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Societies are still, now, indubitably, in the middle of a major sanitary and health crisis, all over. If April 2020 was a time of local lockdown in Asia, Europe and the Americas, it is expanding globally, and countries that are unable or unwilling to manage the spread of the disease are putting their health system as well as their social and economic activities under pressure, without ignoring the heavy toll on human populations.
The impact of the Sars-CoV-2 and the resulting disease for humans is already tremendous, above 3 percent of GDP for the first quarter of 2020 and above 15 or 20 percent for the whole current year. According to the World Trade Organization (WTO 2020) the decline of global trade is reckoned between 13 and 32 % (OECD 2020).

The present paper aims to discuss the change in political economy when considering the new context and complexity of social, environmental and economic issues today, and more recently all the debates around artificial intelligence, big data and platform capitalism. First, it is important that the reflection be situated in the new and latest phase of transformation of the capitalist system, either globally or locally. Second, the convergence between artificial intelligence, big data, computer science and platforms is not fortuitous and there is more than buzzwords, but new real economic processes emerging. Third, the evolutionary perspective adopted here is based on complexity theory and the recent developments in the study of innovation, technological change and institutions, from a rather heterodox view mixed with economic history. Fourth, the historical dimension of change and the need to adopt a long view of historical processes, namely because of uncertainty, ignorance and constraints on economic agents. Finally, the problem of framing political issues and measures is tackled and is related to the level of complexity of what is at stake with the digital transformation of capitalist economies and different types of democratic societies. ; info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersion

Comunicação apresentada à 18ª Conferência Internacional - SPT 2013, realizada no ISEG de 4-6 de julho de 2013 ; The paper aims at defining a central issue of state reform and social and public policies through the use of legal techniques, management tools and technology. The central question is the definition of a new framework for public, collective and individual action, similar to the factory system or Fordism of the first and third industrial revolutions. What is at stake is a complex issue of defining the framework for action embedded in two technologies: (1) law and lawmaking and (2) reform of the state and regulation of activities through the implementation of new management techniques and technology and the definitions of criteria and benchmark to assess the action of workers, consumers (and even citizens, often reduced or idealized to the former), trade unions, associations, public servants, political parties and decision-makers, not to mention stakeholders (a keyword in discourse related to the process that I try to describe).

Multinational corporations and international business practices as well as international investment are considered important elements for the diffusion of new modes of production, namely through a flow of cleaner production and new management practices such as corporate social responsibility (CSR). This view is lacking consistency and is not buttressed on strong empirical evidence. The positive driver of environmental sustainability is probably not international business and trade but strong and good institutions. The focus here is on four limitations: the context of the private firms and corporations, the workings of complex organizations, the technology and the right institutions that buttress the global, national and local contexts, taking as concrete examples some specific cases from the Global South, as Mozambique. The article concludes that these aspects have to be considered and contrasted to the technological and management solutions for sustainability.
Keywords: corporate social responsibility, local communities, technology institutions.

In this section, after a brief history, the issue of definition and several dimensions of electronic health records will be tackled. If the first known medical records can be traced to Hippocrates and the goals he attributed to these records were to describe accurately the course of a disease and gives a probable cause of it; the electronic dimension of these records can be traced back to the 1960s in some hospitals that started a more systematic recording and use of patients' data by services and doctors. But it is still more recently, in the 1990s, with the ever wider use of internet and online databases that the electronic health record emerged as a new tool in the public health systems of OECD countries. There are different definitions of electronic health record, depending on the theoretical perspective or even the main user or the political point of departure taken in the implementation process. Even so, here and in the literature on the subject, the electronic health record has become and is the generic term. Other focuses like electronic medical record (or registry) and the electronic patient record are based on either the perspective of the user or the subject of the information. All these expressions are part of the general move from traditional management of health and medicine to electronic health and medicine or e-health (written more and more frequently ehealth as its use spreads across countries and within national health and health care systems). To settle the record straight, the definition of the Electronic Health Record that can serve as a consensus for the current exposition as well as a starting point for further research is the one given by the International Standards Organization ; info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersion

Trabalho apresentado em ICISO 2018: International Conference on Informatics and Semiotics in Organisation, 16-18 Julho 2018, Reading, UK ; Contemporary Information Systems management incorporates the need to make explicit the links between semiotics, meaning-making and the digital age. This focus addresses, at its core, pure rationality, that is, the capacity of human interpretation and of human inscription upon reality. Creating the new real, that is the motto. Humans are intrinsically semiotic creatures. Consequently, semiotics is not a choice or an option but something that works like a second skin, establishing limits and permeable linkages between: (i) human thought and human's infinite world of imagination; and (ii) human action, with its correspondent infinite world of intentionality, of desire and of unexplored possibilities. Two instances are contrasted as two reading lenses of current business reality: IS governance and industry 4.0. These phenomena correspond to the need to take accountability, transparency and responsibility into account, when designing IS and when using such systems through the ecology of connectivity, Big Data and the Internet of Things. Political, social and cultural dimensions are brought into the equation, when addressing the question of the relevance and adequateness of IS theory and practice to respond to contemporary challenges. The message is that what has already been achieved is but a shadow, a pale vision, of what might be achieved in the age of the new Renaissance. ; N/A

Contemporary Information Systems management incorporates the need to make explicit the links between semiotics, meaning-making and the digital age. This focus addresses, at its core, pure rationality, that is, the capacity of human interpretation and of human inscription upon reality. Creating the new real, that is the motto. Humans are intrinsically semiotic creatures. Consequently, semiotics is not a choice or an option but something that works like a second skin, establishing limits and permeable linkages between: (i) human thought and human's infinite world of imagination; and (ii) human action, with its correspondent infinite world of intentionality, of desire and of unexplored possibilities. Two instances are contrasted as two reading lenses of current business reality: IS governance and industry 4.0. These phenomena correspond to the need to take accountability, transparency and responsibility into account, when designing IS and when using such systems through the ecology of connectivity, Big Data and the Internet of Things. Political, social and cultural dimensions are brought into the equation, when addressing the question of the relevance and adequateness of IS theory and practice to respond to contemporary challenges. The message is that what has already been achieved is but a shadow, a pale vision, of what might be achieved in the age of the new Renaissance.

Poster Papers ; International audience ; Contemporary Information Systems management incorporates theneed to make explicit the links between semiotics, meaning-making and thedigital age. This focus addresses, at its core, pure rationality, that is, the capacityof human interpretation and of human inscription upon reality. Creating the newreal, that is the motto. Humans are intrinsically semiotic creatures. Consequently,semiotics is not a choice or an option but something that works like asecond skin, establishing limits and permeable linkages between: (i) humanthought and human's infinite world of imagination; and (ii) human action, withits correspondent infinite world of intentionality, of desire and of unexploredpossibilities. Two instances are contrasted as two reading lenses of currentbusiness reality: IS governance and industry 4.0. These phenomena correspondto the need to take accountability, transparency and responsibility into account,when designing IS and when using such systems through the ecology of connectivity,Big Data and the Internet of Things. Political, social and culturaldimensions are brought into the equation, when addressing the question of therelevance and adequateness of IS theory and practice to respond to contemporarychallenges. The message is that what has already been achieved is but ashadow, a pale vision, of what might be achieved in the age of the newRenaissance.

Transition is the adequate term for characterising contemporary societies. Norms and values are in transit, led by a technological revolution, which is, in itself, the tip of the iceberg of millenary social and cultural changes. Heidegger, one of the leading philosophers of the twentieth century, captured this tension between social change and innovative technology and showed that the Western civilisation was captive of ontological instances whose role was already pin-pointed by Greek Antiquity philosophy but which went underground with Modernity. The product of Heidegger's work was a revolution in Western thought, which found echoes across all areas of society. Taking Husserl's call for "back to the things themselves", Heidegger's impact has empowered the calls for more sustainable and resilient societies. Sustainability models, with its three pillars of environmental, economic and social sustainability, are directly dependent upon the role of technology and of information science in shaping current patterns of production and consumption in contemporary societies. Industrial, academic and political discourses already voice such taken for granted assumptions. Nevertheless, it is crucial to clarify and to highlight the links between economic evolution and progress, social change and the catalysing role of technology, taken as an enabler of human action. ; info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersion

Poster ; Water is considered one of the most important natural resources and according to its scarcity and cost, it necessary to implement a sustainable management of its use. One of the reasons for the unsustainable management of the sector in Portugal is the failure of the national Strategic Plan 2006-2013. It is no surprise that, either in relation to coverage ratios, or with respect to the quality of the water supplied, Portugal is meeting the goals set out by the government. The of sustainability of the sector is another one, it's related to the way the sector is organized and managed. Regarding the reorganization of the sector with a concentration of operators (ending micro operators without technical and financial dimension), the vertical systems (from catchment to home delivery), the desired concentration ranges (in water supply and wastewater treatment), the use of partnerships between the State and the municipalities and a uniform tariff, nothing has been done and none of these aspects of the government objectives have been implemented. It is therefore necessary to create or strengthen the institutions that promote the protection of water resources. Among these institutions the Regulatory Authority and Waste Water Services (ERSAR) plays a central role, with a wide range of functions from defending the quality of the water services, its fair distribution, the sustainability of water resources, the respect of legal mechanisms, the training and information of and on the sector, to the financial and taxes instruments. As Gerlach and Franceys (2010:1229) refer: "the new regulators face the tremendous challenge of stimulating and supporting water service providers to improve their poor performance record, which affects the disproportionately lower income population" and "[.] regulators are required to balance politically potentially sensitive and conflicting efficiency and welfare objectives." The objective of this study is to deepen the knowledge of the framework and role of ERSAR powers, allowing make sustainable management of water supply systems in Portugal, after the high investments made in the sector in the last 20 years. These results will be obtained based on bibliographic research, application of a survey to different entities with competences in water services in European Union (Benchmarking) and application of a Interview to key actors (municipalities) in Setúbal District, in Portugal. ; info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersion

The higher education system in Europe is currently under stress and the debates over its reform and future are gaining momentum. Now that, for most countries, we are in a time for change, in the overall society and the whole education system, the legal and political dimensions have gained prominence, which has not been followed by a more integrative approach of the problem of order, its reform and the issue of regulation, beyond the typical static and classical cost-benefit analyses. The two classical approaches for studying (and for designing the policy measures of) the problem of the reform of the higher education system - the cost-benefit analysis and the legal scholarship description - have to be integrated. This is the argument of our paper that the very integration of economic and legal approaches, what Warren Samuels called the legal-economic nexus, is meaningful and necessary, especially if we want to address the problem of order (as formulated by Joseph Spengler) and the overall regulation of the system. On the one hand, and without neglecting the interest and insights gained from the cost-benefit analysis, or other approaches of value for money assessment, we will focus our study on the legal, social and political aspects of the regulation of the higher education system and its reform in Portugal. On the other hand, the economic and financial problems have to be taken into account, but in a more inclusive way with regard to the indirect and other socio-economic costs not contemplated in traditional or standard assessments of policies for the tertiary education sector. In the first section of the paper, we will discuss the theoretical and conceptual underpinning of our analysis, focusing on the evolutionary approach, the role of critical institutions, the legal-economic nexus and the problem of order. All these elements are related to the institutional tradition, from Veblen and Commons to Spengler and Samuels. The second section states the problem of regulation in the higher education system and the issue of policy formulation for tackling the problem. The current situation is clearly one of crisis with the expansion of the cohorts of young students coming to an end and the recurrent scandals in private institutions. In the last decade, after a protracted period of extension or expansion of the system, i. e., the continuous growth of students, universities and other institutions are competing harder to gain students and have seen their financial situation at risk. It seems that we are entering a period of radical uncertainty, higher competition and a new configuration that is slowly building up is the growth in intensity, which means upgrading the quality of the higher learning and getting more involvement in vocational training and life-long learning. With this change, and along with other deep ones in the Portuguese society and economy, the current regulation has shown signs of maladjustment. The third section consists of our conclusions on the current issue of regulation and policy challenge. First, we underline the importance of an evolutionary approach to a process of change that is essentially dynamic. A special attention will be given to the issues related to an evolutionary construe of policy analysis and formulation. Second, the integration of law and economics, through the notion of legal economic nexus, allows us to better define the issues of regulation and the concrete problems that the universities are facing. One aspect is the instability of the political measures regarding the public administration and on which the higher education system depends financially, legally and institutionally, to say the least. A corollary is the lack of clear strategy in the policy reforms. Third, our research criticizes several studies, such as the one made by the OECD in late 2006 for the Ministry of Science, Technology and Higher Education, for being too static and neglecting fundamental aspects of regulation such as the logic of actors, groups and organizations who are major players in the system. Finally, simply changing the legal rules will not necessary per se change the behaviors that the authorities want to change. By this, we mean that it is not only remiss of the policy maker to ignore some of the critical issues of regulation, namely the continuous non-respect by academic management and administrative bodies of universities of the legal rules that were once promulgated. Changing the rules does not change the problem, especially without the necessary debates form the different relevant quarters that make up the higher education system. The issues of social interaction remain as intact. Our treatment of the matter will be organized in the following way. In the first section, the theoretical principles are developed in order to be able to study more adequately the higher education transformation with a modest evolutionary theory and a legal and economic nexus of the interactions of the system and the policy challenges. After describing, in the second section, the recent evolution and current working of the higher education in Portugal, we will analyze the legal framework and the current regulatory practices and problems in light of the theoretical framework adopted. We will end with some conclusions on the current problems of regulation and the policy measures that are discusses in recent years.

EAEPE 2007. Conferência realizada no Porto, de 2-5 de novembro de 2007. ; The higher education system in Europe is currently under stress and the debates over its reform and future are gaining momentum. Now that, for most countries, we are in a time for change, in the overall society and the whole education system, the legal and political dimensions have gained prominence, which has not been followed by a more integrative approach of the problem of order, its reform and the issue of regulation, beyond the typical static and classical cost-benefit analyses. The two classical approaches for studying (and for designing the policy measures of) the problem of the reform of the higher education system - the cost-benefit analysis and the legal scholarship description - have to be integrated. This is the argument of our paper that the very integration of economic and legal approaches, what Warren Samuels called the legal-economic nexus, is meaningful and necessary, especially if we want to address the problem of order (as formulated by Joseph Spengler) and the overall regulation of the system. ; info:eu-repo/semantics/draft

Trabalho apresentado em 1º Encontro Anual de Economia Política, 25-27 janeiro 2018, Lisboa, Portugal ; Institutional economics serves the purpose of escaping the reductionist approaches of mainstream marginalist economics, which exclusively addresses quantitative and cause-effect economic issues. The need for thought-provoking and ground-breaking insights may be answered through the contributions from philosophy of education, which rethinks science, society and learning, taking into account both the historical and geographical contexts of contemporary societies. Lyotard's concept of hypermodernity helps to situate the interpretation of present day reality in relation to the allocation of public goods, the potentiation of positive externalities and the regulation of markets. The argument is that such powerful and yet conventional economic concepts need to be placed in context and tackled as rich and complex phenomena, ready to be explored in novel and innovative ways. Such novelty is possible and indeed it already emerges when political, social, cultural and historical perspectives are brought together and effectively contribute to a radical interpretation of economic reality, one that goes beyond linear analysis. Following this line of argumentation, the role of Higher Education Institutions (HEI) is paramount. On one hand, such institutions have been the historical continuation of five hundred years of Modernity, witnessing and being both the product and the reproduction mechanism behind the social and political modus operandi and status quo, and, on the other hand, these same institutions, in their diversity, have also been the engine of change and the hosts of counter-movements, sub-cultures and non-dominant thinking revolutions throughout every historical period, including post-modernism. This paradoxical tension may bring potential creativity when it is possible to identify meaning-making opportunities for reframing present day economic reality. The purpose of the present paper is to focus on the following links: first, the corpus of institutional economics and its shift in perspective regarding conventional economic analysis; second, the reality addressed by the economic concepts of market failure and of externalities, and the specific case of the institutional framework of HEI; and finally, how the contributions from the body of knowledge of philosophy of education, and its diverse schools of thought, can place the study of political economy in an effective and innovative perspective and line of interpretation. ; info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersion

Trabalho apresentado em X Encontro de Investigadores da Qualidade, RIQUAL, IPS, 7 de junho 2019, Setúbal, Portugal ; A crise financeira que iniciou em 2008 fez surgir uma vaga de protestos contra a falta de transparência, de accountability e de responsabilidade tanto de instituições privadas como públicas. Naturalmente, destes protestos resultou o recrudescimento da ação reguladora e de controlo por via legislativa e resultou também um maior interesse académico sobre temas de ética corporativa. Os Sistemas de Gestão da Qualidade podem desempenhar um papel importantíssimo na promoção de novas abordagens e formas de pensar a ética que, por aplicação exclusiva de pressões externas (e.g., legislação), muito dificilmente se materializarão. Com efeito, os Sistemas de Gestão da Qualidade estão intrinsecamente ligados aos centros de decisão de empresas e instituições públicas num abraço que permite, por um lado, aceder a informação "sensível" e, por outro, intervir de forma orgânica. O presente artigo defende que a intensificação do uso da abordagem fenomenológica para o estudo do comportamento corporativo contribui para desmascarar comportamento perversos, mais comuns em tempos de crise. Defende que a abordagem fenomenológica ajusta-se perfeitamente aos Sistemas de Gestão da Qualidade e, por isso, deveria ser mais usada. É este o posicionamento teórico da presente comunicação, que exemplifica com transcrições de casos reais do setor da construção paradoxos e incentivos perversos ocorridos em tempos de crise. ; The Global Financial Crisis of 2008 has created a wave of protests against the lack of transparency, of accountability and of responsibility, within both business and public policy settings. Taken-for granted assumptions have been questioned and the importance of Corporate Ethics has gained a new impetus, both in the academic and in the policy-making spheres of action. Within this context, the role of Quality Management Systems is of a paramount importance, for it allows the identification of critical issues through the network of relationships, the tracking of information accumulated for decades and, given the close connection between Quality Management Systems and the heart of business and of public institutions, it allows for the design of new approaches and ways of thinking that would be impossible to achieve from external pressures alone. The present paper develops the argument that phenomenological approaches to Corporate Ethics are already embedded in Quality Systems and that such presence has to be intensified and made explicit in order to improve its degree of effectiveness and of civic governance. From this theoretical positioning, real life examples from the construction sector are analysed in order to illustrate the paradoxes and the pervert incentives that are often present in times of crises. ; info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersion