Resumo em Inglês:

Stock markets have been rapidly developed around the world during the last 20 years. Accordingly, there is sincere academic interest in understanding the determinants of this phenomenon. Most studies advocate that the development of a stock market is influenced by a few individual country variables such as the origin of its legal system, enforcement of law, accounting patterns, transparency, corporate ownership structure, and the level of creditor and minority investor protection. This paper extends previous empirical literature concerning the determinants of stock market development. We built a unique sample of 50 countries, ranging from those with emerging to developed economies. From a set of 60 potential variables, 12 factors were employed using multiple regression. The research breaks new ground by using different constructs taken from financial literature, such as the Human Development Index (HDI, 2010), Managerial Skills of Entrepreneurs and Democracy of the Country. Results showed that more factors may influence the development of stock markets, such as the adaptability of firms and the openness of a country, helping avoid the multicollinearity effects that may have affected earlier studies.

Resumo em Inglês:

Manufacturing integration with other functional areas and suppliers is a key aspect for achieving sustainable competitive advantage. The objective of this study is to analyze manufacturing integration from an activity-based perspective. We hypothesize that manufacturing integration with suppliers, marketing, and R&D is positively related to profit and sales growth when it occurs simultaneously in key internal activities. We surveyed 366 companies located in the southern region of Brazil, chosen from the SEBRAE(1) database. We used structural equations modeling to address validity and reliability issues. We evaluated common method variance (CMV) with the MTMM model and used path analysis to test the structural relations. We found that all manufacturing integration aspects are positively related to sales growth, but only manufacturing-R&D integration is positively related to profitability. Therefore, managers interested in improving the performance of their plants should favor the integration between manufacturing and R&D teams, at all hierarchical levels. We did not find any evidence, however, that direct interaction between manufacturing and marketing improves performance.

Resumo em Inglês:

In the operations management field, operational practices like total quality management or just in time have been seen as a way to improve operational performance and ultimately financial performance. Empirical support for this effect of operational practices in financial performance has been, however, limited due to research design and the inherent difficulties of using performance as a dependent variable. In this paper, we tested the relationship between selected operational practices (quality management, just in time, ISO certification and services outsourcing) in financial performance outcomes of profitability and growth. A sample of 1200 firms, operating in São Paulo, Brazil, was used. Analysis using multiple regression explored the direct effect of practices and their interaction with industry dummies. Results did not support the existence of a positive relationship with financial performance. A negative relationship of outsourcing with both profitability and growth was found, supporting some critical views of the outsourcing practice. A weaker negative relationship between ISO certification and growth was also found. Some interactions between practices and industries were also significant, with mixed results, indicating that the effect of practices on performance might be context dependent.

Resumo em Inglês:

This paper describes and analyzes the Arte Baniwa project, a sustainable development project based on the production and commercialization of Baniwa indigenous basketwork with the support of the Instituto Socioambiental (ISA), a major NGO in Brazil. The project seeks to enhance the value of the Baniwa basket-making tradition, increase production within the limits of the sustainable use of natural resources, generate income for indigenous producers and their political associations, and train indigenous leadership in the skills of business management. The methodology encompasses a literature review on fair trade and builds upon ethnographic and participative research methods. The narrative and analysis of the case study comprise a framework that is two-fold: first, it looks at existing inter-organizational tiers between actors and identifies the presence of two different logics within the project; second, it encompasses the reality of many emerging fair trade initiatives in Brazil which harness market forces to pursue local sustainable development. The paper argues that ISA has acted as a boundary organization by communicating, translating and mediating between traditional (indigenous) knowledge and Western culture. By doing so, it was able to mobilize the project's capacity to promote sustainable development.

Resumo em Inglês:

A recent debate has taken place in International Human Resource Management (IHRM) theory and practice between the so-called functionalists and the critical approaches. This paper reviews the literature on mainstream, functionalist IHRM and the critical approaches, and theoretically discusses their fit to emerging countries' realities and multilatinas experience. The essay's main objectives and contributions are: (a) to argue that this debate, overly typical of the American-European context, may not be fully applicable to ambiguous and contradictory contexts, such as most developing countries and, particularly, Latin America; (b) to argue that the disputes between both functionalist and critical IHRM theorists, in equally richer countries, is inadequate for other (non-rich-involving) contexts; and (c) to propose redirection possibilities for this debate, particularly, in Latin America.

Resumo em Inglês:

The aim of this paper is to discuss the subordination of administrative theories based on market relations, which leads us to a single model of organization, namely the enterprise. This is a theoretical essay which presents eight proposals in order to contribute to management education and research that can promote knowledge building and encourage the acknowledgement of other ways of organizing, while also respecting the historical creation of different contexts. We seek to systematize the criticism from important authors of the social sciences in Brazil, to help create other options for theorizing in management studies.