Browsing by Issue Date, starting with "2013-02-14"
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- GL : creating a new channel in the distribution system : “Add consumer as new friend”Publication . Lemos, João Bilton de; Pinheiro, Susana FrazãoGL, importação & exportação, SA (GLSA) is a Portuguese Small and Medium enterprise (SME) that operates as trader and creator of several solutions in the food industry, namely dairy and convenience products. Since 1942, when it was founded, the company had to be flexible enough to be constantly adapting their business structure to the market environment, which led them to swap overtime from a Portuguese representative of English manufacturers of raw materials for industries, to an international SME in the food field. Nowadays, the company is increasing their presence in international markets; however, the Portuguese market needs new strategies to invert the current cycle and adapt their offer to the new consumer needs. The focus of the present dissertation, written in form of a case study, is to assess the possibility of creating a direct channel on the distribution system, in order to be closer to the end consumer and increase sales. That channel would be presented as an online platform aimed to satisfy needs for catering, coffee-breaks and online ordering of lunch boxes. The teaching case gives an overview about the changes occurred in the company since it was founded, present the actual context of the business, and it ends with the project plan and forecasts to start selling directly to end consumers through internet. The dissertation covers the steps needed to analyse the market environment by implementing research methods to help the students to reach a final decision in the end. Those research methods includes a literature review that analyses the internet channel, check for new trends, identify consumers’ needs and what is being done worldwide and a survey that was conducted in the Portuguese market in order to identify consumers preferences and habits. The main conclusions drawn from this study are that GLSA is struggling in the Portuguese market, where several challenges are appearing and threatening the company’s operations. An internet platform appears to be an effective measure, not to solve the problems immediately, but along with continuous product innovation and low-price products, in order to facilitate consumer’s needs, can be considered a key element, with low risk, to change the current negative paradigm.
- Variance improved performancePublication . Clara, Nuno Duarte Pacheco; Faias, José Afonso de Carvalho TavaresWe propose a simple and e cient way of forecasting the term structure of swap rates and we demonstrate how an investor might bene t from (i) the variance swap as an asset; and (ii) from the implied information present on the swap rate. We show that the Nelson-Siegel model is enough to capture the dynamics of the swap rate term- structure and that the three factors may be interpreted as the level, slope and curvature of the curve. Further, we show that the expected change in the swap rate predicts the one-month forward market return with an OOS R2 of 2.9%. An investment strategy in both the variance swap and the underlying yields out-of-sample annualized Sharpe ratios around 1.89 which are robust across several di erent portfolios.
- Developments on the e-health portuguese sector : case study about ConsultaClick´s approachPublication . Pape, Rita Maria Parreira de Portugal da Silveira de; Pinheiro, Susana FrazãoThe main goal of this dissertation is to analyze how a recent Portuguese start-up within the health sector can bring some developments and innovation to the National Health System, at the same time that it tries to integrate Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) to contribute for a better society. Written in the form of Case Study, the dissertation shows how CCK´s service can be helpful for the Portuguese population, through the study of its business model. The dissertation is structured in five chapters: (1) Introduction, which deeply describes deeply the present study and the motivation behind it; (2) Literature Review, explaining the main theoretical concepts within the Portuguese National Health System and e-commerce sector; (3) Case Study which illustrates CCK's best practices; (4) Teaching Notes, making an interesting analysis to the company's business model; and to conclude (5) some Future Guidelines are presented as well as the dissertation's Limitations.