Eduardo Tomé

European Social Fund in Portugal: a complex question for human resource development

Purpose – This article aims to review the application of the funds awarded by the European Social Fund (ESF) to Portugal, since 1986, from a human resource development (HRD) perspective.Design/methodology/approach – Several variables are analyzed: investment, absorption, people, impact of investment, evolution of skills, main programs, supply and demand for training and the role of the state.Findings – The main conclusion of the paper is that, even if the ESF was extremely important in quantitative terms in Portugal, its qualitative implications were modest.Research limitations/implications – The Portuguese ESF case should be compared with other national cases in the European Union and elsewhere. The ESF patterns should be compared with other cases of international support made by multinationals, non‐governmental organizations or bodies like the World Bank or the United Nations.Practical implications – European monetary stability and integration has to be based on social stability and integration. The ESF...

The European Social Fund: a very specific case instrument of HRD policy

Purpose – This paper aims to review the intervention of the European Social Fund (ESF) as an instrument of human resource development (HRD) policies in the European labor market. Design/methodology/approach – The paper uses an economic background, and reviews the official documents produced by the ESF during its history to try to define its economic impact. Findings – The paper concludes that the ESF was mainly a force of absorption of funds, which were sent from the European Union (EU) budget to certain regions. Research limitations/implications – The absorption logic has the implication that it is doubtful that the ESF completely pursued its aims, because the urge to absorb money somehow overshadowed the need to use it efficiently. Originality/value – This is the first time the ESF action has been reviewed in one single paper from an economic point-of-view.

Human Capital, HRD and VET: The Case of India.

Purpose – This paper aims to analyze the role of human capital (HC), human resource development (HRD) and vocational educational and training (VET) in the emerging Indian economy. How may we define the HC, HRD and VET in India? To what extent and how as HRD investments in India contributed to India’s recent economic development? What were the investments and what were the returns? Who invested and who obtained the returns? Is India really different from other countries? Design/methodology/approach – To achieve that goal, the authors use a model of the HC, HRD and VET national market. Specifically, they divide the analysis in four broad stages: stocks, investments and outcomes; supply, demand, price and quantity; needs; and private and public forces. Findings – The authors conclude that the India’s HC, HRD and VET have been growing and will have to grow even more, for India to become developed. Currently, the urgency is even greater in the HRD and VET side than in the education side. The government goals f...

Knowledge management and leadership: the carbon emissions scandal in the automobile industry

This paper analyses the Volkswagen scandal from a KM point of view. We use a KM framework of analysis basing ourselves in the concept of Knowledge failures. We describe the VW case of management and then analyse it from the point of view of KM. We conclude that in the VW case on carbon emissions a massive operation of KM existed, that some consider to be a success, despite the consequences, and others see as a failure. We discuss the conditions that allowed it to happen and how to prevent it in the future. We also discuss the implications of the scandal to the societies it involves and in particularly to the Economies of Central Europe.

The Influence of Pre-departure Training on Expatriate Adjustment: An Empirical Investigation with Portuguese International Assignees

This chapter examines the cross-cultural influence of training on the adjustment of international assignees. We focus on the pre-departure training (PDT) before an international assignment. It is an important topic because in the globalized world of today more and more expatriations are needed. The absence of PDT may generate the failure of the expatriation experience. Companies may neglect PDT due to cost reduction practices and ignorance of the need for it. Data were collected through semi-structured interviews to 42 Portuguese international assignees and 18 organizational representatives from nine Portuguese companies. The results suggest that companies should develop PDT programs, particularly when the cultural distance to the host country is bigger and when there is no previous experience of expatriation to that country in the company. The study is original because it details in depth the methods of PDT, its problems, and consequences. Some limitations linked to the research design and detailed in the conclusion should be overcome in future studies.

The Interesting Case of Portugal in the Economy of Sport

This paper intends to analyze the interesting case of Portugal as sporting force. We do the study by analyzing the statistics on the Portuguese success in sport when available; specifically we end up comparing football with all the other Olympic sports. We conclude that there is a big divide, between football, and all the other Olympic sports put together. In Europe Portugal ranks in the first 6 regarding football but only in 30th (historically) or worse (taking into account the fact that some countries are very new) when regarding the Olympic Games. The reasons for that difference are related with culture, dimension and policy. In short, Portugal has a well-developed national policy and system on football, which produces results; but the country has nothing comparable in terms of the Olympics and therefore results don’t happen. We therefore recommend a more balanced investment and the presence of the 4 big football clubs in the Olympic sports as a way of improving the Portuguese performance in the Olympics. That improvement would have reflections in the country health and productivity, and would be socially beneficial. The paper is original because for our knowledge it is the first time the Portuguese sports have been analyzed with such a methodology and with those results.

Intellectual capital formation in EU cross border regions: theory and application

This paper aims at studying the importance of intellectual capital as a catalyser of the development of border regions. The topic is relevant because traditionally border regions are less cared by central governments due to distance and therefore they have to rely on themselves to develop; IC and border connections can be, theoretically two ways of helping to solve the development problem of those regions. In a century marked by increased globalisation, the topic becomes ever more present and pertinent. Specifically we study two pairs of cross-border regions: Portugal and Spain, Hungary and Romania. We use a method to define stable cross-border coalitions of cities in both sets of countries. We use data about social and economic indicators, intellectual capital and travel distances. We find evidence of two stable cross border coalitions in Iberia and three in Eastern Europe.