Sodium content in foods: Brazilian consumers’ opinions,subjective knowledge and purchase intent

This study attempted to gain insights on Brazilian consumers’ subjective knowledge of sodium content in processed and homemade foods and their purchase intent for products with reduced‐sodium content. A questionnaire was distributed to 409 consumers selected by convenience quota sampling. We found that Brazilian consumers were concerned about the amount of salt (sodium chloride) in the products they consumed, regardless of educational levels, income, age, lifestyles, or health conditions. However, they still considered their consumption to be above WHO‐recommended limits and had little subjective knowledge about the term ‘sodium’. While processed products were considered the main contributors of high‐sodium intake, participants were not concerned about addition of salt at the table and salt in homemade food. The majority of respondents rarely read the sodium content on food labels; however, men and older individuals were more likely to read label information on sodium content. Products with reduced sodium were found to have market appeal, which justifies investments in research to develop these products. Therefore, in addition to the efforts to reduce sodium in the processed‐food industry, it is necessary to promote awareness about the importance of food labelling, especially sodium content, and the need to reduce salt in homemade food and additions during meals.     

Exploring the customer's intention to switch firms: The role of customer‐related antecedents

This study examined the customer‐related antecedents of the customer's intention to switch firms. Customer citizenship behavior was a key element in this study. Scholars have extensively studied the antecedents of customer citizenship behavior. However, the way that customer citizenship behavior relates to other attitudinal variables and the intention to switch has scarcely been analyzed. The proposed hypotheses were verified using partial least squares variance‐based structural equation modeling applied to 947 users of beauty care service firms in five countries. The results suggest that customer citizenship behavior is an antecedent of satisfaction, trust, and attitudinal loyalty. Two of these variables influence customers’ intentions to abandon relationships with the service provider. The implications of these findings enhance managers’ and scholars’ understanding of the determinants of customers’ intentions to switch firms.     

From global start-ups to the borderless firm: Why and how to build a worldwide value system

Although the original concept of international new ventures included the geographic configuration of value activities, the subsequent development of the literature has gradually abandoned the concern about the geographic configuration of both input sourcing and output marketing to concentrate almost exclusively on the latter. Therefore, this paper argues that there is a need to re-focus the research so as to figure out how and why some companies are borderless. Borderless firms are defined as the result of the combination, early on, of geographically dispersed resources and capabilities, defying the home-base logic. A borderless firm presents the following characteristics (or a combination of them) from inception (or shortly thereafter): (i) value-added activities dispersed across different countries and regions; (ii) entrepreneurs not bounded by a home base; (iii) multinational founders and/or management teams; and (iv) a multinational workforce. To enquiry into this issue, the study uses five case studies of borderless firms. The results advance the understanding of the motives and processes behind the development, early on, of a borderless configuration of value activities.     

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.     

Are there nonlinear relationships between the profitability of Portuguese service SME and its specific determinants?

Using quantile regressions, this paper examines the possibility of significant nonlinear relationships between the profitability of Portuguese service small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) and its specific determinants. The results lead to the conclusion that there is a significant nonlinearity between specific determinants and profitability in Portuguese service SMEs. In the lower quantiles of the distribution of profitability of Portuguese SMEs, it is found that profitability on the one hand is catalysed by size, long-term debt and managerial control, and on the other hand, it is restricted by risk and research and development intensity. In the upper quantiles of the profitability distribution of Portuguese service SMEs, liquidity and research and development intensity serve as catalysers of profitability, while long-term debt restricts the level of profitability.     

Myopic Loss Aversion in Brazilian Open Retirement Funds

ABSTRACT

This paper analyzes the relationship between withdrawals from Brazilian open retirement funds, portfolio composition (fixed income or equity) and frequency of statement sending (monthly, quarterly, semiannually or annually). Our results indicate that equity retirement plans present a lower withdrawal index when compared to that of fixed income plans. Furthermore, the higher the statement sending frequency, the lower the withdrawals from open retirement plans. However, withdrawals from equity retirement plans tend to increase when statements are sent to investors more frequently. These phenomena can be explained by behaviorist theories, such as the concept of myopic loss aversion. In a context where loss aversion is present, the more frequently the investor evaluates his or her portfolio, or the shorter the investment horizon, the less attractive he or she will find investment in assets with a high rate of return and risk, such as equities. This behavior occurs not only regarding short-term investments, but also traditional long-term assets such as equity retirement plans.

RESUMEN. Este estudio analiza la relación existente entre las retiradas de los fondos abiertos de jubilación brasileños, la composición de la cartera (ingreso fijo o patrimonio), y la frecuencia del envío de estados financieros (mensual, trimestral, semestral o anualmente). Nuestros resultados indican que los planes de jubilación patrimonial tienen un índice de retirada menor, en comparación con los planes de ingreso fijo. Además, cuanto mayor la frecuencia de los estados financieros, menor es la retirada de los planes abiertos de jubilación. Sin embargo, las retiradas de los planes de jubilación patrimoniales tienden a aumentar cuando los estados se envían a los inversores con más frecuencia. Este fenómeno puede explicarse con las teorías comportamentales, tales como el concepto de la aversión miope a la pérdida. En un contexto donde la aversión a la pérdida es una realidad, cuanto mayor la frecuencia con que el inversor pueda evaluar su carera, o menor el horizonte de inversión, menos atractivas considerará él las inversiones en activos con un alto retorno y riesgo, tal como las acciones. Este comportamiento ocurre no sólo en las inversiones a corto plazo, sino también en los activos a largo plazo, como los planes de jubilación patrimoniales.

RESUMO. Este artigo analisa a relação entre as retiradas dos fundos abertos de aposentadoria brasileiros, a composição da carteira (renda fixa ou ações) e a freqüência da remessa de extratos (mensal, trimestral ou semestral). Nossos resultados indicam que os planos de aposentadoria que aplicam em ações apresentam um índice de retirada menor em comparação com os planos de renda fixa. Além disso, quanto maior a freqüência de remessa de extratos, menores as retiradas dos planos abertos de aposentadoria. Entretanto, as retiradas dos planos de aposentadoria que aplicam em ações tendem a aumentar quando o extrato é enviado aos investidores commais freqüência. Esses fenômenos podem ser explicados por teorias behavioristas, como o conceito de aversão míope à perda. Num contexto onde a aversão à perda esteja presente, quanto maior a freqüência com que o investidor avalia a sua carteira, ou quanto menor o horizonte do investimento, menos atraente ele achará o investimento em ativos com alto retorno e risco, como ações. Esse comportamento ocorre não apenas em investimentos a curto prazo, mas também nos ativos tradicionais de longo prazo como os planos de aposentadoria com aplicação em ações.     

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.     

The Breakdown of Idiosyncratic Volatility Into Expected and Unexpected Components and Its Effects on Stock Returns in Brazil

Based on studies of idiosyncratic volatility developed in the recent literature, this study analyzes its relation with expected returns through the breakdown of idiosyncratic volatility in the Brazilian stock market and presents evidence of the importance of expected idiosyncratic volatility for asset pricing. We study the impact of the expected and unexpected components of idiosyncratic volatility on the returns of shares listed on the BOVESPA between 2004 and 2011. The results show a strong positive and significant relation between expected idiosyncratic volatility and returns. This evidence is highlighted when we use unexpected idiosyncratic volatility to control for unexpected returns. Additional robustness tests, controlling for size and momentum effects, also have positive and significant coefficients, corroborating previous findings.     

Mergers and Acquisitions and Market Volatility of Brazilian Banking Stocks: An Application of GARCH Models

The main objective of this research was to investigate the impacts caused by announcements of mergers and acquisitions (M&As) on the volatility of the returns of Brazilian bank stocks from 1994 to 2015. In order to achieve the proposed objective, this study applied Generalized Autoregressive Conditional Heteroscedastic (GARCH) class models to the series to model their volatility. Our results confirmed the impact of the announcement of M&As on volatility. They suggest that M&A announcements are expected to cause a negative reaction if related to an expansion or a deal involving a less-well known bank, and a positive reaction if it involves well-known bank with good reputation—a higher level of confidence and a lower level of information asymmetry for investors.     

Project Management of Production Line Automation: A Comparative Analysis of Project Management in Brazil and Colombia

This article aims to evaluate the production line automation projects developed by Brazilian and Colombian companies from the Project Management perspective, through the analysis of the application degree of PMBOK processes, to understand how formal techniques are being employed in these countries and also to identify improvement opportunities, when necessary. Data were collected through a survey. The similarity index between the ten processes, with the highest application degree in the Brazilian and Colombian samples, was 70%. For the processes with the lowest application degree, the similarity index was 60%. No similar study was found in the literature.