Marcos Roberto Luppe

As decisões de consumo e a heurística da ancoragem: uma análise da racionalidade do processo de escolha

Ha pouca literatura sobre vieses relacionados ao processo de escolha em decisoes de consumo. Um desses vieses e o da ancoragem, isto e, a adocao de um referencial, logico ou nao, que direciona a escolha dos individuos. Este artigo tem por objetivo identificar e analisar os efeitos da ancoragem no processo decisorio dos consumidores em relacao a percepcao e a estimacao dos precos de produtos e servicos. Foi conduzido um experimento com os alunos de graduacao da Faculdade de Economia, Administracao e Contabilidade da Universidade de Sao Paulo. O modelo do experimento envolveu tres grupos de uma mesma populacao. O grupo de calibragem gerou estimativas sobre o preco de produtos e servicos sem nenhuma mencao a âncoras. Os outros dois grupos desenvolveram estimativas apos julgarem uma âncora selecionada a partir da distribuicao das estimativas do grupo de calibragem. Verificou-se que os referenciais com valores menores ancoram mais fortemente a opiniao dos consumidores. Esses resultados trazem relevantes implicacoes para a definicao de politicas de precos nas empresas de varejo brasileiras. Sinteticamente, este trabalho indica que as tecnicas tradicionais de precificacao nao esgotam as possibilidades de politicas de precos.

The effects of the anchoring heuristic on Brazilian consumer decisions: ananalysis of the choice process

The objective of this paper is to analyze how individuals process and evaluate information in order to make choices. The dynamics of the decision-making process give rise to the use of true or false references, which have been given the suggestive name of anchors. Using a method proposed by Jacowitz and Kahneman, this paper analyzes how an arbitrary number presented to an individual is able to alter judgment on the price of a given product or service. The results indicate that complex mental processes condition the evaluation of perfectly defined entities, such as the type of goods or a commonly used service.

Franquia empresarial: um estudo das características do relacionamento entre franqueadores e franqueados no Brasil

Nowadays, in Brazil, franchising is an option frequently taken in the goods and services consumption market. A complex relationship is established between two different companies. The franchisor control over the potential sources of conflict within the franchise relationship seems to be a relevant factor for its continuity in the long term. Therefore, the objectives of the study are to identify characteristics of franchising in Brazil and to analyze relevant aspects of the franchisor-franchisee relationship, identifying critical factors in the management of the franchise system and the relationship among the level of satisfaction, the duration of operation and the industry. This research was divided in two parts. At first, the franchisors were selected and interviewed and, after that, the franchisees were chosen and asked to answer to an online questionnaire. In total, the sample included 41 franchisors and 270 franchisees of six different business segments. The data analyses revealed characteristics of the franchisor-franchisee relationship, especially those related to brand value, marketing management, communication inside the franchise system and satisfaction with franchising. After all, by the use of the multivariate technique of correspondence analysis, it was possible to verify the relative association between the kind of industry and the level of satisfaction of the franchisee, but the inexistence of any relation between this and the duration of the business operation.

Brazilian franchisor: Entry and operation of internationalized franchise

This study aimed to compare the entry and operations strategies of franchisors of developed countries into foreign countries with Brazilian counterparts. Were there significant differences? An exploratory study was conducted with 16 international franchisors operating in Brazil and 31 Brazilian franchisors operating abroad. The results show that international franchisors operating abroad prefer to use a subsidiary in the destination country. At the same time, this strategy is little used by Brazilian franchisors, which prefer the strategy of direct franchises. For data collection, 47 directors or managers of the international expansion of Brazilian companies and the expansion directors of the international companies which operates in Brazil were interviewed. Although more expensive, the subsidiary in the target country offers greater control over the expansion of business reducing the problems caused by the distance of the country of origin. For the management of franchisors, this paper points out that the subsidiary is a natural evolution of entry and operation mode when it is desired or it is needed to control the expansion of networks in other countries. Thus, managers of franchisors in emerging countries should carefully examine the subsidiary option in the target country when their company considers accelerating international growth.

A five-year hedonic price breakdown for desktop personal computer attributes in Brazil

The purpose of this article is to identify the attributes that discriminate the prices of personal desktop computers. We employ the hedonic price method in evaluating such characteristics. This approach allows market prices to be expressed as a function, a set of attributes present in the products and services offered. Prices and characteristics of up to 3,779 desktop personal computers offered in the IT pages of one of the main Brazilian newspapers were collected from January 2003 to December 2007. Several specifications for the hedonic (multivariate) linear regression were tested. In this particular study, the main attributes were found to be hard drive capacity, screen technology, main board brand, random memory size, microprocessor brand, video board memory, digital video and compact disk recording devices, screen size and microprocessor speed. These results highlight the novel contribution of this study: the manner and means in which hedonic price indexes may be estimated in Brazil.

Análise da evolução das empresas supermercadistas brasileiras no período de 2002 a 2006

A partir da decada de 1990, a estabilidade economica, aliada ao avanco tecnologico, a globalizacao e ao surgimento de novos formatos, alterou significativamente a forma de o varejo supermercadista operar no Brasil, exigindo o aprimoramento da gestao operacional dessas empresas. As transformacoes descritas estimularam a concentracao do mercado, porem o modo como as empresas estao agrupadas em funcao de determinados indicadores ainda desperta duvida. O presente trabalho implementa tecnicas de ANACOR e HOMALS em grupos supermercadistas brasileiros, com o intuito de analisar o impacto de tres indicadores no comportamento dessas empresas. Para o desenvolvimento deste trabalho, utilizaram-se os dados secundarios provenientes do ranking das maiores empresas supermercadistas atuantes no Brasil entre 2002 e 2006. Foram coletados dados referentes a regiao em que a sede da empresa esta instalada, faturamento por check-out, faturamento por m2 e faturamento por funcionario, dos anos de 2002 a 2006.