This study has been carried out to verify how chief executives of small firms' interpretive schemes, in the State of Paraná, Brazil, clothing and food industries, have actuated as mediators of the strategic positioning of these organizations in the face of technical and institutional environmental pressures, from 1998 to 2001. The survey research method was used examining 72 small firms' of both the above appointed industries. Data, obtained through a questionnaire and specialized publications consults, were treated in a descriptive-quantitative perspective, by means of cluster analysis procedures. The analysis of the gathered data allowed confirming the basic hypothesis that different groups of entrepreneurs adopt diverse strategic positioning in the face of equivalent environmental conditions and pressures, therefore showing the validity of the theoretical propositions resulting from institutional theory perspective and the cognitive approach of strategy.
organizational strategy; environmental context; interpretive schemes; institutional theory
