<p>The economical importance and value of small businesses is today recognized by scholars as well as government institutes. The small business does not only contribute with a great amount of entrepreneurial activity and innovations but also as a significant tool in creating jobs. The statistics are however displaying a negative trend in the development of small businesses with over 350.000 – 400.000 business closures every year in UK. In Sweden 35,000 new enterprises entered the market in 2001 but only 62% were still active in 2004.</p><p>There are two major factors from which all other explanations are derived from when discussing why a company fails which is the external and internal factor. From the failure model created by Sharma and Mahajan and supported by other researchers, it is known that the problem initiating the failure may have been caused by uncontrollable factors. However the most significant factor behind a failure is derived from insufficient and ineffective management in the strategic process.</p><p>In order to understand how and most importantly why the top-managers decisions and actions contributes to a business failure the study focused on exploring the strategic process in numerous of failure cases of small businesses. This understanding is further strengthened by considering the limitations and resistances in the strategic process. There is also a link between the crisis management and strategic management which further provides with valuable insights of the process. Four different small businesses were therefore investigated in the report through an inductive and semi structured approach to explore the contexts of the failures in-depth. From the analysis of the empirical data collected from the top-managers and other employees, owners or managers evidence were collected to study the top-managers contribution to the failure.</p><p>The most significant contributing factor found in the business failures were the inefficient internal and external assessments. This was further found to be directly linked to the inadequate knowledge and experience possessed by the top-manager and his staff. Nepotism was also a factor that was found to be a very contributing source to the inadequate assessments. The managers staffed by the top-manager possessed a close relationship with the top-manager and may have been hired due to this reason and not based on the required knowledge which was proven to have a significant impact on all the studied cases.</p>

The success and / or business failure, resulting from entrepreneurial activities are associated with the ability of performance of its managers, requiring the development of skills that can facilitate their adjustment process, by reflection of their management practices and analysis of internal and external context of the organization (BARON and SHANE, 2010). According to Shepherd (2003) the business failure affects directly the life of the individual entrepreneur. The fact that is evident is that the individual entrepreneur needs internal balance and ability to make the process of resilience begins, this being considered by Grotberg (2005) as a process that involves resilient factors, behaviors and results. This study aimed to analyze the factors associated with resilient behavior of entrepreneurs who have experienced business failure. The method adopted is the qualitative and exploratory research, based on empirical research. The units of analysis were eleven entrepreneurs from the central region of Rio Grande do Sul who experienced business failure. Data were analyzed using the technique of content analysis, categorical and enunciation, and the analysis categories were defined a priori and not a priori (BARDIN, 2011). The a priori categories - business failure, resilient factors and dynamic of resilience - were defined based on three theoretical approaches: Shepherd (2003); Grotberg (2005) and Minello (2010). The categories not a priori - shady behaviors on business relations, social impact and financial aspects - emerged from the interviewees' speech. The lack of working capital, credit loss, lack of professional advice, arrogance and inexperience in management were most relevant aspects from the perspective of entrepreneurs, which led to business failure. The similar resilient behaviors among respondents were isolation, withdrawal and social life, having and losing the shame of failure, reflection, want to start over and build capacity. The resilient factors identified in respondents were external support, internal strength / faith, to know to ask for help and ability to learn. The behavioral aspects that contributed to overcoming the failure was a reflection, lose the shame of failure, to want to restart and do therapy, however, the shame of failure, isolation and social withdrawal were behavioral characteristics that difficulted the business failure overcome. The arrogance was a behavioral trait identified in entrepreneurs interviewed. The social impact and adjustment to the new standard of living were influences in the lives of entrepreneurs interviewed after failure. / O sucesso e/ou o insucesso empresarial, decorrentes de atividades empreendedoras, estão associados à capacidade de atuação de seus gestores, exigindo o desenvolvimento de habilidades capazes de facilitar seu processo de adaptação, por meio da reflexão de suas práticas gerenciais e da análise do contexto interno e externo da organização (BARON E SHANE, 2010). De acordo com Shepherd (2003) o fracasso empresarial afeta diretamente a vida do indivíduo empreendedor. A questão que se evidencia é que o indivíduo empreendedor necessita de capacidade e equilíbrio interno para que o processo da resiliência se inicie, sendo esta considerada por Grotberg (2005) como um processo, que envolve fatores, comportamentos e resultados resilientes. Este estudo teve como objetivo analisar os fatores associados ao comportamento resiliente de empreendedores que vivenciaram o insucesso empresarial. Adotou-se como método de pesquisa a abordagem qualitativa, do tipo exploratório, baseado em pesquisa empírica. As unidades de análise foram onze empreendedores da região central do Rio Grande do Sul que vivenciaram o insucesso empresarial. Os dados foram analisados utilizando a técnica de análise de conteúdo, categorial e de enunciação, sendo as categorias de análise definidas a priori e não a priori (BARDIN, 2011). As categorias a priori insucesso empresarial, fatores resilientes e dinâmica da resiliência foram definidas com base em três enfoques teóricos: Shepherd (2003); Grotberg (2005) e Minello (2010). As categorias não a priori comportamentos escusos nas relações dos negócios, repercussão social, e aspectos financeiros emergiram da fala dos entrevistados. A falta de capital de giro, perda de crédito, falta de assessoria profissional, arrogância, e a inexperiência em gestão foram aspectos mais relevantes na perspectiva dos empreendedores, que os levaram ao insucesso empresarial. Os comportamentos resilientes semelhantes entre os entrevistados foram isolamento, retraimento e convívio social, ter e perder a vergonha do fracasso, reflexão, querer recomeçar e capacitar-se. Os fatores resilientes identificados nos entrevistados foram apoio externo, força interna/fé, saber pedir ajuda e capacidade de aprender. Os aspectos comportamentais que mais contribuíram para a superação do insucesso foram a reflexão, perder a vergonha do fracasso, querer recomeçar e realizar terapia, no entanto, a vergonha do fracasso, isolamento e retraimento social foram características comportamentais que dificultaram a superação do insucesso empresarial. A arrogância foi uma característica comportamental identificada nos empreendedores entrevistados. A repercussão social e a adequação ao novo padrão de vida foram influências na vida dos empreendedores entrevistados depois do insucesso.

A velocidade das transformações econômicas e tecnológicas no ambiente social e no mundo dos negócios exige do empreendedor capacidades cada vez mais adaptativas para que consiga manter a competitividade de seu negócio. O sucesso ou o fracasso empresarial estão condicionados à habilidade deste profissional em superar as adversidades que caracterizam o contexto dos negócios. A diversidade de enfoques teóricos sobre o sucesso traz diferentes perspectivas sobre a sobrevivência das empresas diante da realidade concorrencial do meio empresarial. Por outro lado, no que se refere ao insucesso ou fracasso empresarial, percebe-se uma carência de estudos sobre o assunto. No momento em que se relaciona o comportamento do empreendedor diante desse insucesso, suas características comportamentais, seus estilos de enfrentamento, sua capacidade de superar a adversidade do fracasso, maior ainda é a carência de pesquisas sobre o tema. Essa capacidade de superação evidencia o grau de resiliência do empreendedor diante do insucesso e está relacionada aos estilos de enfrentamento que o empreendedor adota. Em função disso, o presente estudo tem como objetivo analisar o comportamento resiliente e os estilos de enfrentamento dos empreendedores em situações de insucesso empresarial, especificamente em casos de descontinuidade do negócio. Para isso, treze empreendedores que vivenciaram a descontinuidade do seu negócio foram entrevistados. Os relatos permitiram um processo de análise e de comparação entre as características comportamentais dos mesmos antes, durante e depois da descontinuidade do negócio. A partir das transcrições das entrevistas aplicou-se a Escala de Funcionamento Defensivo (EFD) na linha do tempo da pesquisa, antes, durante e depois da descontinuidade do negócio, o que permitiu a caracterização dos comportamentos dos empreendedores em cada momento. Juntamente com a EFD, aplicou-se a técnica de análise de conteúdos para a análise das categorias a priori e não a priori definidas para o estudo. Os resultados da pesquisa permitiram identificar aspectos comportamentais dos empreendedores entrevistados, bem como evidenciar variáveis que influenciaram diretamente na capacidade de superação e no comportamento resiliente do empreendedor diante do fracasso. Antes da descontinuidade do negócio, os estilos de enfrentamento mais utilizados indicam que eles agiram sem pensar e sem planejar, eram onipotentes, acreditavam que poderiam transpor qualquer obstáculo e se achavam melhores que os outros. Durante a descontinuidade do negócio, a ideação suicida e a identificação projetiva foram evidências significativas. Depois da descontinuidade do negócio, o comportamento dos empreendedores caracterizou-se pela utilização de estilos mais adaptativos, como a auto-observação, o humor e a afiliação. Constatou-se que a onipotência voltou a ser significativa nesse momento, o que indica similitude com as características de autoconfinaça e autoestima, características de empreendedor e do comportamento resiliente, respectivamente. Constatou-se, também, que o apoio familiar ou de outras pessoas, como amigos ou colegas de trabalho, representaram um suporte relevante para a superação do insucesso empresarial. Palavras-chave: Administração aspectos psicológicos. Comportamento resiliente. Insucesso empresarial. Empreendedor. / Given the speed of economic and technological changes in both social and business environments, the entrepreneur has been demanded to constantly nurture adaptive abilities to keep his/her business competitive, the entrepreneurial success or failure being a function of this professionals ability to overcome adversities in the business world. Although a wide range of theoretical approaches to success have developed varied perspectives on a company survival in the face of increased competition, a few studies have focused on the entrepreneurial failure. These few studies have not been able to properly investigate the entrepreneurs behavior that precedes failure, his/her behavioral characteristics, his/her coping styles and particularly his/her ability to overcome failure, a measure of the entrepreneurs resilience to failure and coping skills. Against this background, this dissertation aims to analyze entrepreneurs resilient behavior and coping styles in failure situations, more specifically in cases of business discontinuance. Building on interviews with 13 entrepreneurs that have experienced business discontinuance, this study compares and contrasts these entrepreneurs behavioral characteristics before, during and after their experience of business discontinuance. The understanding of the entrepreneurs behavior before, during and after the episodes of business discontinuance draws both on the use of a Defensive Functioning Scale (DFS) to analyze the transcribed interviews and on the content analysis technique to examine both a priori and a posteriori categories determined for this study. The results underpin entrepreneurs behavioral characteristics and point to variables directly influencing their coping styles and resilience to failure. Before business discontinuance, the most common coping styles are those consisting of acting without thinking and planning, being allegedly omnipotent, believing in the ability to overcome any obstacles and despising others. In the course of business discontinuance, the most common coping styles involve suicidal ideation and projective identification. Finally, the most common post-discontinuance coping styles involve the use of more adaptive styles, such as affiliation, auto-observation and humor. In this latter moment, alleged omnipotence is once again present, indicating similitude to characteristics of self-confidence and self-esteem, which are typical of entrepreneurship and resilience respectively. Additionally, family support and aid from friends and workmates reportedly play an important role in the entrepreneurs overcoming of business failure.

The “Great Recession” of 2007 created havoc in the homebuilding industry, more than any other previous economic down cycle. Countless seasoned local homebuilders across the country did not survive. The impact of their failure on the economy, community, employment, lenders, suppliers, and subcontractors was devastating. While previous studies have sought to identify the symptoms and causes of business failure, very little research has been done on home builder business failure due to acts, omissions, characteristics, or other events which are non-financial. Specifically, those that are attributable to the failed entities' top management and leadership during the housing crisis and the Great Recession. Therefore, the purpose of this qualitative inquiry is to uncover those nonfinancial factors and help to fill the gap in the literature Additionally, we seek to find specific strategies that could be incorporated into the business models of local homebuilders which allow them to anticipate and navigate turbulent economic times. The ultimate goal of such strategies, however, is to shield the organizations of those builders from the negative effects of recessions and allow them to thrive in the aftermath.

One of the major development problems in the southern African region and South Africa in particular relates to the phenomenon of high failure rates among Small Medium and Micro Enterprises (SMMEs). The important role of SMMEs in creating jobs and incomes is widely acknowledged. SMMEs are relatively inexpensive to establish and have the potential to generate economic growth in the southern African region. One major dilemma of this sector, however, is the short lifespans of SMMEs. Past research has focused on understanding failure of small businesses by mainly identifying factors of failure without subjecting them to step-wise causality testing. This research closes that gap and uses a retrospective study, coupled with the critical realist approach, to understand the causes of the high failure rates of SMMEs. The merit of this approach lies in the attention it gives to an historical understanding of past processes and how a determined effort could be initiated to change the current “historical reality” of the factors behind the failures, specifically in South Africa. A sample comprising 254 owner-managers of SMMEs from the Gauteng, Limpopo and Mpumalanga provinces in the Republic of South Africa as well as from Gaborone in Botswana was subjected to an interview between January 2007 and December 2007. Data were collected by means of a semi-structured research instrument which probed the failure of the interviewees’ businesses across a period spanning seven years between 2000 to 2006. The analysis of the data involved the use of both quantitative and qualitative research methodologies. The findings indicate that four explanatory factors were paramount: “monitoring and control” (factor 1); “experience and planning in finance and marketing” (factor 2); “income constraints” (factor 3), and “cash control” (factor 4). Based on the findings, the following recommendations, if implemented, may assist with lowering the high failure rates: First, the mindsets of the owners of the failed businesses were found to be a fundamental factor in the closure of the businesses. Radical programmes for changing these mindsets are therefore critical. Second, with the mindsets changed, venture skills training programmes could then be introduced involving learning and training. By so doing, it is hoped that the void left by low levels of education and business experiences in the SMME sector would be reduced. Finally, at the policy-making level, the required assistance should be tilted more towards government-corporate involvement, in assisting the SMME sector in the form of financial subsidies for start-up capital, small business-builder programmes, and business mentoring programmes, among others. / Thesis (PhD)--University of Pretoria, 2011. / Business Management / unrestricted

Dans la conjoncture économique actuelle un nombre croissant de firmes se trouvent confrontées à des difficultés économiques et financières qui peuvent, dans certains cas, conduire à la faillite. En principe, les difficultés ne surviennent pas brutalement, en effet, avant qu’une entreprise soit déclarée en faillite, elle est confrontée à des difficultés financières de gravité croissante : défaut de paiement d’une dette, insolvabilité temporaire, pénurie de liquidité, etc. L’identification des causes de la défaillance n’est pas évidente, puisqu’on ne saurait énumérer de manière limitative les facteurs qui la provoquent. Les causes sont multiples et leur cumul compromet d’autant plus la survie de l’entreprise. L’importance de ce phénomène et son impact sur l’ensemble de l’économie justifie le besoin de le comprendre, l’expliquer en analysant les causes et les origines. L’objectif de notre étude est de classer les entreprises en difficulté selon leur degré de viabilité et de comprendre les causes de la dégradation de leur situation. Nous effectuerons une comparaison entre trois modèles (Analyse discriminante linéaire, le modèle Logit et la régression PLS) ce qui nous permettra à partir des taux de bon classement obtenus, de choisir le meilleur modèle tout en précisant l’origine et les causes de ces défaillances. / In actual economic situation an increasing number of firms are facing economic and financial difficulties which can, in certain cases, drive to failure. In principle, difficulties do not happen suddenly, in effect, before a firm is declared bankrupt, it is confronted to financial difficulties of growing seriousness: default in payment of a debt, temporary insolvency, scarceness of liquidity, etc. Identifying the causes of the failure is not obvious, since one can not exhaustively enumerate the factors that cause it. The causes are multiple and overlapping compromise even more the company's survival. The importance of this phenomenon and its impact on the overall economy justifies the need to understand, explain it by analyzing the causes and origins The aim of our study is to classify firms in trouble according to their degree of viability and to understand the causes of the deterioration of their situation. We will do a comparison between three models (linear differential Analysis, the model Logit and decline PLS) what will allow us from the rates of good classification acquired, to choose the best model while specifying origin and reasons of these faults.

This work presents a qualitative study which has been developed by exploratory investigation, bibliography analysis and field research, performed with thirty entrepreneurs in the city of Sao José dos Campos. The objective has been to investigate four fundamental aspects related to those people, namely: what are the main factors that forced them to become entrepreneurs; what are the main reasons that lead them to unsuccessful businesses; the existence of special characteristics, related to competence, that drove them to entrepreneur success and what are the most important personal characteristics to reach business success, related to knowledge, skills, attitude and talent, ordered according to their importance. The world economy, in the last two decades, has suffered deep changes with respect to new ways of organizing production. Companies have always searched for alternatives to improve competitiveness, to reduce costs and keep themselves in the market. In this context, big companies tend to prioritize their main activities and to transfer the secondary ones to medium and small business enterprises: thats the outsourcing. Considering all those factors and according to the research that has been developed, this work obtained specific information of entrepreneurs in Sao Jose dos Campos, which can be useful for the design of training and development programs in the city, event that has received more and more attention from local government, aware of the importance that medium and small businesses might offer to their economy, because their features and their capability of creating jobs and income. / Este trabalho apresenta um estudo qualitativo, desenvolvido através de pesquisa exploratória, bibliográfica e de campo, feita a trinta empreendedores do município de São José dos Campos. Teve como objetivo identificar quatro pontos fundamentais relacionados aos mesmos: quais são os principais atores pelos quais os indivíduos tornam-se empreendedores no município; qual é a principal causa que os levam ao insucesso empresarial; a existência de características especiais, relacionada à competência, que os levam ao sucesso empreendedor e quais são as características imprescindíveis para se atingir o sucesso empresarial, relacionadas ao conhecimento, habilidade, atitude e talento, seqüenciadas por ordem de importância. O cenário econômico mundial, nas duas últimas décadas, vem sofrendo profundas transformações no que se refere às novas formas da organização da produção. As empresas buscam constantemente alternativas para aumentar a competitividade, reduzir custos e manter-se no mercado. Neste contexto, as grandes organizações empresariais tendem a priorizar suas atividades principais e delegar suas atividades secundárias às pequenas e médias empresas: é a chamada terceirização. Considerando todos esses fatores e de acordo com o as pesquisas desenvolvidas e analisadas, este trabalho levantou informações específicas de empreendedores do município de São José dos Campos e que podem ser úteis para eventuais programas de capacitação e formação empreendedora no município, fato que vem sendo cada vez mais dinamizado pelo governo municipal, consciente da importância que as pequenas e médias empresas podem oferecer para sua economia, caracterizando-se cada vez mais como grandes geradoras de emprego e renda.

Submitted by Nadir Basilio (nadirsb@uninove.br) on 2015-08-05T16:12:38Z No. of bitstreams: 1 Tania Regina Frota Vasconcellos Dias.pdf: 2429240 bytes, checksum: 8255c9d0dc8c3b5273f12e3fef220a4d (MD5) / Made available in DSpace on 2015-08-05T16:12:38Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Tania Regina Frota Vasconcellos Dias.pdf: 2429240 bytes, checksum: 8255c9d0dc8c3b5273f12e3fef220a4d (MD5) Previous issue date: 2015-03-23 / The role that knowledge acquired from failure can play in business environment, in recent years, has shown a relevant interest in entrepreneurship. In this scenario, this study aims to analyze how business failure provides entrepreneurial knowledge for entrepreneurs of micro and small enterprises in creating new business. Therefore, we proceeded to the integration of two conceptual research models from the insertion of Cope's learning journey (2011) in the bulge of the framing outlined by Politis (2005) on entrepreneurial learning. We described the entrepreneurial career experiences until business interruption, as well as the learning journeys. Apart from that, we analyzed the learning dimensions of business failure addressing the transformation of career experience into entrepreneurial knowledge. We adopted a qualitative research design with an in depth exploratory approach (Mason, 1996), which is characterized by a longitudinal cross-sectional view. Eight entrepreneurs were selected by convenience and availability. We used snowball methodological technique and the contacts were established by appointment with several entrepreneurs in the study area. For gathering data, it was decided to use interviews based on script and they were applied between May 2013 and October 2014. The interviews were recorded, transcribed, classified, coded and analyzed. We used the thematic content analysis taking narrative as basis. Given the evolution of entrepreneurial learning process and the consequent acquisition of knowledge through lived experiences, the research found out that all entrepreneurs, in the time they faced the failure of their business, showed a spontaneous and instant reflexive action, because they did not fall inert in face of the reasons that led them to slow down and close their activities. Thus, we infer that this knowledge is suitable to increase the ability of understanding and interpreting new events and circumstances, and thus, overcoming the adversities and obstacles concerning entrepreneurial activity, enable entrepreneurs to open a new business. Finally, we present theoretical and practical contributions of this study, as well as the research limitations and suggestions for further researches. / O papel que a experiência advinda do insucesso pode desempenhar no ambiente empresarial, nos últimos anos, tem apresentado um relevante interesse para o empreendedorismo. Nesse cenário, este estudo tem por objetivo analisar como o insucesso empresarial propicia aprendizagem empreendedora em empreendedores de micro e pequenas empresas que criaram novos negócios. Para tanto, procedeu-se a integração de dois modelos conceituais de pesquisa a partir da inserção da jornada de aprendizagem de Cope (2011) no bojo da sistemática delineada por Politis (2005) sobre aprendizagem empreendedora. Foram descritas as experiências de carreira empreendedora até a descontinuidade dos negócios, assim como as jornadas de aprendizagem. Além disso, foram analisadas as dimensões de aprendizagem do insucesso empresarial abordando a transformação da experiência de carreira em conhecimento empreendedor. Foi adotado um delineamento de pesquisa qualitativa com abordagem exploratória e em profundidade (MASON, 1996), que se caracterizou pelo corte seccional com perspectiva longitudinal. Oito empreendedores foram selecionados por conveniência e disponibilidade. Utilizou-se a técnica metodológica snowball e os contatos foram estabelecidos por indicação com vários empreendedores na área de estudo. Para a coleta de dados optou-se por entrevistas baseadas em roteiro, que foram realizadas entre maio de 2013 e outubro de 2014, e que foram gravadas, transcritas, classificadas, codificadas e analisadas. Utilizou-se a análise temática do conteúdo tendo a narrativa como alicerce. Dada a evolução do processo de aprendizagem empreendedora e a consequente aquisição de conhecimento a partir das experiências vivenciadas, a pesquisa constatou que todos os empreendedores, ao tempo em que se depararam com o insucesso de suas empreitadas, apresentaram uma ação reflexiva imediata e espontânea, pois não se quedaram inertes frente aos motivos que os levaram a desacelerar e encerrar suas atividades. Sendo assim, infere-se que tais conhecimentos são aptos a incrementar a capacidade de entender e interpretar novos eventos e circunstâncias e, então, através da superação das adversidades e dos obstáculos inerentes a atividade empresarial, habilitar os empreendedores para a criação de um novo negócio. Por derradeiro, são apresentadas as contribuições teóricas e práticas deste estudo, assim como as limitações da pesquisa e as sugestões para pesquisas futuras.

Yes / This study proposes and tests a model of how and when previous failure experience can impact on subsequent business model innovation of business-to-business (B2B) SMEs. Analysis of survey data from a sample of 182 B2B SMEs in Ghana indicates that failure experience is positively related to business model innovation – and that coopetition capability mediates this failure experience. Further analysis of boundary condition effects reveals that high levels of financial resource slack strengthen the positive relationship between coopetition and business model innovation, while the level of managerial persistence has no effect on failure experience and coopetition relationship. We discuss the theoretical and managerial implications of these findings.

Empresas em um mercado globalizado adotaram, desde a última metade do século XX, diversas iniciativas para compor estratégias competitivas que garantissem sua sobrevivência de longo prazo. Um conjunto dessas inciativas podem ser agrupadas em projetos de inteligência competitiva, que apesar dos diversos termos que comumente são usados, se resumem na busca e compreensão de informações do ambiente externo da empresa, a fim de formar um cenário situacional, e de auxiliar a tomada de decisão e a elaboração da estratégia corporativa. Iniciativas de inteligência competitiva também consomem recursos organizacionais e, mesmo com o potencial benefício esperado com seus resultados, muitos são abandonados ainda em fase de planejamento. Outros são abortados após o início das atividades, ou até após algum tempo de funcionamento, uma vez verificado que não estão satisfazendo os objetivos organizacionais. O objetivo desse trabalho é identificar quais fatores levam a organização a abandonar iniciativas de inteligência competitiva, e como esses fatores surgem e se desenvolvem dentro das organizações, tomando-se por base fatores já previamente levantados por autores que estudaram fracassos de projetos de implantação de sistemas de informação. Foi desenvolvido um modelo de pesquisa, englobando também fatores operacionais desejáveis na execução das atividades de inteligência. O estudo investigou em profundidade três casos de abandono de projetos de inteligência, em empresas de grande porte, que possuíam atividades de inteligência desenvolvidas sobre estrutura, modo de funcionamento e níveis de maturidade distintos. Como resultado do trabalho, foi identificado que a perenidade das atividades de inteligência possui uma grande dependência do apoio da alta administração, de uma cultura voltada à utilização e compartilhamento de informações e de um pleno entendimento dos conceitos e objetivos pretendidos. Questões relativas a deficiências operacionais das atividades não foram identificadas como capazes de influenciar a decisão de abandono, representando um grande conhecimento do assunto por parte desses profissionais. Conclusões gerais do trabalho, considerações sobre as limitações e dificuldades para a realização da pesquisa e sugestões para futuros estudos são trazidos. / Companies in a globalized market adopts, since the last half of the 20th century, many initiatives to build competitive strategies that garantees the long term survival. Some of this initiatives may be seen as competitive intelligence projects that, although many terms they are known, can be resumed in the search and compreension of external information if the environment of the company, to form a situational scenario, and to assist decision-making and the development of corporate strategy. Competitive intelligence initiatives also consume organizational resources and, even with the potential benefit with its expected results, many are left still in the planning stages. Others are aborted after the start of activities, or even after some time of operation, once verified that are not meeting organizational objectives.The aim of this study is to identify which factors lead the organization to abandon competitive intelligence initiatives, and how these factors arise and develop within organizations, taking as base factors previously raised by authors who have studied the failures of information systems implementation projects. It was developed a research model, encompassing operational factors also desirable in carrying out intelligence activities. The study investigated, in a deep way, three cases of abandonment of intelligence projects in large companies, who possessed intelligence activities disposed in deferent structures, modes of operation and different levels of maturity. As a result of the work, it was identified that the perpetuity of the intelligence activities has a large dependence on the support of sênior management, a culture dedicated to the use and sharing of information and a full understanding of the concepts and objectives intended. Questions regarding the operational deficiencies of the activities were not identified as capable of influencing the decision to drop, representing a wide knowledge of the subject by these professionals. General conclusions of the work, considerations about the limitations and difficulties for the research and suggestions for future studies are brought.