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Browsing by Issue Date, starting with "2023-05-03"

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  • Organisational attractiveness of family businesses and start-ups and the role of flexible working hours
    Publication . Willer, Alice Josefin; Marques, Tatiana
    As the competition for young talent intensifies in the labour market, companies must adapt to meet the expectations of prospective employees. This master thesis examines university students’ organisational attractiveness, job pursuit intention, and person-organisation fit with family businesses and start-ups, and the role of flexible working hours. An experimental study was conducted with 163 university students. The objectives of this study were to determine if university students prefer to work for companies offering flexible working hours over those with fixed working schedules, if they prefer start-ups over family businesses and if they prefer family businesses with flexible working hours over start-ups with fixed working schedules. The findings indicate that university students are significantly more attracted to organisations offering flexible working hours and have higher job pursuit intentions for such organisations. Students also perceive a greater person-organisation fit with organisations providing flexible working hours. However, no significant preferences were found between start-ups and family businesses. In conclusion, flexible working hours are crucial in attracting young talent, with students expressing a preference for companies offering such arrangements. While no significant difference was found between the attractiveness of family businesses and start-ups, the results highlight the importance of incorporating flexible working hours as a strategy for enhancing organisational attractiveness and competitiveness in the labour market.
    2023-05-03Master thesis Restricted access Show more
  • 2023-05-03Conference object Open access Show more
  • Impact of credit ratings on firms : capital structure
    Publication . Costa, Joana de Andrade; Meira, Mário
    Credit ratings play an important role in the capital markets and are at the center of managers' attention. Although comprehensively studied in various fields only in the past decades research has been conducted of their potential impact on firm's capital structures. In this dissertation I set out to study this exactly. The main hypothesis postulated is that firms near a broad rating change will issue less debt relative to equity as a percentage of total assets, than firms which are farther from a broad rating change. I use an extended application of Kisgen (2006) model to regress net debt issuance on POM, plus and minus dummies, control variables and different firm-specific attribute. I find that firms near a broad credit rating change do not take capital structure costs into consideration, being as likely to issuing less debt relative to equity than firms who are not near a rating change. Moreover, I find that the need of external financing, growth and commercial paper issuance are firm attributes that do not motivate firms near a rating change to alter their financing behavior and these are therefore as likely to issue more debt relative to equity as any other firm. Ultimately, I provide evidence to suggest that managers do not take potential broad rating changes’ costs and their impacts on target capital structure into consideration when making capital structure decisions.
    2023-05-03Master thesis Restricted access Show more
  • Evolution of corporate credit rating standards from 2002 to 2016
    Publication . Castro, Eva Peixoto de; Meira, Mário
    Alp (2013) studies how corporate credit ratings’ standards change from 1985 to 2007. The author analyzes a structural break in criteria employed by credit rating agencies (CRAs) around the 2002 financial scandals. I draw a pararell to the Great Recession. In 2008, CRAs take the fall as some financial instruments are not subject to a proper credit assessment. I analyze whether corporate credit ratings are affected after the most recent crises: the DotCom Bubble and the 2008 Financial Crisis. I regress corporate credit ratings on firm fundamentals and year indicators to evaluate how they change from 2002 to 2016. I observe a trend of stringent standards for the entire sample, when compared to 2002. During the Great Recession, corporations are assigned credit ratings that are 0.75 notches lower than in 2002, suggesting an average one­notch downgrade, controlling for firm’s characteristics. I find that, overall, CRAs become less strict after 2009. It should be noted that, in 2016, the standards employed are still less lenient than in 2002, indicating a conservative approach. I split the sample into investment­ and speculative­ grade observations. Standards for investment­grade ratings remain stringent even after the Great Recession, in comparison to 2002, although to a lesser degree. Following the DotCom Bubble, speculative­grade firms experience a steep decline in ratings. After 2009, these companies quickly rebound and are subject to looser standards. Overall, the years of the Great Recession are marked by lower credit ratings, which is confirmed by structural break tests.
    2023-05-03Master thesis Open access Show more
  • How does ESG performance affect market valuation? Evidence for S&P 500 listed firms during 2013 : 2019
    Publication . Pontani, Johanna-Luise Sibylla; Cerqueiro, Geraldo Manuel Alves
    During the last decades the question was raised if ESG engagement only provides reputational or even also financial advantages. This paper aims to analyse how ESG performance of S&P 500 listed firms impacts market valuation, measured by the Tobin’s Q ratio, during a study period of 2013 – 2019. In contrast to other literature, it finds that higher ESG performance decreases market valuation, as indicated by the slightly negative significant relationship. In order to investigate to which kinds of firms this effect is attributable to this study conducts a subsample analysis with six groups of firms. Therefore, the data sample is divided into three categories each generating a group exceeding or underperforming the mean of Company size, Leverage and ESG Rating. When examining the mean and regression results of these subsamples the researcher finds negative relationships for all of them but only the ones for smaller Company size, lower Leverage and worse ESG rating were significant. This suggests that the firms with smaller size, a lower degree of leverage and inferior rated ESG commitment are the main factors influencing how ESG performance affects market valuation. This outcome provides relevant insights for policy makers, managers, investors and firms’ stakeholders, by assisting them in their decision making.
    2023-05-03Master thesis Open access Show more
  • Applying machine learning techniques to enhance the predictive power of the Altman Z-score model in European Union companies : an empirical study
    Publication . Leitão, Alice; Bertani, Nicolò
    Previsão de falência refere-se ao uso de modelos estatísticos e técnicas de análise financeira, para determinar a probabilidade de uma empresa entrar em colapso. A utilização deste conjunto de procedimentos ajudar investidores e outras partes interessadas, a tomar decisões informadas sobre o risco financeiro e o grau de exposição dos investimentos associados. O modelo Z-Score de Altman é considerado uma ferramenta eficaz para prever a falência, sendo amplamente utilizado. No entanto, o modelo conta apenas com alguns índices financeiros e não inclui outras variáveis que possam ser relevantes para a previsão de falência das organizações. Esta tese começa por analisar as capacidades preditivas do modelo Altman Z-Score num conjunto de países da União Europeia, para empresas privadas não manufatureiras. Em seguida, testamos se as técnicas modernas de aprendizagem automática podem constituir instrumento para obtenção de uma melhor previsão de falência e, quais as características, quer de uma demonstração financeira da empresa, quer do modelo de Altman, se revelam as mais importantes a serem consideradas ao prever a falência. O modelo Altman Z-Score mostrou uma capacidade preditiva fraca, enquanto os modelos de aprendizagem automática mostraram capacidades preditivas superiores ao conjugar variáveis do modelo Altman Z-Score e demonstrações financeiras da empresa. Concluindo que é possível construir um modelo com maior precisão.
    2023-05-03Master thesis Open access Show more
  • Multi-armed bandits : a simulation gym for customer retention in a TelCo
    Publication . Chumbo, José; Matos, Miguel Godinho de
    The highly competitive telecommunications industry poses a significant challenge for TelCos in retaining customers. To achieve customer retention, TelCos often utilize Machine Learning (ML) algorithms to align their product offerings with client preferences. However, these algorithms have limitations in exploiting past client interactions that may contain biases from various sources. This thesis investigates the potential of multi-armed bandits (MABs) to address this challenge. MABs are a type of reinforcement learning algorithm that maximizes long-term rewards and has been used in various industries to optimize resource allocation. This study uses historical data from proactive customer retention to build a gym, simulating the daily operations of a TelCo. The gym allows for the evaluation of multiple policies and scenarios in an offline environment. The study’s findings show that MABs can balance exploration and exploitation and outperform classical algorithms in certain cases. However, when the number of possible arms increases dramatically, simpler MAB algorithms may struggle. The study also shows how we can strategically limit these arms to increase performance without changing the algorithm to one more complex. Overall, this research enhances the understanding of the potential and limitations of MABs for customer retention in TelCos and provides insights for their successful implementation and deployment.
    2023-05-03Master thesis Open access Show more
  • Pinturas de dupla face : desafios e estratégias de conservação
    Publication . Ferreira, Ana Luísa dos Santos; Aguiar, Maria Cunha Matos Lopes Pinto Leão; Mendes, Nuno Filipe Camarneiro
    O presente relatório de estágio, realizado no âmbito do mestrado em Conservação e Restauro de Bens Culturais, na Escola das Artes da Universidade Católica Portuguesa, apresenta o estudo e intervenção de conservação e restauro de uma pintura sobre tela, de dupla face, na tipologia de uma bandeira processional, sendo que a face principal da tela representa a passagem bíblica o Beijo de Judas e, no seu verso, as Três Cruzes do Calvário. A obra pertence ao Mosteiro de Santa Maria de Pombeiro, Felgueiras. A pintura encontrava-se presa entre uma dupla estrutura fixa de madeira, que lhe servia de moldura e grade, em simultâneo, permitindo a visualização de ambos os lados da tela. No entanto, este sistema não garantia a tensão adequada e, consequentemente, a sua planificação, comprometendo significativamente a integridade e a conservação da obra. As constantes flutuações de humidade relativa e temperatura contribuíram para a fragilidade do suporte, sobretudo nos pontos de fixação à dupla moldura, denotando-se uma perda da flexibilidade e oxidação do suporte têxtil. Como resultado, as margens da tela encontravam-se sem resistência mecânica e parcialmente solta dos vários pregos que a fixavam. Ambas as faces da pintura apresentavam inúmeros pasmados esbranquiçados por toda a extensão que dificultavam a leitura da obra. De modo a contribuir para o conhecimento da materialidade e técnica da obra, o estudo foi realizado através de um conjunto de métodos de exame e análise. Tendo em consideração as diferenças estilísticas nas duas faces, pretendeu-se compreender a técnica pictórica e os materiais empregues, em particular, a caracterização do aglutinante, devido às diferenças de textura e brilho, que caracteriza a superfície pictórica da face principal. Ambas as faces pintadas obrigaram a delinear estratégias de conservação adaptadas às necessidades da obra, no que diz respeito à limpeza, tratamento de rasgões do suporte têxtil e tensionamento da obra de arte. A necessidade de manter os elementos da moldura original possibilitou o desenvolvimento de um sistema de tensão regulável adaptado à estrutura e à colocação de bandas perimetrais duplas. O objetivo desta intervenção passou por devolver a estabilidade físico-química da mesma, prolongando a sua longevidade e devolvendo a leitura da obra.
    2023-05-03Master thesis Open access Show more
  • Is the change in third-party debt collectors' law affecting the riskiness of single-family mortgages?
    Publication . Dybesland, Hege Gullestad; Cerqueiro, Geraldo Manuel Alves
    This paper performs an event study on the states in the United States of America with the most significant increase or decrease in third-party debt collector laws between 2000 and 2016 and observes whether this affects the riskiness related to single-family mortgages. This study utilizes a large panel data set of single-family mortgage loans from Fannie Mae. It employs a difference-in-difference strategy to examine the effect of change in debt collection legislation across five states and estimates the year-by-year effects. The analysis compares one law change from each of the states, Idaho, Colorado, North Dakota, Tennessee, and Connecticut. And further, compare data using the adjacent states which did not experience a law change in the two years prior and the two years after the legal changes as control variables. The findings of the study provide suggestive evidence of the effect of a legal change on the riskiness of mortgages. Still, no clear difference was observed between laws being loosened or tightened.
    2023-05-03Master thesis Open access Show more
  • Exploring stakeholder impact on decision-making processes in startups : an analysis of organizational structure and volatility
    Publication . Gonçalves, Mariana do Amaral; Mendonça, Cristina
    Startups are full of opportunities for growth and innovation; however, they are characterized by uncertainty and risk. A challenge for effective decision­making is the lack of comprehensive information about how stakeholders in startups make decisions in different scenarios. The current dissertation provides an overview of previous research on hierarchy within well established companies and startups and decision­making in startups. The research methodology involved conducting nine interviews to examine participants’ perceptions on variables related with decision­making. The results of the dissertation contribute to improving decision­making practices within startups by examining key topics such as organizational structure, hierarchy, and volatility.
    2023-05-03Master thesis Open access Show more