Characteristics of Portuguese public‐sector project managers: Toward closing the effectiveness gap

Using a sample of 102 Portuguese public‐sector officials with project management experience, this study examines the characteristics of effective project managers in the Portuguese public sector. Factor‐analysis procedures are used to identify the factors related to areas of knowledge relevant to effective project management. The results appear to stress the increasing importance of people, organizational, and leadership skills in the effective management of today's complex and dynamic projects.     

The Relationship between Brand Attachment and Consumers' Emotional Well-Being

The purpose of the study was to examine the relationship between brand attachment and emotional well-being of consumers based on the need for personal image management and feelings of arrogant pride. A study of 107 consumers of the Calvin Klein brand was performed. Data were analyzed using the structural equations modeling technique. The results indicated a positive relationship between brand attachment and emotional well-being of consumers. A relationship was also identified between brand attachment, image management, and emotional well-being, and brand attachment and arrogant pride. No relationship was identified between arrogant pride and emotional well-being.     

2004年加拿大预防血透病人医院血流感染的成本-效益分析

目的：血液透析相关的血流感染是一个严重的公共健康问题,因为加拿大的血液透析病人从1996年到2005翻了一番。本研究目的在于确定加拿大医院血流感染的成本,估算在综合性医院中建立感染控制项目的成本,并进行成本-效益分析。材料与方法：用加拿大医院感染监测项目的数据来估算医院血流感染的发生率。用加拿大健康信息所数据来估算2004年加拿大平均一次血流感染住院的额外成本。建立和维护一个感染控制项目的成本用美国疾病预防与控制中心1985年的成本换算为2004年的加拿大成本来估算。假设感染控制项目能降低医院血流感染病例的20％～30％。结果：2004年的加拿大15278名血液透析病人中估计共有2524人发生血流感染。全年用于治疗血流感染的成本估计为4901万加元。医院血流感染预防和人力资源的总投资成本为815万加元。建立医院感染控制项目后能带来1452万加元的医疗成本节约。效益成本比在1．0：1到1．8：1之间。结论：本研究提供的证据表明,如果医院感染控制项目能降低20％～30％的感染,该项目的经济效益将远超过增加的成本。医院感染控制项目将带来双重效益：节约货币成本的同时改善医疗质量。     

Does the digital divide matter? The role of information and communication technology in cross-country level and growth estimates

The bulk of information and communication technology is made of weightless, implementable, and infinitely reproducible knowledge products (such as software and databases). These products are transferred by telephone lines, accessed through internet hosts, and processed through personal computers. In this work, the coefficient of the labour augmenting factor in the aggregate production function has been estimated using proxies of variables crucially affecting the diffusion of (non-rival and almost non-excludable) knowledge products. This specification provides interesting answers to some of the open issues in the existing growth literature. The most recent information, though available for a limited period, shows that telephone lines, personal computers, mobile phones, and internet hosts significantly affect levels and growth of income per worker across countries. The result is robust to changes in sample composition, econometric specification, and estimation approach.     

Life beyond the Washington Consensus: An Introduction to Pro-poor Macroeconomic Policies

Abstract

This paper develops a rationale for the recession-induced inflation hypothesis. Within a conflicting claims framework we present a model in which both price leaders and organized workers set their nominal prices on the basis of a desired profit rate and a real wage target respectively. We argue that an absolute cost advantage in concentrated industries (for instance in fixed costs) may provide oligopolistic leaders sufficient margin to raise prices and restore a desired level of profitability during a recession. The resultizng unstable income distribution will set off an inflationary spiral if the firm's advantage in selling its output imparts an upward bias to the flexibility of input prices (specifically wages). Taking into consideration different scenarios for workers' bargaining power we present a simple simulation experiment to analyze the inflation and real wage paths of the economy after a negative output shock. When we endogenize output, we show that for a high degree of the bargaining power, output is likely to converge to a higher steady-state value.     

The Innovation Process and the Development of a Sustainability Strategy

ABSTRACT

This article analyzes what influences a firm's choice of strategy—why some firms stick to defensive strategies while others rely on offensive ones. With this in mind a survey was conducted on mineral sector companies associated with the Brazilian Mining Institute. The results show that the majority of companies use an offensive strategy and that some companies use more than one strategy at the same time. That is, they possess a corporate strategy and a sustainability strategy.     

Discerning competitive strategy through an assessment of competitive methods

This cross-sectional study of Portuguese service organizations seeks to determine the level of alignment of competitive methods with strategy typologies covered in the business literature. Surveyed firms were asked to indicate their level of utilization of several competitive methods. The results of factor analysis of the survey data indicate that 30 of the 33 competitive methods covered in this study represent seven underlying strategy dimensions. Further analysis revealed that there is some congruence between the derived strategy dimensions and established strategy typologies in the literature. Cluster analysis revealed that each of the responding firms could be classified into one of four hybrid or mixed strategy orientations. However, differences in strategy orientation were not statistically significant in explaining differences in the financial performance of these organizations. These findings are discussed in the light of their implications for strategy development, strategy choices and performance evaluation in the Portuguese service sector.     

Stability under learning: The endogenous growth problem

A local dynamic analysis, in the neighborhood of the steady state, is developed for one and two-sector endogenous growth models. The problem differs from the conventionally assumed growth setups because one considers that expectations concerning the next period value of the control variable (consumption) are formed through adaptive learning. In such scenario, the found stability conditions reveal that convergence to the unique steady state point is feasible if a minimum requirement regarding the quality of learning in the long run equilibrium is fulfilled. Therefore, stability of growth under learning is dependent on the efficiency with which expectations are generated.     

Quantitative properties of sovereign default models: Solution methods matter

We study the sovereign default model that has been used to account for the cyclical behavior of interest rates in emerging market economies. This model is often solved using the discrete state space technique with evenly spaced grid points. We show that this method necessitates a large number of grid points to avoid generating spurious interest rate movements. This makes the discrete state technique significantly more inefficient than using Chebyshev polynomials or cubic spline interpolation to approximate the value functions. We show that the inefficiency of the discrete state space technique is more severe for parameterizations that feature a high sensitivity of the bond price to the borrowing level for the borrowing levels that are observed more frequently in the simulations. In addition, we find that the efficiency of the discrete state space technique can be greatly improved by (i) finding the equilibrium as the limit of the equilibrium of the finite-horizon version of the model, instead of iterating separately on the value and bond price functions and (ii) concentrating grid points in asset levels at which the bond price is more sensitive to the borrowing level and in levels that are observed more often in the model simulations. Our analysis is also relevant for the study of other credit markets.     

Capital services estimates in Portuguese industries, 1977–2003

This paper presents capital services estimates for 26 Portuguese industries for the 1977–2003 period. The estimation procedure follows an integrated approach under which the flows of capital services are approximated as a proportion of the capital stock converted into standard efficiency units. Our findings suggest a close proximity between the evolution of capital flows and the observed fluctuations of Portuguese macroeconomic growth. TFP growth estimates based on growth accounting reveal, furthermore, a very disappointing performance of the Portuguese economy during the period under study, with an average annual rate of TFP growth of 0.8% being observed. Performance varies across industries, but the bulk of activities show very modest rates of TFP growth.