Resumo em Inglês:

Abstract The objective of this study is to analyze the relationship between absorptive capacity, intellectual capital and innovation. The main purpose of this research is to demonstrate that absorptive capacity can leverage the relation between intellectual capital and innovation potential. The method was a single case study using exploratory and descriptive research strategies and applying both quantitative and qualitative techniques. The case study investigated was a Brazilian corporation that has been doing business in the paper and corrugated cardboard industry for 72 years. The paper describes a case analysis demonstrating that adoption of practices associated with absorptive capacity has potential to foster intellectual capital, which is particularly important for development of innovations. These practices include assimilation of new technologies; creating capacity to utilize existing internal knowledge held by employees; use of benchmarking; application of technical knowledge; and registration of patents. Triangulation of data provided evidence confirming that the relationship between absorptive capacity and intellectual capital is a driver of innovation in the firm investigated. Additionally, this relationship is better explained by the mediating role of absorptive capacity, which is capable of potentiating intellectual capital to foster innovation.

Resumo em Inglês:

Abstract This study explores the willingness of service providers to incorporate changes suggested by clients altering previously planned services during its delivery, hereby named Willingness to Change in Services [WCS]. We apply qualitative research techniques to map seven dimensions related to this phenomenon: Client relationship management; Organizational conditions for change; Software characteristics and development; Conditions affecting teams; Administrative procedures and decision-making conditions; Entrepreneurial behavior; Interaction with supporting organizations. These dimensions have been converted into variables composing a WCS scale later submitted to theoretical and semantic validations. A scale with 26 variables resulted from such procedures was applied on a large survey carried out with 351 typical Brazilian software development service companies operating all over the country. Data from our sample have been submitted to multivariate statistical analysis to provide validation for the scale. After factorial analysis procedures, 24 items have been validated and assigned to three factors representative of WCS: Organizational Routines and Values - 12 variables; Organizational Structure for Change - 6 variables; and Service Specificities - 6 variables. As future contributions, we expect to see further testing for the WCS scale on alternative service activities to provide evidence about its limits and contributions to general service innovation theory.

Resumo em Inglês:

Abstract Governance structures are described as a spectrum with the market and vertical integration as its poles. During the past decades, the theoretical and empirical work aligned with New Institutional Economics sought to understand the factors that determine which transactions will run through the market and which will run within the firms. However, the existence of plural forms of institutional arrangements in the same productive chain defies logic theories that study the vertical borders of the firms. Thus, the goal of this article is to investigate these plural forms in the Free Contracting Environment of the Brazilian Electricity Industry. We used a qualitative approach and resorted to a case study strategy in order to understand the adoption of distinct governance structures within a single transaction. Our analysis suggests five propositions that can be tested. Theses propositions are related to manager’s background, market price volatility, legal delays, type of ownership and institutional environment, and effects of innovation on the governance structure.

Resumo em Inglês:

Abstract This study examines how companies can achieve high performance through certain organizational behaviors (open-mindedness and social networks) and innovation. The impact of open-mindedness in defiance of basic assumptions and processes could motivate the use of internal and external networks. These social networks are the cornerstone for the creation of knowledge and the construction of radical innovations, which in turn trigger the transformation new knowledge into organizational performance. We use structural equation modelling (SEM) to test our research model and hypotheses in a sample of 324 companies from the Brazilian industrial sector. Data were collected by a regular mail survey. The study brings a proper understanding that radical innovations play a crucial role for organizational performance in emerging economies. Results also show that open-mindedness is associated with both internal networks and external social networks. In addition, the external social network mediates the effects of open-mindedness on the internal social network. Finally, external social networks have an indirect influence on radical innovations, through internal social networks, and a direct effect on organizational performance.

Resumo em Inglês:

Abstract This article presents the perception of human resource (HR) top managers at strategic level in Brazilian corporations regarding labor union activity. It is a quantitative study about the perception of 354 experienced HR top managers on the unionization of employees, influence of the union on the organization, recognition of the union for labor negotiations and the existence of an advisory committee (workers’ council) within organizations. The theoretical approach addresses both the fields of study on HR and Industrial Relations (IR). The research shows low unionization and management perceptions that unions have little influence on organizations. On the other hand, the HR managers recognize the union influence for collective bargaining purposes and for defining general terms of employment. These contradictions are related to the fact that collective bargaining is mandatory in Brazilian legislation. In general terms of employment, Brazilian legislation is too rigid, prescriptive and detailed. This strong state of regulation reserves to the union an automatic participation in the negotiation process with employers, although this trade union action is somehow inefficient. In this scenario, the perception of HR managers of a relative union influence, although inefficient, is an expected consequence.

Resumo em Inglês:

Abstract The concept of career has an interdisciplinary and historical constitution, which includes persons, groups, organizations and society. Given that, we aim to deepen the interactionist notion of career from the understanding of a deviant path, supported by a theory and a method appropriated to the cited call for interdisciplinary approaches. Dilemmas (Hughes, 1958) and conflicts (Hughes, 1937) emerged as important analytical categories. Although necessary, these two concepts were not sufficient to contemplate analyses in their entirety. For this reason we conceptualized a third possibility of controversy during a career: the inquiries. The study followed the Narrative method to analyze objective and subjective changes during a tattoo artist’s career through interviews and informal conversations carried out over 22 months. The discussion presents three main contributions. Theoretically, a new understanding of the concept of careers, linking past, present and future and the idea of non-linearity of experienced and envisioned careers. Methodologically, suggesting orientations for future career studies such as the use of turning points as a methodological tool and the investigation of deviant fields. Finally, our defense of the interactionist perspective as suitable for career studies, since it allows the investigation of deviant elements.

Resumo em Inglês:

Abstract Research on the relationship between social responsibility and the financial performance of companies has yielded ambivalent results. Since investments on different areas of social responsibility can promote distinct outcomes, in this study we focus on internal corporate social responsibility (I-CSR), that is, investments on employees. The objective of the study is to verify if outlays on I-CSR affect organizational performance. We analyzed financial information from companies listed in the São Paulo Stock Exchange, and their social balance sheets filled with the Brazilian Institute of Social and Economic Analysis between 2001 and 2007, applying Two-Stage Least Squares (2SLS) equation model to minimize endogeneity and reverse causality problems. The results indicate that overall I-CSR was associated with revenue contemporarily, one and two years after the investments. Corporate outlays on healthcare, pension plans, employee education and profit-sharing all had positive effects on revenue in the years that followed such investments.