PT Multimedia

The purpose of the present case – and accompanying Teaching Notes – is to better understand the spin-off of PT Multimédia, by Portugal Telecom, after receiving a Public Takeover Offer from Sonaecom, in 2006. The Government and the Competition Authority had never looked in a serious way at PT’s dominant position and the lack of room for competition in the TMT sector – PT was the owner of both the cable and copper networks, having access to privileged information from its competitors with control over the wholesale and retail businesses. In 2006, the company received a takeover offer from Sonaecom, the TMT subsidiary from the Portuguese conglomerate Sonae. The offer was voted and rejected by a majority of PT shareholders, but the whole process triggered several recommendations from the regulatory bodies. As a result, PT divested its cable business with the spin-off of PT Multimédia, giving birth to a new competitor and a totally different landscape in the telecommunications sector in Portugal.

Trends in economic research: an international perspective

Given the recent efforts in several countries to reorganize the research institutional setting to improve research productivity, our analysis addresses the following questions: To which extent has the recent awareness over international quality standards in economics around the world been reflected in research performance? How have individual countries fared? Do research quantity and quality indicators tell us the same story? We concentrate on trends taking place since the beginning of the 1990s and rely on a very comprehensive database of scientific journals, to provide a cross-country comparison of the evolution of research in economics. Our findings indicate that Europe is catching-up with the US but, in terms of influential research, the US maintains a dominant position. The main continental European countries, Germany, France, Italy and Spain, experienced some of the largest growth rates in economic scientific output. Other European countries, namely the UK, Norway, the Netherlands, Denmark, and Sweden, have shown remarkable progress in per capita output. Collaborative research seems to be a key factor explaining the relative success of some European countries, in particular when it comes to publishing in top journals, attained predominantly through international collaborations.

Setting the rules of the game: The choice of electoral systems in advanced democracies

The origins of electoral systems have received scant attention in the literature. Looking at the history of electoral rules in the advanced world in the last century, this paper shows that the existing wide variation in electoral rules across nations can be traced to the strategic decisions that the current ruling parties, anticipating the coordinating consequences of different electoral regimes, make to maximize their representation according to the following conditions. On the one hand, as long as the electoral arena does not change substantially and the current electoral regime serves the ruling parties well, the latter have no incentives to modify the electoral regime. On the other hand, as soon as the electoral arena changes (due to the entry of new voters or a change in their preferences), the ruling parties will entertain changing the electoral system, depending on two main conditions: the emergence of new parties and the coordinating capacities of the old ruling parties. Accordingly, if the new parties are strong, the old parties shift from plurality/majority rules to proportional representation (PR) only if the latter are locked into a 'non-Duvergerian' equilibrium; i.e. if no old party enjoys a dominant position (the case of most small European states)--conversely, they do not if a Duvergerian equilibrium exists (the case of Great Britain). Similarly, whenever the new entrants are weak, a non-PR system is maintained, regardless of the structure of the old party system (the case of the USA). The paper discusses as well the role of trade and ethnic and religious heterogeneity in the adoption of PR rules.

Railcarrier in Intermodal Freight Transportation Network

The major objective of this thesis is to describe and analyse how a railcarrier is engaged in an intermodal freight transportation network through its role and position. Because of the fact that the role as a conceptualisation has a lot of parallels with the position, both these phenomena are evaluated theoretically and empirically. VR Cargo (a strategical business unitof the Finnish railway company VR Ltd.) was chosen to be the focal firm surrounded by the actors of the focal net. Because of the fact that networks are sets of relationships rather than sets of actors, it is essential to describe the dimensions of the relationships created through the time thus having a past, presentand future. The roles are created during long common history shared by the actors especially when IM networks are considered. The presence of roles is embeddedin the tasks, and the future is anchored to the expectations. Furthermore, in this study role refers to network dynamics, and to incremental and radical changes in the network, in a similar way as position refers to stability and to the influences of bonded structures. The main purpose of the first part of the study was to examine how the two distinctive views that have a dominant position in modern logistics ¿ the network view (particularly IMP-based network approach) and the managerial view (represented by Supply Chain Management) differ, especially when intermodalism is under consideration. In this study intermodalism was defined as a form of interorganisational behaviour characterized by the physical movement of unitized goods with Intermodal Transport Units, using more than one mode as performed by the net of operators. In this particular stage the study relies mainly on theoretical evaluation broadened by some discussions with the practitioners. This is essential, because the continuous dialogue between theory and practice is highly emphasized. Some managerial implications are discussed on the basis of the theoretical examination. A tentative model for empirical analysis in subsequent research is suggested. The empirical investigation, which relies on the interviews among the members in the focal net, shows that the major role of the focal company in the network is the common carrier. This role has some behavioural and functional characteristics, such as an executive's disclosure expressing strategic will attached with stable and predictable managerial and organisational behaviour. Most important is the notion that the focal company is neutral for all the other operators, and willing to enhance and strengthen the collaboration with all the members in the IM network. This also means that all the accounts are aimed at being equal in terms of customer satisfaction. Besides, the adjustments intensify the adopted role. However, the focal company is also obliged tosustain its role as it still has a government-erected right to maintain solely the railway operations on domestic tracks. In addition, the roles of a dominator, principal, partner, subcontractor, and integrator were present appearing either in a dyadic relationship or in net(work) context. In order to reveal differentroles, a dualistic interpretation of the concept of role/position was employed.

A Fair and Secure Cluster Formation Process for Ad Hoc Networks

An efficient approach for organizing large ad hoc networks is to divide the nodesinto multiple clusters and designate, for each cluster, a clusterhead which is responsible forholding intercluster control information. The role of a clusterhead entails rights and duties.On the one hand, it has a dominant position in front of the others because it manages theconnectivity and has access to other node¿s sensitive information. But on the other hand, theclusterhead role also has some associated costs. Hence, in order to prevent malicious nodesfrom taking control of the group in a fraudulent way and avoid selfish attacks from suitablenodes, the clusterhead needs to be elected in a secure way. In this paper we present a novelsolution that guarantees the clusterhead is elected in a cheat-proof manner.

Quatre élements dans la musique d'Alexander Pozdnyakov

La version intégrale de ce mémoire est disponible uniquement pour consultation individuelle à la Bibliothèque de musique de l’Université de Montréal (http://www.bib.umontreal.ca/MU).

Épistémologie des théories de l’urbanisme : proposition d’un cadre de réflexivité

Faisant confiance à leur intuition les urbanistes s’inscrivent souvent dans un flou théorique qui les rend susceptibles de succomber à l’idéologie dominante et aux modes du moment. La première partie de ce mémoire vise à démontrer que cette posture par rapport à la théorie entraine un manque de réflexivité qui constitue un obstacle majeur à l’exercice d’une pratique urbanistique véritablement professionnelle, éthique et respectueuse du territoire. En effet, selon Bourdieu, un corpus théorique autonome permettrait d’offrir à l’urbaniste un cadre de réflexivité lui permettant de prendre du recul sur le quotidien et d’échapper à l’influence indue de l’idéologie sur sa pratique. Ce mémoire vise à comprendre la configuration actuelle du champ des théories de l’urbanisme en Occident (compris selon la théorie des champs de Bourdieu) et à proposer un modèle synthèse spécifiquement destiné à servir d’outil de réflexivité à l’urbaniste. Pour y parvenir, il a été privilégié de faire une relecture herméneutique de modèles théoriques existants, mais considérés comme incomplets, des théories de l’urbanisme. Dans ce domaine, deux Écoles de pensée ont été définies (École française et École anglo-saxonne). Ensuite, une typologie emblématique de chaque École a été choisie pour être revue à la lumière de l’objectif fixé. Ainsi, les typologies de Françoise Choay (École française) et de Philip Allmendinger (École anglo-saxonne) ont été analysées et mises en commun au moyen de la construction d’une historiographie commune des théories de l’urbanisme. Finalement, un modèle théorique original (la typologie intégrée) a été formulé. Celui-ci définit quatre grands courants théoriques : le rationalisme instrumental, le rationalisme intersubjectif, le mouvement pragmatico-postmoderne et le mouvement patrimonial. Il apparaît alors que le rationalisme occupe une position hégémonique dans le champ des théories de l’urbanisme depuis sa fondation et qu’elle est assumée par le rationalisme intersubjectif depuis le milieu des années 1990.

Career Officers and Political Appointees in American Diplomacy: Contending for Diplomatic Positions through Boundary Work

American Political and Economic Series

The Containment of Labour Unrest in the Post Socialist China

Due to its transition from the socialist mode of production to the capitalist mode, workers in China have been exposed to the exploitative class relations that they hardly experienced before. The working class is now assuming a subordinate position in the relations of production while the capitalist class remains in the dominant position. As a consequence, workers’ protests are constantly emerging and class conflicts are exacerbating in the contemporary China. I have set out to study in this paper how the party-state in China contains labour unrest through the All China Federation of Trade Unions (the ACFTU), which I argue is a state apparatus that performs the ideological, political and economic functions in different situations. There has been an ongoing academic debate on if the ACFTU is defending workers’ interests. Some scholars have expressed optimism while some have taken a dim view. Drawing on Poulantzas’ theory of capitalist state, I hope to make contribution to this debate by demonstrating that the ACFTU is under some circumstances serving the short term interests of workers as individuals, but not the economic and political interests of workers as a class. Instead of organizing workers to overcome the effects of isolation or forming a class for itself, the ACFTU attempts to contain labour unrest and reproduce their subordination in the relations of production.

¿Hacia una recentralización en Colombia?: una mirada desde el control fiscal excepcional

En materia de control fiscal territorial, se ha evidenciado la urgencia de una reforma en su estructura orgánica como consecuencia de los casos de corrupción que se han presentado en las entidades territoriales, los cuales han generado la intervención de la Contraloría General de la República en asuntos de carácter territorial, a través de una facultad constitucional denominada control fiscal excepcional. Dicha facultad no es ampliamente conocida y genera inquietud, pues no ha recibido un profundo estudio que permita determinar con claridad su carácter de excepcional, ya que en ciertos casos limita la competencia de las contralorías territoriales que puede traducirse en una nueva centralización. Es entonces que se emprende un análisis desde la perspectiva de la estructura del Estado, en el modelo descentralizado de las funciones de la Contraloría General de la República, donde el carácter limitante del control fiscal excepcional puede ser parte de un fenómeno que se denomina “recentralización. Es así que, a través del primer capítulo se desarrollan los conceptos de control fiscal, terminando con el análisis del modelo en la constitución de 1991, en el cual quedó establecido la facultad excepcional objeto de estudio. En el mismo sentido se estudia los pronunciamientos jurisprudenciales, como también los conceptos de descentralización y centralización para entender la finalidad del objeto de análisis, asimismo se revisó los casos relevantes entorno al control fiscal excepcional. Adicionalmente se construye un marco jurisprudencial para identificar la posición dominante de la Corte Constitucional y del Consejo de Estado, respecto al control fiscal excepcional. En la segunda parte del documento, primero se analiza cómo ha sido el proceso de centralización a la descentralización respecto del control fiscal, asimismo se expondrá el concepto de recentralización. Finalmente, se establece cuáles son los retos que se presentan en el fortalecimiento del control fiscal territorial, el papel en la lucha contra la corrupción y cómo se ha planteado desde otras esferas, un cambio del modelo del control fiscal territorial y una propuesta que recoge las apreciaciones estudiadas a lo largo de los cuatro capítulos de la investigación. Sobre la base de las consideraciones anteriores, se pretende dar un punto de vista diferente a la comunidad académica y además un estudio que permita una visión sobre la necesidad de reforzar el control fiscal territorial, como también frenar el retroceso que ha tenido a través del control fiscal excepcional, y de la misma manera la descentralización en Colombia.

Alternatives to cyanide in the gold mining industry: what prospects for the future

This paper reviews a series of alternative lixiviant systems for the recovery of gold from ores and concentrates. For over 100 years, cyanide has been the leach reagent of choice in gold mining because of its high gold recoveries, robustness and relatively low costs. The environmental damages resulting from its mismanagement, however, have initiated widespread research aimed at identifying and developing less toxic leaching agents. The most widely-researched alternative lixiviants for gold ores are examined in this paper, but it is evident that none has yet made any significant inroad into the dominant position of cyanide as the reagent of choice at the vast majority of gold mines worldwide. (c) 2005 Published by Elsevier Ltd.

Restrições verticais e defesa da concorrência: a experiência brasileira

This article reviews the Brazilian competition policy with regard to vertical restraints. Although relatively short, the Brazilian experience is surprisingly rich and consistent, particularly in comparison with the quite volatile U.S. enforcement towards vertical restraints, which ranged from severe interventions to an absolutely lenient approach. A significant number of the most important antitrust cases in Brazil are related to vertical restraints, and one of them resulted in the highest fine ever applied to a company by Brazilian authorities. Moreover, the necessary conditions to characterize an antitrust offence are relatively well set, comprising three main steps of investigation: a) the existence of dominant position, b) the feasibility and economic rationality of market foreclosure and raising the costs of rivals, and c) the efficiencies related to vertical control. The article comprises a summary of the economic controversy regarding vertical restraints, and a summary of the main cases decided by the Brazilian Commission (Cade).

Creating meanings, changing contexts: contested sustainability in the Brazilian beef industry

O objetivo desta pesquisa é compreender de que forma as organizações moldam seu ambiente, analisando por que algumas práticas tornam-se reconhecidas como ‘sustentáveis’ na indústria de carne bovina brasileira. O estudo dialoga com a literatura de institucionalismo organizacional ao apontar a necessidade de considerar a política (i.e. as negociações entre atores) e significados, a fim de entender como a estabilidade e a mudança institucional ocorrem em um contexto situado (i.e. em um tempo e espaço específicos). A pesquisa conclui que os entendimentos sobre o que poderia ser reconhecido como ‘sustentabilidade’ são o resultado de atores moldando o seu ambiente por meio de ações e interações que produzem significados. Seguindo uma abordagem de hegemonia, essas disputas não são apenas entre os atores que procuram vantagens recursivas, mas também procuram defender ou atacar as lógicas sociais que apoiam a posição dominante dos atores. Além disso, os atores exercem sua agência sobre as condições no presente (i.e. contexto situado), com base em um passado herdado e com o objetivo de produzir um futuro que eles imaginam. Para analisar tais processos uma abordagem de hegemonia entre atores e lógicas sociais foi desenvolvida para destacar a ordem de negociação, uma arena em que os atores lutam pela hegemonia. Como resultado de tais negociações, uma questão focal emerge, influenciando o discurso e interesses dos atores, bem como justificando as iniciativas, programas e tecnologias sobre tal questão; construindo, portanto, o consenso. Baseando-se em Realismo Crítico e Análise Crítica do Discurso, a pesquisa desenvolveu um estudo de caso longitudinal suportado por documentos públicos e confidenciais e entrevistas com especialistas, para examinar o caminho da sustentabilidade na indústria de carne bovina brasileira. Identificou-se três contextos diferentes para agência em relação à sustentabilidade. Enquanto no primeiro verifica-se um silêncio sobre práticas de sustentabilidade, o segundo enfatiza a emergência do desmatamento da Amazônia como uma questão focal, devido à agência do Greenpeace e MPF que força a indústria a desenvolver um sistema de monitoramento que rastreie seus fornecedores de gado de modo a evitar compra de suprimentos associadas ao desmatamento da Amazônia, dentre outras atividades ilegais. Finalmente, durante o terceiro contexto, o sistema de monitoramento permite que indústria de carne bovina se aproprie da sustentabilidade, assim o setor da carne passa a construir a sua legitimidade para influenciar sobre os riscos e oportunidades associadas ao contexto da sustentabilidade. Em termos de lógicas sociais, o desmatamento na Amazônia foi denunciado como um problema ambiental, nesta indústria, ancorado em algumas características da lógica do capitalismo, como a gestão de riscos, inovação e aumento da produtividade, cadeia de fornecimento global e governança. Embora este ataque questione a racionalidade da maximização racional lucro, impondo restrições ambientais para o comportamento das empresas, a solução desenvolvida é também ancorada sobre as mesmas características do capitalismo empregadas para atacá-lo. Como consequência, uma mudança gradual é ilustrada por uma transformação na ‘eficiência quantitativa’ do capitalismo, o aumento da produtividade devido à mudança da proporção de recursos consumidos para produção e à preocupação em evitar o desmatamento da Amazônia. No entanto, a ‘eficiência qualitativa’ do capitalismo é preservada uma vez que os grupos dominantes no poder ainda estão controlando os meios de produção e os recursos a eles associados (i.e. dinheiro, poder e legitimidade). Uma vez que estes processos de negociações são mediados pela racionalidade de se evitar risco aos negócios, consequentemente, a maximização do lucro, o núcleo duro da lógica do capitalismo é preservado. Portanto, os grupos dominantes mantêm sua hegemonia.

A agência McCann-Erickson do Brasil: um estudo sobre a profissionalização do campo publicitário brasileiro (1935-1964)

A presente dissertação tem como tema a profissionalização do campo publicitário. Em se tratando do campo publicitário brasileiro especificamente, e levando em consideração que a profissionalização desse campo esteve devidamente articulada com a expansão e consolidação das grandes agências publicitárias americanas na América Latina, entre as décadas de 1930 e 1960, a pesquisa tem como foco analisar a contribuição da agência publicitária americana McCann-Erickson para o desenvolvimento do mesmo. Partindo da hipótese de que há uma particularidade inerente à experiência brasileira da McCann, a pesquisa mostra como o aporte teórico da Sociologia das Profissões, somado à teoria de construção de campo, podem ser aplicados no estudo da consolidação da Publicidade como uma comunidade profissional única, seguido pela demonstração de como os contextos históricos de criação dos campos publicitários americano e brasileiro se entrelaçam com a trajetória da agência McCann-Erickson em solo brasileiro, e terminando com a análise dos mecanismos e capitais específicos acionados pela agência em questão para a afirmação de seu posicionamento como polo dominante dentro do campo publicitário brasileiro.

As práticas de tradução redefinidas pelas relações linguísticas na economia informacional

Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de São Paulo (FAPESP)