brazil, as one of the most important countries emerging on the international scene, is no exception to this, with more and more firms taking up these practices. The present study focuses on analyzing the corporate social responsibility practices that Brazilian companies engage into. The sample used is comprised of 500 firms grouped by geographical area; the theoretical framework is based on stakeholder and institutional theories; and the technique used for the analysis is the biplot, more specifically the HJ Biplot and cluster analysis. From the results obtained it is possible to infer that the CSR variables corresponding to environmental practices are more closely linked to companies located in the northern areas of Brazil. Social and community practices are related to companies primarily in the southern and northeastern regions of the country.

STRATEGIC DECISIONS OF FAMILY FIRMS ON CASH ACCUMULATION

ABSTRACTGiven the particular strengths, weaknesses, and peculiarities of family firms as well as the importance of liquidity in today’s marketplace, we analyze the distinct characteristics and strategies of family businesses related to the amount of cash a firm holds. We look beyond the traditional factors that influence decisions related to cash management to examine factors that are particularly important for family firms. Specifically, we outline the relevance of strategic decisions guided by family firms’ conservatism, flexibility, long-term view, and the active control that they have over family members. To our knowledge, no prior studies exist regarding family firms and their strategic adjustment of cash holding. Therefore, we investigate whether the ownership structure of the firm (through the presence of a controlling family) moderates decisions on cash holding. We found that family firms tend to accumulate cash for strategic reasons and as a result of their own idiosyncrasies. Thus, family firms can achieve optimal cash accumulation more efficiently than non-family firms.

INTERNATIONALIZATION OF STATE-OWNED ENTERPRISES THROUGH FOREIGN DIRECT INVESTMENT

ABSTRACT State-owned enterprises (SOEs) are created to focus on domestic needs, and yet recent evidence points to increasing outward foreign direct investment by SOEs. Existing International Business (IB) theories focus on efficiency-based motives for internationalization; therefore, they do not fully capture SOEs' internalization dynamics, which are driven largely by political factors and social welfare considerations. We integrate public management and IB theories to develop propositions that combine these questions: why SOEs internationalize; what are their motivations; and what are the main managerial outcomes of SOEs' internationalization. Our findings suggest that SOEs display little hesitancy in entering international markets, and that SOE international expansion is not contradictory with the goals of state-ownership if the purpose is to adjust the company to changing institutional environments both in the domestic and international markets. Our propositions about SOE internationalization are based on an in-depth case study of the outward foreign direct investment conducted by Brazil's Petrobras over the past three decades.

Innovative technological capability in firms of the tourism sector: a study of the hotels in the city of Rio de Janeiro during the 1990-2008 period

This article presents the preliminary report of the research project entitled "Innovative technological capability in firms of the tourism sector: a study of the hotels in the city of Rio de Janeiro during the 1990-2008 period". The objective of this project is to apply and evaluate an analytical model of technological capability and underlying learning processes and examine the accumulation trajectory of innovative technological capability in the firms of tourism service industry, and the impact of learning processes undertaken by these firms on the technological capability levels achieved during the 1990-2008 period.

Ensuring dynamic strategic fit of firms that compete globally in alliances and networks: proposing the Global SNA - Strategic Network Analysis - framework

In order to sustain their competitive advantage in the current increasingly globalized and turbulent context, more and more firms are competing globally in alliances and networks that oblige them to adopt new managerial paradigms and tools. However, their strategic analyses rarely take into account the strategic implications of these alliances and networks, considering their global relational characteristics, admittedly because of a lack of adequate tools to do so. This paper contributes to research that seeks to fill this gap by proposing the Global Strategic Network Analysis - SNA - framework. Its purpose is to help firms that compete globally in alliances and networks to carry out their strategic assessments and decision-making with a view to ensuring dynamic strategic fit from both a global and relational perspective.

Climate strategies of firms in the automotive and pulp & paper industries in Brazil: insights from an international perspective

This article focuses on the results of the final stage of research into the climate strategies of firms in the automotive and pulp-and-paper industries in Brazil, a country that is becoming increasingly important also in terms of climate change issues. In the first stage, the Climate Strategy Model (CSM) was developed to assess whether firms were adopting the necessary practices to assure the successful implementation of climate strategies. In the second, the CSM was applied to firms in the above mentioned industries that were chosen because of their important role in the domestic economy. In the final stage, interviews with executives of these firms were conducted to identify root causes of climate strategy implementation deficiencies and obtain new insights from an international perspective.

Foreign languages in the primary school

Of vital importance to the successful implementation of the teaching of FLs in the 1st Cycle...

Trying To understand all-equity firms

This paper studies all equity firms and shows which are in US firms, the main drivers of zero-debt policy. I analyze 6763 U.S. listed companies in years 1987-2009, a total of 77442 firms year. I find that financial constrained firms show a higher probability to become unlevered. In the opposite side, firms producing high cash flow are also likely to become unlevered, paying their debt. Some firms create economies of scale in the use of funds, increasing the probability of become unlevered. The industry characteristics are also important to explain the zero-debt policy. However is the high perception of risk, the most important factor influencing this extreme behavior, which is consistent with trade-off theory.

Portuguese telenews and foreign news

Brief caracterization of portuguese television and telenews. Foreign news international politics news

Actors in foreign television news: a comparative analysis

Foreign News about events that takes place in other country Actors are defined as people who appear in the item (as individuals or as representing some entity) speaking or being quoted (directly or indirectly)