An overview of three decades of mergers and acquisitions research

Mergers and acquisitions (M&A) have long attracted managers’ attention and have been researched in different perspectives and using different theories. In this study we grasp the wealth of extant research in the field of M&As. We conducted a bibliometric study of 635 articles on strategic management and international business research published in 34 highly ranked management journals between 1983 and 2012. We performed citation, co-citation and factor analyses to uncover the issues examined by scholars, the main theoretical approaches and themes researched. The results show a relative shift from economic and financial approaches to knowledge-based and organizational learning perspectives in recent years. There was also an evolution from assessing the performance of firms after an M&A to seeking an understanding of what may drive synergy creation after the integration process. Furthermore we observed an increasing interest in cross-border M&As. We discuss our findings, identifying gaps and suggesting paths for future research.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Gender-Informing Aid for Trade: Entry Points and Initial Lessons Learned from the World Bank

The effects of policy interventions on women are of increasing concern to policy makers in all fields, and trade is no exception. This note reviews recent World Bank projects and studies that "gender inform" trade-related interventions, and it uses the Bank's experience to promote gender-equal opportunities by highlighting entry points at which trade projects, studies, and policies can effectively address gender issues.aid-for-trade, trade, gender, women, gender-inform, world bank, developing countries, trade facilitation, value chain, labor market

Trade and the Competitiveness Agenda

The global economic crisis has forced a major rethinking of the respective roles of governments and markets in the processes of trade and growth. Indeed, industrial policy seems to be back in fashion—or, at least, talking about it is. But a renewed “activism” by government in the trade and growth agenda need not mean a return to old-style policies of import substitution and “picking winners.” Instead, it may mean a stronger focus on competitiveness by unlocking the constraints to private sector–led growth. This note discusses the renewed role of government in trade and growth policy from the competitiveness angle, and it suggests some priorities for the new competitiveness agenda.trade, competitiveness, financial crisis, growth, industrial policy, import substitution, picking winners, trade policy, exports, imports

As relações inter-regionais em Portugal e o "efeito-capitalidade"

Inter-regional relations in Portugal and the influence of the Lisbon metropolitan region. In this paper, we address the issue of territorial interdependencies in the case of Portugal. Given the lack of previous scientific work on inter-regional exchanges, the topic is approached from a broad perspective, by referring to the development synergies that can be found between the various regions. In particular, we discuss the specific relations that arise both from proximity and from regional similarities. Using data at the NUTS III level, we argue that, beyond the consolidation of a specific mode of development in the Lisbon metropolitan region,a sustainable articulation between demography and economy can hardly be found anywhere in the country. We conclude that the complex nature of inter-regional relations in Portugal calls for further methodological work

O drama europeu : é possível regressar aos fundamentos?

O artigo analisa a noção e processo de integração europeia desde a sua fase “reconstrutiva e construtiva”, integradora e inclusiva até aos efeitos das condicionalidades regressivas e que têm vindo a desconstruir o edifício europeu. O autor parte da arquitetura institucional adotada pela UE na construção do espaço económico e monetário e questiona a sua viabilidade sem o acompanhamento de outros instrumentos de integração como o orçamento, a fiscalidade ou a proteção social e a interferência dos Estados-membros mais poderosos. Analisa o modelo de integração desejável, por comparação ao modelo vigente, em que o primado do económico se sobrepõe a outras prioridades do foro político, social e até cultural evoluindo da coordenação de políticas económicas para a adoção de uma moeda única. Reflete sobre as consequências desagregadoras do desenho institucional da UE, sobre os efeitos do financiamento das economias independentemente da ação reguladora e limitadora do Estado, da excessiva liberalização dos mercados, da deslocalização produtiva no plano mundial e do distanciamento da economia em relação à sociedade

Ensino Superior e as Empresas: a perspectiva da CCRC

As relações entre o ensino superior e as empresas são, em geral, apreciadas num quadro relativamente simplista, dicotómico e normativo. Usa-se a imagem da "aproximação" querendo com isso significar sobretudo que o ensino superior tem de (deve) aproximar-se do mundo empresarial, abandonando uma posição supostamente longínqua e dirigindo-se para um lugar onde já deveria estar há muito. Do mesmo modo, a ideia de aproximação, ao mesmo tempo que é apenas um movimento de "deslocação" de uma das partes (o ensino superior), traz também consigo a convicção de que as empresas são o mundo onde está a prática, o concreto, o modo certo e moderno de fazer as coisas. As empresas representariam a norma a que o ensino superior se deverá adaptar

Technological Learning and Innovation: Climbing a Tall Ladder

As the global stock of ideas expands and diffuses across and within countries, technological learning is poised to become an even more important determinant of growth through its impact on innovation. This note reviews global trends that make a policy focus on technological learning and innovation more important than ever for developing countries. The note explores how the recent global financial crisis may affect these trends and outlines several implications of these trends for innovation policy moving forward. Developing countries would benefit from an increased policy emphasis on technological learning and the adoption of more efficient existing technologies to generate more and better jobs and higher standards of living.technology, learning, skills, training, innovation, knowledge transfer, growth, developing countires, financial crisis, jobs

A urdimenta de penélope

PENELOPE’S LOOM. In this text we discuss the challenges, foundations and perplexities an urbanist encounters in his/her commitment to build an urban praxis in the context of the enlarged city. First we take a look at urban management: its actions, tools and functional incoherencies, guiding reflection towards the ethical underpinnings of an urban planner’s actions. In the second part we examine the systemic identity of urban space and encourage a re-evaluation of the basic factors that build the legibility patterns of this identity – particularly the limits, dynamics and tensions – in the search of a link to an urbanistic praxis that is at once perceptive and operative

Slaves Who Owned Slaves in Nineteenth-Century Bahia, Brazil

It was not uncommon in Brazil for slaves to own slaves. Slaves as masters of slaves existed in many slave societies and societies with slaves, but considering modern, chattel slavery in the Americas, Brazil seems to have been a special case where this phenomenon thrived, especially in nineteenth-century urban Bahia. The investigation is based on more than five hundred cases of enslaved slaveowners registered in ecclesiastical and manumission records in the provincial capital city of Salvador. The paper discusses the positive legal basis and common law rights that made possible this peculiar form of slave ownership. The paper relates slave ownership by slaves with the direction and volume of the slave trade, the specific contours of urban slavery, access by slaves to slave trade networks, and slave/master relations. It also discusses the web of convivial relations that involved the slaves of slaves, focusing on the ethnic and gender profiles of the enslaved master and their slaves