The Brazilian market is intensely competitive in certain industrial segments but its scale of global production is small compared with that of the USA, Europe and Japan. Though leaders in their respective markets, several companies, including the manufacturers of road and railway equipment for freight transportation, must develop business and production strategies that can compete effectively in an environment characterized by: 1) the manufacture of a wide range of products aimed at ensuring large total production volumes; 2) competition in distinct markets from the standpoint of manufactured product lines; and 3) in many cases, competition from smaller competitors focusing on specific product lines. This paper reports on a study and analysis of issues relating to the production strategy of companies with diversified product lines. The theoretical reference presents concepts of production strategy, based on the method proposed by Hayes et al. (2005), to analyze the corporate production strategy. To enrich the concepts of Hayes et al. (2005), we consider not only the notion of Operation Value Networks (OVNs) instead of the classical decision categories but also the concept of core competencies. The notion of OVNs provides a systemic view of value flow that makes it easy to understand the company and the business unit and contributes to the formulation of the company production strategy. The concept of core competencies, in turn, favors the identification of the company's core points that provide greater added value for customers. Pursuant to the construction of the theoretical reference, a critical discussion is presented of the Randon case, followed by a critical analysis of our case study, discussing the core competencies of Randon Implementos and establishing the main leverages and points of improvement for selected product lines based on the analysis of the respective OVNs. This dissertation also highlights the need for in-depth analyses of issues relating to the production strategies of manufacturers of diversified product lines. With regard to strategic decisions, the company must be considered as a whole, while diversified product lines should be considered separately. Based on evidence that diversified lines compete with differentiated market aspects and characteristics, it is reasonable to assume that a single production strategy cannot be adopted homogeneously for all product lines. Therefore, an overall analysis is required that is systemic, complementary and unified, interrelating generic aspects of OVNs with the company's core competencies as a whole, and with specific aspects of the OVN and the competencies of specific product lines.
production strategy; operation value networks; core competencies; decision categories
