The travel and tourism industry has been characterised over the last decade by the use of robotics, virtual reality (VR), augmented reality (AR) and artificial intelligence (AI) (Leung, 2019; Rashid & Aziz, 2022; Roy & Pagaldiviti, 2023). This trend has been producing disruptive changes in tourism processes in this industry, which is expected to increase in the future (Bowen & Morosan, 2018; Tussyadiah, 2020). Therefore, understanding these impacts on customer experiences is crucial. Tour operators and travel agencies use VR and AR to offer virtual tours, allowing tourists to experience a destination before deciding to visit (Milton, 2023).

The collapse of Banco Espírito Santo (BES) in August 2014 marked one of the most significant banking crises in Portugal’s modern history and a critical early test of the European Union’s emerging resolution framework. Once the country’s second-largest private bank and the core of the Espírito Santo Group, BES had pursued an unsustainable growth strategy fueled by leverage, weak governance, and regulatory forbearance. Its implosion exposed not only long-standing structural fragilities in Portuguese banking but also the limits of European supervisory credibility. The resolution measure—splitting BES into a “good bank” (Novo Banco) and a “bad bank”—was intended as a model application of the new Bank Recovery and Resolution Directive (BRRD). Instead, it became mired in opacity, litigation, and socialized costs. This case underscores how managerial hubris, political opportunism, and weak regulatory institutions undermine resolution effectiveness and highlights the broader lessons for banking supervision in Europe.

This study explains how consumers form attitudes toward sustainable fashion line extensions by integrating Brand Extension Theory (BET) with the Theory of Planned Behavior (TPB). Using survey data from 786 consumers in Portugal and Turkey, with H&M Conscious Choice as the focal reference, we estimate a structural model in which environmental concern (EC) and brand image (BI) shape attitude (AT) both directly and indirectly through brand‑extension fit (BEF). Results show that EC has a positive but small direct association with AT, while its indirect effect via BEF is also significant, indicating that value‑based dispositions become consequential when the sustainability initiative is perceived as a credible and logical extension of the parent brand. BI exerts a substantive direct influence on AT and a statistically reliable but modest influence on BEF; BEF itself positively predicts AT and transmits part of EC’s and BI’s effects. The model explains R² ≈ 0.742 of BEF and R² ≈ 0.476 of AT, supporting the explanatory adequacy of the integrated framework. A multi‑group analysis suggests context‑sensitive differences between Portugal and Turkey, which we interpret in light of policy‑normalization (Portugal) versus crisis‑salience (Turkey); given partial measurement invariance, these contrasts are framed as cautious tendencies. Overall, findings underscore fit as the mechanism through which consumers synthesize values and brand heuristics, clarifying why strong brand image alone does not guarantee perceived sustainability congruence in fast‑fashion contexts.

Financial management in the context of a start-up has gained prominence in the literature due to entrepreneurs’ insufficient and often incapable analysis. This study examines differences in financial indicators during the initial years of operation between technology start-ups in Portugal that went bankrupt and those that remained active, focusing on the period between 2013–2022. Using a panel data sample of 4,591 companies, hypothesis tests and the Probit regression model were applied. The results reveal statistically significant differences in financial indicators between bankrupt and nonbankrupt start-ups. General liquidity and operating return on assets positively correlate with the likelihood of survival, while immediate liquidity and return on equity have an inverse relationship with nonbankruptcy probability. Consequently, the study identifies a set of average values to monitor, guiding entrepreneurs to avoid bankruptcy. The research provides practical guidelines for financial management in start-ups and aids in analyzing financial indicators to reduce bankruptcy risk.

Purpose

This study examines how firms’ alliance orientation impacts firm financial performance, varying across manufacturing and retail service industries and during the COVID-19 Crisis. Coopetition requires simultaneous competition and cooperation, sometimes competition-based coopetition, other times cooperation-based coopetition. In this study, alliance orientation was used as the observable construct, enabling us to interpret its implications within the broader literature on coopetition dynamics.

Design/methodology/approach

We used a sample of 330 Portuguese and Spanish firms across different industries and employed an Ordinary Least Squares model. The study spans 2013–2022, encompassing pre-COVID-19 and during COVID-19 pandemic periods.

Findings

Results show that alliance orientation positively influences financial performance in the retail services industry, particularly during COVID-19, where alliances mitigated the negative effects of firm age, sales growth opportunities and asset tangibility. No significant effect was observed in manufacturing firms, highlighting industry-specific dynamics.

Originality/value

The study offers threefold novelties. First, it assesses the impact of strategic alliance engagement on financial performance through an econometric model that considers the effect of strategic alliances on return on assets and includes control variables to express organizational complexity. Second, it highlights that the benefits of alliance strategies, which can enable coopetition dynamics, vary across industries. Third, it provides evidence that alliance orientation can be a strategic risk and crisis management mechanism, particularly during disruptive events such as the COVID-19 pandemic.