Narrow Results

Portugal has some of the highest business entry rates when compared to other countries, according to Eurostat, Statistics Portugal and the OECD Entrepreneurship Indicators Programme. We look at business creation in Portugal, from 2000 to 2007, by approaching two other complementary data sources, the World Bank Group Entrepreneurship Survey, based on official Portuguese business register's and the universe of active employer enterprises, obtained by applying to the dataset Quadros de Pessoal, the methodology and definitions of the Eurostat/OECD's "Manual on Business Demography Statistics". This allows us to address entrepreneurship indicators comparability issues and exploit complementarities to support entrepreneurship patterns and trends previously identified by other national and international sources. We highlight the importance of considering information other than business registries, in particular when calculating business entry rates. Datasets where economically active units can be identified provide a better proxy for the true level of business creation and activity in Portugal.

The purpose of this paper is to contribute to understanding innovation dynamics in services, in particular the link between innovation and productivity. A methodology to explain this link is suggested. Instead of establishing a single, direct connection between innovation and labor productivity, as in earlier approaches in the services literature, a simultaneous equations model is used. We put forward an extended version of the CDM (Crepon, Duguet and Mairesse) model, incorporating two feedback effects and using innovation activities rather than the more restrictive R&D proxy. Activities prior to the innovation implementation are also taken into account allowing for direct and indirect effects on labor productivity. Moreover, we discuss and handle the oftentimes overlooked methodological problems affecting this relationship. Micro data for ten service sectors in Portugal are used to estimate the model. The existence of a Schumpeterian virtuous cycle is confirmed, pointing to a mechanism reinforcing innovation investment returns. We find that innovation activities have a positive impact on labor productivity, but no evidence was found of a significant direct effect of innovation output. Labor productivity also improves with management capabilities. Relationships with customers, suppliers and cooperation partnerships significantly increase the probability of innovating, suggesting that stimulating organizational networking is a key element in a service firm’s innovation strategy.

Comparing companies solely based on tax incentives for R&D activities can be misleading. Hence, this research aims to assess how Portuguese companies that make use of tax incentives for R&D activities on an ongoing basis behave in terms of promoting and appropriating value through innovation. From an initial population of 3,156 companies, a final database with 339 Portuguese companies that made use of fiscal credits from 2013 to 2016 was analyzed. The tax incentive program targeted was the Fiscal Incentive System supporting R&D in Enterprises (SIFIDE). Using the analysis of variance (one-way ANOVA), the main results suggest that, considering the internal resources, there are no statistically significant differences between the promotion and appropriation of value through innovation according to the size and age of companies. The data indicate that good management regarding the generation and implementation of innovations may occur independently of size and age of firms, in the Portuguese case. Albeit the averages of the indicators of value appropriation of the intangible (e.g. patents, trademarks, and new processes), and the efficiencies of assets and liabilities for the promotion of the intangible are different according to the level of technological intensity. These results point to the need to reevaluate the tax incentives for R&D activities, since its generic nature may not meet the different innovation needs arising from the distinctive characteristics of these enterprises and their technological dynamics. Implications and future research directions are provided.

The commercialization of research done by universities and research institutes is seen as a key element of entrepreneurship, justifying a better understanding of the entrepreneurial process within those institutions. Despite efforts in recent decades, there remains a widespread ignorance about who are the individuals with a greater vocation for research and marketing of knowledge. Focusing on a relatively unexplored context — the field of life sciences in a moderate innovator country, Portugal — this study adds new empirical evidence to the precedents of academic entrepreneurship. The results, based on 247 responses, evidence that entrepreneurship (including patent production, consultancy work and creation of start-up companies) is still very incipient. The econometric analysis of the “Index of entrepreneurial activity,” shows that: (1) the phenomenon of academic entrepreneurship is within everyone’s reach, but embraced by very few; and (2) academic entrepreneurship feeds on the exchange of knowledge and resources among universities and research institutes and their socio-economic environment. Thus, to increase academic entrepreneurship in life science in Portugal, the mechanisms to facilitate the interactions between universities and the business community must be strengthened, promoting the development of business clusters with the integration of the academic world, which will enable the transformation of knowledge into market products and services.

The research problem

We observed the impact of European, international, and national mandatory financial and non-financial regulations on the corporate environmental disclosure of listed companies in the Euronext 100 between 2002 and 2017.

Motivation

Our study was motivated by the perfect European context created by the implementation of the IASs/IFRSs, mandatory since 2005, to enhance financial statement comparability across European companies, and by the national transposition of the 2014/95/EU Non-Financial Reporting Directive requiring European listed and large corporations to disclose information relative to their environmental footprint starting January 1, 2017.

The test hypotheses

H₁: Financial legislation through the IASs/IFRSs implementation improves the level of environmental disclosure in Europe.

H₂: Non-financial legislation through the Non-Financial Reporting Directive improves the level of environmental disclosure in Europe.

Target population

The paper is useful for: (1) researchers wanting to observe the evolution of environmental disclosure in Europe and the main factors influencing it; (2) CEOs and managers who seek to improve their own financial and non-financial reporting; (3) policymakers to know the impact of national and international regulations on environmental disclosure and practices; and (4) users of annual financial statements.

Adopted methodology

We hand collected data using the financial environmental grid proposed by Barbu et al. [(2014a). Mandatory environmental disclosures by companies complying with IAS/IFRS: The case of France, Germany and UK. The International Journal of Accounting, 49(2), 231–247] for both descriptive and monetary items from the annual financial statements of all French, Dutch, Belgian, and Portuguese companies included in the Euronext 100 index. We used descriptive statistics and regression models to analyze this data.

Analyses

The results are interpreted through the lenses of neo-institutional theory, legitimacy theory, and homogeneity theory.

Findings

The results show that mandatory financial and non-financial regulations improved the level of environmental disclosure of European companies from different countries over time, but the level of reporting was still very low. The force of coercive isomorphism is not strong enough to cause companies to be more environmentally responsible and to report more, but normative and mimetic isomorphism, and gaining legitimacy, could have a positive influence on the environmental reporting practices of European companies. Taken as a whole, the policy of “one size fits all” is not appropriate for environmental regulation in Europe and needs to be adapted because each country has a specific culture, tradition, and education regarding environmental values. These values should be improved to promote a better environmental conscience, better individual responsibility, and a tangible feeling of truth and transparency in disclosures, with all these generating real environmental practices and reliable reporting without any trace of greenwashing.

This paper highlights the relevance of innovation in small firms based on university business incubators in Portugal. Ever since Schumpeter indicated innovation to be the main economic driver of economic development and a critical factor in the development and performance of companies, a number of authors have discussed this phenomenon but there is still no consensus on how it operates. Through statistical analysis, the study focuses on a sample of 243 Portuguese companies based on incubators linked to or promoted by universities. It was concluded that product innovation is most significant in an incubation environment, and also that the origin of businesses and the development of R&D activities determine the type of innovation generated. However, most of the companies surveyed are not engaged in R&D activities. We propose some policy measures and lessons for management.

Since 2000, the Transboundary Environmental Impact Assessment (TEIA) process in the Iberian context has undergone significant development due to new circumstances that came into play at the bilateral and European levels: (i) the adoption of a collaborative TEIA Protocol between Spain and Portugal in 2008; and (ii) the increasing number of cross-border projects supported by European Union funds. Despite these developments, the impact of this bilateral regulation on public participation, the cornerstone of any Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA), has not yet been fully examined. Drawing from specific literature focusing on the involvement of the public as the basis of effective improvement of the TEIA, this paper critically analyses if the lates transboundary provision has encouraged public participation in this context. Although the analysis of the TEIA enforcement revealed a considerable increase in the number of consultations between the neighbouring states compared to the previous situation, public involvement has not increased. Based on these findings, this paper presents a set of recommendations to more effectively involve the public in transboundary consultations.

Environmental reports are important documents within strategic environmental assessment (SEA). They identify, describe and evaluate the likely significant effects on the environment of implementing a plan or programme, playing, therefore, a key role for communication during the consultation and public participation processes. For similar decision-making contexts, environmental reports for the same types of plans should be consistent in terminology to assure a clear understanding by stakeholders of the aims and problems dealt with by SEA. This paper assesses to what extent SEA reports prepared for a similar type of plan and under similar regulations are comparable and how their contents are consistent in terms of structure, methodological approaches, critical sustainability factors and terminology used. To pursue this task an analytical framework is developed to compare a set of SEA reports. The SEA reports used as case study are the nine river basin management plans (RBMPs) prepared in Portugal for the first planning cycle of the Water Framework Directive. These plans must be subject to SEA, following the Portuguese regulations implementing the SEA Directive. The results show a significant similarity in the reports inside the same hydrographic region but relevant diversities among regions. The major differences are related to the methodological approaches and to the SEA terminology used. These differences resulted not from the features of the regions or of the plans, but from the different consulting teams involved in the assessment process. For an exercise undertaken by similar state agencies, under similar planning decision-making contexts and with broadly similar objectives, the disparities in SEA reports may threaten the consistency of the inherent communication process, disturb the credibility of the technical exercise and hinder the overall understanding of SEA by the stakeholders.

Exports and foreign direct investment (FDI) are two alternative foreign markets entry modes. From a theoretical point of view, there are arguments which support two different relationships between FDI and exports: complementary and substitution. Most empirical studies, however, have concluded with a complementary relationship. Since existing studies at more disaggregated levels have focused solely on the manufacturing industry, this paper aims at studying the relationship between FDI and home country exports based on a large sample of Portuguese firms, belonging to manufacturing and services, for the period 2006–2012. Using a fixed-effects model, results obtained suggest that the control of heterogeneity between firms is essential to clarify the relationship between FDI and exports and this has been a factor often overlooked.

Portugal policy makers consider the motor vehicle industry to be critical to the country’s economy because of its potential to offer highly skilled job opportunities and incentives for innovation and research, technology transfer, and investment, although the industry remains small by international standards. Little empirical research exists on the Portuguese motor vehicle industry, and we attempt to partially fill this void by estimating an industry cost function. We find strong evidence of scale economies, an expected result given the low industry volume. An unexpected finding is that capital and labor are complements since much of the international literature regarding the industry finds evidence they are substitutes. An exception is the German industry, and the findings here may be related to the fact that the largest Portuguese motor vehicle producer is Volkswagen AutoEuropa. The significance of this finding is that a lower price for either of these inputs would increase the quantity demanded of both of them. The future appears highly uncertain for the motor vehicle assemblers unless they can achieve sufficient synergies with component suppliers and other global motor vehicle manufacturers to become internationally competitive. The component suppliers may be able to enlarge their international markets, particularly that of Spain, because of its proximity to Portugal.

This paper will examine the interplay and relationship between bilateral diplomatic relations and economic relations through the lens of political factors, examining the concrete case of the Republic of Portugal and the People’s Republic of China. It will consider their common past — the nations’ historical similarities, their common aims and ideological differences, and analyze the alignment and the synergy developed in the modern era in developing common platforms of aims and will, in terms of political agenda-setting, such as through the issue of the status of the territory of Macao and the relationship with Portuguese-speaking countries (PSCs). It further analyzes the past few decades through the signing of diplomatic protocols, engaged bilateral and multilateral economic diplomacies, and growing commerce and trade links to identify the key trends and extrapolate relevant correlations. We examine the progresses in the relationship between the advancement of Sino-Portuguese diplomatic relations and the development of economic interplay post the 1979 period, following the formal establishment of bilateral diplomatic relations. We argue in favor of an existing positive correlation between acts of economic diplomacy and the development of bilateral economic relations. This paper presents a methodological, theoretical-inductive, and constructivist perspective, combining qualitative, quantitative, and non-participated observation.

The main objective of this chapter is to examine the invariance of Richins and Dawson's (1992) previously validated three-factor materialism model scale across different cultural groups of respondents and to analyse and estimate the presence of materialistic values among Europeans, more precisely in samples from Germany, Spain, and Portugal. Through Richins and Dawson's (1992) materialism values scale, we checked and cross-examined the materialistic dimensions among the young people of the countries referred to using Structural Equation Modeling. There are different levels and sort of materialism among the three European countries.

User profiles were designed through a qualitative approach to a case study of a public library, starting from an analysis of space social relations, of how the building's design shaped reading practices and of how space was actually being used.

This paper contextualizes and describes the design and implementation of the Portuguese school libraries Self Evaluation Model. This instrument, inspired by evidence-based practice, contributes to assess the impact of school libraries in teaching and learning, whilst raising their profile at the heart of educational communities. Created by the School Libraries Network, it is aimed at collecting objective information on how school libraries develop and operate, how they contribute for effective student learning and success and for the goals of lifelong learning.

Spain and Portugal have established cooperation mechanisms to manage their shared water resources in order to avoid any potential conflict. Cooperation is clearly reflected in the 1998 Albufeira Convention, which provides a legal framework to regulate all transboundary basins between both countries to protect surface water and groundwater, as well as the aquatic and terrestrial ecosystems that depend on them for the sustainable use of water resources. The 1998 Albufeira Convention establishes as one of the uses of the Tagus Basin Gthe transfer of water interbasin such as the Aqueduct Tagus-Segura (ATS). According to this Convention, the management of water uses and the right to use water shall be addressed to guarantee the sustainable use of water that is already established. The ATS is a use guaranteed and protected under international water law. The analysis of the ATS in the context of the international legislation to mitigate water scarcity, and droughts provides the strategies to promote resilience to climate change and the impacts of drought conditions in the society in a sustainable manner while ensuring the fundamental rights.