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Thistle flower (Cynara cardunculus) aqueous extracts, as rich source of milk-clotting peptidases, have been widely used for cheeses marketed under the Registry of the Protected Designation of Origin, as it is the case of Serra da Estrela cheese, manufactured from raw ewes’ milk and without addition of any commercial starter culture. This paper aims at studying the influence of six different ecotypes of thistle flowers in cheese properties during the ripening and of final products.

Cheeses were produced with different thistle flower extracts and then the clotting time, weight and colour of cheeses, as well as texture properties and sensorial characteristics, were evaluated.

The clotting time varied from 47 to 66 min, and the weight loss along ripening varied between 32 and 40 per cent. There was some influence of thistle flower ecotype on the colour during ripening and in the final product. The results of texture analysis revealed significant differences between the thistle ecotypes: crust firmness varying from 2.4 to 5.6 N; inner firmness from 0.82 to 1.82 N; stickiness from −0.5 to −1.60 N; adhesiveness from −3.0 to −11.3 N.s; and Ecotype C was particularly distinguishable. Sensorial evaluation revealed differences among the cheeses, with Ecotype C receiving the highest score for global appreciation.

The usage of different extracts of thistle flower to produce Serra da Estrela cheese with different properties is a novelty, and it allows the possibility of manipulating this parameter in the future so as to produce cheeses with specific characteristics, addressed to different consumer targets.

This study aims to determine the physicochemical and fatty acids composition of Serra da Estrela cheese (SEC), as well as health-related lipid indices, like the atherogenic and thrombogenic indices, and to evaluate the influence of producer, geographical origin and production date.

All 24 SEC produced between November 2017 and March 2018 were collected at selected certified producers and analyzed by NIR spectrophotometer and by GC. Data were statistically evaluated by chemometric tools.

In all evaluated SEC, 23 fatty acids were quantified. Cheese origin influenced nutritional and health-related lipid indices). The cheeses were characterized by a relative high abundance of saturated fatty acids (67-76%), followed by a medium content of monounsaturated fatty acids (17-25%) and by low level of polyunsaturated fatty acids (5-7%). A putative positive association between cheese consumption and healthy lipid indices could be reached.

The contents of some medium and long chain fatty acids as well as of nutritional and health indices were influenced by cheese producer, geographical origin and production date pointing out the need for standardizing production procedures.

The SEC plays a key role in the local economy, being an endogenous product with unique sensory characteristics and nutritional potential, for which the knowledge of the lipids profile and health indices is of utmost relevance.

SEC is an iconic Portuguese cheese with Protected Designation of Origin. Based on the results, like health-related lipid indices, evaluated for the first time, a positive association between cheese consumption and healthy lipid indices could be envisaged.

Small and medium size enterprises (SMEs) located in particular geographical areas are producing and selling regional products to domestic and foreign markets. Most of the local activities are embedded in historical tradition and geographic, cultural and social specificity. This article aims to investigate the effect of local environment on the success of two Portuguese SMEs.

The authors use case study methodology to understand whether local environment influences the nature of the competitive advantage of the small firms and their ability to gain access to resources that enable them to compete with the industrial low price substitutes produced by larger firms.

The key conclusion of the study is that the two firms analysed rely strongly on the specific characteristics of the local environment and on partnerships with local producers (raw materials or products) in order to achieve the economic scale that allows them to compete in the domestic and foreign markets.

Due to the limitations of the present analysis concerning the way buyers affect small suppliers' ability to maintain core artisanal knowledge, future research should also examine how this influence works. For example, how firms learn from their network links and how belonging to a network might drive them to internationalisation, and the choice of countries made. In addition, future research should explore the impact of the region of origin concept on new business formation and internationalisation.

The study analyses residents' impact perceptions and attitudes towards wine tourism development in a Portuguese hinterland region. It additionally assesses heterogeneity within the community regarding these perceptions and attitudes to inform wine route managers about possible implications and to aid adequate intervention for sustainable regional tourism development.

Data were collected from February to August 2020 among the residents of Beira Interior Region (n = 272), via a survey, regarding tourism development and impact perceptions (social, economic, cultural and environmental) of the emerging wine route.

Results reveal that the residents have rather positive attitudes towards tourism development with perceived and anticipated social, economic, cultural and environmental benefits. Some negative perceptions were also observed. Differences amongst residents, based on age, education and sector of activity, are also assessed and implications discussed. The latter lie mostly in suggestions regarding sensitization of residents, particularly the older and less educated, and community inclusion in engaging, endogenous-resource-based, co-created wine tourism experience development.

The paper provides an analysis of the community's view of rural wine tourism development, going beyond the generally studied business and market perspectives. The community's perspective is important not only due to its central stake in place development, but also its role in preserving local culture, specifically food and wine traditions, providing a welcoming atmosphere and possibly engaging in innovative, co-creative tourism experiences, permitting the generation of benefits to all involved. Community involvement is relevant from the very beginning of the destination development cycle, and hence pertinent for this emergent wine tourism route as well.

Marketing has been seen as one of the greatest problems faced by small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), but simultaneously one of the most important activities for their growth and survival. Therefore, the purpose of this paper is to determine the importance and role of entrepreneurial marketing in SMEs.

To reach this goal, a qualitative approach was adopted, with two case studies (SMEs) selected. As data-collecting instruments, interviews and documentary analysis were used, and the data-treatment technique was content analysis.

The empirical evidence obtained shows that the importance of entrepreneurial marketing is recognized, but that it differs considerably according to firm size. In the SMEs studied, marketing is informal and reactive to market opportunities and the founder-entrepreneur has an influence on the decision-making process.

The study contributes to the existing research about the role the founder-entrepreneur can have in the firm's ability to develop entrepreneurial marketing activities. From a practical viewpoint, the study has found that entrepreneurial marketing is based on networking to build and support marketing activity and it is associated with the use and development of the marketing management competencies of their entrepreneurs.

The study is innovative because the authors are able to outline empirically new issues for future investigation in this area of scarce research. Second, an integrative and holistic model is proposed for entrepreneurial marketing in SMEs and this represents the primary contribution of the study.

The purpose of this paper is to explore and typify the characteristics and diverse features of urban speciality stores selling rural provenance food, taking the case of three cities in Portugal.

The study was based on hierarchical cluster analysis, performed upon data collected from a survey to 113 shops, located in Aveiro (n = 15), Lisbon (n = 56) and Porto (n = 42).

The study identified three clusters of shops according to the type of rural provenance products sold, services provided and clientele characteristics: the wine focused, the rural provenance focused and the generalist. The study confirms that in Portugal, small food retail outlets, with different rural provenance patterns and degrees of specialization have considerably grown in large cities over the last decade.

The study contributes to typifying urban speciality food stores selling rural provenance products and to addressing critical research gaps on this topic. The study highlights the dynamism of small food retail outlets and their significance, mediating and responding to changing patterns of food consumption in urban spaces.

This study contributes to a better understanding and characterization of food speciality shops in urban settings and their links with rural territories of provenance, an under-researched topic on the food retail literature.

This chapter analyses residents’ perceptions of mountain destinations. The aim is to develop a scale for assessing residents’ mountain images. An extensive literature review and insights from an empirical study of 315 residents of the Serra da Estrela in Portugal, the Alps in France, Austria and Switzerland, and the Peaks of Europe in Spain show that mountain images held by local people refer to the dimensions: mystic/sacred, historic-cultural life; health and affective image. Results were obtained by both content analysis of open-ended questions and by a quantitative approach based on scale items identified as belonging to specific dimensions in the literature review, whose relevance was confirmed through a confirmatory factor analysis using LISREL. Discussion is focused on theoretical and practical implications of findings and limitations are also presented.

The study of consumers’ motivations, attitudes and preferences are of great importance for marketing strategy definitions when considering protected designation of origin (PDO) cheeses. Previous research, a survey on PDO cheese retailers, and in depth interviews with PDO cheese producers showed that: “price per kilo”, “cheese texture”, “unit of sale size” and “recognition as PDO” were the main attributes affecting preferences for cheeses in Greater Lisbon’s market. Conjoint analysis was used to estimate utilities for those attributes and to determine the existence of consumer groups with similar preference profiles. Results show that recognition as PDO is the most important attribute for the choice of traditional cheeses, followed by price, texture and unit of sale. Three groups of consumers were identified. The first accounts for 28 per cent of respondents who prefer creamy cheese and are not price‐sensitive. A second group is particularly price‐sensitive: it sums up to 16 per cent of respondents. Finally, representing 56 per cent, are those who value certification quality labels but are not willing to pay a premium price for it. The results found may encourage producers to adjust their marketing efforts to consider the different PDO cheese consumer segments.