Angela da Rocha, Carl H. Christensen and Carlos Eduardo da Cunha
The firm and chief executive officer correlates of aggressiveexport behaviour were examined in a random sample of 45 Brazilianwood‐furniture manufacturers. Because of the…
Abstract
The firm and chief executive officer correlates of aggressive export behaviour were examined in a random sample of 45 Brazilian wood‐furniture manufacturers. Because of the importance of earning foreign exchange to make payments on international loans, the Brazilian government has made major efforts to stimulate firms to export. This study examines whether the characteristics of aggressive exporters under such stimulation are different from those found in other environments. The results indicate that governmental intervention does not materially affect the characteristics of aggressive exporters and that the aggressive‐passive dichotomous model is, with a few exceptions, valid under export stimulation programmes in Brazil. However, it was not possible to affirm that aggressiveness was correlated with firm export performance.
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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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This chapter intends to make an extended periodization of economic discussions that have taken place in Latin America throughout its history. The task is ambitious; we begin…
Abstract
This chapter intends to make an extended periodization of economic discussions that have taken place in Latin America throughout its history. The task is ambitious; we begin, however, with the periodization elaborated by Oreste Popescu, which we then expand and modify. As educators, we still have to work on the training of Latin American economists, due to the lack of knowledge they have not only about the region as a whole, but also of the economic debates that took place within it. This work is a first approximation and provocation aimed to jumpstart a discussion on these issues.
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Teresa Cunha Ferreira, David Ordóñez-Castañón and Rui Fernandes Póvoas
This research seeks to provide methodological bases for the identification, documentation and critical reflection of good practices of architectural design in built heritage…
Abstract
Purpose
This research seeks to provide methodological bases for the identification, documentation and critical reflection of good practices of architectural design in built heritage. These are applied explicitly to the School of Porto architects, which express a high sense of pedagogy and community practice in this field. The methodological approach defines the selection criteria for a georeferenced inventory and the procedures for in-depth analysis of adaptive reuse strategies.
Design/methodology/approach
The works included in the inventory were selected according to geographical, chronological, typological, qualitative and quantitative criteria. The cases chosen for in-depth analysis have been studied along four thematic axes to dissect all the intervention processes (previous state, design/construction and final state). This approach is supported by a cross-analysis of different sources (oral, written, graphic) and using drawing as a fundamental research tool.
Findings
The research has collected and disseminated up to 150 works by 44 architects, providing a comprehensive portrait of heritage intervention by the School of Porto over the past decades. The selection of 22 buildings for in-depth documentation reveals a particular sensibility toward the cultural values through a case-by-case approach based in deep knowledge of the preexisting context and the introduction of contemporary additions in continuity and harmonious relation with the environmental and sociocultural context.
Originality/value
This work provides a novel methodology suitable for further extension and adaptation to other case studies, as a first contribution to a more comprehensive “Atlas of Architectural Design in Built Heritage” with European case studies. The research aims to introduce new and deeper perspectives on reference works that may constitute pedagogy for the future practice of architects within contextual, inclusive and sustainable approaches.
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Joao Carlos Marques Silva and José Pereira
Analysis of public sources.
Abstract
Research methodology
Analysis of public sources.
Case overview/synopsis
The bank named “Novo Banco” (New Bank in Portuguese) was created because of an emergency intervention by the Bank of Portugal to save the “good” assets of the once great but bankrupt Banco Espírito Santo (BES) on August 4, 2014. The toxic assets remained in BES (dubbed “bad bank”). BES was one of the biggest private banks in Portugal, with origins mounting back to the year 1869. In 2013, it was headed by the founder’s great-grandson, Ricardo Salgado, when an external audit revealed several problems with the bank’s accounting and concluded that BES had a severe financial problem (the risky credit represented 11.1% of the bank’s accounts). The bank underwent a public capital increase (endorsed by several public figures, including the Portuguese President at the time, Cavaco Silva) of €1.045m to reposition itself, which was 100% successful (demand of about 160%, with a significant part of foreign investors). However, continued amounts of suspicions led Ricardo Salgado to be replaced by Vitor Bento (via a settlement between BES’s shareholders and the Bank of Portugal) in July 2014. At the end of that same month, BES announced imparities totaling the amount of €4.2535m. This led the European Central Bank to suspend BES’s access to the financial operations, forcing it to reimburse its credit to the Eurosystem in the value of €10.000m. In two days, the stock prices dropped by 80% to around €0.03 per share. It was later proven that the administration led by Ricardo Salgado had disobeyed the Bank of Portugal 21 times between December 2013 and July 2014, apparently acting against the institution’s best interests. Some carousel schemes with companies within the Espirito Santo Group were also detected in BES’ financial movements to improve the bank’s financial statements.
Complexity academic level
Finance Valuation, Strategy
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Leandro Lima Santos, Felipe Mendes Borini, Moacir de Miranda Oliveira, Dennys Eduardo Rossetto and Roberto Carlos Bernardes
This research aims to answer the following question: Could bricolage become a capability for companies in emerging markets to develop frugal innovations in times of crisis…
Abstract
Purpose
This research aims to answer the following question: Could bricolage become a capability for companies in emerging markets to develop frugal innovations in times of crisis? Therefore, in this paper the main aim is to identify whether in times of crisis the development of frugal innovation in emerging markets depends on the bricolage capability.
Design/methodology/approach
The hypotheses were statistically tested using the structural equation modeling technique, with data collected through the survey method applied to 215 companies in Brazil.
Findings
The results allowed support for the hypothesis that bricolage capability has a positive impact on the development of frugal innovation. Therefore, a mediating test was verified, allowing confirmation that to develop frugal innovation in emerging markets, bricolage becomes a required capability for companies in times of crisis.
Research limitations/implications
The limitation of this study lies in considering the effect of bricolage on frugal innovation only in the context of Brazil, while in developed countries this effect may be similar, as they also suffer from resource constraints caused by crises.
Practical implications
This research provides insights to guide managers by highlighting bricolage as a key managerial capability for the development of frugal innovation. A set of managerial recommendations are provided based on bricolage skills.
Originality/value
The study has contributed to the literature on bricolage and frugal innovation by addressing bricolage as an antecedent of frugal innovation in emerging markets, especially when those markets are affected by resource scarcity.
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Adam Smith recognized that slavery, despite its economic disadvantages, was the rule rather than the exception in the eighteenth-century commercial society. How did he explain the…
Abstract
Adam Smith recognized that slavery, despite its economic disadvantages, was the rule rather than the exception in the eighteenth-century commercial society. How did he explain the massive employment of enslaved Africans in the American and Caribbean colonies? Several scholars have been highlighting that Smith attributed the persistence of slavery to an almost natural inclination of humanity toward tyranny and dominion. However, the mere reference to the love of domination is not enough to fully answer the question above. This paper addresses another feature of Adam Smith’s account of Atlantic slavery: the relation between the love of domination and the mercantile policies regulating colonial trade. We conclude that Smith saw the extraordinary profitability arising from such policies as an enabling condition to the massive employment of slave labor in the sugar and tobacco colonies.
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Paul Samuelson was attracted to the irregular economic development pattern of some South American countries because of the links between economic performance and political…
Abstract
Paul Samuelson was attracted to the irregular economic development pattern of some South American countries because of the links between economic performance and political factors. He discussed the influence of “populist democracy” on Argentina’s relative economic stagnation, which, he argued in the 1970s and early 1980s, served as a dangerous paradigm for the American economy under stagflation. Stagflation phenomena marked the end of Samuelson’s “neoclassical synthesis.” Moreover, he applied his concept of “capitalist fascism” to deal with military dictatorships in Brazil and (especially) in Chile. The Brazilian translation of his Economics in 1973 brought about a correspondence with Brazilian economists about the “fascist” features of the regime. The main variable behind the South American economic and politically unstable processes discussed by Samuelson was economic inequality, which became also a conspicuous feature of the American economy since the adoption of market-based policies in the 1980s and after.