Selling consultancy services: the Portuguese case in historical and comparative perspective

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Directions in scenario planning literature - A review of the past decades

This paper provides a systematized overview of patterns in the scenario planning literature published in the last decades. Recently, scenario planning has enjoyed a revival, apparent in the 'boom' in published research on the matter. Consequently, a major issue that needs to be addressed is how to organize the literature along precise lines. A number of reviews that describe the current status of the body of literature and knowledge on scenario planning have made attempts to respond to such requirements. These studies agree that systematizing the existing literature is a necessary step in developing the field. This paper aims to contribute to this purpose. The review of the academic literature here conducted is thought to be useful for both academics and practitioners. For researchers, this systematic overview will be constructive not only in providing an analysis of the directions of published research but also in setting up a research agenda for the future. For managers and practitioners, it provides a clear outline of firm-related articles and discusses their contribution from a managerial point of view. It also raises awareness with regard to future analytical methods, and in particular, to scenario planning and its potential contribution to the competitiveness of firms. The research was carried out under the research Project Enterprise of the Future of the University of Aveiro. © 2009 Elsevier Ltd.Instituto de Investigação from University of Aveiro for the Project Enterprise of the Futur

Do foreign and domestic firms behave any different during economic slowdowns?

The global crisis has called to further reflection on the role of multinationals in host economies during crisis. The evidence on this matter is scarce and no definite conclusions were achieved. Using panel data analysis, this paper examines the link between foreign ownership, firm employment and turnover growth over 20 years and during economic downturns in particular. We analyse the determinants of firm employment and turnover growth and investigate whether there are significant differences in both variables among domestic and foreign firms when controlling for firm and industry specificities. Additionally we assess if the foreignness effect alters during economic downturns. After controlling for several firm and industry characteristics, we find no significant differences between domestic and foreign firms in what concerns employment growth. However, our results suggest that foreign ownership may affect positively firms' sales turnover growth during recessions

The use of public support on internationalization activities, firms competencies and internationalization requirements

In particularly in times of budget constraints governments should analyze in detail all aspects related to the implementation of their public support to enterprises. With an Heckman selection model and data collected through a survey to Portuguese firms, we test which variables may affect awareness and use of the public support to internationalization. The results show that firms’ competencies positively affect awareness and negatively affect use of public support. Otherwise, the requirements of internationalization positively affect both the awareness and the use of public support

Firm exit during economic slowdowns: does foreign ownership matter?

Do multinationals’ activities contribute to the severity of global economic crisis by quickly closing down facilities or otherwise allow to mitigating some of the worst effects, by remaining rooted in the local economy and thus reducing lay-offs and output contraction in the host countries? The present paper provides an empirical analysis on the link between foreign ownership and firm survival over an almost 20-year period and during two economic downturns in particular, using an extensive firm-level database and applying hazard models. We analyse the determinants of exit of firms and investigate whether there are significant differences in the hazard rates of foreign and domestic firms when controlling for firm and industry specificities. Additionally we assess whether the foreignness effect alters during economic downturns and whether any spillovers arise from the multinationals’ presence in the industry. After controlling for several firm and industry specific characteristics, we find that foreign firms exhibit higher failure rates over the time period as a whole. However, during economic slowdowns domestic and foreign firms do not exhibit different chances of survival and exit. Finally, regarding potential spillovers, our results suggest that foreign presence may impact positively upon local firms’ survival

R&D, structural change and productivity: the role of high and medium-high technology industries

This paper investigates the potential impact of increased R&D efforts and structural change in Portugal on labour productivity. Based on existing literature on the relation between R&D expenditures, structural change and productivity, we evaluate the contribution of R&D and hightech industries to productivity over the last 30 years. Our results confirm the importance of business R&D in the medium to high-tech sectors and of public R&D, as they stimulate productivity growth. However, we cannot support the hypothosis that productivity growth was primarily rooted in the development of medium-high technology industries.Este artigo investiga o potencial impacto do aumento de I&D e de mudanças estruturais na produtividade do trabalho em Portugal. Com base na literatura sobre a relação entre despesas em I&D, mudança estrutural e produtividade, avaliamos a contribuição da I&D e das indústrias de alta tecnologia neste cenário durante os últimos 30 anos. Os resultados obtidos confirmam a importância dos investimentos em I&D das empresas de indústrias de alta e média-alta tecnologia e I&D público no crescimento da produtividade. Não obstante, não podemos afirmar que este fenômeno tenha como esteio principal o crescente relevo destas indústrias

Why the manufacturing firms in developing countries can be competitive? The evidence of China

Based on the data of more than 95,000 Chinese manufacturing firms, this study explores the reasons for the recent surge of manufacturing exports from China. Contrary to common belief, neither unit labor cost nor Research and Development (R&D) investment has been a contributing factor to the export success of Chinese firms, even in hightechnology sectors. Although exportation of high-technology products has traditionally been dominated by foreign manufacturing firms, domestic firms have invested more heavily in R&D than their foreign counterparts. However, the major contributors to the increase in Chinese exports are product innovation, collaboration with foreign investors, and fierce domestic competition

The transition of Chinese S&T institutes since 1980s: policy, performance and implication

In 1985 China began its reform on the Science & Technology (S&T) sector which was inherited from a planned economy. The reform over the past 20 years is deemed to be a decisive factor in China’s science and technology progress. The paper first argues that two fundamental tasks of China’s S&T sector reform are to enhance scientific productivity and strengthen the industry-academic relationships. Subsequently, the reform policies are outlined within three categories: 1) reforming the funding system, 2) improving R&D management 3) strengthening industry-academic relationships. The evolution of S&T institutes such as the Chinese Academy of Science is examined to provide micro-level evidence of policy impacts. The scientific output of China’s S&T sector did achieve the remarkable improvement in the reform period, but we also observe the rapidly growing investment from the governments flew into the sector. The evaluation of the performance of the reform needs to examine the scientific productivity of the sector. Therefore, we proceed to measure the scientific productivity of China’s S&T institutes based on the R&D input and output data in the aggregate and provincial level. The Polynomial Distributed Lag model is utilized to uncover the structure of the lag between R&D input and output. The findings based on the aggregate data and provincial data confirm that the scientific productivity of China’s S&T institutes has been decreasing since 1990s. These results call for the future actions that can contribute to enhancing the scientific productivity of China’s S&T institutes

How to promote interdisciplinary R&D in the academia: the case of the “House of the Future”

While empirical research does indeed suggest that collaborative R&D has many desirable outcomes, it is also clear that collaborative work is difficult and expensive. The challenge becomes increasingly sharp as complex and expensive research questions require a large pool of resources and a combination of specialized disciplines. As a result, different organizations get involved in interdisciplinary projects to expand the frontiers of knowledge. This paper analyzes the strategy and methodological approaches used to mobilize interdisciplinary R&D within a universityindustry network named ‘House of the Future’. We discuss the implications of our research for R&D networks design

Innovation cooperation networks: case of a multisectoral and interdisciplinary partnership

Network cooperation processes gained special interest in the new knowledge economy as they provide better conditions to innovation and knowledge creation and diffusion. Although the importance of this strategic tool has been increasingly recognized, individualistic behaviour tends to prevail within small and medium-sized firms and many of them continue to exhibit an attitude of resistance when dealing with collaborative experiences. This paper has two main goals. First, it explores how networks can promote innovation and help overcome the difficulties inherent in cooperation processes. Second, it illustrates an innovative approach to network cooperation in a multisectoral and inter-disciplinary environment, presenting the experience of the “House of the Future” network in Aveiro, Portugal