Innovation and sustainability in the social economy : a case study of organizational change of a social Portuguese organization

In Europe, the Social Economy is responsible for about 10% of the European business sector, with a share of about 6% in total employment (about 11 million people), revealing an industry that will be called to give a greater contribution to the current problems of unemployment and social cohesion in Europe due to the ongoing social and economic transformation. However, research on the phenomena of the Social Economy still lacks in many respects, concerning, for example, its role in the development of local, regional and national competitiveness. There is a lack of methodologies, tools and indicators appropriate to the social economy. This could be caused by the complexity and diversity of the organizations, on one hand, which is a barrier to their comparability, and on the other hand, to its late and recent recognition on the production of public services. Changes on public policies, the economic and financial crisis, the spread of unemployment and poverty, brings to the light the importance of these organizations, which are ceasing to be residual in economic terms, and are becoming, alongside the State and the Market, a mainstay of the economy. This article is a case study of a Social Economic Organization, where we will examine, in the light of the literature on strategic management, and innovation, its organizational change, which was critical to ensure its survival. Through this case study we intend to increase the understanding and the knowledge on the main motivations, barriers and facilitating factors leading to the improvement of the quality of the services, and the efficiency of the management of the Social Economy Organizations, which contribute to its competitiveness and sustainability. The case study highlights a number of best practices in the design of structured innovation processes, which were supported by the Portuguese Program Q3‐Qualifying the Third Sector, which may help similar organizations to improve their innovation and organizational processes, which are essential to increase their competitiveness and sustainability.Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia, PEst- OE/EME/UI0252/201

Innovation practices in a non-profit portuguese organization

This article is a case study of a Social Economic Organization, where we will examine, in the light of the literature on strategic management, and innovation, its organizational change, which was critical to ensure its survival. Through this case study we intend to increase the understanding and the knowledge on the main motivations, barriers and facilitating factors leading to the improvement of the quality of the services, and the efficiency of the management of the Social Economy Organizations, which contribute to its competitiveness and sustainability. The case study highlights a number of best practices in the design of structured innovation processes, which were supported by the Portuguese Program Q3-Qualifying the Third Sector, which may help similar organizations to improve their innovation and organizational processes, which are essential to increase their competitiveness and sustainability.Fundação para a Ciência e Tecnologia, PEst- OE/EME/UI0252/201

A case study of the links between strategy, innovation and internationalization in Portuguese SMEs

Strategy formulation, innovation and internationalization, have strong relationships of mutual interdependence, and are widely referred to as decisive factors for the sustainable growth of SMEs. In this article we aim to study these relationships and their effects on business competitiveness, filling a gap in terms of the knowledge concerning these interactions, which is diffuse or inconclusive. Failure rates related to strategy, innovation and internationalization are high, with correspondingly high costs for companies, and we postulate that they are linked to aspects of implementation. As companies enter or consider each one of these dimensions of the business, they will incur in increasing costs if there is a poor implementation of strategy, innovation and internationalization. However, despite their importance, many SMEs do not have structured processes of strategy, innovation and internationalization. This may be particularly true in micro, entrepreneurial enterprises, which are the subject of this study. The determination of the causes and determinants, as well as the tools that companies use in designing their processes of formulation and implementation of strategy, innovation and internationalization, are extremely important in order to identify the factors and determinants that have major impacts on business performance, and explain how these effects occur or act. The importance of this issue is increasing, namely at the European level, because the market in each country is generally too small to allow the return on the investment made in developing a new product, so internationalization comes as a natural path to follow, once the innovation process is properly consolidated, based on a coherent, visionary and sustainable strategy. Many new firms initiate their activity with an explicit eye on internationalization and products designed for foreign markets should be prepared to compete at a global scale, supported by a clear differentiation strategy. This article is a case study of fifteen Portuguese micro enterprises (less than ten employees). The share of micro enterprises in the total business sector in Portugal is approximately 95,59%. Entrepreneurship has been encouraged by several policies, and new firms, with new approaches and skills, have surged. Our sample includes new firms and firms that were created several years ago, and spans several sectors of activity. We will examine, in the light of the main literature about the issue and in a critical way, the strategy, innovation and internationalization processes of these firms, and interpret them under the assumption that implementation aspects are critical to their performance and hence to their survival in a hypercompetitive global industry. The results of the study provide the ground for the proposal of a diagnostic assessment tool, which aims at performing an enquiry into the firm’s existing methodologies and practices related to strategy, innovation and internationalization, and thus allowing a more rigorous and systematic interpretation of the interactions of those processes. The diagnostic tool provides the basis for the proposal of adequate approaches that the firm can implement to better coordinate those processes. This assessment tool may be applicable to more mature SMEs as well, helping organizations improving their strategy processes

Evaluation and adoption of university technologies by the enterprises

The relationships between university and industry have become increasingly important. On the one hand, investment in new technologies, as a response to the rapid and constant changes in the competitive environment, is vital to firms, and on the other hand, the universities have been call upon to have a more intervening stance in the enterprise context, reinforcing their so-called “third mission” in terms of a direct intervention in the economic circuit. Policy directives have led to an almost generalized adoption of specific measures by the part of the higher education sector, including the implementation of organizational structures that deal with technology transfer (technology transfer offices, science parks and start-up incubators near the university premises’), the implementation or reinforcement of new regulatory structures concerning intellectual property (the possibility to protect research findings by university staff through the patent mechanism) and stimulus for greater interaction with society at large (alterations in the requirements for career progression). In this work we propose to look at the perspective of the enterprise, and explore the motives, the mechanisms, and the practice of firms that interact with universities. We privilege an integrated view of the phenomenon, focusing on the process of evaluation and adoption of technologies generated in the universities, and licensed or acquired by firms. Research on this theme is scattered and difficult to integrate, or to extract definite conclusions from it. The main research questions are: what are the main benefits, barriers and outputs perceived by firms in their interaction with universities? what are the main tools, methodologies, criteria, and relative weights with which firm evaluate their investment in new technologies? The research was based on a quantitative approach and on an intentional non-probabilistic sampling strategy. The sample includes thirty three Portuguese firms, from different sectors. The selection criteria was based on the innovative performance of the firm, and on the concomitant presumption that innovative activities are well structured inside the firm. The sample includes micro, small, medium and large firms. A proportion of the sample includes conglomerates, and in fact, the sample represents approximately one hundred and twenty two firms. A quantitative structured questionnaire was the main instrument of data collection, but some interviews with selected firms were also realized, in order to substantiate or consolidate some of the data that was obtained through the questionnaire. In this paper we present the preliminary results of the analysis of that data. One of the main results was the realization that the criteria, tools and methodologies that are adopted by firms are not uniform throughout the process of evaluation and adoption of the technologies. It depends on the stage of the process. Accordingly, we propose a division of the process in specified stages and we identify which criteria, tools and methodologies firms’ values most at each one.Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologi

Strategy, innovation and internationalization in SMEs: the implementation issue

Innovation and internationalization, along with strategy formulation, due to their relationship of mutual interdependence, are widely referred to as decisive factors for the sustainable growth of SMEs. In this article we aim to study the relationships between strategy, innovation and internationalization and its effects on business competitiveness, filling a gap in terms of the knowledge concerning these interactions, which is diffuse or inconclusive. Failure rates related to strategy, innovation and internationalization are high, with correspondingly high costs for companies, and we postulate that they are linked to aspects of implementation. As companies enter or consider each one of these dimensions of the business, they will incur in increasing costs if there is a poor implementation of strategy, innovation and internationalization. However, despite their importance, many SMEs do not have structured processes of strategy, innovation and internationalization. This may be particularly true in micro, entrepreneurial enterprises, which are the subject of this study. The determination of the causes and determinants, as well as the tools that companies use in designing their processes of formulation and implementation of strategy, innovation and internationalization, are extremely important in order to identify the factors and determinants that have major impacts on business performance, and explain how these effects occur or act. The importance of this issue is increasing, namely at the European level, because the market in each country is generally too small to allow the return on the investment made in developing a new product, so internationalization comes as a natural path to follow, once the innovation process is properly consolidated, based on a coherent, visionary and sustainable strategy. Many new firms initiate their activity with an explicit eye on internationalization and products designed for foreign markets should be prepared to compete at a global scale, supported by a clear differentiation strategy. This article is a case study of fifteen Portuguese micro enterprises (less than ten employees). The share of micro enterprises in the total business sector in Portugal is approximately 95,59%. Entrepreneurship has been encouraged by several policies, and new firms, with new approaches and skills, have surged. Our sample includes new firms and firms that were created several years ago, and spans several sectors of activity. We will examine, in the light of the main literature about the issue and in a critical way, the strategy, innovation and internationalization processes of these firms, and interpret them under the assumption that implementation aspects are critical to their performance and hence to their survival in a hyper competitive global industry. The results of the study provide the ground for the proposal of a diagnostic assessment tool, which aims at performing an enquiry into the firm’s existing methodologies and practices related to strategy, innovation and internationalization, and thus allowing a more rigorous and systematic interpretation of the interactions of those processes. The diagnostic tool provides the basis for the proposal of adequate tools that the can be implement to better coordinate those processes. This assessment tool may be applicable to more mature SMEs as well, helping organizations improving their strategy processes.Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia, PEst-OE/EME/UI0252/201

Quality assessment of systematic reviews regarding dental implant placement on diabetic patients : an overview of systematic reviews

Since implant placement on diabetic patients still is a controversial topic and systematic reviews are at the top of scientific evidence hierarchy, a thorough assessment of the methodological quality of these reviews must be performed to inform clinicians if their conclusions and recommendations can be followed on clinical practice. An overview of systematic reviews was performed with the purpose to assess the methodological quality of systematic reviews regarding dental implant placement on diabetic patients. In addition, we presented a synthesis of clinical outcomes about the focused theme. An online search was performed on MEDLINE via PubMed, EMBASE, DARE-Cochrane, Scopus, Web of Science, LILACS, and SIGLE via Open Grey. Searches were conducted from database inception to May 2018. Systematic review articles with or without meta-analysis about the placement of dental implants on diabetic patients were included. Exclusion criteria were: articles whose primary outcome was not the survival/success rate of dental implants on diabetic patients; studies that do not relate the survival/success rate of dental implants with diabetes; duplicated papers. Methodological quality assessment was performed with AMSTAR. A descriptive synthesis of clinical outcomes was performed. We identified 1.661 initial hits and eight articles were selected for overview (kappa=0.83; strong agreement). Six studies presented moderate methodological quality and two showed high methodological quality. Implant survival rate ranged from 31.8% to 100% and data from four meta-analysis showed that diabetes does not affect implant survival rate. On the other hand, data from two meta-analysis for marginal bone loss showed that diabetes statistically affects this outcome. Two of the eight included studies presented high methodological quality and their meta-analysis showed that implant placement on diabetic patients does not affect implant survival rate and statistically affects marginal bone loss. However, clinicians must be aware that marginal bone loss values were not clinically relevant and may not be safe to follow the conclusions and recommendations of these studies

Avaliação e adopção de tecnologias das universidades pelas empresas

Dissertação de mestrado em Engenharia Industrial (área de Especialização em Avaliação e Gestão de Projetos e da Inovação)O investimento em novas tecnologias revela-se um fator de capital importância na obtenção de vantagens competitivas das empresas. No entanto, as práticas de avaliação de tecnologias utilizadas são deficientes ou até mesmo inexistentes, e podem comprometer a sua continuidade. Com o objetivo de conhecer as práticas empresariais de avaliação de investimentos em tecnologias e o processo de cooperação UE, empreendemos este estudo norteados por várias interrogações, entre as quais destacamos: quais são as principais ferramentas, metodologias, critérios e ponderação relativa com que as empresas avaliam o seu investimento em novas tecnologias; quais são os principais fatores que influenciam a adoção de tecnologias; quais são os principais outputs da transferência de tecnologia. Apoiados num survey e em investigação documentada, elaborámos um questionário que se socorreu, em termos de conceção e elaboração, da identificação de conceitos chave na literatura e que teve por finalidade recolher informação acerca do processo de cooperação UE e dos processos de avaliação, adoção e transferência de tecnologia. Os resultados do questionário revelam, entre outros, que a metodologia de avaliação mais utilizada pelas empresas nos estágios iniciais de desenvolvimento das tecnologias é a experiência do decisor, sendo o mercado a dimensão mais importante da avaliação nestas fases. Nas etapas seguintes, assumem preponderância a dimensão financeira e a componente da análise financeira respetivamente. A definição de prazo e custos de um investimento é o fator que mais frequentemente influencia a decisão de adoção de tecnologia e o mais frequente output da transferência de tecnologia é o desenvolvimento do produto ou serviço. O estudo realizado deu origem a um modelo de cooperação UE e a um modelo scoring de avaliação de tecnologias.The investment in new technologies proves to be a higher factor of importance in achieving competitive advantages of companies. However, firms’ evaluation practices are often deficient or even non - existent and may lead them to a difficult situation. In order to meet business practices for evaluating investments in technology and the process of cooperation UE as a whole, we undertook this study guided for several questions, namely: What are the main techniques, tools, most important criteria and their relative importance that companies use to evaluate technology arising from the universities and their relative importance, which are the main factors influencing the adoption of technologies and which are the main outputs of the technology transfer. Supported in a survey, we developed a questionnaire, that helped us, in terms of conception and development, identifying key concepts in literature, which aimed to collect information about the process of cooperation between the UE and the processes of evaluation, adoption and technology transfer. The survey results reveal, among other things, that the evaluation methodology used by most companies in the early stages of technology development is the decision maker's experience, and the market is the most important factor of evaluation in these phases. In the following steps, the financial attributes and the financial analysis are, respectively, the main importants factors. The definition of the term and costs of an investment is the factor that most often influences the decision of technology adoption and the most common output of technology transfer is the development of the product or service. Outcomes of this research are a proposal for a model of cooperation between the UE and a scoring model proposal for evaluating technologie

Uma análise crítica e comparativa de experiências de ensino do empreendedorismo baseadas na abordagem de aprendizagem por projeto

Este artigo debruça-se sobre a aplicação da abordagem de aprendizagem por projeto no ensino do empreendedorismo ou da formação empresarial em cursos de engenharia. A literatura sobre o tema é ainda escassa e persiste um debate que se tem mostrado inconclusivo sobre determinadas questões fundamentais. Neste projeto de investigação estudaram-se diversas experiências educacionais que permitem tirar ilações sobre a abordagem da aprendizagem baseada em projeto utilizada em 6 unidades curriculares de diferentes cursos de engenharia da Universidade do Minho. O período de análise compreende os últimos 10 anos, remontando a 2006 quando estas experiências foram iniciadas. A estratégia de pesquisa foi essencialmente qualitativa, de natureza descritiva e exploratória, tendo-se seguido uma metodologia iminentemente etnográfica. O artigo descreve e explora a utilização desta abordagem educacional no ensino universitário e na área da gestão empresarial ou do empreendedorismo através de um conjunto de casos que se traduzem numa diversidade de situações muito interessante. É feita uma breve descrição de cada experiência, referindo particularmente o seu contexto e a sua evolução, assim como os resultados diretos e indiretos que lhe estão subjacentes. É importante compreender a motivação que esteve na origem da implementação e na adoção da abordagem da aprendizagem baseada em projetos, as dificuldades encontradas e as alterações realizadas.Fundação para a Ciência e Tecnologia, PEst- OE/EME/UI0252/2011Algoritmi (PEst2015-2020) UID/CEC/00319/201