SME Innovative Capacity, Competitive Advantage and Performance in a ‘Traditional’ Industrial Region of Portugal

This study aims to identify the factors that contribute to the building of a firm’s innovative capacity and to assess the way in which this contributes to our understanding of how much this contributes to improvements in the firm’s performance. A conceptual model is proposed consisting of five separate dimensions: the firm; the entrepreneur; the external business environment; the firm’s innovative capacity; and the firm’s performance. The study was based on questionnaire-based data from a sample of firms drawn from the manufacturing industry in the Beira Interior Region of Portugal. The results provided evidence regarding the factors influencing the innovative capacity of firms and permitted conclusions to be drawn regarding effects of superior innovative capacity on the construction of firms’ competitive advantage, which in turn contributes to improved performance.This study aims to identify the factors that contribute to the building of a firm’s innovative capacity and to assess the way in which this contributes to our understanding of how much this contributes to improvements in the firm’s performance. A conceptual model is proposed consisting of five separate dimensions: the firm; the entrepreneur; the external business environment; the firm’s innovative capacity; and the firm’s performance. The study was based on questionnaire-based data from a sample of firms drawn from the manufacturing industry in the Beira Interior Region of Portugal. The results provided evidence regarding the factors influencing the innovative capacity of firms and permitted conclusions to be drawn regarding effects of superior innovative capacity on the construction of firms’ competitive advantage, which in turn contributes to improved performance.This study aims to identify the factors that contribute to the building of a firm’s innovative capacity and to assess the way in which this contributes to our understanding of how much this contributes to improvements in the firm’s performance. A conceptual model is proposed consisting of five separate dimensions: the firm; the entrepreneur; the external business environment; the firm’s innovative capacity; and the firm’s performance. The study was based on questionnaire-based data from a sample of firms drawn from the manufacturing industry in the Beira Interior Region of Portugal. The results provided evidence regarding the factors influencing the innovative capacity of firms and permitted conclusions to be drawn regarding effects of superior innovative capacity on the construction of firms’ competitive advantage, which in turn contributes to improved performance

Organizational innovation : research into the information / training paths of decision-makers within hospitals

Innovation is fundamental for the development of any organization, being achieved not only through the new products/services and the renewed processes offered, but also through managerial practices. In order to introduce innovative practices, an organization should adopt a managerial model of innovation that includes organizational innovation processes based on professional competences, people manage­ment skills and their influence on the decision-making process. It is with this in mind that we propose a model that provides room for reflection on the reality of the health service organization. The model allows us to conclude that the path to be followed by these health units in the public health sector will be a long and arduous one if they are to achieve an efficient implementation of the innovation process at the knowledge level of professions, together with a real and effective organizational performance

Determinants of the innovation process: An empirical test for the Portuguese manufacturing industry

The aim of this paper is to analyze the determinants of the main phases of the innovation process in Portuguese manufacturing firms. The analysis will adopt as its main frame of reference an interactive model of the innovation process, on which empirical tests will be carried out, making use of tobit and probit models and simultaneous equation systems. It is broadly concluded that the relationships shown between the main variables that are typical of the innovation process in the context of Portuguese manufacturing firms are tenuous and unsystematicEl objetivo de este artículo es analizar los determinantes de las fases principales del proceso de la innovación en empresas manufactureras portuguesas. El análisis adoptará como referencia principal un modelo interactivo del proceso de la innovación, en el cual los ensayos empíricos serán realizados, haciendo uso de los modelos tobit y probit y sistemas de ecuaciones simultáneas. Se concluye genéricamente que las relaciones demostradas entre las variables principales que son típicas del proceso de la innovación, en el contexto de empresas industriales portuguesas, son tenues y poco sistemáticasinfo:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Networks in tourism planning: stakeholders’ perceptions of an astrotourism project

The present research aims to listen to a group of stakeholders and the different territorial visions, proposing the creation of a new cooperation model that simultaneously serves the needs of the Tua Valley region and the expectations of its actors and contributes to the success of the Tua Valley Regional Natural Park's Astrotourism Project. Eight representatives of regional organisations were interviewed to ascertain their vision of networks, their involvement in any similar cooperation system, ways these entities operate within them and networks' advantages and disadvantages. The interviewees were also asked about their potential contributions and predictions in relation to the creation of a new collaborative network in the surrounding inland region. The results reveal that most stakeholders are familiar with this organisational concept as they have already integrated similar models into their operations, and the interviewees outlined the associated advantages and difficulties. These stakeholders support the development of a new Tua Valley network, in which must rely on a culture of sharing and mutual trust to meet its members and the region's needs and reflect their specificities. The findings can be used to foster new synergies based on the quintuple helix model, serving as a starting point for further research on networks in tourism and contributing to the enrichment of the relevant existing literature.publishe

A melhoria dos processos de negócio e a sua aplicação nas empresas

Mestrado em Gestão de Inovação e do ConhecimentoNo mercado actual, global e virtual, em constante mudança, as organizações são confrontadas com o aumento da concorrência, da exigência de clientes e de funcionários, com a redução do ciclo de vida dos produtos e com as rápidas mudanças da tecnologia. Assim, precisam de se tornar mais eficazes, eficientes e flexíveis para sobreviverem e competirem. Para tal, têm que procurar, continuamente, a melhoria e a inovação, através da gestão da qualidade total, do just-in-time, da reengenharia, do benchmarking, da melhoria contínua e da monitorização do desempenho. O objectivo último das organizações é melhorar o funcionamento interno e alcançar a flexibilidade exigida pelas constantes mudanças e, assim, satisfazer as expectativas dos clientes. Desta forma, a melhoria contínua dos processos, é essencial, como instrumento da gestão moderna para atingir de forma sistemática e permanente, com base no cliente, a melhoria do desempenho da organização. Este trabalho teve início com o estudo teórico sobre temas, tais como os processos, a gestão dos processos e as metodologias da melhoria dos processos. Posteriormente, foi desenvolvido um caso de estudo para investigar como e porque é que as empresas portuguesas utilizam as metodologias de melhoria dos processos. Em suma, as organizações dão elevada importância à melhoria contínua dos processos de negócios. Pelo que, se destaca a gestão baseada nos processos e o funcionamento da metodologia de melhoria contínua com o objectivo de aumentar a eficácia, a eficiência e a competitividade da organização.In today’s permanently changing global and virtual market, organizations are facing increasing levels of competition, demanding customers and employees, shrinking product lifecycles and rapid technological changes. So as to survive and to remain competitive, organizations must become more effective, efficient and flexible. In order to do so, companies must pursue enhancement and innovation constantly, by means of the total quality management, just-in-time, reengineering, benchmarking, continuous improvement and performance measurement. Organizations’ ultimate goal is to achieve the levels of internal performance and flexibility requested by constant changes and to satisfy customers’ expectation. In this sense, continuous process improvement is essential as an instrument of modern management, for a systematic and permanent improvement of companies’ performance, based on customer focus. This work started with a theoretical study about themes, such as business process, process management and business process improvement methodologies. After this, a case study was developed in order to investigate how and why Portuguese enterprises are using process improvement methodologies. In summary, organizations give high importance to the business process continuous improvement. The study concludes that processbased management and continuous improvement methodology are means of increasing companies’ efficiency, effectiveness and competitiveness

O Business Angel Institucional e o mercado de capital de risco

Mestrado em Gestão e Estratégia IndustrialA dificuldade de acesso ao tipo de financiamento adequado, apresenta-se como um dos entraves ao desenvolvimento das empresas em fase emergente e inovadoras. A necessidade de financiamento via Capital Próprio advém das características específicas dessas empresas, nomeadamente, o inerente elevado risco económico e financeiro, acumulado com a exiguidade de bens corpóreos que garantam o financiamento, dificuldade esta tanto mais elevada, quanto maior o grau de radicalismo da inovação. O Capital de Risco surge, assim, como um recurso sucedâneo ao Capital Próprio subscrito pelo empreendedor. Sendo um instrumento híbrido, que assume a forma de uma participação de índole temporária e minoritária no capital de empresas com elevado potencial de crescimento, apresentase como um métier pela relação de parceria que se renova e circunscreve às especificidades de cada situação. No mercado do Capital de Risco identifica-se uma estrutura e um processo de evolução natural. Tal evolução leva ao incremento da importância do papel dos Business Angels como investidores em Seed e Start-Up Capital. Uma vez que o empreendedorismo tem consequências que extravasam a esfera do privado e porque em Portugal existe um gap no Equity Capital Market, faz todo o sentido uma atitude voluntarista dos agentes públicos em Portugal, na focalização de financiamentos Seed e Start-Up, através de uma intervenção o mais hands-on possível, promovendo parcerias, porque "their investing knowledge and operating experience were as valuable as their capital."The difficulty of access to the correct financing instrument is one of the most important barriers to the development of innovative emerging firms. The Equity Capital financing is strictly connected with their characteristics, as they stress high economic and financial risk cumulated with exiguity of material assets that unable these firms to guarantee properly the financing operation. This is so much true as higher is the levei of radicalism of the innovation. The Venture Capital is a true substitute to the Equity Capital raised by the entrepreneur by his own. Being a hybrid instrument, assuming the characteristics of a temporary and minor participation in the joint stock of companies with a high levei of potential growth, its well indicated for these situations, as it promotes partnership relations and circumscribe himself to the peculiarities of each case. In this thesis, a structure and an evolution process in the venture capital market is identified. In this context, the Business Angels have an increased role as investors in Seed and Start-Up Capital. Having the entrepreneurship efforts positive externalities that overflow the private welfare, and occurring a gap in the Portuguese Equity Capital Market, is needed a voluntarist attitude by the public sector authorities. These authorities have a prime role in the revitalisation of the Seed and Start-Up capital, developing a hands-on approach, because "their investing knowledge and operating experience were as valuable as their capital".info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Identification and characterisation of xylanolytic yeasts isolated from decaying wood and sugarcane bagasse in Brazil

In this study, yeasts associated with lignocellulosic materials in Brazil, including decaying wood and sugarcane bagasse, were isolated, and their ability to produce xylanolytic enzymes was investigated. A total of 358 yeast isolates were obtained, with 198 strains isolated from decaying wood and 160 strains isolated from decaying sugarcane bagasse samples. Seventy-five isolates possessed xylanase activity in solid medium and were identified as belonging to nine species: Candida intermedia, C. tropicalis, Meyerozyma guilliermondii, Scheffersomyces shehatae, Sugiyamaella smithiae, Cryptococcus diffluens, Cr. heveanensis, Cr. laurentii and Trichosporon mycotoxinivorans. Twenty-one isolates were further screened for total xylanase activity in liquid medium with xylan, and five xylanolytic yeasts were selected for further characterization, which included quantitative analysis of growth in xylan and xylose and xylanase and ß-d-xylosidase activities. The yeasts showing the highest growth rate and cell density in xylan, Cr. laurentii UFMG-HB-48, Su. smithiae UFMG-HM-80.1 and Sc. shehatae UFMG-HM-9.1a, were, simultaneously, those exhibiting higher xylanase activity. Xylan induced the highest level of (extracellular) xylanase activity in Cr. laurentii UFMG-HB-48 and the highest level of (intracellular, extracellular and membrane-associated) ß-d-xylosidase activity in Su. smithiae UFMG-HM-80.1. Also, significant ß-d-xylosidase levels were detected in xylan-induced cultures of Cr. laurentii UFMG-HB-48 and Sc. shehatae UFMG-HM-9.1a, mainly in extracellular and intracellular spaces, respectively. Under xylose induction, Cr. laurentii UFMG-HB-48 showed the highest intracellular ß-d-xylosidase activity among all the yeast tested. C. tropicalis UFMG-HB 93a showed its higher (intracellular) ß-d-xylosidase activity under xylose induction and higher at 30 °C than at 50 °C. This study revealed different xylanolytic abilities and strategies in yeasts to metabolise xylan and/or its hydrolysis products (xylo-oligosaccharides and xylose). Xylanolytic yeasts are able to secrete xylanolytic enzymes mainly when induced by xylan and present different strategies (intra- and/or extracellular hydrolysis) for the metabolism of xylo-oligosaccharides. Some of the unique xylanolytic traits identified here should be further explored for their applicability in specific biotechnological processes

Projeto de uma unidade de produção de chamuças doces com recheio de maçã e mel.

O presente trabalho visa apresentar, de forma simples, um estudo de natureza académica efetuado com vista à tentativa de implementação de uma unidade industrial de produção de chamuças doces. O trabalho foi realizado no âmbito da unidade curricular de Equipamentos e Instalações e Industriais do curso de Engenharia Alimentar da Escola Superior Agrária de Viseu. Os objetivos do trabalho incluem a descrição do processo produtivo e cálculos de projeto, nomeadamente no que respeita a balanços mássicos; a caracterização da empresa e recursos humanos; breves considerações sobre o mercado alvo e uma resumida análise SWOT; projeto da linha de produção, que inclui layout e equipamentos; considerações relativas aos efluentes gerados no processo; e, por fim, uma análise ligeira de viabilidade económica

Innovation and the performance of Portuguese businesses: a ‘SURE’ approach

There is a general consensus that in a competitive business environment, firms’ performance will depend on their capacity to innovate. To clarifying how, when and to what extent innovation affects the market and financial performance of firms, the authors deploy seemingly unrelated regression equation model to examine innovation in over 500 Portuguese firms from 1998 to 2004. The results confirm, as theorists have frequently assumed, that innovation positively affects firms’ performance; but they also suggest that the reverse is true, a result that is less intuitively obvious, given the complexity of the innovation process and local, national and global competitive environments

Academic Entrepreneurship Ecosystems: Systematic Literature Review and Future Research Directions

Research on the entrepreneurship ecosystem, based on different data and scales, limits the acceptance of a single definition. This conceptual limitation and the still recent research and higher education institutions have come to be seen as ecosystems associated with entrepreneurship. The aim of this study is to contribute to the field of knowledge, identify current and emerging thematic areas and trends and reveal the scientific roots of research on entrepreneurial ecosystems and their relationship with higher education institutions. A bibliometric analysis was developed to analyse a final sample of 110 articles published between 2011 and 2022. In order to develop the analysis, Bibliometrix R-Tool was used and the metadata of two databases (Web of Science and Scopus) was retrieved and merged. The software creates a reference co-citation's map, which allowed emphasize the state of the art and indicate three thematic clusters: (i) the importance of the higher education context for the entrepreneurial ecosystem, (ii) the evolution and challenges of entrepreneurship education and (iii) academic entrepreneurship ecosystems. The paper concludes by suggesting future research focused on the importance of building an integrated approach to entrepreneurial ecosystems and higher education institutions on a context regional scale.CEECINST/00127/2018/ CP1501/CT0010.funding provided by FCT|FCCN (b-on). This research is supported by national funds, through the FCT–Portuguese Foundation for Science and Technology under the project UIDB/04011/2020 (https://doi.org/10.54499/UIDB/04011/2020), and by NECE-UBI, Research Centre for Business Sciences, Research Centre under the project UIDB/04630/2022 and by CEECINST/00127/2018/ CP1501/CT0010.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio