Share the Fame or Share the Blame? The Reputational Implications of Partnerships

We use an adverse selection model to study the dynamics of ?rms?reputations when ?rms implement joint projects. We show that in contrast with projects implemented by a single ?rm, in the case of joint projects a ?rm?s reputation does not necessarily increase following a success and does not necessarily decrease following a failure. We also study how reputation considerations a¤ect ?rms? decisions to participate in joint projects. We show that a high quality partner may not be preferable to a low quality partner, and that a high reputation partner is not necessarily preferable to a low reputation partner. JEL codes: L14, L15, L24, D82, D85

Can a Habit Formation Model really explain the forward premium anomaly?

Verdelhan (2009) shows that if one is to explain the foreign exchange forwardpremium behavior using Campbell and Cochrane (1999)'s habit formation modelone must specify it in such a way to generate pro-cyclical short term risk free rates.At the calibration procedure, we show that this is only possible in Campbell andCochrane's framework under implausible parameters speci cations given that theprice-consumption ratio diverges in almost all parameters sets. We, then, adoptVerdelhan's shortcut of xing the sensivity function (st) at its steady state level toattain a nite value for the price-consumption ratio and release it in the simulationstage to ensure pro-cyclical risk free rates. Beyond the potential inconsistenciesthat such procedure may generate, as suggested by Wachter (2006), with pro-cyclical risk free rates the model generates a downward sloped real yield curve,which is at odds with the data.

Febre amarela no Brasil: reflexões e hipóteses sobre a emergência em áreas previamente livres

São descritos e discutidos fatores associados a emergência e dinâmica da transmissão da febre amarela nos estados de São Paulo e Rio Grande do Sul nos anos de 2008 e 2009. A interação dos seguintes fatores foi fundamental para a emergência de febre amarela nesses estados: a grande população humana suscetível; a elevada prevalência de vetores e hospedeiros (primatas não humanos); condições climáticas favoráveis, sobretudo o excesso de chuvas no verão; a emergência de uma nova linhagem viral; e a circulação de pessoas ou macacos infectados em fase virêmica. Apenas um programa eficiente de vigilância pode prevenir ocorrências similares nesses estados brasileiros.This article describes and discusses factors associated to the reemergence of yellow fever and its transmission dynamics in the states of São Paulo (Southeastern Brazil) and Rio Grande do Sul (Southern) during 2008 and 2009. The following factors have played a pivotal role for the reemergence of yellow fever in these areas: large susceptible human population; high prevalence of vectors and primary hosts (non-human primates); favorable climate conditions, especially increased rainfall; emergence of a new genetic lineage; and circulation of people and/or monkeys infected by virus. There is a need for an effective surveillance program to prevent the reemergence of yellow fever in other Brazilian states.Son descritos y discutidos factores asociados con la emergencia y dinámica de la transmisión de la fiebre amarilla en los estados de Sao Paulo (Sureste de Brasil) y Rio Grande do Sul (Sur de Brasil) en los años 2008 y 2009. La interacción de los siguientes factores fue fundamental para la emergencia de fiebre amarilla en esos estados: la gran población humana susceptible; la elevada prevalencia de vectores y hospedadores (primates no humanos); condiciones climáticas favorables, principalmente el exceso de lluvias en el verano; la emergencia de un nuevo linaje viral; y la circulación de personas o monos infectados en fase virémica. Sólo un programa eficiente de vigilancia puede prevenir ocurrencias similares en esos estados brasileros

Using social media to reach consumers of Alento : a content analysis of its official Facebook page

Traditionally, consumers spent time on the Internet purely to expend content: they read, watched, and used it to purchase products and services. However, nowadays consumers are using social media platforms to co-create, share, modify and discuss Internet content. This symbolises a “social media phenomenon” that can now influence a company’s sales, reputation and survival (Kietzmann et al., 2011, p. 241). According to one recent estimate, there are over 1.79 billion monthly active Facebook users (Facebook newsroom, 2016), with an increase of 16% year-over-year, giving Facebook the largest number of Social Networking Sites (SNS) users in the world. Therefore, Facebook has become a very popular form of social media for companies to promote their brands or products (Cheung & Leung, 2016). Nevertheless, many executives mismanage or ignore this social network because they do not understand its importance and how to engage with it (Kietzmann et al., 2011). The purpose of this thesis is to provide a solution for a problem raised by Alento. Alento is a human resources and consulting company that intended to understand how the company should engage with its official Facebook page. With this in mind, an internship program was created which would focus on the gathering of information to access and analyse the company’s presence on Facebook. Kietzmann et al. (2011) proposed seven functional building blocks of social media engagement with fans: identity, conversations, sharing, presence, relationships, reputation and groups. This paper aims to find out which of the functional blocks of social media engagement with fans are the most important for Alento’s Facebook fan page, in order to understand how the company should engage with it. We also tried to understand the effect of some demographic and social factors in the perception of the importance of the seven functional building blocks of Facebook engagement with fans. In order to understand it, we conducted a survey that was taken by 205 Alento Facebook fans. Results contradicted expectations; they showed that the most important functional building blocks for Alento’s Facebook fan page’s engagement with fans are “presence”, “identity” and “reputation”. Furthermore, there are some factors that influence the perception of the importance of each of the seven functional building blocks for Alento’s Facebook fan page’s engagement with fans. In parallel, we analysed the results of some Facebook Marketing strategies developed during the internship. After extensive analysis of the data collected, and with the organisation’s collaboration, a plan of action was defined. The aim of this plan was to implement structural changes in Alento’s Facebook Marketing strategies on a short to medium term basis

The urban milieu and the genesis of creativity in cultural activities: an introductory framework for the analysis of urban creative dynamics

The increasing interest on the role of cultural activities in territorial development and the related notion of “Creative City” have brought the relation between urban space and creative activities to the centre of academic and policy-making agendas. This paper aims to understand how the urban milieu plays an essential role in the embeddedness of sustainable creative dynamics based on cultural activities. We discuss the notion of creativity, focusing on cultural activities and then we analyse the role of urban milieu in the development of specific creative dynamics which enhance the sustainable production and consumption of cultural activities. Some concluding notes are drawn, in the perspective of assisting policy strategies to encourage sustainable territorial development dynamics based on these activities.FCT - Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologiainfo:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Comportamento sísmico de paredes de alvenaria de fachada : uma breve revisão

O trabalho proposto surge no âmbito do estudo do comportamento sísmico de uma tipologia de parede de fachada, fachada ventilada. Pelo facto de existir uma panóplia considerável de de sistemas construtivos de fachadas ventiladas, apresenta-se neste trabalho algumas tipologias mais representativas em Portugal, sendo caracterizadas ao nível dos materiais utilizados, tipologia e espaçamento de ligadores, regulamentação existente e aplicação em obra. Também se apresenta um conjunto de estudos efetuados do comportamento estático e dinâmico deste sistema construtivo e seus componentes. Este estudo teórico pretende ser o ponto de partida para o desenvolvimento de uma campanha experimental e numérica que visa a caracterização destas paredes a ações sísmicas e do vento, com vista a obtenção de um conjunto de recomendações técnicas de melhoria do comportamento sísmico e do vento.Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia (FCT

Caracterização experimental da deterioração de alvenaria de tijolo a ciclos de gelo-degelo

Dado que as paredes de tijolo face à vista estão diretamente expostas às condições ambientais, decidiu-se avaliar a degradação da alvenaria de tijolo em relação aos ciclos de gelo-degelo ciclos. Além da alvenaria de tijolo, a argamassa utilizada na construção de da alvenaria (face à vista e de enchimento) foi também submetida a vários ciclos de gelo-degelo. A avaliação da possível degradação em argamassa foi realizada com base nas propriedades físicas e mecânicas e na inspeção visual.Given that the brick veneer walls are directly exposed to environmental conditions, it was decided to evaluate the decay of brick veneer masonry to freeze and thaw cycles. Besides brick masonry, mortar used in the construction of brick veneer and infill wall was also submitted to several freeze and thaw cycles. The assessment of possible decay on mortar specimens was carried out based on physical and mechanical properties and on visual inspection.The authors acknowledge the support of the Portuguese Foundation for Science and Technology (FCT), through the financing of the research project SEVen - Development of Sustainable Ceramic Brick Masonry Veneer Walls for Building Envelops (PTDC/ECICON/30876/2017)

Experimental analysis of brick masonry veneers walls under out-of-plane loading

The evaluation of seismic vulnerability of existing buildings with masonry veneer systems has been recog-nized as a major problem because of the large number of buildings constructed before the development of rational seismic codes. This resulted in the construction of masonry veneers without reference to the design to seismic action and adequate constructive detailing. In order to contribute to increasing of knowledge about seismic behaviour of brick veneer walls, an experimental campaign was developed on testing quasi-statically full-scale systems under in-plane and out-of-plane loading. This paper describes in detail the out-of-plane performance of a constructive system characteristic of Portugal and South of Europe, constituted of brick masonry veneer leaf connected to an infill wall inserted in a reinforced concrete (rc) frame. A descrip-tion of the test setup for the out-of-plane tests is provided and the main results, including the damage pat-terns and force displacement diagrams, are presented and discussed.The authors acknowledge the support of the Portuguese Foundation for Science and Technology (FCT), through the financing of the research project SEVen - Development of Sustainable Ceramic Brick Masonry Veneer Walls for Building Envelops (PTDC/ECI-CON/30876/2017)