Services Procurement under the WTO’s Agreement on Government Procurement: Whither Market Access?

This paper studies the government procurement of services from foreign suppliers by conducting a statistical analysis of data submitted by Japan and Switzerland to the WTO's Committee on Government Procurement. Using several metrics, the paper examines if the WTO’s Agreement on Government Procurement (GPA) has led to greater market access for foreign suppliers in services procurement. Our results indicate that despite the GPA, the proportions of services contracts awarded to foreigners have declined over time for both countries and in the absence of this decline, the value of services contracts awarded to foreign firms would have been more than 15 times higher in the case of Japan and nearly 68 times more in the case of Switzerland. We also find that for the same services categories, at least the Japanese government is not purchasing as much from abroad as it's private sector is importing from the rest of the world, a finding that further points to the home-bias in that government's public purchase decisions.

Do acesso clássico à comercialização: especificidades do mercado imobiliário informal na área especial de interesse social de Mãe Luiza, Natal/ RN.

This study presents research regarding affordable housing and their effects on the spatial reconfiguration of Natal/ RN, aiming to identify the specificities of the informality of urban land. This study aims to understand how informal housing market operates housing provision for the population located in popular informal settlements, through buying and selling market and rental market of residential properties irregular / illegal. This understanding will be through the neighborhood of Mãe Luisa, Special Area of Social Interest (SASI), located between neighborhoods with a population of high purchasing power and inserted into the tourist shaft of seaside of town. The characterization of informal housing market in Mãe Luiza, from buyers, sellers and renters, will help to understand how these informal transactions operate on SASI and housing provision for public policy development and implementation of housing programs and land regularization for low-income population, adequate to dynamic and reality of housing of informal areas

The effect of ambient scent on moviegoers’ behavior

Atmospheres influence behavior, create a positive image, and influence consumer purchasing patterns and retail perceptions. Nonetheless, the physical environment is a potential source of competitive advantage, though neglected more often than not. In particular, research on the effects of aroma as an independent variable in natural settings is very limited and requires further research. A sample of 407 moviegoers participated in a “natural experiment” in a cinema complex, using scented and unscented conditions. Findings show that scent produces significant positive differences in the evaluation of the theater, its environment, and on intention to return. No significant differences are found in the evaluations of concession products sold, despite the fact that spectators in scented rooms considered product prices to be significantly cheaper than did spectators in unscented rooms. A major implication of this study is that scent significantly affects emotional reactions to atmospheres. Retailers can thus improve environments to create enjoyable experiences and positively influence consumer responses.

A aquisição de bens e serviços no Exército

O presente trabalho de investigação aplicada subordinado ao tema “Aquisição dos bens e serviços ao nível do Exército” visa descrever que medidas podem ser implementadas no sistema aquisitivo do Exército para minimizar os custos e melhorar a racionalização de diversos recursos. O presente trabalho estrutura-se em duas partes. A primeira parte consiste numa exposição teórica, na qual são abordados diversos temas como as “compras”, a descentralização e centralização, a regência da Administração Pública ao nível da contratação pública. Numa segunda parte, é definido o trabalho de campo, no qual são descritas as entrevistas realizadas com intuito de obter informações no que concerne a metodologias, fluxos e procedimentos adotados por parte dos ramos das Forças Armadas e Guarda Nacional Republicana, bem como a análise estatística das aquisições dos bens e serviços de 2015 Este trabalho foi realizado com recurso a uma metodologia hipotético-dedutiva, tendo a sua realização permitido o esclarecimento de hipóteses previamente colocadas. A investigação concluiu que o sistema aquisitivo do Exército possui muitas fragilidades que o impossibilitam de usufruir das vantagens que a centralização acarreta, nomeadamente as economias de escala. Tal deve-se a diversas lacunas existentes, particularmente a falta de planeamento.

A importância dos módulos logísticos do SIG na reorganização logistica e financeira do Exército

No âmbito do plano curricular do Mestrado em Administração Militar (AdMil) procedemos á realização do presente Trabalho de Investigação Aplicada (TIA) intitulado de “A importância dos módulos logísticos do SIG na reorganização logística e financeira do Exército”. É de referir que este assunto é de total interesse porque se enquadra no objetivo estratégico do Exército (OEPB10) que visa incrementar a gestão de recursos apoiada em sistemas de informação publicados na Diretiva de Planeamento do Exército para o biénio 2015 e 2016. O objetivo geral desta investigação é explicar se as funcionalidades do módulo MM do SIG respondem às necessidades do Exército. Pretendemos também identificar se o processo de compras logístico é utilizado em pleno, determinar se é possível fazer uma análise das compras já efetuadas e em curso, determinar se o Exército em SIG consegue gerir as suas existências em quantidade e valor, identificar se existe gestão de necessidades de reabastecimento das U/E/O em SIG e expor as vantagens e inconvenientes da sua utilização, descrever as vantagens da migração dos dados para a aplicação SIG de outras aplicações usadas para a gestão de stocks. O módulo MM do SIG integra a administração de materiais, planeamento, controlo dos materiais, compras, recebimentos de mercadorias, administração de stocks e verificação de faturas. A presente investigação trata-se de um estudo de caso, para tal recorremos ao método hipotético-dedutivo e aplicámos um estudo exploratório/descritivo. Nesta investigação procedeu-se à recolha de informação através de inquéritos por entrevista e por questionário, tendo sido selecionado consequentemente um método misto (qualitativo e quantitativo). Após a análise e discussão dos resultados concluímos que as funcionalidades do módulo MM do SIG implementado no Exército não respondem na totalidade às necessidades do Exército, em determinadas classes de abastecimento no âmbito das existências. Assim é de salientar que do antecedente foram implementadas as ferramentas MM compras centrais e locais, e desde o ano de 2014, têm sido implementados em sistema a gestão dos combustíveis e neste momento o fardamento. Acrescentamos que o módulo MM está integrado e como tal há necessidade de resolver vários problemas considerados externos, nomeadamente a agilização do processo da catalogação, a descentralização das compras que leva a que as U/E/O recorram maioritariamente à utilização de NNA genéricos, não possibilitando a gestão dos materiais em sistema SIG, o que resulta posteriormente numa apresentação incorreta da conta 3 das existências no balanço.

Forças Armadas de Cabo Verde : O impacto económico e financeiro da profissionalização das Forças Armadas

O presente Trabalho de Investigação Aplicada intitulado “Forças Armadas de Cabo Verde. O impacto Económico e Financeiro da profissionalização das Forças Armadas”, surge no âmbito dos cursos ministrados na Academia Militar, e tem como objetivo principal estudar as Forças Armadas de Cabo Verde e identificar os impactos que a adoção de um modelo profissional pode ter no orçamento da Defesa. Este trabalho contém uma componente teórica que serve de sustentação à investigação, em que aborda aspetos importantes relativos à profissionalização das Forças Armadas, faz uma abordagem às Forças Armadas de Cabo Verde com base em legislação afeta às mesmas para se perceber quais os eventuais impactos que podem advir da adoção do modelo profissional, e as suas implicações no orçamento da Defesa Nacional. A segunda componente comporta uma pesquisa e recolha de dados e informação através de entrevistas que permitiram obter as conclusões e responder ao problema de estudo. Da análise teórica e dos dados recolhidos verifica-se que a adoção de um modelo profissional nas Forças Armadas de Cabo Verde implica uma alteração nos processos de recrutamento atualmente existente, estabelecendo requisitos para a entrada na Instituição Militar, tendo em conta as necessidades da mesma sendo que, a adoção deste modelo também tem implicações nos salários. Assim, concluímos que a adoção deste modelo implica uma alteração significativa no orçamento da Defesa, resultante do aumento dos gastos com o pessoal militar das Forças Armadas, e do maior investimento que deverá ser feito em tecnologias, na formação e treino dos quadros, pelo que o Estado deve encontrar formas para suportar tais custos. Também verifica-se que a adoção deste modelo permite uma redução da taxa de desemprego na sociedade, aumenta o poder de compra dos militares, contribuindo assim para a dinamização da economia, fornecendo ainda um clima de segurança favorecendo os investimentos, sendo por isso considerado uma mais-valia.

Parental views of antibiotic use in children with upper respiratory tract infections in Jordan

Purpose: To assess the knowledge, attitudes and practices of parents towards antibiotics use for upper respiratory tract infections (URTIs) in Jordan. Methods: A cross-sectional study was carried out at 10 private outpatients’ pediatric clinics across Amman-Jordan from September to December 2013. During the study period, 1329 parents of young children who fulfilled the inclusion criteria and agreed to participate were interviewed, and completed a validated structured questionnaire. Results: A large proportion of parents (903, 68 %) believed that weather change was the main cause of acute URTIs in their children. Although 1098 (82.8 %) of parents were aware that the recurrent use of antibiotics leads to a decrease in effectiveness due to bacterial resistance, 859 (64.6 %) of the respondents reported that they would give antibiotics without prescription. Fathers (135, 40.2 %), were significantly more aware that URTIs follow its natural course without antibiotic administration compared to mothers (N = 327, 32.9 %), respectively (p = 0.005). Conclusion: There is a lack of adequate parental knowledge concerning the use and misuse of antibiotics in children in Jordan. National publicity campaign should be mounted to improve awareness. Furthermore, existing laws should be enforced to prevent parents from purchasing antibiotics over-thecounter (OTC).

A vevő-beszállító kapcsolat elméleti megközelítései és empirikus szemléltetésük

A cikk célja, hogy bemutassa a vállalatok, ezen belül kiemelten vevő és beszállító közötti kapcsolatok jelentéstartalmának elméleti megközelítéseit. Ehhez kapcsolódóan az írás két fő egységre tagolódik: az első szakaszban a vevő-beszállító kapcsolat fogalmának kifejtésekor ismerteti azok kialakulásának, a tranzakciók szintjéről kiinduló fejlődésének lehetséges állomásait, továbbá egy elméleti vizsgálati keretet mutat be, amelynek segítségével a cikk fókuszában álló kapcsolatok elemezhetők, belső struktúrájuk feltárható. A vállalatok közötti kapcsolatok vizsgálatával, tartalmának elemzésével több elméleti irányzat foglalkozik. Jelen írás a vevők és beszállítók közötti kapcsolat definiálása és a felek közötti viszonyrendszert elemző elméleti megközelítések ismertetése során alapvetően az Industrial Marketing and Purchasing Group nemzetközi kutatócsoport által alkotott és elfogadott elméletekre támaszkodik, főként azok nemzetközi publikációkban ismertetett eredményeit szintetizálja. Az írás második tartalmi egységében az ismertetett elméletek gyakorlatban való megjelenését, értelmezhetőségét esettanulmány szemlélteti.

Aligning supplier evaluation with manufacturing competitive priorities. Results of an international survey in manufacturing and assembly industries

The aim of our research is to investigate a company’s purchasing and manufacturing competitive priorities jointly in order to uncover any relationships between them and also their effect on the supply chain tools implemented by the company. We assume that the supplier selection criteria of the companies reflect the true goals of the purchasing function and we take the purchasing function’s point of view to examine the aforementioned relationships. We use a multinational database for our empirical analysis which contains almost 700 companies from 20 countries and data that were acquired in 2009. We identified four different clusters which reflect a different level of supply chain tool implementation.

Conshumano: Os novos media na sociedade de consumo

Uneasy by the consumerism of the society of our days, this thesis embodies a reflection and a research about the influence of the new media over a behavior standardization, which results in the creation of the artistic project “Conshumano”. Looking up for a description and a critical integration of various converging concepts of this social paradigm, which lead to a growing tendency of the consumption: Capitalism, Industrialization, New Technologies, Cultural Industry, Mass Media or Globalization. Focusing the research on the concepts presented, developed a theoretical framework that relates different authors and artistic examples. Embracing art as an active agent of social life, concepts such as Video-Art or Interactive Art gain evident shape, as they establish essentially the basis for the interactive multimedia instalation accomplished by this project. The possibility of young artists resort to new ways to produce their works is an emerging factor today, and in this project the new technologies were used creatively as an artistic medium, with a view to developing an artistic, active and interventionist citizenship. Finally, lying properly contextualized in this paper, was presented the exhibition of interactive multimedia installation “Conshumano: os novos media na sociedade de consumo”, at National Museum Grão Vasco, in Viseu. Art is seen as a creative and alternative critique of the consumerism and as a way to interact socially, which aims to create a self-analysis for the society about the act of purchasing.

International Branding Strategies : In Swedish and Russian Fashion Companies

There are a lot of different business strategies for any company. However, in the fashion industry, the best way to become successful is to develop the brand using special branding strategies. Hence, a brand is the main weapon for fashion companies, which helps to launch international market and to create loyal customers around the world. Nowadays, due to the difficult current political situations and the collapse of oil and the dollar a lot of companies in different industries have to change their business strategies. It is especially true for fashion companies, because they depend on consumers ' income and their purchasing power. In the case of the fashion industry, branding strategy development can be more effective, than just business strategy. Hence, this thesis discusses the following problem: What branding strategy should Russian and Swedish fashion companies choose in order to build a strong brand and enter the international market.  The purpose of this thesis is to analyze various branding strategies of Russian and Swedish fashion companies during the process of entering foreign markets. At the end of this thesis, practical contribution in their process of international branding strategy creation will be discussed. In order to answer research questions more broadly and accurately, the mixed research method, using quantitive and qualitative study through interviews and survey was chosen. Semi-structured interviews were made with the CEO and brand managers of Russian and Swedish fashion companies. Moreover, the survey was made with two different questionnaires: for Russian and for Swedish customers. In the case of qualitative research, the author found that fashion companies from Russia and Sweden have got not just some features and differences, but also common aspects. The primary data from interviews allowed the author to understand the specifics of brand management in the fashion industry. It was found, that there are some useful aspects in Swedish strategies, which can be used by Russian companies to develop their brands on the international market. In the case of quantitative research, preferences of consumers from Russia and Sweden were analyzed and also some features were identified. Survey results provided the author with a common understanding about purchase habits, attitudes and perceptions to fashion brands. According to these, some hypothesizes, which are formulated in the first part of the thesis, have been proven or disproven. It was found, that preferences of Russian and Swedish people are pretty the same, however Russian customers do not like to risk with new brands and prefer well-known and trusted brands while Swedish customers are open for any brand, which can satisfy their tastes.

FY 2016 Equipment and Vehicle Revolving Fund report

The Equipment and Vehicle Revolving Fund report covers all equipment and vehicle purchases through the highway materials and equipment revolving fund during FY 2016.

Qualified products list 2

The South Carolina Department of Transportation publishes Qualified Products Listings which include pre-qualified materials that may be used on construction and maintenance projects as specified in the project proposal. This document deals with qualified coarse aggregate sources. It is broken down by supplier, location name, SCDOT number, location, fineness modulus, absorption, specific gravity, bulk SSD and soundness loss.

Qualified products list 1

The South Carolina Department of Transportation publishes Qualified Products Listings which include pre-qualified materials that may be used on construction and maintenance projects as specified in the project proposal. This document deals with qualified fine aggregate sources. It is broken down by supplier, location name, SCDOT number, location, fineness modulus, absorption, specific gravity, bulk SSD and soundness loss.

General ledger account coding

The Supplier-Relationship Management system is used by SC Department of Motor Vehicles personnel to requisition most purchases of services and materials for DMV purposes. General ledger account codes are first assigned by the shopping cart preparer. Administrative departments such as procurement, payables and budget regularly correct general ledger codes during the purchasing cycle to ensure proper reporting. DMV goals are consistent with accurate reporting of expenditures by general ledger account code. Incorrect reporting would be contrary to DMV' s vision of promoting effective and efficient business processes. Journal entries increased from 34 to 66 in FY2014 and FY20152 ; with a notable amount correcting the general ledger code. This project examines the assignment or correction of general ledger account codes for DMV's planned purchases for the purpose of process improvement.