Cesar Alexandre de Souza

RFID adoption: framework and survey in large Brazilian companies

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to provide a framework for radio frequency identification (RFID) technology adoption considering company size and five dimensions of analysis: RFID applications, expected benefits business drivers or motivations barriers and inhibitors, and organizational factors.Design/methodology/approach – A framework for RFID adoption derived from literature and the practical experience on the subject is developed. This framework provides a conceptual basis for analyzing a survey conducted with 114 companies in Brazil.Findings – Many companies have been developing RFID initiatives in order to identify potential applications and map benefits associated with their implementation. The survey highlights the importance business drivers in the RFID implementation stage, and that companies implement RFID focusing on a few specific applications. However, there is a weak association between expected benefits and business challenges with the current level of RFID technology adoption in Bra...

Case studies of digital participatory budgeting in Latin America: models for citizen engagement

This article presents the study of the relationship between information and communication technologies (ICTs) and local governance in Latin America, mainly using the internet for participatory processes, such as the experiences of Digital Participatory Budget (DPB), purposing the direct participation of citizens in setting priorities in public investment. The methodology used was the literature research on key concepts, followed by the discussion of the relationship between local governance and citizen participation and the presentation of experiences that produced findings on the impacts of the use of ICTs in participatory processes. Four Brazilian cases (Porto Alegre, Ipatinga, Belo Horizonte and Recife), one Peruvian (Miraflores) and one from Argentina (BellaVista) are presented and related challenges to local governance in identifying their real capabilities of building a new relationship between government policy and society in Latin American regions is discussed. Through the use of the Internet, these participatory government budgets can increase citizen participation and allow thousands of people deciding the allocation of public investment. This research considers that the use of ICTs, especially the Internet, can be a promoter of citizenship and citizen participation. However, this promotion may be limited by the condition of access to these technologies and the depth and quality of information available to citizens that would undermine the enjoyment of the rights of citizens.

Using internet to promote the transparency and fight corruption: Latin American transparency portals

The right to social control of the government refers to the monitoring of the formulation of policies and initiatives of government by citizens and their social organizations. This category of rights creates conditions for the establishment of relations of trust between rulers and the ruled and gives legitimacy to actions by the people. The initiatives that are the right are the benefits of accounts and disclosure of government activities. The right to social control depends substantially on access and availability of governmental information. With the use of ICT, social control of government can be encouraged by the possibility of facilitating access to information, primarily using the Internet. The Internet is a fast, relatively low cost and easy medium to use for enhancing the promotion of this right. Examples of government initiatives to promote transparency are Transparency portals. The Transparency Portals, which are present in several Latin American countries, provide access to public information especially in relation to public spending. This article examines the possibilities of using portals to promote the transparency and social control of public management as well as citizen participation. The study adopted a methodology based on survey through structured observation of the following Latin American portals: Transparency Portal, at Baja California, Mexico; Transparency Portal, in São Carlos, Brazil; Portal Transparency, in the municipality of Caçapava, in Brazil; the Transparency Portal, Trujillo, Peru; Transparent Rio, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil and the Transparency Portal, Federal Government of Brazil.

Management practices and influences on IT architecture decisions: a case study in a telecom company

The study aims to analyze the IT architecture management practices associated with their degree of maturity and the influence of institutional and strategic factors on the decisions involved through a case study in a large telecom organization. The case study allowed us to identify practices that led the company to its current stage of maturity and identify practices that can lead the company to the next stage. The strategic influence was mentioned by most respondents and the institutional influence was present in decisions related to innovation and those dealing with a higher level of uncertainties.

Anti-corruption online monitoring systems in Brazil

Since the development of electronic government, the main area using information and communication technologies in governments were financial control and tax payment. However, recently, this scenario has been changing and new forms of ICT have been used. One of this new form is the anti-corruption online monitoring systems. It is a new channel where all of information about governments is published on transparency portals and there is a complex system to receive inquires and charges, kind of ombudsman through the Internet. It was conducted an exploratory study of sub-national initiatives from Court of Accounts to find initiatives and a structured review of websites. The States Courts of Accounts are the entity responsible to control State Governments in Brazil. The final considerations reveals what are the limits and challenges of anti-corruption online monitoring systems have in terms of technological use, as web 2.0, social networks and others innovations perceived on the international literature review.

Qualidade do relato dos procedimentos metodológicos em periódicos nacionais na área de administração de empresas: o caso da modelagem em equações estruturais nos periódicos nacionais entre 2001 e 2010

Esta pesquisa teve o objetivo de avaliar a qualidade da descricao dos procedimentos metodologicos de artigos que utilizaram a modelagem em equacoes estruturais (MEE), incluindo a analise fatorial confirmatoria e a path analysis, e que foram publicados na RAE, RAUSP, REAd, O&S, RAC e RAE-eletronica entre 2001 e 2010. A partir da revisao da literatura metodologica, foi elaborado um check list para avaliar as treze etapas da MEE, sendo validado com 33 especialistas. Os principais resultados da analise de 68 artigos encontrados foram: a impossibilidade de replicar os estudos devido a falta de informacoes e o uso de estrategias exploratorias sem a posterior validacao. Por outro lado, a justificativa do metodo utilizado e a explicacao das implicacoes teoricas dos resultados sao aspectos que tem sido atendidos plenamente. O check list foi um importante subproduto desta pesquisa, pois, a partir dele, sao propostas novas linhas de investigacao e ate mesmo seu uso como ferramenta didatica.

Big-bang, small-bangs ou fases: estudo dos aspectos relacionados ao modo de início de operação de sistemas ERP

The choice of the implementation approach of an integrated management system is an important decision at the project implementation. It significantly influences the system configuration, allocation of resources, management of the project and its risks. The implementation approach mode plays a decisive role in all stages of the systems life cycle. Herein are addressed the different modes to start the operation of ERP (Enterprise Resource Planning) systems: big-bang, small-bangs and the phased implementation, as well as their advantages and disadvantages. The work also reports on the results achieved by an exploratory research carried out in 53 Brazilian companies, users of the R/3 system by SAP. These results infer how the companys and the projects characteristics affect the decision on the implementation approach and how they relate to the time required to implement the system.

INICIATIVAS DE GOVERNO ELETRÔNICO: ANÁLISE DAS RELAÇÕES ENTRE NÍVEL DE GOVERNO E CARACTERÍSTICAS DOS PROJETOS EM CASOS DE SUCESSO

This paper aims to analyze successful cases of Information Technology and Communication (ICT) implementation in public administration. It describes the characteristics of e-government initiatives and their evolution in recent years, and identifies relationships between the characteristics of e-government initiatives. This research is characterized by being an exploratory study, in which successful cases, extracted from an observatory of practices of ICT in public administration, were analyzed. We analyzed 65 cases of successful e-government initiatives that contributed to the understanding of this topic in Brazil. As a result, we identified a relationship involving level of government and the sector where the application was developed. The survey found that most of the awarded initiatives come from the southeast region of Brazil. Administration sectors were privileged with more e-government initiatives and there was a difference in the pattern of e-government implementation in Municipalities and States. Municipalities implemented more initiatives relating to the social care sector and States more initiatives in the health care sector. On the other hand, we found no relationship involving level of government and categories or types of e-government initiatives.

Internet use for social control and participation: what are local governments doing in Latin America?

This paper will show the use of information and communication technologies (ICTs) in local governments of Latin America to support electronic governance based on the Internet. The paper methodology of analysis is divided in two steps: i) Series of case studies from local governments in Latin America based in structured inspection sites. ii) Analysis and identification of features in these governmental websites found (forums, transparency portals, digital participatory budgeting and others) and its results in promoting the rights of to be heard, to participation on public management and social control of the government, both identified in a literature review carried out earlier. Therewith, from these rights an assessment was made of the limits and possibilities from the features found of the websites.

COMPRAS ELETRÔNICAS GOVERNAMENTAIS: UMA AVALIAÇÃO DOS SITES DE E-PROCUREMENT DOS GOVERNOS ESTADUAIS BRASILEIROS

One of the electronic government applications that has been fast developing in Brazil is e-procurement. It’s a field that allows relatively objective measuring, regarding price cuts and savings generated by the reduction of bureaucracy. This research evaluated the quality of the e-procurement portals of the 26 Brazilian state governments and also the Federal District, considering primarily features that could be useful to suppliers. In order to do so, a scoring method was developed, in which 39 items were observed and grouped into seven dimensions. On average, the results were satisfactory, but there’s yet a lot to improve – no site reached 80 points, out of 100. In all, 20 states (including the Federal District) have sites with at least a minimum structure, reaching more than 40 points in this evaluation. Only Roraima and Rondonia have no e-procurement sites, while Amapa, Maranhao, Piaui, Rio Grande do Norte and Tocantins have sites that don’t meet minimum quality standards. The results also pointed to meaningful regional differences: the three best-ranked states (Minas Gerais, Sao Paulo and Espirito Santo) are located in the Southeast region, that had an average score of 75,4. In the other extreme, the North region reached an average of just 30,4 points. These disparities may be due, in part, to the relationship verified between those scores and the Gross Domestic Product of the respective states.