Cultural traits, infrastructure and feedback mechanisms as barriers to supply chain management in Brazil

Ferreira, Leonardo Julianelli; Marques, Leonardo

doi:10.1590/1806-9649-2022v29e159

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ORIGINAL ARTICLE • Gest. Prod. 29 • 2022 • https://doi.org/10.1590/1806-9649-2022v29e159 copy

Cultural traits, infrastructure and feedback mechanisms as barriers to supply chain management in Brazil

Traços culturais, infraestrutura e mecanismos de reforço como barreiras para a gestão de cadeias de suprimento no Brasil

Authorship SCIMAGO INSTITUTIONS RANKINGS

Abstract:

The supply chain management (SCM) practices have been consolidated as important tools for increasing productivity and, consequently, business competitiveness. This study shows that peculiar aspects of culture and infrastructure in Brazil become barriers to collaboration and integration, which helps to justify the country's difficulty in inserting its companies into global supply chains. Based on the content analysis of interviews with prominent SCM executives in the country, this work formulates a SCM model contextualized to the Brazilian reality covering three cultural traits and three infrastructural traits. Fourteen propositions offer a fine-grained analysis of feedback mechanisms between said traits that perpetuate the gap between SCM theory and the Brazilian practice, hindering the advancement of SCM in Brazil. The model offers a guide for companies that aim to unclog the bottlenecks to allow the country's participation in the complex 'dance' of the global SCM.

Keywords:
Supply chain management; Culture; Infrastructure; Brazil

Source	SCM Definition
Simchi-Levi et al. (2003)Simchi-Levi, D., Kaminsky, P., & Simchi-Levi, E. (2003). Managing the supply chain. USA: McGraw-Hill.	SCM is a set of approaches utilized to efficiently integrate suppliers, manufacturers, warehouses, and stores, so that merchandise is produced and distributed in the right quantities, to the right locations and at the right time, in order to minimize system-wide costs while satisfying service level requirements.
Stock et al. (2009)Stock, J. R., Boyer, S. L., & Harmon, T. (2009). Research opportunities in supply chain management. Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science, 38(1), 32-41. http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s11747-009-0136-2. http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s11747-009-013...	SCM is the management of a network of relationships within a firm and between interdependent organizations and business units consisting of material suppliers, purchasing, production facilities, logistics, marketing, and related systems that facilitate the forward and reverse flow of materials, services, finances and information from the original producer to final customer with the benefits of adding value, maximizing profitability through efficiencies, and achieving customer satisfaction.
Council of SCM Professionals (2009)Council of SCM Professionals. (2009). Retrieved in 2013, September 8, from www.cscmp.org www.cscmp.org...	SCM encompasses the planning and management of all activities involved in sourcing and procurement, conversion, and all Logistics Management activities. Importantly, it also includes coordination and collaboration with channel partners, which can be suppliers, intermediaries, third-party service providers, and customers. In essence, Supply Chain Management integrates supply and demand management within and across companies.
Lakshmanasamy & Anil (2015)Lakshmanasamy, T., & Anil, C. (2015). The effect of attributes of distribution channel member on supply chain management: an empirical analysis of social network in business. International Journal of Logistics Systems and Management, 21(2), 160-180. http://dx.doi.org/10.1504/IJLSM.2015.069373. http://dx.doi.org/10.1504/IJLSM.2015.069...	SCM has emerged to cope with a complex environment to plan, manage, coordinate, and integrate business activities, seeking to meet customer requests while striving for better competitive advantages.
Wieland (2021)Wieland, A. (2021). Dancing the supply chain: toward transformative supply chain management. The Journal of Supply Chain Management, 57(1), 58-73. http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/jscm.12248. http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/jscm.12248...	SCM should be rethought from its linear and fixed structure to a new paradigm of successive adaptive cycles where organizations connect globally in a non-linear manner, as in a dance, allowing to deal with the new complexities and risks,

Brazilian trait		Description
Brazilian culture	“Jeitinho”	The Brazilian style or “jeitinho” is the way found to weasel out of impersonal forms, especially laws and norms that govern personal relations (Da Matta, 1991Da Matta, R. (1991). A casa e a rua. São Paulo: Brasiliense.). It is an ambiguous mechanism that allows reconciling personalist and formalistic characteristics found in the Brazilian people (Holanda & Cândido, 1978Holanda, S., & Cândido, A. (1978). Raízes do Brasil. São Paulo: Companhia das Letras.) and according to the reading of Chu & Wood (2008Chu, R. A., & Wood, T., Jr. (2008). Cultura organizacional brasileira pós-globalização: global ou local? Revista de Administração Pública, 42(5), 969-991. http://dx.doi.org/10.1590/S0034-76122008000500008. http://dx.doi.org/10.1590/S0034-76122008... , p. 4), it allows for a “double reading, which may mean a conformist behavior of living with the unjust and unacceptable status quo and can be seen as a way of surviving daily life, a recourse of cultural resistance,” which is corroborated by Lee Park et al. (2018)Lee Park, C., Fracarolli Nunes, M., Muratbekova-Touron, M., & Moatti, V. (2018). The duality of the Brazilian jeitinho: an empirical investigation and conceptual framework. Critical Perspectives on International Business, 14(4), 404-425. http://dx.doi.org/10.1108/cpoib-04-2017-0022. http://dx.doi.org/10.1108/cpoib-04-2017-... .
	Inequality of power and hierarchy	In Brazil it is common for people to judge themselves with special rights who exempt themselves from following the same laws and generalizing norms made “for others” that led to the creation of the popular expression: “Do you know who you are talking to?” (Chu & Wood, 2008Chu, R. A., & Wood, T., Jr. (2008). Cultura organizacional brasileira pós-globalização: global ou local? Revista de Administração Pública, 42(5), 969-991. http://dx.doi.org/10.1590/S0034-76122008000500008. http://dx.doi.org/10.1590/S0034-76122008... ). For Freire (1998)Freire, G. (1998). Casa Grande & Senzala. Rio de Janeiro: Editora Record., the inequality that exists in the master-slave relations of the Brazilian colonial society profoundly marked the country's social construct, resulting in this behavioral pattern. Inequality also found in the organizational environment with a strong hierarchical structure and autocratic decision-making processes (Freitas et al., 2019Freitas, D. C., Oliveira, L. G., & Alcântara, R. L. C. (2019). A theoretical framework to adopt collaborative initiatives in supply chains. Gestão & Produção, 26(3), e4194. http://dx.doi.org/10.1590/0104-530x-4194-19. http://dx.doi.org/10.1590/0104-530x-4194... ; Chu & Wood, 2008Chu, R. A., & Wood, T., Jr. (2008). Cultura organizacional brasileira pós-globalização: global ou local? Revista de Administração Pública, 42(5), 969-991. http://dx.doi.org/10.1590/S0034-76122008000500008. http://dx.doi.org/10.1590/S0034-76122008... ; Chu, 2020Chu, R. A. (2020). Modelo contemporâneo de gestão à brasileira. São Paulo: Cengage Learning.)
	Flexibility	For Chu & Wood (2008Chu, R. A., & Wood, T., Jr. (2008). Cultura organizacional brasileira pós-globalização: global ou local? Revista de Administração Pública, 42(5), 969-991. http://dx.doi.org/10.1590/S0034-76122008000500008. http://dx.doi.org/10.1590/S0034-76122008... , p. 4), “the flexibility that permeates behaviors in organizations in the country translates into people’s adaptability and creativity.” This characteristic results largely from the need to deal with the most diverse crises of a political, social, and/or economic nature (Budde et al., 2019Budde, J. S., Scherer, L. A., Cassanego, P. V., Jr., & Vargas, K. S. (2019). Cultura Brasileira de Gestão: um estudo em uma Universidade pública do Rio Grande do Sul. Revista Gest@o. Org, 17(1), 17-31. http://dx.doi.org/10.21714/1679-18272019v17Ed.p17-31. http://dx.doi.org/10.21714/1679-18272019... ). This flexibility, which allows rapid adaptation to new situations, discourages following recipes and manuals (Chu, 2020Chu, R. A. (2020). Modelo contemporâneo de gestão à brasileira. São Paulo: Cengage Learning.). Activities that require a notion of order, constancy, and precision, so well executed by some nations, in Brazil are often downplayed and considered of minor importance, suffering from adaptations, “jeitinhos,” and shortcuts (Holanda & Cândido, 1978Holanda, S., & Cândido, A. (1978). Raízes do Brasil. São Paulo: Companhia das Letras.; Vieira et al., 2002Vieira, F. G. D., Crubellate, J. M., Silva, I. G., & Silva, W. R. (2002). Silêncio e omissão: aspectos da cultura brasileira nas organizações. RAE Eletrônica, 1(1), 1-11. http://dx.doi.org/10.1590/S1676-56482002000100015. http://dx.doi.org/10.1590/S1676-56482002... ; Nicodemo, 2014Nicodemo, T. L. (2014). Intérpretes do Brasil: clássicos, rebeldes e renegados. São Paulo: Boitempo.)
	Plasticity	According to Holanda & Cândido (1978)Holanda, S., & Cândido, A. (1978). Raízes do Brasil. São Paulo: Companhia das Letras., the Portuguese colonizer is different from other colonizers because of the absence of a feeling of racial superiority, which favored miscegenation and the genuine interest in the new and exotic. This plasticity favors the easy adoption of foreign practices and customs, as can be seen by the agricultural techniques used in the colony that were strongly influenced by the Indian and African practices (Nicodemo, 2014Nicodemo, T. L. (2014). Intérpretes do Brasil: clássicos, rebeldes e renegados. São Paulo: Boitempo.). For Chu & Wood (2008Chu, R. A., & Wood, T., Jr. (2008). Cultura organizacional brasileira pós-globalização: global ou local? Revista de Administração Pública, 42(5), 969-991. http://dx.doi.org/10.1590/S0034-76122008000500008. http://dx.doi.org/10.1590/S0034-76122008... , p. 4), “historically and traditionally, adopting foreign concepts and references in management by the organizations in Brazil is made without criticism, which reveals the high degree of permeability of the nation to what is developed abroad. However, it is necessary to emphasize that such assimilation may occur in some cases only superficially, deceiving a less attentive observer and indicating a facade behavior.”
	Personalism	Lomnitz (2009)Lomnitz, L. A. (2009). Redes sociais, cultura e poder. Rio de Janeiro: E-papers. highlights the importance of the networks of family members, friends, and acquaintances for solving problems and/or obtaining some kind of advantage or privilege in Latin American societies. Personal relationships and interests stand out in general and community interests (Chu, 2020Chu, R. A. (2020). Modelo contemporâneo de gestão à brasileira. São Paulo: Cengage Learning.), using informal mechanisms to pass legal limits, reserved for the “anonymous, isolated citizen without relations” (Chu & Wood, 2008Chu, R. A., & Wood, T., Jr. (2008). Cultura organizacional brasileira pós-globalização: global ou local? Revista de Administração Pública, 42(5), 969-991. http://dx.doi.org/10.1590/S0034-76122008000500008. http://dx.doi.org/10.1590/S0034-76122008... , p. 5)
	Formalism	Existence of a large number of laws, rules, norms, and procedures that seek to reduce risk, ambiguity, and uncertainty, increasing control over people's behavior and action (Lee Park et al., 2018Lee Park, C., Fracarolli Nunes, M., Muratbekova-Touron, M., & Moatti, V. (2018). The duality of the Brazilian jeitinho: an empirical investigation and conceptual framework. Critical Perspectives on International Business, 14(4), 404-425. http://dx.doi.org/10.1108/cpoib-04-2017-0022. http://dx.doi.org/10.1108/cpoib-04-2017-... ; Barros & Prates, 1996Barros, T., & Prates, M. (1996). O estilo brasileiro de administrar. São Paulo: Atlas.). Apparently contrary to personalism, these characteristics seem to be compatible through the “jeitinho,” as proposed by Da Matta (1991)Da Matta, R. (1991). A casa e a rua. São Paulo: Brasiliense., resulting in discrepancies between what is written and what is actually done (Chu & Wood, 2008Chu, R. A., & Wood, T., Jr. (2008). Cultura organizacional brasileira pós-globalização: global ou local? Revista de Administração Pública, 42(5), 969-991. http://dx.doi.org/10.1590/S0034-76122008000500008. http://dx.doi.org/10.1590/S0034-76122008... ). This characteristic results in the creation of a number of activities and control mechanisms in organizations (Barros & Prates, 1996Barros, T., & Prates, M. (1996). O estilo brasileiro de administrar. São Paulo: Atlas.).
Brazilian infrastructure	Legal and tax complexity	The complexity of legislation and taxation in Brazil can be organized into five themes: complexity, legal vulnerability, customs, tax wars, and regulation (Moraes & Souza, 2014Moraes, M. H., & Souza, F. A. (2014). Logística tributária e fiscal: aspectos tributários e fiscais no cotidiano das operações logísticas. São Paulo: Editora MAG.)
	Poor quality of transport infrastructure	Inefficiency of the customs clearance process, cargo tracking, delivery deadlines, and ease of finding freight at competitive prices, aggravated by the imbalance between transport modes with an excessive concentration on the road modal (Marchetti & Ferreira, 2012Marchetti, D. S., & Ferreira, T. T. (2012). Situação atual e perspectivas da infraestrutura de transportes e da logística no Brasil. BNDES 60 Anos - Perspectivas Setoriais, 2(1), 235-270.)
	Inadequate professional training	Shortage of professionals with quantitative training and less experience than peers in other countries (experience of 11 years in Brazil versus 20 years in the US - Ferreira, 2013Ferreira, L. J. (2013). Perfil do Profissional de Logística no Brasil. In XIX Fórum Internacional de Supply Chain. Rio de Janeiro: ILOS.)

Interview	Interviewee’s location	Means used	Duration (minutes)	Pages transcribed	No. of verbalizations
Interview 1	Brazil	Face-to-face	62	21	76
Interview 2	Peru	Video conference	40	14	34
Interview 3	Brazil	Face-to-face	38	12	43
Interview 4	USA	Video conference	75	32	71
Interview 5	Brazil	Video conference	50	19	41
Interview 6	Brazil	Video conference	53	14	39
Interview 7	Europe	Video conference	43	15	45
Interview 8	Brazil	Conference call	40	15	29

	E1	E2	E3	E4	E5	E6	E7	E8	TT
Brazilian Culture
Flexible Adventure: traits related mainly to the flexibility and plasticity of Brazilian culture and consequently to the main characteristics of the “adventurous character”	6	1	7	17	0	7	6	6	50
Bureaucratic Formalization: recurrent characteristics and situations in the discourses that are associated with formalist aspects of Brazilian culture, almost always mentioned negatively.	3	0	8	1	3	2	1	2	20
Unproductive “jeitinho”: aspects resulting from personalism and the Brazilian way of doing things, which appeared throughout the interviewee discourses, always negatively.	8	6	0	6	1	0	4	2	27
Tangent Aspects: topics that emerged spontaneously in the interviewee discourses and are complementary to the analysis of Brazilian cultural peculiarities.	4	6	1	1	1	0	1	3	17
Brazilian Infrastructure
Limiting Infrastructure: an item that brings together the main topics associated with aspects of the infrastructure of operations in Brazil, almost always criticized in the verbalizations.	11	7	10	4	3	2	7	5	49
Unfair Complexity: relevant aspects associated with the results of the Brazilian legal and tax issues in SCM, present in the interviewee statements.	9	4	6	5	3	1	4	4	36
Shortage of Professionals: presents highlighted traits in the verbalizations about the level of education and experience of SCM professionals in Brazil.	5	3	5	9	1	6	2	0	31

	Tangent Aspects	Flexible Adventure	Shortage of Professionals	Bureaucratic Formalization	Limiting Infrastructure	Unfair Complexity	Unproductive “jeitinho”
Tangent Aspects	-
Flexible Adventure	1	-
Shortage of Professionals	3	1	-
Bureaucratic Formalization	1	3	1	-
Limiting Infrastructure	2	2	2	5	-
Unfair Complexity	1	4	1	6	16	-
Unproductive “jeitinho”	3	15	1	2	2	0	-

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