Repository logo

Browsing by Issue Date, starting with "2022-10-17"

Filter results by year or month
Now showing 1 - 10 of 25
  • Co­creation : a strategy to reduce guilt and increase consumers’ intention to purchase hedonic products
    Publication . Rafael, Francisco Vieira da Silva; Costa, Cláudia Isabel de Sousa
    Consumers make several purchasing decisions every day. In this decision­making process, consumers often have to decide between a hedonic or utilitarian product. However, despite preferring the hedonic alternative, consumers often choose the option with the highest utilitarian attributes. This paradoxical decision is due to feelings of guilt present in hedonic consumption. This dissertation shows that co­creation serves as a mechanism to mitigate guilt that favorably influences purchase intentions of hedonic goods. The level of guilt felt by consumers is lessened due to perceived source similarity that enhances social identification and, thus, positive attitudes towards the co­created product. Two studies tested these effects. The first study aimed to assess the presence of guilt in hedonic consumption. The results showed that participants would feel more guilt after purchasing the hedonic good compared to the utilitarian one, as argued in the literature. The second study analysed whether co creation was a guilt­reducing tool. Results showed that source similarity effect positively influenced consumers’ purchase intentions in products that triggered higher feelings of guilt after purchase (hedonic). Our findings provide evidence for the moderating effect of perceived similarity on the mediated relationship between hedonic consumption and purchase intention. Furthermore, the study showed that participants are more willing to buy the (hedonic) product when learning that the product was co­created. This study contributes to the literature on hedonic consumption by identifying a new mechanism for guilt attenuation in hedonic consumption. Managerial implications such as the competitive advantage that arises with co­creation are also discussed.
    2022-10-17Master thesis Restricted access Show more
  • Chocolate funcional contendo o probiótico Bifidobacterium animalis subespécie lactis BB-12
    Publication . Vedor, Rita; Machado, Daniela; Barbosa, Joana C.; Gomes, Ana Maria
    O chocolate é um dos produtos alimentares mais atrativos para a população e tem sido proposto como um bom vetor para a libertação de probióticos, conhecidos como microrganismos vivos que, quando administrados em quantidades adequadas, conferem benefícios à saúde humana 1,2. Especificamente, a bactéria probiótica Bifidobacterium animalis subespécie lactis BB-12®, originária de uma coleção de culturas lácteas (Chr. Hansen), tem sido associada a efeitos benéficos a nível gastrointestinal e da função imunológica [3]. No presente trabalho, a estirpe probiótica B. animalis subespécie lactis BB-12® foi incorporada em chocolates com três diferentes teores de cacau (33.6%; 54.5% e 70.5%), sendo avaliada a viabilidade ao longo do armazenamento aeróbio a temperatura ambiente (25ºC) por 28 dias. Além disso, cada chocolate incorporando o probiótico foi caracterizado em termos de pH, conteúdo de compostos fenólicos e atividade antioxidante, usando chocolates controlo (sem bactéria) para fins comparativos. Os nossos resultados mostraram que B. animalis subespécie lactis BB-12® incorporada no chocolate com teor de cacau 70.5% apresentou maior viabilidade ao longo do armazenamento. De facto, a viabilidade do probiótico foi mantida em torno de 108 UFC/g, sendo este valor superior ao limite estabelecido de 106 – 107 UFC/g para que um produto probiótico exerça efeitos benéficos. Através da medição de pH, verificou-se que a adição do probiótico não altera os valores em comparação com os chocolates controlo (sem bactéria) e que durante o armazenamento também não existiram oscilações consideráveis, sugerindo que as bactérias se encontram metabolicamente inativas, o que poderá estar relacionado com a manutenção da sua viabilidade ao longo do tempo. Relativamente às análises do conteúdo de compostos fenólicos, verificou-se um aumento de compostos totais com o aumento do teor de cacau na matriz alimentar, embora a adição da bactéria probiótica não interfira com o conteúdo total. Além disso, através da medição da atividade antioxidante observou-se uma tendência crescente com o aumento de teor de cacau. Em conclusão, o nosso estudo mostrou que o chocolate negro, mais especificamente com teor de cacau de 70.5%, pode ser considerado uma potencial e valiosa matriz alimentar veiculando o probiótico B. animalis subespécie lactis BB-12®. Além disso, esta matriz é uma importante fonte de compostos bioativos, nomeadamente compostos fenólicos, que possuem atividade antioxidante comprovada.
    2022-10-17Conference object Open access Show more
  • The political, socioeconomic and legal determinants of venture capital performance in developed nations
    Publication . Scheel, Frithjof Jürgen; Shuwaikh, Fátima Hussien
    This study examines the political, socioeconomic and legal determinants of cross-country variance in venture capital (VC) fund performance. These three dimensions of impact are reviewed in the context of economic and VC influence based on which fund performance dependence is hypothesized. The data of this study is obtained from PitchBook for the period from 1998 to 2012 for EEA member states, North America, Israel and the UK. The sample of 1,446 observations was regressed on the performance by variables for the political environment, entrepreneurial environment and the respective legal system origin. The methodical basis of this econometric model was an ordinary least squared regression. The findings of this study provided evidence for a strong link between the absence of political hazards, more specifically political stability and regulatory quality, and superior performance of VC funds. It further suggests that the degree of a country’s intrinsic entrepreneurial drive, the tax rate levied on corporate income and labor market regulatory legislation facilitated a certain entrepreneurial environment that appeared to significantly influence individual VC fund performance. This study additionally revealed that the common law system provided a more favorable environment for VC funds to yield higher returns than case law-based systems This study contributes a novel approach to the determination of VC fund performance with implications for academics and VC fund stakeholders alike.
    2022-10-17Master thesis Restricted access Show more
  • Propriedades de agregação e de biofilme de uma nova estirpe candidata a probiótico Faecalibacterium duncaniae DSM 17677
    Publication . Machado, Daniela; Vedor, Rita; Barbosa, Joana Cristina; Almeida, Diana; Andrade, José Carlos; Gomes, Ana Maria
    Recentemente, a bactéria comensal intestinal Faecalibacterium duncaniae, anteriormente designada por Faecalibacterium prausnitzii, tem emergido como uma nova candidata a probiótico, apresentando bioatividades relevantes para o tratamento e prevenção de diversas doenças inflamatórias intestinais [1,2]. Apesar da sua elevada importância na saúde humana, a capacidade deste microrganismo para inibir a colonização patogénica permanece pouco explorada, principalmente devido às dificuldades na sua cultura e manipulação, consequência da sua natureza anaeróbia estrita [3]. Assim, o objetivo deste trabalho foi estudar a capacidade da estirpe-tipo F. duncaniae DSM 17677 impedir a colonização patogénica, avaliando por ensaios in vitro as suas propriedades de auto-agregação, de co-agregação com nove microrganismos patogénicos e de formação de biofilme. Os resultados demonstraram que F. duncaniae DSM 17677 foi capaz de autoagregar e co-agregar com todas as bactérias patogénicas estudadas. As percentagens de auto-agregação foram superiores a 25 e 60% após 2 e 24 horas de incubação, respetivamente. Por seu lado, as percentagens de co-agregração com estirpes patogénicas foram superiores a 10 e 30% nos mesmos tempos de incubação anteriores. Relativamente à formação de biofilme, a F. duncaniae DSM 17677 formou biofilme após 24 horas de incubação, sendo classificado como produtor moderado. Em conclusão, foi demonstrado que F. duncaniae DSM 17677 possui propriedades essenciais para a sua permanência no ambiente intestinal e prevenção da colonização patogénica. Além disso, estes resultados evidenciam o potencial da estirpe F. duncaniae DSM 17677 para ser utilizada como estratégia bioterapêutica viva no tratamento e prevenção de infeções intestinais.
    2022-10-17Conference object Open access Show more
  • Os Non-Fungible Tokens : a era revolucionária da arte
    Publication . Perdigão, Joana Rita Fernandes; Correia, Francisco Lourenço Fonseca Mendes
    2022-10-17Master thesis Open access Show more
  • Business adaptive strategies in crisis : the case of General Motors
    Publication . Pinto, Francisco Maria D´Ippolito Pereira; Cardeal, Nuno
    The financial crisis of 2007 wreaked havoc in global economies and brought down many different businesses, raising some fundamental questions inside companies regarding its ability to react effectively during these times. General Motors, the largest auto manufacturer in the world at the time, succumbed and declared bankruptcy, prompting the US government, alongside some other entities, to move forward with financial aid and imposing a reform in the company. The thesis at hand, presented in the form of a case study, follows the restructuration efforts of the firm and its strategic realignment in an ever­changing environment, which had greatly been transformed by changes in demand, consumer behavior and an increasingly intensive competition. It analyzes the automotive industry and addresses some factors that influenced the bankruptcy of the company. This case study encompasses different topics inside the area of strategy, such as resources and capabilities, competitive advantage, and positioning, serving as an insight into the real General Motors scenario in the navigation of the company through these troubled times. Some theoretical concepts and frameworks are provided for analysis, with the teaching notes serving as an orientation guide.
    2022-10-17Master thesis Open access Show more
  • Case study : international strategy - Quinta Vinhos de Portugal
    Publication . Carvalho, André Brandão de; Cardeal, Nuno
    The thesis here presented describes the course of a hypothetical Portuguese SME, Quinta Vinhos de Portugal, over the years. The case acts as a teaching tool, allowing students to apply strategic frameworks learned in the classroom to real-world situations. Quinta Vinhos de Portugal is a Portuguese wine producer located in the Arruda dos Vinhos region on the outskirts of Lisbon. The internationalization process came as a natural process due to the high level of competition in the national market. Adopting the international market, which nowadays represents more than 80% of the sales made by the company, has brought the company several challenges and adjustments that had to be made so the company could be successful in other markets. This case study is a genuine situation lived by a company since the beginning of the adoption of the internalization process for its business. Its main objective is to demonstrate all adjustments and adhesion made to be a successful business outside the Portuguese market.
    2022-10-17Master thesis Open access Show more
  • Can news headlines be traded?
    Publication . Freitas, Maria Manuel Rodrigues de; Tran, Dan
    Papers have documented a relation between news and financial market movements. We explore this observation on the firm level from a practical investment perspective with the aid of ML methods. Various implementations of NLP models are trained to produce numerical sentiment value from the news, from which the best model is the state-of-the-art ‘Finbert’ plus a SVM with rbf kernel. The model is used on the news of S&P500 constituents retrieved from ‘Reuters Newswire’ between the 1st of December 2020 and the 31st of March 2022. Finally, sentiment is aggregated daily to create Long, Short and Long-Short portfolios with 100 and 200 companies. We find that the relationship between sentiment and return is stronger on the same day, with some value being retained the following day. Namely, the Long-Short portfolio achieves the best performance, displaying a significant positive alpha on Fama-French factors and a low r square. However, the profitability of the strategies does not hold when considering transaction costs of 10bp. A further analysis using the EWCT technique to limit turnover shows that some profitability can still be achieved but only for the Long portfolio, which beats the benchmark by a small margin. This fact is solidified by the different sentiment proxies, which also demonstrate the potential for some profitability in the Long-Short portfolio, highlighting news volume as an essential component of the sentiment. We also find that lower turnover limits in the EWCT strategy provide better returns, meaning that sentiment momentum has value.
    2022-10-17Master thesis Open access Show more
  • Why do people consume digital virtual fashion? An explorative study to understand motivations
    Publication . Paffenholz, Jana; Voyer, Benjamin
    In the past decade, digital virtual goods (DVG) have become a significant aspect of online consumption (social media, games and virtual communities) and a vast amount of literature has assessed the values consumers perceive from such goods. However, research has neglected to assess one particular type of DVGs: fashion. Due to recent advancements in technology, the consumption of digital virtual fashion (DVF) has gained importance and more brands are selling their clothes as digital collections. The objective of this thesis was to deliver a better understanding of the underlying reasons why consumers purchase DVF. An explorative study in the form of semi-structured interviews was conducted with 5 participants. The analysis identified four major motivational themes: self-expression, experimentation, social factors and dematerialisation of life. First, DVF serves as a vehicle for identity expression which varies in the degree of similarity to the physical identity. Second, individuals see value in experimentation, which is perceived as easier and less risky. Third, consumption intentions are influenced by social drivers. DVF can enhance social status either through traditional status symbols or novelty. Furthermore, DVF can increase status by showing off expertise in digital technology trends. Lastly, the dematerialisation of life is not a motivation itself but contributes to intensifying the previously named motivations. The findings demonstrate that specific consumer motivations are unique to DVF, which brings important implications for fashion brands and marketers that want to enter or are already present in the DVF market.
    2022-10-17Master thesis Open access Show more
  • The present of active and inactive B Corps
    Publication . Elkateb, Mohamed Yassin Mohamed; Irigaray, Helio Arthur Reis
    Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to analyze the current state of certified and decertified B Corps in order to have a better understanding of why firms decide to abandon the B Corp certificate as well as to reveal decertification trends. Design/Methodology/Approach – The research is based on secondary data published by B Lab itself. Basic statistical methods such as t-tests and linear regressions were used to have a better overview of the state of active and inactive B Corps. Findings – The findings show that there is a general decrease in the decertification rates of B Corps. While the U.S. accounts for the highest and the United Kingdom accounts for the lowest decertification rates. Most of the B Corps are small sized and larger B Corps are less likely to decertify. Research Limitations – The main limitation of this paper is the restricted access to the B Lab data. In the publicly available dataset, information regarding reasons of decertification are not mentioned and thus conclusions are based on literature review and intuition. Practical Implications – From the results, B Lab can identify some of it its weaknesses in some regions, size categories and sectors. B Lab must focus on improving their assessment test to decrease the decertification rates. While also working closely with the government to achieve the best possible outcomes. Social Implications – From the results, consumers will have a better overview of the current B Corp state which will decrease the information asymmetry and improve the decision-making process. Originality – To the author's knowledge, this is the first paper that examines the relationship between B Corp certification counts and the GDP of a country.
    2022-10-17Master thesis Open access Show more