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The purpose of this paper is to analyze the impacts of Portfolio size effect due to scaling issues in the outcome obtained in a project portfolio selection for an electricity company in Brazil, focusing on improving business strategic performance.

The study uses a web-based decision support system (DSS), in which scaling issues are considered, incorporating results of previous work. The study evaluates 32 projects from the electricity company and compared the possible results when considering different scales. Additionally, a sensitivity analysis was conducted to analyze the robustness of the case, using the web-based DSS.

The results for an interval scale context showed a portfolio with 21 projects, contrasting with the correct solution of a portfolio containing 23 projects. The latter is related to a ratio scale context, with the proper transformation of weights, which was found to be robust with a sensitivity analysis using Monte Carlo simulation. This demonstrates that only appropriate models for selecting projects can improve the contribution to the company’s permanent strategies of increasing productivity, considering its constraints to achieve optimal results.

Additive value functions approach imposes certain requirements on the measurement scales used for the items in a portfolio that should not be ignored, once they have significant impact on the general portfolio results, which are directly related to the business strategic performance and the facilities of doing that with a web-based DSS.

We examine how knowledge‐intensive firms modify their organizational knowledge bases in the context of mobility of researchers. Building on a dynamic capabilities perspective, we propose a conceptual model of firm knowledge base dynamics that clearly distinguishes between two mechanisms: (1) changes in a firm’s pool of researchers and (2) a firm’s ability to reconfigure knowledge. Our model posits that these two mechanisms interact to affect the type of variation in a firm’s knowledge base and elucidates how firms deploy knowledge from different domains.

This paper aims to examine the interdependence of financial decisions (investment, financing, dividends and cash-holding) under financial constraints.

The authors specify and estimate a system of simultaneous equations with panel data and firm fixed effects by three-stage least squares in a sample of firms from 62 countries from 1996 to 2010.

The main findings largely corroborate previous studies regarding the interdependence of financial decisions. The authors also find evidence suggesting that financial constraints have a major impact on firms’ financial decisions. The results also suggest that financial constraints manifest themselves in virtually all firms, indicating that such constraints are a matter of degree and not of kind.

Implications regarding the impact of cash flows on investment and cash-holding decisions are only partially confirmed.

The results are consistent with the hypothesis that financial constraints distort the financial policies of firms. For the purpose of formulating policies that reduce these distortions, the authors emphasize the role of the availability of internal funds and the recoverable fraction of assets in easing financial constraints, thus allowing for greater investment on the part of firms.

The results suggest that regulators should promote policies that reduce the dependence of corporate investment on internally generated cash flows.

Unlike previous studies, the authors account for the direct impact endogenous variables could have on each other. In addition, they explore the impact of each country’s particular legal environment on the pledgeability of assets at the company level.

The purpose of this paper is threefold: first, to test the role of the managerial team’s commitment to quality deployment, quality performance and firm performance; second, to shed light on the effects of a certified quality management system on this chain; and third, to analyze the effects of changes in this chain on different management team attitudes, namely, innovativeness.

Based on a survey conducted in a sample of 370 hotels from the region of Madrid (Spain), the model and hypotheses were validated using structural equation modeling analysis.

The results reveal the importance of a commitment to quality for quality deployment. In addition, quality deployment has a strong impact on operations and employee and customer performance. However, only impacts derived from customers’ perceptions of service quality affect firm performance. In addition, a contextual analysis was performed to verify whether various contextual factors (certification in a quality management standard and the innovative attitude of the management team) could modify the previously obtained results for the full sample.

The management team should understand that its attitude toward quality management could affect the company’s overall performance. On the one hand, the team should be aware that the cost of implementing quality practices could be a burden for employees in the performance of their daily activities. On the other hand, there is a positive relationship between involvement in addressing customers’ requirements and financial performance. Therefore, a balance between the efforts to maintain a certain level of quality by the firm’s employees and the service quality offered to the customers is crucial to achieving better financial performance.

The impact of the implementation of quality management practices on performance has been widely studied; however, the role of intangible factors has not been commonly discussed in service industries in general and even less so in the hospitality sector. This paper analyses the influence of the quality management team’s attitudes toward innovativeness and the implementation of a quality management standard.

Due to the fact that crime and violence affect the economy and the business environment, and since the economic environment affects entrepreneurs' expectations and therefore their decisions, this study analyzes the effect of both violence and crime on the confidence of entrepreneurs from the state of Rio de Janeiro.

Making use of time series methodology, the authors provide OLS and GMM estimates for the effects of violence and crime on the business confidence index of entrepreneurs in Rio de Janeiro. The analysis of the Rio de Janeiro case is relevant since Rio de Janeiro is the second state, after São Paulo, with the largest participation in the Brazilian GDP, and crime and violence have very high indicators in this state. The analysis comprises the period between January 2012 and July 2018 (monthly data).

The results suggest that violence and crime negatively impact business confidence in Rio de Janeiro. The estimates reveal that, among all economic and noneconomic variables, the third variable with the greatest impact on business confidence is “cargo thefts.” An increase of one standard deviation in this variable reduces business confidence by approximately 2.48 basis points, while increases of one standard deviation in “violent deaths,” “commerce thefts” and “extortion” reduce business confidence by approximately 1.24, 1.46 and 1.47 bp, respectively. The impacts caused by these violence and crime variables are greater than the effect caused by an increase of one standard deviation in the real interest rate.

The findings reveal that a stable economic environment with economic growth is as important to business confidence as the adoption of policies aimed at increasing public security through the fight against crime and violence.

If on the one hand the literature provides evidence that crime is harmful to the economy, on the other hand no study has so far analyzed the impact of crime and violence on business confidence. This type of analysis is relevant since confidence is an important aspect in the expectation formation process and thus to production and investment decisions and economic activity. Thus, this study is the first to analyze the effects of crime and violence on business confidence and consequently, the first to explore the consequences of crime on the economy through the expectations channel.

The purpose of this paper is to obtain a list of recommendations addressed by the information technology (IT) governance enablers in relation to IoT implementation. The reason behind this it is the lack of information about these instances which could the organizations to be more effective when implementing IoT.

The objectives will be obtained using the methodology – systematic literature review.

During the research, a list of recommendations was created on each IT governance enabler in relation to IoT implementation, showing the flaws that exist at the literature level for each enabler.

The state of art of this research is a creation of a list of recommendations according to IT governance enablers to be applied on an IoT implementation.

The objective of this paper is to increase understanding of social media in international business context. To this end, the authors make an attempt to integrate the existing, still somewhat limited views in a framework that advances the knowledge of scholars and decision-makers on this topic.

The authors conduct a conceptual study supported by use of a systematic literature review method.

This study shows marketing as a dominant area of discussion and reveals that many firm functions where social media plays a role have received relatively little attention. Furthermore, the study shows that the positive features of social media in international activity tend to be more widely acknowledged and better understood than the potentially problematic aspects.

The number of articles analyzed in this study was relatively small, resonating with the nature of an emerging research area. Research on social media has only taken off over the last years, and it is understandable that there is limited research that connects it specifically to phenomena of international business.

This study reminds managers to be cautious when using social media in international markets. The relationship between social media and international business exhibits dynamism and is dependent on a variety of factors. Social media does not come without costs, nor is easily transferred from one market to another. Efficient use of this media in the international context may increase the need of specific and qualified human resources, and it may necessitate having the whole process from R&D to delivery, and beyond, ready for adaptation.

It can be argued that we know too little about the relevant factors and relationships between social media and international business. The authors hope that this study revealing the scarcely studied aspects and suggesting a tentative framework for capturing the dynamics of social media and international business can guide subsequent research and accelerate its emergence.

This study aims to understand the production of consent to precarious working conditions in administration students' internship experiences.

A total of 13 students of an undergraduate program in Business Administration in a private university were interviewed. The students' perceptions about the dynamics of the internship and their engagement in this experience were explored through thematic analysis.

Internships became more than spaces to learn about the world of work. They are also the locus of professional socialization toward precarious work. The detachment of internships from their educational scope is mediated by neonormative control mechanisms that subjectively mobilize the interns, producing the institutionalization and appreciation of the precarious experience, resignified as something that leads to autonomy, learning and a job position.

The article can help students, universities and companies to assess the role of internships in training future professionals.

The research problematizes the internship as a form of professional socialization toward precarious work and its detachment from the original educational purpose. The article critically contributes to the debate about the current professional socialization process of young students.

The article highlights the subjective dimension that supports students' consent to dysfunctional internships, discussing both the experience of work precariousness and exploitation, and the terms of the students' engagement in such dynamics, bridging consent to neonormative controls.

The purpose of this paper is to examine the impact of the two diversification strategies on firms' propensity to save cash out of cash flow.

The author examines the quarterly data of Compustat's active and research firms from the first quarter of 1999 to the last quarter of 2005, with a sample size of more than 79,000 firm quarters. A two‐step GMM Instrumental Variable regression of change in cash holdings, on variables that measure the degree of industrial as well as international diversification strategies, is employed to investigate whether each diversification strategy alleviates or exacerbates firm's propensity to save cash out of its cash flows.

Evidence is found that industrial diversification mitigates the propensity of firms to save cash out of their cash flows. When the sample is partitioned into financially constrained and financially non‐constrained firms, industrial diversification reduces propensity of firms to save cash out of cash flows for financially constrained firms but not for financially non‐constrained firms. On the other hand, the results do not indicate any impact of international diversification on the sensitivity of cash to cash flows.

The paper tests, empirically, whether international and industrial diversification strategies affect the propensity of firms to save cash out of their cash flow.

The purpose of this paper is to explore management decisions during the ongoing financial crisis from a gender perspective.

An empirical analysis was conducted using a sample of 132 personal surveys involving managers of independent small travel agencies. Findings were extracted using a logistic regression analysis.

This paper finds some significant gender differences in strategic management decisions in crisis times and in strategic choices. Nevertheless, no differences were found in organizational performance.

The research covers travel agencies in Madrid, Spain. Thus, findings might be restricted to this specific sector or geographic area.

The findings provide useful empirical evidence for leadership development and strategic management that will enhance leadership effectiveness from a gender viewpoint and facilitate advances in women business management theory.

This paper compares strategic managerial decisions in crisis times from a gender viewpoint and analyzes their impact on performance. According to our knowledge no study has currently been found that analyzes decision making in companies led by women and contrasts their actions to those taken by men faced with an identical situation.