This paper presents the first exploratory results of a research integrated in a more global project on digital and entrepreneurial skills of students at the University ***. The study reveals gaps in professional skills such as problem solving, strategic thinking and creativity. For this reason, a pedagogical pro-ject is created integrating the use of social media in training (entrepreneur-ship), research (knowledge management) and university transfer. The aim is to develop skills in digital talent, (techno)creativity and to implement work methodologies, such as design thinking and growth hacking. In addition, it will encourage self-learning of the students, improve their e-competences, creative capacity and practical skills for a better adaptation to the needs of social demand, where knowledge transfer generates development and growth scenarios (startup) and fosters innovation (competitive capacity). This inno-vative initiative will enable Higher Education students to acquire the most demanded skills in a multidisciplinary labour market that also requires spe-cific ones in creativity, strategic capacity, project management, product in-novation, solution generation and entrepreneurship. This is what forms the basis of an integral project of triangular synergy between University, Busi-ness and Society.
The capital structure has been extensively analysed in the empirical literature. Despite of the great contribution of the technological industry to the global economy, little research has been conducted regarding corporate finance of ICT firms. Moreover, the previous literature barely considers the effect of macroeconomic variables on financial decisions, focusing much more on internal determinants, such as cash flow, firm’s size or growth opportunities. The objective of this work is to reduce this gap by disentangling the reasons behind the financial decisions of technological firms. The sample included 1,510 public ICT firms from 23 countries over the period 2004 – 2019 (17,342 observations). The variables used in this study are obtained from S&P Capital IQ, World Development Indicators, Main Science and Technology Indicators from OECD, and FMI dataset. The two-step system generalized method of moments (GMM) was used as methodology. Consistent with the extant literature, more profitable and liquid ICT firms and those with an increased non-debt tax shields are less leveraged. However, the companies which present higher risk, measured as volatility of EBIT, increase their use of debt financing. Contrary to the findings of many other studies, the analysis of a firm’s size and tangible assets shows non-conclusive results. Regarding macroeconomic determinants, only economic growth and foreign direct investment inflows were found to generate a positive effect on financial decisions of ICT firms. The findings of this work can be used to design and develop policies, measures, and facilitate mechanisms for optimal management of the financing decisions of ICT firms.
La pandemia provocada por el SARS-CoV-2 evidenció un incremento de los casos de violencia de género durante el confinamiento domiciliario y aislamiento social. El artículo aborda el estudio de las campañas publicitarias impulsadas en los países del G-20 en el período de pandemia. Las redes sociales se convirtieron en un espacio de interacción para impulsar acciones de ciberfeminismo (hashtivismo) y visibilizar esta problemática social considerada ‘la otra pandemia’. El análisis se centra en las estrategias de codificación del mensaje publicitario y su vinculación al ecosistema social. El estudio pone de manifiesto que la pandemia se convirtió en el eje creativo en la creación de campañas de naturaleza informativa con nuevos códigos simbólicos de ayuda a las víctimas de violencia de género.
This paper studies undergraduate student attitudes towards team-based projects, connecting those attitudes to challenges and overall perception of this work. This study was conducted with 220 students in the context of three subjects taught at a Spanish University, that included collaborative projects as mandatory assignments to be developed over the course of the subject. The instrument was a Likert scale-based questionnaire. As a methodology, the Rasch model was used, making it possible to apply indirect measuring of students’ development level of various skills. The findings point to the difficulty in solving specific communication needs and managing students’ involvement and commitment to the project. The results obtained through Differential Item Functioning analysis (DIF) show that gender, year of study, students’ age, academic degrees, and the context of curricular subjects influence significantly the acquisition of skills related to collaborative work, facilitating or hindering their development among university students. These results have practical implications for the design of collaborative projects within higher education academic programs. They also suggest that the way collaborative work is usually planned is not very effective and should be reconsidered.
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