Browsing by Issue Date, starting with "2019-01-29"
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- Comparing the effectiveness of different organic growth strategies for InstagramPublication . Pereira, Catarina de Noronha Macedo; Rosa, PedroInstagram is becoming one of the top social networks, having recently reached 1 billion monthly active users. Marketers use it not only for advertising, but also for building up a substantial follower base of potential consumers who can provide insights and grant credibility to the brand. As such, digital marketing experts debate on which is the best strategy to grow organically on Instagram, i.e. to attract followers without relying on paid advertisement. This dissertation empirically tests three organic growth strategies through an experiment performed on two Instagram brand pages – one with an emotional appeal to its content, and the other with a rational appeal. The first strategy (Content strategy) is based on posting content regularly, while also using hashtags and geotags. The other two strategies (Engagement and Follow) rely on interacting with target users, either by writing comments or following them. Throughout four weeks, the daily impacts on follower count and average engagement were tracked. The results indicate that the Follow strategy is the most effective at generating follower growth, for both emotional and rational brands. On the other hand, having a strong Content strategy is the best way to foster engagement. A key finding is that the growth and engagement generated by the strategies are significantly higher for the emotional brand. This implies that marketers must present their brand’s Instagram content in a more sentimental way, adapting to the visual-oriented culture of this social network, otherwise the results of their organic marketing efforts will not reach their true potential.
- How Millennials perceive influencers and its impact on purchase intentionsPublication . Calçada, Manuel Maria Padrão Caetano de Paula; Braga, João NizaMarketeers face an increasingly complex task of pleasing a population that is evolving digitally. The new typical consumer is an individual that is extremely tech-savvy and critical of any campaign created by his/her favourite brands, therefore, companies are adopting new advertising practises to stand out from competition, but also to be closer to their consumers. In recent years, a new marketing approach has been gaining popularity due to the growth of social media channels, and also because it is considered to be socially closer to people and able to trigger stronger emotional responses: Influencer marketing. This dissertation was developed with the purpose of understanding how Millennials, a truly digital generation of consumers, perceive Influencers as endorsers through the lens of the Source Credibility Model. Via both descriptive and exploratory research approaches, an extensive literature review and an online questionnaire were conducted which enabled the enrichment of the existing academic literature and the development of recommendations that will assist marketing professional in creating better Influencer endorsement campaigns. Also, the psychological phenomenon of Social Proximity was studied in the context of endorsement marketing, which was yet to be done in existing literature. The main conclusions taken from this study indicate that Influencers are the best form of endorsement marketing for hedonic products. Also, it was possible to conclude that Social Proximity positively affected consumers’ purchase intentions. Finally, and as a recommendation for marketeers, Influencers are capable of generating high purchase intentions whenever perceived as highly expert and trustworthy.
- Moana surfboard fins : the resurrection of plasticPublication . Allar, Corentin Pascal V; Xavier, RuteThe impact of plastic waste on the natural environment has been increasingly alarming and largely acknowledged as potentially irreversible. Nonetheless, entrepreneurial endeavours can actively change the synergies of the plastic industry that partly hold sway over the global economy. The aim of this dissertation is to investigate how the birth of Moana, a Portugal-based start-up that produces 100% recycled-plastic surfboard fins, can contribute to the collective effort towards influencing the plastic industry synergies at a micro-level by implementing an artisan business model. To control for its viability as an alternative approach to producing environmentally friendly surfboard fins, customer segments are defined by means of a survey analysis, competition is examined on a comparative basis and a technologically singular production process are explored. Subsequently, results provided valuable insights on Moana’s feasibility. Competition is rather mild, and the technology used for production is economical and user-friendly. Additionally, proximity to the customer base is of utmost importance to ensure that sustainable oriented surfers are offered the knowledge and the sense of community required to root awareness and change their perception on plastic waste. In conclusion, Moana proves to be an achievable endeavour as a start-up rich in potential. If executed diligently, it may become a leading example and eventually offer the opportunity to replicate its business model in future entrepreneurial undertakings in numerous industries.
- Equity valuation : Apple IncPublication . Ferreira, Francisco Seixas do Val; Martins, José TudelaIn the following dissertation, a valuation of Apple Inc is completed. Apple is an American multinational technology company, that designs and develops electronic products, software, among others. Three valuation techniques were applied – Discounted Cash Flows using WACC, Dividend Discount Model and Relative Valuation – after which a sensitivity analysis was conducted. The share prices achieved were 209.7$ for Discounted Cash Flows approach, 67.3$ for the Dividend Discount Model, 280.7$ for the Relative Valuation using Price-Earnings, 262.1$ for the Relative Valuation using EV/EBITDA and 284.2$ for the Relative Valuation using EV/EBIT. Thus, an Outperform recommendation was given. DDM turned out to be irrelevant for the case of Apple as well as the Relative Valuation which, although it inherently conveys market perceptions, will work only a validation tool. Hence, no recommendations arose from both methods. Lastly, a comparison between these results and an Equity Research Analyst Report from JP Morgan was made, where the main differences between the two were highlighted.
- Perceção de saúde e otimismo em idosos no grande PortoPublication . Rua, Paulo Guilherme Sobral Pinheiro Távora; Araújo, Beatriz Rodrigues deIntrodução: o envelhecimento da população portuguesa e mundial é um facto. Sempre se envelheceu. Porém se antes falávamos em envelhecimento individual, hoje estamos, também, perante o envelhecimento coletivo da sociedade como um todo. Objetivos: relacionar a perceção global de saúde com o otimismo em idosos do Grande Porto; e avaliar o impacto da ansiedade, sintomas somáticos, sexo, idade, escolaridade e estado civil no otimismo em idosos no Grande Porto. Material e métodos: realizamos um estudo do tipo correlacional, numa amostra não probabilística, tipo “bola de neve”, de 118 idosos; sendo elegíveis idosos com 65 ou mais anos de idade, discurso coerente e orientado no tempo e no espaço. Utilizamos como instrumentos de recolha de dados o Questionário General Health Questionnaire 12 e o Life Orientation Test – Revised. Resultados: na amostra estudada, o sexo não parece interferir com a perceção de saúde dos idosos e o seu otimismo. As variáveis idade, escolaridade e estado civil não influenciam os níveis de otimismo dos idosos em estudo. Na relação entre a perceção de saúde e a escolaridade verificaram-se níveis médios a elevados de escolaridade relacionados com uma melhor perceção de saúde. Os idosos divorciados apresentavam melhor bem-estar psicológico. Também, os idosos com 85 e mais anos tinham níveis mais baixos de “Ansiedade” e idosos com 75 a 84 anos apresentavam níveis mais baixos de “Depressão”. Da análise da relação entre a perceção global de saúde e o otimismo dos idosos obtiveram-se valores que refletem uma associação moderada negativa entre o otimismo e a perceção global de saúde nos idosos. O fator “Ansiedade” do General Health Questionnaire – 12 (perceção global de saúde) destacou-se como o fator com maior poder preditivo do otimismo. Conclusões: Um maior otimismo relativamente ao envelhecimento pode contribuir para uma melhor auto-avaliação do estado de saúde e do bem-estar dos mais velhos. Neste contexto, parece relevante o investimento da enfermagem na área do envelhecimento/pessoas idosas, também, pela análise do seu bem-estar relacionado com os seus níveis de otimismo. Salientamos a necessidade de em investigações futuras considerar outras variáveis (origem rural/urbana dos idosos, nível socioeconómico, situação ou não de institucionalização em Estruturas Residenciais para Idosos e os modelos de intervenção de Enfermagem) e verificar de que forma poderão influenciar a qualidade e perceção global de saúde dos idosos.
- Love Stories Museum : how can emotions contribute to the success of a museum segmentation strategy?Publication . Flores, Ana Rita Pereirinha Vaz Valente; Xavier, RuteThe presented paper aims to understand how emotions can define the different segments of a population which a love-based museum may target. With the intention of building an inspirational museum with an effective and well succeed communication strategy, the researchers decided to interview five different museum managers in order to collect the best online and offline practices. Additionally, an online survey with a total of 521 participants was conducted to understand why people go to museums and how they get informed about these cultural attractions. From art to sports, passing by a museum of happiness, the researchers discuss how the museum concept is changing and what are the main challenges they are now facing.
- How loudly should an entrepreneur communicate their sustainability claim to investors in order to successfully receive funding?Publication . Flint, Kim Rosa Amanda; Costa, CláudiaToday, the impact a business activity has on the larger society is experiencing a growing amount of importance. Stronger environmental expectations from different stakeholders such as gov-ernments, consumers and employees result from the increasing ecological issues our world is currently facing. As a reaction to this, companies and big cooperations change their strategies, putting a greater focus on CSR or adding environmental innovations. At the same time, we can observe a new breed of social entrepreneurs emerging in the market, creating commercial for-profit organizations integrating the sustainability aspect into the center of their business models as they see it as a business opportunity. To date, research on the communication of startups sustainability claim in front of different stakeholders has remained scarce. Therefore, this study aims to investigate how this new breed of entrepreneurs communicate their sustainability claim to investors in order to successfully attract funding. The focus is on whether the startup needs to change the strength of it, and therefore communicates a different value proposition to their investors compared to their customers. An inductive multiple case study of five startups who are part of the Climate-KIC platform was performed. The analysis revealed that how strong a startup decides to communicate its sustainability claim to investors always depends on what investor type they are approaching. Whilst always telling the “truth”, with knowing who they are communicating to, startups constantly adjust their pitch deck ac-cordingly, putting a weaker or stronger focus on it. The study enhances valuable insights and guidelines for startups who integrate a sustainability aspect into their business model in order better approach investors and therefore to successfully attract funding.
- The effects of co-creation : differences across stages of new product developmentPublication . Pereira, Sara Carolina Feio; Costa, Cláudia Isabel de SousaFirms increasingly ask for customer participation in the NPD process. However, an important question remains: how do consumers perceive customer participation across the different NPD stages? Does it differ with the products’ complexity? These questions are relevant because of the impact of such perceptions on NPD performance. Through a causal mediation analysis, was found a positive relationship between the customer participation at all NPD stages and the higher NPD performance. In low complexity products, the relationship is explained by higher perceived innovativeness and product quality at the ideation stage, higher perceived innovativeness, product quality and lower perceived co-creator expertise at the product development stage, but no mediation effect at the commercialization stage. In high complexity products, the relationship is explained by higher perceived innovativeness and product quality at the ideation stage, higher perceived innovativeness, product quality, co-creator similarity and market knowledge at the product development stage and higher perceived innovativeness, co-creator similarity and market knowledge at the commercialization stage. Finally, the ideation stage in a high complexity product was identified as the NPD stage that gains most from customer participation, however, in a low complexity product, all the NPD stages have similar importance in the higher NPD performance
- LusitanaHotels : the 100 days warPublication . Stilwell, Filipa Montenegro Dona; Guedes, NunoLusitanaHotels - The 100 Days War is a case study about a hotel group that was founded in 2009 to bridge the gap between affordable and luxury hotels in the South of Portugal. Over time, different hotels were added to the chain and in the beginning of 2012, the group had 6 hotels and a golf course. Revenues increased constantly for years, although at the cost of high financial leverage. With the financial crisis, this excessive debt led to the bankruptcy of the group. In the end of 2012, LusitanaHotels owed money to everyone and the hotels were inactive. It had no credibility at all and its name was very toxic in the market. The case addresses the challenges that the new management team had to face in their turnaround efforts, the strategic alternatives that were available for the company and the first measures taken, sure of their capacities and experience, they designed a 100-day plan in order to drive the business, so that it could recover and later thrive in a competitive market. The dissertation includes a Literature Review that explores relevant themes of the hotel industry and is followed by a Teaching Note that offers an analysis of key questions raised in the case.
- The role of meta-organizations in crisis managementPublication . Ribeiro, Sebastião Namorado Rosa Viegas; Leglise, LaureThe aim of this study is to understand the role of meta-organizations in crisis management. It approaches how meta-organizations work on stakeholders to promote members’ interests. We conducted a case study Apcor, a Portuguese association of cork firms, to analyse how cork industry reacted after the alternative stoppers threat. During the crisis of the emergence of alternative stoppers, Apcor developed international campaigns to promote and show cork potentialities. Findings show us that meta-organization helps firms to survive a crisis situation, but not avoid bankruptcy situations and does not play a competitive strategy among members. The role of Apcor during crisis, its communication and support to members in different areas, such as legal advisor, goes in line with previous studies mentioned it.