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- Does Tax, Financial, and Government Incentives Impact Long-Term Portuguese SMEs’ Sustainable Company Performance?Publication . Picas, Sara; Reis, Pedro; Pinto, António; Abrantes, José LuísThis article aims to assess how fiscal and financial incentives and government support conditioned the profitability of Portuguese SMEs between 2010 and 2019. The high tax and financial burdens on SMEs have consequences for sustainability and business development. Thus, the study analyzes different incentives provided by the Portuguese government to ease this burden and improve business profitability. The study uses panel data with fixed effects using five different sources of information from five internal tax grant types, three different European Union program financial subventions, and three national budget-specific expenses. The results obtained suggest that tax incentives influence the profitability of SMEs; however, government incentives do not have any impact. The QREN (financial) incentives positively decide the ROA and negatively impact the ROE, contributing to sustainable performance. Portugal 2020 incentives have a weak effect on the first years, improving in the following years. However, the incentive related to R&D is not relevant. This work aims to contribute to decision making for managers, shareholders, and government entities, allowing them to choose those measures that could increase the company’s added value, and for governments, as a tool to select incentives that will most benefit SMEs” profitability. This work identifies the key incentives that impact companies’ profitability.
- Estudo do potencial agronómico, em estufa, de espécies de rizobio na cultura do grão-de-bicoPublication . Pinto, António; Adriano, IlídioO presente trabalho tem como principal objectivo avaliar o potencial biológico de seis espécies de rizobio, capazes de produzir nódulos na raiz do grão-de-bico (Cicer arietinum, L) com a intenção de seleccionar possíveis espécies que se destaquem nos parâmetros agronómicos estudados, para posterior fornecimento aos agricultores. As espécies ensaiadas foram oriundas de Espanha e isoladas no Departamento de Microbiologia e Genética da Universidade de Salamanca. Juntamente com estas espécies foram também estudadas as espécies de Mesorhizobium mediterraneum tipo e Mesorhizobium ciceri tipo consideradas de referência para a cultura do grão-de-bico, assim como as estirpes endógenas que funcionaram como testemunha. As estirpes que deram origem às espécies foram designadas, de acordo com a sua origem por RCA21 (Riego de la Vega, León); RCA08 (Riego de la Vega, León); FCA11 (Fuentesaúco, Zamora); PECA26 (Pedrosillo, Salamanca); VGCA02 (VegaGuatiza, Lanzarote); FCA08 (Fuentesaúco, Zamora); RCA13 (Riego de la Vega, León) e Testemunha (populações autóctones do solo da estufa. Estas estirpes foram identificadas por González (2003), nas seguintes espécies: Mesorhizobium mediterraneum (VGCA02); Mesorhizobium ciceri (FCA08 e PECA26); Mesorhizobium tianshanense (RCA08 e RCA21) e Mesorhizobium amorphae (FCA11 e RCA13). O ensaio foi instalado na estufa de plástico, em forma de túnel com 2,5 m de altura, da Escola Superior Agrária de Viseu, tendo decorrido de 08/03/04 a 21/06/04, e sendo a cultura do grão-de-bico conduzida segundo as técnicas de cultivo tradicionais da região. Adoptou-se um delineamento experimental constituído por quarenta blocos casualizados de 1 m 2 com quatro repetições, cada uma com dez blocos. Em cada bloco foram semeadas 15 sementes com um compasso de 0,20 m x 0,50 m, previamente inoculadas com cada uma das estirpes e espécies a estudar, com excepção da testemunha que não foi inoculada. Entre os blocos ficou um corredor com cerca de 0,20 m. Os parâmetros agronómicos avaliados neste estudo, para cada uma das espécies ensaiadas, foram a percentagem de emergência, o número de nódulos por planta, o peso seco dos nódulos por planta, a altura da parte aérea das plantas e o peso seco da parte aérea das plantas. No tratamento estatístico dos resultados utilizou-se o programa STATISTICA, método one-way ANOVA e POS-HOC recorrendo ao método Tukey HSD para desiguais n. Relativamente aos parâmetros avaliados, os resultados obtidos não revelaram diferenças significativas entre as espécies ensaiadas e a testemunha, à excepção do peso seco dos nódulos. No entanto, a tendência dos valores observados indicou que, em termos gerais, os melhores resultados foram obtidos com a inoculação das espécies, por ordem decrescente: M. mediterraneum tipo, M. ciceri tipo, M. amorphae, M. mediterraneum, M. ciceri, M. tianshanense e testemnuhna (Blanco).
- Global Phenolic Composition and Antioxidant Capacity of Extracts from the Endophytic Fungi Cophinforma mamane with Potential Use in Food Systems: The Effects of Time, Temperature, and Solvent on the Extraction ProcessPublication . Gurgel, Raiana S.; Pereira, Dorothy I. M.; Martins, Bárbara; Falcão, Lucas S.; Lacerda, Caroline D.; Neves, Cláudia M. B.; Pinto, António; Jordão, António; Albuquerque, Patrícia M.Endophytic fungi are promising producers of phenolic compounds; however, the process of extracting these molecules from the culture medium is a crucial step for obtaining these metabolites. In this context, the best conditions for extracting phenolic compounds produced by Cophinforma mamane CF2-13, isolated from an Amazonian plant, were evaluated. The fungus was cultivated in a liquid medium to obtain its metabolites. The effects of the solvent, time, and temperature were investigated, as well as the use of ultrasound. The total phenolics and the antioxidant activity were assessed to define the best extraction conditions. The optimized extract was chemically characterized and used to analyze its potential in protecting olive oil from lipid oxidation. The best results were found using ethyl acetate at 20 ◦C for 2 h. These conditions led to 61.61 mg GAEq/g of extract of total phenolics, and an antioxidant capacity of 0.47, 0.45, and 0.29 mmol TEq/g of extract using the DPPH, ABTS, and FRAP methods, respectively. In addition, the optimized extract presented caffeic acid and was able to delay the lipid oxidation of olive oil. The potential of endophytic fungi to produce phenolic compounds is promising for the food industry since natural bioactive compounds have many benefits for human health.
- Industry 4.0: a challenge of competitionPublication . Antunes, Joaquim; Pinto, António; Reis, Pedro; Henriques, CarlaIntroduction: The value creation in industry in developed countries is being driven by the fourth stage of industrialization, denominated by Industry 4.0. The new industrial revolution will be motivated by next-generation information technologies such as Internet of Things (IoT), cloud computing, Big Data and data analysis, robotics, mobile computing, simulation and modelling, cyber-physical systems, among others. This opens new horizons for industry, but the challenges are countless creating difficulties for companies in the adoption of these technologies. Objectives: To make a powerful and deep literature revision pursuing a technical analysis of the Industry 4.0 requirements. Methods: We will address the main risks and challenges associated with IoT and define the regional attractiveness measures as growth drivers that leaders must put in place to appeal for companies chasing 4.0. Results: IoT joins the digital world and the physical world being considered the next generation network or the future Internet. It allows to give life and communication capacity either to living beiings or to inanimate objects. IoT's intervention in Industry 4.0 im extreme, with a continuous interconnection of the digital and physical domain. Conclusions: Portugal's growth prospects will increasingly depend on policies that enable the economy to compete successfully and create new income opportunities. At the moment, there are structural bottlenecks that continue to curb growth and exacerbate vulnerabilities. Solving some of these problems will now lay the foundation for solid growth in the coming years, but this calls for a renewal of the impetus for structural reforms. Industry 4.0, can contribute significantly to reducing regional asymmetries. But in the longer term, skills will need to be improved to foster development and reduce the high levels of such inequalities.
- Subjective/ Behavioural Factors Influence the PSI 20 and IBEX 35Publication . Costa, Stefan Abrantes; Reis, Pedro; Pinto, AntónioThis study assesses the impact of investor sentiment on the volatility of the PSI 20 and IBEX 35 from time series data from January 1988 to May 2019. The impact of investor sentiment on market and portfolio selection has aroused great interest in the literature, however the results obtained are not consensual, considering the different methodologies used to build sentiment indices, as well as the various levels of institutional development in the market. Asymmetric volatility behaviours according to good or bad news were evaluated using the TGARCH model. The results indicate that there is an asymmetric effect of good versus bad news on the volatility of IBEX 35. It was also noted that for Portugal and Spain investor sentiment presents statistical significance with a negative sign, suggesting that market volatility is more sensitive to negative shocks in the conditional variance. In Portugal, contrary to Spain, sentiment has no relevance on return. The study reveals that investor sentiment is a key factor in selecting investment in the market. The relationship that this establishes with volatility, can help to implement policies that allow to minimize future shocks’ impact on return. The study reveals for the first time that investor sentiment is a key factor in selecting investment in the market for Portugal.