The wood-based building products industry has experienced significant turbulence over the past several decades as a function of multiple forces including among others globalization, product and process innovation, and shifting customer and consumer interest and demands. Collectively, these changes have challenged the historical tenets which have defined industry strategy and competition in the realm of basic products and contributed to consolidation and labor reductions. Consequently, an onus has been placed on industry participants to better understand and adapt to the new competitive landscape or risk loss of competitive advantages built on the practices suited to historical tradition. However, a limited range of work that considers the machinations of turbulence and resulting strategic implications has been directed toward the industry particularly where differentiation of products is limited. A contributing factor for this deficiency is the relative stability that has defined the industry for generations due in part to limited strategic variation beyond cost and production, limited cycles of technological and product innovation, commodity nature of many products, and passive manner of consumption. Accordingly, there is value in work that takes a critical and empirical view of industry changes in the context of both strategic and competitive implications, how participating firms address challenges, and what factors influence consumer purchase decisions. This work addresses this need through examination of each element, industry, firm, and consumer, in the context of turbulence, competition, and strategy and delineates previously unidentified considerations for competing in the new landscape. At the industry level, drivers of industry turbulence and subsequent strategic challenges, adaptations, and opportunities are identified and reviewed. Analysis suggests that improved strategy which considers organizational and product differentiation beyond cost and production efficiencies permits greater stability and increased leverage in the turbulent competitive environment. Recognizing a need for improved strategy, the firm level analysis employs a primary qualitative approach to isolate previously unidentified firm qualities analogous to successful deployment of a market orientation strategy using the resource based view of the firm as a framework for analysis. Connecting strategy to the consumer and product, theoretical consumer behavior constructs (consumption, behavior, and involvement) were connected to conceptualize dimensions of product differentiation capable of holding consumer appeal and acting as behavioral drivers in the passively consumed arena of primary wood-based building products. Taken together this work provides a view of strategic considerations within the wood-based building product industry that extends beyond previous work in several ways. First, by considering industry environment, firm strategy, and consumer behavior and product differentiation collectively in the manner described, this work provides a more vertically complete strategic perspective for industry participants. Second, within each chapter, findings and case based examples relevant to each element are presented. / Graduation date: 2012

Thesis (MA (Information Science))--Stellenbosch University, 2011. / ENGLISH ABSTRACT: The globalised business environment of the 21st century is a complex space for organisations to navigate. As a means of dealing with the challenges and demands brought about by increased interconnectedness and interdependence, organisations are increasingly turning to information and communication technology (ICT), and especially advanced forms of ICT such as enterprise resource planning (ERP) systems. An ERP system encompasses the promise of a seamless integration of business processes to be managed by a single business software application, which can be used to increase competitiveness and assist managers in strategically positioning their organisations for the future. This is especially true in the case of small to medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) which constitute a large and important part of the economies of numerous countries. As the ERP systems market for larger organisations became saturated at the beginning of the previous decade, ERP system vendors started to target SMEs by developing smaller and less expensive software solutions specifically aimed at this market segment. However, research has shown that these enterprises differ from their larger counterparts in size-specific and industry-specific ways which can greatly affect their acquisition of ERP systems: SMEs often face severe resource constraints and cannot afford the costs associated with failed ERP system implementation efforts. As a result, it becomes all the more important to follow a proper ERP system selection procedure before committing scarce and irrevocable resources to implementation. The purpose of this thesis is to define and describe the size-specific and industryspecific factors that play an important role during ERP system selection (Chapter 1). ERP system selection factors in the literature are summarised and synthesised into a comprehensive framework used to guide the execution of the study (Chapter 2). To this end, a qualitative case study was conducted on an SME in the wine industry of the Western Cape that was in the process of selecting an ERP system. Data were collected by critically analysing and reviewing documents, conducting direct observations of requirements analysis meetings and interviewing participants purposefully selected for the study (Chapter 3). Five major themes emerged from the analysis of the collected data and from this a total of 14 selection factors are identified (Chapter 4). These results largely corroborate existing selection factors from the literature and allows ideas proposed by various authors to be expanded on. In this way, a theoretical foundation is laid for the development of an ERP system selection model for SMEs in the Western Cape wine industry in future research (Chapter 5). The contribution of this research lies in the emphasis it places on the different benefits and shortcomings present in each quadrant of the proposed model and the explanation it provides for how this influences a selection factor trade-off that is unique to each organisation and the industry it operates in. This insight can be used to direct the ERP system selection process. / AFRIKAANSE OPSOMMING: Die geglobaliseerde besigheidsomgewing van die 21ste eeu is ’n komplekse ruimte waarbinne organisasies moet navigeer. Daarom wend organisasies hulle toenemend tot informasieen kommunikasietegnologie (IKT), en veral ondernemingshulpbronbeplannings (OHB)- sisteme, in ’n poging om hierdie arena se uitdagings en vereistes wat deur toenemende interverbinding en -afhanklikheid meegebring word die hoof te bied. ’n OHB-sisteem dra die belofte van ’n uniforme integrasie van besigheidsprosesse wat deur ’n enkele besigheidsagtewareprogrammatuur bestuur kan word. Dit kan aangewend word om mededingendheid te bevorder en om bestuurders by te staan om hul organisasies strategies te posisioneer vir die toekoms. Dit is veral van toepassing in die geval van klein- tot medium-grootte ondernemings (KMOs) wat ’n groot en belangrike deel van die ekonomieë van verskeie lande verteenwoordig. Teen die begin van die vorige dekade het OHB-sisteemverkopers hul fokus van groot ondernemings na KMOs verskuif deur kleiner en goedkoper sagteware te ontwikkel wat spesifiek op hierdie marksegment gemik was. Navorsing het egter bewys dat hierdie ondernemings van hul groter eweknieë verskil in terme van grootte en industrie en dat dit ’n beduidende impak kan hê op die verwerwing van OHB-sisteme: KMOs ervaar dikwels ernstige hulpbrontekorte en kan nie die koste verbonde aan mislukte OHBsisteemimplementering bekostig nie. Gevolglik raak dit toenemend belangrik dat hierdie ondernemings ’n behoorlike OHB-sisteemseleksieprosedure volg, voordat skaars en onvervangbare hulpbronne aan die implementering van dié sagteware bestee word. Die doel van hierdie tesis is om die grootte- en industrie-spesifieke faktore wat ’n belangrike rol gedurende OHB-sisteemseleksie speel te definieer en te beskryf (Hoofstuk 1). OHB-sisteemseleksiefaktore in die literatuur is opgesom en saamgevat in ’n omvattende raamwerk wat die uitvoering van die studie gerig het (Hoofstuk 2). ’n Kwalitatiewe gevallestudie is gevolglik uitgevoer op ’n KMO in die Wes-Kaapse wynindustrie wat besig was om ’n OHB-sisteem te selekteer. Data is ingesamel deur dokumente krities te analiseer en te hersien, deur direkte observasies van behoefte-analise-vergaderings te maak en onderhoude te voer met deelnemers aan die studie, wat spesifiek vir hierdie doel geselekteer is (Hoofstuk 3). Vyf prominente temas en ’n totaal van 14 seleksiefaktore is vanuit die analise van die data bepaal (Hoofstuk 4). Hierdie resultate bevestig grotendeels bestaande seleksiefaktore in die literatuur en fasiliteer die verdere uitbou van bestaande idees van verskeie outeurs. Op hierdie manier word ’n teoretiese grondslag vir die ontwikkeling van ’n model vir OHB-sisteemseleksie in toekomstige navorsing gelê (Hoofstuk 5). Die bydrae van hierdie navorsing lê in die klem wat dit plaas op die verskillende voor- en nadele teenwoordig in elke kwadrant van die voorgestelde model en in die verduideliking van die impak daarvan op ’n uitruiling van seleksiefaktore wat uniek is aan elke organisasie en die industrie waarin dit werksaam is. Hierdie insig kan uiteindelik gebruik word om die OHB-sisteemseleksieprosedure te rig.

Submitted by Milena Rubi (milenarubi@ufscar.br) on 2017-08-16T13:51:09Z No. of bitstreams: 1 OLIVEIRA_Lucas_2017.pdf: 31861080 bytes, checksum: 769153c2235f9364002c2a30e617b603 (MD5) / Approved for entry into archive by Milena Rubi (milenarubi@ufscar.br) on 2017-08-16T13:51:16Z (GMT) No. of bitstreams: 1 OLIVEIRA_Lucas_2017.pdf: 31861080 bytes, checksum: 769153c2235f9364002c2a30e617b603 (MD5) / Approved for entry into archive by Milena Rubi (milenarubi@ufscar.br) on 2017-08-16T13:51:21Z (GMT) No. of bitstreams: 1 OLIVEIRA_Lucas_2017.pdf: 31861080 bytes, checksum: 769153c2235f9364002c2a30e617b603 (MD5) / Made available in DSpace on 2017-08-16T13:51:27Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 OLIVEIRA_Lucas_2017.pdf: 31861080 bytes, checksum: 769153c2235f9364002c2a30e617b603 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2017-03-22 / Não recebi financiamento / The production strategy has been considered important to obtain advantages over competitors. Its content is made up of competitive priorities and decision categories (or areas) that should develop such priorities. Among these categories, there is the organizational structure that should have characteristics that foster the priorities adopted by the organization. In this context, the present work seeks to identify which is the competitive priority of the companies in the auto parts sector of the city of Sorocaba and how the organizational structure can favor its development. Through a qualitative study, using the methodology of study of multicases, the organizational structures that favor the development of one or more competitive priorities were identified and compared. In the four companies studied it was observed that the competitive priority is quality. In these companies, the characteristics of the organizational structure that favor this competitive priority are the high degree of formalization of the activities, the decentralization of the decisions, training, the awareness of the leaders on the importance of quality, and the incentive to the formal and informal communication in the group work and meetings. / A estratégia de produção tem sido considerada importante para a obtenção de vantagens frente aos concorrentes. Seu conteúdo é formado pelas prioridades competitivas e pelas categorias (ou áreas) de decisão que devem desenvolver tais prioridades. Entre essas categorias, tem-se a estrutura organizacional, assim, ela deve possuir características que fomente as prioridades adotadas pela organização. Neste contexto, o presente trabalho procura identificar qual é a prioridade competitiva das empresas do setor de autopeças da cidade de Sorocaba e como a estrutura organizacional pode favorecer seu desenvolvimento. Por meio de um estudo de natureza qualitativa, com o uso do método estudo multicasos, foram identificados e comparados os aspectos das estruturas organizacionais que favorecem o desenvolvimento de uma ou mais prioridades competitivas. Observou-se que nas quatro empresas estudadas, a principal prioridade competitiva é a qualidade. Nestas empresas, as características da estrutura organizacional que favorecem essa prioridade competitiva são o alto grau de formalização das atividades, a descentralização das decisões, o treinamento, a conscientização dos líderes sobre a importância da qualidade e o incentivo à comunicação formal e informal através do trabalho em grupo e reuniões.

Social Work / (M.A.(Social Work)

A inovação é considerada um dos fatores fundamentais para o desempenho das organizações. Na área da saúde, sobretudo na indústria farmacêutica, a inovação representa sua força motriz. O mercado farmacêutico global vem enfrentando diversos desafios tais como a concorrência acirrada dos medicamentos genéricos, o aumento do rigor regulatório e dos custos de desenvolvimento de novas drogas, bem como a pressão dos governos para redução dos seus gastos com saúde. Neste cenário, a capacidade de inovação permanente será fator crítico para a busca da vantagem competitiva sustentável. Essa pesquisa tem como objetivo identificar o nível de desenvolvimento de competências para a inovação e até que ponto a presença destas competências, em uma amostra de empresas nacionais da indústria farmacêutica brasileira, está relacionada com seu desempenho competitivo. Inicialmente foram realizados levantamento bibliográfico e a aplicação de um questionário, construído especificamente para o setor analisado. A análise dos dados coletados resultou na identificação de níveis baixos e médios de internalização das competências para inovar. Como esperado, o grupo de empresas com maior nível de desenvolvimento dessas competências apresentou graus mais elevados em relação às variáveis de desempenho. O estudo evidenciou, ainda, que as competências "Inserir a Inovação na Estratégia da Organização" e "Cooperar para as inovações", possuem um relacionamento positivo direto com a margem líquida das empresas pesquisadas. / Dissertação (mestrado) - Pontifícia Universidade Católica, Rio de Janeiro, 2010. / Bibliografia: p. 131-138. / Inclui notas de rodapé.

O enfoque estratégico direcionado aos recursos internos das organizações, impulsionado a partir da década de 80, foi sendo disseminado em diversos segmentos do mercado, chamando a atenção também para o setor de logística e transportes, devido à sua expressiva participação na área de serviços e ao impacto dos custos logísticos, em especial o de transporte, no faturamento das empresas. Deste modo, este estudo teve por objetivo verificar de que forma os recursos organizacionais são explorados e empregados nas empresas de transporte rodoviário de cargas de Caxias do Sul e como contribuem para sua estratégia competitiva, no contexto da logística. A pesquisa efetuada teve natureza aplicada, abordagem qualitativa e objetivo exploratório, do tipo estudo multicasos, através da aplicação de entrevistas em profundidade junto aos principais gestores das nove empresas selecionadas, com uso de matriz de recursos e do modelo VRIO (valor, raridade, imitabilidade e organização) para organização e análise dos dados. Amparado nas premissas da visão baseada em recursos (Resource Based View – RBV), o estudo possibilitou a análise das características inerentes aos principais recursos organizacionais das empresas de transporte, revelando que, embora as empresas possuam recursos similares, suas vantagens competitivas provêm da heterogeneidade da forma como elas utilizam e exploram estes recursos. Os resultados evidenciaram a contribuição predominante dos recursos intangíveis na obtenção de vantagem competitiva sustentável, sobretudo da marca registrada e dos processos logísticos, confirmando a relevância da exploração dos recursos organizacionais para a estratégia competitiva dos Prestadores de Serviços Logísticos (PSLs). / Submitted by Ana Guimarães Pereira (agpereir@ucs.br) on 2016-07-29T12:10:19Z No. of bitstreams: 1 Dissertacao Felipe Luis Mandelli.pdf: 2182849 bytes, checksum: 6e02781e9b5c424694280f5ef995180e (MD5) / Made available in DSpace on 2016-07-29T12:10:19Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Dissertacao Felipe Luis Mandelli.pdf: 2182849 bytes, checksum: 6e02781e9b5c424694280f5ef995180e (MD5) Previous issue date: 2016-07-29 / The strategic focus directed to the internal resources of the organizations, promoted as from the decade of the 80s, has been disseminated in various segments of the market, also calling attention to the logistics and transport sector, due to its expressive participation in the area of services and the impact of the costs with logistics, mainly the ones referring to transportation, on the invoicing of the companies. In this manner, this dissertation has the objective of verifying how the organizational resources area explored and employed in highway cargo transport companies of Caxias do Sul and how they contribute to its competitive strategy in the context of logistics. The research performed had an applied nature, a qualitative approach and an exploratory objective, of a multiple case study, by the application of in-depth interviews with the principal managers of the nine companies selected, with use of the resource matrix, and VRIO (value, rarity, imitability, and organization) for organization and analysis of data. Supported by the premises of the Resource Based View (RBV), the study enables the analysis of the inherent characteristics of the principal organizational resources of the transport companies, revealing that, although the companies have similar resources, their competitive advantages come from the heterogeneity of the manner they utilize and explore these resources.The results evidenced the predominant contribution of the intangible resources in obtaining a sustainable competitive advantage, especially of the registered trade mark and of the logistic processes, confirming the relevance of the exploration of organizational resources for the competitive strategy of the Logistics Service Providers.

Thesis submitted in fulfilment of the requirements for the degree Master of Technology INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY in the Faculty of INFORMATICS AND DESIGN at the Cape Peninsula University of Technology 2013 / In this information age, Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) system implementation simplifies complexities within organisational heterogeneous Information Systems (IS). Following the early era of computerisation, ERP systems were designed to provide a formal integration of the whole enterprise with a business focussed approach to the application of Information and Communication Technology (ICT). With the advent of ERP systems, organisations in industry have invested substantially in these systems to assist and augment their ability to form more effective management of their resources across corporate walls and business functions through an integration of information and operations. In the public sector, governments at all levels have also turned to ERP systems to address their needs. As such, ERP implementation has become a new solution that many public institutions are venturing into, based on the evidence of benefits in the commercial sector. However, in the public sector, ERP systems should not be focussed on just internal organisational benefits. Due cognisance must be given, during design and implementation, to the citizen, who is the key public sector beneficiary. The benefits from ERP systems implementation and utilisation are well researched and documented by various scholars. However research has mainly focused on the private sector. Given the growing importance of ERP systems in the public sector it has become imperative to advance understanding in the arena of government with regards to public ERP system implementation and utilisation. Thus, an important question that warrants investigation is: ―What are the benefits for the citizen when ERP systems are implemented by municipalities?‖ The empirical work reported in this research investigated, via an in-depth case study, how the citizen benefits from ERP implementations in municipalities. Fifteen respondents, who are employees the City of Cape Town Municipality, were interviewed. Their interview transcripts, together with the other supporting documents they supplied and information from the City‘s website, were analysed through hermeneutical analysis. The analysis of the data was facilitated by the use of Atlas.ti, a computer-aided qualitative analysis software tool. Four key findings emanated from the analysis.  Indirect ERP-system benefits: The benefits in this category denoted those benefits that are generically found in any ERP system regardless of it being implemented in a private or public enterprise setup.  Direct citizen benefits: These are the benefits that are noticeable and directly extended to the citizens even without the knowledge of the existence of the ERP system.  Effective ERP system benefits management: This finding elaborated how the ERP system can be sustainably managed to ensure that it delivers maximum benefits to the citizens in a long term.  Efficient and effective use of public money: This finding explained the outcomes of utilising the ERP system, specifically in public enterprises, such as municipalities. The findings of this study are important in that they would assist to articulate and improve the business cases when municipalities commence with planning for ERP system acquisition. This is especially important given the high cost related to ERP system implementation. More importantly, the findings provide a basis for the identification of citizen benefits which are related to ERP system implementation. This provides municipal management a frame within which to improve the on-going management of ERP systems. The findings thus support improved ERP system benefits management and which would in turn ensure improved service delivery to the citizenry.

Os sistemas integrados de gestão, em especial os ERP, têm sido utilizados pela empresas de construção civil para melhoria de seus processos, com vistas a aumentar os ganhos de produtividade e de qualidade, reduzir os custos e criar vantagens competitivas. Entretanto, a implantação desses sistemas gera uma grande mudança organizacional, o que justifica o fato de algumas empresas obterem bons resultados e outras não. A presente pesquisa identifica quais as variáveis associadas aos processos de implantação, gerenciamento e desempenho do sistema ERP interferem nas variáveis associadas à maturidade organizacional em empresas de construção civil. Para alcançar esse objetivo foi realizada uma pesquisa descritiva e quantitativa em 106 empresas construtoras espalhadas pelo Brasil, que utilizam ou não sistema ERP. A análise dos resultados foi realizada por meio de estatísticas, com análises descritivas e multivariadas. As técnicas aplicadas na análise multivariada foram correlação de Pearson e análise discriminante. Contatou-se que a implantação do ERP impacta nas variáveis da maturidade organizacional nos seguintes aspectos: visão estratégica, relacionamento com cliente, gerenciamento de recursos humanos, gestão de TI e gestão financeira. As organizações com o sistema apresentam maior taxa de crescimento e de quantidade de clientes, reconhecimento de “marca”, alto nível de formação do corpo gerencial, integração entre os processos e departamentos, melhor fluxo de informação, maior formalização de atividades e processos, mais planejamento de atividades e melhor gerenciamento de recursos humanos. / The construction companies have used the integrated management systems, especially ERP, to improve its processes, in order to increase the gains in productivity and quality, reduce costs and create competitive advantages. However, deploying such a system entails a major organizational change, which explains the fact that some companies give good results and some not. This research identifies which variables associated with the processes of deployment, management and performance of the ERP system interfere with variables associated with organizational maturity in construction companies. This objective was achieved by conducting a descriptive research and quantitative in 106 construction companies throughout Brazil that use ERP system or not. Analyzed the results using statistics with descriptive analyzes and multivariate analyzes. Pearson correlation and discriminant analysis techniques were used for multivariate analysis. The results show that ERP implementation impacts on the variables of organizational maturity in the following aspects: strategic vision, customer relationship management, human resources, IT management and financial management. Organizations using ERP have a higher growth rate and number of clients, recognition of "brand", high level of training of the management, integration between departments and processes, better information flow, greater formalization of activities and processes, more planning activities and better management of human resources.

Os sistemas integrados de gestão, em especial os ERP, têm sido utilizados pela empresas de construção civil para melhoria de seus processos, com vistas a aumentar os ganhos de produtividade e de qualidade, reduzir os custos e criar vantagens competitivas. Entretanto, a implantação desses sistemas gera uma grande mudança organizacional, o que justifica o fato de algumas empresas obterem bons resultados e outras não. A presente pesquisa identifica quais as variáveis associadas aos processos de implantação, gerenciamento e desempenho do sistema ERP interferem nas variáveis associadas à maturidade organizacional em empresas de construção civil. Para alcançar esse objetivo foi realizada uma pesquisa descritiva e quantitativa em 106 empresas construtoras espalhadas pelo Brasil, que utilizam ou não sistema ERP. A análise dos resultados foi realizada por meio de estatísticas, com análises descritivas e multivariadas. As técnicas aplicadas na análise multivariada foram correlação de Pearson e análise discriminante. Contatou-se que a implantação do ERP impacta nas variáveis da maturidade organizacional nos seguintes aspectos: visão estratégica, relacionamento com cliente, gerenciamento de recursos humanos, gestão de TI e gestão financeira. As organizações com o sistema apresentam maior taxa de crescimento e de quantidade de clientes, reconhecimento de “marca”, alto nível de formação do corpo gerencial, integração entre os processos e departamentos, melhor fluxo de informação, maior formalização de atividades e processos, mais planejamento de atividades e melhor gerenciamento de recursos humanos. / The construction companies have used the integrated management systems, especially ERP, to improve its processes, in order to increase the gains in productivity and quality, reduce costs and create competitive advantages. However, deploying such a system entails a major organizational change, which explains the fact that some companies give good results and some not. This research identifies which variables associated with the processes of deployment, management and performance of the ERP system interfere with variables associated with organizational maturity in construction companies. This objective was achieved by conducting a descriptive research and quantitative in 106 construction companies throughout Brazil that use ERP system or not. Analyzed the results using statistics with descriptive analyzes and multivariate analyzes. Pearson correlation and discriminant analysis techniques were used for multivariate analysis. The results show that ERP implementation impacts on the variables of organizational maturity in the following aspects: strategic vision, customer relationship management, human resources, IT management and financial management. Organizations using ERP have a higher growth rate and number of clients, recognition of "brand", high level of training of the management, integration between departments and processes, better information flow, greater formalization of activities and processes, more planning activities and better management of human resources.

O enfoque estratégico direcionado aos recursos internos das organizações, impulsionado a partir da década de 80, foi sendo disseminado em diversos segmentos do mercado, chamando a atenção também para o setor de logística e transportes, devido à sua expressiva participação na área de serviços e ao impacto dos custos logísticos, em especial o de transporte, no faturamento das empresas. Deste modo, este estudo teve por objetivo verificar de que forma os recursos organizacionais são explorados e empregados nas empresas de transporte rodoviário de cargas de Caxias do Sul e como contribuem para sua estratégia competitiva, no contexto da logística. A pesquisa efetuada teve natureza aplicada, abordagem qualitativa e objetivo exploratório, do tipo estudo multicasos, através da aplicação de entrevistas em profundidade junto aos principais gestores das nove empresas selecionadas, com uso de matriz de recursos e do modelo VRIO (valor, raridade, imitabilidade e organização) para organização e análise dos dados. Amparado nas premissas da visão baseada em recursos (Resource Based View – RBV), o estudo possibilitou a análise das características inerentes aos principais recursos organizacionais das empresas de transporte, revelando que, embora as empresas possuam recursos similares, suas vantagens competitivas provêm da heterogeneidade da forma como elas utilizam e exploram estes recursos. Os resultados evidenciaram a contribuição predominante dos recursos intangíveis na obtenção de vantagem competitiva sustentável, sobretudo da marca registrada e dos processos logísticos, confirmando a relevância da exploração dos recursos organizacionais para a estratégia competitiva dos Prestadores de Serviços Logísticos (PSLs). / The strategic focus directed to the internal resources of the organizations, promoted as from the decade of the 80s, has been disseminated in various segments of the market, also calling attention to the logistics and transport sector, due to its expressive participation in the area of services and the impact of the costs with logistics, mainly the ones referring to transportation, on the invoicing of the companies. In this manner, this dissertation has the objective of verifying how the organizational resources area explored and employed in highway cargo transport companies of Caxias do Sul and how they contribute to its competitive strategy in the context of logistics. The research performed had an applied nature, a qualitative approach and an exploratory objective, of a multiple case study, by the application of in-depth interviews with the principal managers of the nine companies selected, with use of the resource matrix, and VRIO (value, rarity, imitability, and organization) for organization and analysis of data. Supported by the premises of the Resource Based View (RBV), the study enables the analysis of the inherent characteristics of the principal organizational resources of the transport companies, revealing that, although the companies have similar resources, their competitive advantages come from the heterogeneity of the manner they utilize and explore these resources.The results evidenced the predominant contribution of the intangible resources in obtaining a sustainable competitive advantage, especially of the registered trade mark and of the logistic processes, confirming the relevance of the exploration of organizational resources for the competitive strategy of the Logistics Service Providers.