Search results

This case study discusses the importance of studying buyer and seller interactions, as they are relevant to understand how relationships evolve. It further presents a conceptual foundation for investigating B2B interactions, particularly in the context of the trade fair. The trade fair is presented as a privileged field for relationship building and development, where socialization episodes occupy a relevant role. Data were gathered through observations, interactions, and interviews, spread over a twelve-month field-study of participants at trade fairs, and their comments analyzed within a framework of relationship building. Insights revealed include the importance of innovation versus relational interactions; the informality of interactions; the opportunity for information exchange and learning; social interactions, and relationship development. The chapter concludes by considering that a relationship marketing strategy to B2B trade fair participation is vital for the effectiveness of this business activity and a challenge for exhibitors, visitors, and trade fair organizers.

Inspired by the debates on participatory methods and drawing from research on “digital childhoods” in Portugal, this chapter aims to address the methodological innovations and challenges in collecting visual and digital data with children at their homes. As one of the stages of a research project on internet use, children were asked to take photos of their favorite objects at home and to collect screenshots of their most used webpages, followed by a conversation with the researcher. The use of photography allowed children greater expression and autonomy and gave researchers access to the children’s own perspectives on their home environment. It also provided unique information about the arrangement of digital objects at home and their different appropriations by girls and boys. Screenshots showed creative uses of the internet by children and gender differences. Ethical concerns were raised, due to the specific nature of working with children and with visual material (anonymization and dissemination). Entering the domestic setting provided a privileged access to children’s private sphere and to the in situ observation of their use of technology. However, the home is not a neutral place for a researcher and crossing the border into the private domain involves risks. These findings, illustrated by empirical examples from the research field, stress the importance of reflecting on and discussing the potentials, limitations, and ethical considerations of different methodologies, as well as their suitability to specific research objects, subjects, and contexts.

The neighbourhoods surrounding social housing are often characterised by poverty, high rates of unemployment, community violence and other social stress factors that are often linked with adverse childhood experiences, including diverse forms of family, community and institutional violence against children. Based on the sociology of childhood, which considers children as active subjects with rights and promotes a critical understanding of their participation in matters that concern them, this chapter reviews participatory research with children, highlighting the importance of hearing their voices, to sustain their key role in building knowledge about them and the contexts in which they live. In this case, children participated in research to provide a deeper understanding of their needs in their neighbourhood, the role of their families and communities and what they needed to improve the quality of their lives.

This work presents case studies done in children’s bedrooms in Brazilian houses from socially and economically privileged families. Faced by the increasing importance of this room, a phenomenon called bedroom culture, the research analysed the materiality, and all the senses given to these spaces by parents and children. The procedures of investigation were home visits, interviews with the parents, and a video in which the child introduced their own bedroom. The authors identified: (i) furniture that gave the bedroom the aspect of a school annex; (ii) objects used as a support to remember previous generations; (iii) decorations representing a cosmopolitan ethos; and (iv) decorations pointing to a socialisation based on gender.

Public–Private Partnerships (PPPs) are used worldwide to reduce the infrastructure gap. Public entities encourage private sector involvement through PPPs, but the degree of such commitment is affected by several factors, related to the specific PPP project and to the institutional and economic environment in the host country. The purpose of this chapter is to perform an empirical analysis of the determinants of the degree of private sector participation in PPPs in developing and emerging countries. This chapter explores fractional response models to explain the degree of private participation in PPPs using data from 2000 to 2014, obtained from the World Bank’s PPI database. The results suggest that the type of project is a key determinant of the degree of private sector involvement. Favourable fiscal conditions and the existence of explicit support from the government (direct or indirect) increase the degree of private involvement. Multilateral support reduces private participation, emphasizing a substitution effect. In the same way, private sector involvement appears as a substitute to overcome failures in countries with poor financial systems. The results are particularly important for public authorities. This chapter identifies key factors that can foster private sector involvement in PPPs. Although the expansion of PPPs is a well-accepted reality, empirical studies that explore factors that affect the degree of private sector involvement are still lacking. This chapter particularly addresses this topic.

This chapter aims to identify integrated marketing communication (IMC) in the context of business to business to consumer (B2B2C) and empirically test a number of hypotheses related to the selected constructs. A model of the IMC was tested in a survey conducted among stakeholders in the selected field. Professionals responsible for communication and branding activities need to evaluate the relative contributions of the IMC in the B2B2C perspective.

This text is the result of an extensive bibliographical research on the development of Childhood Studies in various regions of Brazil based on the understanding that childhood is a social discursive construction, as well as human rights, and both concepts are interlinked when the subject in focus is the children’s rights. According to research data while advances in the concept of childhood have supported specific child protection policies, the issue of marginalization and inequalities affecting children is some of the central matters developed within childhood studies in Brazil. In this article, we map the advances of childhood studies in Brazil and its relation to children’s rights. However, we may state that neither childhood nor children’s rights are still a reality for all Brazilian children, especially when considering other markers that have challenged the rights of our children, such as race, ethnicity, social class, and gender.