Cross-Industry Product Diversification and Contagion in Risk and Return: The Case of Bank-Insurance and Insurance-Bank Takeovers

We investigate the impact of domestic/international bancassurance deals on the risk-return profiles of announcing and non-announcing banks and insurers within a GARCH model. Bank-insurance deals produce intra- and inter-industry contagion in both risk and return, with larger deals producing greater contagion. Bidder banks and peers experience positive abnormal returns, with the effects on insurer peers being stronger than those on bank peers. Insurance-bank deals produce insignificant excess returns for bidder and peer insurers and positive valuations for peer banks. Following the deal, the bank bidders’ idiosyncratic (systematic) risk falls (increases), while insurance bidders exhibit a lower systematic risk and maintain their idiosyncratic risk.

Corporate brand identity management in a technological faculty – how brand relationships influence students and companies reputations

Identity is traditionally defined as an emission concept [1]. Yet, some research points out that there are external factors that can influence it [2]; [3]; [4]. This subject is even more relevant if one considers corporate brands. According to Aaker [5] the number, the power and the credibility of corporate associations are bigger in the case of corporate brands. Literature recognizes the influence of relationships between companies in identity management. Yet, given the increasingly important role of corporate brands, it is surprising that to date no attempt to evaluate that influence has been made in the management of corporate brand identity. Also Keller and Lehman [6] highlight relationships and costumer experience as two areas requiring more investigation. In line with this, the authors intend to develop an empirical research in order to evaluate the influence of relationships between brands in the identity of corporate brand from an internal perspective by interviewing internal stakeholders (brand managers and internal clients). This paper is organized by main contents: theoretical background, research methodology, data analysis and conclusions and finally cues to future investigation.

Gestão documental na logística

Dissertação apresentada ao Instituto Politécnico do Porto para obtenção do Grau de Mestre em Logística Orientada por: Professor Doutor José António Baptista da Costa Coorientada por: Dr. Lourenço Fernando Gomes Pinheiro

Retaining repatriates: an exploratory study in portuguese companies

This study aims to understand the factors which may explain the retention of repatriates from companies acting within Portugal. These factors can be related either to the individual, or to the work, to the organisation or to non-working contexts. Eight companies located in Portugal have participated in this study. Several semi-structured interviews were done to 16 organizational representatives and to 28 repatriates. The obtained results show that the repatriates’ retention on the visited companies may be influenced by several categories of factors. We can conclude that it is (1) the good relation with the leadership, (2) the recognition of the performed job but, also (3) the seniority, (4) the age and the (5) depressed national job market. These are the major factors that emerge as relevant factors for the retention. Hence, there is not only one category of explaining determining factors for the retention decision, but there are several. These findings will be discussed in detail and implications and suggestions for future research will be proposed as well.

Safety climate and its relationship with furniture companies’ safety performance and workers’ risk acceptance

This study aims to analyse the relationship between safety climate and the level of risk acceptance, as well as its relationship with workplace safety performance. The sample includes 14 companies and 403 workers. The safety climate assessment was performed by the application of a Safety Climate in Wood Industries questionnaire and safety performance was assessed with a checklist. Judgements about risk acceptance were measured through questionnaires together with four other variables: trust, risk perception, benefit perception and emotion. Safety climate was found to be correlated with workgroup safety performance, and it also plays an important role in workers’ risk acceptance levels. Risk acceptance tends to be lower when safety climate scores of workgroups are high, and subsequently, their safety performance is better. These findings seem to be relevant, as they provide Occupational, Safety and Health practitioners with a better understanding of workers’ risk acceptance levels and of the differences among workgroups.

Seguro de crédito

Dissertação de Mestrado apresentada ao Instituto de Contabilidade e Administração do Porto para a obtenção do grau de Mestre em Contabilidade e Finanças, sob orientação do Mestre Armindo Licínio da Silva Macedo

How differently do our non-large companies listed on the Portuguese Stock Exchange perform?

A Work Project, presented as part of the requirements for the Award of a Masters Degree in Economics from the NOVA – School of Business and Economics

Positive solutions to find a job: Cultural mismatches between companies and employees

A Work Project, presented as part of the requirements for the Award of a Masters Degree in Management from the NOVA – School of Business and Economics

How do companies use social media?

NSBE-UNL

Statistics as a basis for discrimination in the insurance business

The European Court of Justice has held that as from 21 December 2012 insurers may no longer charge men and women differently on the basis of scientific evidence that is statistically linked to their sex, effectively prohibiting the use of sex as a factor in the calculation of premiums and benefits for the purposes of insurance and related financial services throughout the European Union. This ruling marks a sharp turn away from the traditional view that insurers should be allowed to apply just about any risk assessment criterion, so long as it is sustained by the findings of actuarial science. The naïveté behind the assumption that insurers’ recourse to statistical data and probabilistic analysis, given their scientific nature, would suffice to keep them out of harm’s way was exposed. In this article I look at the flaws of this assumption and question whether this judicial decision, whilst constituting a most welcome landmark in the pursuit of equality between men and women, has nonetheless gone too far by saying too little on the million dollar question of what separates admissible criteria of differentiation from inadmissible forms of discrimination.

Managing marginal capital requirements in solvency II: Analysis of a real insurance portfolio

This thesis provides a complete analysis of the Standard Capital Requirements given by Solvency II for a real insurance portfolio. We analyze the investment portfolio of BPI Vida e Pensões, an insurance company affiliated with a Portuguese bank BPI, both at security, sub-portfolio and asset class levels. By using the Standard Formula from EIOPA, Total SCR amounts to 239M€. This value is mostly explained by Market and Default Risk whereas the former is driven by Spread and Concentration Risks. Following the methodology of Leblanc (2011), we examine the Marginal Contribution of an asset to the SCR which allows for the evaluation of the risks of each security given its characteristics and interactions in the portfolio. The top contributors to the SCR are Corporate Bonds and Term Deposits. By exploring further the composition of the portfolio, our results show that slight changes in allocation of Term and Cash Deposits have severe impacts on the total Concentration and Default Risks, respectively. Also, diversification effects are very relevant by representing savings of 122M€. Finally, Solvency II represents an opportunity for the portfolio optimization. By constructing efficient frontiers, we find that as the target expected return increases, a shift from Term Deposits/ Commercial Papers to Eurozone/Peripheral and finally Equities occurs.

Graph usage in financial reports: Evidence from Portuguese listed companies

When assessing investment options, investors focus on the graphs of annual reports, despite lack of auditing. If poorly constructed, graphs distort perceptions and lead to inaccurate decisions. This study examines graph usage in all the companies listed on Euronext Lisbon in 2013. The findings suggest that graphs are common in the annual reports of Portuguese companies and that, while there is no evidence of Selectivity Distortion, both Measurement and Orientation Distortions are pervasive. The study recommends the auditing of financial graphs, and urges preparers and users of annual reports to be wary of the possibility of graph distortion.

Born global companies: A case study about the internationalization behaviours of Portuguese companies

Portuguese Born Global Companies have been performing an important role in the Portuguese market, mainly due to their innovative ideas and the positive contribution to exportations. This study focuses on the international strategies of four of these companies, comparing them with four international Non-Born Global Companies, in qualitative analysis. It will be possible to see a preference by the Non-Born Global Companies over proximate cultural countries. By following opportunities instead of markets, Portuguese Born Global Companies excel at internationalization growth. The purpose of this study is to help managers of small, innovative companies understand the internationalization strategies in Portugal.

Comprehensive income: evidence from Portuguese listed companies on reporting choices and value relevance

This work project aims at analysing choices related to Comprehensive income (CI) of Portuguese listed firms and understanding the reasons behind them. Additionally, it studies the relevance of CI versus Net Income (NI). It was found that firm’s size and volume of Other comprehensive income (OCI) are positively related with the choice for separate statements while smaller firms with positive NI and negative OCI tend to disclose less information about taxes. The value relevance of CI proved to be superior to that of NI but OCI seems to have no incremental value relevance.

Is there a potential win for companies when women enrich their role of workers through the enrichement of their family lives?

While the work-family relation conflict literature has received much attention, there is a lack of empirical evidence towards work-family positive relation. Furthermore, there is a lack of understanding and recognition of possible benefits obtained by skills’ development during maternity. This study concludes that a family-work relation has a positive outcome, namely the enrichment. It was evident that there is a potential win when women enrich their role as workers through the enrichment of their family lives. Moreover, this enrichment is perceived by mothers along the development of their children; each age and phase have different challenges and enable different skills’ improvement. The findings support the notion that not all work and family experiences are negative and experiences from the work and home can improve outcomes both inside and outside the workplace.