The impact of knowledge transfer on innovation in multinational corporations: exploring the contingent effects

A Work Project, presented as part of the requirements for the Award of a Masters Degree in Management from the NOVA – School of Business and EconomicsThis direct research explores the contingencies of the relation between knowledge transfer and new product outcomes in Multinational companies. Indeed, in a MNC context, “the conditions under which such knowledge transfer can serve to induce positive outcomes remain unclear.”(Lee, 2008, p 1) After a deep literature review of knowledge transfer and new product outcomes literature, an exploratory study was conducted to understand which factors can influence the impact of knowledge transfer in new product outcomes, with the purpose to give insights about the way to approach a further study. We propose the following three internal contingencies: network strength, absorptive capacity, customer orientation and an external one: technological turbulence, through a semi structured interview guide conducted with 12 top managers. Globally, the exploratory study has provided confirmation for the variables proposed

Co-creating european minors

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Alice no País da Contabilidade: a Aventura de Duas Historiadoras Econômicas em Registros Contábeis do Século XIX

This article aims to share our experience of working with São Paulo's municipal budgets published during the 19th century and discuss the difficulties of using this kind of source to analyze the municipal public finance from a historical perspective. The budget laws published draw the researcher's attention because they are abundant and relatively easy to work with, providing a huge documentary set that may be used as a means for studies in the fields of economic history, political history, and cultural history within the imperial period. These laws are printed, therefore, readable, and easily accessible through the digital web portal Acervo Histórico da Assembleia Legislativa do Estado de São Paulo Historical Collection of the São Paulo State Legislative Assembly]. They detail the origins and destinations of public resources, municipality by municipality, allowing the researcher to reconstruct the financial life of municipalities, identifying changes in time and space of the fortunes of the 19th-century São Paulo state communities. However, may we really trust these budgets? Conversations and collaborations between two researchers showed that these accessible, readable, and abundant sources are not as appropriate as they seem at first glance. This article reports our troubled and even contradictory journey into the world of municipal public accounting, in order to detail our findings and provide a warning on these sources. A comparative methodology between budget laws and handwritten balance sheets was used at time intervals of 1, 2, and 3 years, in search of correlations and adjustment patterns between budgeted and spent amounts of money. Our experience has shown that budget laws do not have much in common with the actual financial experience of municipalities within the imperial period, therefore, they are not the most appropriate sources to know the financial daily life in the 19th-century São Paulo state villages.Este artigo tem por objetivo compartilhar nossa experiência de trabalho com os orçamentos municipais paulistas publicados durante o século XIX e discutir as dificuldades de se usar esse tipo de fonte para analisar as finanças públicas municipais em perspectiva histórica. As leis orçamentárias publicadas atraem a atenção do pesquisador por ser abundantes e relativamente fáceis de trabalhar, constituindo um amplo conjunto documental que pode ser utilizado como subsídio para estudos nas áreas de história econômica, história política e história cultural no período imperial. Essas leis são impressas e, portanto, legíveis, e de fácil acesso pelo portal digital do Acervo Histórico da Assembleia Legislativa do Estado de São Paulo. Elas detalham as origens e destinos de recursos públicos, município por município, permitindo ao pesquisador reconstituir a vida financeira das municipalidades, identificando mudanças no tempo e no espaço das fortunas das comunidades paulistas oitocentistas. Entretanto, será que realmente podemos confiar nesses orçamentos? Conversas e colaborações entre duas pesquisadoras mostraram que essas fontes acessíveis, legíveis e abundantes não são tão adequadas como parecem à primeira vista. Este artigo relata nossa viagem conturbada e até contraditória pelo mundo da contabilidade pública municipal, a fim de detalhar nossos descobrimentos e fazer uma advertência sobre essas fontes. Foi utilizada uma metodologia comparativa entre leis orçamentárias e balanços manuscritos com intervalos temporais de 1, 2 e 3 anos, em busca de correlações e padrões de ajustamento entre montantes orçados e efetivados. A nossa experiência mostrou que as leis orçamentárias não têm muito em comum com a real experiência financeira dos municípios no período imperial, não sendo, portanto, as fontes mais adequadas para conhecer o cotidiano financeiro das vilas paulistas oitocentistas

What teachers think about the function of the expository class for meaningful learning

Professores são convidados a introduzir uma aula expositiva numa sequência didática planejada. Os professores tiveram bastante dificuldade para localizar a atividade dentro do que concebiam sobre ensino e aprendizagem significativa. Diante da tarefa proposta, procuraram sistematizar os conteúdos anteriormente desenvolvidos na sala de aula, atribuindo novo sentido à estratégia, sem abandonar a importância de ouvir o aluno e de articular adequadamente os conceitos. A aula expositiva de cada um foi ressignificada, aparecendo com posição definida na sequência pedagógica e com conteúdo significativo em relação ao nível de conhecimento do aprendiz. A conclusão fundamental foi que, mesmo sem ser explícito, era possível haver diálogo entre os saberes do professor e dos alunos, o que parece ter ocorrido também com os professores enquanto aprendizes no programa de formação.Teachers from a professional development program were invited to introduce expository classes (lectures) inside a pedagogical sequence they had planned. Classes were analyzed with criteria seeking to situate them within constructivist conceptions of teaching practice. The teachers had considerable difficulties in locating the activity into what they understood as teaching and meaningful learning. Facing the task proposed, they sought to make a systematization of contexts previously developed in the classroom, attributing new meaning to the strategy without abandoning the importance of listening to the learner and adequately articulating concepts. The expository class was given a new meaning, appearing with a defined position in a pedagogical sequence and a meaningful content in relation to the apprentice's level of knowledge. The most fundamental conclusion was that, even if not explicitly, it is possible to have dialogue between the teacher's and students' knowledge. This seems to have also occurred with the teachers themselves while learners in the teacher education program

Les différentes perceptions des chaînes de télévision internationales en périodes de conflit : critiques croisées de CNN, Fox News et Al-Jazeera véhiculées sur Internet

Notre recherche porte sur la réception et la perception par des internautes québécois, européens, américains et arabes des images de guerre diffusées par CNN, Fox News et AI-Jazeera. Nous nous sommes intéressée à deux événements de la guerre en Irak: le cas des prisonniers irakiens torturés par les Américains dans la prison d'Abu Ghraib et la bataille de Falloujah pendant laquelle des mercenaires américains ont été tués et suspendus sur un pont devant les caméras du monde entier. Le but de notre recherche est de comprendre et d'analyser comment les internautes-récepteurs perçoivent ces images et de quelle manière ils expriment leur opinion sur Internet. Pour ce faire, nous nous sommes appuyée sur les théories de la réception active développées par Stuart Hall, René-Jean Ravault et Tzvetan Todorov. Notre étude est une analyse qualitative des discours d'un nombre limité d'internautes afin de définir des grandes pistes de décodage Elle ne se veut donc pas représentative de l'ensemble des perceptions disponibles sur Internet. Nous avons défini trois hypothèses de recherche dont deux ont été amplement illustrées. Nous avons mis en évidence que la culture des internautes joue un rôle déterminant dans leur perception des produits communicationnels véhiculés par les trois chaînes, même si d'autres variables doivent être prises en compte. Nous avons observé ensuite, dans les discours de nos internautes, l'apparition de courants de pensée qui s'opposent à l'idéologie des chaînes de télévision internationales. Enfin, nous avons constaté que la télévision n'a qu'une faible influence sur Internet. Nous avons conclu qu'en livrant leurs opinions, les internautes occultent leur propre rôle de récepteurs actifs et l'impact qu'ils peuvent avoir sur les usagers d'Internet qui, comme eux, sont critiques et disposés à recevoir la critique. De plus, le récepteur est fort actif dans son travail d'interprétation et de lecteur critique. En effet, sur Internet, le récepteur compare les sources entre elles et compare sa culture aux discours des médias. Les internautes-récepteurs cherchent, décident et agissent en fonction de leurs projets d'actions qui sont souvent reliés à leur culture d'appartenance et d'interprétation. ______________________________________________________________________________ MOTS-CLÉS DE L’AUTEUR : Réception active, Analyse qualitative, Influence, Internet

Testing the Coulomb/Accessible Surface Area solvent model for protein stability, ligand binding, and protein design

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Protein structure prediction and computational protein design require efficient yet sufficiently accurate descriptions of aqueous solvent. We continue to evaluate the performance of the Coulomb/Accessible Surface Area (CASA) implicit solvent model, in combination with the Charmm19 molecular mechanics force field. We test a set of model parameters optimized earlier, and we also carry out a new optimization in this work, using as a target a set of experimental stability changes for single point mutations of various proteins and peptides. The optimization procedure is general, and could be used with other force fields. The computation of stability changes requires a model for the unfolded state of the protein. In our approach, this state is represented by tripeptide structures of the sequence Ala-X-Ala for each amino acid type X. We followed an iterative optimization scheme which, at each cycle, optimizes the solvation parameters and a set of tripeptide structures for the unfolded state. This protocol uses a set of 140 experimental stability mutations and a large set of tripeptide conformations to find the best tripeptide structures and solvation parameters.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>Using the optimized parameters, we obtain a mean unsigned error of 2.28 kcal/mol for the stability mutations. The performance of the CASA model is assessed by two further applications: (i) calculation of protein-ligand binding affinities and (ii) computational protein design. For these two applications, the previous parameters and the ones optimized here give a similar performance. For ligand binding, we obtain reasonable agreement with a set of 55 experimental mutation data, with a mean unsigned error of 1.76 kcal/mol with the new parameters and 1.47 kcal/mol with the earlier ones. We show that the optimized CASA model is not inferior to the Generalized Born/Surface Area (GB/SA) model for the prediction of these binding affinities. Likewise, the new parameters perform well for the design of 8 SH3 domain proteins where an average of 32.8% sequence identity relative to the native sequences was achieved. Further, it was shown that the computed sequences have the character of naturally-occuring homologues of the native sequences.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>Overall, the two CASA variants explored here perform very well for a wide variety of applications. Both variants provide an efficient solvent treatment for the computational engineering of ligands and proteins.</p

The role of university environment in promoting entrepreneurial behavior: evidence from heterogeneous regions in Brazil

Purpose – The purpose of this study is to evaluate the microfoundations of student entrepreneurship, a cornerstone of innovation ecosystems. To this end, this paper assesses how perceived university support for entrepreneurship influences entrepreneurial characteristics and intentions in students enrolled at Amazonas and S~ao Paulo State Universities. Design/methodology/approach – A quantitative approach based on multivariate data analysis using confirmatory factor analysis and structural equation modeling was applied to a sample of 420 respondents. Findings – Results indicate that the university environment positively influences entrepreneurial behavior and intention in students. Nonetheless, further integration between academia and external dimensions of the ecosystems is necessary to drive more intense entrepreneurial activity in students. The educational contexts of Amazonas and São Paulo present significant differences in the relationship between entrepreneurial characteristics and entrepreneurial intention with a stronger influence found for Amazonas. This finding suggests a relative lack of propensity of students from São Paulo to engage in entrepreneurial venturing. Research limitations/implications – The main limitations involve the use of non-probabilistic sampling procedures and students’ heterogeneity in terms of academic seniority. Practical implications – This research offers guidance for policies targeting the generation of entrepreneurial activity in universities embedded in developing countries’ innovation ecosystems and facing distinct levels of socioeconomic development. Originality/value – This research presents a novel analysis of the microfoundations driving student entrepreneurship within different educational contexts in a developing country. Results highlight the necessary conditions for universities to foster entrepreneurial activity and, incidentally, feed innovation ecosystems with entrepreneurial talent

Online transition of an international minor in physiotherapy in acute care

Introduction: To meet the global health ongoing needs, physiotherapists should have competences to intervene in conditions and contexts throughout the life cycle of their clients/patients. Educating physiotherapy students in the knowledge and skills required to operate in an acute care setting both expands and improves their entry level capabilities as well as prepares them to intervene with patients regarding the COVID-19 pandemic. Alcoitão School of Health Sciences, Portugal and the Hanze University of Applied Sciences, the Netherlands took the initiative to develop an International Minor Physiotherapy Course in Acute Care, in order to address the ongoing demand in this specific environment, using the opportunities given by the ERASMUS+, namely student and teachers mobility programs. Methodology: The content was developed using the international descriptors of competences of the Physiotherapist in Acute Care. Pedagogical and assessment strategies were chosen to reflect the competencies to be achieved, with a strong focus on active learning. This Minor as taught entirely online using asynchronous and synchronous strategies. Results: At the end of the Minor edition, students answered anonymous online questionnaire on the organizational and pedagogical aspects. The data revealed a very favourable opinion regarding the contents discussed (more than 80% strongly agree), pedagogical approaches used, such as online activities (more than 90% agree/strongly agree), teacher support (88% agree/strongly agree). Students were satisfied with Minor's adaptation to the pandemic context, allowing them to obtain the necessary skills to work in this context. Conclusions: Based on the positive responses from the students, we consider the implementation to be successful. The next steps are to integrate hybrid learning methodologies and broaden the participation of students and professors from other international institutions. Promoting skills and knowledge needed to work in acute care meets the growing need for professionals capable of working in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic.N/