(Im)possibilities of Autonomy: Social Movements In and Beyond Capital, the State and Development

Recently, we have witnessed the emergence of what appears to be a new set of claims in contemporary social movements based around the idea of autonomy. In this paper we interrogate this demand for autonomy. In order to do this, we first engage with existing literatures, identifying three main conceptions of autonomy: 1) autonomous practices vis-à-vis capital, or, what Negri calls, the ‘self-valorization’ of labour; 2) self-determination and independence from the state; and 3) alternatives to hegemonic discourses of development. We will then problematize and point out the central potentials, weaknesses and antagonisms at the heart of the concept of autonomy. We argue that social movements’ demands for autonomy point to, what Laclau and Mouffe call, the impossibility of society, the idea that society can never be complete. That is, there will always be resistances, such as those expressed by autonomous social movements. However, this also lets us understand the conception of autonomy to be incomplete. Autonomy itself is hence an impossibility. To point to these limits of the discourses of autonomy, we discuss how demands for autonomy are tied up with contemporary re-organizations of: 1) the capitalist workplace, characterized by discourses of autonomy, creativity and self-management; 2) the state, which increasingly outsources public services to independent, autonomous providers, which often have a more radical, social movement history; and 3) regimes of development, which today often emphasize local practices, participation and self-determination. Behind these critical reflections on the conception and practice of autonomy is the idea that autonomy should always be seen as something relational. That is, autonomy can never be fixed; there is no definite ground for demands for autonomy to stand on. Instead, social movements’ demands for autonomy are embedded in specific social, economic, political and cultural contexts, giving rise to possibilities as well as impossibilities of autonomous practices

The usefulness of State trade missions for the internationalization of firms: an econometric analysis

Empirical studies on the usefulness of official visits (OVs) as a way to promote the internationalization of firms are scarce and it is often assumed from the political point of view that such visits have impacts that are as positive as they are immensurable. This study is centred on a relatively unexplored case (Portugal), in which OVs have become more and more visible to firms and to the public in general. By applying an econometric model, we seek to evaluate the importance regarding the structural characteristics of firms versus the characteristics of OVs, as to the way participants perceive the usefulness of official visits for promoting their firms and business in the markets visited. Based on 136 participations in 12 official visits which took place between 2005 and 2008, results indicate that the size of firms, foreign capital, export intensity, innovation intensity and experience in the market visited are statistically relevant variables in the assessment of the results and objectives of OVsTState trade missions; usefulness; determinants; firms’ perceptions

Fluctuations and persistence in poverty: a transient-chronic decomposition model for pseudo-panel data

Although many studies addressed poverty issues, very few of then did analyze the transient or persistent nature of this phenomenon. Encouraged by this lack of dynamic poverty analyses, the objective of this paper is to evaluate which features determine the relative position and the dynamics of the destitution state of the individual. Due to the scarcity of panel surveys in Brazil, it was used a pseudo-panel obtained from the Pesquisa Nacional por Amostra de Domicílios (PNAD/IBGE) database in this study. With these data, the state permanence and the state transience probabilities were estimated in a Markov matrix with the application of a bivariate probit model with endogenous switching for grouped data. It was chosen as the welfare indicator the per capita household income, which was analyzed in relation to a relative poverty line. Moreover, in order to verify the sensibility of the parameters estimated in the econometric analysis, distinct poverty lines were used and also different assumptions of household scale economies and of intrahousehold relative costs were made. The transient-chronic analysis is based on the distinction between stationary and transient components of intertemporal propensity to poverty. The results enabled to identify which groups in the population were especially sensitive to the chronic and to the transient types of poverty.chronic poverty; transient poverty; state persistence; state transition; endogenous switching probit model; pseudo-panel; Brazil

Emergência e desenvolvimento do conceito de competência

O conceito de competência tem sido amplamente explorado na literatura, promovendo a existência de diversas conceptualizações e abordagens, dificultando a sua definição. Contudo, a compreensão da sua evolução e diversidade conceptual revela-se enriquecedora, na medida em que espelha as próprias mutações ao nível das práticas de gestão de recursos humanos. Neste trabalho terá lugar a uma revisão bibliográfica que espelha as referidas evoluções: teórica e prática efetiva na gestão de recursos humanos. Desta forma, procedemos a uma pesquisa bibliográfica em diversas bases de dados (em publicações de natureza científica) tendo como referência temporal base a década de 70, período em que emerge a discussão em torno do tema. Este conceito surge na América no final dos anos 60, início dos anos 70, francamente associado aos traços de personalidade. McClelland (1973) o principal impulsionador desta perspetiva, define competência como a capacidade de aplicar ou usar o conhecimento, capacidades, habilidades, comportamentos e características pessoais de modo a concretizar um desempenho profissional bem sucedido em tarefas críticas. A definição deste conceito tem sofrido complexas mutações ao longo dos anos e a sua evidente pertinência espelha-se na importância crescente atribuída no contexto organizacional, nomeadamente nas suas práticas de gestão de recursos humanos. Neste trabalho fazemos uma revisão bibliográfica onde se evidencia a pertinência da emergência do conceito de competência, se apresenta a evolução do conceito até ao momento, assim como as abordagens, dimensões e níveis de análise do conceito. São discutidas as conceptualizações e indicadas as suas implicações para a teoria e prática

Consumer engagement with a brand on Facebook

Social media and in particular social Networking Sites have grown in importance and have each day more users. This fact has increased the number of brands on these social networking sites (SNS) trying to engage with their consumers. The purpose of this research is to determine the main motivations for consumers to engage with a brand through Facebook and to study if brand love influences consumer engagement and how these factors (brand love, and consumer engagement) impact brand equity. For this we performed an online survey with 233 valid responses. Correlations analyses were performed in other to study these relations. The results indicate that the principal motivations to engage with a brand through the consumption of content are entertainment, social influence, search for information and trust. The main motivations to interact and participate in a SNS brand page are social influence and personal identity Brand love also influences consumer engagement and these two factors influence brand equity. Theoretical and managerial findings are discussed and directions for further research are given

Digital marketing plan for Woo's Pure Feelings

The goal of this master’s thesis is to define a new digital marketing strategy for a small mediumsized jewellery business in Portugal. This in-company project was conducted with Woo’s Pure Feelings. Woo’s is a jewellery brand that was created in 2006 in Lisbon, Portugal and its goal is to differentiate by transmitting feelings through its products. Currently, there is an increasing need for brands to have a strong digital presence and the use of social platforms is already a requirement to be successful. The use of influencers on social media is the new trend in this new wave of marketing and a need in order to stay relevant in the digital world. In the present time, there is an identified need for improvement in the area of its digital communication for Woo’s Pure Feelings brand and that will be the focus of this project. The plan of this project was built based on; research work such as external situation analysis to evaluate the condition of the industry such as competitors and consumers, an internal analysis to identify the current struggles of the company and define its objectives for the new plan, as well as an online survey to determine the consumer's digital behaviours and preferences, and also interviews with the brand owners and professionals on the industry.O objectivo desta tese de mestrado é definir uma nova estratégia de marketing digital para uma pequena e média empresa de joalharia em Portugal. Este projeto de empresa foi relaziado com a Woo’s Pure Feelings. A Woo’s é uma empresa de joalharia, criada em 2006 em Lisboa, Portugal e o seu objectivo é diferenciar-se por transmitir sentimentos através das suas peças de joalharia. Atualmente, existe uma necessidade crescente para as marcas terem uma forte presença online e o uso de plataformas sociais já é um requerimento para ser bem sucedido. O uso de influencers nas redes sociais é a nova tendência nesta nova onda de marketing e é uma necessidade para ser relevante no mundo digital. No presente, existe uma necessidade identificada para melhoria na área da comunicação digital da marca Woo’s e esse vai ser o foco para este projeto. O plano para este projeto foi construído tendo em base; trabalho de pesquisa, assim como uma avaliação externa da situação de modo a avaliar a condição da indústria, como os competitores e consumidores, uma avaliação interna para identificar as dificuldades atuais da empresa e definir os seus objectivos para o novo plano, assim como um questionário online para determinar o comportamento e preferências digitals dos utilizadores, como também entrevistas com os donos da marca e profissionais da indústria