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The challenge of creating a favourable business environment has motivated academics, international institutions and policy makers. An initiative that has recently been established to facilitate this path has involved the creation of ordered lists that classify the environment around companies and the ease of doing business. The World Bank's DB measure is one such ranking system. This type of ranking has supported much research and many political decision-making processes. However, it is not common in these analyses to consider regional dynamics and how the results of such rankings and investigations should be interpreted considering regional specificities. The objective of this study is to evaluate the business environment and the production of wealth while considering the impacts of these regional dynamics. In particular, we study whether the DB sub-indicators are equally important regardless of a region's level of economic development. The results are clear with evident configurations of dominant sub-indicators that are distinct in three regions. Our results show us that these rankings, and the design of public policies based on them, should consider regional specificities, thus refuting the idea that the design of public policies to improve the framework for companies should follow a "one fits all" intervention model.

Purpose: Cement is a priority consumer good in all modern societies. Considerable portions of the countries’ income are invested in construction and reconstruction of houses, shopping centers, schools, universities, research centers, pavements, bridges, dams, among other infrastructures. In view of its importance, it becomes relevant to understand the determinant factors for the strategic management of the cement supply chain (SC). The knowledge of these factors can support the development of management strategies that adequately orientate the operation of the cement industry and ensure an agile and/or efficient structure that facilitates the distribution of the products from this industrial sector.Methodology: This article presents the results of a qualitative research, based on semi-systematic literature review and interviews, which aimed to identify the determinant factors and barriers in the management of the SC of the Angolan cement industry (CI).Findings: This research made it possible to conclude that the determining factors are: cement production capacity and quality; supply levels and channels; infrastructure capacity and quality; capacity and quality of transport modes; existence of cement distribution strategies; collaboration, integration, agility, effectiveness and efficiency in the SC; availability of qualified labor; geographic location of markets; competitiveness factors (price, quality, response time, flexibility, agility, services, reliability, process variability and differentiation). Some barriers that undermine the supply of cement in the Angolan market have also been identified.Originality/value: Based on the literature review and the analysis of the interviews, we found that, in general, the strategic management of the SC of the CI depends on the level of development of the infrastructures, logistics, communication and the degree of collaboration and integration between the entities.

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Pesquisas anteriores caracterizaram a literatura mais antiga (anterior a 2010) acerca da relação política-administração, concluindo que a estrutura de conhecimento dessa literatura se podia classificar como pré-paradigmática, pouco estruturada e muito assente em ensaios e não em evidência recolhida a partir de estudos empíricos. O conhecimento acerca da relação política-administração é fundamental para melhorar a eficiência da Administração Pública, assegurar o controlo democrático e a neutralidade da mesma, etc. O estudo que agora se apresenta retoma essas investigações anteriores, mas agora centrando-se na literatura mais recente, e tem por objetivo avaliar a literatura mais recente sobre o tema e perceber se se observam evoluções de natureza paradigmática face à literatura de períodos anteriores. O estudo incidiu sobre uma amostra de 20 artigos, publicados após 2010, e obtidos por pesquisa na Web of Science. Conclui-se que depois de 2010, o novo conhecimento resulta principalmente de estudos empíricos, e estes vão revelando que na prática da Administração Pública se vão alternando, consoante a situação, os modelos dicotómico e de complementaridade, criando-se assim uma configuração variável, no tempo e decorrente do tema, para o relacionamento política-administração. Não se podendo ainda falar da existência de um paradigma, mas parece ser possível falar-se de um protoparadigma, uma proposição que pode ser avaliada e caso se venha a confirmar, assumir-se efetivamente como um primeiro paradigma em Administração Pública. Essa proposição assenta na ideia da distinção, mas também da necessidade de trabalho em conjunto, dos dois corpos – eleitos e gestores públicos – e na ideia de alguma fluidez e variabilidade no modo como esse trabalho em conjunto ocorre.

This chapter addresses the topic of accountability and reporting of social entities as concepts and instruments of governance that are used to demonstrate transparency and rigor regarding their activity to their stakeholders. The objective of this chapter is to understand how these instruments are used by social entities, and to establish whether this use brings about an increase in the trust created between theses entities and their funders with regards to the possibility of obtaining increased funding. With this in mind, two surveys were carried out, one for social entities and the other for funders, with some similar content, in order to enable a comparison of answers. This study enabled us to conclude that social entities have a formal and periodic relationship with their funders, that they believe that the current accountability and reporting (A&R) quality level is adequate, that social entities' A&R information, although not decisive, is important for funding decision making, and if social entities were to receive substantial funding, this would improve their social impact.