Organizational factors and customers' motivation effect on insurance companies' performance

This study associates organizational factors and customers' motivation with insurance companies' performance. Research model, according to resource-based view, considers the effects of age, size, and type of products. Sample comprises 202 insurance companies in Portuguese and Spanish markets between 2005 and 2007—before international financial crisis—and those companies' performance data between 2010 and 2012. Factor analysis and structural equation modeling methodology are tools for analysis. Results show that customers' necessities and confidence strongly affect organizational factors that, in turn, affect insurance companies' performance. Insurance companies' type of products and period also affect performance. This study provides important contributions to literature and practice.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

The effect of corporate governance on the financial structure of listed firms

The purpose of this study is to analyse the influence of corporate governance on the financial structure of listed firms. The analysis is founded on the capital structure and agency theories. Corporate governance literature indicates the existence of nonlinear relationships, and hence this research applies multiple linear regression to a sample of 100 firms listed on the London Stock Exchange, corresponding to a 3-year period. The results confirm the influence of corporate governance on the financial structure of listed firms, and in particular, the nonlinear effect of the percentage of executive members of the board.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

The effect of intrapreneurship on corporate performance

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to study the influence of intrapreneurship on the performance of companies. Design/methodology/approach – The study develops and tests a theoretical model where the intrapreneurship is supported on the factors innovation, risk/uncertainty, risk/challenges, competitive energy, proactivity and autonomy, and the performance on the factors financial performance, growth and improvement and on the variable productivity. Based on a questionnaire, data from a sample of 217 medium-sized Portuguese companies were obtained. The study used the confirmatory analysis method based on structural equation modeling (SEM). Findings – The intrapreneurship has a multidimensional structure. This model proves its influence on the growth and improvement and the importance and explanatory power of this latent variable. Research limitations/implications – The techniques used to verify the effect of firm size and the age periods has not been sufficiently explored and the direct effect of latent variables of intrapreneurship on performance was not assessed. This work contributes to the theory highlighting the importance of factors in intrapreneurship and the influence of the context in the model. Practical implications – It was verified that the intrapreneurship has obvious effects on the measures of qualitative performance – growth and improvement. This is helpful for researchers looking for appropriate performance measures and for intrapreneurs aiming to get support for their decisions and evaluate their performance. Originality/value – This study considers the separation of the propensity for risk in two latent variables and includes the autonomy to characterize intrapreneurship and demonstrates the importance of qualitative measures of performance perceived in the perspective of medium and long term.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Green shipping effect on sustainable economy and environmental performance

This paper focuses on green shipping and its’ influence on the sustainable economy and environmental performance. Based on the green shipping approach, this empirical study examines a survey sample of 193 responses from Portuguese and Spanish executive managers and uses exploratory factor analysis and structural equation model. The Green shipping approach supports the green theory. The results show the importance of green efficiency, green management, and pollution impact. The confirmation of the sizeable influence of green shipping on the sustainable economy and environmental performance constructs constitutes a major contribution to the literature. Green management and green efficiency contribute to controlling the impact of pollution with practical effects on economic sustainability. Another contribution arises from the fact that tax and financial incentives and environmental sustainability regulations indicate the relevance of the pollution impact and sustainable economy.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Global mindset and SME internationalization: A fuzzy-set QCA approach

This study uses fuzzy-set qualitative comparative analysis (fsQCA) to analyze how individual global mindset (IGM) and corporate global mindset (CGM) relate to SMEs' internationalization behavior. The sample consists of 51 Portuguese SMEs from two sectors: (1) metallurgy and metalworking, and (2) construction and public works. Different combinations of IGM and CGM attributes lead to internationalization effect, international networking activities, and international know-howactivities. Sector characteristics determinewhich configurations of GM attributes affect internationalization behavior. The use of fsQCA to explore how alternative combinations of IGM and CGM attributes lead to internationalization behavior constitutes an important contribution to the literature.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Entrepreneurial attributes for success in the small hotel sector: a fuzzy-set QCA approach

By examining small hotels in Spain, this research contributes to understanding how human capital, social capital, and contingency factors interact to build a success model based on high hotel occupancy rates, profit, and profit per employee. Human capital theory, social capital theory, and multilevel theory provide the theoretical basis for this research. The study used fuzzy-set qualitative comparative analysis applied to a sample of 51 small Spanish hotels. The results reveal the existence of different configurations that lead to the desired performance outcomes. Each configuration combines two or three causal conditions. The results also reflect the difficulties that small hotels may face in reconciling different performance objectives. This paper thus provides solutions for managers, who must make strategic decisions based on existing conditions both inside and outside their organisations. The findings discussed herein can thus help small hotels better define their performance objectives by considering their individual characteristics. The findings can also help new small hotel entrepreneurs better understand the conditions required for success in this highly competitive market.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Global mindset and the internationalization of small firms: The importance of the characteristics of entrepreneurs

Despite being a relatively new concept, the importance of the global mindset is already well-documented. So far research has primarily focused on multinational companies and therefore the operationalization of the concept is still a work in progress. Recognizing the importance of entrepreneurs in small companies, yet mindful of the gaps that exist, this paper addresses the factors that constitute the global mindset and their influence on the internationalization of small Portuguese companies. Using information-processing theory through a quantitative, surveybased study and Structural Equation Modeling (SEM), the results show the importance of the characteristics of both entrepreneurs and firms in explaining the global mindset, and confirm the impact they have on internationalization behavior. The entrepreneur’s level of education, their satisfaction with company performance in the domestic market and the potential for growth in the domestic market all affect the global mindset model. The conclusions are useful for entrepreneurs and national authorities aiming to successfully implement internationalization practices, given the role of the global mindset in exploring global business opportunities and in the global success of companies. Replication of the research in different contexts is essential for the wider generalization of the results.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Corporate governance and dividend policy in the presence of controlling shareholders

Based on agency theory, we focused on the influence of corporate governance in the dividend policy of large listed firms with headquarters in continental Europe countries. Previous research focused on the influence of corporate governance on the performance and risk of listed firms, but the influence of corporate governance on the dividend policy has rarely been addressed despite the importance of dividends for shareholders and the implications on the free cash-flow, whose application may be a source of conflicts between managers and shareholders. In this paper, we study the influence of a set of governance mechanisms on the dividend policy over 12 years (2002 to 2013). The results, based on a panel data analysis, support the importance of governance mechanisms toward the protection of shareholders’ interests, and reveal that the decisions on whether to pay dividends and how much to pay are grounded on di erent antecedents.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

The influence of corporate governance on bank risk during a financial crisis

Using agency theory, we explore the relationship between corporate governance mechanisms and bank risk. We employ panel data analysis to study the 97 largest European listed banks between 2006 and 2010, thereby covering the most recent international financial crisis. The results show that corporate governance mechanisms influence bank risk. During the financial crisis, different governance mechanisms can minimise or accentuate the agency conflict between shareholders and managers. In our model, bank size and G.D.P. per capita also exert a considerable influence.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Corporate governance and performance in the largest european listed banks during the financial crisis

This research focuses on the relationship between corporate governance and performance in the largest European listed banks, which have been studied to a lesser extent within this field. The study is based on agency theory and we use a sample of 404 observations referring to 97 banks selected from the annual ranking of the 2,000 biggest companies in the world prepared by Forbes. The paper covers the period from 2006 to 2010, thus, examining the changes in the performance drivers in the recent financial crisis. On the basis of the panel data analysis, we confirm that the variety of governance factors including board size, insider appointed, directors’ age, board meetings and affiliated committees influence the performance of the banks. This paper contributes to a better understanding of the effect of corporate governance on the financial performance of the financial companies in times of high capital market volatility.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio