Fashion Made in China, the leverage to succeed or the doom to fail in the globalized world

Context of study: The rise of China’s labor costs, and the fact that lower-wage countries have now manufacturing capacity, has pushed domestic apparel manufacturers to emphasize on two more profitable sectors: product development, and retail. This reflects a shift from Original Equipment Manufacturer (OEM) to Original Brand Manufacturer (OBM), which brings challenges for the Chinese apparel companies, since domestic apparel manufacturers didn’t invest much in product development and design ability. Chinese fashion retailers do not play a leading role in the global industry, having only a few influential international brands. However, efforts have been made in order to innovate their merchandise distribution channels and improve promotion policies, to frame the domestic retail networks, appealing to consumers’ attention, and attain market share (Li 2002). Statement of Purpose: The aim of this paper is to firstly identify the difficulties that these private labels can face due to the typical Chinese consumer profile that is characterised by high spenders in haute couture in foreign markets rather than in the domestic market. Secondly, this phenomena might influence these private label brands to expand to international markets, which creates new difficulties due to the world’s perception of the low quality of products manufactured in China. Finally, how these Chinese private-label companies will create a brand equity, in domestic and foreign markets, in order to positioning themselves in the fashion market. Methodology: A multiple case study involving three Chinese apparel companies was employed. The information collected had as final aim, to apply each company to a Porter’s framework, and realize if they gathered the sustained competitive advantage factors necessary to succeed according to its strategy adopted. Contribution: This study has attempted to contribute to the research field of types of strategy and firm performance within an industry recent trend. Hence, the findings in this study should provide a criticism to Porter’s theory of sustained competitive advantage factors and firm’s type of strategy, in the sense that companies can perform well, even when they pursue more than one type of strategy, or when they don’t accomplish all necessary factors, stated by Porter, to achieve competitive advantage

Effects of a large irrigation reservoir on aquatic and riparian plants: a history of survival and loss

Dammed rivers have unnatural stream flows, disrupted sediment dynamics, and rearranged geomorphologic settings. Consequently, fluvial biota experiences disturbed functioning in the novel ecosystems. The case study is the large irrigation reservoir Alqueva in Guadiana River, Southern Iberia. The study area was divided into three zones: upstream and downstream of the dam and reservoir. For each zone, species composition and land use and land cover (LULC) were compared before and after the Alqueva Dam implementation. Data consist of aquatic and riparian flora composition obtained from 46 surveys and the area (%) of 12 classes of LULC obtained in 90 riverine sampling units through the analysis of historical and contemporary imagery. There was an overall decrease of several endemic species and on the riparian shrublands and aquatic stands, although di erences in the proportion of functional groups were not significant. Nevertheless, compositional diversity shows a significant decline in the upstream zone while landscape diversity shows an accentuated reduction in the reservoir area and downstream of the dam, which is likely related to the loss of the rocky habitats of the ‘old’ Guadiana River and the homogenization of the riverscape due to the irrigation intensification. The mitigation of these critical changes should be site-specific and should rely on the knowledge of the interactions between surrounding lands, ecological, biogeomorphologic, and hydrological components of the fluvial ecosystemsinfo:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Colite isquémica: fatores de risco, diagnóstico e prognóstico, em doentes submetidos a cirurgia

Berthelot Marcellin. Arrêté fixant la date de l'ouverture de la session d'examen pour les bourses des lycées et collèges de garçons. In: Bulletin administratif de l'instruction publique. Tome 41 n°738, 1887. p. 253

Whistleblowing disclosure in leading sustainability corporations : a content analysis of whistleblowing policies

Despite the academic and legal progressive efforts to encourage corporate whistleblowing, a set of thorough and practical guidelines on creating and maintaining an efficient internal whistleblowing system is yet lacking, namely regarding the design and content of the whistleblowing policies (Gao & Brink, 2017). Corporate whistleblowing systems are central to an ethical organization's culture (M. S. Schwartz, 2013) and sustainability (S&P Global, 2022). Based upon Hassink et al. (2007) research, this study performed a content analysis on public whistleblowing information from ten large corporations for the purpose to answer the question “How are sustainable-world-leading corporations, in the Fast-Moving Consumer Goods industry, managing whistleblowing?” The findings reveal that the disclosed whistleblowing information is scattered and heterogeneity in the implementation of whistleblowing systems, with discrepancies in both the level and content of the disclosure. Notwithstanding, some topics were disclosed with greater evenness namely the guarantee of confidentiality, the possibility of anonymous reporting, the protection of the whistleblower against retaliation and the pledge of a serious investigation. Overall, there is room for improvement in the design of whistleblowing policies, both in terms of fostering communication and transparency as well as the level of formality involved. This research answers Gao & Brink (2017) call for research into the differences and trends in corporate whistleblowing structures, besides having practical relevance for corporations that still lack whistleblowing policies or to those that intend to benchmark and strengthen their own.Apesar dos crescentes esforços académicos e legislativos que procuram fomentar a denúncia corporativa Ȯ whistleblowing Ȯ poucos são os estudos sobre como implementar e manter um sistema de denúncia interno eficiente, especificamente através do design e conteúdo das políticas de whistleblowing, elemento esse fundamental para uma cultura organizacional ética (M. S. Schwartz, 2013) e sustentável (S&P Global, 2022).Tendo por base o estudo de Hassink et al.,(2007), foi realizado uma análise de conteúdo das informações publicadas referentes ao whistleblowing de dez grandes corporações com o intuito de responder à questão “Como é que as corporações líderes mundiais em sustentabilidade, no setor de Bens de Consumo de Movimento Rápido, estão a gerir a denúncia corporativa?”. Os resultados revelam que a informação divulgada se encontra dispersa, havendo uma heterogeneidade na implementação de sistemas de whistleblowing, com discrepâncias tanto no nível de reporte quanto no conteúdo da divulgação. Não obstante, os tópicos de maior consenso foram relativos à confidencialidade da denúncia, a possibilidade de anonimato, a proteção do denunciante contra a retaliação e o compromisso de uma investigação séria. Sucintamente, há espaço para melhorias no design das políticas de whistleblowing, sendo pertinente fomentar a comunicação e níveis de divulgação assim como o respetivo grau de formalidade. Este estudo responde ao apelo de Gao&Brink (2017) de estudos sobre as diferenças e tendências nos mecanismos de denúncias corporativas tendo também relevância de cariz prático, nomeadamente para empresas que carecem de políticas de denúncia e para aquelas que as pretendem comparar e fortalece

Shapping the future of mobility

In the course of 2018, automotive players had to tackle a variety of challenges within its business environment. BMW was no exception. Given such circumstances, the purpose of this report is to assess BMW’s intrinsic valuation. Likewise, both a quantitative and qualitative analysis were performed whilst regarding the shape of the future of mobility. Upon our considerations, a BUY recommendation is reached on top of three major pillars: unstoppable mobility electrification, the growth of China and the increased shared mobility

Performance of methods of database capturing in email marketing campaigns

Recent developments in the advertising industry were brought along by the Digital Marketing revolution. Within the multiples channels of digital marketing currently available, this dissertation focused on Email Marketing, to study the different ways of capturing email customer databases, in order to better target and optimize promotional email campaigns. Four methods of database capturing - Sponsoring, Shared Exploration, Vertical Portal and Exclusive Capturing Campaign, were compared in terms of their effectiveness for the client advertiser (based on Open Rate, CTR and Conversion Rate metrics), as well as on their efficiency for a digital marketing agency (based on campaign Profit and ROI). Such comparisons resulted from the statistical analyses of both secondary and primary campaign data. The first resulted from several email marketing campaigns conducted by Revshare in 2014, which resorted to different database capture methods. It was subject to OLS regression analysis, to identify which method and campaign/industry features significantly affected campaign performance. The second originated from the performance of an A/B test of a single campaign, launched through different database capture methods. This was done to determine which method yields the best campaign metrics, holding campaign features and industry effects constant. The main conclusion that can be taken from the secondary data is that the Vertical Portal Method is both the most effective method in terms of CTR and CR, as well as the most efficient one, generating the highest ROI. However, A/B testing results reflect important moderating industry effects on the impact of database capturing methods on email campaign performance.A Indústria Publicitária dos dias de hoje trouxe o Marketing Digital. Entre os diferentes canais digitais o tópico desta dissertação consiste no canal de Email Marketing, apresentando as diferentes formas de captação de base de dados para enviar as campanhas de email e capturar o máximo de consumidores possivel. Existem quatro tipos de método de captação de bases de dados – Sponsoring, Shared Exploration, Vertical Portal e Exclusive Capturing Campaign – e a intenção desta dissertação é comparar a performance dos diferentes métodos em termos de eficácia para o Cliente (Percenetagem de abertura de email, de cliques e de conversões) e em termos de eficiência para a Agência (lucro e ROI). A análise foi conduzida em duas fases de pesquisa: primeiro foi feita uma análise a diferentes campanhas de email lançadas pela Revshare entre quatro meses de 2014, nos diferentes métodos de captação. Esta análise foi suportada por um teste de Regressão Linear de forma a perceber qual o método que gera melhor eficiência e eficácia; numa segunda análise foi feita um Teste A/B sendo lançada uma mesma campanha para todos os métodos, para um igual numero de emails enviados, de forma a fazer uma melhor análise da performance de cada método. As conclusões que poderão ser retiradas destes estudos é que o Método Vertical Portal é não só o mais eficaz gerando uma maior taxa de cliques e conversões, sendo tambem o Método mais eficiente com elevado nível de ROI. Contudo, o Teste A/B mostrou que as conclusões poderão alterar-se de acordo com o tipo de indústria da campanha em causa

Português para estrangeiros em Foz do Iguaçu: Integração pela diversidade e interdisciplinaridade

O curso de extensão “Português Para Estrangeiros em Foz do Iguaçu: Integração pela diversidade e interdisciplinaridade” surgiu a partir da necessidade do ensino de português para os estrangeiros que residem na região, seja por questões de trabalho ou outras razões como estudo e que necessitam usar o português diariamente. Seguindo uma abordagem variacionista e integracionista, cada aula do curso possui um tema e a língua é ensinada em seu uso real, considerando as variações e a diversidade cultural. Sendo um dos fundamentos do curso a concepção de variação e interferência entre as línguas, o conceito de erro não faz parte desse trabalho, esse é visto como interferências ou desvios. Esse trabalho visa a refletir sobre o ensino tradicionalmente feito do português para estrangeiros e o ensino praticado nesse projeto, bem como refletir sobre o processo de integração do estrangeiro na comunidade local, a escolha dos temas e a elaboração dos materiais, partindo do conceito de que as maneiras de se ensinar uma língua seja algo construtivo para o discente e não se torne algo fossilizado