Browsing by Author "Moreira, Jacinta"
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- Brand and Competitiveness in Health and Wellness TourismPublication . Santos, Eleonora; Crespo, Cátia; Moreira, Jacinta; Castanho, Rui AlexandreHealth and wellness tourism is growing worldwide, triggering a resurgence of competition in this segment and a clear need for the supply to develop new products and services, increasingly creative and exclusive, capable of attracting tourists. Thermal waters in Portugal are considered very rich in terms of chemical composition, which makes their use highly important in various wellness and rejuvenating therapies like balneotherapy, thermalism, etc. This enables the country to pursue a differentiated wellness-related experience product, which is a key determinant of customer loyalty and can play an important role in regional development. Natural resources contribute to the strengths of territories and can be leveraged by marketing tools such as brands. This article intends to draw inferences about the effect of the brand on the competitiveness of the wellness tourism supply, across NUTS II regions of the continent, during the period of ten years, with a special focus on the recent period of the COVID-19 pandemic. With a sample of 10 spas in Portugal, retrieved from SABI database, we analyze the evolution of four competitiveness indicators: market share, productivity, return on investment and talent retention, for 2010–2020, by clusters of firms with and without brand. The correlation analysis between brand and competitiveness indicators suggests a strong positive and significant relationship between brand and market share, in the Centro and Lisbon regions, starting in 2017 and increasing over time. Finally, some recommendations on tourism management are made to improve the competitiveness of the supply.
- Business Strategies and University-Pharmaceutical Industry CollaborationPublication . Santos, Eleonora; Moreira, Jacinta; Castanho, Rui AlexandreThe literature provides plenty of evidence that innovation is a key driver of corporate competitiveness. However, R&D involves many financial resources. Thus, a way to overcome firms’ financial constraints is to form partnerships and collaborations with universities, usually funded by public capital, to achieve strategic corporate objectives. Therefore, and considering that the pharmaceutical industry is the one that most depends on the results of R&D, this article is a case study of how a pharmaceutical company in the Centro region of Portugal, where there is already a health cluster, incorporated the collaboration with the university in its long-term business strategy. We employ a narrative analysis of the media news, to show the management capacity in dealing with numerous and continuous challenges of the present context to continue pursuing the company’s long-term goals. The results show that the corporate strategy is based on two main aspects, on the one hand, collaboration with the university aiming at technological differentiation and, on the other, on the flexibility of production to achieve long term growth. Our contribution to the literature on the subject is twofold. First, we introduce the specific case of the pharmaceutical industry and argue that geographical distance is important to establish collaborations with academia due to the nature of the research (human health) that relies greatly in labs with human experiments. Second, we identify and highlight the role of Innovation prizes and publishing agreements as part of a strategy to attract talents and gain access to innovation, and to retain and increase the number of customers, as well as to improve the company's notoriety and reputation.
- Competitiveness of the Medical Tourism Supply in PortugalPublication . Santos, Eleonora; Moreira, Jacinta; Castanho, Rui Alexandre; Carvalho, Milena; Martins, SusanaSince 2008, government and private hospitals, recognizing the growth potential of specialization in certain medical procedures, started to promote Portugal as a medical tourism destination. As a result, the country is internationally recognized in areas such as oncology, neuroscience, immunology, nanomedicine, and regenerative medicine, and as having an internationally accredited modern healthcare network based on innovation in therapeutic processes and products, qualified professionals, and state-of-the-art equipment. However, previous literature suggests that the lack of cooperation between the stakeholders is major obstacle to international performance. Moreover, the pandemic has caused restrictions to international travels, contributing to the decrease of demand for medical tourism. Thus, this paper analyzes the evolution of the competitiveness of the medical tourism supply during the pandemic. Using an unbalanced panel of 157 private hospitals, collected from SABI for 2011 to 2020, we calculated four performance indicators: market share, return on investment, productivity and talent retention. Results point to the possession of key factors to ensure the success and development of a consolidated supply of medical tourism. The paper makes recommendations on the strategies to increase competitiveness of medical tourism supply
- Corporate Governance and Company Performance: A Comparative Analysis Across Sectors in PortugalPublication . Santos, Eleonora; Moreira, Jacinta; Ribeiro, NeuzaThe assessment of the implementation of the corporate governance practices is important because it contributes to the efficient use of resources and, thus, increases corporate performance. However, the practice of CG in Portugal is below European standards due to several issues related to weak legal protection, concentrated ownership structures, and limited information transparency. Using a panel data of 17 firms listed on PSI20, this chapter investigates the impact of the internal CG mechanisms on corporate performance, in 2014-2018. Results show that the size of the audit committee impacts positively on firm performance. However, the number of independent members of audit committee decreases corporate performance in firms operating in services, and ownership of related parties increases corporate performance. Also, fewer leveraged firms are likely to exhibit better performances. This research provides understanding of the relationships between internal mechanisms of CG and corporate performance by comparing results across groups of sectors.
- Drivers of Productivity in the Portuguese Nature Tourism IndustryPublication . Santos, Eleonora; Lisboa, Inês; Moreira, Jacinta; Ribeiro, NeuzaConsidering the importance of tourism to the world economy, productivity measurement has been raising increasing interest in academia and recognized as critically important for the understanding of the strengths and weaknesses of the tourism sector. Thus, this paper analyses the determinants of firm-level labor productivity of Portuguese nature tourism firms. A fixed effects model was used to analyze the impact of physical capital, human capital, firm size, innovation, competition and agglomeration economies on labor productivity of Portuguese nature tourism firms, for 2014–2017. The sample comprises 369 firms, representing 55% of firms operating in nature tourism in the mainland. Results show that labor productivity is driven by physical capital, suggesting that human resources in nature tourism are more productive when helped by machinery and equipment, for example information technology. By contrast, the negative impact of the number of employees on labor productivity may be triggered by inefficiencies, due to dysfunctions in tourism services with excess of personnel. Also, and in the case of Algarve, the presence of agglomeration economies may hinder labor productivity. Indeed, the existence of many tourism firms in the region and, therefore, several employment opportunities, might dampen the incentive to increase productivity on the part of employees in nature tourism firms. These results can be of significant use to further understand the various dimensions of tourism management.
- Outward investment of Portuguese small and medium enterprises in the Central and Eastern European countries: motivations and challengesPublication . Santos, Eleonora; Moreira, JacintaBackground: This paper identifies the determinant factors of Portuguese investment in Poland, Hungary, and the Czech Republic. We assume that investment abroad is motivated by business opportunities, and the quality-price ratio of the workforce. Methods: To this end, we used a qualitative methodology composed of 6 case studies, based on interviews and surveys with the managers of the Portuguese firms investing in those three economies. Results: Despite the business opportunities, Portuguese investment directed towards these economies is negligible, due, in part, to the geographic and cultural distance. However, the economic and political stability, combined with market size and growth potential are undeniable attraction factors for Portuguese investors. Small and medium enterprises (SMEs), due to their flexible conditions that allow changes in the activity, and the strong trend towards outsourcing, to the detriment of the manufacturing industry, are the primary focus of international investment. This trend, although common to several sectors, has shown greater dynamism in the banking and financial sector. Conclusions: The results suggest market-oriented investments aiming at growth and expansion. The vast Polish market is the one that most attracted Portuguese investors. The hybrid feature of some strategies can align with the cautious attitude towards the investment translated into cooperation agreements with financial institutions for funding, the market learning process, and the training of the personnel. The anticipation of the installation over potential competitors, the experience in production and international markets, the price-quality ratio, the capacity of product adaptation and the design were considered important sources of competitive advantage that motivated the investment. The greatest difficulties during this process were language and the complexity of legislation.
- Regional Competitiveness and the Productivity Performance of Gazelles in Cultural TourismPublication . Santos, Eleonora; Lisboa, Inês; Moreira, Jacinta; Ribeiro, NeuzaThe extant literature reports evidence that the economic performance of regions is driven not by the stagnant majority but by a minority of high-growth firms (HGFs), the so-called gazelles. Regional competitiveness depends on firms’ long-term competitiveness, which depends on labor productivity. Cultural tourism plays a crucial role in national and regional policies because it allows to engage local communities in its activities and provides them a source of income. This paper identifies HGFs operating in cultural tourism in 2014–2018 and analyses their labor productivity across Portuguese regions, relating them with the regional competitiveness. The regional distribution of gazelles in Portugal is uneven, with the Lisbon region concentrating 48%; the Northern region is the location of 26%; while the Centre and Alentejo regions capture 13% of gazelles. Results on Pearson correlations between labor productivity and changes on the Regional Competitiveness Index uncover significant negative links between HGFs average labor productivity and changes in regional competitiveness. However, the results suggest that gazelles have significantly contributed to regional competitiveness through productivity, in 2014–2015. Finally, some suggestions on strategies for promoting cultural tourism are presented.
- The Productivity Puzzle in Cultural Tourism at Regional LevelPublication . Santos, Eleonora; Lisboa, Inês; Moreira, Jacinta; Ribeiro, NeuzaThe distribution of labour productivity of tourism firms across regions has not received considerable attention until now. To address this concern, an empirical analysis at firm level is used to calculate the labour productivity across seven Portuguese NUTS II regions. Using data from 2,866 firms’ financial reports obtained from SABI database, over four years, this paper analyses the regional inequalities and its consequences in terms of economic and tourism development. The findings show that, at the national level, the mean labour productivity has increased around 1.9% on average, from 2015 to 2017 and dropped 3.9% in 2018. At the regional level, the results suggest that firm performance regarding productivity is not related to the dynamics observed in neighbouring regions but to the resources and conditions available in each region separately. Such results confirm the assumption of spatial inequality in the distribution of labour productivity among cultural tourism firms. The results presented in the article can be of significant use to further understand the productivity dimension of tourism production at regional level. Finally, by identifying the areas where tourism management need to be improved, this paper provides suggestions on measures to increase regional productivity, and thus, regional competitiveness.