Mesmo reconhecendo a importância das centrais de negócios no contexto brasileiro, pode-se dizer que existe pouco conhecimento sobre o assunto. Essa iniciativa ganhou força apenas nos últimos cinco anos no país e a maioria dos estudos encontrados na literatura, possuem caráter predominantemente exploratório. Nesse sentido, o presente trabalho buscou fomentar importantes discussões sobre as centrais de negócios de supermercadistas de pequeno e médio porte, ao analisar de forma crítica a sua formação, identificando os fatores que influenciam a sua sustentabilidade. A metodologia do estudo fundamenta-se em cinco etapas que se complementam. A primeira refere-se ao levantamento bibliográfico e pesquisa em dados secundários, cujo objetivo era ampliar o conhecimento teórico sobre as centrais de negócios. Em um segundo momento, foi realizada uma pesquisa qualitativa de natureza exploratória junto a três centrais de negócios, visando uma percepção prática do tema, a definição das etapas metodológicas, e a elucidação do problema, proposições, perguntas e variáveis da pesquisa. Na seqüência foi realizado um estudo qualitativo com seis centrais de negócios formadas há pelo menos um ano e que possuíam maior conhecimento e experiência no seu processo de formação. Na quarta etapa metodológica foi feita uma pesquisa quantitativa com 21 centrais de negócios em diversos Estados brasileiros para analisar proposições, investigar a correlação entre as variáveis e descrever as características das centrais de negócios no território nacional. Finalmente, por meio de uma pesquisa qualitativa, buscou-se identificar nas experiências internacionais dinamarquesas, potenciais ações que pudessem ser adaptadas ao contexto nacional. Os resultados discutidos podem contribuir para uma melhor compreensão do processo de formação das centrais de negócios. Pôde-se concluir que para ser bem sucedida, ela precisa ter uma proposta abrangente, mas ao mesmo tempo focar em objetivos claros, tratar da qualificação e capacitação profissional dos seus membros e incluir e unir o econômico, o social e o cultural. No final do estudo apresentam-se recomendações voltadas à sustentabilidade das centrais de negócios de supermercadistas de pequeno e médio porte. / Even recognizing the importance of the business networks composed by the small and medium grocery retailers for its sustainability in Brazil, the lack of publications is notable. This working force has just received more attention in the country in the last five years and the studies found in the literature have predominantly exploratory character. Based on these facts, the objective of this study is to foment important discussions about the business networks composed by small and medium grocery retailers. It analyzes critically it formation, identifying the influence factors at its sustainability. The methodology of the study is based on five stages that complement each other. The first one refers to the bibliographical research and secondary data research, that attempts to promote the theoretical knowledge on the business networks. In a second moment, an exploratory research was accomplished with three business networks formed by small and medium grocery retailers, seeking a practical perception of the theme, the definition of the methodological stages, and the elucidation of the problem, propositions, questions and variables of the research. In the sequence a qualitative study was conducted with six business networks of small and medium grocery retailers formed at least one year ago that could improve larger knowledge and experience in it formation process. In the fourth methodological stage a quantitative research was realized with 21 business networks in several Brazilian States to analyze propositions, to investigate correlation among the variables and to describe the characteristics of the business networks in the national territory. Finally, through a qualitative research, it was attempted to identify, based on international Danish experiences, potential actions that could be adapted to the national context. The discussed results can contribute to a better understanding of the process of formation of the business networks composed by the small and medium grocery retailers. As a result, for this union succeed, it needs to include a proposal, but at the same time to focus in clear objectives, to improve the qualification of the processes and the professional training of their members, and to include the economical, social and cultural perspective. Since one of the attempt of this study was to provide recommendations focused on the sustainability of the business networks composed by small and medium grocery retailers, the study provides useful insights that should be taken for which business network that aim to be maintainable.

Due to the characteristics of software, software products have been considered products with "pure" profits which are suitable to be sold in the international market. Enterprise software is one typical type of software which is mainly sold in business market. More and more enterprise software providers are going abroad to discover opportunities for their enterprise solutions. This thesis is to try to give more suggestions on internationalization for these enterprise software providers. The empirical case is concerning the internationalization of the enterprise software provided by a Swedish software company, Company A. The case happens in the specific geographic area (China) which is far away from the domestic market, the Swedish market. Based on the business network of Company A, Software A has been successfully sold in the Chinese market. The analysis is on the basis of the empirical case and the relevant theories on internationalization. In the context of the empirical case, the nature of enterprise software has been analyzed. Enterprise software is usually tangible and customized, and the internationalization of enterprise software is more relationship-based than mass software products. The discussion about the nature of enterprise software contains the "service" nature of enterprise software, the "service" typology of enterprise software in international marketing and some features of enterprise software which are influencing the internationalization of enterprise software. By understanding the nature of enterprise software, enterprise software providers are capable of crafting international marketing strategies in their internationalization processes. For example, enterprise software providers can develop module-based software or add more self-customization functions to decrease the risks of internationalization. ii Internationalization has been discussed for a long time since the "Uppsala" model was come up in 1977. In the last thirty years, the business environment has been changing with the tendency of expanding through the network-based business relationship. The new "Uppsala" model, which was born in this new business environment, has been leaded me to analyze the success and failure in the empirical case. The internationalization of enterprise software is observed to follow the changes of the four elements in the new "Uppsala" model, in which "opportunities learning" and "trust building" are highlighted in the network-based business environment. The new "Uppsala" model is valuable for today’s internationalization to develop strategies for the more successful internationalization. From understanding the product to understanding the network, enterprise software providers can explore more international opportunities and internationalization strategies for their enterprise software instead of the traditional thinking.

In the recent couple of years, African countries have conducted a free tradeagreement which will affect the whole African continent. Providing the largestfree trade agreement in history so far in terms of participating countries.AfCFTA provides new conditions and enhancement, aiming for Africa tobecome one single market and boosting intra-African trade. Countries such asKenya, has during recent years made changes and reforms which has enhancedits business environment for companies operating there. In addition, this thesisaims to investigate how the new free trade agreement is affecting KenyanSMEs in the manufacturing sector today, and how it will affect them in thefuture when the free trade agreement is fully implemented. To receive a deeperunderstanding about the subject, a qualitative method and an abductiveapproach have been conducted. Moreover, the theoretical framework derivesfrom internationalization theories commonly used and which benefits from theterms that the free trade agreement holds. The conceptual framework assumesthat international marketers experience different market prerequisites, thus theview of the internationalization process differs from one market to another.Therefore, our empirical findings derive from a multi-case study, whichinvestigate Kenyan manufacturing SMEs possibilities and difficulties tointernationalize on the African continent. The analysis presents the theoreticalframework and the empirical findings in the contrast and relation to each other.Finally, the conclusion chapter provides insights in opportunities anddifficulties still remaining for the AfCFTA to be fully implemented and forKenyan manufacturing SMEs to fully utilize the agreement. Also, limitationsand suggestions for future research is conducted in the chapter. The result ofthis research stipulates that there are still difficulties for Kenyanmanufacturing SMEs to utilize the agreement and that the agreement requirestime to provide a fully functional single market for Africa.

Submitted by Maicon Juliano Schmidt (maicons) on 2015-06-30T19:19:44Z No. of bitstreams: 1 Sergio Satt Junior.pdf: 2776264 bytes, checksum: de08438865c711b12dacc3721b268331 (MD5) / Made available in DSpace on 2015-06-30T19:19:44Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Sergio Satt Junior.pdf: 2776264 bytes, checksum: de08438865c711b12dacc3721b268331 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2012-07-06 / Nenhuma / O ambiente empresarial atual apresenta determinados eventos de alta incerteza e de difícil previsibilidade, é necessário que as empresas e seus gestores estejam preparados para atuar em novos e diferentes ambientes de negócios. A mudança no ambiente do refino de petróleo no Brasil iniciou com a abertura do mercado de combustíveis em 1997, Lei 9.478/97. Essa lei propiciou a participação de outros agentes, além da Petrobras, no exercício das atividades de importação e exportação de derivados de petróleo. O segmento de refino no Brasil tem apresentado ciclos de baixa e alta, pois os preços dos derivados nas refinarias não têm sido reajustados na mesma velocidade dos movimentos de preços dos derivados no mercado internacional. Com isso, as refinarias não integradas, é o caso estudado neste trabalho - a Refinaria de Petróleo Riograndense, têm apresentado menor rentabilidade se comparadas com refinarias integradas. Portanto, é necessário identificar eventuais vantagens competitivas que permitam sustentar o negócio deste tipo de refinaria a partir de uma perspectiva de longo prazo. Para tal, foi aplicado o método de construção de cenário Global Business Network (GBN), a fim de criar cenários futuros que apontem alternativas de atuação para uma refinaria de petróleo de baixa escala e não integrada. Além disso, verificar quais as contribuições que o método de construção de cenários GBN trouxe para a empresa e seus gestores. A pesquisa foi caracterizada como qualitativa, exploratória, utilizando o método pesquisa-ação para descrever melhor a construção dos cenários na empresa pesquisada. O resultado da pesquisa foi a geração de dois cenários futuros para a Refinaria Riograndense, onde se apresentam caminhos distintos de atuação no segmento de refino, considerando o ambiente futuro dos negócios e as características da empresa, ou seja, refinaria de petróleo de baixa escala e não integrada. As conclusões do trabalho indicam que o método de construção de cenário GBN contribui para melhorar a percepção da empresa e dos seus gestores sobre o ambiente do futuro do negócio, reduzindo erros no processo de tomada de decisão. Com isso, foi possível apontar caminhos futuros de sobrevivência para a empresa em um ambiente de forte competitividade e restrições ambientais. Também, o método GBN mostrou-se ser flexível às características da empresa, permitindo valorizar os conhecimentos e experiências dos gestores, bem como incentivar o envolvimento dos gestores no processo de construção de cenários. / In the current business environment, there are certain events with high uncertainty that make predictability difficult; thus, companies and their managers must be prepared to act in new and different business environments. Changes in the environment of oil refining in Brazil began with the opening of the fuel market in 1997, since Law 9,478/97 enabled other agents, in addition to Petrobras, to participate in activities related to the import and export of oil products. The refining segment in Brazil has experienced cycles with low and high prices because they have not been adjusted at the same speed as the ones of oil products in the international market. From this perspective, non-integrated refineries were analyzed in this study, mainly the Riograndense Oil Refinery, which has shown lower profitability than integrated ones. Therefore, potential competitive advantages that enable the business to support this type of refinery in the long term were identified. The method of building Global Business Network (GBN) scenarios was applied in order to create future scenarios which can suggest alternatives to a small-scale and non-integrated oil refinery. Besides, the contributions that the method of building GBN scenarios brought to the company and its managers were verified. This qualitative and exploratory research used action research to better describe scenario building in the company. Results generated two scenarios (Maverick and Revolution) for the future of the Riograndense Refinery; they showed distinct paths to be followed in the refining segment, taking into consideration the future of the business environment and the characteristics of the company, i. e., a small-scale and non-integrated oil refinery. The study concludes that the method of constructing GBN scenario helps to improve the perception of the company and its managers about the future of the business environment, reducing errors in the process of decision making. In addition, future directions for the company to survive in an environment with strong competition and environmental constraints could be identified. Furthermore, the GBN method proved to be flexible concerning the characteristics of the company since it valued managers’ knowledge and experience and encouraged them to get involved in the process of scenario building.

O conceito de modelo de negócio pode ser utilizado para descrever e entender empresas. Ele determina que devemos entender um negócio utilizando os serviços que são prestados, as empresas (e seus papéis) envolvidas e a forma de faturamento que o empreendedor terá sobre o serviço. O conceito ganhou muita atenção com a explosão dos portais B2B que surgiram nos últimos anos na internet. Estes portais são empreendimentos que ofertam serviços que intermediam as interações entre as empresas. Com a reorganização da sociedade em redes globais de empresas, tais portais têm diante de si uma grande variedade de serviços a serem prestados, assim tornando a abordagem dos modelos de negócio um elemento fundamental para o entendimento do valor agregado pelos empreendedores do setor B2B. Mas faltam trabalhos de organização e sistematização desses modelos, e os próprios empreendedores brasileiros não vêm demonstrando entendimento sobre eles. Assim, no presente trabalho, serão organizados e sistematizados os conceitos de modelos de negócio, eCommerce e B2B, bem como será feita uma proposta de classificação destes modelos de negócio, de tal forma que pesquisadores e empreendedores possam utilizar este texto como base em seus estudos a respeito desses portais na internet. / Business models concept can be used to describe and understand all kind of enterprises. Using this concept one can understand a business by the services been delivered, the enterprises (and their roles) been involved and the invoicing return over the service. This concept became an buzzword during the recently explosion of B2B portals over the internet. These B2B portals are enterprises that offer brokerage services between other enterprises. With the sudden reorganization of society over global net of enterprises, these portals have a huge business opportunity for delivering a wide variety of services, becoming the business model a central element for understanding the aggregated value been proposed by each B2B portal. But there are a poor number of published materials around the organization and classification of these business models and brazilian entrepreneur does not seem to understand these business models. In this work the concept of business models, eCommerce and B2B will be organized and a classification of possible business models will be proposed. The proposed classification could be used by researchers and entrepreneurs as a tool for their studies about these portals over the internet.

Background: The management accounting coordination in a horizontal network of small and medium sized companies entails numerous questions and potential complications that may vary according to the extent of cooperation chosen. Categorizing network co-operations along an imaginary market–hierarchy continuum might offer the theoretical foundation needed to further understand networks and as a consequence illuminate the link to the diverse management accounting issues. Purpose: To analyze the management accounting systems in different forms of horizontal network co-operations. Delimitations: It is not within the purpose of the thesis to discuss the various reasons why cooperative relationships are established in the first place, nor how they develop. Proceed of the study: A multiple case study of three Swedish networks composed of small/medium-sized firms was carried out with the help of thirteen interviews. Conclusions: Empirical support is offered for both the business and functional network types. The model of Dahlgren et al. does not take into account that the degree of integration of the network supporting activities does not necessarily have to entail the equivalent degree of integration regarding the management accounting system. Hence, the typology of networks cannot be said to be conveniently applicable to study all horizontal networks, as the model may leave out certain significant dimensions that obstruct the understanding of a network.

Questo lavoro consiste in una collezione di 8 paper accettati da altrettante Conference internazionali di diverso indirizzo disciplinare, dal marketing B2B all'organizzazione aziendale ai sistemi informativi. In questi paper, si affronta da diversi punti di vista il tema dei business network e di come il business networking influenzi la capacità di innovazione delle imprese. Le ricerche presentate confermano su più fronti come le classiche variabili con cui si misurano i business network, quali la fiducia, la conoscenza reciproca, l'intensità dei flussi di risorse scambiate, eccetera, per quanto importanti, non siano sufficienti a spiegare l'influenza che il network ha sulle capacità di innovazione. Vengono quindi proposti 3 nuovi costrutti: Motivazioni al business network, Attitudine alle relazioni di business di lungo periodo, e Sostenibilità della collaborazione altruistica. Il lavoro ipotizza come diverse configurazioni di queste tre variabili possono influenzare le capacità di innovazione dell'organizzazione. Alcune ricerche qualitative, focalizzate sul settore turistico (sistema destinazione) e sul manifatturiero (supply chain) permettono di mettere a confronto il modello con contesti di business concreti. / The system of the organization's long-term business relationships is the organization's Business Network. This theory-building thesis focuses on how business networking influences the organization's performances, and more specifically its innovation capabilities. An important gap in theory is identified, since there is a lack of consistent research explaining why even Business Networks where all the traditional variables (such as Trust, Cooperation, Number of Ties, Strength of Ties, etc.) are ranking high, may perform poorly in terms of innovation capabilities. An inter-disciplinary effort may be a fruitful strategy for addressing such a gap in theory. Consistently, this thesis was structured as a collection of 8 papers submitted to and accepted by different international Conferences, whose disciplinary focus spanned from B2B marketing to organization studies, Information Systems, Operations research and eParticipation studies. These papers include qualitative researches for theory-building, and the considered cases belong to different industrial sectors such as Tourism and Manufacturing. The main novel outcomes of this work are: the identification of new Constructs (and related Scales) describing phenomena that influence, according to the qualitative researches conducted here, the innovation capabilities of Business Networks; and the in-depth analysis of how successful and sustainable innovation emerges from creative processes in collaborative settings. The identifed Constructs are: Motivations to Business Network, Attitude to Long-Term Business Relationships, Sustainability of Altruistic Cooperation. This work hypothesizes that if the main Motivation to Networking is the predictability of business interactions, this may result in a detrimental effect on Creativity/Innovation, and in a weakened resilience of the Altruistic Cooperation. On the other hand, if the main Motivation to Networking is to aggregate power, for example for lobbying activities, this tends to enhance only certain aspects of Altruistic Cooperation, whilst Creativity/Innovation at the network level is likely to be poorer. Finally, if the main Motivation to Networking is to aggregate capabilities, both Altruistic Cooperation and Creativity/Innovation are often positively impacted, especially when also certain levels of Predictability and of Power Aggregation are achieved.

<p>Background: The management accounting coordination in a horizontal network of small and medium sized companies entails numerous questions and potential complications that may vary according to the extent of cooperation chosen. Categorizing network co-operations along an imaginary market–hierarchy continuum might offer the theoretical foundation needed to further understand networks and as a consequence illuminate the link to the diverse management accounting issues. </p><p>Purpose: To analyze the management accounting systems in different forms of horizontal network co-operations. </p><p>Delimitations: It is not within the purpose of the thesis to discuss the various reasons why cooperative relationships are established in the first place, nor how they develop. Proceed of the study: A multiple case study of three Swedish networks composed of small/medium-sized firms was carried out with the help of thirteen interviews. </p><p>Conclusions: Empirical support is offered for both the business and functional network types. The model of Dahlgren et al. does not take into account that the degree of integration of the network supporting activities does not necessarily have to entail the equivalent degree of integration regarding the management accounting system. Hence, the typology of networks cannot be said to be conveniently applicable to study all horizontal networks, as the model may leave out certain significant dimensions that obstruct the understanding of a network.</p>

Univ., Diss.--Wien, 2006.

Universiẗat, Diss--Münster (Westfalen), 2006.