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A Internet, pelas suas características interactivas e conectivas, está na origem de transformações profundas no mundo empresarial. No marketing essas transformações são mais visíveis e mudam as relações entre parceiros, com os clientes a ganharem poder em prejuízo dos produtores e distribuidores. No limite, reclamam a participação na formulação do marketing-mix. Neste contexto, são muitas as empresas que reformulam as suas estratégias de marketing para aproveitar as oportunidades de negócio criadas pela Internet, assistindo-se assim, à customização do marketing-mix e dos relacionamentos. Baseado numa amostra de 192 empresas privadas portuguesas, 93 possuindo website e 99 não possuindo website, este estudo pretende conhecer o seu nível de sofisticação tecnológica e investigar o impacto da Internet na reconfiguração da estratégia de marketing. Todavia, a sua principal contribuição assenta no estudo desenvolvido sobre o impacto destas transformações na performance da organização. Internet, due to its interactive and connective characteristics, is in the origin of great changes in the business world. In the marketing field, those transformations are more visible and they are changing the relations among partners, with power moving towards customers, who are even claiming for an effective participation in the marketing-mix formulation. In this context, many companies are changing their marketing strategies in order to take advantage of the opportunities Internet is bringing, namely the opportunity for customizing the marketing strategy and the relationships. Based on a sample of 192 Portuguese private companies, 93 having website, this study aims to identify the level of technological sophistication and investigate the Internet impact on the marketing strategy redesign and on the performance of the organisations.

Dissertação de Mestrado em Marketing apresentada à Faculdade de Economia Objetivo: Gestão Lean é uma filosofia organizacional baseada nos métodos de produção industrial TPS idealizados por engenheiros da Toyota, uma construtora de veículos japonesa. O estudo pretende avaliar os efeitos da implementação de metodologias de Gestão Lean sobre o Bem-Estar e a Performance dos trabalhadores, mediados pelo Compromisso com o Trabalho e a Superação no Trabalho, no contexto das organizações atuais.Abordagem: o modelo conceptual foi elaborado com base em estudos sobre Gestão Lean, Compromisso com o Trabalho (Work Engagement), Superação no Trabalho (Job Resourcefulness), Performance, Produtividade e Bem-Estar dos trabalhadores. Foram levantadas 10 hipóteses de estudo sobre as relações de causalidade e mediação entre as variáveis. Os dados da investigação foram coletados através de inquéritos eletrónicos divulgados online e por contatos com mensagens eletrónicas diretas (e-mail), procurando tanto quanto possível obter uma amostragem significativa da população-alvo. Os resultados dos inquéritos foram analisados com uso do Modelo de Equações Estruturais, com auxílio do SPSS e do seu plug-in AMOS para a execução dos cálculos necessários à análise. Resultados: A investigação concluiu que existe uma relação positiva entre Gestão Lean e a Performance das organizações e o Bem-Estar dos trabalhadores mediada pelo Compromisso com o Trabalho e pela Superação no Trabalho. Espera-se, portanto, que implementações bem-sucedidas da Gestão Lean levem a ganhos no Compromisso com o Trabalho e na Superação do Trabalho, que levarão igualmente a ganhos na Performance e Bem-Estar dos trabalhadores envolvidos no processo. No entanto, é esperado que implementações malsucedidas tenham efeitos detrimentais para as variáveis referidas. Não foi encontrada evidencia estatística para apoiar, no entanto, a hipótese de que Superação no Trabalho tenha influência sobre a Performance de Grupo, ao passo que o efeito positivo sobre a Performance Individual e a Performance Operacional foi corroborado.Limitações e futuras linhas de investigação: Estudos comparativos com outros países poderão ser feitos em pesquisas futuras, bem como comparações “antes-depois” da implementação, entre equipas Lean e Não-Lean, diferenças culturais e eficácia da implementação em termos de resultados financeiros. Contribuições práticas: o modelo oferecido e as conclusões alcançadas poderão servir como ferramenta de apoio à decisão de gestores preocupados com os impactos da implementação de metodologias de Gestão Lean sobre o Bem-Estar e Performance percecionada pelos trabalhadores, ajustando as atividades de mudança de paradigma para melhor responder às ansiedades e expectativas dos mesmos, e focalizando recursos nas variáveis que estatisticamente se esperam produzir maiores impactos nos resultados.Originalidade: Poucos estudos abrangentes como esta proposta foram encontrados na revisão da literatura, sendo maioritariamente focalizados sobre setores, indústrias, países ou níveis de hierarquia específicos. Objective: Lean Management is an organizational philosophy based on TPS industrial production methods designed by engineers from Toyota, a Japanese vehicles maker. The study aims to assess the effects of implementing Lean Management methodologies on the well-being and Performance of workers, mediated by Work Engagement and Job Resourcefulness, in the context of present-day organizations.Approach: The conceptual model was developed based on studies on Lean Management, Work Engagement, Job Resourcefulness, Performance, Productivity and workers’ Well-Being. Ten study hypotheses about causality and mediation relationships between variables were raised. The investigation data was collected through electronic surveys published online and by contacts with direct electronic messages (e-mail), seeking as much as possible to obtain a significant sample of the target population. The collected data was analysed using the Structural Equations Model, with the help of SPSS and its AMOS plug-in to perform the required calculations for the analysis.Results: The investigation concluded that there is a positive relationship between Lean Management and workers’ Well-Being and Performance, as mediated by Work Engagement and Job Resourcefulness. It is therefore expected that successful implementations of Lean Management will lead to gains in Work Engagement and Job Resourcefulness, which ultimately will lead to Performance and Well-Being levels’ gains as well. However, it’s expected that unsuccessful implementations of Lean Management will have detrimental effects on the referred variables. No statistical evidence was found to support, however, the hypothesis that Job Resourcefulness has an influence on Group Performance, while the positive effect on Individual Performance and Operational Performance was corroborated.Limitations and future lines of research: Comparative studies with other countries can be done in future research, as well as comparisons “before-after” of the implementation, between Lean and Non-Lean teams, cultural differences and effectiveness of the implementation in terms of financial results. Practical contributions: The offered model and the conclusions reached by the investigation may serve as a decision support tool for company managers concerned with the impacts of implementing Lean Management methodologies on the well-being and productivity of workers, adjusting paradigm changing activities to better respond to their anxieties and expectations, and focusing resources on the variables that are statistically expected to produce the greatest positive impacts.Originality: Few comprehensive studies like this proposal were found in the literature review, being mostly focused on specific sectors, industries, countries or levels of hierarchy.

Doctoral Thesis in Business Management presented to Faculty of Economics of Coimbra University Purpose: In an increasingly interconnected world every action matters. Sustainable supply chain management is a field full of opportunities for deeper investigations, in order to understand how to use power and influence in a proper way to develop business in a responsible way, through an approach where all can win. The first goal of this investigation is to map academic publications on the subject and the intellectual knowledge contained therein, covering past research trends and identifying potential future paths of research in the fields of corporate social responsibility and supply chain management, through a systematic review and bibliometric analysis. The second goal was to investigate the impact of the supply chain leadership and supply chain followership on purchasing social responsibility, considering the mediator effects of information sharing and shared values, since these variables contribute to a better understanding of the leadership and followership phenomena as key drivers of a sustainable supply chain management. The third goal was to identify the impact of supply chain leadership and supply chain followership on corporate social responsibility, considering the mediating effects of shared values, information sharing and purchasing social responsibility. The fourth goal was to identify how corporate social responsibility affects firm value, specifically through the analyses of social responsible behaviours impact on shared value shared value creation, in order to achieve higher performances performance and greater competitive advantages. The fifth goal was to analyse how supply chain leadership and supply chain followership affects firm value, specifically, through the analyses of transformational leadership and followership behaviours on shared value creation, in order to higher performance and greater shared values alignment. By doing so, new insights on sustainable supply chain management to assure business sustainability are provided. Methodology: The answers to the relationships proposed were drawn from the partial and cumulative results that were tested in the four partial and complementary models developed, corresponding to four empirical partial investigations produced. To test the proposed research hypotheses, this investigation uses a structured questionnaire to gather data from a cross-sectional sample of supply chain partners from the biggest Portuguese energy supplier. The initial three investigation models considered a sample of 425 partners, and the fourth later model considered a sample of 456 partners, since 31 additional responses had been fulfilled later in the investigation. Structural Equation Modelling is used to test the proposed hypotheses, and a multi-group analysis is conducted to find how suppliers’ dependency can impact the suggested relationships. Findings: The main findings of this investigation are: (i) there is a growing academic appeal to perform empirical studies involving supply chain partners, with the objective of monitoring the performance of companies through robust indicators and understanding how actions taken by leading organisations are contributing to the creation of value and competitive advantages, in a multidimensional and holistic approach; (ii) supply chain leadership has a positive impact on supply chain followership, information sharing, shared value, shared values and purchasing social responsibility, showing indirect effects on corporate social responsibility and performance through the proposed mediating variables; (iii) supply chain followership has a positive impact on information sharing, shared value, shared values and corporate social responsibility, showing indirect effects on performance; (iv) corporate social responsibility has a positive impact on competitive advantages, shared value and performance; (v) information sharing has a positive impact on performance and corporate social responsibility; (vi) shared values has a positive impact on purchasing social responsibility, corporate social responsibility and performance; (vii) shared value has a positive impact on performance; (viii) performance has a positive impact on corporate social responsibility; (ix) supply chain leadership dependency appears to moderate some of the proposed relationships. Implications/Originality: This research provides empirical evidence on the influence of supply chain leadership, supply chain followership and corporate social responsibility on organizational value creation, contributing to a better understanding of the impacts of social responsible behaviours on business sustainability, filling the gaps identified on past literature. The overall results may support the importance of a social responsible leadership, identifying how a sustainable company may create value for itself, and for everyone with whom it interacts. Consequently, researchers conducting studies on business strategy can incorporate these conceptual approaches as key elements in strategic business planning. In addition, supply chain management researchers can evaluate the inclusion of supply chain leadership, supply chain followership and corporate social responsibility in the studies carried out, in order to evaluate how these variables can translate on tangible assets, life cycle management, time to market, quality and product innovation. Limitations: The research only considers suppliers of one company. The relationships between variables need to be explored in other practical case studies and longitudinal investigations to improve the possibility of generalisation and establishing more reliable causal relationships.

Dissertação de mestrado em Marketing (Marketing Estratégico), apresentada à Faculdade de Economia da Universidade de Coimbra, sob a orientação de Arnaldo Coelho e Afonso Zinga. Este estudo tem como objectivo contribuir para o aprofundar do estudo das competências de marketing, investigando especificamente quais os factores que as influenciam, quais os reais impactos das competências na estratégia e quais as implicações na performance. Para testar estas premissas seleccionaram-se empresas familiares para a amostra, visto que este tipo de empresas acaba por ter um papel muito importante na economia nacional, não havendo, no entanto, muitos estudos que possam ajudar as suas acções e consequente sucesso no seu mercado de actuação. O propósito deste estudo insere-se na revisão literária sobre o conceito de competências de marketing no contexto empresarial português analisando os seus antecedentes, e a forma como influenciam as competências, bem como o impacto destas sobre a estratégia e a forma como influenciam a performance. Para tal foram construídos modelos de estudo e hipóteses de investigação. Foram constatados os impactos de algumas das competências de marketing, comprovando a sua influência sobre a estratégia e as óbvias implicações sobre a performance das empresas familiares.