This study provides a better understanding of the interactions between firm resources, strategy choice, marketing environment, and performance in rural SMEs. To date, a strategy framework specifically for SMEs in developing countries had not been developed. Past studies adapted the Miles and Snow (1987) strategy typologies or have developed strategy types for SMEs in developing countries only conceptually. This study extended the modelling approach adopted by DeSarbo et al., (2005, 2006) by empirically deriving a strategy typology specifically for SMEs in a developing country. Based on K-means clustering of theoretically relevant strategy dimensions, two strategy clusters were identified??lower performing conservative strategy A, and higher performing customer oriented strategy B. The issue of resource limitations in strategy formulation had not been adequately addressed by past studies on SME strategy. By examining how and to what extent objective and perceived dimensions of the external environment impact the resources-strategy-performance (RSP) links in rural SMEs, the study tested the applicability of the Resource-Based View (RBV) and the Knowledge-Based View (KBV) in a new context??that of rural SMEs in a developing country. Both RBV and KBV were supported by the findings. Key strategic resources in rural SMEs were explored for its strategic and performance implications. General resources and capabilities, knowledge-based resources, and in particular ??tacit?? marketing knowledge, were examined in an aggregated sense through the intuitive understanding within the one SME owner-manager. Strategy choice moderated and mediated the resource-performance relationship. SMEs with higher levels of resources and capabilities tended to adopt the higher performing strategy B. The study provided further insights on the kinds of knowledge that mattered. Knowledge-based resources that were more tacit in character determined strategy choice and performance??higher customer serving skills led to adopting the higher performing strategy B, while planning skills led to adopting the lower performing strategy A. Both the objective and perceived environments influenced SME performance by moderating the resource-strategy-performance relationship. SMEs located in more munificent provinces perceived their market environment accurately, possessed higher knowledge-based resources, and were more likely to adopt the higher performing strategy B.

The rapid advancement and penetration of information technology (IT), amid continued questions over its benefits, has resulted in research efforts to understand the extent to which IT resources contribute to organisational performance. There is little question that the presence of IT contributes to organisational performance. Our understanding of how and where IT contributes to value in organisations, however, is limited. Current IT business value research advances the notion that firm’s IT-related capabilities ability to leverage their IT resources explains the IT-related performance differences across firms. Understanding the nature of the IT-related capabilities, and their relationship with IT resources can provide a better understanding of how organisations can make better use of their IT resources. IT resources are dynamic and change at a rapid pace. Current IT business value research suggests the firm’s IT-related capabilities at a point in time can source value from the IT resources. However, firms IT-related capabilities must demonstrate parallel dynamics to maximise their influence on their IT resources. In this dynamic resource relationship environment, firm’s ability to sustain a level of influence on their IT resources will determine the extent of IT resources’ value-creating ability. Using the resource-based view of the firm that suggest an organisation is a bundle of resources, and using a complementary theoretical lens, this study introduces a higher-level resource, co-created by combining two or more complementary resources. This higher-level resource is capable of contributing to business value on its own, and importantly, can help organisations sustain their existing IT-related capabilities. The sustainable IT-related capabilities will have a better influence on the IT resources and will source better IT-related business value. This higher-level resource can also help with the timing of IT investments, and can provide an environment where a firm’s technical IT skills can better integrate the IT resources into the business processes. On measurement of organisational performance, this study suggests that a unique combination of organisational resources creates an efficient and effective internal environment that then becomes a powerful tool to enhance the key external process of customer service. Such enhancements in process-level efficiency and effectiveness will carry forward to be recognised in overall firm-level performance. This study develops and tests a model that assesses the association between the two generic IT resources (IT investment and technical IT skills), three IT-related capabilities (top management commitment, shared organisational knowledge, and flexible IT infrastructure), and internal process-level performance. It also assesses whether the IT-Usage Platform, a higher-level co-created resource, on its own associates with, and enhances the generic IT resources’ and IT-related capabilities’ association with internal process-level performance. The study also proposes that improvement in internal process-level performance will be positively associated with external process-level performance of customer service. Firms that improve their internal and external process performance should also improve their firm-level performance. The results, as hypothesised, failed to reject the non-association between the generic IT resources and the internal process-level performance. The study, as predicted, found a positive association between the three IT-related capabilities, IT-Usage Platform, and the internal process-level performance. The IT-Usage Platform indeed enhances the association between the IT-related capabilities and internal process-level performance. The results also suggest that the association between the technical IT skills and internal process-level performance improves in the presence of the IT-Usage Platform. Firms’ improved internal process-level performance also relates to improvement in external process-level performance. Improvement in the internal-external process performance also contributes to performance at the firm level. For research, this study demonstrates that the complementarity and the resource-based view theories allow inclusion of a greater variety of resources in a bundle of capable resources that could be a source of IT-related business value. The complementary theoretical lens also enables one to consider firms’ higher-level resources, co-created from complementary resources. The result is a robust model with the flexibility to consider other forms of resource interactions that sustain firms existing IT-related capabilities. The model also enables comparison of IT and other organisational resources on a level-platform and allows for a deeper understanding of how organisations can better leverage their IT resources. The study also presents the internal-external coordination path of IT-related value creation. For decision makers this study reinforces the importance of the concept of a coordinated IT-related change to secure value from their IT investments. It also presents decision makers with a visual IT business value path from internal process benefits to external process benefits, and finally to firm-level benefits. This study suggests all organisational resources, through various combinations, could be a source of IT-related business value. Future research can consider resources that are at the boundary of capable/non-capable resources to evaluate whether firms various resource arrangements can make these resources more valuable in sourcing IT-related business value. This research also provides strong theoretical arguments to consider other higher-level factors that may have the potential to sustain firms existing IT-related capabilities.

A Visão Baseada em Recursos, ou seja, a análise interna dos recursos que a empresa possui para a criação de vantagem competitiva, é de fundamental importância na formulação de estratégias bem sucedidas nas organizações. Com esse propósito, este estudo teve como objetivo identificar e analisar os recursos tangíveis e intangíveis, independente de pessoas, existentes em empresas da indústria vinícola da Serra Gaúcha, investigando quais desses recursos suportam as estratégias das empresas pesquisadas. Para levantamento das informações, foi efetuada uma pesquisa qualitativa de caráter exploratório, do tipo estudo multicasos, com entrevistas em profundidade com os principais gestores das empresas selecionadas. Como suporte da pesquisa, empregou-se a matriz de recursos, adaptada de Saraiva (2007), para tabulação das respostas. Os resultados do estudo apontaram os recursos estratégicos existentes nas empresas investigadas tais como, marcas e contratos, equipamentos, terras e recursos naturais, planta própria, recursos financeiros e matéria-prima de qualidade, destacando as marcas, mencionadas por todas as organizações, confirmando que empresas que utilizam e exploram estes recursos eficazmente tem uma vantagem competitiva no seu mercado de atuação. / Submitted by Marcelo Teixeira (mvteixeira@ucs.br) on 2014-04-29T11:46:23Z No. of bitstreams: 1 Dissertacao Rosimeri Machado.pdf: 1566065 bytes, checksum: 9707574837071afe14bc3a4bd64377ca (MD5) / Made available in DSpace on 2014-04-29T11:46:23Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Dissertacao Rosimeri Machado.pdf: 1566065 bytes, checksum: 9707574837071afe14bc3a4bd64377ca (MD5) / Resource Based View, or company internal resources analysis, is important for a successful organizational strategy formulation to build a competitive advantage. For this purpose, this study aimed to identify and analyze the existing tangible and intangible resources, independent of people, in the Serra Gaucha wine industry, investigating what of these resources support the researched companies’ strategies. A qualitative exploratory research, multicase study type, with in-depth interviews with senior executives of the selected companies was used to collect the information. To support the research, a resources matrix, adapted from Saraiva (2007), was used for responses tabulation. Study results highlight the existing resources in the investigated companies such as brands and contracts, technology, land and natural resources, plant units, financial resources and raw material quality. Brands were mentioned by all organizations confirming that organizations who use and explore effectively these resources have a competitive advantage in the market.

The aim of the thesis is to provide a deeper understanding regarding how the phenomenon Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) affects Swedish multinational corporations (MNCs), in relation to competitive advantage in the Chinese market. The research demonstrates the relevance of investigating the topic, as the aspects of CSR are interchanging. The reviewed literature highlights aspects incorporated in the phenomenon, as well as internationalization, strategy and competitive advantage. In addition, the three dimensions of CSR: economic, environmental and social, are considered fundamental pillars in the analysis of sustainable business behavior. The research is conducted through an explanatory nature, in order to comprehensively describe the included variables and their correlation, the connection is further shown in the conceptual framework, established with the literature review as a basis. The implementation of a qualitative research method ensures an in-depth perspective of the participants’ perceptions and experiences. For the empirical findings, four Swedish MNCs active in the Chinese market are interviewed regarding their CSR initiatives, in order to provide a meaningful insight for the analysis. The analysis of the thesis involves a discussion of the similarities, and also the differences, between the literature review and empirical findings, in accordance to the conceptual framework. Following, the conclusion will answer the research question and provide implications, as well as suggestions for further research. The purpose of study is to further close the research gap regarding the relation between Swedish CSR initiatives and competitive advantage in the Chinese market.

Orientador: Ana Beatriz Lopes de Sousa Jabbour / Resumo: O objetivo desse estudo é identificar e analisar, sob a ótica da teoria dos stakeholders e da visão baseada em recursos naturais, como fatores considerados barreiras e motivações/drivers têm influenciado na adoção de práticas de gestão de operações de baixo carbono no contexto de empresas localizadas no Brasil. Foram entrevistadas vinte empresas localizadas no Brasil para analisar como stakeholders e recursos e capabilidades organizacionais influenciam as empresas na adoção de práticas gestão de operações de baixo carbono. Os principais resultados do estudo foram: a) Fornecedores, governo e clientes são os principais stakeholders que agem como barreiras, enquanto que acionistas/proprietários e clientes agem como motivadores/drivers; b) Questão financeira e atitude dos empregados são os principais recursos que agem como barreiras; a questão financeira também é entendida como motivador/driver juntamente com a responsabilidade social e ambiental e a vantagem competitiva que a organização possui quanto à adoção das práticas de baixo carbono; c) O principal mecanismo de resposta para barreiras utilizado pelas empresas é superar, seguido de reduzir e aceitar; para as motivações/drivers, as empresas melhoram e exploram os fatores que as impulsionam na adoção das práticas - aceitar não é um mecanismo de resposta adotado pelas empresas. Além disso, esse estudo vai além de um diagnóstico de barreiras e motivações/drivers ao, também, traçar diretrizes organizacionais em busca de uma ges... (Resumo completo, clicar acesso eletrônico abaixo) / Mestre

Baseado na questão que surge a partir do fato de que numa mesma indústria, com condições similares de mercado, algumas empresas se apresentam como bem-sucedidas e outras não, este trabalho teve como objetivo somar algumas idéias a esta discussão que preocupa tanto acadêmicos quanto líderes do setor privado e público. Tendo como base a conhecida teoria da Visão da Firma Baseada em Recursos, este trabalho fixou como objetivo indagar sobre a função diferencial cumprida pelos recursos no desempenho competitivo internacional de empresas do Vale do Rio Negro argentino dedicadas à produção e exportação de vinhos finos. Para isso, foi revisada uma vasta literatura sobre o tema, percorrendo cronologicamente seus antecedentes a partir dos quais foi desenhado um modelo de aplicação para conduzir a operacionalização do estudo. Foram selecionadas cinco empresas da região com características bem diferentes entre si. Utilizando a análise de casos, foram realizadas entrevistas semi-estruturadas e aplicado um questionário para obter informações sobre a valorização dos recursos tangíveis e intangíveis por parte de cada uma das empresas. Sobre cada recurso selecionado da lista oferecida, foram solicitadas explicações acerca da importância e características de valor, raridade, inimitabilidade e insubstituibilidade. Os resultados obtidos e sua interpretação permitiram dividir as empresas selecionadas em dois tipos: alto e baixo desempenho competitivo internacional. Depois disso, foram comparados os recursos escolhidos em cada grupo. Pôde ser observado que as empresas de alto desempenho valorizaram mais aqueles recursos relacionados com aspectos comerciais e de mercado e as de baixo desempenho os recursos que intervêm em aspectos de tecnologia de produção e de acesso a capital e insumos. Ambos os grupos valorizaram a importância da localização geográfica e a dotação de Recursos Naturais, de fundamental importância para a produção e elaboração de vinhos. Por último, foram citadas as contribuições teóricas e práticas do trabalho, suas limitações, além de algumas questões que foram levantadas, as quais podem ser tratadas em estudos posteriores. / In response to the question as to why within the same industry and under similar market conditions some companies are successful and others are not, this paper seeks to provide some insight into the discussion of an issue that has long puzzled both academics and leaders of the private and public sector. Within the theoretical framework of the well-known resource-based view of the firm (VBR), this paper aims to probe the differential role that resources played in the international competitiveness shown by fine wine-producing and exporting firms in the Argentine Valley of Río Negro. To this end, we reviewed the vast literature on the subject in chronological order to design an application model for the operationalization of the study. Five quite distinct companies were selected from within the region. Using the case study analysis, we conducted semi-structured interviews and applied a questionnaire to collect data on the valuation of tangible and intangible resources by each of the companies under study. Each of the selected resources on the list provided was in turn broken down into the importance and characteristics of its value, rareness, inimitability, and non-substitutability. From the results and their interpretation it was possible to divide the selected companies into two groups in terms of their international competitiveness: high- and low-performing firms. Next, the resources chosen in each group were compared. It was found that the high-performing group attaches more value to business and market-related aspects while the low-performing group favors production technology, and capital and input access. Both groups accorded importance to geographical location and natural resource endowments, key factors in wine making and production. Finally, we cite the theoretical and practical contributions of the paper as well as its limitations. Some issues to be addressed in further studies are also presented.

It is reasonable to assume that agricultural producers, typical individual firms and / or families of the field, due to natural deficiency of locational resources (financial, human and physical) has more difficulty to generate innovation, mainly through investments in Research and Development. These, usually, have strategies and similar skills with little hability in to generate innovation. It is this sense of vulnerability that this paper studies the dynamics of agricultural arrangements of Alagoas, located in the mesoregion of Sertão of Alagoas. For this, is used multivariate statistics how Multidimensional Scaling and Discriminant Analysis. It was concluded by two fundamental points. The first is the relative weakness of the institutional apparatus of PAPL, and the second is equal importance of tacit and codified knowledge for the dynamics of the arrangement. / Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior / É razoável supor que os produtores agropecuários, típicas empresas individuais e/ou familiares do campo, devido à natural deficiência locacional de recursos (financeiros, humanos e físicos) tem maior dificuldade de gerar inovação, principalmente, através de investimentos em Pesquisa e Desenvolvimento. Estes geralmente possuem estratégias e aptidões similares, com pouca habilidade em gerar inovação. É nesse sentido de vulnerabilidade que o presente trabalho se propõe a estudar a dinâmica dos arranjos agropecuários de Alagoas, localizados na Mesorregião do Sertão Alagoano. Para isto, é utilizada estatísticas multivariadas como Escalonamento Multidimensional e a Análise Discriminante. Pôde-se concluir por dois pontos fundamentais. O primeiro é a relativa fragilidade do aparato institucional do PAPL e, a igualdade de importância dos conhecimentos tácito e codificado para a dinâmica do arranjo.

Submitted by Anna Krzeminska (anna.m.krzeminska@gmail.com) on 2015-12-03T22:31:54Z No. of bitstreams: 1 Anna Krzeminska - FGV EBAPE Thesis.pdf: 782414 bytes, checksum: d1eaade223b9b8d735b684cca595090e (MD5) / Approved for entry into archive by ÁUREA CORRÊA DA FONSECA CORRÊA DA FONSECA (aurea.fonseca@fgv.br) on 2015-12-17T11:19:14Z (GMT) No. of bitstreams: 1 Anna Krzeminska - FGV EBAPE Thesis.pdf: 782414 bytes, checksum: d1eaade223b9b8d735b684cca595090e (MD5) / Approved for entry into archive by Marcia Bacha (marcia.bacha@fgv.br) on 2015-12-21T18:36:37Z (GMT) No. of bitstreams: 1 Anna Krzeminska - FGV EBAPE Thesis.pdf: 782414 bytes, checksum: d1eaade223b9b8d735b684cca595090e (MD5) / Made available in DSpace on 2015-12-21T18:36:53Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Anna Krzeminska - FGV EBAPE Thesis.pdf: 782414 bytes, checksum: d1eaade223b9b8d735b684cca595090e (MD5) Previous issue date: 2015-11-10 / The general idea of this research is to analyze overall firm performance before and after the global financial crisis of 2008. The main question is: What kind of strategies did companies adopt that led to positive business performance after the crisis? Are there any particular competitive advantages that bring better performance in the case of an economic downturn? This research focuses on competitive advantage gained by resource-based view attributes of a product (quality, durability and prestige) and dynamic capabilities (strategic flexibility in product development and technological innovation ability). The economic crisis setting provides a proper background to analyze the competitive advantage strategies in a dynamic, low-probability environment to determine which are most worth adopting in the business world. I employ an OLS regression analysis in order to measure the business performance of 136 Brazilian firms across four years – 2002, 2005, 2008 and 2012. The findings indicate that even though all of the strategic resources and capabilities positively influence firm performance in expansionary periods, only the superior product characteristics are pertinent in surviving an economic downturn.

Made available in DSpace on 2010-04-20T20:20:11Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 68070200655.pdf: 816696 bytes, checksum: decdf2ff5809019b7fde1a985254bb2a (MD5) Previous issue date: 2009-11-19T00:00:00Z / O curso de mestrado profissional em administração (MPA) da Fundação Getúlio Vargas é formatado para profissionais que têm interesse em combinar uma sólida base acadêmica com atividades voltadas para a aplicação prática. O objetivo deste trabalho está alinhado com objetivo do curso ao realizar a aplicação prática dos conceitos da resource-based view das firmas aos resultados dos jogos do campeonato brasileiro com o propósito de identificar quais fatores explicam o desempenho operacional dos times de futebol da primeira divisão, o que irá contribuir para auxiliar os clubes de futebol no Brasil nas suas decisões de investimentos e alocação de recursos financeiros. Ao analisar a qualidade dos jogadores e sua posição relativa em relação ao time, a motivação para o jogo, os fatores 'casa' e 'camisa', todos considerados recursos valiosos, raros, inimitáveis e operacionalmente utilizáveis, procurar-se-á contribuir para esse processo de decisão de investimentos e construção de vantagens competitivas pelos clubes. Aplicando-se o método de análise multivariada de dados conhecida como regressão linear múltipla, foi possível identificar que existem fatores que influenciam o desempenho dos times independente da sua situação dentro do jogo, seja como mandante como visitante: a posição relativa da qualidade do elenco em relação ao time adversário contribui positivamente e o número de cartões vermelhos contribui negativamente. Ao jogar 'em casa', a posição relativa da qualidade dos jogadores do ataque do time mandante em relação aos jogadores da defesa do time visitante contribui positivamente para a vitória do time da 'casa'. Porém, no caso do time visitante, a posição relativa da qualidade dos jogadores da defesa em relação aos jogadores do ataque do time mandante e a 'camisa' (neste caso, apenas se ela 'carrega' consigo algum título que dê ao time uma reputação a nível internacional) são os fatores que contribuem positivamente para a vitória. Portanto, a disposição tática dos recursos também é um fator relevante que deve ser considerado em pesquisas futuras. Desta forma, não basta ter os recursos e explorá-los aleatoriamente porque o ambiente de disputa não é estático, assim como não é, de forma análoga, o ambiente de negócios.

Made available in DSpace on 2010-04-20T20:48:02Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 3 127134.pdf.jpg: 12197 bytes, checksum: d6555859e3afc1a8ebe7115f20f404ff (MD5) 127134.pdf.txt: 441358 bytes, checksum: 6bf500377ea30cc7c585ee3246d889e7 (MD5) 127134.pdf: 3942764 bytes, checksum: ab6d5ef911934f9ff2a64b24c336789b (MD5) Previous issue date: 2005-04-08T00:00:00Z / One of the main characteristics of strategy as a field of research is its focus on the individuality of firms in contrast with economics where the focus moves to the industry. Firms differ in several dimensions and these differences constitute the essence of the research interest in strategy. One of these dimensions is the rate at which firms increase or decrease in size – firm growth. This dissertation analyzed the structure of variability of firm growth rates with the objective of identifying groups of factors that determine this variability and its relative influence. The research was done using an international sample of 13,221 firms, from 47 countries and 216 industries during the period of 1994 to 2002. Data was obtained from the Compustat Global database, maintained by Standard and Poor’s. The raw data was made comparable by accounting for inflation and currency changes using indexes form the World Bank Development Indicators. The variance components technique, normally used in field such as genetics and biology to study the naturally occurring variability, was used to understand the variance composition of firm growth rates. The main finding was that individual, idiosyncratic factors of each firm are responsible for the greatest portion of explained variance. Firm effects dominate the explanation of observed variance while country and industry effects have shown a much smaller influence. The predominance of firm effects has relevant theoretical implications. First, it offers a strong support to the approach of Penrose (1959) to firm growth, who considered growth as a natural, endogenous process, deriving from the use of firm specific resources. It can also be used to question the relevance of some economic approaches to firm growth that prioritize effects associated to industry like industry evolution and concentration. This connection between firm growth and individual firm resources also allows one to see growth as an additional dimension of competitive advantage linking this research with the resource-based view of strategy (RBV). One of the managerial implications of this finding relates to the efficacy of public policies to promote firm growth. Industry effects were found to be generally small, often smaller than country effects. Public policies targeted at industry level may then be affecting a less significant source of variation in firm growth rates. The results suggest that policies targeted at the individual firm level, and their individual resources may be much more effective in promoting growth. Even policies that address country infrastructure, like health, education, transport may be more effective than industry oriented policies due to the higher relevance of country effects in relation to industry effects in most cases. Besides its main contribution, the study also explored several other aspects about growth rates and their variability allowing several secondary conclusions. / Uma das principais características da estratégia como campo de conhecimento é o seu foco no estudo da individualidade das empresas em contraste com a economia que foca prioritariamente os ramos de negócios. As empresas diferem entre si em várias dimensões e estas diferenças constituem a essência do interesse de pesquisa em estratégia. Uma destas dimensões é a velocidade com que as empresas crescem ou diminuem de tamanho. Esta tese analisou a estrutura de variabilidade das taxas de crescimento das empresas tendo como objetivo identificar grupos de fatores que influem nesta variabilidade e a magnitude relativa desta influência. O estudo foi feito sobre uma amostra internacional com 13.221 empresas de 47 países e 216 ramos de negócios diferentes no período 1994 a 2002. Os dados originais foram obtidos da base de dados Compustat Global, mantida pela Standard and Poor’s, e combinados com índices do World Bank Development Indicators para considerar o efeito de inflação e mudanças de moedas nos vários países. A técnica de componentes de variância, normalmente utilizada para analisar a variabilidade natural em áreas como genética e biologia, foi usada para entender a composição da variância das taxas de crescimento. O principal achado foi que os aspectos individuais, idiossincráticos a cada empresa, respondem pela maior parcela da variância. Outros fatores como o país e o ramo de negócios têm uma influência menor. No plano teórico, a predominância do efeito empresa individual na explicação da variabilidade das taxas de crescimento oferece suporte empírico à abordagem de Penrose (1959) que considera o crescimento como um processo natural, endógeno decorrente dos recursos da empresa e se contrapõe a abordagens econômicas que usam efeitos prioritariamente associados ao ramo de negócios como determinantes do crescimento das firmas. Estes resultados também permitem ver o crescimento como um dos resultados do uso de recursos superiores e, portanto, como uma dimensão adicional do construto vantagem competitiva, ligando o trabalho à visão baseada em recursos da estratégia (RBV). Uma das possíveis implicações gerenciais da pesquisa refere-se à eficácia de políticas públicas de crescimento. Sendo o efeito do ramo de negócios no crescimento tão pequeno, estes dados colocam em dúvida a eficácia de políticas setoriais e indica que políticas que dêem recursos à empresa individual ou que se direcionem ao fortalecimento de instituições de infraestrutura do país, como educação, transporte, saúde, possam ter maior eficácia em promover o crescimento das empresas através do efeito país. Além da contribuição principal o estudo permitiu várias conclusões secundárias sobre o a variabilidade das taxas de crescimento das empresas.