O nome da menina

"O Nome da Menina" celebra o nascimento da ELO, uma revista que se propõe como um "elo" entre aqueles que estudam os elos que constituem a tradição. Para tal, "O Nome da Menina" reflecte sobre nomes, nomes também que nos deeram a nós, os que damos os nomes a todos estes artigos

Comparing the Early Research Performance of PhD Graduates in Labor Economics in Europe and the USA

This paper analyzes the early research performance of PhD graduates in labor economics, addressing the following questions: Are there major productivity differences between graduates from American and European institutions? If so, how relevant is the quality of the training received (i.e. ranking of institution and supervisor) and the research environment in the subsequent job placement institution? The population under study consists of labor economics PhD graduates who received their degree in the years 2000 to 2005 in Europe or the USA. Research productivity is evaluated alternatively as the number of publications or the quality-adjusted number of publications of an individual. When restricting the analysis to the number of publications, results suggest a higher productivity by graduates from European universities than from USA universities, but this difference vanishes when accounting for the quality of the publication. The results also indicate that graduates placed at American institutions, in particular top ones, are likely to publish more quality-adjusted articles than their European counterparts. This may be because, when hired, they already have several good acceptances or because of more focused research efforts and clearer career incentives.graduate programs, research productivity

Trends in economic research: An international perspective

Given the recent efforts in several countries to reorganize the research institutional setting to improve research productivity, our analysis addresses the following questions: To which extent has the recent awareness over international quality standards in economics around the world been reflected in research performance? How have individual countries fared? Do research quantity and quality indicators tell us the same story? We concentrate on trends taking place since the beginning of the 1990s and rely on a very comprehensive database of scientific journals, to provide a cross-country comparison of the evolution of research in economics. Our findings indicate that Europe is catching-up with the US but, in terms of influential research, the US maintains a dominant position. The main continental European countries, Germany, France, Italy and Spain, experienced some of the largest growth rates in economic scientific output. Other European countries, namely the UK, Norway, the Netherlands, Denmark, and Sweden, have shown remarkable progress in per capita output. Collaborative research seems to be a key factor explaining the relative success of some European countries, in particular when it comes to publishing in top journals, attained predominantly through international collaborations.research performance; publications; rankings; Europe; North-America; US

How are Portuguese venture capitalists weighting the skills of the entrepreneur when evaluating a venture opportunity?

Startups can raise money from several sources but one of the most common is through Venture Capital. There is an interest in better understanding how venture capital deals come together, as entrepreneurs know too well how difficult it can be to raise funds. Hence, the objective of this thesis is to analyze if the entrepreneur, its competencies and skills, do play a major role in the venture capitalists’ seed-stage investment decision process with a focus on Portugal. The collection of primary data, through surveys and interviews, pinpointed the entrepreneur as one of the most important factors that ultimately influences the funding decision. Additionally, a cohesive start-up team, founders presenting relevant previous experience (startup and managerial), as well as technical and market expertise, and face-to-face interactions (between entrepreneurs and Venture Capitalists), in which storytelling ability plays a role, also favorably increase the odds of successful funding. On the other hand, two factors that were not conclusively validated with this current analysis were i) direct and/or indirect ties between entrepreneurs and Venture Capitalists and ii) entrepreneur’s social skills. These were not considered direct fundraising drivers and will require further investigation.O capital de risco constitui uma das mais utilizadas fontes de financiamento por parte das startups. No entanto, os empreendedores têm conhecimento do quão difícil pode ser conseguir financiamento. Há, deste modo, um interesse em perceber como é que as decisões de investimento são realizadas. Posto isto, a presente tese tem como objetivo analisar se o empreendedor, as suas competências e capacidade de contar uma história sobre o seu projeto, influenciam de forma preponderante a decisão das sociedades de Capital de Risco, com foco em Portugal, numa fase seed. A recolha de dados, através de questionários online e entrevistas, permitiu identificar o empreendedor como um dos fatores mais dominantes aquando da decisão de financiamento. Além disso, uma equipa que apresenta experiência relevante em startups, bem como um conhecimento técnico e do mercado, tem mais probabilidade de obter financiamento. Por outro lado, as interações/ o relacionamento entre empreendedor e investidor são de extrema importância, no qual a capacidade de contar uma história sobre a empresa/produto é saliente. Contudo, dois fatores incialmente identificados como influenciadores da decisão de investimento, não foram validados conclusivamente pela presente análise: i) ligações, direta ou indiretamente, entre empreendedor e investidor e ii) competências sociais do empreendedor. Conclui-se que não aumentam a probabilidade de uma startup conseguir apoio financeiro. No entanto, a análise conduzida abre portas para, no futuro, haver um estudo mais aprofundado nestas duas vertentes

Marketing and sales management : FERESPE’s case study

No matter how competitive a particular industry may be, the essential will always be the collaboration and sharing of interests between the different parties. So, more than ever, it is absolutely crucial to exceed consumer expectations through innovative strategies that will ensure competitive advantages. Therefore, the maintenance and creation of good customer relationships have been a priority for every business as well as understanding which factors influence loyalty. In fact, this concept has been studied by several authors throughout the years. However, the definition of loyalty and what influences it is not consensual due to its complexity (Majumdar, 2005) (cited by Gee et al. (2008), p.360). That is why the purpose of this Master Final Work is to contribute, in theoretical and practical terms, to unveil what influences the loyalty of FERESPE’s clients. Furthermore, it is a valuable contribution to understand the main constructs of loyalty in order to improve marketing strategies and to achieve retention and creation of more and better relationships within customers. Applying the proposed conceptual model, built upon literature review, it was concluded that providing a good experience is important as it affects customer satisfaction, delivers customer loyalty, instills confidence, supports the brand and also creates emotional bonds with customers (Kong, 2011)

The relevance of fiscal rules for fiscal and yield developments

Numerical fiscal rules mitigate the bias of pro-cyclicality, as an alternative to discretionary measures conducted by policy makers. We assess whether fiscal rules impact budget balances and sovereign yields, and we perform a simulation exercise to compute debt developments of EU countries, assuming that they had implemented a numerical expenditure rule in 1990. Our panel analysis covers 27 EU countries between 1990 and 2011. We find that fiscal rules contribute to the reduction of budget deficits, specifically expenditure rules, which significantly impact primary expenditure and conclude that countries with rules experienced lower sovereign bond yields. The simulations show that when the same rule is applied to different countries, it produces very different results, particularly on account of the initial level of primary expenditure

El lugar de la poesía en las orientaciones curriculares oficiales portuguesas

O artigo analisa o lugar da poesia nas diversas orientações curriculares oficiais portuguesas: no Currículo Nacional do Ensino Básico, publicado em 2001, no Programa de Português do Ensino Básico, que entrou em vigor em 2011, e nas Metas Curriculares de Português para o Ensino Básico, já em vigor. Os autores concluem que, apesar de a poesia constituir uma mais-valia para a criança, ao facultar-lhe, de modo natural e harmonioso, o domínio de uma série de competências relevantes ao nível linguístico-literário, os documentos oficiais não lhe concedem grande relevância.The article analyzes the place of poetry in several Portuguese official curriculum guidelines: in the National Curriculum of Basic Education, published in 2001, in the Portuguese Program for Basic Education, which came into force in 2011, and in the Portuguese Curricular Goals for Basic Education already in place. The authors conclude that although poetry is an asset for the child, because it provides him, in a natural and harmonious way, the domain of a range of relevant skills on the linguistic and literary levels, official documents do not provide poetry a great relevance.El artículo analiza el lugar de la poesía en varios textos curriculares oficiales portugueses: en el Currículo Nacional de Educación Básica, publicado en 2001, en el Programa Portugués para la Educación Básica, que entró en vigor en 2011, y los Objetivos de Portugués Curriculares para la Educación Básica ya en el lugar. Los autores concluyen que aunque la poesía constituye un activo para el niño, por ofrecerle, de una manera natural y armoniosa, el dominio de una serie de habilidades relacionadas con el nivel lingüístico y literario, los documentos oficiales no le proporcionan gran relevancia.CIEC - Centro de Investigação em Estudos da Criança, IE, UMinho (UI 317 da FCT), Portugalinfo:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Identification and characterization of opportunities for improvement in industrial processes by lean automation method

Mestrado de dupla diplomação com a UTFPR - Universidade Tecnológica Federal do ParanáConsidering that the need to adapt industries to remain competitive is increasing, this research is being carried out with the objective of identifying and characterizing improvements in industrial processes, in order to improve them through resources and methods widely used in the industry, such as Lean Manufacturing (LM) and Industry 4.0 (I4.0). Therefore, it was necessary to analyze the LM and I4.0 methodology, resulting in Lean Automation tools, the process of a real company was also analyzed as a case study so that improvement suggestions could be provided. In addition, it was important to interpret the biggest losses that happen in industries with the objective of avoiding them. Finally, it was found that the application of Industry 4.0 in lean tools brings convenience and flexibility since the combination of the two methodologies can be done according to the needs of each industry. Regarding the suggestions for improvements found in the process, initially, it was the implementation of a dashboard as an aid to visual management. Furthermore, it is also suggested to apply the OEE together with the production notes, also in the form of a dashboard. The implementations already carried out were satisfactory in terms of facilitating the automated monitoring of the process. Therefore, it is possible to verify that Industry 4.0 helps with lean tools that can facilitate the visualization and monitoring of industrial processes.Considerando que a necessidade de adaptar as indústrias para se manterem competitivas é cada vez maior, esta pesquisa está sendo realizada com o objetivo de identificar e caracterizar melhorias nos processos industriais, a fim de melhora-los por meio de recursos e métodos amplamente utilizados na indústria, como o Lean Manufacturing (LM) e Indústria 4.0 (I4.0). Portanto, foi necessário analisar a metodologia LM e I4.0, resultando em ferramentas de automação enxuta, também foi analisado o processo de uma empresa real como um estudo de caso para que sugestões de melhoria pudessem ser fornecidas. Além disso, foi importante interpretar as maiores perdas que acontecem nas indústrias com o objetivo de evitá-las. Por fim, verificou-se que a aplicação da Indústria 4.0 nas ferramentas enxutas traz comodidade e flexibilidade, visto que a combinação das duas metodologias pode ser feita de acordo com a necessidade de cada indústria. No que diz respeito às sugestões de melhorias encontradas no processo, inicialmente foi a implementação de um dashboard como auxilio de gestão visual. Além disso sugere-se também a aplicação do OEE juntamente com o apontamento de produção também em forma de dashboard. As implementações já realizadas foram satisfatórias em termos de facilitar o monitoramento automatizado do processo. Portanto, é possível verificar que a Indústria 4.0 auxilia nas ferramentas enxutas que podem facilitar a visualização e o monitoramento dos processos industriais

The relevance of fiscal rules for fiscal and sovereign yield developments

We assess whether numerical fiscal rules impact budget balances and sovereign yields. For a panel of 27 EU countries between 1990 and 2011, we find that fiscal rules reduce budget deficits, specifically expenditure rules, while countries with better fiscal rules experienced lower sovereign bond yields.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio