Resenha: - A conquista silenciosa: capitalismo global e a morte da democracia

ID: 16737

Authors: Roberto Gonzalez Duarte.

Source: RAUSP Management Journal, v. 38, n. 3, p. 1-1, July-September, 2003. 1 page(s).

Document type: Book Review (Portuguese)

The new configuration of the supply chain in the automotive industry in Brazil

ID: 16730

Authors: Mario Sergio Salerno, Roberto Marx, Mauro Zilbovicius.

Source: RAUSP Management Journal, v. 38, n. 3, p. 1-1, July-September, 2003. 1 page(s).

Keyword: automotive chain , product design , supply relationship

Document type: Article (Portuguese) Show Abstract

Questionnaires were sent to companies listed in several data basis (Sindipeças — Suppliers National Association; Rais — Ministry of Labour; list of qualified suppliers received from assemblers etc.), in order to reach the highest possible number of companies. The methodology, based in quantitative research, is innovative in the field. The analysis involves 224 companies, which can be considered as a rather representative sample. Themes discussed are supply relationship, product and process design, regional issues, new assembly plants characteristics and funding patterns.

Management in strategic groups: strategic blocks

ID: 16729

Authors: Irene Raguenet Troccoli, T. Diana L. van Aduard de Macedo-Soares.

Source: RAUSP Management Journal, v. 38, n. 3, p. 181-191, July-September, 2003. 11 page(s).

Keyword: networks of relationships , orange-juice industry , strategic alliances , strategic blocks , strategic groups , strategic performance strategic management

Document type: Article (Portuguese) Show Abstract

In the current competitive globalized context, firms are establishing strategic networks to complement their resources and thus give better attention to their customers’ increasing requirements. This article aims at showing how networks, especially those of groups of firms that are structurally similar and more densely connected to each other, i.e. “strategic blocks”, imply reviewing or at least complementing traditional strategic group — SG analyses, inasmuch as they enable firms to enter these groups without the constraints related to mobility barriers. In the first two parts, on the basis of bibliographic research, key concepts are explained and constructs pertinent to the analysis of the strategic implications of networks and blocks for firms in SGs are presented. Next, with the help of documentary investigations, these constructs are applied to the case of a group of firms in the Brazilian orange juice industry that is considered, hypothetically, as both strategic group and block, in accordance with Nohria and Garcia-Pont’s (1991) concept of “pooling block”. These constructs are validated in terms of being able to help provide new insights for strategic decision-making, in the case of firms in SGs, that can complement results of traditional analyses. Notably, it is shown how they helped reveal that the relationships of blocks can dampen the threats posed by Porter’s (1980) five strategic forces to firms in SGs, although they can also create threats of their own for these firms. They also helped indicate to what extent the density, pattern, strength and nature of the network’s relationships can constitute opportunities in terms of enhancing the performance of firms in SGs. The article terminates by presenting a proposition, based on the application of the constructs at issue, to be validated, in the scope of future empirical research. It also makes suggestions for new investigations.

Training evaluation: literature review and research agenda

ID: 16731

Authors: Gardênia Abbad, Ronaldo Pilati, Maria Júlia Pantoja.

Source: RAUSP Management Journal, v. 38, n. 3, p. 205-218, July-September, 2003. 14 page(s).

Keyword: climate/support to training transfer , evaluation models , impact of training at work , training and development , training evaluation

Document type: Article (Portuguese) Show Abstract

This paper presents a literature review of the Training and Development (T&D) field, with an emphasis on training evaluation. For this purpose, the national (Brazilian) and available international publications were analyzed from 1998 to 2001, using the following data basis: Web of Science, Proquest, PsycInfo, EBSCO and the virtual library of Conselho Federal de Psicologia. The outcomes of the national research, in general obtained from correlational designs and several different samples and organizations, show similarities with the results of the international literature, mainly because of the high importance of the variable “managerial and social climate/support to transfer” on the prediction of training transfer. The recent national and international reviews have presented a positive view of the T&D field, attributing a scientific status to this field, given that the developed and tested assessment models in the last decade have permited the construction of a consistent theory about the effects of training on human performance. Concluding, the authors argue that more advances in the T&D field will require the (a) use of multilevel models of analysis, in order to study the vertical and horizontal processes that explain training outcomes; (b) elimination of the conceptual and theoretical misunderstandings relative to variable definitions in the research models; (c) examination of convergent validity of the measures, in order to allow for more generality of the research outcomes; and (d) careful analysis of distance trainings, using scientific designs that may explain their results.

Gender relationships in organizations: a case study in the vehicles sales sector

ID: 16732

Authors: Luiz Henrique de Barros Vilas Boas, Alcieles de Paula Neto, Luciana Cramer.

Source: RAUSP Management Journal, v. 38, n. 3, p. 219-229, July-September, 2003. 11 page(s).

Keyword: concessionary of vehicles. , gender , organizational space , social representations

Document type: Article (Portuguese) Show Abstract

Front to a current dominant speech, of the equality and gender neutrality in the organizations, this work tries to study the social representations elaborated around the gender relationships in the organizational space of the section of sales of a concessionary of vehicles. It is an exploratory study in which the method of the interview was used in depth, which allows the access to the speeches elaborated around the articulate gender relationships in the organizational space studied. Being used of the Theory of the Social Representations, which establishes a dialogue between the Theory of the Organizations and the social Psychology, tried to unmask the gender representations taking as reference analysis categories or organizational arrangements. By the new organizational processes, through which she have been trying to develop an atmosphere with work opportunities and same professional ascension for men and women, this study still reveals the existence, of a gender construction based on the existent differences among the sexes, where the respect to the individual’s singularity many times present is not shown.

Development of an instrument to measure the satisfaction of information systems users

ID: 16733

Authors: José Dutra de Oliveira Neto, Edson Luiz Riccio.

Source: RAUSP Management Journal, v. 38, n. 3, p. 230-241, July-September, 2003. 12 page(s).

Keyword: information system , user satisfaction

Document type: Article (Portuguese) Show Abstract

The objective of this study is to measure end-user’s satisfaction as a contribution to the success of Information Systems (IS). An instrument was developed to measure end-user’s satisfaction related to specific computer application selected by respondents. A sample of 143 responses from MBA end-users from School of Economics, Business and Accounting — University of São Paulo — Brazil was used and the results point to a 16-item instrument (five-point Likert-type scale) considered reliable with Cronbach’s alpha 0.84 and validated by factor analysis and confirmed by multidimensional analysis of a variety of applications. Four components of end-user’s satisfaction have been identified: practicability, availability, precision and information adequacy. This research highlights the importance of user’s satisfaction for the success of an Information System. It also suggests that user’s satisfaction, when decomposed into its 4 detailed components, could be the basis for a diagnostic tool in the implementation of the information system, thus improving the chances of its success.

Labor-force productivity measuring in the construction of habitations of social interest in southeastern Mexico

ID: 16728

Authors: Luis Felipe Jiménez Torrez, Rómel Gilberto Solís Carcaño, Carlos Enrique Arcudia Abad.

Source: RAUSP Management Journal, v. 38, n. 3, p. 242-253, July-September, 2003. 12 page(s).

Keyword: absence , labor study , model of the factors , productivity , sampling of work , wages

Document type: Article (Portuguese) Show Abstract

This paper refers to a total of 215 days of observation in five habitation construction projects of social interest executed in the city of Chetumal in southeastern Mexico. The activity in study was the construction of an external wall made of blocks of concrete. The results were presented in a conventional way by productivity indexes, that is, the quotient of the relationship between men-hours worked and volume built, whose analysis allowed the appreciation of high variable in the daily productivity and low performance in the execution of the construction sites in study, attributed mainly to a series of factors related to the management, like activity changes, lacks of materials and absences. As final result, were obtained statistical information that will be will be usefull for a database that will permit to compare the performance of the local building companies and the wages, in regional, national or international context.

The concepts of operational effectiveness and strategy proposed by Porter: economic fundamentals and critical analysis

ID: 16734

Authors: Astor Eugênio Hexsel, Hélio Henkin.

Source: RAUSP Management Journal, v. 38, n. 3, p. 254-259, July-September, 2003. 6 page(s).

Keyword: different offer , economic theory , strategy and operational effectiveness

Document type: Article (Portuguese) Show Abstract

In this article, the concepts of Strategy and of Operational Effectiveness proposed by Porter (1996) are discussed under the light of the Economic Theory. To develop an offer different from the one of the competitors is the central element of the strategy, what would facilitate rates of superior profitability. Operational Effectiveness is the ability to develop activities in a better way than the competitors, based on managerial techniques. Though, as the techniques spread, the companies become similar. Under the optics of the Economic Theory, that means that the market structure tends to lose its oligopolist's force due to the gradual similarity among companies. In the same way, the standardization of products can be interpreted as an amplification of the elasticity of the demand curve. What Porter fails to observe, however, it is that to reach a differentiated position doesn't depend only on the company, but also of the situation of grater or smaller heterogeneity of the market.

The challenge of a management process under the telecom perspective

ID: 16735

Authors: Tânia Regina Belmiro, José Roberto Flores Reche.

Source: RAUSP Management Journal, v. 38, n. 3, p. 260-272, July-September, 2003. 13 page(s).

Keyword: company’s restructuration , culture , process management , quality , telecommunications sector

Document type: Article (Portuguese) Show Abstract

A study of a Telecommunication company reveals how dramatically this sector in Brazil has evolved in technology and administration since the first this research, have tried several management strategies determined to optimise their management experiences with wired communication over the last quarter of the 19th century. CTBC, the data source of by implementing on their site the most recognised theories for better conducting a business. Those theories have evolved from management by objectives to total quality management and finally to business process management. The main objective of this field work research is to demonstrate in which context those administration concepts developed and more specifically how it benefited the company’s staff and performance. The article emphasizes the implementation of a business structure driven by its processes. The research shows the paths, the difficulties and advantages of a process management implementation.

Representative situation of quality management methodologies in engineering projects

ID: 16736

Authors: Luis Antonio Rodrigues Verdi, Nilton Nunes de Toledo.

Source: RAUSP Management Journal, v. 38, n. 3, p. 273-278, July-September, 2003. 6 page(s).

Keyword: methodology , project , quality

Document type: Article (Portuguese) Show Abstract

Methodologies of quality management have not been employed in project environment, especially when the company itself chooses not to incorporate project management. The reason for that is the lack of a study material to be used as well as the fact that those companies are yet to come up with a system of quality. In an attempt to search for project quality management methodological situation, 61 companies of engineering projects, architecture, construction, industrial development and general software projects, were investigated through the Internet, in the first semester of 2000, and confirmed their knowledge and experiences. The final results showed that the companies don’t use project quality management methodologies in their work scope and that the searching for quality system certificate is still in grow-up phase. Quality projects improvement is discussed.