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The purpose of this paper is to simulate possoble scenarios of São Paulo’s office market recovering. In 2006, a previous paper that dealt with the same issue was published which the authors propose to analyse here. After eight years, the São Paulo office market is starting a new phase within its cycle. Then, the first part of this paper, as in Rocha-Lima and Alencar (2006), describes the economic scenario in which investment decisions are made for developing office buildings in the Brazilian market. Afterward, the authors simulated both the necessary period of time for investments in the São Paulo office market to recover attractiveness and time for the increase in the occupation rate to absorb the current vacant spaces.

These simulations were carried out using simple linear regressions models using the Brazilian gross domestic product (GDP) as explanatory variable to prices and vacancy rates dependent ones.

The authors have found that the vacant space can be fully re-occupied in the beginning of 2021 or mid of 2022, according to the GDP growth rate, and, from this moment on, the demand for new spaces may grow, and, moreover around 2019, investments may become attractive again in this market.

This paper offers an alternative approach for estimating office building scenarios, especially when the database of the market is scarce. It also permits to evaluate an investment strategy for emerging markets within next years, particularly in São Paulo, Brazil.

This paper comes in the context of the European International Business Academy (EIBA) History project, and the long period analysed was broken down in six time windows (1975–1981, 1982–1988, 1989–1995, 1996–2002, 2003–2012; and 2013–2020), in line with the periodisation followed in writing such history. The main purpose was to identify the key themes of the papers presented at EIBA conferences between 1975 and 2020.

The analysis was carried out drawing on topic modelling, a machine-learning statistical solution that is capable of processing large volumes of text data.

A set of 5,296 Competitive and Workshop papers was processed with the use of topic modelling. The method enabled to identify 24 underlying research topics. These were then grouped into nine higher-level categories. The results show a consistent growth in the number of papers presented, especially in the periods going from 1989–2012. This is a sign of an increasing attractiveness, openness and attendance in EIBA’s annual conferences. Overall, the topics with the highest probabilities were topic 22 (Measuring and Assessing IB performance), followed ex-aequo by topics 13 (Evolutionary Approaches, Matrix Structures and Managerial Challenges) and 20 (Comparative Management Education and Behaviour) and then by topic 4 (Born Globals and International New Ventures). A key finding was the change in methodological approaches over time, with a significant increase in the use of sound quantitative and qualitative methods, instead of broad narratives mostly based on descriptive statistics.

Latent Dirichlet Allocation (LDA), as a quantitative approach to analyse text data, has some limitations. LDA, along with other distributional models, may identify degrees of semantic relations between words, but is not able by itself to specify the kind of relation, entailing a possible loss of contextual information which might have been able to further assist in the study. Another limitation stems from the use of very old paper proceedings, whose quality was sometimes low, making reading difficult.

This research provides a longitudinal perspective of the evolution of the key research topics in international business over about 45 years. Its findings are very important for all those who are interested on the evolution of the IB field.

The research provides an interesting perspective of the development of a scientific field as well as of a scientific community.

The main contributions of this research are fourfold. Firstly, to the best of the authors' knowledge, it provides the most complete longitudinal analysis about the evolution of IB research topics published so far. Secondly, it extracts relevant information about the evolution of the IB research issues addressed at EIBA’s annual conferences, enabling a 46-year longitudinal perspective on research interests as they emerged. Thirdly, it provides a successful application of topic modelling for the analysis of large volumes of textual data. Fourthly, it addresses the entirety of the text documents, as opposed to specific sections or keywords only, ensuring increased analytical depth.

This teaching case aims to encourage reflection on the formulation of the strategic repositioning of an automotive dealership.

Built on the teaching case method, it portrays the situation of the Premium Motors automotive dealership in the face of a strategic repositioning. Management and the board discuss ways to minimize the impact of the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic on sales figures. The situation presents the possibility of entering a new product segment.

How to make consumers correctly understand the new positioning? The case is structured to enable reflection and teaching of marketing strategies, with each student having the possibility of putting themselves in the role of company managers. The environment and trajectory are also portrayed, broadening the perception of the studied company and providing devices for solving the emerging problems of the case.

The case becomes a tool to promote knowledge, from the implementation to the management of strategic repositioning. Thus, the teaching notes offer directions on how professors can use the teaching case with their undergraduate and graduate students in disciplines related to strategy and marketing.

The office market in São Paulo has been in recession since the year 2000. This situation came up due to two main factors: [i] the very aggressive attitude of developers during the period that comprises the year 1999 until 2000. At that time there was a very strong perception among investors that a new expansion era for new office buildings in São Paulo was about to begin and, moreover the Brazilian economy had started its recovery; [ii] The intense retraction of the Brazilian economy along with the political transition in 2002, which was mainly caused by the deterioration of the expectations in relation to the economic policies that would be performed by the new government.The recovery of the economic activity in the office building market firstly depends on the macroeconomic growth in Brazil and within the São Paulo metropolitan area. On the other hand, the expansion of the activity in the office buildings sector relies not only on the developers’ expectations of how and when the current vacant units will be rented, but also on the potential risk‐return composition of new buildings to be developed in the next years. This paper describes the economic scenario in which investment decisions to build new office buildings for rent in our local market are made and we also simulated both the necessary period of time for investments in the São Paulo office market to recover attractiveness and the time interval for the increase in the occupation rate absorb the actual vacant spaces. These simulations have taken place based on projections for the Brazilian GNP increase and they showed that for an annual increment of 4.5%, in 3 years could be reached both, attractiveness for new investment and occupation of vacant areas. For a 2.0% annual growth, the absorption of vacant spaces will take 4 years from now and new investment would be attractive only in 2012. Besides, we discuss the market prices fluctuations on the inflexion point where the transition from one phase of the real estate cycle (recession‐non attractiveness) to another (recovery‐attractiveness) occurs.

This paper presents a new generative design system to be used by architects in early to intermediate stages of design in order to help improve the environmental performance of buildings. Both thermal and lighting analysis are included in the system, together with methods to incorporate architectural design intentions into the evolutionary process. The generative system was applied to a building by Álvaro Siza in Oporto (Portugal), to test its capability to handle complex architectural designs and to generate solutions within given language restrictions, while still reducing energy consumption levels of the building. Variables studied were fenestration design, shading systems and building shape (roof geometry). The advantages of using rapid prototyping technologies coupled with this generative system are discussed, and an example of the application of a fuse deposition modeling 3D modeler to this specific study is presented.

The purpose of this paper is to clarify whether value created by real estate (RE) companies (tangible intensive firms) can be evaluated better using intellectual capital (IC) elements (human, structural and physical assets) or traditional accounting measures of efficiency (ROIC and profit margins).

Correlations and cross-sectional OLS regressions with robust standard errors were used to find relationships between variables explaining value creation. Data were collected from 2007 to 2011 for Brazilian RE firms. To measure market risk, the authors used a new approach to deal with low liquidity. VAIC and I _j ratios were used as IC proxies even though both have limitations.

IC has a significant inverse relationship with market value. The more valuable companies showed lower levels of IC except for CEE which explains value as much as ROIC. Also, IC does not influence market risk caused by size and leverage and does not explain ROIC.

The limitations of this study result from time and proxy variables. IC was measured by a VAIC model using data from a period of intense volatility. To increase the robustness of the conclusions, other variables should be used as proxies for IC and the results compared. The VAIC model has certain deficiencies in measuring IC.

Managers and investors in the RE sector need to change the way they create value and measure value creation. The low level of HC explaining either ROIC or market value is a signal of low innovation which, combined with high CEE, induces a short-term outlook.

This study opens discussion of IC in the Brazilian RE sector. A new methodology for identifying value creation is necessary for better evaluation and determining the fair value of firms.

This paper aims to propose an automated framework for agile development and simulation of robotic palletizing cells. An automatic offline programming tool, for a variety of robot brands, is also introduced.

This framework, named AdaptPack Studio, offers a custom-built library to assemble virtual models of palletizing cells, quick connect these models by drag and drop, and perform offline programming of robots and factory equipment in short steps.

Simulation and real tests performed showed an improvement in the design, development and operation of robotic palletizing systems. The AdaptPack Studio software was tested and evaluated in a pure simulation case and in a real-world scenario. Results have shown to be concise and accurate, with minor model displacement inaccuracies because of differences between the virtual and real models.

An intuitive drag and drop layout modeling accelerates the design and setup of robotic palletizing cells and automatic offline generation of robot programs. Furthermore, A* based algorithms generate collision-free trajectories, discretized both in the robot joints space and in the Cartesian space. As a consequence, industrial solutions are available for production in record time, increasing the competitiveness of companies using this tool.

The AdaptPack Studio framework includes, on a single package, the possibility to program, simulate and generate the robot code for four different brands of robots. Furthermore, the application is tailored for palletizing applications and specifically includes the components (Building Blocks) of a particular company, which allows a very fast development of new solutions. Furthermore, with the inclusion of the Trajectory Planner, it is possible to automatically develop robot trajectories without collisions.

The purpose of this paper is to present a programming by demonstration (PbD) system based on 3D stereoscopic vision and inertial sensing that provides a cost-effective pose tracking system, even during error-prone situations, such as camera occlusions.

The proposed PbD system is based on the 6D Mimic innovative solution, whose six degrees of freedom marker hardware had to be revised and restructured to accommodate an IMU sensor. Additionally, a new software pipeline was designed to include this new sensing device, seeking the improvement of the overall system’s robustness in stereoscopic vision occlusion situations.

The IMU component and the new software pipeline allow the 6D Mimic system to successfully maintain the pose tracking when the main tracking tool, i.e. the stereoscopic vision, fails. Therefore, the system improves in terms of reliability, robustness, and accuracy which were verified by real experiments.

Based on this proposal, the 6D Mimic system reaches a reliable and low-cost PbD methodology. Therefore, the robot can accurately replicate, on an industrial scale, the artisan level performance of highly skilled shop-floor operators.

To the best of the authors’ knowledge, the sensor fusion between stereoscopic images and IMU applied to robot PbD is a novel approach. The system is entirely designed aiming to reduce costs and taking advantage of an offline processing step for data analysis, filtering and fusion, enhancing the reliability of the PbD system.

This paper aims to propose a translation library capable of generating robots proprietary code after their offline programming has been performed in a software application, named AdaptPack Studio, running over a robot simulation and offline programming software package.

The translation library, named AdaptPack Studio Translator, is capable to generate proprietary code for the Asea Brown Boveri, FANUC, Keller und Knappich Augsburg and Yaskawa Motoman robot brands, after their offline programming has been performed in the AdaptPack Studio application.

Simulation and real tests were performed showing an improvement in the creation, operation, modularity and flexibility of new robotic palletizing systems. In particular, it was verified that the time needed to perform these tasks significantly decreased.

The design and setup of robotics palletizing systems are facilitated by an intuitive offline programming system and by a simple export command to the real robot, independent of its brand. In this way, industrial solutions can be developed faster, in this way, making companies more competitive.

The effort to build a robotic palletizing system is reduced by an intuitive offline programming system (AdaptPack Studio) and the capability to export command to the real robot using the AdaptPack Studio Translator. As a result, companies have an increase in competitiveness with a fast design framework. Furthermore, and to the best of the author’s knowledge, there is also no scientific publication formalizing and describing how to build the translators for industrial robot simulation and offline programming software packages, being this a pioneer publication in this area.

The aim of this study is to identify and characterize kids' menu offer in fast-food and traditional restaurants located in shopping centres in five different countries.

An observational cross-sectional study is carried out, though a study was performed in all restaurants located in shopping centres from main cities, in five countries: Brazil, Chile, Croatia, Hungary and Portugal. A tool for assessing the quality of menus is used for the analysis (Kids Menu Healthy Score (KIMEHS)). Menu prices between countries were compared.

A total of 192 kids' menus were collected, 44 in Portugal, 57 in Brazil, 66 in Chile, 15 in Hungary and 10 in Croatia. All the countries have average negative KIMEHS values for the menus, indicating that the offer is generally poor in terms of healthy options. The cost of children's menus in European countries is generally low. In Brazil, the price is significantly more expensive, which may limit the accessibility by social economically deprived populations. No significant differences were found in the average cost of meals from different restaurants typology. Traditional/Western restaurants present the highest price.

Globally, kids' menus are composed by unhealthy food items, pointing to the need of improvements in food availability, aiming to promote healthy food habits among children.

This study presents innovative data on children's menus, allowing for characterization of meals offered to children and comparison between different countries.

Key points

1. Kids’ menus are composed by unhealthy food items.

2. Improvement of kids' menus quality will promote children food habits.

3. Healthier out-of-home food consumption will contribute to public health.

Kids’ menus are composed by unhealthy food items.

Improvement of kids' menus quality will promote children food habits.

Healthier out-of-home food consumption will contribute to public health.