Search results

The purpose of this study is to address the extended travel time caused by dwelling time at stations for passengers on traditional rail transit lines. To mitigate this issue, the authors propose the “Non-stop” design, which involves trains comprised of modular vehicles that can couple and uncouple from each other during operation, thereby eliminating dwelling time at stations..

The main contributions of this paper are threefold: first, to introduce the concept of non-stop rail transit lines, which, to the best of the authors’ knowledge, has not been researched in the literature; second, to develop a framework for the operation schedule of such a line; and third, the author evaluate the potential of its implementation in terms of total passenger travel time.

The total travel time was reduced by 6% to 32.91%. The results show that the savings were more significant for long commutes and low train occupancy rates.

The non-stop system can improve existing lines without the need for the construction of additional facilities, but it requires technological advances for rolling stock.

To eliminate dwelling time at stations, the authors present the “Non-stop” design, which is based on trains composed of locomotives that couple and uncouple from each other during operation, which to the best of the authors’ knowledge has not been researched in the literature.

This study aims to analyze the phenomenon of entrepreneurial spawning in the new context of software startups, revisiting theory and identifying patterns within the emergence of startups/spin-offs in Brazil.

A study of two cases of startups recognized for generating several spin-offs founded by former employees. The authors based the data collection on the following triangulation: 11 in-depth interviews, systematic analysis of 33 resumes from entrepreneurs in spawned firms and document analysis.

Six skills developed in startups were identified: (1) structuring a company, (2) people management, (3) strategic/operational planning, (4) commercial/sales, (5) product development, and (6) behavioral traits. In addition, points of contradiction concerning the literature were found, such as the absence of the location effect, different professional experiences and new local agents to support startups.

The present study covers only two cases in the context of software startups, which requires caution and discretion in extrapolating to other contexts.

The understanding of the phenomenon may reflect in: university programs focused on internships in startups, corporate training programs for entrepreneurs and the design of public policies based on entrepreneurial spawning.

The present study stands out for its access to data from high-impact startups in Brazil, in addition to revisiting the literature bringing a new perspective to the specificities of high-growth software companies.

In this article, the author discusses the influence of technological development on the survival of European parties since the Second World War.

The database comprises more than 200 parties and the political forces observed in 20 countries.

The author find that Internet users as a proportion of the population and a higher value of secure servers in an economy tend to strengthen the duration of parties since their first electoral participation.

This is the first paper discussing parties' survival in democratic regimens as depending on the technological development.

The purpose of this paper is to understand how a company could improve public engagement on social media (SM) analysing the case of Alento, which is a human resources and consulting company located in Portugal. The company’s presence on Facebook was analysed by using the honeycomb model for SM functionality, by Kietzmann et al. (2011), as a theoretical framework.

The authors implemented some actions to change procedures on SM management. Monitoring five months of data, the authors could compare the SM engagement before and after changes on SM management. Then, a convenience sample of 205 useable questionnaires was collected. The population of the study comprised Portuguese Facebook users who liked the Alento Facebook Fan Page. An analysis of honeycomb dimensions was performed.

The engagement level on Alento’s SM was increased by changing procedures identified on survey. In five months, Alento’s number of followers was increased by just 4.5 per cent, interactions were increased by 35 per cent, views were more than twice (+122 per cent) and fans who clicked on Alento’s Facebook page’s links were increased by 146 per cent.

There were also some limitations related to the sample, since the authors only obtained 205 responses. Therefore, the second suggestion for future investigations would be to conduct the survey on a larger number of people. This study just considers five months after changing procedures. A longer range of time could produce different results.

The most relevant contribution of the current study is the offer of some insights into the use of a simple tool such as the honeycomb model of Kietzmann et al. (2011) for the analysis of the social engagement from a firm’s perspective, regardless of their nature.

The importance of SM to spread good content and to reduce media costs is reinforced in this study.

This study is innovative, as it identifies a need of change on SM management, proposes and implements new procedures, checking its results. SM marketing is a new wagon of study, and the problem of how to increase engagement on professional SM is on top priorities of the field.

Gamification is the use of game elements in different contexts. It is also a tool with potential application in several areas, including training and development. From this reference, this study has a main objective to identify a perception of efficiency and the measurable results in the process of gamification in training and development actions.

The quantitative stage of the research sought to investigate the perception of efficiency of professionals who have already undergone gamified training, collected through an online form with responses on a Likert scale and treated with the Minitab Statistical Software. The qualitative stage, on the other hand, identifies the perception of results through classification with professionals who develop gamified training, with the results found in the content analysis techniques.

The compiled results confirmed the presence of engagement and its influence on motivation as one of the advantage points for the application of gamification. It was also possible to find in these results the relevance of design care for the game/training interaction to work effectively.

Among the trends of greatest incidence found in the research, are the possibility of associating gamification with virtual reality and augmented reality, as well as with simulators to enhance the experience lived by the player during training.

The purpose of this study is to identify arrangements of fully funded defined contribution (FF-DC) pension plans associated with the continuity of retirement savings.

The authors adopted an experimental design composed of a control group and two treatment groups. In all groups, individuals made decisions throughout nine periods: five during the working period and four at the postretirement stage. The authors asked participants if they wanted to join a pension plan, and which plan. The authors offered three plans with different risk profiles: plan 1 (high risk), plan 2 (moderate) and plan 3 (low risk) and one risk-free plan, plan 4. In treatment groups 1 and 2, there was an automatic enrollment of the participants in the default plan (moderate risk), and in the following periods they had to decide whether to continue contributing, and in this case, to which plan, with a defined percentage.

In treatment scenarios, participants chose the riskiest plan in all periods of the experiment, and most of them chose the risk-free plan in period 5. These findings suggest that pension plans with automatic enrollment, employer matching and low risk foster the continuation of retirement savings.

The research has as limitation the fact that the sample is not representative of the population and therefore does not allow generalizations. This is because the authors use social media ads to prospect respondents.

The research's findings can be relevant for the design of public policies for private pension plans, suggesting that compulsory automatic enrollment can be used as default in plans offered by the employers. The results encourage the inclusion of behavioral elements in the design of the pension system, paying attention to the nudges. In this sense, it is possible to increase participation in the pension plan and develop low cost programs to increase the amount accumulated by people before retirement.

Decision-making architecture, such as automatic enrollment, can improve individuals' retirement decisions, affecting savings and welfare in the long run.

Although the effect of pension plan designs is widely studied in other countries, such as the United States and United Kingdom, the authors are unaware of a national empirical research that seeks to understand how different arrangements affect an individual choice through an experiment.

This paper aims to search measures that unicorn startups have implemented during the pandemic and show what lessons can be learned to help entrepreneurs and small and medium businesses to overcome the crisis.

The method is a multiple case study with five unicorn startups. This study collected data through interviews and analyzed them by the content analysis technique.

The findings show that the pandemic affects negatively unicorns’ businesses; that a digital business model innovation affects them positively; and that innovations moderate positively the negative impact of the crisis.

Most interviewees hold operational positions.

Three actions stand out to overcome the crisis: adoption of new digital platforms; strategies to increase the network of partners; and adaptations in the provision of payment services.

The cases show that entrepreneurs and small and medium enterprises need to develop capabilities to innovate in their business models, and digitalization is a solution to face the crisis and overcome it in the future.