Repositório Aberto
Repositório Institucional da Universidade Aberta
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The importance of non-financial determinants on public-private partnerships in Europe
Publication . Mota, J.; Moreira, Antonio
In previous work regarding public–private partnership (PPP) arrangements the theoretical rationales and empirical results have mainly focused on analyzing the importance of quantitative features related to budget constraints deriving from public deficits, the existence of an infrastructure gap and the efficiency hypothesis. Thus, this study aims to identify the underlying determinants behind the proliferation and execution of PPPs, emphasizing the importance that non-financial (such as political, legal and macroeconomic) determinants have in establishing a PPP, as well as the factors that enhance the attractiveness of a country to encourage the private sector through PPPs in the European context.
The results of this study show that the macroeconomic environment – represented by economic freedom, competitiveness and the unemployment rate – is essential for PPPs, as well as the legal system, where regulatory quality and effective rule of law are associated with the effective execution of a PPP. The political environment and previous experience of PPPs are also key factors in making a country more attractive for establishing PPPs.
Efficiency and convergence analysis in a women’s clothing retail store chain: evidence from Portugal
Publication . Xavier, J. M.; Moutinho, V. M.; Moreira, Antonio
Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to estimate retailing efficiency in a 26-store women clothing
retail chain and to decompose it in several measures in order to contribute to the performance
improvement of this retail service firm, as well as to compare the efficiency of the different decision
making units.
Design/methodology/approach – This paper uses the following measures to estimate efficiency:
sigma convergence analysis; efficiency analysis; technical efficiency (TE) analysis; pure technical
efficiency (PTE) analysis and scale efficiency (SE) analysis for a set of 26 stores of a women retail
service brand operating in Portugal. A cross-section input-oriented data envelopment analysis (DEA) is used to analyse quarterly data sets from 2010 to 2013.
Findings – The results show that costs with personnel are slightly increasing when analysed using
the sigma convergence method, although there are some geographical differences. Moreover,
it is possible to witness that the retail store chain’s TE diminishes as the operations outputs do not
grow as fast as input savings. On the other hand, there are no SE problems as the levels of SE are
larger than pure efficiency levels.
Research limitations/implications – The main limitation of the study stems from the fact that the
analysis is based on a simple retail chain, which makes it a single case study. Therefore, the
generalisation of the conclusions for other firms or for other periods of analysis should be made
cautiously.
Practical implications – It is shown that some stores have a good TE and other stores have some
SE advantage. As such, it is possible to select some stores as benchmarks to deploy internal efficiency throughout the retail chain.
Originality/value – The contribution of this paper is based on the application of the sigma conversion and DEA techniques to evaluate efficiency in retail service store.
An empirical examination of performance in the clothing retailing industry: a case study
Publication . Xavier, J. Manuel; Moutinho, V. Ferreira; Moreira, Antonio
This article estimates the efficiency of the 40 retail stores of a prestigious clothing company that operates in the Portuguese fast-fashion retailing market. The study compares the performance among the stores and provides insights into ways of improving performance in the retail clothing industry. A two-stage approach is used in this article. In a first stage, Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA) techniques are used to evaluate the performance of each store and to rank the stores. The input-oriented model was used to assess the summer and winter collections between 2010 and 2013. The results show that the total technical efficiency of the company decreases over time. Except for the year 2013, over 90% of the stores show increasing returns to scale during 88% of the period analyzed. The company faces a clear problem of productivity in its retailing operations. This deficiency seems to be intrinsic to the firm as it involves more than 60% of the stores. In a second stage, a quantile regression technique was used. This showed primarily that for the lowest quantiles of the efficiency score conditional distribution the coefficients on experience are very low, even close to zero, which suggests that the efforts taken by the stores in terms of experience are barely recognized by consumers in this fast-fashion retailing chain.
Uma revisão interpretativa sobre o desenvolvimento de novos produtos
Publication . Moreira, Antonio; Karachun, Hanna Leonidivna
Este artigo analisa a literatura científica recentemente produzida na área de desenvolvimento de novos produtos (DNP), de modo a identificar e classificar os principais domínios de conhecimento, possíveis ligações, bem como a natureza dos artigos e ferramentas analíticas utilizadas. Foi feita uma revisão da literatura a 461 artigos sobre DNP, publicados em três revistas de topo entre os anos 2000 e 2010. Foi possível criar 13 categorias principais, nas quais se destacam a inovação, investigação e desenvolvimento, produtos e processos de DNP e equipas de DNP. Os resultados confirmam que o DNP é multifacetado, integra múltiplos conceitos e há transversalidade entre as categorias. Igualmente, há necessidade de complementar as pesquisas qualitativas e quantitativas e de analisar as diferenças entre as pequenas e as grandes empresas.
The influence of supply chain on the innovation process: a systematic literature review
Publication . Zimmermann, Ricardo; Ferreira, Luís Miguel D. F.; Moreira, Antonio
Purpose – The importance of innovation as a generator of competitive advantage and the collaborative nature of this process are recurring themes in the literature. This paper aims to contribute to the improvement of knowledge about the relationship between supply chains and the innovation process by means of a systematic literature review.
Methodology/approach – The method used consists of the identification, selection, analysis and synthesis of existing research on the subject and aims to ensure that the review is transparent, auditable and replicable. This paper presents the analysis of 94 papers from 37 journals and the major contributions are explored.
Findings – The identification and analysis of relevant articles showed the complexity, timeliness and the wide-ranging character of the theme. The analysis of articles allowed the identification of facilitators of the innovation process, as well as five approaches applicable to supply chains to drive
the innovation process. From these analyses, a model synthesising the main practices identified for improving innovation performance is presented.
Research limitations/implications – When carrying out literature reviews, the selection of articles might be considered subjective. To circumvent this limitation, the papers have been assessed by three researchers.
Practical implications – The results presented can be applied in the decision-making process by managers in the areas of innovation and supply chain.
Originality/value – This paper synthesises knowledge involving the relationships between supply chains and the innovation process. The analysis is based on quantitative and qualitative criteria.