segunda-feira, 24 de julho de 2023

Luxembourg Internet Days: Portugal Country Partner | 7 e 8 de novembro de 2023


 A 10ª edição dos “Luxembourg Internet Days” (LID), a realizar-se nos dias 7 e 8 de novembro de 2023, é o mais importante evento na área das tecnologias de informação que se realiza neste país, tendo um grande impacto na chamada “Grande Região”, área geográfica que engloba o Luxemburgo e regiões limítrofes da Bélgica, França e Alemanha.


Os "Luxembourg Internet Days"  são organizados pela LU-CIX, entidade privada sem fins lucrativos que tem entre os seus membros diversas entidades oficiais e grandes empresas luxemburguesas e empresas internacionais sediadas no Luxemburgo.

Na edição de 2023 desta iniciativa, Portugal vai ser o País Convidado/Country Partner.

As principais entidades que apoiam este evento são os Ministérios de Estado e da Economia do Luxemburgo, Luxembourg Chamber of Commerce, Representação da União Europeia no Luxemburgo, Cybersecurity Luxembourg, MyConnectivity, Embaixada de Portugal no Luxemburgo, Embaixada do Luxemburgo em Portugal e aicep Portugal Global.

Esta edição dos LID vai ser dedicada à temática “Network Security & Resilience”, estando aberta à participação de empresas e entidades portuguesas que atuem nas áreas da cibersegurança e resiliência de redes.

Mais informações sobre esta iniciativa, e as respetivas condições de participação (as inscrições terminam a 15 de setembro de 2023), podem ser obtidas aqui.

domingo, 16 de julho de 2023

Até sempre, Miguel!


Recordarei para sempre a tua grande amizade, a tua generosidade, o teu companheirismo, o teu profissionalismo, o teu sentido de humor e a dedicação à tua família. Foste um ser humano excecional, um grande amigo e ficarão para sempre na minha memória os nossos tempos em Paris e as nossas conversas, já durante o teu período de doença. Este é um momento de muita tristeza. Até sempre, amigo Miguel Góis!

domingo, 23 de abril de 2023

Business Europe: A call for action to boost competitiveness and create regulatory breathing space


A Business Europe, principal confederação patronal europeia, apresentou recentemente um conjunto de propostas para melhoria do ambiente de negócios e da competitividade das empresas europeias que sistematizou num documento designado por "A call for action to boost competitiveness and create regulatory breathing space". Esta tomada de posição da Business Europe pretende alertar os "policy makers on European, national and regional levels to take urgent action in 2023 to provide regulatory breathing space for business and boost competitiveness".

domingo, 19 de março de 2023

National Bank of Belgium: Export entry and network interactions: Evidence from the Belgian production network

O Banco Nacional da Bélgica acaba de lançar um estudo da autoria de Emmanuel Dhyne, Philipp Ludwig and Hylke Vandenbussche, designado "Export entry and network interactions: Evidence from the Belgian production network", que destaca a importância das redes ("networks) na atividade das empresas exportadoras, sobretudo ao nível das pequenas e médias empresas, e na seleção nos modos de entrada em mercados internacionais:

"Despite continued trade liberalization only 4-5% of firms export products to foreign markets. This low rate of export participation reflects the immense challenges exporters face when trying to access foreign markets. Complying with customs procedures and tailoring products to local demand creates large up-front costs which act as an entry barrier and prevent most firms from becoming exporters. A vast literature in international trade has therefore singled out firm productivity as the key determinant to understand low export participation, since only the most efficient firms are able to take on high entry costs while remaining profitable in foreign markets.

This perspective, however, ignores that firms do not operate in isolation but are constantly interacting through their domestic production network. These network interactions provide a potentially powerful source of information about foreign markets as they connect domestic firms to experienced exporters which are already present in foreign markets. Signals travelling along these linkages could therefore inform firms about foreign market conditions, lower the cost burden typically associated with market access and turn the network itself into a key determinant of export participation. Becoming an exporter might therefore not only be the result of highly efficient production capabilities, but also the result of suitable network linkages.(...)

Our results indicate that firm networks are an important determinant of export participation. (...)

These findings have several implications for researchers and policy makers alike. First, they emphasize that determinants of export participation are both generated within and outside of the firm. Foreign market entry evidently both depends on firms’ efficiency as well as the value of their connections. (...) Second, our results suggest that leveraging existing network linkages presents a potentially powerful tool for policy makers to promote export participation. This is especially true for SMEs which stand to gain most from a network-centered approach."

sexta-feira, 13 de janeiro de 2023

sábado, 31 de dezembro de 2022

WIIW - Economic and Social Impacts of FDI in Central, East and Southeast Europe


                                                    

                                                                   Foto: Intellinews

"This study (Economic and Social Impacts of FDI in Central, East and Southeast Europe by Doris Hanzl-Weiss and Branimir Jovanović from  The Vienna Institute for International Economic Studies)  assesses the economic and social impacts of foreign direct investment (FDI) in 17 economies in Central, East and Southeast Europe (CESEE). More precisely, we investigate how different FDI inflows have affected various economic and social indicators, such as GDP growth, labour market outcomes, and poverty and inequality, for the period since the fall of communism until 2020. (…)

During the past three decades, the economies of Central, East and Southeast Europe (CESEE) have been experiencing strong inflows of foreign direct investment (FDI). Between 1993 and 2020 the world as a whole has been receiving FDI inflows of around 2.5% of global GDP, while foreign investment in CESEE has averaged 4.4% of GDP. Most of these inflows into CESEE – around 60% of the total – have been coming from the nearby EU15 countries. Western European companies entered the attractive CESEE economies to ensure their presence in the new fast-growing markets, as well as to benefit from the lower production costs there. (…)

We find that FDI inflows have had, in general, a positive effect on economic growth in CESEE, and that this effect has been particularly strong for German and Austrian FDI. For total FDI, higher inflows of 1 percentage point (pp) of GDP are associated with 0.19 pp higher GDP growth. For FDI from Germany and Austria, this effect is five times higher – FDI inflows of 1 pp of GDP have led to 0.9 pp higher GDP growth. The positive GDP effects have come from the higher consumption and exports that the FDI has induced. FDI inflows have also reduced unemployment and increased wages, but have had no effects on labour productivity. Total FDI has had only limited effects on inequality and poverty, but FDI from Germany and Austria has been found to reduce both inequality and poverty, likely because they have benefitted mainly lower-income persons. There are differences in the effects of the different types of FDI, with reinvested earnings and equity capital having in general more beneficial effects than intra-company loans. Also, FDI in different sectors of the economy has had different effects, with inflows to the secondary and tertiary sectors having greater effects than inflows to the primary sector.

 The policy implications of these results are that CESEE economies should not give up on their efforts to attract more FDI, but also that their endeavours should be more targeted, focusing on investments that have greater economic and social impacts. Moreover, foreign investment should not be criticised for the perhaps unsatisfactory economic and social performances of the economies from this region. Instead, the reasons for this should be sought in domestic factors and in the modest growth of the European Union during the past two decades."

sábado, 3 de dezembro de 2022

Livro " Os rios não sobem montanhas", de José Manuel de Braga Dias

José Manuel de Braga Dias nasceu em Vila Franca do Campo, Açores. É licenciado em Ciências Sociais e Política Ultramarina pelo ISCSP/Universidade Técnica de Lisboa. É meu amigo e foi meu colega no ICEP - Instituto do Comércio Externo de Portugal onde exerceu diversas funções em Portugal e foi Delegado deste Instituto no Brasil, Venezuela e Angola, entre 1982 e 1996.


Depois de ter publicado em 2015, o livro de contos "Os Olhos verdes da justiça e outros olhares" e, em 20019, o livro de poesia "As cores do tempo", acabou agora de lançar mais um livro, designado "Os rios não sobem montanhas", editado pela Causa das Regras. A capa do livro (acima) é da autoria de João Salgueiro e Jairo Gruenberg. É uma obra que aborda um conjunto de excelentes "estórias" de Angola sobretudo da cidade de Luanda, durante a década de 90 do século passado, na fase pós Acordos de Bicesse e no período de plena guerra civil que atravessava, na altura, aquele país africano. De acordo com o autor  "É neste contexto que se inventam histórias, personagens e que se relembram factos que, em Luanda, constituíam parte do quotidiano de nacionais e estrangeiros". Uma excelente e muito interessante leitura, sobretudo para quem gosta, conhece, viveu/vive ou tem interesse por Angola!