Industry In Portugal Research Articles

An Examination of the Sustainable and Green Practices of Portuguese Hotels

The concept of sustainability in the hospitality and hotel industry has been the topic of much discussion and debate in tourism and leisure management literature over the last decade. Key industry stakeholders including hospitality and hotel operators, policymakers and DMO’s have been tasked with the challenge of transitioning operations towards more heightened levels of sustainable practice which has stemmed from EU, national and local level policies and guidelines. In Portugal, several strategies and plans have been developed with the aim of improving sustainable practices in hospitality and hotel industry, which focus on developing a more sustainable, competitive, and resilient sector moving into the future. However, there exists a current gap in knowledge in relation to the adoption and utilization of effective tools and models to measure and monitor sustainability performance in the hospitality and hotel industry in Portugal. It has been acknowledged that GDP from tourism in Portugal experienced a 75% drop, with overnight tourist stays in Portugal decreasing to 60% following a period of disproportionate impacts experienced during the COVID-19 pandemic. Such shortfalls have accentuated the need to effectively measure and monitor sustainability performance moving into the future as destinations now begin to re-emerge and re-imagine the way they operate. Through the adoption and utilisation of sustainable approaches and practices, the hospitality and hotel industry in Portugal could save costs in the short and longer term, they could benchmark success year on year and ultimately lead to the development of more sustainable and competitive industries moving forward. This research, while in its early stages, will aim to critically examine what, if any, sustainable and green practices are being adopted and implemented at present by Portuguese hotels. It will also permit an insight into whether or not Portuguese hotels are currently measuring and monitoring sustainability performance and looking to achieve greater levels of sustainability within the industry.

Shift work and quality of life on tourism, hospitality and restaurant industry: the Portuguese Context

This research aims to study the association between shift work and the quality of life of workers. On the one hand quality of life includes several aspects of life (e.g. personal, family, marital or social) and serves as an important aspect in understanding the well-being of individuals in relationship with work life. On the other hand, shift work can be defined as any work organization of working hours that differs from the traditional diurnal work period. Furthermore, they are two factors strongly related, considering the increasing use of shift work in industry and services, especially from tourism, hospitality, and restaurant sectors, where shift work has the potential to disrupt different aspects of quality life.
 The main objective of this study is to characterize the quality of life of shift workers in the tourism, hospitality, and restaurant industry. More specifically to characterize their workers’ personal life, family life, marital life, and social life.
 Through an online questionnaire, data were collected from 122 shift workers linked to the tourism, hotel, and restaurant industry in Portugal. Data were analysed with IBM SPSS 27.0.
 Results showed significant differences between workers from fixed and rotative shifts for the personal life satisfaction level whereas workers from fixed shifts reported higher levels of satisfaction. Workers in the morning shift reported higher levels of personal life and family life satisfaction than workers that are not in the morning shifts. There are no differences between the satisfaction levels for workers from the afternoon, night, or weekend shifts. There are no differences among the marital life satisfaction according to the kind of shift (fixed or rotative; morning, afternoon, night, or weekend shift).
 This study provides several insights into the shift work theory and practice and contributes to knowledge of how human resource management will be reconfigured some practices to support the quality of life of shift workers in this industry. Limitations and future research suggestions are drawn in the last part of the paper.

Drying kinetics of two fruits Portuguese cultivars (Bravo de Esmolfe apple and Madeira banana): An experimental study

Air convective dehydration was carried out at a laboratory scale using two fruits of cultivars produced in different regions of Portugal: Bravo de Esmolfe apple, from Beiras province, and Cavendish banana, from Madeira Island. Fresh fruits were dried in a tray drier with a hot airstream at different temperatures (35, 40, 45, and 50 °C) and velocity of 1.6 m s−1. Drying rate curves were obtained using a simple mathematical approach applied to the moisture content curves adjusting linear and polynomial functions. Different drying rate stages were noticed in the experiments made with apples (one constant drying rate period followed by two falling drying rate periods), while in the case of the banana the constant drying rate period was not perceived, being dried entirely during a unique falling drying rate period. As expected, the constant drying rate value obtained at the beginning of the experiments with apples is higher when these were conducted at higher temperatures, changing from 8.103 to 14.474 g m−2 s−1 when the airstream temperature increases from 35 to 50 °C. The correspondent critical moisture contents in the Bravo de Esmolfe apples, at the instant the constant drying rate period stops and the drying rate starts to fall, slightly decreases from 4.800 to 4.134 kgwater/kgdry solid.This study explored for the first time the drying behavior of these two important fruits that have been increasingly used in the food industry in Portugal, giving important information for the industrialization of its production.

Cytotoxicity of Aspergillus Section Fumigati Isolates Recovered from Protection Devices Used on Waste Sorting Industry.

Safe working conditions must be guaranteed during waste sorting, which is crucial to maximizing recycling and reuse, in order to minimize workers’ exposure to chemical and biological hazards. This study determines the contribution of Aspergillus section Fumigati to the overall cytotoxicity of filtering respiratory protection devices (FRPD) and mechanic protection gloves (MPG) collected in 2019 from different workstations in one waste sorting industry in Portugal. The cytotoxicity of 133 Aspergillus section Fumigati isolates was determined as IC50 in human A549 epithelial lung cells and swine kidney cells, using the MTT (3-(4,5-dimethylthiazol-2-yl)-2,5-diphenyltetrazolium bromide) assay. Aspergillus section Fumigati cytotoxicity results were compared with previous total cytotoxicity data from FRPD and MPG samples. A significant correlation was detected between the total cytotoxicity of samples and cytotoxicity of Aspergillus section Fumigati isolates in A549 cells (rS = −0.339, p = 0.030). The cytotoxicity of Aspergillus section Fumigati isolates explained 10.7% of the total cytotoxicity of the sample. On the basis of the comparison of cytotoxicity levels, it was possible to determine the contribution of Aspergillus section Fumigati isolates for the total cytotoxicity of protection devices used in the waste sorting industry. The results support in vitro toxicology as a relevant approach in risk assessments regarding cytotoxicity in passive sampling, and thus, useful in determining the contribution of relevant microbial contaminants to overall cytotoxicity. This approach can provide valuable answers in dose/response studies, and support innovations in risk characterization and their translation into occupational policies.

The Impact of Size on the Performance of Transnational Corporations Operating in the Textile Industry in Portugal during the COVID-19 Pandemic

The aim of this work is to understand the impact of size on the performance of transnational corporations (TNCs) operating in the textile and clothing industry in Portugal during the COVID-19 pandemic. For this purpose, we used ORBIS data for the period 2019–2020 and narrative, financial and correlation analyses to assess the performance of five companies. Thus far, the impact of company size on the competitiveness of Portuguese textile affiliates during the pandemic has remained unexplored. The results show that smaller firms performed better than larger ones, likely due to the higher fixed costs of the latter at times when orders declined worldwide. Our analysis suggests that there are some characteristics of TNCs that matter in explaining company-level performance during crises, such as management experience and flexibility. Furthermore, as Portugal is a major European textile exporter, it is useful for the host country to assess the economic sustainability of its foreign investors. The results provide some policy recommendations regarding the promotion of foreign direct investment (FDI) in Portugal.

Community Responsible Innovation in Portugal: Building the Country’s Competitive Advantages

ABSTRACT The history of industry in Portugal is tangled. In the early 1990s, the government was letting non-viable, uncompetitive companies collapse while targeting those bolstered by European funds for their “success stories.” One of the findings of a study on Portugal’s competitive advantages emphasised the importance of the country’s traditional industries for the development of new technologies and industrial sectors. This article is a historical account of community innovation in Portugal during the 1990s. It analyses two illustrative case studies: the Portuguese automobile cluster and the AutoEuropa development in Setúbal; and the Portuguese science and technology sector exemplified by the Taguspark – a science and technology park in Oeiras near Lisbon. It is argued that Portuguese industry had to develop strong links and establish viable R&D relationships with science and technology institutions in order to help strengthen the country’s competitive advantages in an increasingly globalised economy.

A comparative examination of the sustainable practices implemented by the hotel industry in Portugal: addressing operational challenges and future needs

The COVID-19 pandemic has highlighted the need for greater responsibility and sustainability efforts within the hotel industry. A number of calls have been made for destinations to build resilience and ensure that policy agendas align to the sustainability needs of the industry. However, the current implementation of sustainable practices in the Portuguese hotel industry has been called into question. Through the application of a quantitative content analysis approach, this research presents a comparative examination of the sustainable practices implemented by the hotel industry in Portugal, utilising industry recognised GSTC baseline criteria. Findings report low levels of compliance with the sustainability criteria and highlight the need to address a number of operational challenges and future needs in the short and long term. The results may present implications for other destinations when it comes to the effective implementation of sustainable practices in hotels in the future.

Portuguese textile association fostering the internationalisation of small and medium-sized enterprises

The support and influence of industrial business associations (IBAs) for the internationalisation process of small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) is questioned. This qualitative case study on the textile industry in Portugal illustrates how SMEs are influenced by their IBA. Findings suggest that it has a preponderant role in supporting the international expansion of associated SMEs. Particularly, the promotion and organisation of trade fairs seem to foster first entries and continuous international expansion in the same way the IBA seems to influence their foreign market selection. However, SMEs feel that the IBA's work could still be improved by their facilitating more matchmaking processes, promoting collaborations, improving their seizing of available internationalisation opportunities, and providing more information about agents and distributors in foreign markets. Thus, we can say that, despite the internet and global opportunities that firms can directly benefit from, the role of IBAs is still relevant for SME's internationalisation, and there is still room for improvement.

The forestry products value chain and the costs of reshaping it: Multi-regional impacts of shrinking the pulp and paper industries in Portugal

Forestry industry macroeconomic assessments typically concentrate on the production, harvesting, and earliest processing of wood products, underestimating the full range of forests impacts in regional economies.
 This work proposes a broader concept – forestry products value chain – that ponders the contribution of the downstream activities relying (directly and indirectly) on Silviculture and Forestry products.
 The paper adopts a methodology based on a Multi-Regional Input-Output framework. We apply this approach to the Portuguese economy. Results clarify the role of eucalyptus in “Pulp”, “Paper and Cardboard” and “Paper and Cardboard Articles”. Finally, the projected wider macroeconomic consequences from a reduction of these productions is evaluated.

Hops (Humulus lupulus L.) as a Novel Multipurpose Crop for the Mediterranean Region of Europe: Challenges and Opportunities of Their Cultivation

The common hop (Humulus lupulus L.) is a dioecious perennial climbing plant, mainly known for the use of its female inflorescences (cones or, simply, “hops”) in the brewing industry. However, the very first interest towards hops was due to its medicinal properties. Actually, the variety of compounds present in almost all plant parts were (and still are) used to treat or prevent several ailments and metabolic disorders, from insomnia to menopausal symptoms as well as obesity and even cancer. Although hops are predominantly grown for hopping beer, the increasing interest in natural medicine is widening new interesting perspectives for this crop. Moreover, the recent success of the craft beer sector all over the world, made the cultivated hop come out from its traditional growing areas. Particularly, in Europe this resulted in a movement towards southern countries such as Italy, which added itself to the already existing hop industry in Portugal and Spain. In these relatively new environments, a complete knowledge and expertise of hop growing practices is lacking. Overall, while many studies were conducted globally on phytochemistry, bioactivity, and the genetics of hops, results from public research activity on basic hop agronomy are very few and discontinuous as well. The objective of this article is to provide an overview of possible uses, phenology, and agronomic aspects of hops, with specific reference to the difficulties and opportunities this crop is experiencing in the new growing areas, under both conventional and organic farming. The present review aims to fill a void still existing for this topic in the literature and to give directions for farmers that want to face the cultivation of such a challenging crop.

History of the beginnings of the plastics industry in Portugal

This paper aims to present a history of plastics in Portugal. In the context of this paper, the ‘history of plastics’ means a historical approach to the evolution over time of a broad field of relationships involving plastics after their arrival in Portugal at the beginning of the twentieth century. This will include the technological and scientific developments involved in the production and adaptation of plastics in Portugal, the objects produced from plastic and the influence they had on social and cultural habits, the history of companies that started working with plastics from an early date, and the production and use of plastics. How and when did plastics, materials with such innovative features, appear in Portugal and what was their impact on society at the time, in the 1930s? How did the Portuguese plastics industry evolve from its origins and what was the path of the appropriation and adoption of techniques, and processes for plastics manufacture? These research questions will be analysed in this paper. In addition, the global historical narrative about the origins, evolution and impact of the plastics industry and their products will be briefly described.

Structure of Microbial Communities When Complementary Effluents Are Anaerobically Digested

Olive oil and pig productions are important industries in Portugal that generate large volumes of wastewater with high organic load and toxicity, raising environmental concerns. The principal objective of this study is to energetically valorize these organic effluents—piggery effluent and olive mill wastewater—through the anaerobic digestion to the biogas/methane production, by means of the effluent complementarity concept. Several mixtures of piggery effluent were tested, with an increasing percentage of olive mill wastewater. The best performance was obtained for samples of piggery effluent alone and in admixture with 30% of OMW, which provided the same volume of biogas (0.8 L, 70% CH4), 63/75% COD removal, and 434/489 L CH4/kg SVin, respectively. The validation of the process was assessed by molecular evaluation through Next Generation Sequencing (NGS) of the 16S rRNA gene. The structure of the microbial communities for both samples, throughout the anaerobic process, was characterized by the predominance of bacterial populations belonging to the phylum Firmicutes, mainly Clostridiales, with Bacteroidetes being the subdominant populations. Archaea populations belonging to the genus Methanosarcina became predominant throughout anaerobic digestion, confirming the formation of methane mainly from acetate, in line with the greatest removal of volatile fatty acids (VFAs) in these samples.

Covid-19 as the trigger for digital transformation: The case of the bicycle industry in Portugal

COVID-19 brought big challenges to industries at a global level, which had to reinvent themselves to ensure their future in a short period of time. Many companies were faced with a scenario that required fast digital transformation. This article aims to present the state of the art of literature on COVID-19 impact on the bicycle industry and digital transformation in Portugal. To do so we performed a research for scientific articles to carry out a critical analysis of the literature related to the digital transformation and about the impact of COVID-19 in this sector, and we have noticed that the bicycle industry grew in Portugal during the pandemic, and we also realized that the digital transformation has become fundamental to companies’ survival. We intend to go deeper into this topic through a qualitative methodological approach.

Mapping the Film and Audiovisual Sectors: a Research Agenda for the Future

The film and audiovisual sectors play a crucial role in the European societies, and by extension, also in Portugal. This paper proposes a conceptual change centered on mapping the film and audiovisual (AV) industries in Portugal as a creative sector instead of a cultural one. We argue that this approach enables a more rigorous measurement of the value of these industries in the creative economy, besides allowing for more accessible connections between the creative industries and other areas. This conceptual change is based on an innovative approach to the “creative trident.” We argue that the value of the film and AV sector must be rooted in a flourishing creative workforce, and we propose that entrepreneurship education can be a path forward in unlocking the sector’s tremendous creative potential. We suggest an innovative research agenda to link all these elements in the context of the audiovisual and film creative industries.

Benefits management in university-industry collaboration programs

Current knowledge of benefits management is mostly limited to single organisations. This paper investigates benefits management applicable to large university-industry collaboration programs – a particular form of inter-organisational relationship. It presents a holistic, structured and customisable framework for how benefits can be managed, using the structured analysis and design technique. The research has been informed and validated in a major case study. The case study involved a R&D collaboration between a university and a large industry in Portugal over a six-year period with a total investment of more than 70 million Euros. The paper discusses the challenges of implementing benefits management among two organisations who have distinct and sometimes competing long-term benefits. This empirical research corroborates current theoretical approaches to benefits management and presents a number of new insights on how challenges may be effectively managed from a technical and social perspective, for example, the ownership of benefits realisation should change overtime, from Program Mangers to Line Managers of each organisation partner. Finally, the proposed BM.UIC framework can be used as starting point for development of a systematic benefit management process in any major project and program.

Knowledge Management and Gamification in Pharma: An Approach in Pandemic times to Develop Product Quality Reviews

The Pharma sector is a much‑regulated market, and this means that this industry must test their products tocomply with existing standards to assure the required level of quality and safety before being authorized to lunch thoseproducts to the market. Supply chains, data integrity, and tightening regulations are just examples of business processissues that affect quality strategies on a day‑to‑day basis. Besides, regulatory bodies are increasingly focused not only oncompliance but also on building a culture of quality management. In this domain, the Quality Management System (QMS)is a well‑known system to support processes, procedures, and responsibilities for achieving quality policies and objectives.The QMS also drives consistent metrics, risk calculations, and other trend analysis in developing periodical Product QualityReviews (PQRs), usually corresponding to one year periods, related to the product and with its active substance. The PQRsdevelopment process requires proper management of knowledge so that it can be replicated in different activities. Thispaper proposes the adoption of Gamification techniques in each phase of PQRs. In pandemic times, it is importante toimprove the performance of each activity, gathering the engagement of the employees. Gamification is usually related toemployee motivation, which, in turn, is conducive to the achievement of better results in the organization. In this context,it is necessary to understand how the commitment of stakeholders evolves and if the application of Gamificationtechniques allows enhancing this variable, taking the evolution of the performance as another variable that could beevaluated. This paper focuses on innovation in the area of knowledge management, based on the projection of a Gamifiedmodel related to managing activities of a PQR development project at the level of the active substance. The paperpresents a case study where the proposed model was applied to analyze the performance achieves in a nationalpharmaceutical industry in Portugal.

The Portuguese alcohol industry: friend or foe of public health authorities?

Abstract The influence of the alcohol industry is considered one of the most important obstacles to the implementation of policies that aim to tighten alcohol control. However, to our knowledge, our research is the first one to document the influence of the alcohol industry in the country, despite a 6.8% prevalence of alcohol use disorders and alcohol not featuring in the current National Health plan. We performed a qualitative thematic analysis of information available on websites and social media pages of trade associations, charities funded by the alcohol industry, government, universities and media material. This analysis was based on the “Policy Dystopia” framework, dividing the strategies we found as either instrumental (action-based) and discursive (argument-based). Overall, out of the 198 written records, 56% were instrumental and 44% discursive. The alcohol industry's representatives are part of the executive commission of the national task force responsible for consulting on policies regarding alcohol. We also found evidence of extensive community involvement through cooperation with security forces, among others. Also, after a discussion by the Portuguese Parliament of a possible increase in taxation of alcoholic beverages, a trade association delivered a study it had ordered from a consultancy company refuting any increase. Trade associations also claimed stricter control measures were not necessary in southern European countries, such as Portugal, and they were only appropriate for countries with more harmful drinking patterns. When referring to health risks causes by alcohol consumption, the association with breast cancer was only found once with misleading language describing it as “chest cancer”. This research has shown several tactics employed by the alcohol industry in Portugal and, as such, helped counteract some arguments used by the industry. This can enable the implementation of more effective control policies. Key messages Public health authorities should document the industry’s tactics in order to implement effective control policies regarding alcohol and other substances. There is a need for audits of health information made public by the alcohol industry.

Trade union responses to precarious employment: the role of power resources in defending precarious flight attendants at Ryanair

Drawing on a case study on the civil airline industry in Portugal, this article addresses the impact of precarious employment on trade union action and examines the conditions under which trade unions defend precarious workers’ interests. Using a power-resource theoretical framework, findings in this article highlight that cost-cutting employment practices are used strategically by employers to curb collectivisation and trade unionism. In addition, this article shows that when trade unions engage in an inclusive strategy to defend precarious workers’ interests, the compounded and inter-linked effect of trade union power resources, network embeddedness and international solidarity may be key to achieving success.S’appuyant sur une étude de cas portant sur l’industrie du transport aérien civil au Portugal, cet article traite de l’impact de l’emploi précaire sur l’action syndicale et examine les conditions dans lesquelles les syndicats défendent les intérêts des travailleurs précaires. À partir d’un cadre théorique fondé sur les ressources du pouvoir, les conclusions de cet article soulignent que les pratiques de réduction des coûts de l’emploi sont utilisées de manière stratégique par les employeurs pour freiner la collectivisation et le syndicalisme. En outre, cet article montre que lorsque les syndicats s’engagent dans une stratégie inclusive pour défendre les intérêts des travailleurs précaires, les effets combinés et interdépendants des ressources de pouvoir des syndicats, de leur ancrage dans les réseaux et de la solidarité internationale peuvent être la clé du succès.Der vorliegende Artikel beruht auf einer Fallstudie über die zivile Luftfahrt in Portugal und befasst sich mit den Auswirkungen prekärer Beschäftigung auf gewerkschaftliches Handeln sowie mit den Bedingungen, unter denen die Gewerkschaften die Interessen prekär beschäftigter Arbeitnehmer wahrnehmen. Die Autoren nutzen den Rahmen der Machtressourcentheorie für ihre Untersuchung und kommen zu dem Schluss, dass kostensenkende Beschäftigungspraktiken von Arbeitgebern strategisch genutzt werden, um gegen kollektives Handeln und Gewerkschaftsbewegung zu agieren. Darüber hinaus zeigt der Artikel, dass es für die Gewerkschaften ein Schlüssel zum Erfolg sein kann, wenn sie zur Wahrnehmung der Interessen prekär beschäftigter Arbeitnehmer eine inklusive Strategie nutzen, die auf sich gegenseitig verstärkende und ergänzende gewerkschaftliche Machtressourcen, Einbettung in Netzwerke und internationale Solidarität setzt.

Does foodservice industry care about CSR? A study in Portugal and Ukraine

The purpose of the article is to compare the CSR perception level of the food service industry in Portugal and Ukraine. The main goal of the study is to find the attitudes in Portugal and in Ukraine towards CSR. Additionally, two hypotheses were formulated to understand the possible relation between (1) the financial situation and (2) the duration of the company with the awareness level about the CSR concept. A quantitative approach, using questionnaires, was adopted to survey using a sample of 201 representatives of SMEs in the foodservice sector (101 Portuguese and 100 Ukrainian), in 2019. Descriptive statistics and Spearman test were used to analyze the data. The present work demonstrates a significant correlation between the financial situation of the company and the CSR awareness level of leadership. Furthermore, the research shows that activities related to the economic sphere and CSR workplace policy among food sector companies in Ukraine and Portugal are developed to a great extent. From this point of view, we can state, that the publication of the article is one of the results and supported by grant project KEGA 005SPU-4/2019 “Theory and Practice of the International Management and Entrepreneurship in Multicultural Environment”. In this study, two different countries were chosen (Portugal and Ukraine), which are different in culture, history, and economic background. The paper focused on the food service industry and contributes to the ongoing debate about the SMEs and its involvement with CSR. It also helps schools to identify plans in CSR policy and topics for future research.

Plásticos que fizeram história - a contribuição das ciências da conservação para a história da Indústria Portuguesa dos Plásticos

The plastic objects from our cultural heritage are material testimonies of our history, technology and industry. Still, in Portugal, there is no museum of plastics, and the collections are spread through private collectors and industries. The research project, 'The Triumph of Bakelite - Contributions to a History of Plastics in Portugal', aims at creating this museum. To this end, the research work gave rise to the exhibition, 'Plasticity - A History of Plastics in Portugal', in Museu de Leiria in 2019. This study focuses on the contribution of conservation science for the writing of this history and preparation of ca. 150 historical plastic objects for display. Bakelite, melamine, polyethylene, polypropylene, polystyrene and plasticized polyvinyl chloride are just a few examples of the polymers identified by infrared spectroscopy. This identification was crucial to tell the history of the plastics industry in Portugal. Both the spectra and characteristic absorption bands of each polymer are presented.