Direct communication versus virtual communication in virtual teams

Several studies suggest that computer-mediated communication can lead to decreases in group effectiveness and reduce satisfaction levels in terms of trust and comfort of its users. Supported by an experiment, where the emotional or affective aspects of communication were tested with the experimentation of two architectures, Direct Communication Architecture (DCA) and the Virtual Communication Architecture (VCA) this paper validates the thesis that, from the users’ perspective, there is no opposition to the acceptance of virtual environments and interfaces for communication, and that these environments are able to cope with the reconfiguration dynamics requirements of virtual teams or client-server relations in a virtual enterprise operation.

Transaction costs: an empirical analysis of their relationship with investment and foreign direct investment

As stated by the New Institutional Economics theory, transaction costs play a relevant role in economics and, according to the extent of such costs, agents make investment decisions. Actually, transaction costs may represent a disincentive to entrepreneurship. This work aims to verify whether transaction costs are related to investment rate and foreign direct investment rate (FDI) in different business environments. The results suggest that foreign investors do not have precise information about other countries as domestic investors do; as it is observed, only the relation between transaction costs and investment rate is significant. Furthermore, there is evidence that the business environments of BRIC countries are less developed when compared to business environments of other countries in the study

INTERNATIONALIZATION OF STATE-OWNED ENTERPRISES THROUGH FOREIGN DIRECT INVESTMENT

ABSTRACT State-owned enterprises (SOEs) are created to focus on domestic needs, and yet recent evidence points to increasing outward foreign direct investment by SOEs. Existing International Business (IB) theories focus on efficiency-based motives for internationalization; therefore, they do not fully capture SOEs' internalization dynamics, which are driven largely by political factors and social welfare considerations. We integrate public management and IB theories to develop propositions that combine these questions: why SOEs internationalize; what are their motivations; and what are the main managerial outcomes of SOEs' internationalization. Our findings suggest that SOEs display little hesitancy in entering international markets, and that SOE international expansion is not contradictory with the goals of state-ownership if the purpose is to adjust the company to changing institutional environments both in the domestic and international markets. Our propositions about SOE internationalization are based on an in-depth case study of the outward foreign direct investment conducted by Brazil's Petrobras over the past three decades.

Une énigme lacanienne et sa solution ou comment «bâtir en France une nouvelle Athènes»

A data da emergência do «Discurso da Universidade» em Lacan introduz uma pontuação cronológica que parece carecer de plausibilidade, já que cerca de 350 anos separam o que se ensina na antiga Atenas da construção medieval da Universidade. Este artigo explica o que leva Lacan a dar as suas datas.

Recensão de: Ignacio Ramonet, Guerres du XXI siécle – Peurs et menaces nouvelles trad. José Martins, Porto, Campo das Letras, 2002, 168 pp.

Revista Lusófona de Ciências Sociais

Migrations, Exils Et Reconfigurations Identitaires Dans Aaron D'yves Thériault Et L'espérance Macadam, De Gisèle Pineau

Utilisant à la fois la méthodologie des études littéraires et celle des études culturelles, le présent travail se propose de délimiter, dans les romans L'Espérance Macadam de l'Antillaise Gisèle Pineau et Aaron du Québécois Yves Thériault, la problématique de la migration et de l'exil ainsi que la conséquente rencontre des cultures à l'origine à la trans-culturalité, en mettant en évidence de nouvelles approches qui rompent avec les paradigmes ethnocentriques et en signalant de nouveaux pactes sociaux qui fondent une culture de la paix entre les hommes.

A escola e as famílias modernas = L'école et les familles modernes

RESUMO: Esta intervenção propõe-se apresentar as relações da escola da actualidade com as famílias dos alunos, com todas as dificuldades e desafios que estas relações implicam. Seguem-se a exposição de dois casos, dois alunos inseridos no Âmbito do projecto Novas Oportunidades. ABSTRACT: This intervention proposes to describe the relationships between School and student’s families of today, with their issues and challenges that are implied. It is followed by the presentation of two students within the context of New Opportunities programme.

Le cinéma et la question du Portugal après le 25 avril 1974

O projecto “Principais tendências no cinema português contemporâneo” nasceu no Departamento de Cinema da ESTC, com o objectivo de desenvolver investigação especializada a partir de um núcleo formado por alunos da Licenciatura em Cinema e do Mestrado em Desenvolvimento de Projecto Cinematográfico, a que se juntaram professores-investigadores membros do CIAC e convidados. O que agora se divulga corresponde a dois anos e meio de trabalho desenvolvido pela equipa de investigação, entre Abril de 2009 e Novembro de 2011. Dada a forma que ele foi adquirindo, preferimos renomeá-lo, para efeitos de divulgação, “Novas & velhas tendências no cinema português contemporâneo”.