The Financial Development of Portuguese Entrepreneurial Businesses

Author(s):  
Inna Sousa Paiva

Entrepreneurial firms commonly become family small businesses. This study aims to highlight the financial strategy underlying the development of smaller family companies. A brief introduction about the definition and role of the family business is followed by a review of the debate on the finance gap that puts constraints on the survival and long-term growth and prosperity of smaller privately companies. Evidence is drawn from a database of smaller firms with family owner-managers in Portugal, in order to determine their attitudes towards and experiences of venture capital and financing and other capital options. We conclude by discussing some tentative policy implications for regional development from the perspective of owner managers, service providers and policy-makers.

2021 ◽  
Vol 22 (1) ◽  
pp. 53-68
Author(s):  
Guenter Knieps

5G attains the role of a GPT for an open set of downstream IoT applications in various network industries and within the app economy more generally. Traditionally, sector coupling has been a rather narrow concept focusing on the horizontal synergies of urban system integration in terms of transport, energy, and waste systems, or else the creation of new intermodal markets. The transition toward 5G has fundamentally changed the framing of sector coupling in network industries by underscoring the relevance of differentiating between horizontal and vertical sector coupling. Due to the fixed mobile convergence and the large open set of complementary use cases, 5G has taken on the characteristics of a generalized purpose technology (GPT) in its role as the enabler of a large variety of smart network applications. Due to this vertical relationship, characterized by pervasiveness and innovational complementarities between upstream 5G networks and downstream application sectors, vertical sector coupling between the provider of an upstream GPT and different downstream application industries has acquired particular relevance. In contrast to horizontal sector coupling among different application sectors, the driver of vertical sector coupling is that each of the heterogeneous application sectors requires a critical input from the upstream 5G network provider and combines this with its own downstream technology. Of particular relevance for vertical sector coupling are the innovational complementarities between upstream GPT and downstream application sectors. The focus on vertical sector coupling also has important policy implications. Although the evolution of 5G networks strongly depends on the entrepreneurial, market-driven activities of broadband network operators and application service providers, the future of 5G as a GPT is heavily contingent on the role of frequency management authorities and European regulatory policy with regard to data privacy and security regulations.


2021 ◽  
pp. 0739456X2110282
Author(s):  
Maria Watson

Local businesses are important for recovering communities, yet program analyses of the effectiveness of Federal disaster loans—particularly for businesses—are limited and contradictory. This study looks at the role U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA) Disaster Loans played in the long-term survival of small businesses in Galveston County, Texas after the 2008 Hurricane Ike. This research uses quasi-experimental design, matching methods, and conditional logistic regression to tease out the effect of the loan from potential confounding factors. The results show that businesses that received a disaster loan were significantly more likely to survive than their controls, and businesses that moved were also more likely to survive.


Author(s):  
Giuliano Sansone ◽  
Elisa Ughetto ◽  
Paolo Landoni

AbstractAlthough a great deal of attention has been paid to entrepreneurship education, only a few studies have analysed the impact of extra-curricular entrepreneurial activities on students’ entrepreneurial intention. The aim of this study is to fill this gap by exploring the role played by Student-Led Entrepreneurial Organizations (SLEOs) in shaping the entrepreneurial intention of their members. The analysis is based on a survey that was conducted in 2016 by one of the largest SLEOs in the world: the Junior Enterprises Europe (JEE). The main result of the empirical analysis is that the more time students spent on JEE and the higher the number of events students attended, the greater their entrepreneurial intention was. It has been found that other important drivers also increase students’ entrepreneurial intention, that is, the Science and Technology field of study and the knowledge of more than two foreign languages. These results confirm that SLEOs are able to foster students’ entrepreneurial intention. The findings provide several theoretical, practical and public policy implications. SLEOs are encouraged to enhance their visibility and lobbying potential in order to be recognized more as drivers of student entrepreneurship. In addition, it is advisable for universities and policy makers to support SLEOs by fostering their interactions with other actors operating in the entrepreneurial ecosystem, who promote entrepreneurship and technology transfer activities. Lastly, this paper advises policy makers to assist SLEOs’ activities inside and outside the university context.


2019 ◽  
Vol 59 (2) ◽  
pp. 247-266
Author(s):  
Tien Duc Pham

Tourism productivity measures are quite diverse, not always compatible and usually based partly on labor productivity for hotels and restaurants. This article develops a holistic approach that integrates the principles of the growth accounting framework and tourism satellite account to measure multifactor productivity, labor productivity and capital productivity for the Australian tourism industry. This study shows that tourism has been identified as a reservoir for other industries through the ebbs and flows of labor demands. Compared with the rest of the economy, the average growth of labor productivity—that is, income per unit of labor—for tourism is stagnant, and has reached an unprecedented low, six times below the market sector average, mainly because of low multifactor productivity. The results are valuable for policy makers and the lobbying groups wanting to identify areas of need for policy changes to ensure the healthy long-term growth of tourism.


1999 ◽  
Vol 14 (4) ◽  
pp. 491-522
Author(s):  
Brady Coleman ◽  
Robert Beckman

AbstractIntegrated coastal management (ICM) programmes are being planned, formulated and implemented in coastal States all over the world. To date, however, ICM has been seen as more in the realm of policy-makers, managers, scientists, coastal resource economists, and others, rather than in the realm of lawyers. This article reveals how law and lawyers should play an absolutely essential role at all stages of the ICM process. Ideally, ICM legal consultants will have a broad range of knowledge and experience in both international legal treaties as well as in certain fundamental national law principles, so that coastal zone policies will be designed and carried out with a critical understanding of the laws and institutions needed for the long-term success of an integrated coastal management programme.


2014 ◽  
Vol 6 (1) ◽  
pp. 64-77 ◽  
Author(s):  
Felix Rioja ◽  
Fernando Rios-Avila ◽  
Neven Valev

Purpose – While the literature studying the effect of banking crises on real output growth rates has found short-lived effects, recent work has focused on the level effects showing that banking crises can reduce output below its trend for several years. This paper aims to investigate the effect of banking crises on investment finding a prolonged negative effect. Design/methodology/approach – The authors test to see whether investment declines after a banking crisis and, if it does, for how long and by how much. The paper uses data for 148 countries from 1963 to 2007. Econometrically, the authors test how banking crises episodes affect investment in future years after controlling for other potential determinants. Findings – The authors find that the investment to GDP ratio is on average about 1.7 percent lower for about eight years following a banking crisis. These results are robust after controlling for credit availability, institutional characteristics, and a host of other factors. Furthermore, the authors find that the size and duration of this adverse effect on investment varies according to the level of financial development of a country. The largest and longer-lasting decrease in investment is found in countries in a middle region of financial development, where finance plays its most important role according to theory. Originality/value – The authors contribute by finding that banking crisis can have long-term effects on investment of up to nine years. Further, the authors contribute by finding that the level of development of the country's financial markets affects the duration of this decrease in investment.


2018 ◽  
Vol 19 (3) ◽  
pp. 258-269 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jacinta M. Douglas

Working in neurological rehabilitation brings with it numerous opportunities to gain an understanding of the factors that contribute to shaping meaningful living and wellbeing for those tackling the major life changes encountered following acquired brain injury (ABI). These opportunities come in many forms: challenging and brave clients, wise and worrying families, questioning and inspiring colleagues, empowering and limiting work environments and rigid and advancing policy and legislative contexts.Our personal and collective understanding ofthe things that helpandthe things that get in the wayof effective rehabilitation continuously emerges from the convergence of the experience and knowledge afforded by these opportunities. The aim of this paper is to considerthe things that helpandthe things that get in the wayas they have been identified by people with ABI, their families and those who work with them and have been further evidenced through research targeted towards improving short, medium and long-term outcomes for those living with the consequences of ABI. Thesethingsas discussed in this paper capture the essential role of the self, the importance of rights and access to rehabilitation, the impact of the family and the contribution of social connection.


2019 ◽  
Vol 29 (Supplement_4) ◽  
Author(s):  
C Macdougall ◽  
L Gibbs

Abstract Background In February 2009 Victorian rural communities were hit by the worst bushfires in Australian history. Immediately we evaluated community groups preparing residents for bushfires. Ten years on, we are one of the few teams to evaluate medium to long term community recovery using multiple methods. As climate change becomes more visible, the frequency and intensity of disasters will increase so communities, governments and service providers need more evidence based strategies and policies. We explore how participant led visual methods provide new knowledge. Methods In study 1 participants in 3 of 7 focus groups in peoples’ homes spontaneously brought photos for us to examine before the discussions. In another participants spoke of the importance of photos they took at the time. We returned to the field to interview people in their homes about the meaning and role of photos. Results Participants wanted to inform us-as outsiders-of the awe and enormity of the fires. They created a visual record to communicate with key interest groups and ward off complacity as memories receded. Photos helped them construct timelines and meanings of the intense fires. Crucially, they recorded recovery and rebuilding in both the built and natural environments. Over the next ten years we chronicled stories from community led visual methods of communication, recovery and empowerment. We incorporated into qualitative methods participant led tours of their environments, with visual methods. Visual data collected by communities focused more strongly on the natural environment than researcher led verbal methods. Conclusions Visual sociology changes as technology provides participants in research with increased access to, and control over, visual methods. These changes can rebalance power relations between qualitative researchers and participants and bridge visual and verbal methods; crafting striking stories to influence those Australian policies unresponsive to climate change. Key messages Technological change enables participants in qualitative research to initiate visual methods to build bridges between them and researchers. Community led visual methods provide new types of data useful for theory and knowledge translation.


2020 ◽  
Vol 32 (3) ◽  
pp. 543-558 ◽  
Author(s):  
Neale J. Slack ◽  
Gurmeet Singh

PurposeThe purpose of this study is to determine the effect of service quality on customer satisfaction and loyalty and the mediating role of customer satisfaction in the supermarket sector.Design/methodology/approachIn total, 480 supermarket customers participated in an intercept survey in four urban centres of Fiji. Descriptive statistics were used to determine the level of service quality provided by supermarkets, and inferential statistics to determine the gap between customer's service quality expectations and perceptions and to test the research hypotheses.FindingsThe findings indicate service quality of supermarkets is perceived as being unsatisfactory, service quality significantly affects customer satisfaction and loyalty and customer satisfaction partially mediates the relationship between service quality and customer loyalty reducing customer's perceptions of service quality, leading to lower customer loyalty.Practical implicationsThis study provides an indication as to where supermarkets should target their marketing attention and scarce corporate resources and may help in their efforts to service, satisfy, retain and attract more long-term loyal customers in the increasingly competitive supermarket sector. This research could inform government policy makers in sequencing the supermarket sector transformation and assist local supermarkets to adapt to this changing retail landscape.Originality/valueThis study advances our understanding of the effect of service quality on customer satisfaction and loyalty and the mediating role of customer satisfaction in the supermarket sector.


2015 ◽  
Vol 26 (2-4) ◽  
pp. 281-293
Author(s):  
Marieke Liem ◽  
Jan Maarten Elbers

In recent decades, the number of long-term detainees held worldwide has increased significantly. Academics and policy makers have begun to challenge the widespread use and effectiveness of such severe sentences, however. This article aims to shed light on the role of human rights in imposing and executing long-term custodial sentences. There appears to be tension between ensuring that human rights are respected and provision of security through the incapacitation of offenders. This tension can only be understood properly in the context of contemporary risk-management associated with increased punitiveness.


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