Rogério Hermida Quintella

Estratégias de gestão ambiental e seus fatores determinantes: uma análise institucional

The objective of this paper is to analyze the factors that determine the environmental management strategies of industrial companies from Santa Catarina. Primary data were obtained from a questionnaire replied to by 88 companies and quantitatively analyzed by means of multiple correspondence analysis. The study showed that the internal factors that determine environmental management strategies were employee commitment and managerial support and the external factors were society demands, government regulations, adjustment to normative standards and competition. The research also indicates there is a mimetic process which the most proactive companies are still unable to avoid, denoting that there exists a degree of homogeneity in these companies’ interpretation of the institutional environment.The objective of this paper is to analyze the factors that determine the environmental management strategies of industrial companies from Santa Catarina. Primary data were obtained from a questionnaire replied to by 88 companies and quantitatively analyzed by means of multiple correspondence analysis. The study showed that the internal factors that determine environmental management strategies were employee commitment and managerial support and the external factors were society demands, government regulations, adjustment to normative standards and competition. The research also indicates there is a mimetic process which the most proactive companies are still unable to avoid, denoting that there exists a degree of homogeneity in these companies’ interpretation of the institutional environment. kEYwORDS Institutionalism, legitimacy, environmental management, strategic orientation, mimetic processes. RESUMEN El objetivo de este trabajo consiste en analizar los factores determinantes de las estrategias de gestión ambiental de las empresas industriales del estado de Santa Catarina. Los datos primarios fueron recolectados a través de un cuestionario respondido por 88 empresas y analizados cuantitativamente por medio del análisis descriptivo y de correspondencias múltiples. El estudio mostró que los factores internos determinantes de las estrategias de gestión ambiental fueron el compromiso de los colaboradores y el apoyo de los gestores y los externos, las exigencias de la sociedad, las reglamentaciones gubernamentales, la adecuación a los estándares normativos y la competencia. La investigación también apunta a un mimetismo que todavía no ha sido quebrado por las empresas más proactivas, lo que denota una homogeneidad en la interpretación del ambiente institucional de parte de las empresas. PALABRAS CLAVE Institucionalismo, legitimidad, gestión ambiental, orientación estratégica, mimetismo. Recebido em 29.05.2009. Aprovado em 23.04.2010 Avaliado pelo sistema double blind review. Editores Científicos: José Carlos Barbieri, Isabella Freitas Gouveia de Vasconcelos, Tales Andreassi e Flávio Carvalho de Vasconcelos graziELa Dias aLpErstEDt • rogÉrio HErMiDa QUiNtELLa • LUiz riCarDo soUza ISSN 0034-7590 ©RAE • São Paulo • v. 50 • n. 2 • abr./jun. 2010 • 170-186 • 171 iNtroDUÇÃo Uma das primeiras publicações importantes a tratar da necessidade de se repensar o modelo de desenvolvimento enfatizando questões ambientais foi Social Responsibilities of the Businessman, de Howard R. Bowen, em 1953 (NASCIMENTO, 2007). Todavia, a temática ambiental passou a repercutir globalmente a partir da publicação de A primavera silenciosa, de Rachel Carson, em 1962, livro que enfatiza os malefícios da utilização de pesticidas. A partir daquele momento, houve um significativo crescimento no interesse popular e gerencial a respeito da questão ambiental, paralelamente ao surgimento de legislações ambientais mais rigorosas em todo o mundo. Até esse período, a questão ambiental era compreendida estritamente como geradora de custos adicionais, não produzindo benefício visível às empresas. A segunda onda do ambientalismo corporativo foi impulsionada pelo acidente na cidade indiana de Bhopal, em 1984, causado pela emissão de gás venenoso que escapou de uma fábrica de pesticidas de propriedade da Union Carbide, de origem norte-americana, e tido com um dos piores desastres industriais da história, provocando a morte de milhares de pessoas. Após esse acidente, a visão da sociedade alterou-se de forma mais acentuada, exigindo respostas por parte das empresas. Pressionadas pelas demandas sociais, as mudanças na postura industrial na década de 1980 foram evidenciadas na multiplicação dos chamados “selos verdes”. Os primeiros “selos verdes” ainda se apoiavam em critérios simples, como a redução ou a eliminação de uma ou mais substâncias poluentes mais significativas do produto. A evolução se deu observando critérios de redução do impacto ambiental desde a produção até o descarte final, compreendendo assim o ciclo de vida dos produtos. Baseada nas questões de valor, a terceira fase desse movimento iniciou-se na década de 1990. Desde então, uma visão mais sistêmica da questão tem se tornado regra, permitido a muitas organizações constatar que os consumidores desejavam empresas que trabalhassem com base em valores ambientais, demonstrando uma nova perspectiva (ABREU, 2001). A partir desse período, tem crescido a preocupação com a forma de se fazer negócios, buscandose incluir na gestão o cuidado com o ambiente natural e o atendimento às demandas dos diversos públicos com os quais as organizações se relacionam. Apesar disso, a introdução das questões ambientais no escopo dos negócios não tem ocorrido da mesma forma nas diferentes organizações e regiões. Para Jabbour e Santos (2006), tais diferenças tendem a relacionar-se à natureza das organizações, bem como às atitudes dos seus gestores. Considerando tal constatação, parece natural que organizações de maior porte tenham distintas formas de se relacionar com essas questões quando comparadas às menores, quer por sua maior sofisticação gerencial, quer por simples diferenças de possibilidades financeiras. Nesse sentido, questionase: a) quais os fatores percebidos pelas empresas como determinantes das suas estratégias de gestão ambiental? b) existem diferenças na percepção desses aspectos em função do porte da empresa? Tendo em vista a problemática apresentada, e considerando a importância de se conhecer a realidade do estado de Santa Catarina em função de sua relevância industrial para o país, este artigo se propõe a analisar os fatores determinantes das estratégias de gestão ambiental adotadas pelas empresas industriais catarinenses. O estudo justifica-se não apenas em função da preocupação da sociedade em relação ao ambiente natural e das ações das empresas nesse campo, como também em função da carência de pesquisas empíricas que incluam empresas brasileiras de vários tamanhos e setores. De forma específica, este artigo busca atender à carência de pesquisas que incluam desde as pequenas empresas (LEE, 2009) até as grandes, propiciando uma análise a partir da perspectiva cognitiva da teoria neoinstitucional. Além desta Introdução, o artigo estrutura-se em quatro outras seções, que abordam os construtos teóricos que sustentam a pesquisa, os procedimentos metodológicos utilizados na investigação, a apresentação dos resultados e as discussões e considerações finais do estudo. FUNDaMENtos tEÓriCos Estratégias de gestão ambiental e seus aspectos determinantes Nos últimos anos, tem crescido o número de estudiosos que argumentam que, para alcançar vantagem competitiva, torna-se necessário que as empresas maximizem seu retorno ao mesmo tempo que desenvolvem progressos em relação à implementação de práticas ambientais nos negócios (LEE, 2009; BERRY; RONDINELLI, 1998; PORTER; VAN DER LINDE, 1995). Essa conexão é baseada no número de pesquisas que concluíram que uma estratégia ambiental proativa lidera o desenvolvimento de importantes capacidades organizacionais que podem elevar a competitividade das indústrias (ARAGON-CORREA; SHARMA, 2003; BERRY; RONDINELLI, 1998; SHARMA; VREDENBERG, 1998). Como resultado, muitos estudiosos da literatura corrente têm concluído que as empresas

Encontro Nacional da ANPAD x meeting of AOM: lições, questionamentos e especulações

This paper is aimed to compare two scientific meetings on management and administration subject, the 26th Meeting of The Brazilian Academy of Management, Business and Administrative Sciences and the 62nd Meeting of The Academy of Management, both realized in 2002. Based upon this comparison some lessons and learning are used in the observation of future trends, which would allow the progress of this kind of event.

Assessment of Non-Financial Criteria in the Selection of Investment Projects for Seed Capital Funding: the Contribution of Scientometrics and Patentometrics

The aim of this article is to assess the potential of using scientometric and patentometric indicators as a way of instrumentalizing the selection process of projects for seed capital funding. There is an increasing interest in technology based enterprises for their capacity to contribute to economic and social development, but there is also some difficulty in assessing non-financial criteria associated with technology for the purposes of financial funding. Thus, this research selected the case of the first enterprise invested in by the largest seed capital fund in Brazil, in order to create scientific and technological indicators and to assess the extent to which these indicators may contribute to understanding the market potential of the technology once it is assessed. It was concluded that scientometric and patentometric indicators favour the assessment process for non-financial criteria, in particular those criteria dealt with in this study: technology, market, divestment, and team.

Development: an analysis of concepts, measurement and indicators

This paper presents the result of a comprehensive analysis of the main forms of development measurement. Recognizing the level of complexity that the subject involves, aspects related to interpretations and dominant ideologies in development/growth concepts are shown initially. The second part of this work constitutes a critical analysis of forty-three of the most well-known national and international indicators used to measure this phenomenon. It is imagined that this analysis can show the state of the art for constructing development indicators. The development process covers a complexity of relationships. Its analysis, therefore, cannot be restricted only to the economic dimension because, as a rule, the question is presented both in the media and a considerable part of specialized literature. Emphasis on this dimension has historic origins, which have already shown the fragility of this approach.

The role of internal and external factors in the performance of Brazilian companies and its evolution between 1990 and 2003

This work studies the variance of the return over assets (ROA) of 1,664 Brazilian organizations between 1996 and 2003. This variance is divided into in factors associated with differences between business units, imdustries and economic conditions. The model is also calculated dividing the overall period into four year intervals so as to follow the evolution of the factors over the years. Results show that the main source of the variation in the performance can be attributed to differences among companies. The weight of this element increases over time. Surprisingly, considering the many and frequent crises suffered in the last couple of years, the role of the economic climate is slight and similar to that found by other authors for the American market.

A patento-scientometric approach to venture capital investment prioritization

This paper proposes an approach to analyzing and prioritizing venture capital investments with the use of scientometric and patentometric indicators. The article highlights the importance of such investments in the development of technology‐based companies and their positive impacts on the economic development of regions and countries. It also notes that the managers of venture capital funds struggle to objectify the evaluation of investment proposals. This paper analyzes the selection process of 10 companies, five of which received investments by the largest venture capital fund in Brazil and the other five of which were rejected by this same fund. We formulated scientometric and patentometric indicators related to each company and conducted a comparative analysis of each by considering the indicators grouped by the nonfinancial criteria (technology, market, and divestiture team) from analysis of the investment proposals. The proposed approach clarifies aspects of the criteria evaluated and contributes to the construction of a method for prioritizing venture capital investments.

Jogos de empresas como componente curricular: análise de sua aplicação por meio de planos de ensino

This paper aims to analyze the relevance of Business Games as a subject on the curriculum of under-graduate business schools in Brazil. The literature review demonstrates that the application of business games has potential to train Managers, however, this research identifies some misunderstandings in the application of such games on courses. The teaching plans of Business Games courses (with some name variations) from 25 Brazilian Higher Education Institutions were analyzed by documentary research. The concep of Business Games subjects uses two approaches: the first deals with games as a teach-learning tool; the second deals with the integration of the diverse content of the specific subject of management. The analysis shows a distortion in the institutional interpretation of games as a tool for management training. There is a mistake in the concept of a subject that has no identity, and about the absence of game application in the development of the subject. This article demonstrates the need for greater institutional support in the acquisition/development of didactic resources and the preparedness of teachers to apply business games.

Network dynamics in scientific knowledge acquisition: an analysis in three public universities in the state of Bahia

1. Introduction; 2. Reference theoretical frame; 3. Methodological strat-egy; 4. Analysis of the UFBA’s knowledge networks and the role of its Graduation Program on Chemistry; 5. The UFBA’s influence on chemistry knowledge networks at the Uneb and Uesc; 6. The chemistry networks in state of Bahia as a

A utilização de jogos e simulações de empresas nos cursos de graduação em administração no estado da Bahia

This paper presents an overview about the use of business simulation and games inundergraduate business programs in Bahia State, Brazil. The increasing interest about thistechnique can be originated, among others facts, on the many benefits that the specializedliterature shows for its users. In this article a theoretical review on this literature is developedsearching its central concepts, its origins and its use in Brazil and in the world. Someempirical data are presented from a survey with 47 under-graduation coordinators anddirectors from Bahian Institutions about their experience with business simulation and gamesby their lectures and professors. A quantitative approach using descriptive statistics(frequency, means and standard deviation) showed that 44.7% of the Bahian Institutions applythis kind of techniques. It shows also that business simulation practices are expected to growin next five years, for 63, 8 % due to high satisfaction indications on its application. Finally,two aspects appeared as very important ones to a higher level of business simulation andgames application in Management courses in Bahia: the acquisition cost and the availabilityof electronic simulations.

Scientific Knowledge Networks in Peripheral Regions and Local Innovation Systems: The Case of Chemistry in the State of Bahia

Scientific production and technological innovation growth in Brazil are not homogeneous in its different regions despite its public policies. The same phenomenon can be observed within the states of the Brazilian Federation. This article examines the diffusion of scientific expertise in six public institutions of science and technology in the state of Bahia between 2004 and 2008. The state is the largest in the north-east of Brazil, an area marked by a semi-arid climate and a low human development index; however, it has a large chemical and petrochemical complex. This article, focusing on the scientific field of chemistry, is based on foundations of innovation and knowledge management, as well as social network analysis, aiming to examine relations between scientific production and institutional, structural and relational characteristics of inter- and intra-institutional scientific knowledge networks. The results show that public policies on science, technology and innovation regarding the peripheral regions need to be rethought.