Browsing by Issue Date, starting with "2022-01-28"
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- Generalists versus specialists : iberian public firm performance in a gender perspectivePublication . Santos, Diogo Vicente Lopes da Silva; Bonfim, Diana Carina Ribeiro GuimarãesWe propose that general managerial skills gathered during lifetime work experience are negatively related to firm performance even though generalist CEOs often demand a considerable pay premium. This negative performance should be alleviated with longer CEO tenure and vary with gender and macroeconomic conditions. We use CEO data of 88 public Iberian firms from 2010 through 2020 to build an index that represents general managerial skills over five categories that are transferable across industries and companies. Based on this sample, we find support for the negative association between the degree of general expertise and performance which is lessened in periods of crisis (in this case of the sovereign debt crises that affected both Portugal and Spain) and in case the CEO is a woman. Male CEOs with generalist skills, during crisis times, outperform their specialist counterparts, while the winners are generalist women who outperform specialist men in the top corporate position. These findings have repercussions for the more and more widespread practice of seeking to hire more generalist CEOs in an attempt to enhance firm performance, and the historical bias towards men leading the corporate world.
- Building a competent brand personality trough product co-creation : the raw potential of the vegan food marketPublication . Labisa, Mariana Merciano; Costa, Cláudia Isabel de SousaAlongside the exponential growth of vegan food products’ demand, came a substantial adjustment of companies’ portfolios to include these conscious alternatives. Nonetheless, consumers claim to be unsatisfied with the provided offerings, creating the urgent need for investment in innovative product development processes. The following dissertation aimed to explore co-creation’s potential as an enhancer of brand perceptions, and consequent product attractiveness. Two experimental studies tested whether the involvement of consumers in the new product development process influenced consumers’ purchase intentions, brand personality perceptions, and the importance of the communicating source. The findings indicate that co-created vegan products are preferred over similar non-co-created alternatives, by individuals that already purchase vegan products, regardless of their dietary choices or experienced product involvement. Additionally, companies engaging in co-creation were perceived to detain a more competent brand personality, which promotes trust and sequentially mediates purchase intentions. Lastly, the findings revealed that the perceived competence of the communicating agent directly impacts brand competence, and indirectly influences trust and purchase behaviors. Nonetheless, co-creators’ performance in this task was not sturdy enough to be considered a significantly beneficial strategy. Hereby, the uncovered findings not only provide firms the evidence that co-creation is a valuable approach for new product development on a continuously growing market, but also expand existing knowledge on the topic of co-creation, brand personality perceptions, and vegan innovation.
- Electrification of the automotive industry : examining the moderating effect of electrified vehicles on the relationship between well-known brands’ engagement in electrification and consumers’ brand valuations & purchase behaviorPublication . Schiffers, Patrick; Macedo, Maria Alves Machado de Sousa deIn an urge to mitigate negative impacts of combustion engines on the environment in terms of air pollution, traffic noise, and health, governments across the globe are demanding innovations in the mobility sector. As a result, automobile manufacturers are fostering on e-mobility options to provide long-term solutions to the worrying development of climate change and traffic congestion. More precisely, automobile brands are introducing electrified vehicles to resolve above-mentioned environmental issues, as well as offering consumers an alleged sustainable choice to their current selection of vehicles. Using prior academic literature as a foundation, an experimental study was conducted to examine the effect of well-known automobile brands’ engagement in electrification on consumers’ brand valuations and purchase behavior, as well as to elaborate the role of the type of electrified vehicle as a moderator on named relationship. Results indicate that brands’ engagement in electrification positively impacts perceived ethicality, brand image, brand trust, purchase intention and willingness to pay. Additionally, the type of electrified vehicle has a moderating effect on afore-mentioned relationship. Namely, electric vehicles and plug-in hybrid electric vehicles increase brand valuations and purchase behavior, whereas hybrid electric vehicles decrease those valuation metrics. Additionally, an extra analysis yields four regression models which evaluate purchase intention of electrified vehicles based on socio-demographic factors, where age and political orientation are found to have great predictive power. This study provides valuable theoretical and managerial implications towards automobile brands’ engagement in electrification, emphasizing positive evaluation with regards to consumer perceptions of electrification and, more specific, electrified vehicles.
- Celebrity endorsers : what can´t be predicted : examining the impact of celebrity endorser news and the moderating role of event type on brand valuations and consumer’s purchase intentionsPublication . Liu, Susana Wang; Estarreja, MariaAs brands convert celebrity endorsements in common practice to capture consumer’s attentions and distinguish themselves amidst the advertising noise, it consequently results in these idolized individuals to yield immense power. However, in this information and media era, consumers can voice their opinions and share it in a mass scale with many others. Any news regarding celebrities are easily identified and can be widespread. So, what happens to the endorsed brand when consumers encounter positive and negative celebrity endorser news? Are endorsed brands impacted by celebrity’s news even if they are not involved in it? Furthermore, as consumers increasingly demand brands to go past profit-seeing and take a stand on sensitive topics, this study analyzes if the deeds and actions of celebrity endorsers can be transferred to the endorsed brands and if there is an event type more prone to be sensitive on consumers. Through the conduction of descriptive, exploratory and causal research, the hypotheses were raised and tested to uncover the answers raised previously. Findings negated the expected outcomes derived from positive news while identifying significant effects of celebrity transgressions in brand trust. The insights reflected a decreasing effectiveness of advertisements containing celebrity endorsers and further stated that although important, purpose and causes defended by celebrity endorsers are not equally reflected in the case of the endorsed brand.
- Effectiveness of two psychosocial interventions on HIV/Aids knowledge among Mozambican women at sexual riskPublication . Nogueira, Conceição; Patrão, Ana Luísa; Mcintyre, Teresa; Costa, Eleonora; Matediana, Eduardo; Azevedo, Vanessa
- Breaking taboos for sustainabilityPublication . Gomes, Madalena Vaz Pinto de Barros; Simão, Cláudia Patrícia CandeiasFood waste is a global problem that has been gaining significant importance because it contributes considerably to carbon footprint. One of the main actions responsible for food waste is the discarding of food by the consumer. Some of this discarded food is expired but perfectly edible. The reasons for throwing the food away might be because the food is spoiled or just expired and people confuse “best before” and “use by” labels. Households might even feel disgusted towards the food. Little is known about disgust towards expired food and how to overcome it in order to reduce food waste. Therefore, the present research aims to understand how feelings of disgust associated to these taboo products can block consumers from making or supporting more sustainable alternatives. To this end, six hypotheses were elaborated and tested. The key findings show that affective and cognitive framings do not diminish the disgust towards expired food compared to the control framing. However, it was also found that consumers who trust in science tend to support policies that would increase the consumption of expired food. Science reliability turns to be a critical factor for a change in consumption patterns to a more sustainable way of life. Increasing science-related populist movements represent substantial threats for sustainability. For future research, social norms are discussed as an effective way of promoting consumption of expired food.
- Futah’s international journey : a sunny future for a beach towel?Publication . Remtula, Sofia; Guedes, Nuno Manuel de MagalhãesThis dissertation aims to study the internationalization process of a small business enterprise and how the adoption of an e-business format might impact it, through the development of a business case study. The thesis includes a Literature Review of relevant topics and a Teaching Note. The Case provides a better comprehension of several strategic concepts in real situations and allows for the evaluation of an SME’s internationalization strategy and the key factors that influenced its decisions. The Case permits to study the physical stores’ relevance on SMEs’ internationalization and the importance of conciliating online and offline channels. Futah, a small Portuguese company founded in 2012, sells mainly 100% Egyptian cotton design beach towels manufactured in Tunisia that dry faster, are UV-rays resistant, and lighter than usual towels. Throughout the years it extended its product line. Since its foundation, Futah wanted to be known worldwide, but showed a high sales difference between its offline and online channels. Thus, it started internationalizing from the start and focused on developing a strong brand image through several marketing efforts and a clear concern with sustainability. Despite those efforts, nine years later, Portugal was still Futah’s largest market. The Literature Review focuses on three main topics related to the Case Study: the internationalization of SMEs, the role of the Internet, and the SMEs’ e-business adoption. Finally, the Teaching Note offers a recommended classroom plan and its analysis as well as assignment questions, in order to help instructors to use the Case for in-class discussions.
- Physicians’ perspectives on the use of Telemedicine in Germany : in the healthcare areas of diabetology, pediatrics, cardiology, neurology, and psychiatryPublication . Grießer, Marco; Eterno, Maria Inês dos Santos Mendonça PadreTelemedicine is nowadays an instrument to enhance the conventional patient-to-doctor relationship. It can appear in many variations ranging from Covid-19 boosted video consultations to device-related monitoring of patient data by the means of telemedicine. Thus, this master thesis aims to show how different physicians apply telemedicine, the advantages, disadvantages, and challenges of telemedicine in 2021 and how Covid-19 has influenced the use of telemedicine in Germany. The scope of this study is limited to the areas of diabetes, pediatrics & diabetes, cardiology, neurology, and psychiatry & psychology. Therefore, the results of five in-depth interviews with telemedicine experts in combination with an extensive literature review show that telemedicine can compensate partially the supply shortage of skilled specialized doctors in hospitals and practices. This compensation of skilled specialized doctors can be achieved by transferring the skill set from doctors to nurses to free up time for the doctors. Also, it has been found that one of the main application areas for telemedicine are online video consultation services with a prior personal data exchange. Additionally, it can be verified that Covid-19 has had a positive effect on the acceptance of telemedicine in Germany, but no effect on the numbers of treated patients. Telemedicine cannot replace the personal face-to-face contact with doctors. However, it can help to increase the medical service in rural areas with limited specialists.
- Braving the zero-leverage unknown : post-crisis performance and credit dynamics of portuguese firmsPublication . Garcês, Bernardo Jorge; Bonfim, Diana Carina Ribeiro GuimarãesDebt is not as ubiquitous as classical theories of capital structure would like you to believe. A sizeable slice of firms have no debt in their balance sheets, a phenomenon termed the zeroleverage puzzle. We investigate the performance and credit dynamics of such firms, private and public, in the recovery period following the Sovereign Debt Crisis in Portugal; and conciliate our findings with existing hypotheses on the drivers of this behavior. Our results suggest that zero-leverage firms outperform their unlevered counterparts, namely when conditioning on dividend-paying status. Attesting to the persistence of debt aversion, we find that zero-leverage firms are also likelier to follow a conservative debt policy up to eight years after the zeroleverage event. In aggregate, we extract robust evidence in favor of strategic considerations as the driving force behind firms’ hesitancy to take on debt – a boon for the financial flexibility hypothesis. Conversely, the financial constraint hypothesis finds limited support in our data.
- A exoneração de sócios no contexto da fusão de sociedades comerciaisPublication . Carvalha, Rita Maria Dinis; Duarte, Rui Manuel PintoO objetivo desta dissertação é analisar o direito de exoneração nas sociedades comerciais, em articulação com figuras afins, no quadro das Fusões, incluindo nos regimes das Fusões Transfronteiriças e das Sociedades Anónimas Europeias.