Three decades of strategic management research on M&As: Citations, co-citations, and topics

Merger and acquisitions (M&As) strategies have been growingly deployed by firms for their domestic and international expansion, to redefine their business scope or take advantage of emerging opportunities. In this paper we conduct a bibliometric study of the extant strategy research on M&As, assessed by the articles published in the main journal for strategic management studies over the period 1984-2010. Results reveal the highest impact works (articles and books), the intellectual ties among authors and theories that form five main clusters of research, and the topics delved into. Performance effects, M&As as diversification strategies and RBV and capabilities-based topics have dominated the extant research. The study contributes to the extant knowledge on M&As by taking stock of the accumulated knowledge and research direction, complementing other literature reviews with a strategic management specific perspective. Thus, we provide a rear view of the field which facilitates detecting untapped gaps that may be munificent avenues for future research.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Piloting VAKE (Values and Knowledge Education) in the Education for Practice of Nurses.

Imagine the following situation: You are a nurse for elderly people, going to the homes of your patients. A female patient tells you on our first visit after hospital discharge following a hip fracture surgery that she does not want to be at home, because she is not well enough to be alone and she needs therapy with oxygen in permanent basis until she recovers from a respiratory temporary infection situa¬tion. This kind of situations is the starting point for an educational sequence that ad-dresses both values (here: life, human dignity, respect, loneliness) and knowledge (different medical treatments, legal rules, etc.). The example shows how intensely interrelated the values and the facts are. Based on this example we introduce the constructivist didactical tool VaKE (Values and Knowledge Education) that permits to combine both issues, and present a pilot study using this method in the education of nurses.Tempus/LLAF; VAKEinfo:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Schumpeter’s (1934) influence on entrepreneurship (and management) research

Entrepreneurship research has flourished since de 1980s, following the institutional development that created schools and courses, research centers and dedicated journals. This paper examines the impact of Joseph Schumpeter, one of the main “knowledge producers” whose concepts and ideas on the entrepreneur, entrepreneurship and innovation have shaped the discipline and much of the research on entrepreneurship, and has influenced the thought on other areas of management. Methodologically, we conducted a bibliometric study of the articles published in 16 high stature international journals, over a period of 30 years, between 1981 and 2010. On a sample of 412 articles citing Schumpeter, we analyzed and mapped citations, co-citations and research themes. We further establish distinctions between entrepreneurship and management research. This study presents a manner to examine the influence of a scholar, and a set of conceptualizations he has introduced, on a discipline. Schumpeter has had an imprint in the multidisciplinary and wealth of research themes that entrepreneurship scholars have delved upon but also in other management disciplines, where his perspectives on entrepreneurship, the entrepreneur and innovation have contributed to much of the research conducted to date. Although entrepreneurship has remained largely multidisciplinary and drawing from the main management theories there is a growing body of entrepreneurship-specific literature.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Access to essential medicines in Timor-leste: availability, prices and affordability

O acesso a medicamentos essenciais a preços acessíveis de forma sustentável é um dos indicadores do cumprimento dos Objectivos de Desenvolvimento do Milénio e pode ser considerado como parte do direito universal à saúde. Tal como acontece com outros bens essenciais, o acesso aos medicamentos depende de múltiplos factores, como a sua disponibilidade, preços e capacidade de aquisição por parte da população. Na última década, foram efectuados mais de 50 estudos para avaliar esses factores, em países de baixos e médios rendimentos, utilizando uma metodologia desenvolvida pela Organização Mundial de Saúde e a organização Health Action International, numa tentativa de compreender as possíveis causas para o baixo acesso aos medicamentos. Os resultados destes estudos revelam uma baixa disponibilidade de medicamentos essenciais de um modo geral, sobretudo no sector público, e preços elevados, sobretudo no sector privado. O objectivo deste estudo foi descrever a disponibilidade, os preços e a capacidade de aquisição de medicamentos essenciais em Timor-Leste, com recurso à metodologia da OMS/HAI. Foram recolhidos dados sobre a disponibilidade e os preços de uma lista de medicamentos em hospitais, centros de saúde e farmácias comunitárias. Embora os resultados pareçam apontar para uma disponibilidade global razoável de medicamentos genéricos no sector público (59,2%), algumas substâncias activas e classes terapêuticas encontravam-se sistematicamente esgotadas em vários pontos do país. Nas unidades situadas em locais mais remotos, a disponibilidade de medicamentos chegava a descer para valores na ordem dos 47,5%. Verificou-se que a disponibilidade de medicamentos nas farmácias privadas era ainda mais baixa do que nos serviços públicos (38,0%). Os medicamentos são dispensados gratuitamente nos hospitais e centros de saúde, mas nas farmácias privadas chegam a ultrapassar 40 vezes os seus preços de referência internacionais, mesmo como genéricos. Consequentemente, estima-se por exemplo, que um funcionário público que utilize diclofenac para o tratamento crónico da artrose, tenha de trabalhar durante mais de 2 dias para pagar o seu tratamento mensal com o medicamento genérico, ou 12,5 dias, se for prescrito o medicamento de marca. Durante o estudo, foram detectados vários outros problemas que podem comprometer a qualidade e segurança dos medicamentos. Apesar das limitações inerentes a uma investigação deste tipo, foi possível concluir através do presente estudo que, ao contrário da tendência geral observada em países similares, o sector público de cuidados de saúde em Timor-Leste parece ter um melhor desempenho do que o privado. No entanto, as condições limitadas da maioria das unidades de saúde públicas pode forçar alguns doentes a recorrer ao sector privado, onde os preços pagos pelos tratamentos são inaceitavelmente elevados. A ausência de regulamentação do sector farmacêutico (e fiscalização insuficiente da existente) parece estar a contribuir para a estagnação do sector privado e a encorajar indirectamente a falta de transparência nas práticas farmacêuticas. Dada a escassez de estudos sobre este assunto em Timor-Leste, espera-se que o presente trabalho forneça evidências importantes que possam ser utilizadas em estudos subsequentes e como base a uma intervenção por parte das autoridades com o objectivo de melhorar a disponibilidade de medicamentos no sistema público e de encorajar o desenvolvimento do sector privado como alternativa viável, segura e de custo aceitável.Access to affordable essential medicines on a sustainable basis is one of the indicators of compliance with the Millennium Development Goals, and can be regarded as part of the human universal right to health. As with other basic commodities, access to medicines depends on multiple factors, like their availability, prices and affordability. Over the last decade, more than 50 surveys using a methodology developed by the World Health Organization and Health Action International have been carried out in low- and middle-income countries, to assess these parameters in an attempt to understand the causes underlying poor access to medicines. Findings typically reveal low availability of essential medicines, particularly in the public health system, and high prices, especially in the private forprofit sector. The objective of the present study was to describe the availability, prices and affordability of essential medicines in Timor-Leste using the WHO/HAI methodology. Data on the availability and prices of a drug tracer list was collected from a sample of hospitals, community health centres and private retail pharmacies. Although results seem to show a reasonable overall availability of generic medicines in the public sector (59.2%), some active substances and therapeutic classes were found to be consistently out of stock across the country. In facilities located in more remote areas, availability could be as low as 47.5%. Drug availability in private pharmacies was found to be even lower (38.0%). Medicines are dispensed free of charge in public health facilities, but in private pharmacies they were found to cost up to 40 times their international reference price, even as generics. As a result, it is estimated that a common government worker using diclofenac to treat chronic arthritis, for instance, would have to work 2.3 days to pay for his monthly treatment with the generic drug, or 12.5 days if the originator brand was prescribed. Other problems affecting medicines quality and safety were also detected throughout the study. Despite its limitations, the present study concluded that, contrarily to the general trend observed in similar countries, the public healthcare system in Timor-Leste seems to perform better than private. Nevertheless, the far from ideal conditions of most public health facilities can still push some patients to the private sector where costs of treatment are unacceptably high. The lack of regulation of the pharmaceutical sector (and inefficient monitoring/inspection of the existing one) seems to be contributing to the private sector’s stagnation and indirectly encouraging lack of transparency in pharmacy practice. Given the paucity of studies on the subject in Timor-Leste, it is hoped that the present work will provide an important evidence base for subsequent studies, and government intervention to better regulate the pharmaceutical sector, with the ultimate objective to improve the public drug supply, and encourage the growth of the private sector as a viable, affordable and safe alternative

Phase diagram of a 2D Ising model within a nonextensive approach

In this work we report Monte Carlo simulations of a 2D Ising model, in which the statistics of the Metropolis algorithm is replaced by the nonextensive one. We compute the magnetization and show that phase transitions are present for $q\neq 1$. A $q -$ phase diagram (critical temperature vs. the entropic parameter $q$) is built and exhibits some interesting features, such as phases which are governed by the value of the entropic index $q$. It is shown that such phases favors some energy levels of magnetization states. It is also showed that the contribution of the Tsallis cutoff is essential to the existence of phase transitions

Barrier for buildings: analysis of mechanical resistance requirements

AbstractBarriers (guardrails and balustrades) prevents people from falling, for example, from balcony, open windows and stairs. Barriers also retain, stop or guide person in buildings. To increase the transparency of these components, traditional materials such as bricks, wood and metal are being replaced by glass or an organic material, which has mechanical behavior different from traditional materials. Regulation usually specify some action to take into account in the design of barriers, but do not define the required resistance. There are no international standards (ISO or EN) to assess the fitness for use of barriers, only national standards, with different testing loading conditions and mechanical resistance requirements. In this paper is presented a comparison of requirements and experimental testing conditions specified in standards from Portugal, Spain, France, UK, USA and Brazil. The goal of this research is to find some equivalence between standards, regarding the mechanical resistance behavior of different materials (brittle/ductile materials) and set a worst case scenario as the basis for the guardrails mechanical resistance profile. Some relations between the service limits state (plasticity) of metal guardrails and maximum deflection are proposed

ObeOne 2.0: para além dos números numa abordagem mHealth para a obesidade

Obesity, frequently nicknamed as one of the pandemics of the century, is a disease that is currently over an alarming upward curve of his incidence. Even though obesity is usually associated with nutritional and physical problems, the psychological component has a very signi cant weight, either as a motivation factor, with psychological problems that result in eating disorders, or as a consequence, by self-esteem reduction and social integration problems. These multiple conditions directly related to obesity, are from the doctor point of view, accompanied by di erent medical specialties that aim to improve the patient condition at each of them. Given the rising impact of mobile technologies as support tools in di erent health situations, Mobile Health (mHealth) systems have been proposed to the obesity context. However, there are still diverse problems with most of the approaches that result in rapid user demotivation and, consequently, treatment failure. A big part of these problems is exacerbated by a strong performance quanti cation (e.g., gained 1 Kg) and inexistent or very poor medical-patient support. With these aspects in mind, this work is based on a user-centered iterative approach, so that, from previous work in a mHealth tool to obese patients, new strategies and functionalities are suggested that allow higher support to obese regarding the psychological component. In these terms, positive psychology and qualitative approaches are proposed every time there is a type of evaluation that has to be done. From this guiding principle, there was considered the integration from a device that allows patients to, e ortless, from the possible ailments, have a suggestion from the quantity that he shall ingest upon his meal. Regarding the medical-patient support, it was given to both parts the possibility of an association between, so that doctors can have more impact on the information that patients can see. In the opposite direction, with the goal of providing doctors the highest quantity of information possible about their patients, it is given to patients the possibility of automatically sharing information about their routine. The developed work allows now to support a more in-depth discussion about the impact and receptivity from the proposed approaches, either int the success of mHealth applications regarding obesity treatment, as the relevance and value that the medical-patient relationship can add to treatments by this via.Sistema eletrónico para pesquisa de marcadores fisiológicos da dor Obesity, frequently nicknamed as one of the pandemics of the century, is a disease that is currently over an alarming upward curve of his incidence. Even though obesity is usually associated with nutritional and physical problems, the psychological component has a very significant weight, either as a motivation factor, with psychological problems that result in eating disorders, or as a consequence, by self-esteem reduction and social integration problems. These multiple conditions directly related to obesity, are from the doctor point of view, accompanied by different medical specialties that aim to improve the patient condition at each of them. Given the rising impact of mobile technologies as support tools in different health situations, Mobile Health (mHealth) systems have been proposed to the obesity context. However, there are still diverse problems with most of the approaches that result in rapid user demotivation and, consequently, treatment failure. A big part of these problems is exacerbated by a strong performance quantification (e.g., gained 1 Kg) and inexistent or very poor medical-patient support. With these aspects in mind, this work is based on a user-centered iterative approach, so that, from previous work in a mHealth tool to obese patients, new strategies and functionalities are suggested that allow higher support to obese regarding the psychological component. In these terms, positive psychology and qualitative approaches are proposed every time there is a type of evaluation that has to be done. From this guiding principle, there was considered the integration from a device that allows patients to, effortless, from the possible ailments, have a suggestion from the quantity that he shall ingest upon his meal. Regarding the medical-patient support, it was given to both parts the possibility of an association between, so that doctors can have more impact on the information that patients can see. In the opposite direction, with the goal of providing doctors the highest quantity of information possible about their patients, it is given to patients the possibility of automatically sharing information about their routine. The developed work allows now to support a more in-depth discussion about the impact and receptivity from the proposed approaches, either int the success of mHealth applications regarding obesity treatment, as the relevance and value that the medical-patient relationship can add to treatments by this via.Mestrado em Engenharia de Computadores e Telemátic

Corporate ownership concentration drivers in a context dominated by private SME's

This paper aims to ascertain how company-specific factors influence the corporate ownership concentration of Portuguese firms. The paper employs several different regression techniques: Generalized Linear Model, Ordered Logit, 2 Stage Least Squares, Ordinary Least Squares, Truncated and Constrained regression. Additionally, to test the model's prediction power, it conducts an in and out-of-sample analysis and used joint-rolling window re- gressions and dependent variables intervals partition to test the robustness of the model under different sample restrictions. Firm size, profitability, the number of subsidiaries, and bank concentration are positive determinants of ownership concentration, while an opposite influence is found concerning auditor qualification and the board of directors' size. Significant implications are provided for the policymaking in countries where capital markets are underdeveloped, and concentrated ownership is common to help the regulator determining the power of controlling shareholders. This study enriches the literature on the determinants of corporate ownership, being the first study to approach non-public companies. It adds novelty by incorporating new company factors which are scarce in ownership studies.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Equity Valuation of Telepizza Group

The dissertation aims to value the pizza foodservice company Telepizza Group. The main objective is to suggest a fair value for the share in order to ultimately support a buy, hold or sell recommendation vis a vis the market value as per November 4th 2016. The dissertation first provides an introduction over the methods commonly used in equity valuation. Afterwards, the industry dynamics and new consumption trends are assessed. Additionally, the company and its business model are analysed in detail as well. The following step is valuation. A DCF approach was performed to value Telepizza which was complemented with a relative analysis. Both methods supported the same recommendation. Finally, a conclusion section summarizes what investors should take away from this dissertation. A one-page investment case is also provided where the reader may easily understand the view this dissertation supports on Telepizza share. This dissertation issues a BUY recommendation with a Fair Value of EUR4.93 per share, implying a 15% upside to the current market price of EUR4.30 per share. This recommendation is in line with BPI equity research team and the main differences between both valuations are assessed.The dissertation aims to value the pizza foodservice company Telepizza Group. The main objective is to suggest a fair value for the share in order to ultimately support a buy, hold or sell recommendation vis a vis the market value as per November 4th 2016. The dissertation first provides an introduction over the methods commonly used in equity valuation. Afterwards, the industry dynamics and new consumption trends are assessed. Additionally, the company and its business model are analysed in detail as well. The following step is valuation. A DCF approach was performed to value Telepizza which was complemented with a relative analysis. Both methods supported the same recommendation. Finally, a conclusion section summarizes what investors should take away from this dissertation. A one-page investment case is also provided where the reader may easily understand the view this dissertation supports on Telepizza share. This dissertation issues a BUY recommendation with a Fair Value of EUR4.93 per share, implying a 15% upside to the current market price of EUR4.30 per share. This recommendation is in line with BPI equity research team and the main differences between both valuations are assessed