SMEs and family Smes: specificities from the portuguese socio-business context

The composition of the corporate structure constitutes a relevant indicator of the entrepreneurial and economic dynamism of a certain country or territory. In contrast to past estimates over the past 45 years, the importance of small or very small scale entreprises has been steadily decreasing in the Portuguese business universe. The Portuguese socio-entrepreneurial fabric is predominantly constituted by small and very small scale businesses (micro companies): in 2015, 99,9% of the non financial Portuguese sector were SME [Small and Medium-size companies], and the micro scale companies represented around 96% of the total number of SME. In this context, family businesses acquire greater relevance due to/for the estimated weight they have on the economy (between 70% to 80% of the SME, also including great companies quoted on the stock exchange markets), on the creation of jopbs and on the role they play in the local development. Notwithstanding, there still is a significant unawareness of the business layouts of the family companies. In effect, these tend to be heterogeneousin terms of size, activity sector and degree of professionalization of the respective government models and human resources..The ongoing project, “Roadmap for the Portuguese family businesses” (2016-2018), financed by the NORTE 2020/ FEDER has as a central goal to contribute to a better acknowledgement and assessment of the impact of family companies in the northern region, as far as the local, national and international economy is concerned. For this purpose, it will build a database of the Portuguese northern region, mapping all the companies that present the layout of a family business and apply an online survey, combined with in-depth interviews to the various types and segments of family businesses, reinforcing their economic and social roles.Interdisciplinary Center of Social Sciences - University of Minho, UID/SOC/04647/2013 with the financial support of FCT / MEC through National funds and if applicable co-financed by the ERDF Scope of the Agreement PT2020 partnership

Intergenerational management succession: specificities of the Portuguese family business

Family firms are considered the world’s most predominant form of business organisation. Notwithstanding the fact that there is a lack of consensus with regards to their definition, on recognise that family firms are different from non-family businesses due to their specific relations at three levels, namely ownership, business and family. It would appear that the family influences, shapes and conditions both the firm and its continuity, mainly through the intergenerational management succession, its planning and effectiveness. According to a recent research focused on the entrepreneurial succession in Portugal (AEP, 2011), 50% of family businesses are not passed on to the second generation, and only 20% reach the third generation. Also, taking into account the main results from the project “Roadmap for Portuguese Family Businesses” (NORTE2020/FEDER), the empirical findings have proved that the business succession planning has been identified as one of the most challenging steps in the life of the family firm, which demands for appropriate analysis. In fact, resistance to succession, relationship founder/ successor, planning of succession, type of organisational culture, among others, explain how executive succession is one of the most important and hardest tasks in organisational life. In this article, we aim to discuss the main management challenges of a family business, particularly the importance of succession preparation and the role of the family in the socialisation of the second (third or subsequent) generation. Based on an online survey (N 1148) and on in-depth interviews conducted to founder/ manager/ owner (N 23), we will seek to point out major challenges faced by the Portuguese family business, as far as this matter is concerned.NORTE-02-0853-FEDER-00001

Eliminar a metafísica : filosofia e poesia

Tese de doutoramento, Estudos de Literatura e de Cultura (Teoria da Literatura), Universidade de Lisboa, Faculdade de Letras, 2011Esta tese comenta três programas contemporâneos que exprimem críticas à noção de metafísica – dois projectos filosóficos e um de natureza poética. Os programas filosóficos são a proposta do positivismo lógico, na qual se assume como possível uma eliminação da metafísica através da análise lógica do discurso, e a fábula de Martin Heidegger sobre o esquecimento do ser. O programa poético é o conjunto dos versos de Alberto Caeiro. Na primeira parte desta tese, analisaremos a posição de alguns autores clássicos do positivismo lógico e a ideia de uma metafísica do Dasein defendida por Martin Heidegger. Na segunda parte, argumentar-se-á que o projecto de Alberto Caeiro, na medida em que releva de uma tese central que assume o primado do «dado», leva à conclusão contra-intuitiva de que o desentendimento entre Fernando Pessoa e Teixeira de Pascoaes, tido pelo Mestre como poeta metafísico, se traduz, apesar disso, num entendimento substancial.This dissertation comments on three contemporary programs that criticize the notion of metaphysics – two philosophical projects and one expressed by a poet. The philosophical programs are the project of logical positivism, which assumes the possibility of eliminating metaphysics through the logical analysis of language, and the tale of Martin Heidegger about the forgetting of being. The poetic program is contained in Alberto Caeiro’s poetry. The first part of this dissertation analyzes the position of some classic authors of logical positivism and the idea of a metaphysics of Dasein in Heidegger’s thinking. In the second part, it is argued that Alberto Caeiro’s program, defending a central thesis which assumes the primacy of the “given”, leads to the counterintuitive conclusion that the disagreement between Fernando Pessoa and Teixeira de Pascoaes, seen by the Master as a metaphysical poet, reflects, nonetheless, a substantial understandingFundação para a Ciência e Tecnologia (FCT

Overlaps between the family and the business: key insights and challenges of family entrepreneurship in Portugal

Family-oriented companies are a predominant type of company in the context of the Portuguese private business fabric. At the heart of this business typology, two structural aspects of the life of individuals coexist: work (company) and family, with multiple challenges experienced by those who create, manage and coordinate them: their entrepreneurs. Recent studies reveal that 50% of family businesses do not reach the second generation and only 20% reach the third generation (AEP, 2011). Business succession planning represents one of the main management challenges experienced in this segment of companies. This communication presents a reflection on family entrepreneurship in Portugal, offering a portrait of the family businesses in the North Region of Portugal and focusing on main management challenges, such as business succession and management professionalization. For this purpose, the main results from the research project “Roadmap for Portuguese family businesses” (2016-2018), financed by NORTE 2020 / FEDER will be presented. The aims of this project were to contribute to a better knowledge and institutional visibility of this segment of companies, as well as to assess the impact of companies Northern Region in the local, national and international economy. The data presented is the result of an eclectic methodological design that has combined a quantitative-extensive approach, based on the construction of a database with all family companies formally registered in the North of Portugal and posteriorly the application of an online survey (LimeSurvey platform) to the family entities collected in previous step, in order to better characterise the profiles of family companies, and also a qualitative-intensive approach based on the conduction of a set of 23 in-depth interviews to family managers/ owners, bearing in mind the diversity of this business typology, namely in terms of basic variables such as the sector of activity, size, year of foundation, founder’s gender

Violência íntima feminina e perceção de desigualdade de género: um estudo exploratório

Orientação: Joana Maria Barreto Ramos de Almeida CabralA investigação sobre o fenómeno de violência nas relações íntimas (VRI) tem-se focado, quase na totalidade, nos comportamentos violentos praticados por homens. O que faz com que ainda pouco se saiba sobre os comportamentos violentos adotados pelas mulheres. A escassez de investigação sobre a VRI praticada pelas mulheres, é ainda acompanhada de uma ausência de consenso sobre os motivos que as levam a agredir os companheiros. O maior foco na violência praticada pelos homens poderá dever-se ao facto de a maioria dos investigadores olharem para este fenómeno tendo como base a organização patriarcal da sociedade. Contudo, alguns investigadores defendem que a sociedade patriarcal poderá também estar na base dos comportamentos agressivos praticados por mulheres. O presente estudo tem como principal objetivo compreender a em que medida a maior ou menor conformidade com papéis de género tradicionais pode influenciar a adoção de comportamentos violentos, por parte das mulheres. A amostra inclui 318 participantes, do sexo feminino, com idades compreendidas entre os 18 e os 64 anos (M = 28.37, DP = 10.132, Mo = 18). Os instrumentos administrados avaliaram a perceção de desigualdade de género e de conflitos associados à mesma, a vergonha interna, as atitudes relativamente ao género e os comportamentos abusivos no contexto da relação de intimidade. Os resultados sugerem que a menor conformidade com papéis de género tradicionais está associada a uma maior perceção de ameaça ao valor próprio e à relação, face a situações de conflito que evocam papeis de género tradicionais e/ou podem representar transgressões face a estes papeis. As estratégias de desvalorização parecem ser as mais usadas em situações de desigualdade de género e dos conflitos associados.Research on the phenomenon of intimate partner violence (IPV) is now almost exclusively focused on the violent behavior of men. This results in little knowledge about the violent behaviors adopted by women against their intimate partners. The scarcity of research on women's IPV is accompanied by a lack of consensus on the reasons why women abuse their partners. The greater focus on male violence may be due to the fact that most researchers look at this phenomenon based on the patriarchal organization that our society presents. However, some researchers argue that patriarchal society may be also the basis of aggressive behavior by women. The present study has as the main objective to understand how the higher or lower conformity with traditional gender roles can influence the adoption of violent behaviors, by the women. The sample included 318 female participants, age ranged by 18-64 years (M = 28.37, SD = 10.132, Mo = 18). The administered instruments evaluated the perception of gender inequality and associated conflicts, internal shame, gender attitudes, and abusive behaviors in the context of the relationship of intimacy. The main results suggest that lower compliance with traditional gender roles is associated with a greater perception of threat to self-worth and to the relationship in face of conflict that evoke gender roles and/or transgressions to traditional gender roles. Devaluation seems to be the most adopted strategy adopted in face of conflicts around gender inequality

Exploring wind and solar PV generation complementarity to meet electricity demand

ABSTRACT: Understanding the spatiotemporal complementarity of wind and solar power generation and their combined capability to meet the demand of electricity is a crucial step towards increasing their share in power systems without neglecting neither the security of supply nor the overall cost efficiency of the power system operation. This work proposes a methodology to exploit the complementarity of the wind and solar primary resources and electricity demand in planning the expansion of electric power systems. Scenarios that exploit the strategic combined deployment of wind and solar power against scenarios based only on the development of an individual renewable power source are compared and analysed. For each scenario of the power system development, the characterization of the additional power capacity, typical daily profile, extreme values, and energy deficit are assessed. The method is applied to a Portuguese case study and results show that coupled scenarios based on the strategic combined development of wind and solar generation provide a more sustainable way to increase the share of variable renewables into the power system (up to 68% for an annual energy exceedance of 10% for the renewable generation) when compared to scenarios based on an individual renewable power source. Combined development also enables to reduce the overall variability and extreme values of a power system net load.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Wind power plants hybridised with solar power: A generation forecast perspective

ABSTRACT: aggregation for the operation of power systems is an area of recent research. Accurate forecasts are crucial for extracting those benefits and promote an optimal integration of such plants into power systems and electricity markets. This study focuses on the hybridisation of existing wind power plants with different shares of solar photovoltaic capacity and investigates how these power plants can reduce their combined forecast errors and thus, increasing profitability in electricity markets. The work uses a forecast methodology based on a sequential forward feature selection algorithm which employs two different objective functions and an artificial neural network approach previously presented but, in this case, it is applied to the specific case of hybrid power plants. The methodology uses as input data from a numerical weather prediction model and iteratively selects meteorological features to achieve the different objective functions implemented, namely i) minimisation of the root mean square error; or ii) maximisation of the market remuneration. The methodology developed was applied to three case studies in Portugal with different levels of wind and solar generation complementarity. The results show that the hybrid power plants can increase market value by up to 5% and total remuneration can increase by up to 30% when compared with the existing wind power plant, while it is possible to reduce the forecast errors by nearly 4%. The obtained results highlight the need to select the most relevant meteorological features to maximise the accuracy of the power forecast and the renewable power producers revenues in a market environment.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Gold nanoparticles for plasmid delivery

Gene therapy presents an ideal strategy for the treatment of genetic as well as acquired diseases, such as cancer and typically involves the insertion of a functioning gene into cells to correct a cellular dysfunction or to provide a new cellular function. Gene delivery vectors are based in two models: viral and non-viral. Viral vectors have high transfection efficiency but their major barrier is immunogenicity. Since the non-viral vectors have no immunogenicity, these have been widely studied. Gold nanoparticles have been proposed as optimal delivery systems of genetic material, due their small size, high surface-to-volume ratio and the ability to be functionalized with multiple molecules. In the present work, an AuNP-based formulation was developed to deliver a plasmid in a colorectal cancer cell line, containing as reporter gene the gene encoding to EGFP. The delivery system resulted from the functionalization of 14 nm AuNP with a PEG layer (4300114 PEG chains/AuNP), which increases stability and biocompatibility of AuNPs; quaternary ammonium groups which provide positive charges that allow electrostatic binding of plasmid, which is considered the therapeutic agent to be transported into cells. The system developed was characterized by UV-vis spectroscopy, DLS, TEM and by electrophoretic mobility, yielding a formulation with 113.5 nm.Transfection efficiency of the formulation developed was evaluated through PCR and through EGFP expression by fluorescence microscopy and fluorescence spectroscopy. The internalization was observed 3h post transfection; however a low level of EGFP expression was achieved. After 24h of incubation, EGFP expression increases just 3 times compared to non-transfected cells. The commercial system (Lipofectamine) expressed EGFP 5 times more than the system developed AuNP@PEG@R4N+@pEGFP. This difference could be related to lower translocation to the nucleus

Enhancing wind power forecast accuracy using the weather research and forecasting numerical model-based features and artificial neuronal networks

ABSTRACT: Forecasting with accuracy the quantity of energy produced by wind power plants is crucial to enabling its optimal integration into power systems and electricity markets. Despite the remarkable improvements in the wind forecasting systems in recent years, large errors can still be observed, especially for longer time horizons. This work focuses on identifying new numerical weather prediction (NWP)-based features aiming to improve the overall quality of wind power forecasts. The methodology also incorporates a sequential forward feature selection algorithm. This algorithm was designed to select iteratively the meteorological features which minimize the wind forecast errors. The methodology was applied separately to seven wind parks in Portugal with different climate characteristics. The proposed approach allowed a reduction between 13% and 37% in the root mean square errors of wind power forecasts, compared with a baseline scenario. While the meteorological features identified for each wind park showed similarities within regions with analogous wind power generation profiles, each wind park required specific meteorological parameters as input data to obtain the best performance. Thus, the results show to be crucial to select the most relevant features of a specific site to maximize the accuracy of a wind power forecast.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio