Should I stay or should I go?: a managerial toolbox for the 21st century SMEs

The rise of new technologies reshaped the way firms face new challenges. Consequently, companies in small open economies, namely SMEs, are more susceptible to environmental changes, therefore they must develop new ways to adapt to the continuous transformations that characterize the business environment. This way, expanding to other geographies is the optimal solution to the generation of new business and adaptation of the existing ones. When internationalizing, firms face the decision of how to enter new markets, and sometimes managers lack the acknowledgment of which advantages and drawbacks are at stake. Consequently, this paper aims to present a systematized toolbox that will guide decision-makers, when developing their internationalization strategies.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Augmented Reality Trends to the Field of Business and Economics: A Review of 20 years of Research

Augmented Reality (AR) is emerging as a technology that is reshaping the current society, especially the fields of Business and Economics (B&E). Therefore, the scientific studies produced on AR call for an interdisciplinary systematic review of the knowledge generated to structure an organized framework. Three main questions are addressed: How has the production of AR scientific knowledge evolved? What user-related aspects does AR affect? Also, which set of subtopics is associated with each motivation to develop an AR solution? The content of 328 papers produced between 1997 and 2016 in the field of AR is analyzed, unveiling 58 coding categories. There are 13 digital media characteristics that assume instrumental roles in addressing four major motivations to develop AR solutions. Technological topics dominate the research focus over behavioral ones. The investigations on AR in mobile displays show the highest increase. This research identifies the main scientific topics that have led researchers' agenda. Consequently, they contributed to develop and to adopt AR solutions and to forecast its future application in the organizations' strategiesinfo:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

The Evolution of Azuma’s Augmented Reality– An Overview of 20 Years of Research

Augmented Reality (AR) is no longer just a gimmick. 50 years after the development of the first head-mounted display, and approaching the 20th anniversary of the first conference dedicated to AR, it is time for a new review on the theme. As such, we present a bibliometric analysis of scientific literature since 1997, using as database the Web of Science. This allowed identifying the most relevant authors, their distribution by subjects, the evolution of publishing by year and the most frequent publications.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

I see myself, therefore I purchase: factors influencing consumer attitudes towards m-commerce AR apps

Mobile commerce (m-commerce) is starting to represent a significant share of e-commerce. The use of Augmented Reality (AR) by brands to convey information about their products - within the store and mainly as mobile apps – makes it possible for researchers and managers to understand consumer reactions. Although attitudes towards AR have been studied, the overall effect of distinct aspects such as the influence of others, the imagery, projection and perceived presence, has not been tackled as far as we know. Therefore, we conducted a study on 218 undergraduate students, using a pre-test post-test experimental design to address the following questions: (1) Do AR media characteristics affect consumer attitudes towards the medium in a mobile shopping context? Also, (2) Do the opinion and physical presence of people influence the attitude towards an m-commerce AR app? It found that AR characteristics such as projection and imagery positively influence attitudes towards m-commerce AR apps, whereas social variables did not have any influence.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Export performance : the case of the exports of cork stoppers from Portugal to emergent economies

Export performance has always been a non-consensual topic in the field of International Business, despite being one of the most researched areas. This dissertation starts aiming at understanding the influence of internal factors to the firm, export market characteristics and export marketing strategy in the export venture of a firm. After presenting a literature review, it was explained the research questions, and a conceptual framework was presented. This dissertation’s methodology has been that of a case study, where exports of cork stoppers from Portugal to emergent economies were studied. The results support the contention that commitment with export activity, contribution of firm’s resources to the success of the venture, international business knowledge, export market characteristics, and export venture marketing strategy adaptation (influenced by the factors previously mentioned) are key factors to a successful export venture performance. Then theoretical and managerial findings are discussed and directions for further research are given

The influence of internal and external variables in the export performance

Focusing on export performance and having as a starting point the resource- based view (RBV) and contingency theories, this paper intends to study the effect of both internal and external factors to a firm in the export venture performance. As methodology, a qualitative study was developed – case study – using semi- structured interviews to two managers and one director of marketing and communication of one of the largest cork stoppers manufacturing firm in Portugal. The major findings of this paper are that both internal and external factors have impact in both export marketing strategy adaptation and export venture performance. The more developed the internal resources are, the better is the export venture performance and export marketing adaptation. A better knowledge of external factors has the previously mentioned impact. Also, export marketing strategy adaptation has a positive influence on export venture performance. This research provides a better comprehension of the phenomenon of export performance in a strict research setting (a firm form a small open economy and, only one product). To have a better export performance, managers should invest in their internal resources (such as market and international business knowledge). This paper contributes to extant knowledge of the export performance, in the way that it sheds a light on export performance in small open economies, namely the factors which contributes to a better performance of a firm (within the research setting defined).info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Mortality and pulmonary complications in patients undergoing surgery with perioperative SARS-CoV-2 infection: an international cohort study

Background: The impact of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) on postoperative recovery needs to be understood to inform clinical decision making during and after the COVID-19 pandemic. This study reports 30-day mortality and pulmonary complication rates in patients with perioperative SARS-CoV-2 infection. Methods: This international, multicentre, cohort study at 235 hospitals in 24 countries included all patients undergoing surgery who had SARS-CoV-2 infection confirmed within 7 days before or 30 days after surgery. The primary outcome measure was 30-day postoperative mortality and was assessed in all enrolled patients. The main secondary outcome measure was pulmonary complications, defined as pneumonia, acute respiratory distress syndrome, or unexpected postoperative ventilation. Findings: This analysis includes 1128 patients who had surgery between Jan 1 and March 31, 2020, of whom 835 (74·0%) had emergency surgery and 280 (24·8%) had elective surgery. SARS-CoV-2 infection was confirmed preoperatively in 294 (26·1%) patients. 30-day mortality was 23·8% (268 of 1128). Pulmonary complications occurred in 577 (51·2%) of 1128 patients; 30-day mortality in these patients was 38·0% (219 of 577), accounting for 81·7% (219 of 268) of all deaths. In adjusted analyses, 30-day mortality was associated with male sex (odds ratio 1·75 [95% CI 1·28–2·40], p\textless0·0001), age 70 years or older versus younger than 70 years (2·30 [1·65–3·22], p\textless0·0001), American Society of Anesthesiologists grades 3–5 versus grades 1–2 (2·35 [1·57–3·53], p\textless0·0001), malignant versus benign or obstetric diagnosis (1·55 [1·01–2·39], p=0·046), emergency versus elective surgery (1·67 [1·06–2·63], p=0·026), and major versus minor surgery (1·52 [1·01–2·31], p=0·047). Interpretation: Postoperative pulmonary complications occur in half of patients with perioperative SARS-CoV-2 infection and are associated with high mortality. Thresholds for surgery during the COVID-19 pandemic should be higher than during normal practice, particularly in men aged 70 years and older. Consideration should be given for postponing non-urgent procedures and promoting non-operative treatment to delay or avoid the need for surgery. Funding: National Institute for Health Research (NIHR), Association of Coloproctology of Great Britain and Ireland, Bowel and Cancer Research, Bowel Disease Research Foundation, Association of Upper Gastrointestinal Surgeons, British Association of Surgical Oncology, British Gynaecological Cancer Society, European Society of Coloproctology, NIHR Academy, Sarcoma UK, Vascular Society for Great Britain and Ireland, and Yorkshire Cancer Research

I see myself, therefore I purchase: factors influencing consumer attitudes towards m-commerce AR apps

Mobile commerce (m-commerce) is starting to represent a significant share of e-commerce. The use of Augmented Reality (AR) by brands to convey information about their products - within the store and mainly as mobile apps – makes it possible for researchers and managers to understand consumer reactions. Although attitudes towards AR have been studied, the overall effect of distinct aspects such as the influence of others, the imagery, projection and perceived presence, has not been tackled as far as we know. Therefore, we conducted a study on 218 undergraduate students, using a pre-test post-test experimental design to address the following questions: (1) Do AR media characteristics affect consumer attitudes towards the medium in a mobile shopping context? Also, (2) Do the opinion and physical presence of people influence the attitude towards an m-commerce AR app? It found that AR characteristics such as projection and imagery positively influence attitudes towards m-commerce AR apps, whereas social variables did not have any influence.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio