Flávio Régio Brambilla

How knowledge flows in university-industry relations: An overview from two economic sectors in Brazil

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to characterize the knowledge flow between companies and universities based on national and sectoral systems of innovation perspective. It is argued here that high-tech sectors can describe a knowledge flow mainly based on scientific research, while sectors with lower technological impact may establish relations based on technical needs. Design/methodology/approach – A case study research was conducted in the horticulture and aerospace sectors in Brazil. Thirteen interviews were performed with chief executive officer’s and academic researchers from both fields. Findings – Results demonstrated differences in technology development and knowledge infrastructure when comparing both sectors, reflecting the impacts of national and sectoral systems of innovation. The horticulture sector presented technological limitations due to restricted eating habits, logistics, knowledge development at universities and difficulties on the establishment of partnerships between local comp...

THE INFLUENCE OF WEBSITE SIGNALING IN PERCEIVED QUALITY AND INTENTION TO BUY ON INTERNET SERVICES

Este artigo tem como objetivo verificar a influência da sinalização de websites na qualidade percebida e na intenção de compra de serviços na internet. Para isso, um experimento foi conduzido a partir da definição de uma empresa fictícia de serviços e do desenvolvimento de websites com diferentes níveis de qualidade e investimento. Os canais digitais foram acessados, o serviço analisado e, posteriormente, avaliado. Resultados provenientes de ANOVA e testes de correlação confirmaram que a plataforma digital tem força de sinalização e influência sobre a qualidade percebida e intenção de compra de um consumidor que julga um serviço on-line. A teoria base para a elaboração do estudo foi a Sinalização da Qualidade, que foi aplicada para análise experimental em um grupo de universitários, qual resultou em 135 questionários válidos.

Phenomenology and Ethnomethodology as Interpretive Research Perspectives for Complex Service Features: An Abstract

The marketing area is traditionally built in the positivist perspective, as the methodological background makes evident. Although appropriate for the general market perspectives, the quantitative techniques fail in the identification of very sensitive and specific details in the context that sometimes matter. The field details are poorly perceived in service settings. This academic research, positioned in the interpretive perspective by Burrell and Morgan (1979), proposes phenomenological and ethnomethodological procedures as a way to explore in a qualitative perspective the understanding of service details related to consumer behaviours, specially in the notions of relationship marketing, service co-creation, and service failure recovery. As mentioned by Edvardson et al. (2011), the social service systems deal strongly with the notion of value-in-social context, indicating that exploring phenomenological and ethnomethodological research consists in a way to contribute to service marketing context. Phenomenology can be seen as a qualitative research, which intends to explore human experience (Ehrich 2005). The most important authors of the phenomenological movement were Franz Brentano, Edmund Husserl, and Martin Heidegger. Other important contributors are Karl Jaspers, Max Scheler, Maurice Merleua-Ponty, Jean Paul Sartre, and Gabriel Marcel (Sanders 1982). As a philosophy in the late nineteenth century, phenomenology emerged as a reaction to the dominant scientific paradigm, the positivist (Ehrich 2005). Burrell and Morgan (1979) position this perspective of science in their interpretive quadrant paradigm. The notion of ethnomethodology deals with the everyday life situations, as the case of service context. Many strategies were adopted to build the ethnomethodological research, for example, the meaning of communications and conversation analysis (Sacks 1992; Flick 2009). Garfinkel (2006) mentions that the purpose of this orientation is the explanation of daily actions that are executed in ordinary everyday life. People that are part of the context can give better descriptions and explanations about the environmental practices, procedures, and behaviors. Burrell and Morgan (1979) emphasize that real life is part of a singular social life context. The general way to act sometimes provides important details for study than the results itself, for example: behavior of service providers to identify the real service quality. The ethnomethodological research chooses the immersion in social interactions for the construction of meaning. In this way, Carolillo et al. (2008) understand this research approach as a way to better understand the reality, which emerges from the individual and collective experience. Daft and Weick (2005) mention the possible procedures as a system of meaning, which only makes sense in the real-life context. Ehrich (2005, p. 8) states that “the contribution of phenomenology is its ability to uncover and unravel the essence of lived experience” that has the potential to understand the management phenomena as a practice and a process that the human dimension is central. The same observation of the author is valid for ethnomethodology. These methods can contribute to the evolution of the marketing field, especially in the service arena. The development of new perspectives for collection and analysis of qualitative data is a challenge to researchers. Even challenging, choosing of these alternatives is a methodological way to obtain information that can contribute to marketing.

An Experimental Study on the Effect of E-Servicescape in Quality Signals in Websites: An Abstract

Several studies have sought to investigate the potential of marketing efforts as a tool for quality signals (Kirmani and Rao 2000). Harris and Goode (2010) present a model of e-servicescape from dimensions of websites that influence the customer’s perceptions about products and services offered on the Internet. The development of an experiment is aimed to verify the relationship of cause and effect between variables. The procedure includes the development of platforms with different quality levels (high, medium, and low). The channels were accessed and analyzed by students and then assessed the credibility of the signal (quality signals). The theory of quality signals is based on the assumption that, in the negotiating process, the parties involved have access to different amounts of information (Akerlof 1970). This situation is recognized as scenarios of “information asymmetry” (Kirmani and Rao 2000). The greater the asymmetry of information and the difficulty in identifying the customer a quality product at the time of purchase, the greater the relevance of the company transmitting signals to consumers about the quality (Rao; Qu; Ruekert 1999). Harris and Goode (2010) e-servicescape model presents three dimensions that result in perception of quality digital environment organizations: aesthetic appeal, design/functionality, and financial security/environment. The guidelines of the platforms were signed from theoretical references of Harris and Goode (2010) model. The website with the highest quality with excellence should encompass all dimensions of the model. The website of average quality contemplates the dimensions with less force. The low quality neglected the majority of elements. The characterization of service and brand was created with the objective of having control of their effects on the prior knowledge by the consumer. Undergraduate students were chosen as the sample. According to Hair et al. (2005), 30 observations are sufficient to perform the analysis of variance (ANOVA); however, due to the intention of greater consistency in the database, it has reached the number of 40 observations per treatment. Regarding exposure to the websites, there was a total balance in the number of participants in each treatment. Forty individuals (33.3 %) were exposed to high-quality website, 40 individuals (33.3 %) to medium-quality website, and the other 40 subjects (33.3 %) were exposed to low-quality website (n = 120). The H1 hypothesis relates to the measurement of differences from the website with the factor dependent on the credibility of the signal that was observed from the ANOVA test of a factor variable. With F 370.1 and p < 0.05, reject the null hypothesis and confirm that there are significant differences between the means of the credibility of the signal groups in relation to treatments. Tukey’s test, in which the groups are compared pairwise, demonstrated that the differences between means were also significant among themselves. Thus, confirming the hypothesis that the perception of investment or credibility of the signal is perceived as a significant difference in websites of different qualities. The second hypothesis (H2) suggested that the e-servicescape is positively related to the credibility of the signal of the website. Pearson correlation was considered significant (level below 0.01). The correlation coefficient (r) shows that there is a strong association (r = 0.92) between the variable x (e-servicescape) and the variation in another variable y (website credibility of the signal); an increase in e-servicescape is accompanied by an increase in the perception of the sign of the investment website, thus, confirming the second hypothesis of the study (H2). The results are important theoretically because they meet other studies that verify the digital platforms of organizations as signaling elements of the quality on the Internet.

Challenges of institutional communication and positioning in the tobacco market given sector restrictions

Several countries support the World Health Organization (WHO), through the Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (FCTC), in initiatives aimed at consumption and tobacco production restriction. Among these countries is Brazil. The adoption of smoke-free laws resulted in the formation of a split scenario in the south. In the state of Rio Grande do Sul, Santa Catarina and Paraná (Brazil), located in hundreds of communities that have, in tobacco culture, the basis of its economy. The amount of 651 is producing counties, 650,000 people working in rural areas and 30,000 jobs generated in the urban area. Considering the economic importance of the activity, this article seeks to examine how corporate communication operates in the position before the political and social constraints faced by the sector. Therefore, there was a study of a single case of an exporter of Tobacco Company from Rio Grande do Sul, a state in Brazil. The research presents economic data and description of the antismoking movement to contextualize the market situation. The theoretical foundations are discussed and compared to the strategies adopted by the company. Interviews with employees of the communications sector and printed materials (newsletters, newspapers, magazines and advertisements) subsidized the data for analysis. Through the Adequacy Standard Method, there was a convergence of concepts defended by authors from the fields of communication and marketing to institutional actions. It was identified that the sector companies are facing difficulties in communication and positioning in the market related to tobacco restrictions.

AS EXPECTATIVAS DA GERAÇÃO Y EM RELAÇÃO AO MERCADO DE TRABALHO

A Geracao Y vem quebrando paradigmas, alterando o rumo das empresas e provocando muitas controversias entre o antigo e o novo modelo de gestao. Eles estao gerando conflitos, discutindo as decisoes das empresas e questionando as culturas organizacionais. Este estudo teve por objetivo identificar as expectativas da Geracao Y em relacao ao mercado de trabalho, atraves da apresentacao de uma analise descritiva de resultados proveniente de uma pesquisa quantitativa aplicada a 33 colaboradores de uma empresa do ramo de varejo em tecnologia, na cidade de Porto Alegre/RS. Identificou-se grandes divergencias neste grupo pesquisado, mas, ao mesmo tempo, convergencia quanto ao que a literatura sobre a Geracao Y apresenta. Destaca-se que estes jovens tem grande interesse em planejar sua carreira, procuram trabalhar em um ambiente criativo, ter qualidade de vida e fundamental, o reconhecimento de sue lider quanto ao seu trabalho e muito importante e eles buscam ter uma boa relacao com seus lideres. DOI: 10.18226/23190639.v4n1.01

Self-determination Theory and the Influence of Extrinsic and Intrinsic Motivation for the Value Co-creation Measurement: A Proposition for a Higher Education Service Quality Scale

Since the advances established in the 1980s by the SERVQUAL scale to the services quality measurement (Parasuraman et al. 1985, 1988, 1991), many important perspectives improved the service literature background. One of the most cited nowadays is the service dominant logic of marketing, putting the service as the core feature in the transaction systems (Vargo and Lusch 2004). One of the fundamental premises is the customer as a value co-creator in any situation, even motivated by internal or external forces. The self perspective of action is related to intrinsic motivation, related to inner cooperation (from the inside determination). The opposite force in this continuum is the extrinsic motivation, related to some external influence such as increasing in the career or even money prizes. In the educational sector we can compare from the desire to learn to the focus on grades.

The Effects of Quality Signals Through Website Context Based on Trust in the Internet Service

Buyers and sellers involved in a transaction have access to different amounts of information related to the quality of a product or service (Spence 1973). This phenomenon is recognized as “asymmetric information”. The uncertainties arising from asymmetric information about a product potentialize the problem recognized as “adverse selection”. To avoid adverse selection organizations must invest in quality signals. Wells, Valacich and Hess (2011) suggest that quality signals to the buyer in internet could be presented through the site conditions on the organization’s website. This research follows a descriptive and causal approach, to establish through an experiment the cause–effect relations between investment in organization’s website and confidence about the service on the internet. Wells, Valacich and Hess (2011) suggest that a potentially credible signal of quality to the buyer on the Internet could provide a very good condition to the consumer believe in the organization’s website content. Schlosser, White and Lloyd (2006) argue that investment in the website of an organization could influence the perceptions of online buyers. H1: The investment of a service organization in the development of website can be recognized by consumers on the internet.

MANAGEMENT OF CUSTOMER RELATIONSHIP MANAGEMENT (CRM) TECHNOLOGICAL ATTRIBUTES IN BRAZIL: A B2B RELATIONSHIP IN THE SOFT-WARE-MEDIA DEVELOPMENT SECTOR

Customer Relationship Management (CRM) represents a technological application based on the philosophy of Relationship Marketing and it recommends the interaction with high value consumers. Relating CRM to new social technologies, CRM 2.0 or social CRM deals with the relationship between companies and customers using online platforms such as blogs, RSS, forums and social network sites, among other facilities. Through a comparative study based on qualitative indicators, this article draws a relationship between CRM theory and practice. In two high technology organizations it was identified that, although the indicators are appropriate to the business practices, their usage and understanding are oriented by the nature of businesses and by the company characteristics. Empirical results show that technology structure, data collection and analysis tools and interactive sales tools favor CRM. In this paper, four variables are treated theoretically and empirically: Information Technology; Information tools, where the Database and the Storage of Debugged Data are included; Data Mining; and, the Sales Force Automation Facilities.

Purchase behavior of women in the bags and accessories segment

The sector of womens accessories including jewelry , handbags, belts, wallets and scarves, products that are attractive to women and moves on the infor mal economy. The overall female audience, which is basically divided between the housewives, executives, athletes, university students, among others, needs and desires converge in this potentia l segment. For the direct sales activity, a good 1 Bacharel em Administração pela Universidade Luteran a do Brasil-ULBRA, Brasil. Contato: amanda.feck@gmail.com 2 Bacharel em Administração pela Universidade Luteran a do Brasil-ULBRA, Mestre em Administração e Negócios pela Pontifícia Universidade Católica do Rio Grande do Sul-PUCRS, Douto rado em Administração pela Universidade do Vale do Rio dos SinosUNISINOS, Professor do PPGA da Universidade de Sant a Cruz do Sul-UNISC, Brasil. Contato: flaviobrambilla@terra.com.br 3 Bacharel em Administração pela Universidade Regional I tegrada do Alto Uruguai-URI, Mestrado em Administ ração pela Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Sul-UFRGS, Bras il. Contato: eduardobasso@gmail.com Comportamento de compra do público feminino no segm ento de bolsas e acessórios Revista Capital Científico – Eletrônica (RCCe) – ISSN 2177-4153 – Vol. 12 n.4 – Outubro/Dezembro 2014. Recebido em 10/11/2013 – Aprovado em 15/06/2014 – Publicado em 30/12/2014. network of contacts and relationships is important, d nurture the entrepreneurial salesperson who is participating in small events and meetings that m y arise in business. Through the use of a survey research, was addressed the issue of women buying b ehavior within this context. The results indicate different patterns of purchase, basically referring to three basic profiles of consumers: low intensity, moderate consumption and high consumptio n of non-priority items as addressed in this investigation. Future studies can replicate the met hodology to identify new elements or to consolidate the results obtained. The study limitat ion is related to the application only in the city of Porto Alegre, Rio Grande do Sul (Brazil). Key-words: Shopping, Consumer Behavior, Female Consumption, S urvey.