Editorial

ID: 34913

Authors: Rafael Teixeira.

Source: BASE - Revista de Administração e Contabilidade da UNISINOS, v. 12, n. 1, p. 1-1, January-March, 2015. 1 page(s).

Document type: Editorial (Portuguese)

Ownership structure and investments in R&D: an analysis in Brazil’s public companies

ID: 34914

Authors: Alan Diógenes Góis, Paulo Henrique Nobre Parente, Vera Maria Rodrigues Ponte.

Source: BASE - Revista de Administração e Contabilidade da UNISINOS, v. 12, n. 1, p. 2-14, January-March, 2015. 13 page(s).

Keyword: Agency Theory , investments in Research and Development , ownership structure

Document type: Article (Portuguese) Show Abstract

Based on precepts of the Agency Theory, the study has the general purpose of analyzing the relationship between ownership structure and investments in R&D in public companies in Brazil. For this purpose, the data of 66 public companies in Brazil referring to the period 2009-2012 were analyzed through the Multiple Correspondence Analysis (MCA) and Multiple Linear Regression with use of panel data. Through the MCA, the study examined the relationship between ownership structure – ownership concentration and identity of the controlling shareholder – and investments in R&D. Among the findings, it should be noted that companies under foreign or family control show high ownership concentration and have high investments in R&D. Regarding the Multiple Linear Regression with use of panel data, it has been found that ownership concentration was not a factor that influenced investments in R&D. Concerning the identity of the controlling shareholder, it was observed that the presence of a foreign or state controlling shareholder has no effect on investments in R&D. Complementarily, the study found empirical evidence of the effects of specific characteristics of firms such as size and the information technology sector as attributes that may, in fact, influence the investments in R&D. In this sense, it can be concluded that there is a relationship between ownership structure and investments in R&D. The study enables researchers and professionals to realize that the decisions of managers, with regard to investments in R&D, can be influenced by different arrangements of the ownership structure in emerging markets.

“Territory as order and chaos”: the power relations between street vendors, public authorities and traders

ID: 34915

Authors: Luciano Mendes, Neusa Rolita Cavedon.

Source: BASE - Revista de Administração e Contabilidade da UNISINOS, v. 12, n. 1, p. 15-26, January-March, 2015. 12 page(s).

Keyword: power relations , public authorities , street vendors , territory , traders

Document type: Article (Portuguese) Show Abstract

This article aims to identify and understand the power relationships built over time between the street vendors, the government and the formal traders in the city of Três Lagoas in Mato Grosso do Sul, a city 340 km away from the state capital. The theoretical framework that underpins this study focuses on the notion of territory. This theoretical option finds support in the fact that the territory is directly linked to relations of power. However, there is no talk of territory without regard to the categories of time and space. Territory arises from human action on the binomial space / time, so that they are as social constructions. The method used to carry out the investigation was ethnography. Through this method it was possible to show the power relationships between street vendors, government agencies and traders, changes in the meanings of urban dynamics. Thus, it was possible to infer that the territorial boundaries congregate delimitations and also symbolic breaks, with implications in the construction of urban itineraries.

Selection of accounting features in the prediction of bankruptcy in Brazilian companies – a comparison of approaches

ID: 34916

Authors: Rui Américo Mathiasi Horta, Francisco José dos Santos Alves, Frederico A. de Carvalho, Marcelino José Jorge.

Source: BASE - Revista de Administração e Contabilidade da UNISINOS, v. 12, n. 1, p. 27-39, January-March, 2015. 13 page(s).

Keyword: accounting ratios , data mining , insolvency prediction , selection of attributes

Document type: Article (Portuguese) Show Abstract

Insolvency prediction has been a topic of study that has gained much attention in business analysis because of the importance of accurate and timely information on strategic business decisions. This is because the incorrect decision-making in institutions can generate financial difficulties besides causing huge social costs that affect the owners or shareholders, managers, employees, creditors, suppliers, customers, community, government, etc. As a result, bankruptcy prediction has been one of the most challenging tasks and an important research topic in accounting, finance and computer science and data mining techniques have been applied to solve problems in bankruptcy prediction. The selection of attributes is important to select the most representative data from a set of accounting ratios derived from financial statements of Brazilian companies; this step aims to improve the performance of the final prediction step. The main objective of this paper is to compare three approaches to feature selection, viz. Filter, wrapper and principal component analysis, in data selected for the development of insolvency prediction models. This research is of an empirical, descriptive and quantitative nature, comprising companies classified at SERASA and BOVESPA as insolvent in the period of 2005-2007. This work demonstrated, for the sample used, that the wrapper approach is the most effective one; it obtained the best classification results in the techniques of logistic regression (89,88%), decision tree (93,45%) and support vector machine (97,02%).

The Brazilian top executives’ psychological type and their stress perception: where the weak ones don’t stand a chance

ID: 34917

Authors: Betania Tanure, Carolina Mota Santos, Antonio Carvalho Neto, Simone Costa Nunes.

Source: BASE - Revista de Administração e Contabilidade da UNISINOS, v. 12, n. 1, p. 40-51, January-March, 2015. 12 page(s).

Keyword: assertiveness , Brazilian executives , Carl Jung , psychological type , stress

Document type: Article (Portuguese) Show Abstract

Stress can be more easily identified in some professional groups such as the senior executives working in corporations. The sources of stress in a work context are mediated by specific individual differences. Therefore, stress differs from one individual to another and each one responds differently. This paper aims to examine the relationship between the Brazilian executives’ perception of stress and their psychological type. The qualitative-quantitative mixed method research is based on 965 questionnaires answered by CEOs, vice presidents/directors and third level executives from 344 corporations. In addition, semi-structured interviews and focus groups were conducted with 263 executives. The theoretical framework describes the stress typologies as well as an indicator of psychological types based on Carl G. Jung’s work, the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI). Results show that the dominant psychological type among the executives (21,6%) has as characteristics efficiency, objectivity and assertiveness. Individuals from this psychological type say they feel less the stress when compared with the executives of the other psychological types. The individuals from the psychological type that say they feel more fatigue and stress (3%) would be considered the “weak”, with no place in organizations where only the “strong ones” seem to have a chance.

Reaction to environmental accidents: a study in a Brazilian mining company

ID: 34918

Authors: Priscila Karla da Silva Wink, Ana Lúcia Fontes de Souza Vasconcelos, Umbelina Cravo Teixeira Lagioia, Mario Takayuki Kato, Valcemiro Nossa.

Source: BASE - Revista de Administração e Contabilidade da UNISINOS, v. 12, n. 1, p. 52-67, January-March, 2015. 16 page(s).

Keyword: financial statements , Sustainability Report , Theory of Legitimacy

Document type: Article (Portuguese) Show Abstract

The aim of this study is to analyze the reaction of a particular mining company in terms of disclosure in Sustainability Reports regarding the news about environmental accidents in which it was involved, as a form of legitimation. According to Legitimacy Theory, companies seek voluntarily to disclose information as a way to legitimize their activities vis-à-vis society in an attempt to maintain the so-called “social contract” between businesses and society. Thus, we analyzed the Sustainability Reports of a Brazilian mining company from 2004 to 2010. The analysis was performed using the Alceste® discourse analysis program, and the results were analyzed together with the three environmental accidents involving the company. The results show a change in the discourse on sustainability in the reports after these environmental accidents. The topic of environmental preservation took the space previously dedicated to the description of operational activities. There was also a strengthening of other aspects of legitimation through the publication of reports on awards of an environmental nature, which did not occur in disclosures previous to the accidents. We conclude that the findings of this study corroborate those reported by Deegan et al. (2000), which is the paper that inspired this work, and the aspects advocated by the Theory of Legitimacy.

Yes, we also can! The development of collaborative consumption initiatives in Brazil

ID: 34919

Authors: Angela Maria Maurer, Paola Schmitt Figueiró, Simone Alves Pacheco de Campos, Virgínia Sebastião da Silva, Marcia Dutra de Barcellos.

Source: BASE - Revista de Administração e Contabilidade da UNISINOS, v. 12, n. 1, p. 68-80, January-March, 2015. 13 page(s).

Keyword: Brazilian context , collaborative consumption , virtual platforms

Document type: Article (Portuguese) Show Abstract

The advances and dissemination of information and communication technologies enable the creation of new forms of sharing and the rise of platforms for collective practices which contribute for the development of new ways of consuming, such as the collaborative consumption. This form of consumption refers to the practice of sharing, commercial loans, rents and exchanges that take place mainly in the cyberspace. The practices involved in these systems are still recent in Brazil. Thus, this paper aims to understand the perception of users and organizations regarding the systems of collaborative consumption in the Brazilian context. To accomplish this, a qualitative research with an exploratory character was carried out through semi-structured interviews with managers and users of different systems of collaborative consumption. The results revealed that, even though the collaborative consumption is still in its beginning in Brazil, there is a positive scenario for the development of collective practices in this country. Besides that, many interesting results regarding risks, obstacles, benefits and the ways that trust could be generated within these systems were also identified. Thus, new opportunities are open for the collaborative consumption in the Brazilian context.