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- Internationalization in health services: major challegesPublication . Castro, Andreia; Alves, Cláudia; Fernandes, Vera; Moreira, AntonioThe purpose of this chapter is to review the literature on health services internationalization and to identify the most addressed themes using the Scopus platform. Six articles were analyzed in detail and contributed to the results and discussion. The literature was found to highlight the internationalization of medical services mainly in developed countries. However, emerging countries have felt the need to adapt their services to international competitiveness. The potential of these initiatives has encouraged governments to restructure their hospital infrastructure. This growth, in the countries of origin, is a consequence of outdated, slower, and overloaded services and the difficulty of access to alternative treatments. This study summarizes the reasons, motives, and decision-making processes that lead patients to opt for services outside their home country.
- Single minute exchange of die: a case study implementationPublication . Moreira, Antonio; Pais, Gil Campos SilvaThe Single Minute Exchange of Die (SMED), a process-based innovation originally published in the mid 1980s, involves the separation and conversion of internal setup operations into external ones. Although very important in increasing productivity SMED experiences are not very widespread in Ibero-America. Accordingly, this article has as its main objective to contribute to the literature addressing this less studied topic: SMED. A case study was put forward emphasizing a process-based view. The main finding is that by implementing SMED techniques the firm managed to eliminate wastefulness and non-added value activities worth around 360 000€, which is about 2% of the firm’s sales volume.
- Evaluation of a collaborative strategy: a case study in the Port wine industryPublication . Moreira, Antonio; Moutinho, Victor Ferreira; Pereira, José da CostaThe rapid and all-encompassing changes in regional and world wine markets have stimulated us to carry out this study. Accordingly, based on the competitiveness of an important Port wine producer in Portugal, this article analyzes a strategic alliance between this company and another important multinational one that is present in many different worldwide distribution markets. Basically, the article seeks to understand, on the one side, the impact of a strategic alliance on a small Port wine producer when becoming involved with a multinational company, and, on the other hand, to identify differences, before and after the alliance, to the markets where the small company was made present. This work is centered on a case study and involves the use of econometrics methodologies that analyze panel data, in order to grasp differences of strategic pre- and post-alliance actions. The conclusions are important, since they allow one to compare, on one hand, difference between the company´s performance over two different time horizons. On the other hand, econometrics methods are robust, since they allow one to come to relational conclusions, keeping the case study in mind.
- International brands and corporate strategy: a case study in the Portuguese wine industryPublication . Reis, Ana Paula Marques; Santo, Inês Sá Espírito; Costa, Rosa Margarida Conde; Moreira, AntonioAlthough there is a huge debate on the reasons for internationalization, the strength of brands and branding are not among the most studied aspects in the literature. For companies, brands are valuable assets and branding may be used as a sign of quality leading consumers to repurchase the brand and an increasing market entry barrier for competitors, an important aspect is that branding underpins relational strategies, especially in the wine market. To understand the importance of brands as enablers of international strategies, namely its international positioning, a case study was developed seeking to understand the role of brands in the internationalization of Sogrape, a leading Portuguese company in the wine industry. Analizing Sogrape’s main brands, in terms of their performance in national and international markets, it is possible to conclude that branding plays a crucial role in the internationalization of Sogrape, segmentation and positioning strategies being extremely important for synchronizing and leveraging the national market with the outwards expansion of the firm.
- Ownership concentration, contestability, family firms, and capital structurePublication . Santos, M. S.; Moreira, Antonio; Vieira, E.S.This study analyses the distribution of power among the several blockholders of a firm and the identity of those blockholders as a determinant of firm leverage. Using a sample of 694 firms from 12 Western European countries, our results support a negative relationship between ownership concentration in the hands of the main blockholder and firm leverage. Moreover, we detect that the presence of a second and third large shareholder (beyond the first blockholder) has a significant positive effect on the leverage ratio. In addition, the results show that contestability in family firms plays a more relevant role. Finally, we show that family firms do have significant impact on firm leverage level, and this impact varies depending on the legal framework and institutional environment. In our main sample the results show family firms negatively affect market leverage, supporting the theory that family firms are more averse to an increase in the debt level due to the risk of bankruptcy and financial distress as a result of having an under-diversified portfolio. In contrast, the opposite effect is found in the sample that excludes the United Kingdom. This last result cannot be explained by agency theory, given that family businesses are those that suffer less from Type I agency problems. This result suggests either some difficulty in financing their investments by issuing new equity or the need to use debt as a signal of the quality of its investments. Our results prove to be stable against a battery of robustness tests.
- Do regulatory mechanisms promote competition and mitigate market power?: evidence from spanish electricity marketPublication . Moutinho, V.; Moreira, Antonio; Mota, J.This paper estimates t e relationships between bidding quantities, marginal cost and market power measures in the Spanish wholesale electricity market for two different regulatory periods: 2002–2005 and 2006–2007. Using panel econometric techniques we find differences in the impacts on bidding strategies for both periods. Hence, the marginal cost and the market power measures affect bid and net quantities. The market power measures also suggest that the coefficient is consistently positive and highly significant for both periods. Moreover, the market power and marginal costs have mixed effects according to the models proposed for both periods. In addition, our results point to the effectiveness of the different effects of mitigating the market power in the Spanish electricity market. For the 2006–2007 period, the proposed causal relationships are partially validated by the cointegration results, which assumes there is a significant causality between the Lerner Index and the marginal cost.
- The crucial relationship among energy commodity prices: evidence from the spanish electricity marketPublication . Moutinho, V.; Vieira, J.; Moreira, AntonioThe main purpose of this article is twofold to analyze: (a) the long-term relation among the commodities prices and between spot electricity market price and commodity prices, and (b) the short-term dynamics among commodity prices and between electricity prices and commodity prices. Data between 2002 and 2005 from the Spanish electricity market was used. Econometric methods were used in the analysis of the commodity spot price, namely the vector autoregression model, the vector error correction model and the granger causality test. The co-integration approach was used to analyze the long-term relationship between the common stochastic trends of four fossil fuel prices. One of the findings in the long-term relation is that the prices of fuel and the prices of Brent are intertwined, though the prices of Brent ten to ‘‘move’’ to reestablish the price equilibrium. Another finding is that the price of electricity is explained by the evolution of the natural gas series.
- Evaluating the strategic supply per power plant: evidence from the spanish wholesale electricity marketPublication . Moutinho, V. M. F.; Moreira, Antonio; Mota, J. H.This paper analyses the relationship among marginal costs per power plant, fossil fuel prices and electricity bidding quantities in the Spanish electricity market. The results of the panel cointegration and Granger causality methods clearly indicate a differential impact of fossil fuel prices on power plants marginal costs, with a positive effect for gas power plants. The biggest negative impact on marginal costs is seen for coal technology. As a consequence of the characteristics of different production technologies, the set of marginal costs across the sample is based on coal power plants, although Endesa and Iberdrola’s marginal costs are predominantly based on gas power plants. Operating costs for hydroelectric power plants are very low when Endesa, since this technology is strongly dependent on the volatility of commodity markets and on the supply chain and production costs management.
- Challenges of the internationalization strategy of a technology-based international new venturePublication . Fernandes, Luciana C.; Pereira, Cristiana; Moreira, Antonio; Teixeira, N.; Costa, T.; Lisboa, I.The present study seeks to analyze the behavior of a technological start-up regarding its entry modes in foreign markets. It is based on the case study of a company in the field of 3D printing and takes into account the analysis of topics such as the internationalization of start-ups and modes of entry in foreign markets, considering several theories of internationalization. As the company analyzed is a start-up, the research is supported by the analysis of the characteristics present in the process of internationalization of small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). The study closes with the conclusion that this SME matches the profile of an International New Venture/Born Global (INV/BG), although the company takes advantage of the network-based theory and relationship orientation to enter international markets. The most used mode of entry by the company in international markets has been exporting activities.
- Exploring female entrepreneurship: addressing some misconceptionsPublication . Zakria, Muhammad; santos, Paulo Miguel Vila Nova dos; Moreira, Antonio; Mota, Jorge; Elisabete Pereira; P. PaoliniThis chapter addresses some of the misconceptions regarding female entrepreneurship and how different notions in different contexts lay the ground for further misalignments in the entrepreneurial process. It also addresses how contextual issues affect social and economic underpinnings in different countries. Stereotypes in traditional and modern societies and the barriers to gender equality results in unequal distribution of resources, which are further reflected on the characteristics of entrepreneurs leading to potential hindrances to female entrepreneurship from contextual issue. The need to recognize the diversity that exists among different contexts and the level of impact on female entrepreneurship is reflected on society. Finally, the chapter offers a tentative outlook for further research into female entrepreneurship through the discussion of contextual issues and conclusions.