Resumo em Inglês:

The main goal of this paper is to extend the traditional theoretical model of service recovery to the online purchasing environment by investigating the impact of perceptions of justice after recovery efforts toward unsatisfactory Internet purchasing on customer trust and loyalty. The authors develop a theoretical model focusing on interrelationships among complaint handling evaluations, quality of prior experience, familiarity, trust, perceived value and loyalty. To test this model, 3,339 customers from all over Brazil who had been engaged in complaint processes about online purchases within the past 6 months answered an online questionnaire. Findings indicate that interpersonal treatment by the e-retailer improves consumer perceptions of the online recovery process. Consumer trust in the firm's website is strongly influenced by satisfaction with complaint handling, familiarity and the quality of prior experiences with the website, while consumer trust in Internet shopping is mainly affected by familiarity and the quality of prior experiences with Internet purchasing. These two dimensions of trust are distinct and represent discrete facets, as they do not impact each other. Moreover, repurchase intentions and word-of-mouth communication are influenced by consumer trust.

Resumo em Inglês:

When large Transnational Corporations (TNCs) enter a host country, consequent development of local Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) is expected. The public sector may play an important role by fostering Business Linkages (BL), by which TNCs establish purchasing relationships with local SMEs. This article was motivated by growing attention in literature to the interaction between economic development and the ability of companies to absorb and disseminate competences. Its purpose is to understand the role of public policy programs that promote BLs for development by: (a) analyzing actions and programs developed by public and private institutions to foster BL in Brazil; (b) discovering the participants' benefits from such actions and programs; and (c) identifying opportunities for public sector promotion of BL. The research design was a multiple case study which analyzed Supplier Development Projects in five Brazilian states. Results indicate that public policies may complement overall development as well as industrial policy, which is related to capacity building, stimulating technology transfer, and, more broadly, promoting a business friendly environment able to attract investment for development, calling for a regional and sub-regional approach for a country the size of Brazil.

Resumo em Inglês:

This article analyzes the relationship between strategies of standardization and adaptation of the marketing mix and performance in an international context. We carried out a meta-analysis on a sample of 23 studies published between 1992 and 2010. The sample was analyzed based on measures of the effect size (ES) - or the strength of the relation (Wolf, 1986) - between standardization/adaptation and performance. The results suggest the existence of a medium strength (ES ranging from .133 to .209) for the relationship considered. The results support the existence of a positive impact of both marketing mix adaptation and standardization on performance. However, our results suggest that companies should slightly emphasize the marketing mix adaptation (ES mean = .168) instead of standardizing it (ES mean = .134) when entering in a new international market. Results also indicate that, among the adaptation choices, price (ES = .209) should be the first element of the marketing mix to be adapted, followed by promotion (ES = .155), product (ES = .154), and distribution (ES = .141). Finally, we suggest some new research paths, such as the use of quantitative methods to compare degrees of adaptation to be applied to different segments, regions, and sectors, among other suggestions.

Resumo em Inglês:

Several studies about knowledge transfer in multinational corporations have found that the process is influenced by factors such as absorptive capacity, tacit knowledge and power relations, all of which impact knowledge sharing strategies between corporate headquarters and foreign subsidiaries. A multiple case study of Brazilian subsidiaries of three multinational corporations using in-depth interviews, based on a conceptual model consisting of four propositions, was conducted to identify factors linked to the knowledge transfer process and to assess their influence on that transfer. The first proposition tries to assess explicit knowledge, primarily through the use of IT tools; the second analyzes the role of the subsidiary within the corporate network and how it influences the degree of knowledge sharing. The third assesses the influence of subsidiary absorptive capacity and the fourth analyzes the impact of worker exchange programs on knowledge sharing between headquarters and foreign subsidiaries. Study results confirm the four propositions and enable the identification of relationships between factors, especially explicit knowledge and worker expatriation as complementary factors in knowledge transfer strategies.

Resumo em Inglês:

This article, the result of a Master's thesis, has as the main objective to investigate how trainee-engineers from the Advanced Training Program for Engineers (ATPE), from a Brazilian organization called Challenge, working in multidisciplinary teams with the help of mentors, interact and mobilize their knowledge, resulting in learning. To accomplish this, a Theoretical Reference Model based on the studies of Nonaka and Takeuchi (1997); Crossan, Lane and White (1999); Choo (2000, 2001); Garvin (2002); Schwartz (2003); Zietsma, Winn, Branzei and Vertinsky (2002); Senge (2006) and Castañeda, Rios (2007) and Pérez-Acosta (2005) was built. The data of this qualitative study case was garnered by an open questionnaire, individual interviews and questionnaires with a closed scale, applied in October and November of 2008. The results show that ATPE is seen as a proper driver of the mobilization, interaction and exchange of knowledge between trainee-engineers and mentors, resulting in learning at individual and group levels. Mentors are professionals that stimulate attention, autonomy and promote integration in an environment that simulates the business one. These aspects were seen as facilitators of the interaction and learning in ATPE. At the end, 18 notions were related to learning in ATPE and appear portrayed in an Empirical Representation done by authors.

Resumo em Inglês:

Firm survival in emerging economies is often related to having access to valuable resources that are in stakeholders' hands. However, the literature on strategy in emerging economies provides scant information on the efficiency of acquiring stakeholder resources and its effect on firm performance. We investigated the stakeholder interaction effects on performance of domestic firms competing in an emerging market (Wright, Filatotchev, Hoskisson, & Peng, 2005) from a contractual perspective (Williamson, 1985). We argue that interacting stakeholders in a contractual set yield synergistic governance structures that allow firms more efficient access to external resources. Using a sample of 267 firms in Brazil (secondary data), we explored different patterns in stakeholder contracting with community, government, top management, and employees. A three-stage analysis process was devised: cluster analysis, general linear model estimation and verification tests. Results suggest that stakeholder interaction has a positive impact on firm performance. The conjoint effect of government and community contracts was found to yield superior firm performance as they provide a basic structure for contracting with other interacting stakeholders.