In the last decades, the academic literature has devoted considerable attention to the determinants of export performance. In result of those research efforts in identifying and examining the influence of such determinants, the literature presents a wide set of variables associated with higher levels of exports. This paper provides a contribution to that literature by trying to evidence the impact of firm certification—namely, in terms of the firm’s quality, environmental, and health and safety management systems—on export performance. The paper analyses an unbalanced sample of 1684 Portuguese industrial SMEs for the period 2010 to 2020, uses other determinants of internationalization as control variables, and explores the possibility of moderating effects on the certification–internationalization relationship. Two alternative econometric methods are employed: a random-effects model and a Tobit model. The results evidence the importance for firms, especially in the low or medium–low technology sectors, to have certain ISO certifications in order to further develop their export activities and increase their foreign acceptance, particularly in the European Union markets. Further, certification seems to reinforce the positive relation between firm size and internationalization.

Sustainability has become one of the main drivers of organizational performance. This study investigates the integration of sustainability with the balanced scorecard (BSC) as a framework for translating environmental management strategy into organizational performance. This review also seeks to map sustainability balanced scorecard (SBSC) research, clarifying its current role and identifying gaps and opportunities for future research. To achieve this, we sourced and reviewed 247 publications from the Web of Science index, corresponding to 129 scientific journals and 57 conference proceedings. Our analysis included content analysis and bibliometric analysis performed using the R packages Bibliometrix (version: 4.3.5), Biblioshiny, and CiteSpace (6.3.R1 Basic). The findings revealed that the SBSC enhances organizational capacity to align sustainability with strategic objectives, although significant implementation barriers remain, such as the selection of appropriate sustainability indicators and organizational resistance. This study contributes to advancing the theoretical and practical understanding of the SBSC while offering pathways for future research and application across sectors.

The present paper provides an empirical analysis of the relationship between shocks to commodity markets and stock markets. By employing a total volatility connectedness measure, we study the relationship between shocks to oil, gold, copper, and agricultural commodity markets and emerging and developed stock markets. We conduct a connectivity analysis in the time and frequency domain to quantify market linkages using volatility spillovers over the period from 2004 to 2021. In addition, we analyze the spillovers of returns in these markets over the same period. The results suggest that both on volatility and returns spillovers, slightly more than 35% of the total variance of forecast errors is explained by shocks to markets during the period January 2004 to June 2021. We also show that, in terms of both volatility and returns, the contribution of equity market shocks to other markets is substantially more important than that of commodities; however, our analysis reveals that the total link between market returns is larger in the short run than in the long run, while in the case of volatility, the long-run frequencies concentrate the market link. Additionally, we use dynamic analysis to assess both the time evolution of total connectivity and all directional partial connectivity between markets. Our results show that both volatility and return linkages change significantly over time and that a set of events has a significant impact on them.

Purpose: This study aims to analyse the relationship between the internationalisation performance of the company and, on the one hand, the factors that determine the internationalisation strategy and, on the other hand, the factors considered as inducers of this internationalisation process. The purpose of this study is to relate the determinants and inducing factors of the internationalisation process with the performance of internationalised companies, trying to assess how these determinants and these factors contribute to better performance.Design/methodology/approach: The authors sent out a questionnaire to Portuguese exporting companies, containing questions regarding determinant factors associated with both the characteristics of origin market and target market of the internationalisation process and internationalisation inducing factors. The questionnaire results were subjected to a regression analysis.Findings: The results indicate a positive relationship with the characteristics of the domestic market, more specifically with the need to reduce and diversify risk and the need to win new markets and consumers. Regarding the characteristics of the foreign market, there is a positive relationship with the determinants: follow customers and favourable perspectives of growth in the new market. In relation to the internationalisation inducing factors, those factors that the entrepreneur recognises as the triggers of the internationalisation strategy, the researchers found the existence of a positive relationship with formal and informal contact networks, as well as specific employee skills, international experience and strong propensity for entrepreneurship and risk-taking.Research limitations/implications: This study presents some limitations. On the one hand, the fact that the authors used the questionnaires, which seemed to be the most adequate approach, brings as a drawback the reduced number of answers. Further collection is in order to increase the sample under study. On the other hand, the literature presents different approaches that may be tested as well as the possibility of including other types of variables that the researchers will address in future studies.Originality/value: By analysing the relationship between company performance in the internationalisation process and the factors that determine and induce this internationalisation process, this study seeks to identify which factors entrepreneurs should favour and strengthen to obtain a better performance in the internationalisation process. In addition, the authors use the concept of inducing factors that represent the firm's characteristics that trigger the internationalisation strategy. In a complementary perspective, the authors intend to contribute to the identification of the factors that new Portuguese entrepreneurs should pay more attention to, when starting their internationalisation process and that will improve their performance.

This research sought to explore self-reported satisfaction levels of mature students enrolled in the virtual financial accounting course of the first online-only bachelor’s degree in Portugal. While doing so, it attempted to generate understanding of which factors may affect undergraduate mature students’ engagement—herein measured in terms of overall satisfaction—with online learning, particularly, of financial accounting. Thereby, this research addresses several research gaps. First, unlike most recent empirical research, it provides evidence from a post-pandemic period, in 2022. Second, responding to calls for further education research in different contexts, Portugal poses a highly relevant, unexplored research setting since it was only in 2019 that the Portuguese government approved a legal regime to frame distance education at Higher Education Institutions (HEIs). Third, this research focuses on the overlooked, and yet growing, population of adult mature students. The research evidence emerges from 32 valid responses to a structured electronic questionnaire circulated to students at the end of a financial accounting module (in July 2022). Satisfaction rates from students’ own perspectives were derived in terms of (i) overall satisfaction, (ii) learning outcomes, (iii) e-learning process, and (iv) pedagogical practices adopted. The assessment of satisfaction levels was determined through Likert-type items with responses ranging from a minimum score of 1 to the highest score of 5. Data gathered were subject to quantitative analysis: descriptive statistics, Pearson correlations, statistical tests, principal component analysis, and linear regression. High levels of satisfaction with distance education were uncovered. We found that pedagogical practices constitute the dimension that contributed the least (though, still importantly) to overall satisfaction as compared with learning outcomes and e-learning process. The results of this research offer the potential to contribute to the implementation of training offerings of online courses at other Portuguese HEIs as well as abroad.