[pt] Com base na premissa que lideranças empreendedoras, para lidar com as demandas num ambiente complexo, precisam ser resilientes, isto é, precisam estar preparadas para enfrentar, vencer e sair fortalecidas das experiências de adversidade; este trabalho teve como objetivo analisar como as características de resiliência individual favoreceram o sucesso empresarial. Para isto, foi feito um estudo exploratório com base nos pilares e fatores de resiliência individual, definidos por Conner (1995), Ojeda (1997), Wagnild E Young (2011), Connor- Davidson (2003) e Sabbag (2010), e entrevistas em profundidade com uma amostra de empresários cariocas, considerados expoentes nos seus respectivos setores de atividade, que receberam o prêmio RIO mais EMPREENDEDOR de 2011 do LIDE Rio e da Agência Rio Negócios. Os principais resultados da pesquisa sugerem que as características de resiliência estão presentes em todas as lideranças empreendedoras entrevistadas, e que tem os seguintes denominadores comuns nos seus comportamentos e práticas: se orientam pela oportunidade diante da adversidade, entendem a mudança como uma vantagem que deve ser explorada e não evitada, têm senso de humor e flexibilidade diante dos desafios, buscam a obtenção de suporte dos outros na vida pessoal e profissional, e possuem a base dos demais pilares – auto estima e auto confiança. / [en] Based upon the assumption that the condition for entrepreneurial leadership to cope with the demands of a complex environment is the need for them to be resilient, i.e., the necessity to be prepared to face, overcome, and come out strengthened from adverse experiences, this study has aimed to analyze how the characteristics of individual resilience have favored business success. Therefore, an exploratory study was conducted based upon the pillars and factors of individual resilience defined by Conner (1995), Ojeda (1997), Wagnild AND Young (2011), Connor-Davidson (2003) and Sabbag (2010), in addition to in-depth interviews with sampling of Rio de Janeiro businessmen, who are deemed as examples or models to be followed in their respective industries and received the RIO plus EMPREENDEDOR award 2011 from LIDE RIO and Agência Rio Negócios. The main research findings suggest that traits of resilience are present in all entrepreneurial leaders interviewed who have the following common denominators in their behaviors and practices: they are opportunity-oriented in times of adversity, understand change as an advantage which ought to be exploited rather than avoided, have a sense of humor and flexibility when faced with challenges, seek to obtain support from others for their personal and professional life, and possess the fundaments for the other pillars, namely selfesteem and self-reliance.

This study explores the relationship of entrepreneurial orientation and dynamic capabilities as organizations grow beyond country borders and into international markets. Through an extensive literature review of internationalization, entrepreneurial orientation and dynamic capabilities, a theoretical framework is developed that allow us to answer our research question. The study takes an abductive, comparative case study approach and is conducted on three Swedish SMEs in regard to their internationalization activites related to South Korea. The study proposes that there is an area in research that still contain a high degree of ambiguity which makes an understanding of the relationship between these two constructs difficult to define. The study’s findings report that the two constructs have complementary narratives of the same phenomenon which concedes a variety of possible relationships. The study then argues in support and rebuttal of five propositions of relationships.

Background - Food waste is considered as a major sustainability concern as it has negative social, environmental and economic implications. Among various types of entrepreneurs, sustainable entrepreneurs are acting to resolve conjointly these three issues. Consequently, they should be willing to tackle food waste. An emerging belief in the literature is grounded on the statement that food waste can be a valuable resource and may represent opportunities for business. Despite this observation, just a few companies make use of food waste as a raw material. Purpose - The purpose of this thesis is to explore the drivers that lead to identify an entrepreneurial opportunity aiming to exploit food waste as a resource. Method - To fulfill the purpose, this thesis is of qualitative nature and follows an abductive approach. Primary data is collected through semi-structured interviews with ten entrepreneurs or intrapreneurs using food waste as a resource. Secondary data is obtained through scholarly articles, organizational reports or websites. For each of the cases, a within-case analysis is performed followed by a cross-case analysis. Conclusion - The analysis of the empirical findings resulted in the emergence of factors shared among the entrepreneurs of the sample. We recognized three drivers leading to the identification of an entrepreneurial opportunity aiming to use food waste as a resource: Awareness of the Food Waste Issue and its Potential Impact, Serendipity of Relationships and Motivate Societal Changes toward Environmental Transition. Additionally, it has been found that these drivers are moderated by two contextual factors, namely Entrepreneurial Curiosity toward Sustainability and Prior Knowledge linked to Sustainability.

Thesis advisor: William A. Gamson / In this dissertation, I examine the strategic evolution of the US anti-sweatshop movement, particularly United Students Against Sweatshops (USAS) and the Worker Rights Consortium (WRC). While scholars of social movements have analyzed individual tactics used by movements, they have only recently begun to look at the larger question of strategy--how movements make choices about which tactics to use when and how they link these tactics together into a larger plan to alter macro-level power relations in society. This dissertation is one of the first empirical examinations of the processes by which particular groups have developed their strategy. I look at how ideology and values, a sophisticated analysis of the structure of the apparel industry, strategic models for action handed down from past movements, and the movement's decision-making structures interacted in the deliberations of anti-sweatshop activists to produce innovative strategies. I also focus on how the larger social environment, especially the structure of the apparel industry, has shaped the actions of the movement. In seeking to bring about change, the anti-sweatshop movement had to alter the policies of major apparel corporations, decision-making arenas typically closed to outside, grassroots influence. They did so by finding various points of leverage--structural vulnerabilities--that they could use against apparel companies. One of the most important was USAS's successful campaign to get a number of colleges and universities to implement pro-labor codes of conduct for the apparel companies who had lucrative licensing contracts with these schools. In USAS's campaigns to support workers at particular sweatshops fighting for their rights, they could then use the threat of a suspension or revocations of these contracts--and therefore a loss of substantial profits--as a means to pressure apparel companies to protect the workers' rights. This combination of strategic innovation and access to points of leverage has allowed the US anti-sweatshop movement to win some victories against much more powerful foes. / Thesis (PhD) — Boston College, 2010. / Submitted to: Boston College. Graduate School of Arts and Sciences. / Discipline: Sociology.

Economists generally consider intergenerational economic mobility to be an important feature of market economies, as it allows people born into poverty to achieve a measure of prosperity in the presence of minimal government intervention or redistribution. The empirical literature on mobility in the U.S. has, however, found evidence that mobility is lower than previously thought, and scholars have responded by developing expansive literatures on many aspects of intergenerational mobility, including studies of its origins. In this dissertation, I contribute to this strand of the literature by reviewing recent trends in the literature, with a particular emphasis on studies aimed at explaining the sources of mobility, and then discussing three empirical studies into specific sources of mobility, using data organized at different geographic and temporal scales. These empirical chapters focus on the role of different aspects of childhood poverty in determining income rank in adulthood, modeling variation in racial mobility gaps across different kinds of communities and local economies, and measuring the relationship between trends in intergenerational mobility and the structural transformation of agriculture in the 20th century U.S..

O objetivo deste trabalho é contribuir com o aperfeiçoamento das informações contábeis para a gestão das Instituições de Ensino Superior com Certificado de Entidade Beneficente de Assistência Social - IESCEBAS, por meio da proposição de um modelo de apuração e evidenciação do resultado com o Certificado de Entidade Beneficente de Assistência Social. O estudo desenvolve-se a partir da análise dos seguintes aspectos: caracterização e definição de uma IESCEBAS, processo de gestão e sistemas de informações com base numa abordagem sistêmica. Os gestores, governo e sociedade necessitam de informações úteis e confiáveis sobre os resultados com o CEBAS para a tomada de decisões. Porém, conforme se constatou pela pesquisa de campo realizada por meio de questionários e análises das demonstrações contábeis, que a prática adotada pelas instituições objeto de estudo e também a norma editada pelo Conselho Federal de Contabilidade, não são adequadas para fornecer informações que subsidiem os gestores, governo e sociedade na tomada de decisões. Ao discorrer sobre os conceitos de receitas, custos, ativos, passivos e custo de oportunidade, conclui-se que o CEBAS gera impactos patrimoniais e econômicos que devem ser apurados e evidenciados pela contabilidade. Contudo, verificou-se pela análise dos resultados da pesquisa de campo, que não existe clareza quanto aos procedimentos contábeis e à legislação aplicáveis na apuração e evidenciação desses impactos pela contabilidade. A partir desta constatação, é proposto um modelo de apuração e evidenciação dos resultados com o certificado das IESCEBAS, de modo a subsidiar os gestores, governo e sociedade na tomada de decisões. Ao final, o modelo proposto é aplicado ao caso de duas IESCEBAS, com a finalidade de verificar sua utilidade. / This study aims to contribute to the improvement of accounting information for administering Higher Education Institutions with a Philanthropy Certificate - IESCEBAS, through the proposal of a model for verifying and disclosing the income obtained through the Philanthropy Certificate. The study is based on the analysis of the following aspects: characterization and definition of an IESCEBAS, management process and information systems on the basis of a systemic approach. The managers, government and society need useful and trustworthy information about the results obtained through the Philanthropy Certificate with a view to decision-making. Nevertheless, as we observed from the field research held by means of questionnaires and from the analysis of the financial statements, the practice adopted by the institutions in this study as well as the norm issued by the Brazilian Federal Accounting Council are not adequate to supply information that assists the managers, government and society in decision-making. Our discussion of the revenues, costs, assets, liabilities and opportunity cost concepts leads us to the conclusion that the Philanthropy Certificate generates equity and economic impacts that have to be verified and disclosed by accounting. However, we observed from the analysis of the field research results that there are uncertainties with respect to the accounting procedures and legislation that should be applied in the verification and disclosure of these impacts by accounting. On the basis of this observation, we propose a model for verifying and disclosing the income obtained through the Philanthropy Certificate, so as to assist the managers, government and society in making decisions. Finally, the proposed model is applied to two IESCEBAS, with a view to verifying its usefulness.

Les pôles de compétitivité sont des institutions publiques dont la mission est de favoriser les synergies entre des acteurs hétérogènes. Ils sont régulièrement soumis à des évaluations dont l’objet est la mesure de leur efficacité. Si les pôles ont la capacité de faire émerger des projets collaboratifs innovants, les pouvoirs publics ont toutefois souligné leurs difficultés à transformer ces efforts collaboratifs en création d’emplois et en croissance sur le territoire. La très grande majorité des entreprises membres sont des PME ; il est reconnu que le dirigeant de PME constitue une figure centrale de son entreprise. Dès lors nous nous demandons comment améliorer l’accompagnement de ces dirigeants afin de faire des projets collaboratifs des générateurs d’emplois et de croissance sur le territoire. Dans la littérature en entrepreneuriat, il est établi que les dirigeants de PME en capacité d'identifier des opportunités puis de les exploiter vont insuffler une dynamique de croissance à leur entreprise. En effet, l'organisation, au travers de son infrastructure cognitive, offre les conditions nécessaires à ses membres pour une meilleure perception des opportunités. En retour, la poursuite de l'opportunité identifiée bénéficiera à la structure qui pourra se développer et donc contribuer à générer de la croissance et de l'emploi. Au regard de ces premiers éléments nous établissons un premier modèle conceptuel qui vise à déceler les antécédents de l’identification d’opportunités d’affaires ; il est testé à partir de 205 questionnaires de dirigeants de PME membres des pôles de compétitivité, à l’aide de la méthode des équations structurelles. L’étude exploratoire menée auprès de huit institutionnels contribuant au fonctionnement des pôles et de dix membres adhérents met par ailleurs en évidence le cas particulier des dirigeants de PME participants à un projet collaboratif. Ainsi, un second modèle spécialement dédié à cette population souligne l’influence de la nature des relations entretenues au sein de ces projets et leur influence sur l’identification d’opportunités d’affaires. Des analyses menées grâce à la méthode des régressions linéaires multiples sont ainsi réalisées sur un échantillon de 100 dirigeants de PME participants à un projet collaboratif. Notre objectif est de mettre en lumière les antécédents de l'identification d'opportunités d'affaires afin de permettre aux pôles de mieux accompagner les dirigeants de PME. En soutenant la phase d'identification, les pôles de compétitivité pourront favoriser la transformation des efforts collaboratifs en emplois et croissance sur le territoire. Les résultats font ressortir le rôle prégnant de la recherche d’informations relatives au marché dans l’identification d’opportunités d’affaires. De plus, la nature des relations qu’entretiennent les participants à un projet collaboratif influence également fortement la capacité des dirigeants de PME à identifier ces opportunités. Ces éléments soulignent la nécessité pour les pôles de compétitivité de repenser leur rôle d’intermédiaire des échanges pour établir les conditions favorables à l’identification d’opportunités d’affaires ; des propositions sont faites en ce sens. / The French clusters are partnerships born out of the wish of public policies to make various actors (such as large and small firms, research bodies and educational establishments) working all together in a specific region to develop synergies and cooperative efforts around a shared theme. They are subject to regular assessments to measure their effectiveness. Their ability to bring out innovative and collaborative projects is recognized but the authorities stressed their difficulties in transforming these collaborative efforts in job creation and growth in the territory. Most of the corporations that belong to French clusters are SMEs and it is well-known that the SME’s manager is a central figure in his business. Therefore, we wonder how the French clusters can improve the support of these leaders in order to help them converting collaboration projects into job creation and growth. In the entrepreneurship literature, it is established that the SME’s manager ability to identify business opportunities and exploit them will create a dynamic for the economic growth of the organization. Indeed, the organization provides - through its knowledge structure - the necessary conditions to a better perception of opportunities. In return, the exploitation of the opportunity will benefit to the structure, favor its development and generate employment and growth. In this context, we build a first conceptual model aiming to identify the antecedents of business opportunity identification. The data were collected through a questionnaire answered by 205 SMEs managers belonging to a French cluster and was analyzed by Structural Equation Modeling (Amos). The exploratory qualitative study was conducted with 8 institutional actors managing the French clusters and 10 SMEs’ managers members of these clusters and reveal the particular case of SMEs managers participating in a collaborative project. Thus, a second model specially dedicated to this subpopulation (100 SMEs managers participating in a collaborative project) is run. We use multiple regression analysis to explore the nature of relationships within these projects and their influence on the identification of business opportunities. By highlighting the antecedents of business opportunity identification, our objective is to give the French clusters the necessary tools to better support the SMEs’ managers and thus favor the transformation of synergies into growth and job creation. The results highlight the significant role of market information research in the identification of business opportunities. Moreover, the nature of the relationship between the participants in a collaborative project also strongly influences the ability of SMEs managers to identify these opportunities. These factors underscore the need for clusters to rethink their role as a medium of exchange to establish the conditions for the identification of business opportunities. Proposals are made in this direction.

[pt] O setor financeiro de um país é um dos mais importantes, pois sua função principal é promover a intermediação financeira, ou seja, o encontro entre poupadores e tomadores. Isso é primordial para a economia de um país funcionar de forma eficaz e eficiente. Quanto mais robustas e sólidas forem essas organizações, maior será a credibilidade do setor econômico de um país, o que torna sua sobrevivência de extrema importância para a economia de uma nação. Mudanças ocorridas no Brasil, nos últimos anos, como o Plano Real, o programa de privatizações, a desregulamentação, a abertura do mercado brasileiro ao capital estrangeiro e a adequação dos bancos nacionais aos Acordos da Basiléia, na década de 1990, resultaram em uma mudança no cenário competitivo do setor bancário brasileiro. Além disso, a crise do subprime nos EUA em 2008 expôs grandes deficiências do setor financeiro mundial e colocou em dúvida sua credibilidade, juntamente com as dificuldades advindas do processo de globalização, como o aumento da concorrência. É nesse cenário que um novo mercado é formado, caracterizado pelo acirramento da competição entre as organizações, por consumidores cada vez mais exigentes, por mercados desregulamentados e pelo grande avanço tecnológico. Diante de todas essas alterações e da importância do setor financeiro para uma nação, a realização deste estudo tem como objetivo analisar as ameaças e oportunidades estrategicamente significativas enfrentadas pelos bancos comerciais no atual cenário competitivo do setor financeiro brasileiro. / [en] The financial sector is one of the most important in a country. Its main function is to promote financial brokerage, serving as a bridge between savers and takers. This is essential for a country’s economy to work with efficacy and efficiency. The more robust and solid these organizations are the more credible will a nation’s economic sector be. Mainly because of that its survival is extremely important to a country’s Economy. In Brazil, all the changes that have been occurring in recent years, such as Plano Real, the privatization programs, the deregulation, the openness of the Brazilian market to foreign capital and the national banks’ suitability to the Basel Accords, in the 1990’s, resulted in a change in the Brazilian banking competitive scenario. In addition to that, the US subprime crisis in 2008 exposed great deficiencies of the international financial sector and called its credibility into question. Jointly, there were also several difficulties resulting from the globalization process, like the increase of competitiveness. Therefore, it is exactly in this scenario that a new market is formed, characterized by the escalation of competitiveness between organizations, by more and more demanding consumers, by deregulated markets, and by great technological advance. Taking all these transformations and the importance of a nation’s financial sector into consideration, the aim objective of this study is to analyze the threats and strategically significant opportunities faced by commercial banks in the current competitive landscape of the Brazilian financial sector.

Much research has been conducted on the topic of the construct-related validity of assessment centers, however a definitive conclusion has yet to be drawn. The central question of this debate is whether assessment centers are measuring the dimensions they are designed to measure. The present study attempted to provide more evidence toward the improvement of construct-related validity. The first hypothesis involved determining whether opportunity to observe and opportunity to behave influenced discriminant and convergent validity. The second hypothesis addressed the debate over evaluation method and examined which method, within-exercise or within-dimension, yielded more favorable internal construct-related validity evidence. The third hypothesis explored the call for exercise scoring in assessment centers and compared the criterion-related validity of exercise versus dimension scores within the same assessment center. Finally, the fourth objective looked at the relationship of the stability of the dimensions with internal construct-related validity, specifically convergent validity evidence. A developmental assessment center used in two applied settings supplied the data. Two administrations of the assessment center were conducted for low to mid-level managers in a state agency (N = 31). Five administrations were conducted in a professional graduate school of public administration that prepares students for leadership and managerial positions in government and public service (N = 108). The seven administrations yielded a total sample size of 139 participants. Analysis of multi-trait-multi-method (MTMM) matrices revealed that, as hypothesized, a lack of opportunity to behave within exercises, operationalized using behavior counts, yielded poor discriminant validity. Assessor ratings of opportunity to observe and behave did not produce hypothesized results. Consistent with the second hypothesis, secondary assessors, who represented the within-dimension evaluation method, provided ratings that demonstrated better construct-related validity evidence than the ratings provided by primary assessors, who represented the within-exercise method. Correlation and regression analyses of the dimension/performance relationships and the exercise/performance relationships revealed neither dimensions nor exercises to be the better predictor of supervisor ratings of performance. Using MTMM, partial support was found for the fourth objective: those dimensions that were more stable across exercises yielded better convergent validity evidence versus those dimensions that were more situationally specific. However the differences were not statistically significant or large. Overall results of this study suggest that there are some areas of design and implementation that can affect the construct-related validity of assessment centers, and researchers should continue to search for ways to improve assessment center construct-related validity, but should also look for ways other than MTMM to assess validity.

Egalitarian liberal theories of justice – so this dissertation argues – fail to take into accountthe full implications of the way citizens’ socio-cultural backgrounds work to undermine theequal opportunities these same theories demand. While egalitarians support extensiveredistribution of income and wealth from the privileged to the less privileged, and advocateequal opportunities for all, they do not properly attend either to how our shared societalcultures structure social esteem and related advantages, or to how our individual socioculturalenvironments structure the very act of choice. They thus fail to acknowledge ourunequal opportunities to make choices which bring us esteem and related advantages,particularly the advantages that flow from our having established for ourselves lives thatothers consider good. Alternative approaches to the interplay between justice, culture, and choice are rejected forillegitimately restricting the right to go our own way (communitarianism), or for regulatingpolitically that which cannot legitimately be regulated politically (recognition theory).Against the former position it is argued that we should draw on our culturalunderstandings, not to restrict free choice, but to identify opportunities to be safeguarded.Against the latter it is argued that we should not renegotiate prevailing cultural structurespolitically, but rather acknowledge these same structures and ensure that no one falls too farbehind in the competition for the advantages they generate. Suggesting that one of the more thoroughgoing hierarchies of esteem and disesteem is thatattached to our occupational positions, broadly construed, the dissertation concretizes theclaims defended in relation to this hierarchy in particular. It is argued that the just societyowes it to its citizens to protect them from involuntary occupation of positions that comewith potentially harmful disesteem attached. It is not for society to overrule theindependent choices of citizens, however, but rather to provide enduring opportunities totraining and education for more highly regarded positions, thus both equalizingopportunities to esteem and related advantages, and ensuring that those who continue tooccupy positions at the lower end of the hierarchy in question do so through their owngenuinely free choice.