Financial condition of Brazilian soccer clubs: an overview

In Brazil, the transition to corporate management of soccer clubs started in the 1990s. When the ‘Lei Pelé’ was enacted in 1998, expectations were very high that the Brazilian clubs would become modernized institutions capable of surviving in the recently developed soccer business. However, the results that clubs reported in their financial statements a decade later do not show the desirable evolution. This essay looks back at this modernization process while analysing the clubs’ results and their financial ratios with the aim of understanding their main difficulties and how successful they have been in trying to modernize.     

Improving performance aligning business analytics with process orientation

How to align business analytics with process orientation initiatives and how management can influence a synergistic accomplishment of these two elements in order to streamline organizational performance is a foremost managerial issue. By means of a quantitative research effort, a study was designed to investigate the relationships among these constructs. Empirical data were collected in 2011 from a survey of 368 large and mid-sized industrial and service companies headquartered in Brazil. A quantitative analysis was performed, and both the reliability and validity of the scales were evaluated prior to using structural equation modeling. The results demonstrate that the direct effects among BPO, analytical indicators and performance can be taken as statistically significant. The findings also demonstrate that BPO and analytical indicators can be taken as predictors of performance. The paper discusses these results and their managerial implications, as well as some research paths for future studies on the topic.     

Effects of plyometric training on maximal-intensity exercise and endurance in male and female soccer players

In a randomised controlled trial design, effects of 6 weeks of plyometric training on maximal-intensity exercise and endurance performance were compared in male and female soccer players. Young (age 21.1 ± 2.7 years) players with similar training load and competitive background were assigned to training (women, n = 19; men, n = 21) and control (women, n = 19; men, n = 21) groups. Players were evaluated for lower- and upper-body maximal-intensity exercise, 30 m sprint, change of direction speed and endurance performance before and after 6 weeks of training. After intervention, the control groups did not change, whereas both training groups improved jumps (effect size (ES) = 0.35–1.76), throwing (ES = 0.62–0.78), sprint (ES = 0.86–1.44), change of direction speed (ES = 0.46–0.85) and endurance performance (ES = 0.42–0.62). There were no differences in performance improvements between the plyometric training groups. Both plyometric groups improved more in all performance tests than the controls. The results suggest that adaptations to plyometric training do not differ between men and women.     

Promoting entrepreneurship among informatics engineering students: insights from a case study

ABSTRACT

Universities seek to promote entrepreneurship through effective education approaches, which need to be in permanent evolution. Nevertheless, the literature in entrepreneurship education lacks empirical evidence. This article discusses relevant issues related to promoting entrepreneurship in the software field, based on the experience of a 15-European Credit Transfer and Accumulation System course. This course seeks to instil in the students the recognition of the need to reconcile technical and business visions, organisational and commercial aspects, most of which have never been addressed previously. A series of semi-structured interviews made it possible to obtain relevant insights about the teaching–learning process underlying this course and its evolution over a seven-year period. Materials related with this course have been analysed, namely guidelines produced by the teachers and deliverables produced by the students. This article discusses the dimensions that were identified as fundamental for promoting entrepreneurship skills in the field of software, namely teamwork, project engagement, and contact with the market.     

An analysis of the sources of earnings variation among Brazilian males

The paper uses data from the 1980 Brazilian census to analyse the sources of earnings variation among males with emphasis on the role of education, labor market segmentation, geographic location and sector of economic activity. The results indicate a sizeable private rate of return to investment in education across labor market “segments”, especially among rural workers and the self-employed. Such a finding is upheld after econometric corrections for dependent variable (earnings) truncation and selectivity bias regarding who enters a particular economic sector. However, regional earnings differentials persist even after adjustment for a set of personal and job characteristics. Thus, internal migration still has a role to play towards reducing regional earnings disparities.     

Lifelong learning policies shaping the life courses of young adults. An interpretative analysis of orientations,objectives and solutions

ABSTRACT

In the following article, we share our findings from the comparative analyses of 54 lifelong learning policy measures implemented in nine European countries, with a particular focus on their orientations, objectives, and solutions devised. Informed by the theoretical framework of Interpretive Policy Analysis (IPA), we have further reasoned on the impacts and unintended effects on young adults’ life course transitions, especially those in vulnerable positions, as well as on the hidden ambivalences and incompatibilities in the objectives and orientations of lifelong learning policies. The article provides, first, a brief discussion of the conceptual and methodological choices made. Second, it gives an overview of the design and data basis of our research. In the third section, we present and discuss the central findings from our interpretive analyses, and we finally conclude with a discussion on current trends in lifelong learning policymaking and on their impact on young adults’ transitions.     

Teaching and learning about solid waste: aspects of content knowledge

This paper investigates aspects of content knowledge related to teaching and learning about solid waste, focusing on the processes of learning and teaching by Elementary School teachers in Brazil, in two modalities of continuing education: courses and school‐based meetings. We analyse elements of teachers' reflections whilst referring to three dimensions of environmental education: knowledge, values (ethic and aesthetic), and political participation. We identify which dimensions are predominant, or absent, and the aspects included and developed in projects elaborated by teachers. The results raise issues we consider important to support teacher education and curriculum programmes and help teachers develop more substantial, critical and effective projects about the subject.