Lobo, Carla Azevedo
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Lobo
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Carla Azevedo
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Carla Azevedo Lobo
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Carla Azevedo Lobo é doutorada em Gestão pela Universidade Portucalense. É Professora Auxiliar da Universidade Portucalense e leciona em cursos de Licenciatura, Mestrado e Doutoramento, na área das Ciências Empresariais. É também Coordenadora do Curso de Licenciatura em Gestão, desde 2010. É investigadora do REMIT (Research on Economics, Management and Information Technologies). Foi a Investigadora Responsável do Projeto de Investigação ("IEcPBI”) na área dos Negócios Internacionais, financiado pelo COMPETE 2020, FEDER e FCT, entre 2018 - 2022.
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Investigadora do REMIT - Research on Economics, Management and Information Technologies (departamento: DEG)
2E1D-CA98-5832
57210261298
G-9840-2016Research Projects
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REMIT – Research on Economics, Management and Information Technologies
Centro de investigação que que tem como objetivo principal produzir e disseminar conhecimento teórico e aplicado que possibilite uma maior compreensão das dinâmicas e tendências económicas, empresariais, territoriais e tecnológicas do mundo contemporâneo e dos seus efeitos socioeconómicos. O REMIT adota uma perspetiva multidisciplinar que integra vários domínios científicos: Economia e Gestão; Ciências e Tecnologia; Turismo, Património e Cultura.
Founded in 2017, REMIT – Research on Economics, Management and Information Technologies is a research unit of Portucalense University. Based on a multidisciplinary and interdisciplinary perspective it aims at responding to social challenges through a holistic approach involving a wide range of scientific fields such as Economics, Management, Science, Technology, Tourism, Heritage and Culture.
Grounded on the production of advanced scientific knowledge, REMIT has a special focus on its application to the resolution of real issues and challenges, having as strategic orientations:
- the understanding of local, national and international environment;
- the development of activities oriented to professional practice, namely in the business world.
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Publication Open Access Enhancing factors of business internationalization: A model for portuguese smes2017 - Ferreira, Ana Teresa; Cordeiro, S.A.; Costa-Lobo, Cristina; Lobo, Carla AzevedoNowadays, firms need to engage in a continuous innovation process and constantly restructure their operations to meet the requirements of national but, most of all, international competition. Failure to act internationally may lead to a loss of market opportunities, but also to a more severe inability to survive in the long run. Firms must find new ways to develop a competitive advantage, which entails searching for and acquiring new skills, resources and capabilities. Knowledge is an important strategic resource due to its impact on firms’ competitive capacity. In many instances, firms, including international new ventures, may access those resources, including the market–specific knowledge, through alternative ways of governance, such as “industrial networks”. In this work, through an empirical study with 320 Portuguese international firms, a Theoretical Model that measures the enhancing factors of business internationalization is presented, with evidence of the importance of Networks, of “Specific Skills of its workers”, “International Experience of its workers” and of “Entrepreneurial Propensity and to take risks from workers and top management team”, in accordance to Human Capital Theory, Social Cognitive Theory, International New Ventures Theory, and the Population Ecology Approach.Publication Open Access The importance of internationalization strategy for innovation in Portuguese firms2020-08 - Durão, Natércia; Santos-Pereira, Carla; Azevedo, Mónica; Maldonado, Isabel; Lobo, Carla AzevedoInnovation and internationalization seem to be vital strategies for the survival and growth of companies facing an increasingly competitive global environment. The twoway link between these two factors has become a topic of interest among researchers. Although innovation and internationalization are highly related activities, the role played by innovation in the internationalization process of firms has been analysed by internationalization, others consider that innovation can be a consequence of internationalization process. Given the great importance of small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) for the growth of economies, part of literature has paid special attention to this kind of enterprises. The aim of this study is to explore the relationship between innovation and internationalization within Portuguese firms, in particular to analyse whether Portuguese entrepreneurs consider innovation as an important factor in the process of internationalisation. To achieve this goals, we will use descriptive and inferential data analysis techniques.Publication Open Access Business internationalization inducing factors: The importance of knowledge and relational networks2017 - Lobo, Carla Azevedo; Maldonado, IsabelCompanies are currently required to continually innovate and restructure their operations in order to respond to the requirements of national and international competition. Companies have to find new ways to develop competitive advantages and acquire new skills, resources and capabilities. Based on the opinions of different factors considered as inducers of the internationalization process by companies that internationalized early in their life cycle. We developed an empirical study with 320 portuguese international firms and used the statistical software AMOS for a confirmatory factor analysis. We propose a Theoretical Model in accordance to Human Capital Theory, International New Ventures Theory, and the Population Ecology Approach. We find evidence of the importance of Networks, Specific Skills of its workers, International Experience of its workers and Entrepreneurial Propensity and to Take Risks from workers and top management team.Publication Open Access The importance of the skills in business digitalization for the internationalization strategy: Evidence for Portuguese firms2020 - Santos-Pereira, Carla; Durão, Natércia; Moreira, Fernando; Lobo, Carla AzevedoTo meet the requirements of both national and international competition firms need to engage in a continuous innovation process and constantly restructure their operations. Firms must find new ways to develop a competitive advantage, which entails searching for and acquiring new skills, resources and competences. Traditional theories of internationalization focused mainly on multinational firms, giving less importance to entrepreneurs with their small businesses. However, the development of the business world has been breaking all boundaries with the increasing internationalization of firms, not dependent on their size, activity sector or geographical area of origin. It is also widely acknowledged that organizations have suffered a large evolution at the technological level where the traditional barriers of information and knowledge transferring have been progressively eliminated. Digital transformation (DT), in business practice can enable significant competitive advantage. DT can also be seen as a deep and accelerating transformation with regard to processes, activities, competences and models, in order to take advantage of the changes and opportunities offered by the inclusion of digital technologies into an organization. In the literature of business internationalization, a large number of scientific studies focus on the determinants of internationalization and more specifically, on their relationship with the success / failure of internationalization. However, few of them analyze the entrepreneur’s perspective. Therefore, this work aims to present a study focused on the entrepreneur’s perception about the internationalization process of his company, more specifically, about the factors that enhanced the company entry into foreign markets as well as the constraints found in this process. In this project, through an empirical study from a sample of 195 Portuguese International firms, we intend to confirm if the integration of technological innovations in business practice can enable significant competitive advantage including in business internationalization.Publication Open Access Early internationalization: The importance of skills and relational networks2017 - Lobo, Carla Azevedo; Maldonado, IsabelCompanies are currently required to continually innovate and restructure their operations in order to respond to the requirements of national and international competition. Companies have to find new ways to develop competitive advantages and acquire new skills, resources and capabilities. Since the 90’s, the research on international new ventures (INV) contested the idea that new or small companies can’t be early internationalized or that they would only do so incrementally. Since then, a growing flow of research into international new ventures has tried to understand the causes, processes, and outcomes of the decision to early enter foreign markets. A common thread concerns the role of learning and knowledge. Organizational knowledge, or its absence, was a central explanation for internationalization in original stage-based models (Uppsala School), but INV theory recognized that individual factors such as international experience can also influence the pace and specially the beginning of internationalization. More specifically, some recent empirical evidence offers important insights into the internationalization of new business, showing that younger companies are able to compensate for their limited experiential learning through previous individual experiences of the top management team and through inter-organizational relationships. Based on our literature review we intend to evaluate entrepreneurs’ opinions, in order to ascertain whether factors such as a relational network, worker’s specific skills and "worker’s international experience, can act as enhancing agents or inducers of the company internationalization process. Moreover we intend to investigate if there are differences in the importance of these factors to those companies that internationalize early in their life cycle (maturity level). An empirical study was carried out with 320 Portuguese companies through Exploratory Analysis and Univariate Statistical Inference methodologies. We found evidence that allows us to say that companies that internationalize early in their life cycle are those which most value the importance of worker’s specific skills and worker’s international experience. However relational networks don’t depend on companies’ maturity level.Keywords: Internationalization, skills, networks.Publication Open Access The enhancers of the internationalization strategy and its relation with business performance – the Portuguese case2020-09 - Lobo, Carla Azevedo; Santos-Pereira, Carla; Durão, NatérciaInternationalization theories have been growing interest among researchers. However, as they mainly focused on the internationalization process of big and mature firms, it was thought that they need some other approaches that consider the challenges of small and younger firms. A growing flow of research on international new ventures(INV) has sought to understand the causes, processes and outcomes of the decision of smaller and younger firms to enter in foreign markets. The INV model states that some young SME’s rapidly internationalize exporting to distant markets practically since birth. Thus, instead of following the internationalization process theory, that states that firms enter new markets gradually, slowly compromising their resources in the development of export activities, these INV enter international markets almost immediately, without waiting until they have acquired experience in the domestic market with success. The perspective on international new ventures thus emphasizes the role of individual knowledge to argue that international ventures do not need organizational experiences, routines or capabilities to succeed in external markets. On the contrary, the international experiences of founders and other key managers can replace such shortcomings. In other words, the entrepreneur's role can define the firm's ability to acquire and operationalize its resources, thus being able to influence business performance, especially of international businesses. The growing popularity of this new perspective on international new ventures has created a body of literature on this issue and of its influence on international business performance. Aiming to analyze the existence of an association between international business performance and the factors that act, on the entrepreneur perspective, as enhancers of the internationalization strategy, an online questionnaire survey was conducted with several variables, based on the literature review. The questionnaire was sent to all firms registered in the AICEP database of Portuguese internationalized firms, by sending a link via e-mail and using the Google Forms tool between May 2019 and January 2020. Data collected from the 238 valid responses (Portuguese international firms) were treated by IBM SPSS Statistics 26.0 software through a quantitative approach based on a descriptive, exploratory and inferential analysis. In accordance with International New Ventures Theory, the Strategic Choice view and Network theory, we expect to find evidence of the correlation between the factors that act, on the entrepreneur perspective, as enhancers of the internationalization strategy and the percentage of business that resulted from internationalization (termed “Turnover”). We also intend to ascertain if there is any evidence of the importance of the enhancing factors related to skills, knowledge and networks in international business performance.Publication Open Access International business performance and the enhancers of the internationalization strategy in Portuguese firms2019 - Lobo, Carla Azevedo; Durão, Natércia; Santos-Pereira, CarlaAs business has become increasingly global, firms have been defied to develop a distinct approach in terms of business resources, skills and capabilities. The way in which these factors are organized and directed depend upon the role played by the entrepreneur within the company. In other words, the entrepreneur's role can define the company's ability to acquire and operationalize its resources, thus being able to influence business performance, especially of international businesses. Research on factors affecting internationalization is attracting growing interest, but few empirical works focus on the perspective of the entrepreneur. Aiming to analyze the existence of an association between international business performance and the factors that act, on the entrepreneur perspective, as enhancers of the internationalization strategy, an online questionnaire survey was conducted with several variables, based on the literature review. Data collected from the 311 valid responses (Portuguese international firms) were treated by IBM SPSS Statistics 24.0 software. The statistical analyses used were Descriptive Analysis (frequency analysis, descriptive statistics and graphical representations), Inferential Analysis (Spearman´s ordinal correlation, Kruskall-Wallis Test and Chi-Square Test), Reliability Analysis (Cronbach´s alpha) and Categorical Principal Components Analysis (CATPCA). In accordance with International New Ventures Theory, the Strategic Choice view and Network theory, we found evidence of the positive correlation between international experience of the employees and the percentage of business that resulted from internationalization. We also concluded that there is evidence of the importance of specific skills of the employees, of propensity to take risks and the importance of Networks, in international business performance.Publication Restricted Access The Impact of Cultural Barriers on the Internationalization Process2022-04 - Martins, Nayra; Oliveira, Susana; Lobo, Carla AzevedoThis study aims to analyze the impact of cultural differences in the internationalization process of small and medium-sized Portuguese firms. It was used a questionnaire survey, supported by an extensive literature review on business internationalization and its main barriers. In order to validate the form and content of the questionnaire, the instrument was pre-tested. [...]Publication Open Access Networking for internationalization: are young companies different from older ones?2020-09 - Sousa, Cristina; Lobo, Carla Azevedo; Santos-Pereira, CarlaThe internationalization process is complex, costly and uncertain. Existing theories stress the role of learning and knowledge and the role of networks in the acquisition of resources and information that affect the internationalization process. The “revised” Uppsalla model (Johanson and Vahlne 2009) incorporates relational networks, considering they have a strong impact on market selection, as well as on the identification of opportunities. The theory of International New Ventures (INV) emphasizes the importance of relational networks and vicarious learning as a way for companies to acquire knowledge about the external market. Some scholars consider that the participation in networks is particularly beneficial for younger and smaller firms. However, it is still unclear how the reliance on various network relationships potentially differs among younger and older ventures. This paper tackles this question by using a novel survey dataset of 238 Portuguese firms and a quantitative approach base on a descriptive and inferential analysis.Publication Open Access Driving forces of internationalization: differences between sectors2021-07-07 - Santos-Pereira, Carla; Durão, Natércia; Lobo, Carla AzevedoGlobalization and the progress in information and communication technologies, as well as international services trade agreements, have improved the position of service industries in the world economy. Therefore, an increasing number of service firms are engaging in foreign markets. The literature on internationalization, however, does not pay much attention to this sector, tending to focus more on the manufacturing sector and multinational enterprises (MNEs). Regarding this subject, scholars highlight four features that distinguish services from manufactured goods: intangibility, inseparability, perishability and heterogeneity. Researchers argue that these characteristics influences the motivations of particular service industries to engage in foreign market operations and this also inevitably makes their internationalization motivations and determinants different from that of the manufacturing sector. Bearing in mind this gap in the literature, the main objective of this study is to empirically investigate the driving forces behind internationalization of Portuguese firms, focusing on differences between sectors. Specifically, to examine the factors that determine firm internationalization strategy and the differences between service and manufacturing firms. To achieve this goal, we used Quantitative Analysis Methodologies. Data collected from 199 valid responses were treated using IBM SPSS Statistics 26.0 software. Given the nature of the data (categorical variables measured on an ordinal scale), the statistical methods used for the data analysis were Descriptive Analysis (frequency analysis and graphical representations) and Inferential Analysis (Kruskall-Wallis nonparametric test with multiple comparisons).