Browsing by Author "Fernandes, Silvia Brito"
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- Ambientes colaborativos virtuais: potencial das redes sociais. O caso das empresas do AlgarvePublication . Belo, Ana; Castela, Guilherme; Fernandes, Silvia BritoO objetivo do presente artigo é analisar o potencial das redes sociais no desempenho das pequenas e médias empresas da região do Algarve, tendo sido efectuado um questionário para o efeito. O estudo empírico realizado revela que os dados recolhidos (de 70 empresas) possuem boas qualidades psico-métricas. Procedeu-se a uma análise categórica de componentes principais, a qual identificou duas principais tipologias de objectivos nas redes sociais: redes sociais para interacção produto-cliente e pesquisa ou conhecimento; e redes sociais com potencial para o marketing. Uma análise suplementar - análise hierárquica de clusters (com recurso ao método de agrupamento de Ward) - identificou três padrões de empresas consoante o seu grau de envolvimento em redes sociais: cluster Social Tec Grau 1; cluster Social Tec Grau 2 e cluster Social Tec Grau 3. Estas análises permitem validar uma metodologia sustentável para este tipo de avaliação.
- An empirical approach of the distinctive aspects for socioeconomic developmentPublication . Fernandes, Silvia BritoThis paper aims to present an integrative approach for examining key aspects, and their associations, of economic development. After a cross-country cluster analysis of profiles related to select indicators, discriminant analysis of the clusters identified variables that most differentiate them. This assessment acknowledges that their level of capital endowment, and the ability to exploit it, is crucial to economic performance. Intangible aspects are the elements necessary for creation and maintenance of distinct economic development. Economies with lower skills and knowledge activities lose governance and cohesiveness, explaining unemployment and inequalities and influencing the consumer-confidence index. Economies with higher confidence use new communication technologies. E-government and knowledge media play an important role since collective learning occurs through active social communication. As the learning environment matures, its elements gain new knowledge and entrepreneurship, valuing cohesiveness and governance. This study contributes an original integrative approach to indicators for cross-evaluation, applied to economies/regions or firms. The complements between cluster and discriminant analyses consolidate and sustain the approach, helping economists, policymakers, and researchers understand distinctive aspects of economic development and their associations for coping with future economic stress.
- An essay on the appropriate indicators to measure innovation in the Portuguese firms. An approach for the less advanced regions facing knowledge economiesPublication . Fernandes, Silvia Brito; Noronha, Teresa deThe Portuguese firms are mostly small or medium sized and do not have an R&D department and lack qualified personnel to develop it inside the enterprise. The business goals are often linked to what the owners desire for their firms and they usually consider innovation a very expensive and risky activity. The level of trust between economic actors is lower than most of the OECD countries which is responsible for many institutional, cultural and financial constraints that limit the entrepreneurial capacity to diversify. This helps to understand the small levels of international transfer of technologies and required patents to world Offices. Some studies show that the R&D efforts are not always directly related with economic performance, specially in less advanced regions. This work tries to investigate new indicators for the modes of learning in innovative firms of less advanced regions like Portugal and proposes a methodology to address a different approach from those that have been used for more advanced regions. The aspects related with behaviour, absorption of local sources of innovation and collaboration are some of the factors to have in mind when evaluating innovation in this new approach. The overall implication of the results is that no one existing index dominates in explaining how firms attempt to innovate. Instead, we require a richer conceptual perspective that combines diverse issues. Firms face strong obstacles that limit their abilities and propensity to innovate. At the same time, though, firms face strong competitive pressures to undertake innovating actions. Entrepreneurs need to develop new theories and methods concerning the intersection between these pressures.
- Aspectos a considerar em sistemas e tecnologias de informaçãoPublication . Fernandes, Silvia BritoOs sistemas e tecnologias de informação(SI/Ti) constituem uma plataforma decisiva na capacidade das empresas responderem a novos imperativos de gestão com novas soluções que permitam ampliar sua posição competitiva no mercado. Sendo a gestão da informação reconhecida como uma área altamente diferenciadora, são comparadas várias empresas de diferentes sectores de actividade nomeadamente do comércio e serviços, localizadas (sede ou filial) na região do Algarve, a fim de sistematizar os principais aspectos diferenciadores no âmbito da adopção, reestruturação e implementação de SI/Ti. Realmente as constatações são incisivas sobre a necessidade premente de se avaliarem todos os benefícios e custos envolvidos, indirectos e escondidos. É fundamental que a empresa defina correcta e atempadamente um plano e, no caso de adopção e implementação de sistemas, avalie os resultados obtidos no seio desse plano e numa base anual da actividade do sistema estando este alinhado com a estratégia de negócio.
- Building resilience capacity through innovation: highlights from European reportsPublication . Fernandes, Silvia BritoMore than ever firms will be required to develop strategies for coping with shocks and stresses to our economic and social infrastructures. They will need to build the so called resilience capacity, which is an umbrella term for the planning and design strategies that can help firms develop the capacity to cope with challenges. The present work is based on an assessment of works that explored recent European reports on innovation performance. The discussion acknowledges that firms will have to find new ways to reduce their risk-aversion and become more flexible. To become more resilient, firms will need to adopt strategies that allow them to develop capacities that better respond and adapt to the economic and social stresses. These capacities must be planned to transform our current economic systems into much more flexible and dynamic ones. Small and medium enterprises are more exposed to competitive pressures. Thus, the choice of sectors and the design of public procurement policies are fundamental opportunities. With the polarization of knowledge creation across Europe, a few countries are responsible for the bulk of innovation and knowledge production. Therefore, attention should also be given to investment in knowledge diffusion and absorption depending on the specific national context. The fact of some characteristics of the national innovation system explain persistence on innovating in response to major external shocks sheds light on the resilient behavior of firms.
- Business intelligence and contribution of entrepreneurial information architecturePublication . Fernandes, Silvia BritoWe are witnessing the need for a quick and intelligent reaction from organizations to the level and speed of change in business processes. The arising problems can be: from wrong lasting information; systems not fully used or explored; slow reaction to change; etc. This requires two main confluent action methods: people to synchronize their visions, ideas and strategies in the whole organization; and, in that context, select the information that strictly answers to the performance factors at the right moment. The proposed methodology turns to the potential of approach to the entrepreneurial architecture as well as to the potential of the information system in order to integrate the data and resources needed for that performance. The modeling of an information architecture of the company and its business helps in the identification of critical information, the one which is according to the mission, prospects and business success factors.
- Business processes improvement on maintenance management: A case studyPublication . Abreu, João; Martins, Paula Ventura; Fernandes, Silvia Brito; Zacarias, M.The adoption of business process improvement strategies is currently a concern of most organizations. The use of approaches to quality and service improvement and the quest for the benefits of this improvement on resource optimization enables organizations to achieve business objectives. Maintenance management also plays a significant role in achieving the goal of improving overall efficiency in the services of an organization, helping to maintain continuity and avoiding costly downtime. However, there have been few studies about business improvement in maintenance management. This paper presents a case study about maintenance management to realize business process improvement in an airport.
- Business simulators and lecturer’s perception! The case of University of AlgarvePublication . Kikot, Tatiana; Costa, Gonçalo; Fernandes, Silvia BritoThe purpose of this paper is to investigate the usage of simulation/serious games in the University of Algarve (Portugal), because these novel learning environments are still on an early stage of adoption. Members of the Faculty of Economics (in a total 60 lecturers and their assistants) participated in this study through a mixed survey (closed and ask for agreement queries). The empirical evidences denote interesting results: (i) a response rate of 43 percent; (ii) these tools increase learning engagement; (iii) the lack of information and not sufficient alignment with the course unit hinders the uptake of these technologies within classrooms; (iv) lecturers have a positive perception and consider them as valuable for students’ better learning. Hence, this survey provides a good platform for future research and approaches how to promote a better exploration of simulation/serious games and their integration into course curriculum. To conclude, this paper will be divided into five sections: (i) research statement; (ii) research design (aims/objectives, research methodology and data collection/analysis); (iii) findings (lecturers’ profile, awareness, experiences and results summary); (iv) limitations and future work (methodological limitations and tools/ analysis upgrade); and, (v) conclusions.
- Cooperation vs. firm-based innovation: A sectoral comparison in PortugalPublication . Cesário, M.; Fernandes, Silvia Brito; Barata, JoséIn today's knowledge-intensive economies, the enterprises can have a strong economic and social influence as "market protagonists". Facing today's economic instability they ought to provide a constant stream of innovations to clients. Researchers suggest that firms can reshape the market through their innovations, for which can contribute some external expert knowledge. The process of developing an innovation may imply three types of approach: make; buy or cooperate with other agents to acquire specific competences or knowledge. This last occurs when the firms' internal knowledge or skill-base is not sufficient or effective and is conveniently complemented with external sources. Firms' cooperation, among them or with clients or other stakeholders, and its potential for innovation is not new. In this paper, our aim is to identify the sectors more willing to engage in cooperation initiatives in order to accomplish innovation. Thus, this paper is structured as follows: Introduction; 1. Literature Review (Innovation and its assets; Disclosing the process of innovation; Open innovation; Cooperation for innovation); 2. Research Design (The CIS instrument; Sampling); 3. Results (The nature of the innovation process by sector: cooperation-based vs. firm-based; The scale and scope of cooperation); Concluding Remarks. Using descriptive statistics, the first step will be to identify the sectors more willing to engage in cooperation initiatives in order to accomplish innovation. Secondly, for those sectors a more detailed analysis on the scale and scope of cooperation is developed. For this study a secondary dataset was used from the CIS-2012 (DGEEC, 2014). The CIS, operation acronym in the Eurostat for Community Innovation Survey, is the main statistical survey (mandatory for EU member states) on innovation in companies. The universe contemplates Portuguese companies with 10 or more employees belonging to the NACE codes. The INITIAL sample consisted of 9423 companies. 6840 valid answers were considered.
- Critical information as a success factor in organizations: objective and methodological approachPublication . Fernandes, Silvia Brito; Almeida, H.We are witnessing the need for a quick and intelligent reaction from organizations to the level and speed of change in business processes. These imperatives are very often associated to the emerging of new information systems and technologies, sometimes bursting change and other times being burst, which bring more challenges to organizations. The arising problems can be: from wrong information that lasts; systems not fully used or explored; too much staff; slow reaction to change; etc. This can be summarized in a governance problem that requires two main confluent action methods: people to synchronize their visions, ideas and strategies in the whole organization; and, in that context, select the information that strictly answers to the performance factors at the right moment. The proposed methodology is adequate here, once it turns to the potential of approach to the entrepreneurial architecture as well as to the potential of the information system in order to iteratively select and integrate the data and resources needed for that performance. The modeling of an information architecture of the company and its business helps in the identification of critical information, that is, of the one which is according to the mission, prospects and critical factors of business success at the required moment.