Abstract Governments and private companies have increased efforts to identify effective actions for improving energy efficiency in manufacturing processes. The objective of this work is to improve the decision-making process by increasing the quality of information related to energy indicators in the food industry. This research involves developing a systematic literature review (SLR) to identify energy efficiency indicators in the food industry, which serve as inputs for a sectoral evaluation based on multicriteria techniques. The SLR identified six criteria evaluated by food industry experts, which form the proposed basis for evaluating the performance of related sectors. These criteria are: benchmarks, key performance indicators, framework, monitoring, ISO 50001, and information communication technologies (ICTs) in sectoral evaluations. The criteria were evaluated by experts using the Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP), which prioritizes the most important food industry issues using an evaluation scale. Weights were attributed to each issue and positioned according to the Preference Ranking Organization Method for Enrichment Evaluations (PROMETHEE) to evaluate each sector by the identified criteria. The evaluated criteria are applicable to the three sectors surveyed, with emphasis on the beverage sector. Among the evaluated criteria, ICTs were highlighted by Industry 4.0 as a concern for the food sector.

O conjunto de competências organizacionais que uma empresa emprega na realização de suas operações, potencialmente define sua capacidade de realizar uma determinada estratégia de negócios. O presente artigo se propõe a desenvolver um processo para a análise de projetos de investimento baseado em competências. O estudo se desenrola no âmbito das pequenas empresas e se aplica a projetos de expansão da capacidade. A abordagem desenvolvida fundamenta-se na construção de um framework teórico-conceitual, sendo este refinado por um conjunto de entrevistas realizadas com especialistas. Participam das entrevistas três analistas pleno de investimento e três acadêmicos das áreas de gestão estratégica de operações e gestão econômica da produção. O processo desenvolvido é testado em casos de simulação que se utilizam de dados obtidos de três projetos de investimento analisados por um banco de desenvolvimento, no período de março de 2002 a setembro de 2003. Os casos se distribuem entre os setores de manufatura, comércio de serviços. O resultado do trabalho é um processo de análise de investimentos que usa o conceito de competências empresariais para avaliar a capacidade de uma empresa em gerar resultados. O processo desenvolvido vincula recursos e competências à estratégia empresarial adotada, avaliando as condições necessárias para o desenvolvimento da estratégia. O estudo é de natureza exploratória e, portanto, não permite generalizações. Há necessidade de se ampliar o número de simulações e testar o uso do processo com diferentes analistas de investimento. A principal implicação prática do trabalho reside no fato de se propor um procedimento estruturado para a análise de projetos de investimento para pequenas empresas, dadas as dificuldades de se obter informações econômico-financeiras destas empresas. A pesquisa realizada contribui para o desenvolvimento de metodologias para análise de projetos de investimento, fundamentando-se em uma abordagem de natureza estratégica.

The organisational competences that an enterprise uses in its operations potentially define its capacity for implementing its business strategy. The present paper proposes a process for the analysis of investment projects based on competences. The study is focused on small enterprises, and it is applied to capacity expansion projects. The developed approach is based on a theoretical framework refined through a round of interviews conducted with experienced professionals. Three investment analysts and three academics that work in the strategic operations management and economic production management areas participated in the interviews. The developed process was tested in simulation studies using the results of three investment projects analyzed by a development bank in the period of March 2002 to September 2003. The cases are related to manufacturing, commerce, and service sectors. The result of this work is an investment analysis process that uses the enterprise competences concept to evaluate its capability to generate results. The process relates resources and competences to the adopted business strategy. The study nature is exploratory and, in this sense, it does not allow generalizations. It is necessary to increase the number of simulations and to test the process using different investment analysts. The major practical implication is related to the fact that a structured procedure was proposed for the analysis of investment projects for small companies due to the difficulty of obtaining accurate and reliable financial and economic information about those companies. This study contributes to the development of methodologies for the analysis of investment projects based on a strategic approach.