International marketing strategy of Portuguese SMEs: case of Casa Ermelinda Freitas

Our reality as consumers is increasingly globalized and the borders of the countries no longer present as barriers to our most exquisite tastes. Nowadays, with a simple internet connection, we already can buy products from all corners of the world and the same is also true for all small and medium-sized enterprises that want to put their products on sale in the international markets, in order to expand their customer networks and increase their profits. Casa Ermelinda Freitas, led by recognized and acclaimed Leonor Freitas, is one of the major examples of the success of Portuguese family owned businesses abroad. Throughout this dissertation, the entering strategy used by the Portuguese company will be carefully detailed and explained so that it is possible to fully understand what steps were taken and what recommendations to draw from its success. In addition to the strategy, all necessary resources will be analyzed in the preparation and development of international markets, assessing the critical factors for this process. Finally, we will discuss the adaptations made at the product level, the distribution channels used, the pricing strategy and all the promotional means involved.A nossa realidade enquanto consumidores é cada vez mais globalizada e as fronteiras dos países já não se apresentam como barreiras aos nossos gostos mais requintados. Hoje em dia, com uma simples ligação à internet, já podemos comprar produtos de todos os cantos do mundo e o mesmo também é verdade para todas as pequenas e médias empresas que desejam colocar os seus produtos à venda nos mercados internacionais, por forma a expandir as suas redes de clientes e aumentarem os seus lucros. A Casa Ermelinda Freitas, liderada pela reconhecida e aclamada Leonor Freitas, é um dos principais exemplos do sucesso das empresas familiares portuguesas no estrangeiro. Ao longo desta dissertação, a estratégia de entrada utilizada pela empresa portuguesa será cuidadosamente detalhada e explicada para que seja possível perceber perfeitamente quais os passos tomados e que recomendações retirar do seu sucesso. Para além da estratégia, serão também analisados todos os recursos necessários na preparação e desenvolvimento dos mercados internacionais, avaliando os fatores críticos para este processo. Finalmente, serão discutidas as adaptações feitas ao nível do produto, os canais de distribuição utlizados, a estratégia de preços e todos os meios de promoção envolvidos

Revitalising Traditional Malay Woodcarving through Design for Sustainability

In the age of global industrialisation and mass production, traditional crafts offer an example of long-standing ‘local’ approaches to material culture that are often socially, environmentally and economically reifying. However, evidence suggests that traditional crafts struggle to survive, and this is also the case in Malaysia. Moreover, there has been limited academic investigation into the meaning and manifestation of sustainable development among craftspeople, and the relationship of this to traditional Malaysian heritage. The central aim of this thesis is to investigate the potential and provide an in-depth understanding of the relationship between Malay craft and design for sustainability, focusing especially on traditional woodcarving. The key research question is; How can woodcarving, as a culturally significant craft practice, be revitalised in Malaysia through effective design contributions and in accordance with sustainable design principles? Data was collected via semi-structured interviews in Malaysia with 37 respondents from three groups of stakeholders in the craft industry: producers, supporters, and buyers; two case studies were also carried out in Malaysia. The relationships reviewed between various themes and sub-themes and organising them as a coherent whole constitutes an extensive qualitative study. Five main research findings are identified, which informed the development of a Craft Revitalisation Framework for Malay Traditional Woodcarving. This framework identifies key factors and their relationships that can inform context appropriate revitalisation strategies among the various stakeholders. The study recognises the need to involve appropriate stakeholders, including designers, in the development of such strategies. The conclusions from this study provide a better understanding on the significance, value and meaning of traditional Malay crafts, including woodcarving, in accordance with the principles of sustainability. In addition, it offers a useful tool and a well-founded direction to help ensure the future viability of craft practices

Revitalising brassware handicrafts in Terengganu, Malaysia through sustainable design

The state of Terengganu has been long recognised as Malaysia’s national capital of brassware handicrafts. Here, traditional knowledge and wisdom are made manifest by skilled artisans who use local materials to create culturally distinctive products. These products and practices have strong historical connections to the people of the region, to the notion of place and to the sense of community. However, in recent decades, this handicraft industry, like many others around the world, has been in decline. The effects of globalisation and modernisation have affected the viability of craft practices as well as the way local societies perceive and value craft products. The research consisted of extensive qualitative studies that included semi-structured interviews involving 37 informants and followed by exploratory case studies comprising direct observation, photographic documentation and document analysis that were carried out through investigation of the brassware craft sector and its associated practices in Kuala Terengganu region. This research set out to determine the value of significance of brassware handicraft and to identify design opportunities in order to develop design-oriented strategies to revitalise culturally significant design, products and practices of brassware handicraft in Terengganu, Malaysia. This research looks at how can brassware handicraft, as a culturally significant craft practice, be revitalised in Malaysia through effective design contribution that is in accord with principles of sustainability. Findings suggest that collaborative design practice involving various organisations in the community is needed to better convey and promote the value of the cultural, philosophical, historical significance of these crafts and their relationship to place, culture, community and identity. In doing so, collaborative design has the potential to stimulate a greater appreciation and sense of belonging towards Malaysia’s traditional material culture and potentially raise the profile, and prospects for these important craft practices

Innovation, Spatial Loyalty, and ICTs as Locational Determinants of Rural Development in the Catalan Pyrenees

Innovació, lleialtat espacial i TICs com a determinants de la localització en el desenvolupament rural del Pirineu català. Les tecnologies de la informació i la comunicació (TIC) obren noves possibilitats de desenvolupament en zones ruralsi de muntanya. S'analitza les TIC com a factor d'atracció de negoci; i que facilita una dispersió de l'activitat econòmica, generalment concentrada en les àrees metropolitanes. Aquestes zones rurals i de muntanya s'han beneficiat de la incorporació creixent de les TIC a les empreses, atès que aquest procés promou estratègies de desenvolupament viables, portant els territoris locals als mercats globals i viceversa. La competitivitat i el valor afegit de les empreses de desenvolupament local s'incorporen al producte amb la valorització d'aquests factors d'identitat locals. Altres factors de localització competitius d'aquestes zones són uns costos de localització menor així com la lleialtat espacial entre les empreses del clúster. D'altra banda, pot haver-hi una escassetat de treballadors qualificats que difícilment estaran disponibles a priori en aquestes àrees específiques. Dèficit que es pot compensar per la petita dimensió de les empreses ubicades en aquestes zones. és pretén explicar alguns casos específics d'empreses del Pirineu català, on hi realitzen algunes parts del procés productiu amb més valor afegit (disseny, organització, etc.) mentre que la fabricació es troba en altres països amb salaris més baixos. També s'analitzen algunes activitats i serveis que generen explotacions agràries i territoris rurals intel·ligents. Llavors, les TIC són importants per al nivell educatiu i informatiu de la població i per a la instal·lació de noves empreses a les zones rurals i de muntanya.Information and communication technologies (ICTs) open up new possibilities for development in rural and mountain areas. ICTs a analysed as a factor attracting business and enabling a dispersion of economic activity that is usually concentrated in metropolitan areas. Rural and mountain areas have benefited from the increasing incorporation of ICT in companies because development strategies are now made viable, thus bringing local territories into global markets and vice versa. Competitiveness and the added value of local development companies are incorporated into the product through the value given to local identity factors. Other competitive localisation factors of these zones are lower localisation costs and spatial loyalty among companies in the cluster. On the other hand, there may be an a priori shortage of available skilled workers in these particular areas but this deficit could be balanced out by the small size of companies established in these zones. This paper describes several case studies of specific companies in the Catalan Pyrenees where parts of the productive process with the highest added value - like design, organisation, etc - are carried out, while manufacturing occurs in other countries. It also analyses activities and services offered by smart farms and in smart rural areas. ICTs are important for the educational and informative levels of the population and also for the establishment of new companies and services in rural and mountain areas

Radio broadcasting, policy and local language revitalisation in Zimbabwe

The media as disseminators of news are considered the principal institutions that have the mandate to provide relevant information to the citizenry; from which members of the public get a better understanding of their society. Communicating in indigenous languages, in particular, facilitates interaction and the preservation of African languages. Studies have shown that radio is the most effective channel of mass communication which can help in the usage and preservation of indigenous languages. This is because it is affordable and accessible in more peripheral areas than other media. However, due to radio’s ideological and hegemonic functions, many governments in most African countries and in Zimbabwe, in particular, have continued to closely monitor and control its day to day running. Zimbabwe radio, due to the previous and current political contexts, has continued to create an atmosphere where minority languages are not given necessary recognition leading to their exclusion from most of the existing radio stations. This has come to threaten indigenous minority languages and to weaken the long established cultures. The research springs primarily from the desire to unearth the truth behind the failure by ILRBSs and government to protect indigenous languages in Zimbabwe, a sovereign nation. The electronic colonialism theory and globalisation approach (specifically its cultural globalisation strand) were utilised in this study. The research adopted a mixed method design. Data was collected using four instruments namely, Interviews, Focus groups discussions, questionnaire and document analysis. The study revealed that minority languages in Zimbabwe have never been developed beyond their oral use by speakers in their confined locations. This makes any effort to use these languages for broadcasting a serious challenge since speakers and non-speakers do not value these languages. The government’s stringent media laws and policies have made the usage of radio broadcasting in preserving indigenous languages an almost impossible task. The ambiguous BSA and its various vague policies are nothing but a fallacy to minority indigenous languages’ revitalization efforts. In addition, the existing education system is worsening this problem because of its failure to develop educational materials in minority indigenous languages. The study concludes with the observation that in multilingual and multicultural Zimbabwe, the language stance of the government, education system and the media particularly radio are destructive to indigenous languages preservation and revitalisation. In order to ensure effective indigenous languages preservation and revitalization in Zimbabwe, there is need to revise the various language policies enshrined the BSA and to open up the broadcasting landscape to reflect the multiplicity and diversity of voices existing in the country.Thesis (PhD) -- Faculty of Social Sciences and Humanities, 201

Radio broadcasting, policy and local language revitalisation in Zimbabwe

The media as disseminators of news are considered the principal institutions that have the mandate to provide relevant information to the citizenry; from which members of the public get a better understanding of their society. Communicating in indigenous languages, in particular, facilitates interaction and the preservation of African languages. Studies have shown that radio is the most effective channel of mass communication which can help in the usage and preservation of indigenous languages. This is because it is affordable and accessible in more peripheral areas than other media. However, due to radio’s ideological and hegemonic functions, many governments in most African countries and in Zimbabwe, in particular, have continued to closely monitor and control its day to day running. Zimbabwe radio, due to the previous and current political contexts, has continued to create an atmosphere where minority languages are not given necessary recognition leading to their exclusion from most of the existing radio stations. This has come to threaten indigenous minority languages and to weaken the long established cultures. The research springs primarily from the desire to unearth the truth behind the failure by ILRBSs and government to protect indigenous languages in Zimbabwe, a sovereign nation. The electronic colonialism theory and globalisation approach (specifically its cultural globalisation strand) were utilised in this study. The research adopted a mixed method design. Data was collected using four instruments namely, Interviews, Focus groups discussions, questionnaire and document analysis. The study revealed that minority languages in Zimbabwe have never been developed beyond their oral use by speakers in their confined locations. This makes any effort to use these languages for broadcasting a serious challenge since speakers and non-speakers do not value these languages. The government’s stringent media laws and policies have made the usage of radio broadcasting in preserving indigenous languages an almost impossible task. The ambiguous BSA and its various vague policies are nothing but a fallacy to minority indigenous languages’ revitalization efforts. In addition, the existing education system is worsening this problem because of its failure to develop educational materials in minority indigenous languages. The study concludes with the observation that in multilingual and multicultural Zimbabwe, the language stance of the government, education system and the media particularly radio are destructive to indigenous languages preservation and revitalisation. In order to ensure effective indigenous languages preservation and revitalization in Zimbabwe, there is need to revise the various language policies enshrined the BSA and to open up the broadcasting landscape to reflect the multiplicity and diversity of voices existing in the country.Thesis (PhD) -- Faculty of Social Sciences and Humanities, 201

From Artefacts to Infrastructures

In their initial articulation of the direction of the CSCW field, scholars advanced an open-ended agenda. This continuing commitment to open-ness to different contexts and approaches is not, however, reflected in the contents of the major CSCW outlets. The field appears to privilege particular forms of cooperative work. We find many examples of what could be described as ‘localist studies’, restricted to particular settings and timeframes. This focus on the ‘here and now’ is particularly problematic when one considers the kinds of large-scale, integrated and interconnected workplace information technologies—or what we are calling Information Infrastructures—increasingly found within and across organisations today. CSCW appears unable (or unwilling) to grapple with these technologies—which were at the outset envisaged as falling within the scope of the field. Our paper hopes to facilitate greater CSCW attention to Information Infrastructures through offering a re-conceptualisation of the role and nature of ‘design’. Design within an Information Infrastructures perspective needs to accommodate non-local constraints. We discuss two such forms of constraint: standardisation (how local fitting entails unfitting at other sites) and embeddedness (the entanglement of one technology with other apparently unrelated ones). We illustrate these themes through introducing case material drawn on from a number of previous studies

Repatriating Xhosa music recordings archived at the International Library of African Music (ILAM) and reviving interest in traditional Xhosa music among the youth in Grahamstown

This research looks at the feasibility of using repatriation as a tool for the revitalisation of indigenous music within a contemporary South African musical context. Using tracks from the International Library of African Music (ILAM), this investigation presents isiXhosa traditional and indigenous music to a group of musicians from a hip-hop background that would never have had access to this type of music before. The thesis then traces their creative use of the music within their own genres. Speaking to the legacy of the Hugh Tracey collection at ILAM and criticisms that have surfaced, this research also attempts to validate the efforts made by Hugh Tracey in collecting and documenting African music. Themes ranging from understanding the term “tradition” are addressed, as well as other technical terms in the vernacular while also exploring and analysing the results of the repatriation project. Practical issues regarding the sampling of indigenous music were interrogated carefully due to the fact that the complexity of African music was foreign to most of the participants. Their familiarity with the music, or lack thereof, either motivated or ended the musicians’ participation in the research project. An in-depth analysis of the results of the musicians’ interaction with the music is presented where this study finds, at the heart of this research, that the musicians performed as agents who easily took to revitalising the music