Teresa Barros

The main purpose of this research is to test the effectiveness of the debt disciplinary effect, proxied by labor productivity, under differing external conditions in the labor market. Specifically, the study focuses on assessing how the debt disciplinary effect is impacted by changes in employment opportunities in 19 European Union (EU) countries and the United Kingdom between 2010 and 2018, highlighting the effects of heterogeneity in labor policies and the impact of the European and Euro Area sovereign debt crisis on unemployment. The empirical specification is derived from a Cobb-Douglas production function and estimated on firm-level microdata from Orbis Europe, Datastream, Eurostat and the OECD, covering 1,938 listed firms in an unbalanced panel of 10,445 firm-year observations. Static and dynamic panel data methodologies are employed to analyze how the relationship between debt and productivity is affected by labor market conditions. The results suggest that the effectiveness of debt as a disciplinary mechanism is amplified when employees face worse employment alternatives in the labor market, and indicate a non-linear, convex relationship between debt and employee productivity within firms. The institutional and cyclical dimensions are consistent with this channel: employment opportunities are scarcer in the more protective legal regimes, where employee productivity is correspondingly higher, and the effect of the sovereign debt crisis is captured by the deterioration of employment opportunities rather than by the crisis period itself.

The main purpose of this research is to examine the significance of green bonds and green banking loans as financing tools for ecologically sustainable projects in the face of increasing worldwide environmental issues. This research seeks to uncover the determinants of both instruments’ issuance and the obstacles to their acceptance. A thorough systematic literature review will be conducted to assess the efficacy of these tools in improving company financial performance and cost of debt, advancing environmental sustainability, and influencing investor behavior. This methodology guarantees a comprehensive and impartial examination of peer-reviewed publications from reputable sources such as Web of Science and Scopus. Although issues such as greenwashing, market liquidity, and regulatory discrepancies still exist, both tools are growing steadily in the sustainable financing spectrum. The results also suggest that both instruments are influenced by several factors, often overlapping due to their common focus on financing sustainable projects. The credit rating, financial health, and overall environmental performance of the issuing entity significantly influence the attractiveness and pricing of green bonds, as do the market conditions, regulatory frameworks, and certification. The environmental profile and creditworthiness of the borrower are key determinants for green banking loans. The review enhances the current body of knowledge by presenting a theoretical structure for comprehending the dynamics of green debt markets and proposing practical recommendations for policymakers and financial institutions. Furthermore, it emphasizes the deficiencies in existing research, including the need for further longitudinal investigations into green bank loans and a more thorough examination of the notion of ‘greenium’. We searched Web of Science and Scopus up to 26 April 2024. Eligibility criteria included peer-reviewed English-language studies on green bonds or green banking loans. After screening, 128 studies were found to have met the inclusion criteria.

Porto and São João da Madeira are cities in the metropolitan area of Porto – Portugal. They are quite different regarding dimension and number of inhabitants. Nevertheless, they are considered as attractive for businesses, workers, and tourists. This study aims to analyse how the internal stakeholders of both cities relate to the place brand. An extended literature review of place branding was pursued to select the most relevant variables. Interviews and questionnaires were conducted. Findings concluded that the adopted place branding strategy influences the quality of life of the internal stakeholders, their level of engagement and their relationship with the local institutions.

Communication is crucial. Several authors emphasize the role of the project managers’ communication with teams, and the importance of the project management teams’ on the success of projects. The purpose of this paper is to analyze the influence of the communication styles of the project managers’ on the teams’ motivation and con-sequently on the success of projects. Therefore, the literature was reviewed and exploratory research was developed using a qualitative methodology (content analysis of eight semi-structured interviews). A conceptual framework was developed. The results suggest that communication style and leadership are related and impact teams` motivation and consequently on projects’ success.

This paper aims to identify and analyze project management maturity models in order to identify those best suited to be adopted in construction firms. To do so, models from papers available in academic repositories were analyzed. To be successful, the construction business deeply depends on projects outcomes; thus, the implementation of project management maturity models is important for this sector. A maturity model is a valuable technique to assess project management capabilities within a single part of an organization or to assess an organization as a whole. Its main purpose is to provide a means to create a more organized and predictable way for organizations to achieve their goals, increasing their chances of success regarding the outputs, outcomes, and benefits. In this paper, documentary research was performed to identify available project management maturity models and togather information about their performance. The information gathered was used to find elements to be compared with the identified models. Reviewing the literature, 39 project management maturity models were identified. The authors selected two PMMMs that were well fitted to assess the project management capabilities in construction firms: OPM3 and MMGP Prado.

This paper aims to (1) compare consumers’ preferences between individual products and bundles as well as (2) investigate some of the factors involved in bundle characteristics that may affect consumer’s preferences. Those factors are complementarity, price level, and discount level. An online survey developed by means of questionnaires were collected from the Portuguese population. Student’s t-tests were used to test the hypothesis formulated and to analyze the consumers’ preferences. The findings corroborate that in a scenario where the bundle does not offer any discounts, preference of individual products is higher. When a 20% discount is assigned to bundles, the overall preference for individual products is still superior. By offering a discount level of 45%, the overall preference for bundles becomes higher. The positive effect of complementarity bundles valuation is confirmed. This is the first approach to evaluate the preferences between bundles and individual products in the Portuguese market. The findings contribute to clarify the customer map within a Business Model Canvas. Furthermore, this paper analyzes the bundle complementarity and discount level effects simultaneously.

The current literature focuses on the cocreation of brands in dynamic contexts, but the impact of the relationships among brands on branding is poorly documented. To address this gap a concept is proposed concerning the relationships between brands and a model is developed, showing the influence of the latter on the identity and reputation of brands. Therefore, the goal of this study is to develop a brand relationships concept and to build a framework relating it with corporate brand identity and reputation, in a higher consumer involvement context like higher education. Structural equation modelling (SEM) was used for this purpose. In line with this, interviews, cooperatively developed by higher education lecturers and brand managers, were carried out with focus groups of higher education students, and questionnaires conducted, with 216 complete surveys obtained. Data are analyzed using confirmatory factor analysis and structural equation modelling. Results demonstrate that the concept of brand relationships comprises three dimensions: trust, commitment, and motivation. The structural model reveals robustness regarding the selected fit indicators, demonstrating that the relationships between brands influence brand identity and reputation. This suggests that managers must choose and promote brand relationships that gel with the identity and reputation of the primary brand they manage, to develop an integrated balanced product range.

This paper investigated the impact of employee quality on corporate social responsibility (CSR). Based on data from China A-share-listed companies for the years 2012–2016 and using ordinary least squares, our empirical results show that the educational level of the workforce, as a proxy for employee quality, is positively associated with CSR, which suggests that higher education can promote CSR implementation. Additional analyses found that this positive relationship is more pronounced in non-state-owned enterprises, enterprises in regions with lower marketisation processes, and firms with lower proportions of independent directors. This study extends the literature on human capital at the level of firms’ entire workforce and CSR by elaborating the positive effect of employee quality on CSR in the context of an emerging economy (China). The results suggest that it is necessary to consider the educational level of employees when analysing CSR, which is of strategic significance for corporate sustainable development.