A internacionalização das Pequenas e Médias Empresas (PME) na Europa faz parte dos assuntos estratégicos da União Europeia (UE), já que o mercado interno de um único país pode não ser capaz de suprir-se em termos de produtos, mão-de-obra, capitais e serviços, sendo essa, a principal linha da política de competitividade do Concelho Europeu e da UE para o mercado interno. Neste contexto, as incubadoras surgiram com o objetivo de apoiar as PME incubadas. As incubadoras propiciam o surgimento de empresas de tecnologias inovadoras, além de manter uma vasta infraestrutura baseada em redes de cooperação, quer nacionais quer internacionais. As incubadoras podem também assumir o papel de intermediárias no processo de cooperação internacional, e permitem organizar recursos, estratégias e suprir as falhas momentâneas de gestão das PME incubadas, assim como potencializar o talento empresarial complementando-o com os recursos necessários. Contudo, a cooperação internacional foge do âmbito básico dos serviços de uma incubadora de empresas, já que esta estratégia faz parte da aceleração dos negócios. Deste modo, o objetivo deste estudo foi compreender o papel das incubadoras, envolvidas em redes de cooperação internacional, no processo de internacionalização das PME incubadas. Assim, a partir de uma pesquisa exploratória, foi utilizado o método de estudos de caso múltiplos, ou seja, foram estudadas três incubadoras (casos), duas em Portugal e uma na Inglaterra. Como técnicas de recolha de dados foram usadas a entrevista, o questionário e a análise documental. A partir de uma análise de conteúdo e descritiva, os resultados deste estudo evidenciam que os objetivos destas incubadoras são o desenvolvimento do empreendedorismo local, através de projetos inovadores, diferenciando-se entre si, pelo impacto positivo, ligado a critérios socioambientais. Todas as incubadoras aqui estudadas têm em comum redes nacionais e internacionais, serviços de apoio, treinamento empresarial, mentoring, admissão seletiva de empreendedores e fornecimento de instalações, consultoria empresarial, acesso a financiamentos, e treinamentos ligados à internacionalização das PME incubadas, bem como acesso a instalações de parceiros e incubação flexível, assim como a participação em feiras e eventos internacionais. Dessa forma, as incubadoras reforçam o comportamento empreendedor e criam um ambiente de inovação e internacionalização às suas PME incubadas. Também foi possivel identificar os principais motivos que levam as PME pesquisadas a Internacionalizar: Acesso a partilha de recursos, competências e conhecimentos complementares; Acesso a clientes; Canais de distribuição; Conhecimento e domínios dos mercados e a racionalização de atividades; Partilha de inovação e incorporação de melhorias e prática em diversos níveis e acesso a fornecedores. Estas atividades são facilitadas pelas incubadoras envolvidas em relações de cooperação internacional. Mais precisamente, este estudo concluiu que, de facto, as incubadoras podem facilitar o processo de internacionalização das PME incubadas. Algumas implicações para a teoria e a prática nesta área de investigação são também apresentadas neste trabalho, bem como algumas sugestões para investigações futuras.

This study seeks to find out the main achievements of a cross-border cooperation project (INESPO III) in terms of innovation and university-firm knowledge transfer in a region situated in the central region of Portugal and Castile and León, Spain. To achieve this aim, research of a qualitative and exploratory nature was chosen., that is, case study method. Data collection was based on seven interviews with several project actors, and content analysis was also used. Through interviews with project beneficiaries, empirical evidence suggests that this type of cooperation allows access to new sources of external knowledge, with the network benefiting globally from each partner’s type of specialization. This study makes an important contribution to the literature on cross-border cooperation by extending its field of research to knowledge transfer and innovation, analysing a project that has produced good results. It can be determinant for government institutions responsible for administering cross-border incentive systems, and for partner networks in drawing process of similar projects for benefit of their own regions, besides the clear academic interest in business cooperation networks. Final results and main contributions of the project are also presented.

Esta pesquisa visa analisar a importância das networks na internacionalização de Born Globals através de uma revisão de literatura dos principais temas relacionados à questão principal e um estudo de caso na Nanovetores, Born Global brasileira. As classificações metodológicas utilizadas no trabalho são a descritiva e a qualitativa. O desenvolvimento da pesquisa é feito a partir de técnicas de coleta de dados. As Born Globals vêm aparecendo cada vez mais na literatura de marketing internacional por ser um fenômeno cada vez mais comum no mundo globalizado. As networks, por outro lado, aparecem principalmente na literatura de empreendedorismo, e é ligada às teorias Causation e Effectuation, também expostas na revisão literária. A Nanovetores exemplifica a importância das networks, principalmente nos primeiros estágios após a criação da empresa. Algumas das descobertas feitas pela pesquisa é relacionada com a quantidade e a qualidade dos networks em uma Born Global, que filtra seus relacionamentos de acordo com o desenvolvimento.

O processo de estágio no âmbito da Unidade Curricular do 2º Ciclo de Estudos em Ciências do Desporto - Treino Desportivo, na Universidade da Beira Interior, foi realizado na equipa principal do Futebol Clube Famalicão – SAD, desempenhando a função de analista. Este trabalho teve como finalidade a descrição de todo o processo da minha área de intervenção. Numa fase inicial estão presentes os objetivos gerais e específicos, uma breve definição das tarefas inerentes ao estágio e uma breve revisão de literatura referente à minha área de intervenção. Posteriormente é apresentada uma caracterização geral da instituição de estágio, seguindo-se a descrição da minha área de intervenção, apresentado detalhadamente as tarefas realizadas e o controlo do processo da equipa através da observação e análise. Para completar o relatório de estágio é apresentado um trabalho de introdução à investigação relacionado com a minha área de intervenção. Este estudo aborda a metodologia das Networks e teve como objetivo analisar o desempenho desportivo no processo ofensivo da equipa do Futebol Clube Famalicão - SAD, na época 2020/2021, através da análise quantitativa das ações com sucesso na transposição da fase de construção do momento ofensivo. Foi possível concluir que durante os primeiros 18 jogos oficiais da época 2020/2021 O Futebol Clube Famalicão – SAD teve uma percentagem de 33% de sucesso e que a metodologia de análise utilizada não permitiu analisar as causas do desempenho desportivo no processo ofensivo da equipa do Futebol Clube Famalicão – SAD.

The phenomenon of international entrepreneurship (IE) gained prominence in the mid-1990s, greatly stimulated by globalization, digitization of the economy and the creation of institutional conditions favouring entrepreneurs. When combined and allied to various intangible assets developed by firms, these factors stimulated the identification and exploitation of business opportunities on a global scale, giving rise to the academic field of IE. Despite the apparent maturity of this field of study, only in the last decade has the academic community increased the number of publications, diversifying them, introducing new sub-topics and making it a field that should be studied and addressed from various lenses. Therefore, this thesis aims to explore various facets of IE, contributing to its consolidation and progress, approaching the topic from a multi-level perspective: macro, meso and micro. This is done over seven chapters. The first chapter is the general introduction of the thesis, describing the problem and the study context, the aims, the research design and methodology, the contribution and other aspects. The second chapter presents a Systematic Literature Review (SLR), entitled “International Entrepreneurship: a systematic review and future research agenda”. This chapter discusses the state-of-the-art of IE, reviewing the main studies that contributed to developing the area. To do so, the Web of Science (WoS) and content analysis techniques were used to give a holistic perspective of this field of study and identify new topics introduced in recent years and lines of convergence. IE was found to be concentrated fundamentally in four thematic groups: i) institutional environments, ii) drivers and process of internationalization, iii) international business opportunities and networks, and iv) entrepreneurs’ characteristics and motivations. An integrative framework was also developed to access, albeit in a simplified way, the status of IE research and understand how the diverse themes are inter-related. This SLR was determinant in advancing various topics for future lines of research, detailed by the thematic group, providing the structure of the chapters in this thesis. Therefore, the topics of the chapters forming the thesis were based on a future line of research for each of the four thematic groups/clusters detailed below. The third chapter, “Business environment reforms’ effect on the entrepreneurial activities of high-income economies: panel of the evidence” (cluster 1) deals with the activities. Specifically, the intention is to examine whether the reforms carried out by institutions in high-income economies, aiming to benefit the business environment, in fact led to higher rates of entrepreneurship. To this end, a longitudinal study was carried out using panel data for the period from 2010 to 2019, based on two secondary databases, namely ten indicators proposed by Doing Business (World Bank) and Total Early-stage Entrepreneurial Activity (TEA), by Global Entrepreneurship Monitor (GEM). The results showed that only the reforms carried out in three indicators of Doing Business – Dealing with Construction, Registering Property and Enforcing Contracts, affect TEA positively. The remaining indicators, Starting a Business, Getting Credit, Protecting Minority Investors and Paying Taxes, showed no significance, while the indicators of Getting Electricity, Trading Across Borders and Resolving Insolvency had a negative impact on TEA. This study points out important considerations for international and local entrepreneurs, as well as policy-makers, warning of the ineffectiveness of some measures introduced and the need to reconsider reforms. The fourth and fifth chapters focus on organisational (meso) dimensions considered relevant to develop intangible, strategic assets, giving Small and Medium-sized Enterprises (SMEs) early access to international markets, but also aiming for good levels of competitiveness and performance. The fourth chapter is entitled “International Entrepreneurial Culture: capturing differences between Born and non-Born Globals” (cluster 2). This chapter addresses International Entrepreneurial Culture (IEC), still a little-explored topic in terms of research. In particular, it seeks to capture differences in five dimensions of IEC (International Entrepreneurial Orientation [IEO], International Market Orientation, International Motivation, International Learning Orientation, International Networking Orientation) between born globals and non-born globals (late exporters). Primary data were collected from applying a questionnaire to 168 internationalized SMEs in Portugal, using MANOVA as the statistical technique to determine whether these groups present statistically significant differences in the dimensions of IEC. As results, this chapter revealed that born globals show differences from their non-BG counterparts in terms of autonomy, international motivation and orientation to the international market. Theoretical and practical implications are also presented for company managers aiming for early internationalization. The fifth chapter is entitled “The role of International Entrepreneurial Orientation for Early Internationalizing Firms: Moderating effects of International Networking” (cluster 3). This chapter sought to analyse the moderating effect of International Networking Orientation (INO) on the relations between the dimensions of IEO (risk, innovation, pro-activeness, competitive aggressiveness and autonomy) and early internationalization. To this end, a questionnaire was applied to a sample of 171 Portuguese SMEs, of which 96 are Early-internationalizing Firms (EIFs), and 76 are late exporters. The results showed that innovation, autonomy and competitive aggressiveness are variables at the origin of early internationalization. In addition, INO with competitors was found to present a positive interaction in the relation between pro-activeness and EIFs and a negative relation between these firms and risk-assumption. These results can help firms to configure their intangible assets in early internationalization processes. The sixth chapter deals with IE at a micro level, analysing the role of entrepreneurs and managers’ knowledge and dynamic capacities in International Business (IB), regarding the possible returns arising from international experience. It is entitled: “Knowledge and capabilities: what are their roles in SMEs’ international business?” (cluster 4). This study adopted a qualitative approach through ten semi-structured interviews with entrepreneurs in various industries. The results showed that knowledge and dynamic capabilities are determinants for the development of international activities. Furthermore, a presence in international markets was determinant for acquiring new knowledge and exploiting the new learning capabilities developed, which are essential to operate in domestic and other international markets. The thesis has one final chapter, which discusses the general conclusions, contributions and future lines of research. As contributions, the thesis combines a set of studies highlighting that IE, although a complex phenomenon, is increasingly present for SMEs with limited resources. It is suggested that these firms should develop and implement, at the organisational and individual level, a set of intangible strategic assets as a way to reach international markets at an early stage and quickly, aligning them with various typologies of knowledge and dynamic capabilities. Entrepreneurs are also informed that the conditions for successful international ventures depend on a favourable business environment provided by government institutions, marked by regular and effective reforms. To summarise, this thesis advances the perspective that IE is stimulated when organisations’ internal and external factors interact and complement each other, providing various orientations for policymakers, organisations, entrepreneurs and academics.

Rural Territories are central in the search of responses to the current societal and economic challenges such as the economic crisis, desertification, climatic changes, and food security. Europe 2020 and the proposals related to CAP refer the need to deal with those problems through innovative and inclusive approaches. Thus, the knowledge of rural territories, namely governance forms regarding the development of innovation and the improvement of economic development constitute a priority. This paper addresses the governance aspects relate in the production and transformation of a Mediterranean product – cork in the so-called World Capital of Cork (Coruche), using a network analysis.