A factual economic theory, beyond finance: the case of Dona Grácia Mendes (Nasi)

Abstract

This essay addresses the business and challenges that entrepreneurs face in the daily lives of their business activities, far beyond numbers. Indeed, behind the business there is a set of facts that are certainly reflected financially in the companies, but are not susceptible to be captured, much less evaluated by the quantitative theories of business analysis, given that their origin is not economic, nor financial. Thus, in the present essay a case analysis is made of one of the most enterprising and notable women of the time of the Portuguese maritime explorations. Through its case and through an alternative analysis of the financial, psychological and sociological social facts, it is possible to illustrate that the business evidences financial difficulties, they fall into decline and are lost, but the causes of these losses are social and not financial, as we might conclude at first instance.