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- Entrepreneurial ecosystems and entrepreneurial initiative: building a multi-country taxonomyPublication . Pita, Mariana; Costa, Joana; Moreira, AntonioThe main goal of this article is to appraise the existence of different patterns of the Entrepreneurial Ecosystems, to identify its relationship with Entrepreneurial Initiative, and recommend entrepreneurship policies that may influence the growth of entrepreneurial action. Without evidence on entrepreneurial ecosystems landscape and what determinants stimulate entrepreneurship in a given environment, policies could become flawed and miss the target. To address research purposes, the analysis was performed using data extracted from the Global Entrepreneurship Monitor (GEM) Database carried out between 2010 and 2016. To ensure a longitudinal perspective, it was used a balanced panel approach followed by Logistic Regression estimations. The article offers a novel and systematic approach, the Entrepreneurial Ecosystem Taxonomy, to overcome a disaggregated perspective on entrepreneurial ecosystems, between individual and context levels. Empirical findings capture four different country profiles, based on two measures: Entrepreneurial ecosystems and entrepreneurial initiative. The results allow to compare the four groups and appraise significant disparities around entrepreneurship determinants, namely, the education factor. While education is commonly recognized as a positive influence on entrepreneurship, the results suggest a contradictory effect. The existence of differentiated profiles and its determinants points outs the importance of developing specific entrepreneurship policy packages attending group specificities.
- A case study on FMEA-based improvement for managing new product development riskPublication . Moreira, Antonio; Ferreira, Luis Miguel D. F.; Silva, PedroPurpose – The purpose of this paper is to explore the applicability of the failure mode and effects analysis (FMEA) as an effective tool for decreasing failure risk in the early phase of the new product development (NPD), which adds to existing literature on the application of FMEA in NPD. Design/methodology/approach – Through the application of action research (AR) methodology, it was possible to develop a case study examining the use of FMEA to decrease NPD risk in an early phase of NPD execution. Findings – The importance and immediate gains of identifying NPD failures support FMEA’s usefulness for NPD risk decrease. Moreover, its user-friendliness, timeliness and cost advantages facilitate the introduction of FMEA in the early phase of NPD execution. Originality/value – FMEA is a well-known method used in manufacturing companies to identify and correct failures in products, processes and systems. This article explores the lack of practice-oriented evidence on the use of FMEA in the early phase of NPD execution and provides support to its applicability and effectiveness.
- Competitiveness framework to support regional-level decision-making in the wine industry: a systematic literature reviewPublication . Mota, Jorge; Costa, Rui; Moreira, Antonio; Serrão, Silvana; Costa, CarlosThis study aims to identify the main performance indicators and group them in dimensions within a regional competitiveness framework to support decisionmaking in the wine industry. For this research, a systematic literature review (SLR) was conducted in the Scopus database. There is a limited number of studies identifying indicators with impact on the performance of wine regions, and even fewer studies including indicators in an integrated approach to measure the different dimensions of wine regions’ performance. From a set of 85 papers, only 9 studies related to performance indicators with a specific focus on the regional level were considered. We document that under a convention framework, economic and territorial indicators cover 84.90% of all SLR indicators analysed, and under a regional competitiveness framework, infrastructure and innovation and intellectual capital indicators fill 81.25% of all the indicators. As this group of indicators is limited to a set of sub-dimensions, we found that several groups of indicators are misrepresented, such as the ones related to human and socio-cultural capital areas, which play a crucial role in the regional competitiveness of the wine industry. This paper contributes to the literature identifying indicators according to convention and regional competitiveness frameworks in three dimensions – economic, environmental and territorial dimensions and five main areas – productive capital, human capital, socio-cultural capital, infrastructure and intellectual capital. These indicators are to be used at regional-level to support decision-making in the wine industry. For regional entities, it discloses the most pertinent indicators which need improvement to craft regional strategies. This framework is of added value for policymakers to customize their support programmes so that specific producers can enhance their competitive strategies. It could also be deployed in teaching programmes as a tool to address the importance of aligning different types of indicators to achieve better performance in the wine industry.
- As pequenas e médias empresas e o desafio da inovação abertaPublication . Inês, Ana; Pires, Patrícia; Leite, Mariana P.; Moreira, AntonioAs mudanças tecnológicas e de mercado, encetadas por um processo de globalização crescente têm criado uma necessidade nas pequenas e médias empresas (PME) nunca antes sentida: a de concorrerem em mercados mais alargados de forma bem-sucedida. Para tal, as PME terão de se manter competitivas no mercado, adotando práticas que lhes permitem obter conhecimento e recursos que, em conjunto com as suas tecnologias, as diferenciem das restantes. Assim, a inovação aberta é um caminho interessante para todas as PME que procuram complementar os seus recursos e conhecimento internos através de relacionamentos interorganizacionais. Surge então o conceito de inovação aberta, através do qual empresas interagem com o exterior, alterando o paradigma clássico de inovação fechada. Assim, através deste estudo bibliográfico, baseado na análise de 15 artigos sobre inovação aberta em PME foi possível identificar as diferentes estratégias, perspetivas e impacto da inovação aberta nas PME. Claramente, a limitação de recursos tornam as PME mais propícias a interagir com o exterior, de forma a obter novos conhecimento e recursos para alavancarem as suas vantagens competitivas. Foi possível concluir que as PME recorrem fortemente a práticas de inovação aberta, uma vez que, dada a sua dimensão reduzida, não possuem todos os recursos e conhecimento necessários. Os resultados desta análise demonstram ainda que existem fatores internos e externos que influenciam a adoção destas práticas, destacando-se também o papel dos CEO e a importância das redes sociais para aceder a conhecimento criado fora das fronteiras da empresa.
- Social enterprise performance: the role of market and social entrepreneurship orientationsPublication . Pinheiro, Paula; Daniel, Ana; Moreira, AntonioMarket orientation has been presented as an important predictor of business performance, and it is presumed to contribute to long-term success in both profitoriented and non-profit enterprises. Similarly, entrepreneurial orientation is a concept that has been widely applied to business firms but has not been empirically tested in social enterprises. Moreover, the literature does not present a widely accepted and tested conceptual model relating entrepreneurial orientation, market orientation and performance, in the realm of social enterprises. In order to fill this gap, this research assesses how these strategic orientations affect social and economic performance in the setting of social enterprises. Structural equation modeling was used as a means to analyze the hypothesized relationships. After testing the model on a sample of 805 Portuguese social enterprises, the findings show that both social entrepreneurship and market orientations significantly impact social performance. The results also indicate that market orientation mediates the effect of social entrepreneurship orientation on the performance of social enterprises.
- The effect of university missions on entrepreneurial initiative across multiple entrepreneurial ecosystems: evidence from EuropePublication . Pita, Mariana; Costa, Joana; Moreira, AntonioEntrepreneurial universities are a significant element of entrepreneurial ecosystems and aspire to foster entrepreneurial initiative through their “third mission”. However, while entrepreneurial ecosystems are scrutinized using a contextual approach to detect differences and similarities and how they affect entrepreneurship, little is known about how entrepreneurial universities impact entrepreneurial initiatives in general, considering multiple environments. Drawing on entrepreneurial university and entrepreneurial ecosystem theories, a conceptual framework is proposed that aims to explain the effect of the entrepreneurial university on an entrepreneurial initiative through its three “missions”, using an entrepreneurial ecosystem taxonomy. Based on individual data from the Global Entrepreneurship Monitor, this entrepreneurial initiative analyzed 18 European countries in 2017. The results do not generally support the importance of entrepreneurial universities to entrepreneurial initiative. The relevance of entrepreneurial universities increases in more fragile entrepreneurial ecosystems since individuals need support over multiple dimensions. Conversely, the entrepreneurial universities that are embedded in stronger entrepreneurial ecosystems lose relevance and negatively affect the entrepreneurial initiative. Therefore, the value of entrepreneurial universities is reduced when individuals receive greater support from other dimensions. The variations across both groups suggest that the concept of entrepreneurial universities is not a contemporaneous phenomenon; however, their effect is progressively revealed by the maturity of each university’s mission. This perspective substantially changes the understanding of entrepreneurial universities as a thwartwise strategy, suggesting that the universities’ impact is expanded as their missions gradually evolve. Overall, the study contributes to an understanding of the implications for universities that blindly follow entrepreneurship, neglecting the exogenous environment, namely, the entrepreneurial ecosystem and individual drive.
- Unveiling entrepreneurial ecosystems’ transformation: a GEM based portraitPublication . Pita, Mariana; Costa, Joana; Moreira, AntonioEntrepreneurial Ecosystems (EEs) have attracted the attention of academics, practitioners, and policymakers, that attempt to unlock ‘a winning recipe’ considering the different EEs pillars in order to ignite entrepreneurship at large. Therefore, understanding the degree of influence of each pillar on Entrepreneurial Initiative (EI) is helpful in framing more effective policies towards entrepreneurship. This study aims to bring a new facet to entrepreneurship research, specifically on decomposing the transformation of EEs and the influence of EEs pillars on EI. The transformation of EEs is shown by a balanced panel approach based on the Global Entrepreneurship Monitor (GEM) dataset over 8 years (2010–2017), comprising 18 countries. The study has several implications for entrepreneurship theory and practice as well as public policy since discusses three main issues, mainly supported by empirical results. First, the results show an unbalanced influence of EEs pillars on EI. Second, results also show the ineffectiveness of institutions in encouraging the desire to act entrepreneurially. Third, entrepreneurship needs to be part of the acculturation process evidencing the importance of collective normative. Therefore, providing the instruments and structures is not enough to encourage individuals to start an entrepreneurial journey. Generally, the results reveal that contextual determinants are significant in fostering entrepreneurial propensity to start a business. But the impact of the nine pillars is not equalized, revealing a fragmented influence with funding measures, R&D transfer, and cultural and social norms discouraging entrepreneurial initiative. Overall, the study contributes to the understanding of a multidimensional perspective on EEs and points future policy directions to overcome the lack of entrepreneurship and amend flawed entrepreneurship policies.
- Impact of export promotion programs on export performancePublication . Mota, Jorge; Moreira, Antonio; Alves, AlexandraThis research examines the relationship of Export Promotion Programs (EPPs), sponsored by a Portuguese Regional Association for Development on Trade and Industry, with firms’ export performance. To investigate this, two models were applied using panel data analyses that relate export performance to variables such as participation in EPPs, age and size of firms. Data on 198 firms for the sampling period 2010 and 2018 was drawn from a Portuguese Regional Development Association and SABI (Iberian Balance sheet Analysis System) database. The results show that participation in EPPs does have a positive influence on the export performance of firms, especially for those firms with previous export experience, demonstrating the importance of using these programs. Findings also document that firm size relates positively export performance, whereas firms age show a negative effect on export performance, suggesting that larger firms with more resources positively influence exports and an increase in firms’ age may increase their cultural inertia, inability to change strategies, decreasing their export performance, respectively. Finally, the participation in EPPs seems not to influence export performance for firms without previous export experience. The research contributes to the literature providing evidence on the role of EPP on firms’ export performance behavior promoted by regional development associations.
- The influence of ecological concern on green purchase behaviorPublication . Fontes, Eva; Moreira, Antonio; Carlos, VeraThe present paper seeks to address a gap in the literature regarding green marketing and examines the relationship between ecological concern, inward and outward environmental attitudes, purchasing behavior and environmental behavior as antecedents of green purchasing behavior. The data was gathered through an online survey carried out in Portugal with 530 valid answers. Structural Equation Modelling Partial Least Squares (SEM-PLS) was used to evaluate the model. A t-test was applied to identify differences between men and women. The results show that ecological concern, environmental attitude, environmental behavior and purchase intention are good predictors of green purchase behavior. Women scored higher than men on all variables, meaning that they are indeed superior environmentalists than men. Green purchase behavior is strongly influenced by both purchase intention and environmental behavior, so green brands should focus on targeting individuals that already take some actions in what concerns the environment, or to those who intend to do so.
- Enhancing design thinking approaches to innovation through gamificationPublication . Patrício, Rui; Moreira, Antonio; Zurlo, FrancescoPurpose – The paper aims to explore the relationship between gamification and design thinking approach to innovation in the context of the early stage of innovation process (ESoIP). Design thinking is conceptually appropriate to support innovative, complex and uncertain business environments. Still, its practices have demonstrated some difficulties in managing the ESoIP, such as lack of structure and clarity around goals. This paper argues that gamification can enhance and complement design thinking in the management of firms’ ESoIP. Design/methodology/approach – Given the need to achieve a deeper understanding of the linkages between gamification and design thinking, the paper follows an exploratory theory building approach for this complex reality of innovation. The case study research method was conducted in three firms (Trivalor, Novartis and Microsoft) that applied a gamification approach to the ESoIP. Findings – The results demonstrate that gamification has the power to enhance and complement design thinking practices by getting tasks more organized and improving coordination and employees’ engagement in the innovation process. Practical implications – The paper provides critical managerial contributions on how firms can use gamification to improve design thinking approaches to ESoIP. Its consequences are also crucial to innovation, R&D, and product/service development managers interested in using gamification to support the ideation and concept development of new solutions complementing traditional design thinking approaches. Originality/value – Merging the gamification and design thinking approaches is novel, particularly on firms’ ESoIP. The paper provides a comprehensive discussion of design thinking shortcomings and the role that gamification can play in overcoming them.