<p>Generally, the trade supervisors are seen swapping stories about how they have done things differently in their previous projects that had resulted in saving man-hours and resources. Since most of them are doing repetitive tasks for years, they rely mainly on their judgments and intuition while making decisions and have developed a plethora of knowledge throughout their experience. They often find it difficult to articulate the knowledge they have acquired most of which is tacit. There is a need to identify this tacit dimension of knowledge to harness it effectively as tacit knowledge is one of the factors determining the competitiveness of a construction firm. The skills shortage in the industry is further aggravated by the growing workforce. Employee retirements and knowledge loss are compelling the specialty contracting firms to capture this tacit knowledge to prepare the future workforce. This study posits an instrument to gauge the reliance of the field supervisors on tacit knowledge and identifies barriers to knowledge sharing through case studies involving electrical contracting firms. The findings of this research clearly show that the experience level of an individual is related to the reliance on tacit knowledge. Most of the experienced field supervisors rely on the tacit dimension of knowledge to perform the major day-to-day routine tasks at the construction site. The education level of an individual seems to have no significant relation with the acquisition and usage of tacit knowledge. Findings also suggest that the viewpoint of the management and the field team are disparate regarding the barriers to knowledge sharing. Management feels that lack of formal processes prevents the trade professionals from sharing their knowledge among themselves whereas according to the field team lack of socialization is identified as the key barrier. Similarly, managers' resistance to change is identified by management as the key barrier that prevents supervisors or managers from sharing their knowledge with the subordinates whereas, for the field team it is the lack of encouragement from the management. Moreover, according to management, lack of formal processes is the key barrier at the organizational level but for the field team, it’s the silo mentality of the managers. The organizations must incorporate the feedback from the field team into the decision making related to knowledge management (KM). The developed framework will benefit the trade contractors to identify on what type of knowledge the field supervisors are relying to perform a particular task and eventually categorizing knowledge into explicit and tacit.</p>

Nesta pesquisa é estudada a atuação de um importante agente no funcionamento na cadeia produtiva do setor da construção civil, quais sejam as Empresas executoras de serviços de obras (EES), geralmente denominadas subempreiteiras (SE) ou empresas especializadas na execução de obras (EEE). Apesar de existirem várias pesquisas relacionadas com o estudo das suas características, existe pouca informação sobre como as EES estão organizadas. Nesse sentido, um marco analítico foi desenvolvido, analisando às EES segundo as capacidades possuídas para entregar seus resultados nas condições de competição encontradas. Para tanto, as causas que, por um lado, provocam o encerramento das atividades ou, por outro, a sua liderança no mercado foram estudadas sob a ótica de várias linhas do marketing relacionadas com a chamada lógica de serviço e com as correntes de vantagem competitiva sustentável (VCS). Tal marco empregou a noção de valor entregue no serviço prestado pelas EES a partir das suas fontes de VCS. Tais fontes foram discutidas em função dos ativos que as EES possuem. Tais ativos são compostos dos recursos tangíveis (como produtos, ferramentas, materiais, etc.) e intangíveis (como sistemas de gestão gerenciais e operacionais), que lhes permitem desenvolver uma estratégia de criação de valor de forma sustentável, também chamados de ativos estratégicos. Para seu desenvolvimento foi utilizado o método teoria fundamentada nos dados, entrevistando-se 6 representantes dos contratantes das EES, um consultor especialista em gestão empresarial, e 24 EES de 11 diferentes especialidades técnicas. As entrevistas ocorreram conjuntamente com a revisão bibliográfica e a análise dos resultados. A utilização do marco permitiu distinguir as EEE, um subconjunto das EES, em função das suas competências e acesso a recursos para produzir os seus serviços. Finalmente, espera-se que a abordagem desenvolvida nesta pesquisa seja utilizada para melhor entender as capacidades que as EES possuem para competir, servindo de base para futuras pesquisas sobre como melhorar as capacidades e condições de competição destas empresas. / This research studied the performance of an important agent in the construction industry, which are the trade executors (EES), usually called subcontractors (SE) and specialty contractors (EEE). Although there are several studies related to the study of their characteristics, little information exists about how EES are organized. In this sense, an analytical framework was developed to analyze the possessed ESS capabilities to deliver their results within the competition bounds. For this, the root causes of the closure activities and market leadership have been studied from the perspective of several lines of marketing related to call service logic and to sustainable competitive advantage (VCS). This framework used the concept of service value delivered by EES from their sources of VCS. These sources are discussed in terms of assets that have EES. Such assets consist of tangible assets (such as products, tools, materials, etc.) and intangible (such as management systems and operational systems) that allow them to develop a strategy to create sustainable value, also called strategic assets. The research method was \'grounded theory\', interviewing 6 representatives of their contractors, an expert consultant on business management, and 24 ESS of 11 different technical specialties. The interviews took place in conjunction with the literature review and analysis of results. The use of this method allowed us to distinguish the EEE, a subset of EES, depending on their possession of skills and access to resources to produce their service. Finally, it is expected that the approach developed in this research is used to better understand the capabilities that EES have within their competition, providing the basis for future research on how to improve the capacity and the competition of these firms.

Nesta pesquisa é estudada a atuação de um importante agente no funcionamento na cadeia produtiva do setor da construção civil, quais sejam as Empresas executoras de serviços de obras (EES), geralmente denominadas subempreiteiras (SE) ou empresas especializadas na execução de obras (EEE). Apesar de existirem várias pesquisas relacionadas com o estudo das suas características, existe pouca informação sobre como as EES estão organizadas. Nesse sentido, um marco analítico foi desenvolvido, analisando às EES segundo as capacidades possuídas para entregar seus resultados nas condições de competição encontradas. Para tanto, as causas que, por um lado, provocam o encerramento das atividades ou, por outro, a sua liderança no mercado foram estudadas sob a ótica de várias linhas do marketing relacionadas com a chamada lógica de serviço e com as correntes de vantagem competitiva sustentável (VCS). Tal marco empregou a noção de valor entregue no serviço prestado pelas EES a partir das suas fontes de VCS. Tais fontes foram discutidas em função dos ativos que as EES possuem. Tais ativos são compostos dos recursos tangíveis (como produtos, ferramentas, materiais, etc.) e intangíveis (como sistemas de gestão gerenciais e operacionais), que lhes permitem desenvolver uma estratégia de criação de valor de forma sustentável, também chamados de ativos estratégicos. Para seu desenvolvimento foi utilizado o método teoria fundamentada nos dados, entrevistando-se 6 representantes dos contratantes das EES, um consultor especialista em gestão empresarial, e 24 EES de 11 diferentes especialidades técnicas. As entrevistas ocorreram conjuntamente com a revisão bibliográfica e a análise dos resultados. A utilização do marco permitiu distinguir as EEE, um subconjunto das EES, em função das suas competências e acesso a recursos para produzir os seus serviços. Finalmente, espera-se que a abordagem desenvolvida nesta pesquisa seja utilizada para melhor entender as capacidades que as EES possuem para competir, servindo de base para futuras pesquisas sobre como melhorar as capacidades e condições de competição destas empresas. / This research studied the performance of an important agent in the construction industry, which are the trade executors (EES), usually called subcontractors (SE) and specialty contractors (EEE). Although there are several studies related to the study of their characteristics, little information exists about how EES are organized. In this sense, an analytical framework was developed to analyze the possessed ESS capabilities to deliver their results within the competition bounds. For this, the root causes of the closure activities and market leadership have been studied from the perspective of several lines of marketing related to call service logic and to sustainable competitive advantage (VCS). This framework used the concept of service value delivered by EES from their sources of VCS. These sources are discussed in terms of assets that have EES. Such assets consist of tangible assets (such as products, tools, materials, etc.) and intangible (such as management systems and operational systems) that allow them to develop a strategy to create sustainable value, also called strategic assets. The research method was \'grounded theory\', interviewing 6 representatives of their contractors, an expert consultant on business management, and 24 ESS of 11 different technical specialties. The interviews took place in conjunction with the literature review and analysis of results. The use of this method allowed us to distinguish the EEE, a subset of EES, depending on their possession of skills and access to resources to produce their service. Finally, it is expected that the approach developed in this research is used to better understand the capabilities that EES have within their competition, providing the basis for future research on how to improve the capacity and the competition of these firms.