PhD Students’ Research Group Social Capital in Two Countries: A Clustering Approach with Duocentred Network Measures

The article examines the structure of the collaboration networks of research groups where Slovenian and Spanish PhD students are pursuing their doctorate. The units of analysis are student-supervisor dyads. We use duocentred networks, a novel network structure appropriate for networks which are centred around a dyad. A cluster analysis reveals three typical clusters of research groups. Those which are large and belong to several institutions are labelled under a bridging social capital label. Those which are small, centred in a single institution but have high cohesion are labelled as bonding social capital. Those which are small and with low cohesion are called weak social capital groups. Academic performance of both PhD students and supervisors are highest in bridging groups and lowest in weak groups. Other variables are also found to differ according to the type of research group. At the end, some recommendations regarding academic and research policy are drawn

A Importância do Marketing no Sector Bancário - Caso Caixa Económica de Cabo Verde

Actualmente as empresas precisam adoptar as melhores praticas de gestão para se sobreviverem neste mercado competitivo e com tendencias em aumentar a competitividade cada vez mais, uma vez que estamos num mercado globalizado. Devido a esses acontecimentos é que o presente trabalho teve como objectivo maior conhecer a importância do marketing no sector bancário. A metodologia utilizada para a concretização desta pesquisa, no que se refere aos objectivos traçados foi a metodologia exploratóoria, onde consegui–se retratar os aspectos teóricos sobre o marketing, o marketing bancário, fazer um breve apanhado do sector e também realizou – se um estudo de caso na Caixa Económica de Cabo Verde - CECV. A fim de responder o problema da pesquisa optou – se pela utilização de duas técnicas de recolha de dados, nomeadamente, realização de uma entrevista com o coordenador de marketing da empresa em estudo e análise documental da mesma e conseguentemente foram analisados e interpretados as informações obtidas. Ficou provado que a empresa utiliza uma filosofia de marketing interno, assim como também se provou que realmente investir em marketing reflete de uma forma positiva evolução da quota do mercado da empresa. De uma forma geral o resultado obtido foi favorável (o que se esperava), constatando que na verdade o marketing é de grande importância na gestão da empresa estudada, pois contribui para o alcance dos seus objectivos.

O Marketing na Organização de Eventos Turisticos

O presente estudo aborda a temática do marketing na organização dos eventos turísticos da ilha de São Vicente, que tem como objectivo principal analisar a importância da adopção e aplicação das ferramentas do marketing e a sua contribuição para o sucesso desses eventos. A sua realização propiciou uma pesquisa do tipo exploratório com levantamento bibliográfico e de natureza qualitativa, e para alcançar os objectivos definidos desenvolveu-se um estudo de caso sobre o marketing e os eventos turísticos da ilha de São Vicente, com base na aplicação de uma entrevista estruturada aos organizadores e promotores de eventos da ilha. Os resultados da pesquisa foram apresentados e posteriormente propôs-se as linhas estratégicas do marketing para a melhoria dos eventos organizados na ilha. Dos resultados obtidos constatou-se que as empresas organizadoras dos eventos em São Vicente fazem uso das ferramentas do marketing para a divulgação e promoção dos seus eventos, apesar de não disporem de um plano de marketing específico e de ainda existirem algumas insuficiências que necessitam ser colmatadas para que os eventos turísticos ganhem a projecção e reconhecimento nacional e internacional que se pretende. As conclusões a que se chegou foram conseguidas através da análise das entrevistas, e também na qualidade de espectadora e apreciadora desses eventos. Espera-se que o estudo sirva de referência para todos os interessados nessa temática e futuros estudiosos, pesquisadores, ao mesmo tempo que seja uma chamada de atenção para as entidades responsáveis e com competência na área. The present study addresses the theme of marketing in the organization of events of interest in the island of São Vicente, and has as its main objective to analyze the importance of the adoption and implementation of marketing tools and their contribution to the success of such events. The realization initiated with a literature review, exploratory-type investigation, with a qualitative nature. To achieve our objectives we developed a case study on marketing and tourism events on the island of São Vicente, based on the application of a structured interview to the events’ organizers and promoters of the island. The search results were presented, and subsequently we’ve shown some marketing strategies that can be used for the improvement of the events organized on the island. From the results obtained, it was clear that the organizers of events in São Vicente make use of marketing tools for the dissemination and promotion of their events, despite not having a specific marketing plan. Besides, there are still some shortcomings that need to be fulfilled so that touristic events are projected to gain national and international recognition, as intended. The conclusions reached were obtained through analyses of interviews made, and also as a spectator and an appraiser of these events. It is hoped that the study will serve as a reference for anyone interested in this subject: future scholars, researchers, while serving, at the same time, as a reminder to those responsible and competent in the area.

Logistics-production, logistics-marketing and external integration: Their impact on performance

Highly competitive environments are leading companies to implement SupplyChain Management (SCM) to improve performance and gain a competitiveadvantage. SCM involves integration, co-ordination and collaborationacross organisations and throughout the supply chain. It means that SCMrequires internal (intraorganisational) and external (interorganisational)integration. This paper examines the Logistics-Production and Logistics-Marketing interfaces and their relation with the external integrationprocess. The study also investigates the causal impact of these internaland external relationships on the company s logistical service performance.To analyse this, an empirical study was conducted in the Spanish Fast MovingConsumer Goods (FMCG) sector.

The effects of uncertainty avoidance on brand performance: Marketing creativity, product innovation and the brand duration

This paper investigates the link between brand performance and cultural primes in high-risk,innovation-based sectors. In theory section, we propose that the level of cultural uncertaintyavoidance embedded in a firm determine its marketing creativity by increasing the complexityand the broadness of a brand. It determines also the rate of firm product innovations.Marketing creativity and product innovation influence finally the firm marketingperformance. Empirically, we study trademarked promotion in the Software Security Industry(SSI). Our sample consists of 87 firms that are active in SSI from 11 countries in the period1993-2000. We use the data coming from SSI-related trademarks registered by these firms,ending up with 2,911 SSI-related trademarks and a panel of 18,213 observations. We estimatea two stage model in which first we predict the complexity and the broadness of a trademarkas a measure of marketing creativity and the rate of product innovations. Among severalcontrol variables, our variable of theoretical interest is the Hofstede s uncertainty avoidancecultural index. Then, we estimate the trademark duration with a hazard model using thepredicted complexity and broadness as well as the rate of product innovations, along with thesame control variables. Our evidence confirms that the cultural avoidance affects the durationof the trademarks through the firm marketing creativity and product innovation.

Association of different lipid measures for atherogenic lipid fractions and risk of coronary events in patients receiving combination antiretroviral therapy: the Swiss HIV Cohort Study

Background: Evidence for a better performance of different highly atherogenic versus traditional lipid parameters for coronary heart disease (CHD) risk prediction is conflicting. We investigated the association of the ratios of sma11 dense low density lipoprotein(LDL)/apoplipoprotein A, aolipoprotein B/apolipoprotein A-I and total cholesterol! HDL-cholesterol and CHD events in patients on combination antiretroviral therapy (cART).Methods: Case control study nested into the Swiss HIV Cohort Study: for each cART-treated patient with a first coronary event between April 1, 2000 and July 31, 2008 (case) we selected four control patients (1) that were without coronary events until the date of the event of the index case, (2) had a plasma sample within ±30 days of the sample date of the respective case, (3) received cART and (4) were then matched for age, gender and smoking status. Lipoproteins were measured by ultracentrifugation. Conditional logistic regression models were used to estimate the independent effects of different lipid ratios and the occurrence of coronary events.Results: In total, 98 cases (19 fatal myocardial infarctions [MI] and 79 non-fatal coronary events [53 definite MIs, 15 possible MIs and 11 coronary angioplasties or bypassesJ) were matched with 392 controls. Cases were more often injecting drug users, less likely to be virologically suppressed and more often on abacavir-containing regimens. In separa te multivariable models of total cholesterol, triglycerides, HDL-cholesterol, systolic blood pressure, abdominal obesity, diabetes and family history of CHD, small dense-LDL and apolipoprotein B were each statistically significantly associated with CHD events (for 1 mg/dl increase: odds ratio [OR] 1.05, 95% CI 1.00-1.11 and 1.15, 95% CI 1.01-1.31, respectively), but the ratiosof small dense-LDLlapolipoprotein A-I (OR 1.26, 95% CI 0.95-1.67), apolipoprotein B/apolipoprotein A-I (OR 1.02, 95% CI 0.97-1.07) and HDL-cholesterol! total cholesterol (OR 0.99 95% CI 0.98-1.00) were not. Following adjustment for HIV related and cART variables these associations were weakened in each model: apolipoprotein B (OR 1.27, 95% CI 1.00-1.30), sd-LDL (OR 1.04, 95% CI 0.99-1.20), small dense-LDLlapolipoprotein A-I (OR 1.17, 95% CI 0.87-1.58), apolipoprotein B/apolipoprotein A-I (OR 1.02, 95% CI 0.97-1.07) and total cholesterolJHDL- cholesterol (OR 0.99, 95% CI 0.99-1.00).Conclusions: In patients receiving cART, small dense-LDL and apolipoprotein B showed the strongest associations with CHD events in models controlling for traditional CHD risk factors including total cholesterol and triglycerides. Adding small dense LDLlapoplipoprotein A-l, apolipoprotein B/apolipoprotein A-I and total cholesterol! HDL-cholesterol ratios did not further improve models of lipid parameters and associations of increased risk for CHD events.

Allowing for heterogeneity in the decomposition of measures of inequality in health

This paper shows how recently developed regression-based methods for the decomposition ofhealth inequality can be extended to incorporate heterogeneity in the responses of health to the explanatory variables. We illustrate our method with an application to the GHQ measure of psychological well-being taken from the British Household Panel Survey. The results suggest that there is an important degree of heterogeneity in the association of health to explanatory variables across birth cohorts and genders which, in turn, accounts for a substantial percentage of the inequality in observed health.

Forest fires: Evaluation of government intervention measures

The purpose of this paper is to examine the relation between government measures, volunteer participation, climate variables and forest fires. A number of studies have related forest fires to causes of ignition, to fire history in one area, to the type of vegetation and weathercharacteristics or to community institutions, but there is little research on the relation between fire production and government prevention and extinction measures from a policy evaluation perspective.An observational approach is first applied to select forest fires in the north east of Spain. Taking a selection of fires with a certain size, a multiple regression analysis is conducted to find significant relations between policy instruments under the control of the government and the number of hectares burn in each case, controlling at the same time the effect of weather conditions and other context variables. The paper brings evidence on the effects of simultaneity and the relevance of recurring to army soldiers in specific days with extraordinary high simultaneity. The analysis also brings light on the effectiveness of twopreventive policies and of helicopters for extinction tasks.

Audit report on the Iowa Turkey Marketing Council for the years ended December 31, 2007 and 2006

Audit report on the Iowa Turkey Marketing Council for the years ended December 31, 2007 and 2006

Impacto do marketing nas decisões de compras dos consumidores: caso São Vicente

A qualidade na prestação de serviços tem um papel fundamental no dia-a-dia das organizações, poisa competitividade instalada entre as mesmas é uma realidade cada vez mais presente. Produzir bens e serviços, que satisfaçam as necessidades e expectativas dos consumidores deve ser o foco das atenções de qualquer organização que se queira manter rentável e saudável perante a comunidade onde está inserida. O presente estudo, procura identificar e analisar a influência que o marketing tem sobre os consumidores e como é que estes reagem à esta influência. Também este trabalho apresenta vários temas que são tratados pelo marketing. Neste trabalho far-se-á pesquisa bibliográfica, consultas de sites e um estudo de campo onde será aplicado um questionário no mercado alvo do estudo, ilha de São Vicente. A formulação do problema tem como base as questões do questionário, das quais pretende-se averiguar o impacto que o marketing tem na hora da aquisição de produtos e serviços.

Marketing e Empreendedorismo na Promoção Turística de Cabo Verde – Estudo de Caso: Plano de Negócio de um Passaporte Turístico

O presente trabalho teve por objectivo principal a elaboração de um plano de negócios para a implementação de um projecto de passaporte turístico visando a promoção turística de Cabo Verde. A primeira etapa deste trabalho baseou-se na análise dos conceitos, evolução histórica e a importância dos três principais ramos ligados ao tema, neste caso o turismo, marketing e empreendedorismo enquadrados sempre no contexto cabo-verdiano, bem como a ligação que existe entre eles. Para o desenvolvimento deste plano foram feitos levantamentos e recolha de dados sobre a implementação e desenvolvimento do processo de Marketing e promoção turística de e em Cabo Verde. Nesta sequência debruçou-se também sobre o tema Empreendedorismo, que actualmente é uma das áreas em crescimento em Cabo verde, para que a ideia tivesse um enquadramento lógico, capaz de o tornar um projecto exequível, que futuramente poderá contribuir para melhorar as estratégias de Marketing e promoção turística bem como impulsionar o espírito empreendedor no país. A estrutura do plano baseou-se no modelo utilizado pela ADEI (Agência de Desenvolvimento Empresarial e Inovação) como instrumento de orientação e capacitação ao empreendedorismo em Cabo Verde.

Radial measures of public services deficit for regional allocation of public funds

The goal of this paper is to present an optimal resource allocation model for the regional allocation of public service inputs. Theproposed solution leads to maximise the relative public service availability in regions located below the best availability frontier, subject to exogenous budget restrictions and equality ofaccess for equal need criteria (equity-based notion of regional needs). The construction of non-parametric deficit indicators is proposed for public service availability by a novel application of Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA) models, whose results offer advantages for the evaluation and improvement of decentralised public resource allocation systems. The method introduced in this paper has relevance as a resource allocation guide for the majority of services centrally funded by the public sector in a given country, such as health care, basic and higher education, citizen safety, justice, transportation, environmental protection, leisure, culture, housing and city planning, etc.