CORPORATE ENTREPRENEURSHIP: A STRATEGIC AND STRUCTURAL PERSPECTIVE

Corporate Entrepreneurship, Strategy

Competitive Advantages of the Beira Interior (Portugal): A TOWS Approach

The formulation of a competitive strategy implies an extended understanding, in terms of the industrial structures, of the mains fields where the nations compete and those structures evolve. The environmental conditions of a region, and of its industries, determine both the generic strategies, and the alternative strategies, which are already implemented. One of the instruments for strategic analysis, which combines external variables and internal variables, is the TOWS Matrix. This instrument allows the analysis of the present strategies, and the relationship between the variables, and also the presentation of proposals for alternative strategies, in order to identify or to reinforce the competitive advantages of the unit of analysis. Considering as unit of analysis the region of Beira Interior (Portugal), this article aims to provide a TOWS Matrix application. Several strategic alternatives for the region are, also, presented, taking into consideration the opportunities and the forces, previously, detected, in order to assure the transition for the ideal strategic quadrant. Finally, the conclusions and the guidelines for future research are presented.Strategy, TOWS Matrix, Entrepreneurship, Innovation.

The closet non-Gaussianity of anisotropic Gaussian fluctuations

In this paper we explore the connection between anisotropic Gaussian fluctuations and isotropic non-Gaussian fluctuations. We first set up a large angle framework for characterizing non-Gaussian fluctuations: large angle non-Gaussian spectra. We then consider anisotropic Gaussian fluctuations in two different situations. Firstly we look at anisotropic space-times and propose a prescription for superimposed Gaussian fluctuations; we argue against accidental symmetry in the fluctuations and that therefore the fluctuations should be anisotropic. We show how these fluctuations display previously known non-Gaussian effects both in the angular power spectrum and in non-Gaussian spectra. Secondly we consider the anisotropic Grischuk-Zel'dovich effect. We construct a flat space time with anisotropic, non-trivial topology and show how Gaussian fluctuations in such a space-time look non-Gaussian. In particular we show how non-Gaussian spectra may probe superhorizon anisotropy

MODELLING TOURISM DEMAND: A COMPARATIVE STUDY BETWEEN ARTIFICIAL NEURAL NETWORKS AND THE BOX-JENKINS METHODOLOGY

This study seeks to investigate and highlight the usefulness of the Artificial Neural Networks (ANN) methodology as an alternative to the Box-Jenkins methodology in analysing tourism demand. To this end, each of the above-mentioned methodologies is centred on the treatment, analysis and modelling of the tourism time series: “Nights Spent in Hotel Accommodation per Month”, recorded in the period from January 1987 to December 2006, since this is one of the variables that best expresses effective demand. The study was undertaken for the North and Centre regions of Portugal. The results showed that the model produced by using the ANN methodology presented satisfactory statistical and adjustment qualities, suggesting that it is suitable for modelling and forecasting the reference series, when compared with the model produced by using the Box?Jenkins methodology.Artificial Neural Networks; ARIMA Models; Time Series Forecasting

Generalized CP Invariance and the Yukawa sector of Two-Higgs Models

We analyze generalized CP symmetries of two-Higgs doublet models, extending them from the scalar to the fermion sector of the theory. We show that, with a single exception, those symmetries imply massless fermions. The single model which accommodates a fermionic mass spectrum compatible with experimental data possesses a remarkable feature. It displays a new type of spontaneous CP violation, which occurs not in the scalar sector responsible for the symmetry breaking mechanism but, rather, in the fermion sector.Comment: RevTex, 4 pages, no figures Version2: Remarkable additional conclusion => title & text changes; section adde

MDAI: Model based design in automobile industry

It is proposed a new approach based on a methodology, assisted by a tool, to create new products in the automobile industry based on previous defined processes and experiences inspired on a set of best practices or principles: it is based on high-level models or specifications; it is component-based architecture centric; it is based on generative programming techniques. This approach follows in essence the MDA (Model Driven Architecture) philosophy with some specific characteristics. We propose a repository that keeps related information, such as models, applications, design information, generated artifacts and even information concerning the development process itself (e.g., generation steps, tests and integration milestones). Generically, this methodology receives the users' requirements to a new product (e.g., functional, non-functional, product specification) as its main inputs and produces a set of artifacts (e.g., design parts, process validation output) as its main output, that will be integrated in the engineer design tool (e.g. CAD system) facilitating the work

Die surface designer system

This paper defines Die Surface Designer (DSD) System for fast draw die in the product development feasibility phase on surfaces coming from styling. We propose a CAD integration, for better support the design process in industry, particularly on the development of new products in automotive sector. The DSD system intends to reduce the lead time by providing and integrating flexible and efficient capabilities for testing early concepts from surface analysis points of view in automotive product development

Corporate Entrepreneurship: A Strategic and Structural Perspective

Researchers have found that a firm\u27s external environment plays a profound role in influencing corporate entrepreneurship

Humor and the framing of the public sphere and public opinion in Portugal (1797-1834)

In his Answer to the Question: What is Enlightenment (1784), Kant puts forward his belief that the vocation to think freely, which humankind is endowed with, is bound to make sure that “the public use of reason” will at last act “even on the fundamental principles of government and the state [will] find it agreeable to treat man – who is now more than a machine – in accord with his dignity”. The critical reference to La Mettrie (1747), by opposing the machine to human dignity, will echo, in the dawn of the 20th century, in Bergson’s attempt to explain humor. Besides being exclusive to humans, humor is also a social phenomenon. Freud (1905) assures that pleasure originated by humor is collective, it results from a “social process”: jokes need an audience, a “third party”, in order to work and have fun. Assuming humor as a social and cultural phenomenon, this paper intends to sustain that it played a role in the framing of the public sphere and of public opinion in Portugal during the transition from Absolute Monarchy to Liberalism. The search for the conditions which made possible the critical exercise of sociability is at the root of the creation of the public sphere in the sense developed by Habermas (1962), whose perspective, however, has been questioned by those who point 2 out the alleged idealism of the concept – as opposed, for example, to Bakhtin (1970), whose work stresses diversity and pluralism. This notwithstanding, the concept of public sphere is crucial to the building of public opinion, which is, in turn, indissoluble from the principle of publicity, as demonstrated by Bobbio (1985). This paper discusses the historical evolution of the concept of public opinion from Ancient Greece doxa, through Machiavelli’s “humors” (1532), the origin of the expression in Montaigne (1580) and the contributions of Hobbes (1651), Locke (1690), Swift (1729), Rousseau (1762) or Hume (1777), up to the reflection of Lippman (1922) and Bourdieu’s critique (1984). It maintains that humor, as it appears in Portuguese printed periodicals from 1797 (when Almocreve de Petas was published for the first time) to the end of the civil war (1834) – especially in those edited by José Daniel Rodrigues da Costa but also in O Piolho Viajante, by António Manuel Policarpo da Silva, or in the ones written by José Agostinho de Macedo, as well as in a political “elite minded” periodical such as Correio Braziliense –, contributed to the framing of the public sphere and of public opinion in Portugal.FLAD - Fundação Luso-Americana para o Desenvolviment