The price of honour: The corporate governance of Banco Espirito Santo

The Price of Honour is a case study, supported with teaching notes, which describes the events and circumstances surrounding the implosion of one of Portugal’s most systemically important banks - Banco Espírito Santo (BES). The case focuses on BES’s corporate governance and how the Espírito Santo family’s tight control of the bank led to its exploitation. Although the situation caught the attention of the bank’s supervisors, their untimely actions could not prevent BES’s financial health from crumbling only two months after a rights issue. With little leeway, the supervisors put forward a resolution which dramatically ended the bank’s centennial legacy.

Corporate governance failure at PT

The following case study depicts the bitter transfiguration of Portugal Telecom, SGPS (PT), a multinational telecommunications company that was once an honourable flag of innovation, corporate governance standards in Portugal and overseas. It scrutinises the controversial episodes that paved the way for the pitiful condition in which PT is nowadays: a company that carries the weight of a ruinous €897 million investment in a defaulted company and no more than a 25.6% stake in a heavily indebted Brazilian carrier. The free-fall is made, ironically, of a complete disregard for best corporate governance practices, allowing for PT’s major shareholders to take over the helm of the company, using it selfishly as a cash cow.

The characteristics of social entrepreneurship business models in Portugal

This work project is based on the MIES (Map of Innovation and Social Entrepreneurship in Portugal) database and it aims to understand the characteristics of social business models in the context of the portuguese market, by determining whether they follow the proposed characteristics by John Elkington and Pamela Hartigan, and then adding to their matrix. Furthermore, it tries to determine success patterns by comparing a group of successful social ventures with a group of less successful ones, with the objective of increasing the knowledge of social entrepreneurship as it applies to Portugal and provide a framework for future study.

Corporate social responsability in advergames: Adjusting communication to the kids of today

Field lab: Consumer insights

Proving a market for a startup befor scaling using the hypothesis-driven entrepreneurship process

The year is 2015 and the startup and tech business ecosphere has never seen more activity. In New York City alone, the tech startup industry is on track to amass $8 billion dollars in total funding – the highest in 7 years (CB Insights, 2015). According to the Kauffman Index of Entrepreneurship (2015), this figure represents just 20% of the total funding in the United States. Thanks to platforms that link entrepreneurs with investors, there are simply more funding opportunities than ever, and funding can be initiated in a variety of ways (angel investors, venture capital firms, crowdfunding). And yet, in spite of all this, according to Forbes Magazine (2015), nine of ten startups will fail. Because of the unpredictable nature of the modern tech industry, it is difficult to pinpoint exactly why 90% of startups fail – but the general consensus amongst top tech executives is that “startups make products that no one wants” (Fortune, 2014). In 2011, author Eric Ries wrote a book called The Lean Startup in attempts to solve this all-too-familiar problem. It was in this book where he developed the framework for The Hypothesis-Driven Entrepreneurship Process, an iterative process that aims at proving a market before actually launching a product. Ries discusses concepts such as the Minimum Variable Product, the smallest set of activities necessary to disprove a hypothesis (or business model characteristic). Ries encourages acting briefly and often: if you are to fail, then fail fast. In today’s fast-moving economy, an entrepreneur cannot afford to waste his own time, nor his customer’s time. The purpose of this thesis is to conduct an in-depth of analysis of Hypothesis-Driven Entrepreneurship Process, in order to test market viability of a reallife startup idea, ShowMeAround. This analysis will follow the scientific Lean Startup approach; for the purpose of developing a functional business model and business plan. The objective is to conclude with an investment-ready startup idea, backed by rigorous entrepreneurial study.

exploring the differences of CSR and CSE activities on consumer attributions and responses

The following directed research project analyzes how different sustainability efforts of an organization influence consumers’ responses in an industry, which faces high controversy. The study tested shows how two different high fit sustainability endeavors, namely high fit Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) activities and Corporate Social Entrepreneurship (CSE), affect the way consumers’ attributions are being made with regard to the company’s motive. With data gathered from surveying 156 participants, the study provides evidence that CSR as well as CSE programs stimulate values-driven attributions which positively affect consumers’ trust, corporate reputation and corporate image. Lastly, theoretical and managerial implications of the study are discussed and future research suggestions provided.

The role of crowdfunding in promoting entrepreneurship

Crowdfunding is a collaborative initiative, usually via internet, where people network to collectively raise funds in order to invest in and support projects delivered by other people or organizations. Tools such as crowdfunding are born and thrive in a grassroots environment, with a strong potential to positively disrupt the entrepreneurial generation setting and grow to a position of significant relevance in society, namely at a time when alternatives to traditional forms of finance are welcome and the technology to deliver them is abundant. Entrepreneurship is the act of transforming ideas and projects into economic products or services. Entrepreneurship related to starting new businesses is better known as start‐up ventures. Entrepreneurs face a series of challenges, from idea conception and business plan design, to obtaining finance, promoting new products and services, generating revenues and profits and generally growing and sustaining a business for the long‐run. These challenges can be overwhelming, namely in the start‐up phase of a new venture, leaving several ideas on paper without them having a chance to “grow legs and walk”. This paper and its analysis offer important insights about the contribution of crowdfunding to facilitate the attainment of critical factors for successful entrepreneurship. With extensive use of real practical examples, leveraging previous analytical studies of other crowdfunding implications and reviewing expert literature, by interviewing entrepreneurs, crowdfunding platform owners and by benefitting from hands on experience of working in such an organization, we intend to clarify the impact of crowdfunding in what we considered to be 7 key entrepreneurial requirements detailed further in the introduction section and later in the body of the paper. The findings have implications for entrepreneurs, naturally, and for business generation theory, extending current entrepreneurial guidelines with innovative tools and methodologies capable of sustaining successful ventures in a newly highlighted cooperative world. We live in innovative times where the channels for the transfer of funds and resources suffer disruptive changes with the potential to significantly improve the ability to generate new initiatives for the well‐being of entrepreneurs and all related communities.

Does the existing Corporate Governance structure and strict Legal Framework, affect the strategic decisionmaking of CEOs?

This thesis is a case study on Corporate Governance and Business Ethics, using the Portuguese Corporate Law as a general setting. The thesis was conducted in Portugal with illustrations on past cases under the Business Judgment Rule of the State of Delaware, U.SA along with illustrations on current cases in Portugal under the Portuguese Judicial setting, along with a comparative analysis between both. A debate is being considered among scholars and executives; a debate on best practices within corporate governance and corporate law, associated with recent discoveries of unlawful investments that lead to the bankruptcy of leading institutions and an aggravation of the crisis in Portugal. The study aimed at learning possible reasons and causes for the current situation of the country’s corporations along with attempts to discover the best way to move forward. From the interviews and analysis conducted, this paper concluded that the corporate governance structure and legal frameworks in Portugal were not the sole influencers behind the actions and decisions of Corporate Executives, nor were they the main triggers for the recent corporate mishaps. But it is rather a combination of different factors that played a significant role, such as cultural and ethical aspects, individual personalities, and others all of which created gray areas beyond the legal structure, which in turn accelerated and aggravated the corporate governance crisis in the country.

In Search of Corporate Renewal: How to Benefit from Corporate Venturing?

Despite the rapid change in today's business environment there are relatively few studies about corporate renewal. This study aims for its part at filling that research gap by studying the concepts of strategy, corporate renewal, innovation and corporate venturing. Its purpose is to enhance our understanding of how established companies operating in dynamic and global environment can benefit from their corporate venturing activities. The theoretical part approaches the research problem in corporate and venture levels. Firstly, it focuses on mapping the determinants of strategy and suggests using industry, location, resources, knowledge, structure and culture, market, technology and business model to assess the environment and using these determinants to optimize speed and magnitude of change.Secondly, it concludes that the choice of innovation strategy is dependent on the type and dimensions of innovation and suggests assessing market, technology, business model as well as novelty and complexity related to each of them for choosing an optimal context for developing innovations further. Thirdly, it directsattention on processes through which corporate renewal takes place. On corporate level these processes are identified as strategy formulation, strategy formation and strategy implementation. On the venture level the renewal processes are identified as learning, leveraging and nesting. The theoretical contribution of this study, the framework of strategic corporate venturing, joins corporate and venture level management issues together and concludes that strategy processes and linking processes are the mechanism through which continuous corporate renewaltakes place. The framework of strategic corporate venturing proposed by this study is a new way to illustrate the role of corporate venturing as a purposefullybuilt, different view of a company's business environment. The empirical part extended the framework by enhancing our understanding of the link between corporate renewal and corporate venturing in its real life environment in three Finnish companies: Metso, Nokia and TeliaSonera. Characterizing companies' environmentwith the determinants of strategy identified in this study provided a structured way to analyze their competitive position and renewal challenges that they arefacing. More importantly the case studies confirmed that a link between corporate renewal and corporate venturing exists and found out that the link is not as straight forward as indicated by the theory. Furthermore, the case studies enhanced the framework by indicating a sequence according to which the processes work. Firstly, the induced strategy processes strategy formulation and strategy implementation set the scene for corporate venturing context and management processes and leave strategy formation for the venture. Only after that can strategies formed by ventures come back to the corporate level - and if found viable in the corporate level be formalized through formulation and implementation. With the help of the framework of strategic corporate venturing the link between corporaterenewal and corporate venturing can be found and managed. The suggested response to the continuous need for change is continuous renewal i.e. institutionalizing corporate renewal in the strategy processes of the company. As far as benefiting from venturing is concerned the answer lies in deliberately managing venturing in a context different to the mainstream businesses and establishing efficientlinking processes to exploit the renewal potential of individual ventures.

Corporate Identity and Desired Image Elements as a Basis for Corporate Image Development, Case: Myllykoski Sales

Tutkimuksen päätavoitteena oli auttaa Myllykoski –ryhmää määrittämään, mistä tekijöistä ryhmän uuden myyntiorganisaation, Myllykoski Salesin, tulevaisuuden imagon tulisi koostua. Näin ollen tutkimus pyrki selvittämään Myllykoski –ryhmän yritysidentiteetin nykytilaa ja Myllykoski Salesin toivottuja imagotekijöitä, sekä vertaamaan niiden vastaavuutta. Lisäksi tutkimuksen tavoitteena oli tutkia Myllykoski –ryhmän nykyistä ja toivottua tulevaisuuden imagotilaa. Jotta imagonrakennusprosessi olisi menestyksekäs, rakennettavan imagon ja viestittävien imagotekijöiden tulisi perustua yritysidentiteetin todellisiin tekijöihin. Yritysidentiteetin voidaan määritellä olevan yhtäläinen sisäisten sidosryhmien muodostaman yritysmielikuvan kanssa ja näin ollen nykyinen yritysidentiteetti voidaan paljastaa tutkimalla henkilökunnan mielipiteitä työorganisaatiotaan kohtaan. Näin ollen käsiteltävä tutkimus suoritettiin tekemällä kaksi sähköpostikyselyä, jotka suunnattiin Myllykoski -ryhmän myynti- ja markkinointihenkilökunnalle. Tutkimusten vastausprosentit olivat 71,4 % (johto, 14 lähetettyä kyselyä) ja 51,9 % (muu henkilökunta, 108 lähetettyä kyselyä). Saatuja vastauksia analysoitiin sekä laadullisesti että määrällisesti. Saaduista vastauksista oli selvästi havaittavissa Myllykoski –ryhmän yritysidentiteetin nykytila, nykyinen ja toivottu imagotila, sekä Myllykoski Salesin toivotut imagotekijät. Verrattaessa toivottuja imagotekijöitä ryhmän yritysidentiteettiin havaittiin, että suurin osa halutuista imagotekijöistä vastasi ryhmän identiteetin nykytilan ominaisuuksia ja näin ollen kyseisiä tekijöitä voitaisiin huoletta viestiä rakennettaessa Myllykoski Salesin imagoa. Joidenkin toivottujen imagotekijöiden viestintää tulisi kuitenkin vakavasti harkita, jottei rakennettaisi epärealistista imagoa.

Corporate political activity and firm outcomes: A meta-analysis

Using meta-analytic methods on a sample of 74 studies, we explore the links between CPA and public policy outcomes, and between CPA and firm outcomes. We find that CPA has at best a weak effect and that it appears to be better at maintaining public policy than changing them.

Corporate Social Responsibility in the Oil and Gas Industry: Environmental Management Systems as a Source of Sustainable Development

The environmental aspect of corporate social responsibility (CSR) expressed through the process of the EMS implementation in the oil and gas companies is identified as the main subject of this research. In the theoretical part, the basic attention is paid to justification of a link between CSR and environmental management. The achievement of sustainable competitive advantage as a result of environmental capital growth and inclusion of the socially responsible activities in the corporate strategy is another issue that is of special significance here. Besides, two basic forms of environmental management systems (environmental decision support systems and environmental information management systems) are explored and their role in effective stakeholder interaction is tackled. The most crucial benefits of EMS are also analyzed to underline its importance as a source of sustainable development. Further research is based on the survey of 51 sampled oil and gas companies (both publicly owned and state owned ones) originated from different countries all over the world and providing reports on sustainability issues in the open access. To analyze their approach to sustainable development, a specifically designed evaluation matrix with 37 indicators developed in accordance with the General Reporting Initiative (GRI) guidelines for non-financial reporting was prepared. Additionally, the quality of environmental information disclosure was measured on the basis of a quality – quantity matrix. According to results of research, oil and gas companies prefer implementing reactive measures to the costly and knowledge-intensive proactive techniques for elimination of the negative environmental impacts. Besides, it was identified that the environmental performance disclosure is mostly rather limited, so that the quality of non-financial reporting can be judged as quite insufficient. In spite of the fact that most of the oil and gas companies in the sample claim the EMS to be embedded currently in their structure, they often do not provide any details for the process of their implementation. As a potential for the further development of EMS, author mentions possible integration of their different forms in a single entity, extension of existing structure on the basis of consolidation of the structural and strategic precautions as well as development of a unified certification standard instead of several ones that exist today in order to enhance control on the EMS implementation.

Pienen kiinteistösijoitusyhtiön kasvustrategia

Tämän pro gradu-tutkielman tarkoituksena oli tutkia minkälaisia kasvupyrkimyksiä Suomessa toimivilla pienillä kiinteistösijoittajilla tai kiinteistösijoitusyhtiöillä on. Tutkimuksen pohjaksi esiteltiin yrityksen strategiateoriaa ja kasvun malleja pienyritysnäkökulmasta. Tutkimuksen tulokset voivat antaa yrittäjille mietteitä kasvamisen suunnitelmallisuudesta ja sen hyödyistä. Tutkimusosuus suoritettiin laadullisena tutkimuksena. Aineisto kerättiin haastattelemalla 16 pientä kiinteistösijoittajaa nettipohjaisen kyselyn avulla. Painopiste oli vapaissa vastauksissa ja tällä pyrittiin saamaan laajoja mielipiteitä. Kohdeyritykset valittiin sattumalta tutkijan lähipiiriin kuuluvien yrittäjien avulla. Maantieteellinen jakauma oli laaja, koko maan kattava. Kohdeyrityksistä haastateltiin yhtä henkilöä, joka oli tyypillisesti yrityksen omistaja. Haastatteluista saatua materiaalia analysoitiin strategisten näkemysten ja yrityksen kasvuteorioiden valossa. Tutkimuksessa todettiin, että pienyrittäjät suhtautuvat kiinteistösijoittamiseen lähinnä säästämismuotona eikä niinkään systemaattisena yrittämisenä. Useat vastaajat tekivät kiinteistösijoittamista osa-aikaisesti. Kasvua tavoittelee kyllä valtaosa yrityksistä, mutta sen eteen ei tehdä juuri mitään. Odotellaan vain sopivia kohteita ostettavaksi. Kasvamisen määrä riippuu hyvin pitkälti yrittäjän persoonasta. Jos yrittäjä on kunnianhimoinen toiminnan kasvattaja, niin se heijastuu myös hänen harjoittamaan kiinteistösijoittamiseen.