Pedro Silva and António Carrizo Moreira
The existing literature suggests that multinational corporations (MNCs) divest subsidiary units whenever they cease to enjoy the advantages of ownership, location or…
Abstract
Purpose
The existing literature suggests that multinational corporations (MNCs) divest subsidiary units whenever they cease to enjoy the advantages of ownership, location or internalization. However, not all MNCs divest under these conditions. This paper aims to explore the factors that contributed to the survival of a particular subsidiary and prevented it from being divested.
Design/methodology/approach
The analysis focuses on an individual subsidiary of a large foreign MNC in the electronics industry, which divested other subsidiaries from Portugal. Data were collected using semi-structured interviews.
Findings
The subsidiary’s diverse customer base, specificity and high level of efficiency, the local advantages, the existing governmental agreements and the parent MNC’s previous unsuccessful relocation experiences seem to have contributed to the survival of the subsidiary.
Research limitations/implications
Although the results of the case study are not generalizable to the entire population of firms, the featured case study is a rare survival success story in the Portuguese electronics industry.
Practical implications
The proposed framework may offer public authorities measures to create conditions to encourage firms to retain their investment in a particular site. For corporate strategists, new perspectives on subsidiary survival are provided.
Originality/value
This paper is one of the few qualitative studies in the field of subsidiary survival. The results offer an integrative framework on which factors contribute to the survival of a subsidiary located on a comparatively unfavorable labor cost location and support the role of the organizational learning and of previous failed relocation experiences and relocation barriers when a parent MNC decides whether to retain a unit.
Details
Keywords
Pedro Tavares, José Lima, Pedro Costa and A. Paulo Moreira
Streamlining automated processes is currently undertaken by developing optimization methods and algorithms for robotic manipulators. This paper aims to present a new approach to…
Abstract
Purpose
Streamlining automated processes is currently undertaken by developing optimization methods and algorithms for robotic manipulators. This paper aims to present a new approach to improve streamlining of automatic processes. This new approach allows for multiple robotic manipulators commonly found in the industrial environment to handle different scenarios, thus providing a high-flexibility solution to automated processes.
Design/methodology/approach
The developed system is based on a spatial discretization methodology capable of describing the surrounding environment of the robot, followed by a novel path-planning algorithm. Gazebo was the simulation engine chosen, and the robotic manipulator used was the Universal Robot 5 (UR5). The proposed system was tested using the premises of two robotic challenges: EuRoC and Amazon Picking Challenge.
Findings
The developed system was able to identify and describe the influence of each joint in the Cartesian space, and it was possible to control multiple robotic manipulators safely regardless of any obstacles in a given scene.
Practical implications
This new system was tested in both real and simulated environments, and data collected showed that this new system performed well in real-life scenarios, such as EuRoC and Amazon Picking Challenge.
Originality/value
The new proposed approach can be valuable in the robotics field with applications in various industrial scenarios, as it provides a flexible solution for multiple robotic manipulator path and motion planning.
Details
Keywords
Mónica Sousa, Maria João Fernandes, José Soares, Pedro Moreira and Vítor Hugo Teixeira
The purpose of this paper is to analyse differences in sociodemographic and sporting characteristics, health-behaviours, and food intake of athletes using and not using…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to analyse differences in sociodemographic and sporting characteristics, health-behaviours, and food intake of athletes using and not using nutritional supplements (NS).
Design/methodology/approach
High-performance Portuguese athletes from 13 sports completed a NS usage questionnaire, assessing information on sociodemographic (sex, age, height, weight, athlete’s, and parental education level), health-related (smoking, daily time of sleeping, walking, and sitting), and sporting (type, number of international performances, weekly hours of training and weekly hours of gym) characteristics; and a semi-quantitative food-frequency questionnaire (86 items), regarding the previous 12 months.
Findings
From the 241 athletes (66 per cent males, 13-37 years), 64 per cent reported NS use. Supplement usage was associated with age 18 years (odds ratio (OR) 2.57, 95 per cent; confidence interval (CI) 1.17-5.65), performing individual sports (OR 5.45, 95 per cent; CI 2.49-11.93) and > 2 h gym/week (OR 2.42, 95 per cent; CI 1.15-5.11), a higher consumption of meat (OR 2.83, 95 per cent; CI 1.36-5.90), eggs (OR 2.53, 95 per cent; CI 1.07-5.96), and yogurt (OR 2.24, 95 per cent; CI 1.08-4.62), and a lower intake of processed meat (OR 0.32, 95 per cent; CI 0.15-0.72), vegetable oils (OR 0.35, 95 per cent; CI 0.17-0.74), margarine (OR 0.37, 95 per cent; CI 0.18-0.76), chips (OR 0.22, 95 per cent; CI 0.10-0.48), and fast food (OR 0.42, 95 per cent; CI 0.19-0.91).
Originality/value
Athletes using NS had different characteristics from non-users, and seemed to have healthier and more sports-oriented food choices. Our findings may help sport and health professionals to identify an alleged or future NS user, enabling the development of a timely and self-directed supplement scheme.
In this chapter, the author provides an overview of some central issues of the book. First she shows the similarities in the challenges to increase the participation and success…
Abstract
In this chapter, the author provides an overview of some central issues of the book. First she shows the similarities in the challenges to increase the participation and success of Roma people in education and lifelong learning in the selected European countries; then she discusses their policies and support programmes, which on the one hand try to improve the social situation of the Roma while promoting minority language and culture on the other hand. The author finds the reason for their similarities regarding the wording, defining and communicating and also concerning the main ideas and concrete projects for possible solutions, in the Roma inclusion policy of the European Union in the frame of the Open Method of Coordination, which has been introduced within the Lisbon Strategy, linked to the idea of lifelong learning. She considers the realisation of these policy measures at national, regional and local levels to have shown only unsatisfactory results until now.
Details
Keywords
Katalin R. Forray and Andrea Óhidy
This introduction from Andrea Óhidy and Katalin R. Forray provides a brief overview of the social and education situation of European Roma and also about the structure of this…
Abstract
This introduction from Andrea Óhidy and Katalin R. Forray provides a brief overview of the social and education situation of European Roma and also about the structure of this book. Roma are here described as a ‘hidden minority’ (see the country study about Italy from Valeria Cavioni), because – although they are the largest minority group living in Europe for more than a hundred years – we still know very little about them. Although most of the Roma people have been living for centuries in European countries, their situation is still different from the non-Roma population; they often suffered from poverty and exclusion. There is a host of Roma, especially in Southern and in Eastern Europe, who is considered to be the most disadvantaged group in European societies, for example, regarding their (1) health situation, (2) on the labour and (3) on the housing market and (4) also in education. Questions of education are the central elements of politics making the situation of Roma better. To fulfil these requirements some European countries have taken determined steps. As Natascha Hofmann in the country study about Germany wrote, we are in the phase of the ‘dawn of learning’ because there are more and more policies and programs to develop attainment and success of Roma in European education and lifelong learning. This book gives an overview about retrospective and prospective tendencies in the situation of European Roma in education and lifelong learning.