Browsing by Author "Noronha, Teresa de"
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- Ambiente institucional e inovação: a trajectória para a qualidade do café brasileiroPublication . Noronha, Teresa de; Urban, Lucia de PaulaEste artigo analisa o arcabouço organizativo e institucional da cadeia do café enquanto instâncias decisivas de uma trajetória de inovação que vai desde o grão produzido até o ápice de agregação de valor de um bem final de qualidade diferenciada pronta para inserção em circuitos de bens de qualidade específica do mercado internacional. Discute o conteúdo da moderna institucionalidade como mecanismo de organização e transmissão do conhecimento necessário para moldar, sustentar e dinamizar uma nova concepção de produção e fundamentalmente dar unidade e estímulo para viabilizar a adesão empresarial ao desafio de mudanças inovadoras.
- 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.
- Analysis of regional innovation performance in Portugal – results from an external logistic biplot methodPublication . Vicente Galindo, Purificación; Noronha, Teresa de; Nijkamp, Peter; Vaz, EricPortuguese strategic choices regarding innovation and R&D policy have, over the past two decades, produced various positive achievements, in which the regions of Lisbon and Algarve have taken the lead, and are the only ones in the country to converge towards the European average growth rate. Regarding the other Portuguese regions – despite significant national growth rates in the 1990s as well as a successful attempt to cope with the EMU –, these are lagging behind the EU average with respect to gross production, investment or employment generation. Meanwhile, one of the greatest public policy efforts was to diffuse much of the European funds across the entrepreneurial sector. After a long pathway, it is now timely to evaluate the firms‟ contribution to national and regional growth, their obstacles and impacts. For the purpose of this paper, innovation is used here as a major contributor to the policy evaluation process referred to above. Our investigation aims to explain the present performance of Portuguese firms located throughout the country and to explore those innovation determinants that have a region-specific connotation. To provide a thorough investigation, our analysis defines, on a regional basis, a set of firms‟ behavioural patterns regarding innovation. In our modelling, we employ a new methodology, viz. the External Logistic Biplot method, which is applied to an extensive sample of innovative institutions in Portugal. Variables such as „Promoting knowledge‟, „Management skills‟, „Promoting R&D‟, „Knowledge transfer‟, „Promoting partnership & cooperation‟, and „Orientation of public measures‟ have been identified as crucial determinants in earlier studies and are now used to describe regional institutional profiles. Such profiles exhibit a great variety in the way they combine these determinants to promote regional innovation. The creation of a gradient of capacity to dynamically innovate associated with each firm makes it possible to analyse the innovation gradient of each region in Portugal. Our paper presents and systematically investigates these findings and then reaches some policy conclusions.
- Behavioural patterns towards innovation: the case of European rural regionsPublication . Noronha, Teresa de; Cesário, M.Contrarily to big firms, small firms interact intensively with the territory in which they locate, as a signal of their embeddedness. The particular tight links they develop with their external environment reduce uncertainty risks. In general, for them, geographical and sociological proximities constitute the main sources of assets and information determining their perspectives and strategic choices. The present study uses a set of enquires, developed within the framework of a European research project, with the purpose of modelling the determinants of innovation in a bi-univocal relationship of interdependencies between small firms and their environmental contexts. We dealt mainly with lagging regions and a panel of 323 firms from the agro-food sector, located in 11 different European rural regions from six different countries. Using a set of variables able to characterise the innovative processes and through the application of k-mean clusters statistical analysis, it was possible to detect behavioural patterns towards innovation among those firms. Non-innovators, pioneer innovators and follower innovators were the identified patterns. Using cross tabs analysis between those patterns and a set of attributes dealing with the importance of human capital, the profile of each group were drawn.
- Business topographies. A spatiotemporal analysis of 150 years of Indian businessPublication . Vaz, Eric; Noronha, Teresa de; Shafizadeh, H.; Kumar, S.; Nijkamp, PeterOne of the most growing entrepreneurial landscapes has been without a doubt in the last decade India. India, with a total population of almost 1.2 billion inhabitants, is a land of immense business opportunity within a highly competitive market. Before the eighties however, India was mainly a rural country, with a large contrast of the nexus between city and periphery. With the emergence of young generation of entrepreneurs, the economy has been growing at a rate of 8-10% for the last 20 years.
- Contrasts in the governance structures in the transborder regions Andaluzia – AlgarvePublication . Dominguez, José Andres; Noronha, Teresa deThe goal of this work is to detect the basic characteristics of the development of the southern border between Spain and Portugal. This trans-border area is described and analyzed comparing the region of Algarve, in Portugal and the region of the County, in Huelva, Spain. The method used 15 quantitative indicators, desegregated at municipal level, obtained from different official sources and applied to 30 municipalities. The analysis includes multivariate statistic methods. The conclusions show that those indicators related to national governance systems are of utmost importance in the cluster classification. Furthermore, those municipalities with higher development levels are also less sustainable from the environmental point of view – this is probably due to the fact that tourism supports the fragile socio-economic systems in many of such regions. Significantly, the clustering tendencies show that the Portuguese municipalities are tourism oriented (or less tourism oriented) and the Spanish ones are agribusiness (or less agribusiness oriented). Lastly, such geographic structures seem to have its roots in long term paths of development.
- Contributions towards a Cluster Strategy for the Sea in the AlgarvePublication . Monteiro, Pedro Valadas; Noronha, Teresa de; Neto, PauloThis article advocates the relevance and crucial need for a strategic vision of the Algarve based on a cluster approach for its economy of the sea. The article reviews the literature on clusters and relevant topics related and relevant to that issue. It starts by summarizing the scope and structure of the article, followed by a theoretical framework, which highlight the key features and benefits associated with the cluster approach taken, the role of knowledge - intensive service activities as key drivers for innovation and entrepreneurship, taken as critical factors for successful cluster strategy advocated, along with the networking and cooperation, innovation systems and the importance of knowledge spillovers for knowledge management within the cluster.
- Desenvolvimento regional e inovação empresarial: o impacto do desenvolvimento local nas determinantes de inovação das pequenas empresasPublication . Noronha, Teresa deO objetivo deste contributo está bem definido: sob o ponto de vista teórico apresenta-se uma revisão do conceito de proximidade geográfica e da sua influência na dinâmica da inovação. O modelo produtivo pós-fordista serve de base à apresentação e sustenta a análise empírica posterior, feita com base em pequenas empresas. A segunda parte do trabalho traz um modelo que discute as determinantes regionais de inovação com base numa relação biunívoca entre o meio eas empresas. Essas determinantes são observadas para um painel de 323 empresas européias, classificadas e que identificam funções comportamentais dos empresários europeus perante a inovação. O estudo é pioneiro e enquadra-se num trabalho de conjunto desenvolvido pela equipe do Projeto Innovaloc, sendo esta a primeira vez que alguns dos resultados globais do projeto são divulgados em língua portuguesa.
- A differentiation framework for Maritime Clusters. Comparisons Across EuropePublication . Monteiro, Pedro Valadas; Noronha, Teresa de; Neto, PauloThe purpose of this paper is to point out some of the main characteristics and critical factors for success that can substantiate the proposal of a differentiation framework for maritime clusters. We conduct a benchmarking analysis intended to distinguish the most relevant aspects which can or should be observed in these types of clusters, applied to the following countries: Spain (Basque Country), Germany (Lander of Schleswig-Holstein), the Netherlands and Norway. The differentiation factors involve agglomeration economies and endogenous conditions derived from geographic proximity, essential for lowering transaction costs, strengthening the leverage of public/private cooperation through centres of maritime excellence, at the same time providing an adequate local environment that favours positive interactions between the different maritime industries and actors. The main results arising from this article are presented through a reconceptualisation of Porter’s Diamond framework for diagnosing the competitiveness of maritime clusters.
- Driving forces for innovation: are they measurable?Publication . Noronha, Teresa de; Cesário, M.This paper outlines a synthetic framework based on the concept of the learning process as a driver to redress stakeholders’ attitudes and strategic choices. The discussion is focused on the advantages that may result from institutional proximity, knowledge diffusion and coordination for the specific building up of a territorial knowledge base and the consequent achievement of sustainable regional development. This theoretical framework is applied to an empirical exercise identifying a number of variables supposed to be able to characterise firms and regional performances towards different forms of innovation. Modelling techniques are used to demonstrate that firms’ capacity to innovate is a complex attribute whose determinants change. The results permit to conclude causal links that may be useful for a better understanding of innovation and as support instruments for policy-makers which intend to search for specificities in the regional development process.
- Entrepreneurship and business. A regional perspective.Publication . Noronha, Teresa deThis book provides an almost complete overview of the modern concepts of entrepreneurship and those aspects related to regional economics. It is divided into two parts. Firstly, a historical perspective of the binomial relationship between firms and their regional environments is provided; secondly, an empirical analysis of entrepreneurial behaviours and performances under different conditions is presented. Taken as a whole, the publication is composed of an introduction and fourteen chapters developed into increasingly interesting issues.
- Exploratory landscape metrics for agricultural sustainabilityPublication . Vaz, Eric; Noronha, Teresa de; Nijkamp, PeterSocioeconomic growth and urban change have been an increasing concern for decision makers in recent decades. The monitoring, mapping, and analysis of agricultural land use change, especially in areas where urban change has been high, is crucial. The collision between traditional economic activities related to agriculture in tourist areas such as the Algarve and current demand for tourism infrastructures in urban regions is also leading to loss of economic activity. This article uses a combined geographical information system approach with CORINE land cover datasets to perform a Shannon’s diversity index quantifying changes in agricultural areas. The article then expands on the nature of the agricultural changes observed, and offers a multi-temporal assessment by means of landscape metrics in order to understand the shifting land use patterns for the Algarve in land use planning and regional economic equilibrium: a) forest regions become transformed into agricultural areas and agricultural areas become urban; b) areas that are initially agricultural become scattered residential regions created by economic investors; and c) agricultural land use changes have a cyclical nature in which—in the course of the economic recession—such dynamic effects brought about a decrease in tourism and focus on traditional sectors.
- Factores determinantes de inovação nas pequenas empresas : uma aplicação ao sector agro-alimentar em PortugalPublication . Noronha, Teresa de; Cesário, M.Este trabalho desenvolve instrumentos para pesquisar, ao nível regional, sinais determinantes de inovação em pequenas empresas localizadas em zonas desfavorecidas da União Europeia. Foram criados indicadores de performance inovadora para diagnosticar factores internos e externos determinantes da inovação em empresas portuguesas do Ribatejo Oeste e do Alentejo. Foi utilizada uma amostra aleatória de 52 empresas do sector agro-alimentar, com dimensão inferior a 50 trabalhadores, à qual foi aplicado um inquérito composto por 90 questões fechadas. Tais questões focaram grupos de determinantes possíveis de inovação, tais como: as características do empresário, a história e perfil da empresa, a força de trabalho e sua formação, os tipos de produtos e processos utilizados, as relações inter-empresariais e os apoios públicos fornecidos. Através das correlações de Spearman encontrámos relações de causa - efeito entre determinantes e performance inovadora.
- Factores determinantes de inovação nas pequenas empresas: uma aplicação ao sector agro-alimentar em PortugalPublication . Noronha, Teresa de; Cesário, M.Este trabalho desenvolve instrumentos para pesquisar, ao nível regional, sinais determinantes de inovação em pequenas empresas localizadas em zonas desfavorecidas da união Europeia.
- Factors affecting the adoption of new technologies by labour-intensive firms: an empirical exercise on European southern regionsPublication . Cesário, M.; Noronha, Teresa deO presente artigo tem como argumento teórico a hipótese de que, não apenas as condicionantes envolventes afectam o desempenho dos agentes económicos, também a forma como estes se comportam e reagem aos diferentes desafios tem um impacto nos contextos locais.
- Firm behaviour and town size: a comparison between firms in small and medium-sized towns in the Netherlands and PortugalPublication . Leeuwen, E. S.; Nijkamp, Peter; Noronha, Teresa de; Frankhouse, C. L.Nowadays, small and medium-sized towns in rural areas often are attractive tourist places. People enjoy the relative quietness and peacefulness together with the historical values present. The old market, church, and city hall remember us about earlier times. Among many stories, these old buildings tell us something about the importance and role of towns many years ago. It where places where products where sold and bought, deals were made, it were trading places. Residents from smaller towns or from the countryside regularly visited the place for business and pleasure.
- A formação dos quadros superiores nas instituições públicas e empresas do AlgarvePublication . Rua, Lisandra; Noronha, Teresa dePerante as novas determinantes de desenvolvimento regional este estudo apresenta o enquadramento institucional de apoio à formação técnica e avançada no Algarve. A recolha de dados primários permitiu o uso de métodos de estatística descritiva e dos coeficientes de correlação de Spearman para investigar sobre as motivações e as expectativas da liderança regional nos sectores público e privado. As conclusões resultantes também da observação de dados secundários, apontaram deficiências relacionadas com a monotorização e articulação institucional entre os diferentes corpos responsáveis pela oferta de formação avançada. O contexto institucional também parece carecer de falta de flexibilidade do processo formativo como meio de redução dos bloqueios na oferta regional de qualificação e aprendizagem.
- Framing urban habitats: the small and medium towns in the peripheriesPublication . Noronha, Teresa de; Vaz, EricThis paper proposes an integrative vision of the role of small and medium towns in the developing world. A conceptual framework is explored on the role of sustainable regions and the effects as well as the causalities of urbanisation within the changing dynamics of cities. The new urban habitats that are formed bring not only a direct impact of population pressures on fragile regions, but this new urban habitats, lead to classical economic models that extent into patterns where developing countries can be main actors in the trends of regional innovation dynamics.
- Gravitational models and spatial foresight: from agricultural policy to agricultural lossPublication . Vaz, Eric; Noronha, Teresa deThis paper discusses the issue and proposes a spatial land-cover accounting methodology to assess the impacts and changes occurred in the rural world, Portugal serving as a case study. So, furthermore, this paper aims to respond from a spatial perspective to the following questions: (i) Which are the most significant changes in Portuguese agricultural systems and where did they occur? (ii) Do municipalities in Portugal show dense agricultural regions that were lost, and if so, are they related to urban regions? The methods apply gravitational models to identify the compactness of agricultural areas within the different regions and detect the most significant land use variations. By comparative analyses of the different agricultural land classes, the variations in agricultural land use changes were detected. Also, the comparison of these values in a best-fit with Euclidean distances of artificial land-use questions the consequences of land-use change in Portugal over the last two decades. Finally, this paper demonstrates that the existence of spatial inventories such as the CORINE Land Cover, currently in its third assessment, provides useful information for the assessment of agricultural land-use dynamics.
- How do small firms from European rural regions learn and innovate?Publication . Cesário, M.; Noronha, Teresa deContrarily to big firms, small firms interact intensively with the territory in which they located, as a signal of their embeddedness. The particular tight links they develop with their external environment reduce uncertainty risks. In general, for them, geographical and sociological proximities constitute the main sources of assets and information determining their perspectives and strategic choices. The present study uses a set of enquires, developed within the framework of a European research project, with the purpose of modelling the determinants of innovation in a bi-univocal relationship of interdependencies between small firms and their environmental contexts. We dealt mainly with lagging regions and a panel of 323 firms from the agro-food sector, located in 11 different European rural regions from six different countries. Using a set of variables able to characterise the innovative processes and through the application of k-mean clusters statistical analysis, it was possible to detect behavioural patterns towards innovation among those firms. Non-innovators, pioneer innovators and follower innovators were the identified patterns. Using cross tabs analysis between those patterns and a set of attributes dealing with the importance of human capital, the profile of each group were drawn.