Federico Caviggioli, Antonio De Marco, Giuseppe Scellato and Elisa Ughetto
The purpose of this paper is to examine, for a sample of ten corporations in three industries (i.e. automotive suppliers, semiconductors, and computer networks), the different…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to examine, for a sample of ten corporations in three industries (i.e. automotive suppliers, semiconductors, and computer networks), the different strategies that firms undertake when acquiring patent-protected technologies. In particular, the authors analyze and compare two alternative channels for patent acquisition: markets for technology (MFT) and merger and acquisition (M&A) processes.
Design/methodology/approach
The authors implement two types of analyses, at both patent and firm level. First, the authors perform an econometric analysis to evaluate whether acquired patented technologies differ in their patent bibliographic characteristics with respect to patent-protected technologies that have been developed internally by the examined firms. The authors then investigate the presence of differences in the characteristics of transacted patents acquired in the MFT or by means of M&A activities. Second, the authors take a firm-level perspective and examine the technology acquisition strategies adopted by selected companies to identify the presence of common patterns, industry-driven specificities and firm peculiarities.
Findings
The authors find that acquired patented technologies are, on average, more complex, of higher technical merit and the corresponding patents show a higher legal robustness. Econometric results reveal the presence of differences between M&A and MFT patents: the latter seem to protect less complex, and thus easier to trade, inventions. The analysis of the patterns of patent acquisitions at the firm level shows the presence of different strategies for the external sourcing of patented technologies, based on whether acquired patents protect core or non-core technology areas of the analyzed firms. Such patterns are discussed in the light of the different streams of the literature on intellectual property (IP) management.
Originality/value
This paper makes use of a new and comprehensive data set of the US patent transactions that took place between 2002 and 2010. The authors added detailed data on the evolution of the corporate trees of analyzed firms. The paper contributes to the literature on technology acquisitions and MFT by examining the different channels for patented technology acquisitions. The issue represents an emerging area of interest in the field of IP management.
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Lucas Manoel Marques Clemente, Alexandre Pereira Salgado Junior, Eduardo Falsarella Júnior, Marco Antonio Alves de Souza Junior, Juliana Chiaretti Novi and Alexandre de Castro Moura Duarte
The purpose of this study was to identify a set of management practices towards financial sustainability for Brazilian private health insurance and plans companies.
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this study was to identify a set of management practices towards financial sustainability for Brazilian private health insurance and plans companies.
Design/methodology/approach
The present paper uses a bimodal two-step approach. The first step was quantitative, with the data envelopment analysis (DEA) technique in 521 Brazilian private health companies (PHCs). At this stage, the objective was to obtain scores to rank the PHCs regarding their financial performance and services in 2013. From the quantitative analysis, two PHCs displaying contrasting performances were selected and interviewed to identify differentiating management practices.
Findings
The Group Medicine PHCs displayed a higher performance in the financial approach. Following the qualitative comparative analysis, the financially sustainable PHC presented the following differentials: a high level of financial management professionalization, a deliberate policy for the control and prevention of claims and a larger share of revenues from health plans over service revenues.
Research limitations/implications
However, a limitation of the study lies in the fact that by not using any cash flow or financial result variables, the financial efficiency model used in the study does not evaluate the generation capacity of long-term results. It is noteworthy that, because it is a multiple case study, the results found cannot be generalized and should be understood only as characteristics of the studied PHCs in here.
Practical implications
The present paper can contribute to managers of Brazilian PCHs towards the implementation of management tools aimed at the sustainability of those organizations.
Originality/value
Despite the importance of the Supplemental Health Insurance System for public health in Brazil, PHCs have received a high volume of complaints and struggled with constant financial problems.
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Manuela Gonçalves Barros, Marcelo Botelho da Costa Moraes, Alexandre Pereira Salgado Junior and Marco Antonio Alves de Souza Junior
The purpose of this paper is to evaluate the efficiency in financial intermediation and the cost efficiency in banking service of credit unions in Brazil, based on essentially…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to evaluate the efficiency in financial intermediation and the cost efficiency in banking service of credit unions in Brazil, based on essentially accounting variables, and to analyze the temporal evolution of the efficiency of these cooperatives.
Design/methodology/approach
With a sample of 315 cooperatives over the period from 2007 to 2014, this research uses a two-stage process: application of regression models with panel data to verify which variables are related to the defined outputs, with the reduction of 31 variables to 8 variables in both models; and application of the data envelopment analysis method to obtain an analysis of credit unions’ efficiency.
Findings
The results demonstrate a high level of efficiency in financial intermediation, with low variation over time, associated with a low efficiency in the banking service, in which few cooperatives have remained efficient over time. In addition, the cooperatives with highest efficiency in financial intermediation were also the most efficient in providing services.
Research limitations/implications
This research has some limitations about the capacity of the proxies used to capture the real effect of the variables and assumptions of economic relations resulting in restrictions to generalize the results.
Practical implications
Cooperatives are usually analyzed under just one dimension. By separating the analysis into financial intermediation and banking services, cooperatives that are more efficient in each dimension can be identified, in addition to analyzing the evolution over time. The authors found that efficiency tends to be lower in banking services, and few cooperatives remain at the highest level of efficiency over time in both models.
Social implications
Credit unions provide an important service in the banking and credit market. Therefore, understanding its operation and the characteristics that influence its efficiency allows a better management of the cooperatives themselves and a greater understanding of this important segment of the financial market.
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Marco Antonio de Oliveira Vieira Goulart, Newton Carneiro Affonso da Costa Jr, Ana Luiza Paraboni and Mônica Maria Mendes Luna
The objective of the present study is to assess the financial literacy levels of students at a Brazilian university and investigate how these levels are affected by profile…
Abstract
Purpose
The objective of the present study is to assess the financial literacy levels of students at a Brazilian university and investigate how these levels are affected by profile characteristics and personality traits.
Design/methodology/approach
Data were collected using SurveyMonkey, and a link to the questionnaire was sent by e-mail. The questionnaire contains three blocks of questions: demographics, financial literacy and personality traits. Ordered logistic regression was applied to a sample of 1,312 students.
Findings
Younger participants, those with higher incomes and men were more likely to have a high level of financial literacy. The same was true of those who were less extrovert, i.e. assertive, sociable, optimistic and communicative students. These results contribute to the field by indicating which population segments should be prioritized in efforts to promote financial literacy.
Originality/value
To the best of our knowledge, no study has compared Financial Literacy and Personality Traits in Brazil, a developing country that is only beginning to develop national financial literacy strategies.
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Francisco Elíseo Fernandes Sanches, Marco Antonio Alves de Souza Junior, Flavio Rubens Massaro Junior, Rafael Povedano and Luiz Eduardo Gaio
Higher education institutions (HEIs) must take on a leadership role in building a sustainable world, given their responsibility for preparing future professionals and leaders…
Abstract
Purpose
Higher education institutions (HEIs) must take on a leadership role in building a sustainable world, given their responsibility for preparing future professionals and leaders worldwide and considering the role they provide to society. To accomplish this goal, HEIs need to holistically embody sustainability in everything they develop. This study aims to help HEIs in this purpose by developing a method to integrate sustainability into the strategic planning process in these institutions.
Design/methodology/approach
In the first stage, the method was developed based on papers selected through a systematic literature review. The proposed method was then applied in a Brazilian HEI to validate and adjust it.
Findings
A method that adopts a participatory process to integrate sustainability into HEIs’ strategic planning was proposed.
Practical implications
This study provides university leaders with a simple and practical method to aid with elaborating on strategic plans for holistic sustainability integration.
Originality/value
This study uniquely applied a framework called “HEIs sustainability action archetypes” as the foundation for selecting sustainable objectives, goals and actions to be integrated into these institutions’ strategic planning.
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Federico Caviggioli, Alessandra Colombelli, Antonio De Marco and Emilio Paolucci
This paper analyzes the importance given by venture capital (VC) firms to the different characteristics of the patent portfolio of a young innovative company (YIC). In an attempt…
Abstract
Purpose
This paper analyzes the importance given by venture capital (VC) firms to the different characteristics of the patent portfolio of a young innovative company (YIC). In an attempt to go beyond previous studies, the authors argue that not only is the size of a technological portfolio significant but also its nature. It is also examined whether the correlation between patents and VC financing varies across different industrial sectors and over different rounds of VC investments.
Design/methodology/approach
The empirical analysis has focused on a sample of 1,096 European YICs between the years 2010 and 2014. Target companies were identified in the monthly bulletins of Go4Venture, which reported the largest European deals and gathered information on the amount of VC financing. Additional data was derived from FinSMEs and crunchbase. Industrial sectors were differentiated according to their ability to appropriate the returns of innovation by relying on patent protection mechanisms. A multivariate regression framework at the patent family level was adopted to investigate empirical associations between the amount of VC financing and the characteristics of a YIC's patent portfolio.
Findings
The results confirm the positive value of patents. Both the size and the characteristics of a YIC patent portfolio have been found to be positively associated with the total amount of VC financing. Additionally, the correlation between a YIC patent portfolio and VC investment varies across industries and over rounds of funding. Although the number of patents is positively correlated with VC investments in sectors with strong Intellectual Property (IP) regimes, the same does not apply to sectors characterized by lower patent intensity, where qualitative metrics seem to have a stronger correlation. Significant differences have also been found for the different rounds of VC investments.
Research limitations/implications
The limitations of this paper are related to data availability. Empirical associations have been investigated, but causal effects cannot be ascertained in this framework. The authors focused on a sample of firms that received VC funding. Several transactions were excluded, due to a lack of specifications pertaining to the round series. Furthermore, a number of potential drivers of the financed amounts, such as variables related to the founder or the management team, have not been considered in this study.
Practical implications
For firms operating in sectors with weak IP regimes, patents are positively associated with attracting equity capital, if they are the output of R&D collaborations and have higher technical merit. In industries where patent intensity is higher, patent portfolio size matters more than quality. This suggests that VC investors award innovation quality to cases in which patenting is less frequent. Since the results indicate that positive associations between patenting and VC financing are more significant in later stages, managers should plan their patenting strategy in advance to reap the related benefits, and then collect the premium at later VC stages.
Originality/value
In this paper, the importance given by VC firms to different characteristics of a YIC patent portfolio has been analyzed in terms of size, quality, and complexity. While previous empirical analyses mainly focused on a single sector, the authors have examined whether the relevance of patents for VC financing decisions varies across industries and over different rounds of investment. The geographical coverage of the sample is another novelty of the paper. Previous works focused on a limited number of countries, whereas this research has considered firms operating in several European countries.
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Marcos Antonio de Araujo Ventura and Dimária Silva e Meirelles
This study examines the use of a dynamic value-based approach to analyze the business model structuration of smart service providers in Brazil, mapping their value creation…
Abstract
Purpose
This study examines the use of a dynamic value-based approach to analyze the business model structuration of smart service providers in Brazil, mapping their value creation, configuration and appropriation strategies, and determining how well-defined their current business models are.
Design/methodology/approach
This is a qualitative study based on semi-structured interviews with entrepreneurs (or CEOs and directors of technology) of seven business ventures in three different phases of business model structuration: (1) academic: companies or innovation and research centers linked to universities; (2) startups: technology-based companies originating from the technological needs of clients, be they new branches of the traditional business of incumbents or new entrants and (3) autonomous service providers whose offerings are related to master’s or doctoral projects.
Findings
We propose a typology of business model structuration with four stages. At first (individual or initial business model), albeit with high skilling of owners, only manual or adaptation services are offered. In the second stage (platform business model), although services offered are oriented toward the entire process automatization of the client (Factory integrated), technologies are restricted to the client company (or even one department) and these clients' needs are mainly data processing and connectivity. In the third stage (scaling digital business model), although the services offered are oriented toward greater digitalization through an entire array of field devices connected to the internet (IoT) and organized in a more formalized structure, the business model is still being constructed, companies in this stage are mainly startups. In the fourth stage (innovation ecosystem business model), the entire manufacturing process is digitized, with integration and network connectivity, both between service providers and the extended supply chain of their clients, and new technologies are customized and developed through the interaction of a whole innovation ecosystem.
Research limitations/implications
Mapping value-based strategies aids in understanding business model structuration in Industry 4.0. Future research should focus on parameterizing the dimensions founded of each value strategy.
Originality/value
This study advances the comprehension of the business model in |Industry 4.0 by providing a value-based strategy perspective of business model structuration. Practically, by focusing on smart service providers, it contributes to a greater understanding of smart service providers in Brazil and their strategic challenges.
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Barbara de Lima Voss, David Bernard Carter and Bruno Meirelles Salotti
We present a critical literature review debating Brazilian research on social and environmental accounting (SEA). The aim of this study is to understand the role of politics in…
Abstract
We present a critical literature review debating Brazilian research on social and environmental accounting (SEA). The aim of this study is to understand the role of politics in the construction of hegemonies in SEA research in Brazil. In particular, we examine the role of hegemony in relation to the co-option of SEA literature and sustainability in the Brazilian context by the logic of development for economic growth in emerging economies. The methodological approach adopts a post-structural perspective that reflects Laclau and Mouffe’s discourse theory. The study employs a hermeneutical, rhetorical approach to understand and classify 352 Brazilian research articles on SEA. We employ Brown and Fraser’s (2006) categorizations of SEA literature to help in our analysis: the business case, the stakeholder–accountability approach, and the critical case. We argue that the business case is prominent in Brazilian studies. Second-stage analysis suggests that the major themes under discussion include measurement, consulting, and descriptive approach. We argue that these themes illustrate the degree of influence of the hegemonic politics relevant to emerging economics, as these themes predominantly concern economic growth and a capitalist context. This paper discusses trends and practices in the Brazilian literature on SEA and argues that the focus means that SEA avoids critical debates of the role of capitalist logics in an emerging economy concerning sustainability. We urge the Brazilian academy to understand the implications of its reifying agenda and engage, counter-hegemonically, in a social and political agenda beyond the hegemonic support of a particular set of capitalist interests.
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Sebastián Ramón Pérez Chacón, Jose Luis Rodriguez Vilchez, Jorge Antonio Cabrera Berrios, Carlos Arturo Raymundo Ibañez and David Santos Mauricio
Low citizen adoption rates jeopardize the success and proliferation of e-government systems. This study aims to understand how the perception of environmental sustainability (ES…
Abstract
Purpose
Low citizen adoption rates jeopardize the success and proliferation of e-government systems. This study aims to understand how the perception of environmental sustainability (ES) can influence a citizen’s intention to use e-government systems.
Design/methodology/approach
In a case study in Peru, the technology acceptance model (TAM) adoption model is extended with the construct of ES and evaluated with structural equation modeling. An 18-element, in-person survey was constructed and administered to citizens of Lima, Peru who had prior exposure to e-government systems.
Findings
The results show that citizens can be positively influenced to adopt e-government systems if they perceive that doing so will contribute to ES.
Research limitations/implications
As this was a preliminary study, further research should focus on specific, as opposed to general, e-government systems, as well as encompassing a broader cross section of the population.
Practical implications
Administrators of e-government initiatives can consider public-interest factors, alongside of the common self-interest factors, when looking to improve adoption rates of e-government systems.
Originality/value
This is the first time that TAM has been extended with the construct of ES.