Through discourse, managers seek to shape or influence the construction of reality to make the environments in which they operate favorable to their presence and that of their organizations. Taking into account the deadline of the National Curricular Guidelines (DCN), until 2024, for undergraduate courses in Administration to enable the development of competence in communicating effectively, the objective of this thesis is to propose a framework for teaching-learning rhetoric – art and technique of persuading through speech – in the training of administrators. The investigative process was structured in three interconnected stages, the first being to interpret and understand the guidelines present in the DCN that relate to rhetoric. The perceptions of document collection and analysis were schematized in a matrix bringing together conceptual explanations and desired effects on learning, which was, in the next stage, integrated with the results from a literature review that identified the incidence of rhetoric learning in higher education courses on scientific data. The data, analyzed through thematic analysis and organized by environmental (content, knowledge, curriculum, social dynamics) and individual (skills, abilities, attitudes) dimensions, supported the composition of a theoretical framework of the characteristics related to the teaching-learning of rhetoric for the undergraduate course in Administration. In the third moment, as an example of applying the framework to benefit in-depth research on the topic, the categories were instrumented in questionnaires for collection and thematic analysis of data in field research applied to a sample of teachers in training in the area of Administration. The addition of primary data provided perceived factors of mastery of individual subjectivity and ethical, emotional, and rational strategies in classroom argumentation. As a theoretical contribution, the study provides a functional definition of learning rhetoric from the perspective of Administration teaching, represented by the framework that methodologically contributes to future studies and signals opportunities for training administrators who do not point to communication as one of their main problems. , also demonstrating a practical and social contribution.

Information Technology (IT) plays a fundamental role in the reform of any tax administration, enabling better collection and analysis of information, proactive management of workload and resources, promotion of cooperative engagement, and standardization in the treatment of taxpayers. This facilitates uniformity and application of tax legislation (Jimenez, Mac An tSionnaigh, & Kamenov, 2013). Given this perspective, this thesis explores the use of IT in tax administrations, consisting of three essays. The first essay comprises a Systematic Literature Review (SLR) that seeks to comprehensively analyze the current literature on the intersection between Information Technology (IT) and tax collection. The SLR was conducted following the protocol proposed by Tranfield, Denyer, and Smart (2003) and identified three research clusters: the impacts of IT on tax collection, the factors influencing the adoption of technology in this context, and aspects related to IT and its application in tax administration. Alongside these clusters, we present the main theories used and the primary challenges identified for implementing IT in governments. Finally, we propose our research agenda. Among the technologies identified in the SLR, standardized electronic tax systems stand out, as explored in the second essay of this thesis. The objective of this essay is to analyze the effects of adopting this system on the tax collection of Brazilian municipalities. Using a database composed of 146 municipalities in the state of Rio Grande do Norte, Brazil, from 2013 to 2018, the study initially employs a panel with bidirectional fixed effects and then applies the staggered difference-in-differences approach proposed by Callaway and Sant'Anna (2021). The results reveal that the adoption of standardized electronic tax systems resulted in an average increase of approximately 52% in Urban Property and Territorial Tax. In comparison, the Tax on Services of Any Nature (ISSQN) recorded an average increase of around 43%. Examining the effects over time, we found that IPTU collections increased on average by approximately 77% after the third year of the system's implementation. On the other hand, ISSQN revenue increased by an average of 72% after the fourth year of adopting the system above. The third essay addresses the use of another technology, the Electronic Consumer Invoice (NFC-e), and aims to analyze the impact of the NFC-e project on the Tax on Circulation of Goods and Services (ICMS). The database used is made up of 4,652 municipalities in Brazil, from 2013 to 2016, and also employs the difference-in-differences approach of Callaway and Sant'Anna (2021). The results of this test indicate that the adoption of NFC-e impacts municipalities in different ways depending on their size. Larger municipalities had more substantial increases in the transfer of the portion of ICMS participation per person. Specifically, in the simple effects, large municipalities registered an average increase of approximately 3.6% per person, while medium-sized municipalities registered an increase of approximately 2.7% per person. Regarding dynamic effects, larger municipalities showed an average increase of around 18.6% per person two years after states implemented the policy. It is concluded that IT plays a significant role in tax administrations, offering substantial benefits. This is evident through the implementation of standardized electronic systems and NFC-e, which significantly contribute to improving municipal revenues.

Performance measurement is a decisive issue in various fields, especially in sectors where resource allocation plays a significant role. Measuring efficiency in pension funds is crucial to ensure financial health and fulfil long-term commitments to beneficiaries. This work presents three studies on the performance evaluation of Brazilian pension funds and introduces a structured evaluation model. The first essay aims to conduct a systematic literature review on the efficiency evaluation of pension funds, seeking to identify patterns in objectives, methodologies, results, and trends in fund evaluation. The analysis was conducted from three different perspectives: bibliometric analysis, correspondence analysis, and content analysis. The results indicated that research on pension funds is still incipient, yet patterns are recognized in the predominant methodology used, which is Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA). The second essay evaluates efficiency and productivity using DEA with different orientations, and then correlates the approaches to identify efficiency and productivity patterns. Financial variables were selected based on the literature and their availability in the financial statements issued by the funds and published by the National Superintendence of Complementary Pensions (PREVIC) between 2019-2023. The use of the DEA model followed a four-step process: (1) Defining the database consisting of 132 pension funds for the financial years 2019-2023, with 45 publicly sponsored and 87 privately sponsored. (2) Identifying input and output variables to assess the relative efficiency of the selected Decision Making Units (DMUs). (3) Applying DEA from different perspectives to analyse efficiency (DEA-DSBM) and productivity (DEA-Malmquist). (4) Performing Spearman and Kendall correlations, as well as Kendall’s coefficient of concordance, to highlight patterns of efficiency and inefficiency among the productive units. Based on the results, five hypotheses regarding determinants of efficiency and productivity were tested using the non-parametric Mann-Whitney statistical test. Additionally, the results showed that during the analysed period, the funds had an overall efficiency index of only 63% and a productivity index of 88%. Finally, the third essay evaluates the financial efficiency of pension funds using the Sharpe Ratio for the period 2020-2023. The Sharpe Ratio is a performance measure that evaluates the return of an investment relative to the risk taken. This index compares the profitability of an asset or portfolio against a risk-free investment, adjusting returns by the level of volatility. The risk-free assets chosen for comparison were the Ibovespa market index and the Interbank Deposit Certificate (CDI), an important benchmark for fixed-income assets. The results showed that 56 pension funds had a Sharpe Ratio lower than zero compared to the Ibovespa, and 109 funds compared to the CDI. This means that for the analysed period, the adopted risk-free rate outperformed the investment portfolios of a significant number of funds. Furthermore, it is acknowledged that research on fund evaluation needs to advance academically, as the lack of standardized analyses and the various gaps in the literature hinder the comparison of funds from different perspectives.

the present study aimed to understand the conceptions of Business Administration
students about learning through cases for teaching in consultation services for educational
objects. As for its relevance as research, it is important to highlight the reflections on the
improvement of formal, self-taught education and in contexts where there is an interest in the
use of tools that dynamize teaching and learning. Still, there is a contribution in relation to
Ivan Illich's idea about "controlled" learning by institutions and limited access to consultation
services and educational objects, when they occur in an extra-school way, by corporations and
other institutions. Regarding the methodological paths, it was designed with primary and
secondary data, in stages, namely: 1) survey of bibliographic/theoretical research in national
and international conjuncture as a way of more in-depth foundation of the theme; 2)
individual semi-structured questionnaire/interview with undergraduate students in Business
Administration at UFRN; 3) mapping of conceptions about the search and qualitative
importance of cases for teaching in the course and in an extracurricular context; 4) analysis of
the variation of these conceptions in a categorical division; and 5) construction of theoretical
reflection based on data collected in the field. In order to produce communicative content
inferences from the text of this discussion, the type of content data analysis is used to better
dismember parts/contents with a better form of discussion. Regarding the results, it was
possible to capture data from the students, analyzing the concepts regarding the theme in
which it is effective not only in the use of teaching cases in an educational context, so that
facilitating the presentation of the method can generate greater satisfaction on the part of the
students and the teacher or educational advisor, who will have the essential task in advance of
promoting the initial mediation of a case for teaching or promoting that the student, self-
directed/self-taught, proposed solutions regardless of the depth of the analyzed situation. In
addition, the complexity of the answers that were described mainly in the questions for the
answers to the case is affirmative and not expected by the study, demonstrating the ability of
the respondents both to reflect on the problem as a critical methodological factor for a better
elaboration of a teaching case and in the social spheres that would guide the questions for the
conclusive etiological and resolving process of the mini teaching case more autonomously.

Based on previous studies on Reward Crowdfunding campaigns, it is still necessary to analyze the contribution of the determinants of success so that it is possible to clarify which are the main factors that are decisive in the success of the campaigns. The main objective of this dissertation is to identify the main success determinants of fundraising campaigns via Reward Crowdfunding. Two tests were carried out to achieve the objective of identifying what are the success determinants of Reward Crowdfunding campaigns and how they impact the success of the campaigns. In the first essay, through a systematic search on the Web of Science and Scopus databases, a systematic review of the literature on Reward Crowdfunding and its determinants of success was carried out. In the second essay: based on the factors that influence the success of the campaigns found in the systematic review, a sample base of 400 campaigns from the North American platform Indiegogo was analyzed, using the PROBIT model. In the first trial, 61 articles were eligible to compose the final sample, after the stages of identification, screening, and eligibility of the studies reached in the databases. According to these studies, the factors: duration, goal, videos, rewards, team composition, number of words and images, updates, category, comments, geolocation, social networks, supporters, average contribution, and launch date are decisive for the success of Reward Crowdfunding campaigns. In trial two, it was evidenced that updates, comments, and composition in the team with people who had previous success and women are factors that increase the probability of success in campaigns, while the duration, the goal, and choosing the flexible campaign mechanism to reduce the probability of success.

The research addresses the theme of rationality in the terms proposed by Alberto Guerreiro Ramos, based on his work The New Science of Organizations. It focuses on the context of administrative practices in the public sector by telecommuting. Its main objective is to investigate the rationality in the management of a telework program in Public Administration. It is segmented into two articles that complement each other and structure the specific objectives of the research. The first is a literature review and systematizes interests and research objects in telework in the Brazilian Public Administration – based on an inventory in the Capes Catalog of Theses and Dissertations. The results were, in their entirety, from research carried out in master's courses, mostly in public universities. Research in public educational institutions, at the federal level and from the Southeast region prevails, addressing the implementation of telework and its impacts, focusing on advantages, disadvantages, challenges and potential. The strong influence of the Covid-19 pandemic on the interest in the subject was highlighted and gaps that could be the subject of further studies were identified. The second article is a theoretical-empirical study with the objective of analyzing tensions between the substantive and instrumental rationalities, prospecting useful information for the feedback of the telework program in the Public Administration, taking the Ministério Público da Paraíba (MPPB) as the empirical environment. A qualitative methodological approach was adopted, applying the case study with data collection through documents and semi-structured interviews with managers of the MPPB's telework program. The results came from content analysis, based on the analytical framework proposed by Serva (1997), adapted to the case with the addition of attributes presented by Santos (2012). Tensions were identified between the rationalities in the organizational processes “hierarchy and rules”, “control” and “tasks division”. In conclusion, with application purposes, possible actions were suggested for the management of the telework program in relation to each of the analyzed tensions.

In this study, the Organizational Commitment of employees in a fuel distributor was assessed using Medeiros' (2003) Escala de Bases do Comprometimento Organizacional (EBACO). It is a case study conducted through field research, employing a quantitative approach with a descriptive purpose. Data collection involved administering a questionnaire with 36 closed-ended questions to the distributor's employees. Descriptive statistics and Spearman's Correlation Coefficient were used for result analysis. Negative correlations were observed between education, length of service, and salary with the Affective dimension of commitment. Additionally, a positive correlation was identified between the on-site work regime and the Affective and Consistent Line of Activity bases. On the other hand, employees on a hybrid work regime showed negative correlations with the Obligation to Performance and Consistent Line of Activities bases. The instrument was validated through Factor Analysis, where two variables from the Consistent Line of Activity base were excluded due to low communalities. Six factors explaining 64.86% of the variance of the instrument's items were obtained. Cronbach's Alpha and McDonald's Omega coefficients demonstrated factor consistency, with slight differences between them. Future studies are suggested to investigate recurring inconsistencies over time in various validations. Furthermore, analyzing the relationship between the hybrid or remote work regime and commitment bases is recommended as an important research area. In summary, Medeiros' (2003) Organizational Commitment Bases Scale produced results similar to other validations conducted over two decades, suggesting its stability and validity as an organizational commitment assessment instrument.

Currently, the context of the work environment and its power over the individual's life is the subject of numerous studies, most of which seek to create models to analyze the possible negative factors of the work environment. This becomes more enjoyable when the work environment is increasingly unpredictable, complex and enlightening, which poses increasing challenges to organizations and the people who work in them. Based on these facts, the general objective of this research is to study the influence of sociodemographic variables on environmental, social and corporate governance sustainability and whether the adoption of ESG generates results in work engagement within a large Brazilian public bank. For this, this work will adopt as the method the model of Schaufeli and Bakker (2004), the Utrecht Work Engagement (UWES), in which the training in its three dimensions will be applied to all the Employees of the financial area of a large public bank Brazilian .

Since the topic of crowdfunding has become an object of study increasingly investigated academically, with an intent to knowing the financing alternatives for different types of businesses, there can be no doubt of the great contribution that studies in crowdfunding have to make, promoting scientificity in this research field. Studying in-depth the themes surrounding crowdfunding campaigns and the drivers that make these crowdfunding campaigns successful allows us to empirically understand the success paths and spreading for entrepreneurs who are seeking this financing alternative that has been in large demand in recent decades, especially in reward crowdfunding or crowdfunding with a reward model. Thus, the purpose of this dissertation is to identify the success drivers of technological venture campaigns financed by reward crowdfunding launched on the Catarse platform between the years 2016-2020. To achieve this purpose, this dissertation is divided into two essays: the first contemplates the systematic mapping of the literature on reward crowdfunding and the success drivers of campaigns during the five-year period 2017-2022. The second essay presents the identified variables that influence the success of reward crowdfunding campaigns and, based on such information, a probit regression model was developed with data from the 946 technological venture campaigns launched and completed on the Catarse platform between the years 2016-2020. The results indicate that high-tech projects have a lower probability of success in reward crowdfunding campaigns, while the betas of the other variables used in the models (goal, support, rewards, videos, another chance and number of times campaigns were renewed), with or without variable control, they behaved in an analogous manner to what was found in studies that were part of the systematic mapping of the literature. In this way, this study provides the emergence of new research agendas that seek to further investigate the specific variables related to high tech projects, especially after 2020 – where there is an important time frame for the universe of technology –, in its context to better understand why this category is associated with a lower probability of success, as well as consider other metrics or variables that may influence the outcome of this type of reward funding campaigns, with the purpose of providing a more comprehensive view. The empirical results presented in this study have the prospect of offering valuable theoretical contributions and significant managerial implications for various audiences, including academia, sector professionals, platform managers and entrepreneurs, providing new insights for achieving success in reward crowdfunding campaigns.

Due to the enormous inequalities in the supply of higher education in the Brazilian territory and the lack of teacher training in Basic education, the Open University of Brazil System (UAB) was established (Decree 5.800/2006) to democratize and interiorize access to higher education in Brazil, through distance education. Considering the discussions on distance education and the UAB policy for teacher training, this thesis, composed of three essays, explored in the first two essays the UAB's focus on Brazilian municipalities through logistic regression and cluster analysis; and the impact of UAB on teacher training, with the difference-in-differences method. While the third essay investigated the relationship between the mathematics performance of 9th-grade students and the type and modality of teacher training, using the propensity score matching method and generalized driven regression (GBM). The results indicate that the UAB is a hybrid policy, which combines universalization and targeting strategies, although characteristics of the municipalities that refer to the targeting in more socioeconomically and educationally disadvantaged places only partially influenced adherence to the policy; the UAB had a positive impact on the teacher training rates of elementary school municipalities that received the poles, compared to those that did not; the event study showed that longer exposure to the policy yields even greater impacts on the variables of interest; results also indicated that mathematics teachers licensed in this area, in the distance modality, imply better results in mathematics exams compared to teachers with higher education or without higher education. This effect is accentuated for the performance of students in unfavorable conditions, such as those from rural areas and schools with lower socioeconomic indices. However, there was no statistically significant difference between the performances of students who studied with mathematics teachers trained in distance mode or face-to-face. Given the discussions and results presented in these essays, this work has potential to contribute to the assessment of the expansion of Distance Education in Brazil, which is still in development, and which has been one of the main public choices for teacher training in the country; and to expand the literature on distance education and teacher education. From a managerial perspective, this thesis can help to underpin discussions and decisions around teacher training policy assessment in Brazil and other developing countries which suffer from similar teacher qualification problems as Brazil.

Purpose: This thesis aims to configure the formation and interaction of women entrepreneurs’s networks in the effectuation logic, based on its conception and evidence. The specific objectives consist of: characterizing the women's network system and its formative and interactive process; outline how entrepreneurial ideas and practices are conceived in the effectuation logic; describe how the elements of the effectuation logic are evident in female entrepreneurship in women's networks and set up a conceptual framework that represents the integration of women entrepreneurs’s networks in the effectuation logic.

Methodology: This is an exploratory research, with a qualitative approach, conducted through a single case study of a female entrepreneurship network that has its activities carried out in the state of Rio Grande do Norte. Data were collected through interviews and observation. The analysis was performed using content analysis techniques with the help of Atlas TI software.

Results: It was found that participation in female entrepreneurship networks can generate triggers for the development of women as entrepreneurs (by listening to other women's stories and feeling part of a social group); to provide benefits for the undertakings, through business disclosure, cost sharing and learning about management; and offer non-financial advantages, especially in terms of the personal development of entrepreneurs. Peculiar aspects of female entrepreneurship such as initial interactions with close ties of friendship and family; the relationship of trust as the main link between the participants and the content focused not only on exchange relationships and benefits for the entrepreneurs' businesses, but also on personal development, mutual support and exploration of aspects related to the female universe were highlighted. The results in the analyzes corroborate the pre-established propositions.

Contributions: This paper contributes with an analysis of the dynamic and complex networking activities of women entrepreneurs, moves beyond a single agency perspective and the individual-opportunity nexus to a more collaborative perspective on entrepreneurship by women, and offers a less generalist discussion about the entrepreneurial process, enhancing the peculiar aspects of female entrepreneurship, the collective awareness of the role and influences that a network can bring in the personal scope and in the businesses developed by the participants.

The objective of this thesis was to analyze political connections as one of the possible omitted factors in asset pricing models. More than three hundred anomalies have already been cataloged that resulted in pricing problems (Conte; Ceretta, 2021; Fama; French, 2017a). The population points out 103 companies listed on B3 and that are under the supervision of regulatory agencies such as, for example, Aneel, Ana, Anatel in the period from 2011 to 2022. The methodology follows in the footsteps of Fama and French (1993) for the model of three factors; by Carhart (1997) for the four-factor model and by Fama and French (2015) for the five-factor model. Two factors were included in these models: the first deals with political connections through the proportion of politically connected advisors in relation to the total number of advisors and the second factor seeks a temporal analysis due to the requirements imposed by Law 13,303/2016 (Law of Responsibility of State-owned companies) for investiture in the position of director of companies controlled by the public authorities. The results showed that political connections began to be priced after the enactment of the law, that is, the absence of political connections can be considered as one of the omitted factors in asset pricing models requiring an excess return by investors, which aligns the Resource Dependence Theory to the detriment of the Agency Theory. However, the significance of the proportionality of politically connected advisors in relation to the total number of advisors was not verified; on the contrary, their inclusion in the model proved to be an anomaly, since the intercept of the regressions returns a value different from zero and statically significant. It is suggested that other factors be included in the pricing models and a comparison between the new concept of political connection proposed by the thesis and the concept of political connection already in force in academia.

This dissertation endeavors to construct an econometric model to evaluate the risk of mining-related criminal activities within the Brazilian Caatinga biome. Integrating concepts from rational choice and routine activity theories, the study investigates illegal mining based on three critical dimensions: the offender through the efficacy of governance mechanisms overseeing miners (fines and police investigations), the target through the attributes of mined substances (VALUED approach for mineral desirability), and the geospatial characteristics of mining areas (legal mining areas and mining-related infrastructure). This research uses generalized linear regression models to analyze a grid composed of 10km² cells encompassing data aggregated over an eleven-year period (2010-2020) from such sources as ANM, CPRM, Federal Police, IBAMA, IBGE, Mapbiomas, Open Street Maps. The central findings of the research indicate a notable disconnect between the existing governance frameworks and their ability to deter illegal mining operations. Contrary to theoretical expectations, the study reveals that prevailing governance strategies, including law enforcement and regulatory fines, are largely ineffective in curbing illegal mining activities. Instead, the results highlight that the existence of legal mining operations considerably propel the likelihood of illegal mining activities. This suggests that areas with active legal mining inadvertently catalyze illicit endeavors. The dissertation contributes substantially to the fields of environmental criminology and mineral economics by providing empirical evidence against the effectiveness of traditional governance mechanisms in environmental crime prevention. It emphasizes the need for a paradigm shift from conventional enforcement models to more inclusive, participatory, and interlinked governance approaches. Furthermore, the study underscores the importance of considering the economic allure of minerals and the spatial dynamics of legal mining activities in formulating holistic policy interventions aimed at evidence-based prevention of mining-related crimes.

No cenário contemporâneo de crescente interconectividade global, a análise dos processos de internacionalização surge como uma busca essencial, carregando implicações profundas para empresas, formuladores de políticas e estudiosos. Esta série de estudos embarca em uma exploração matizada dos ecossistemas de internacionalização, desvendando as dinâmicas intricadas que sustentam a expansão global das empresas. Dentro desse cenário complexo, o papel institucional de entidades como a ApexBrasil torna-se um ponto focal, exercendo influência substancial sobre o fenômeno da internacionalização. A pesquisa desenrola-se por meio de três artigos distintos, mas mutuamente complementares, cada um contribuindo com perspectivas únicas para os domínios conceituais e práticos dos ecossistemas de internacionalização, formando um arcabouço teórico coeso. O Artigo 1 concentra-se em formular uma agenda de pesquisa para compreender a influência da ApexBrasil na pesquisa acadêmica em exportação, internacionalização e comércio exterior. O Artigo 2 introduz o conceito inovador de ecossistema de internacionalização, incorporando um arcabouço teórico para integrar teorias modernas de Negócios Internacionais em uma perspectiva ecossistêmica. O Artigo 3 realiza um estudo de caso exploratório qualitativo para analisar o papel institucional da ApexBrasil, identificar padrões emergentes e oferecer uma compreensão fundamentada de sua posição no cenário de internacionalização de negócios no Brasil. A pesquisa emprega uma abordagem exploratória e descritiva, utilizando métodos qualitativos e quantitativos. O Artigo 1 conduz um estudo de caso com revisão sistemática da literatura, análise documental e entrevistas com painel de especialistas. O Artigo 2 apresenta um trabalho acadêmico conceitual baseado em uma revisão sistemática da literatura por meio de análise de conteúdo e temática. O Artigo 3 utiliza um estudo de caso exploratório qualitativo com entrevistas semiestruturadas, empregando análise de conteúdo e temática, bem como teoria fundamentada, utilizando os softwares Iramuteq e ChatGPT para aprofundar a análise temática. A pesquisa proporciona insights teóricos sem precedentes e implicações práticas para pesquisas sobre negócios internacionais. O Artigo 1 destaca o conhecimento disperso sobre a influência da ApexBrasil na pesquisa científica e propõe uma agenda de pesquisa para preencher lacunas entre a ApexBrasil, a academia e os stakeholders. O Artigo 2 revela o ecossistema de internacionalização como um tópico incipiente e propõe um arcabouço multidisciplinar integrando ecossistemas de negócios, empreendedorismo, inovação e plataformas. O Artigo 3 enfatiza o papel crucial da ApexBrasil em fomentar alianças estratégicas e transferência de conhecimento, desafiando teorias existentes sobre ecossistemas de negócios e dinâmicas de hélices. Os artigos contribuem tanto conceitual quanto praticamente, sendo o Artigo 1 o primeiro a investigar o impacto da ApexBrasil na academia brasileira. O Artigo 2 propondo um novo arcabouço teórico para a Teoria dos Negócios Internacionais, e o Artigo 3 fornecendo perspectivas teóricas fundamentadas sobre o papel da ApexBrasil através da reinterpretação do modelo da Hélice Tripla e Quádrupla, contribuindo significativamente para o avanço da Teoria de negócios Internacionais.

The objective of this study is to investigate the appropriation of introductory concepts of Business based on the implications of the case teaching method. The specific objectives are: to identify the use of theoretical knowledge in students' answers; to understand the articulation between theory and practice; and to analyse the reflective process in the use of the case method. The research starts from the ontology of subject-object interaction, from the Piagetian work, given that its archives place the Social Being as the most adequate perspective to understand the study of the logical discourse of the being. Given the above, the research is grounded on the interpretativist paradigm, in which the author interprets what is spoken by the interviewees or producers of the content to be explored. Such method, composed of systematic procedures, The research is qualitative and analyzed responses from Cases for Teaching applied in 14 different classes, between 2011 and 2020, comprising 219 responses. In this scenario, to understand the theoretical constructions developed by students in the classroom from the proposed teaching cases, the method used will be Content Analysis. As results the study identified that there is the use of theoretical knowledge in student responses; in many responses there is articulation between theory and practice; although the reflective process in student responses to the cases is not always evidenced. Finally, the study concludes that the appropriation of introductory concepts of Business from the use of the case method is largely inadequate, by giving preference to prior knowledge over the theoretical aspects studied can achieve understanding of the content issued, as well as make inferences about the answers collected. The results of the study can demonstrate different levels and characteristics of appropriation of management concepts through the use of cases for teaching.

This survey has the general objective of validating for the public context the scale developed by Lucian, Barbosa, Sousa, Pereira e Silva (2008), which seeks to understand how strategies are formulated from the strategist's mind. To meet this general objective, the following specific objectives were developed: i) Characterize, in terms of gender, age, academic background and length of service, those responsible for strategic decision-making at the IFRN; ii) Validate the strategic thinking dimension for the public context; iii) Validate the formation dimension of the strategy for the public sphere; and iv) Validate the strategic change dimension for the public sphere. This scale is based on the studies by De Wit e Meyer (2004), who describe that strategy formulation is a three-dimensional construct composed of paradoxes that influence the decision maker's cognitive at the time of strategic decision-making. The dimensions and paradoxes are: i) strategic thinking, comprising the paradox of logical versus creative thinking; ii) strategy formation, composed by the paradox of deliberate versus emergent formation; and iii) strategic change, constituted by the paradox of evolutionary versus revolutionary change. The object of study to validate this questionnaire is the Federal Institute of the State of Rio Grande do Norte (IFRN). The Lucian et al. (2008) was applied online, through the Google Forms website, with public servants who make up the collegiate at the IFRN, called Colégio Gestor. In the treatment of data, a graphical analysis was performed to characterize the survey respondents and a confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) to validate the scale. As for the findings, this study identified that there are twice as many men as women working in the formulation of strategies at the IFRN, the average age of respondents is 36 years old, approximately 95% of respondents have higher education or some postgraduate degree and have up to 15 years of IFRN service. Finally, the three dimensions of the scale showed consistency and adequacy and, therefore, were validated for the public sector.

National budget control and public contracts is essential for the national social and economic development. Nowadays, public contracts in Brazil are evaluated around five hundred billion of Reais per year, in contracts covering the Federal, Federal District, States and Municipalities. This article focuses on analysis the market behavior of public bidding. It evaluates through multiple linear regressions the average characteristic contracts discounts based on data base collected at the state of Rio Grande do Norte, Brazil, among 105,206 contracts, occurred from 2015 until 2018, through ordinary least squares based on public bidding modality, contract value, contract additive and other factors. It was concluded based on OLS regressions that the contracts offer a direct correlation with the selected variables, according to the value ranges set at the database. The contracts achieved through “Pregão Presencial”, “Pregão Eletrônico” and “Chamamento Público” achieved excellent performance in terms of economy. As well, a positive performance was also observed in some ranges of values for contracts arising from “Convite”, “Tomada de Preço” e “Concorrência”. The benefits of each one of the contracts modalities, and their statistical significance, were detailed along this article. So, this research offers to the academic community statistical analysis and numerical fundaments initial subsidies for decision-making, and understanding the expectation of Brazilian public market behavior on purchases of products and services.

This study was supported in part by the Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior - Brasil (CAPES) – Finance Code 001." It can be seen that in recent years, efficiency has been a relevant topic for public management. As a result, the literature has been devoted to more and more studies on the context of governments' capacities to promote the delivery of services with quality and efficiency. In this, the concepts of Public Governance and Governability are widely explored in the literature, and from which the concepts of Capabilities arise as a set of attributes of public governance. In this sense, this research has as general objective to establish a Model of Governmental Capabilities from the perception of the servants of the State of Rio Grande do Norte. In methodological terms, it is a research of a quantitative nature with the application of a survey. Data collection was carried out through a structured questionnaire applied to a sample of 150 public servants in the state of RN. Data were statistically treated by applying multivariate techniques, more specifically Exploratory Factor Analysis, Confirmatory Factor Analysis and Structural Equation Modeling. Therefore, an Exploratory Factor Analysis - EFA was implemented, with the fundamental objective of verifying whether the model describes the characteristics of the data well. The AFE allowed the extraction of 6 factors from the instruments of government capacities, which represent their dimensions. Such dimensions manage to capture 76.9% of the variance present in the data, representing ample commonality between the variables observed, ensuring ample capacity for representing the model. From the Confirmatory Factor Analysis - AFC, it was possible to understand which indicators have the greatest impact in each dimension from the sample's perception. At this point, we highlight the Relationship and articulation with other State entities, which is presented as an indicator of greater impact (standardized coefficients = 0.906), which implies in 82.08% of the variance of the variable being explained by the latent characteristic of "Political Capacity ", for example. It is noteworthy that the Model proposed here has good adherence to empirical evidence and, therefore, can be used as a representation of an explanatory theory of the determining factors of Government Capabilities in the scope of Public Management, especially regarding the aspects necessary for the delivery of public services with quality and efficiency. It is concluded, therefore, that the Government Capabilities of a federated entity can be represented as a set of 6 associated dimensions that allow public management to act effectively on territorial development.

The main objective of this doctoral thesis is to analyze the contributions of the Organizational
Innovativeness System to the generation of Intra-organizational Innovation as a source of
competitive advantage for organizations in Serra Talhada-PE, Northeast Brazil.The structure of the
work is composed of: chapter 1 - introduction; chapter 2 - theoretical framework; chapter 3 -
proposed model for the study design; chapter 4 - methodological procedures; chapter 5 - results and
discussion; and, chapter 6 - conclusion. It was necessary to establish four specific objectives in
order to achieve the General Objective. The theoretical framework, which was applied to support
this objective, included the following key-constructs: i) the Capacity to Innovate; ii) the
Organizational Innovativeness System; iii) Intra-organizational Innovation; iv) the Strategic Stage
to Competitive Advantage; and v) Organizational Change. There is a chapter on the propositional
model for the study design, as well as a chapter on the methodology, which, in this work, is a
quantitative research. It proposes as a requirement the use of descriptive statistics and inferential
statistics, as well as, some methods of multivariate analysis, with exploratory factor analysis (using
the Stata 13 program) and the confirmatory factor analysis, with PLS, with Structural Equation
Modeling, with Partial Least Squares (using the SmartPLS 3 program). A literature review was also
necessary in order to identify the works (articles and books) that could be selected to reinforce the
theoretical basis of this study. The field of study was the city of Serra Talhada-PE, in order to
determine the sample. As it was not possible to survey the entire population, the Closed or
Conventional Structure Sample typology was chosen, with the subtype Sampling by Convenience.
The field research took place from April to September 2020, which was during the COVID-19
Pandemic. Because of this, the survey application strategy changed from face-to-face to virtual,
getting some business owners, managers and other collaborators to answer the survey, resulting in
a sample of 226 respondents, corresponding to 120 businesses (public and private), equivalent to
2.0%, with a margin of error of 8.86% and a 95% significance level, thus being acceptable. The
means of data collection was via technological resources (E-mail, Facebook Business, LinkedIn,
Messenger, and WhatsApp). A literature review was also necessary in order to identify the works
(among articles and books) that could be selected to strengthen the theoretical basis of the study.
From the results obtained, the specific objectives are worth mentioning. The first, 'of the description
of the socio-organizational environment', was carried out as from the Descriptive Statistics Method.
The second, "the multidimensional comprehensiveness of the constructs", was achieved through
the exploratory factor analysis method. The third, 'the type of relationship between the endogenous
and exogenous variables', was achieved by a confirmatory factor analysis, using the SEM/PLS
Method. And the fourth objective was finalized with the presentation of the 'Reflective Structural
Model, from SEM/PLS'. It was concluded that the organizational behavior was atypical because, in
order to return to the competition in the market dynamics, with or without the competitive
transience, the businesses persisted in the risks and uncertainties of that moment, until then,
experienced by the businesses.

People Management by Competencies is a way of thinking and acting in the conduct of human resources policies, which assumes through the sum of skills to generate a qualitative gain for organizations. In the 2000s, it was already a reality in the private sector, being officially absorbed by the public sector in 2006, through the publication of Decree Law 5707/06, a document that was revoked and updated twice (2019 and 2020), for an alignment of the discourse of the National People Development Policy (PNDP) closer to the precepts of the competence approach. Given this context, this thesis had as a guide of conduct to answer how the changes in the PNDP regulations converge with the epistemological precepts of People Management by Competencies and how do these transformations affect the performance of a School of Government? It will present three articles to discuss in a purposeful way the scene in question: the first will focus on the main normative changes of the National Personnel Development Plan, observing if there was a better alignment with the theory of people management by competences - through an analysis documentary, triangulating with a theoretical model proposition; the second will bibliometrically analyze the panorama of national scientific research on GPPC in the public sphere, between 2006 and 2022, seeking to point out whether there is a favorable scenario for a specialized production on the subject; and the third proposes to analyze if the normative changes that direct the PNDP and intervening factors significantly influence the proposals of the actions of personnel development of the School of Government/RN and its perception of contribution to the advancement of the state public service - being carried out through qualitative research and simple case study. The synthesis of the results is that the law that guides the PNDP was able to realign itself with the theoretical precepts of Management by Competencies, giving the regulations a more holistic character, in which the role of service was reallocated to the needs of institutions; the theoretical field of national production was identified as immature and not very conducive to the epistemological development of the theme, mainly due to the few specialized centers and low exchange of national works; and the RN School of Government throughout its existence was always ahead of the PNDP regulations, with its procedures following the guidelines even before the Decrees were published. But when talking about the intervening factors, there is a process of entropy in the institution, with a decrease in its reach and structure, the lack of a feeling of priority on the part of the current political cycle, judging that the training and qualification programs of personnel do not factors that contribute to the perception of non-fulfillment of its mission and underutilization of the institution in the role of developing state competences are on the agenda of the current Government.

Article 1:

"This article aims to investigate the reasons why the return rail freight was not contemplated in the project or in the operation of Brazilian regional freight railroads. It also questions the reasons why these railroads do not act as an instrument for improving the socioeconomic conditions of their area of influence nor for national integration."

Article 2:

"This article presents a preliminary study of freight return railway cargo (west/east direction) feasibility on the Transertaneja Railway. The railway line, which is in the implementation phase and whose trajectory will cut longitudinally the entire state of Pernambuco, prior objective is the ores transport of from the Pernambuco and Piauí backlands to Suape port."

The present study aimed to understand the social innovation process, emphasizing the perception/evaluation of users and implementers in the post-implementation stage, based on an adaptation of the social innovation process of Mulgan (2014), consisting of seven stages: opportunity or challenge; idea generation; project development and experimentation; evaluation of the prototype or pilot project, improvement, identification of revenue sources and means of institutionalization; delivery, implementation, evaluation after implementation, adaptation; growth and expansion; changing systems. To this end, an exploratory and descriptive study was carried out, with a predominantly qualitative approach, conducted through bibliographic and documentary research, as well as semi-structured questionnaire application and non-participant observation. The research was conducted in five “Escolas de Referência em Ensino Médio”, which are part of five municipalities located in the micro-region of the “Sertão do Pajeú” in Pernambuco State. Fourteen teachers (implementers) and forty two students (users) participated in the research. In percentage terms, the teacher’s perception regarding the category “economic-financial and political-legal aspects” shows a critical state, with dissatisfaction of 44% and satisfaction of 49%. On the other hand, in the students’ perception, this category was in an alert situation, with dissatisfaction of 33% and satisfaction of 53%. As for the category that involves technical, relational, and sociocultural aspects, the students showed satisfaction of 66% and dissatisfaction of 19%, revealing an alert state within the parameters considered in the research, while the teachers expressed satisfaction of 83% and dissatisfaction of 8%, pointing to a favorable situation. The findings also indicate that the stages of the social innovation process are consolidated, except growth and expansion and systemic change. Regarding the user’s perception and implementer’s perception in evaluating the policy after implementation, the economic-financial and political-legal barriers were found to affect the public policy implementation. On the other hand, the results indicate the technical, relational, and sociocultural aspects as facilitating, in general, the public policy implementation studied. Given these results, the present study confirms the thesis that the perception/evaluation of users and implementers in the post-implementation stage can help explain the barriers and/or facilitators throughout the social innovation process, especially in the implementation phase of social innovation. As for the limitations of this study, it is possible to mention the difficulty of access to information, considering that almost all students are minors, requiring prior parental permission to participate in the research. As for the teachers, they are overloaded with activities due to the intense routine of the full time high school, which also became a hindrance in the access to information. In relation to suggestions for future work, it is suggested the application of the instrument available in this research in schools in other microregions of the State of Pernambuco, aiming at diagnosis and comparative analysis. It is suggested to carry out the research in other units of the federation and compare the results among them. It may be interesting to carry out a study in regular high schools and compare it with the findings of integral high school, making the necessary adaptations in the research instrument.

The present research approaches the vision of Anthroposophy, as a ''Spiritual Science'', co-created by the
Austrian philosopher Rudolf Steiner in the beginning of the 20th century, for the spiritualization of
organizational management, contributing to be more free, fair and fraternal. In this perspective, there is an
encouragement of the members of the living organism to self-develop and be more altruistic, cooperative
and solidary. Exercising the constant search for self-knowledge, as it assumes responsibility and carries
out activities that are in the interest of the community. The emphasis shifts to the Social through a
strengthened, full, authentic Individual. The organizational guidelines are based on self-management, on
group and collegiate decision-making and on an incipient sociocracy. The study is based on the ideal of
Social Trimembership based on Freedom in the cultural sphere, on Equality in legal-political relations and
on Fraternity, the basis of an economy based on more solidary and fraternal exchange relationships.
Rudolf Steiner advocates that Social Trimembering only comes to be first practiced and understood in the
social initiative of the Waldorf school. Forming children and young people with the soul food they need.
Thus, the life cycles of human development are characterized by periods markedly every 7 years. From 0
to 7 years old, there is a formation of the human being that the world is good. From 7 to 14 years old, the
world is beautiful. And from 14 to 21 years old, the world is thrue.

The consumer purchase decision process goes through a multiplicity of channels, the customer migrates from one channel to the other without barriers and waits in the same way that companies enable a continuous and uninterrupted customer journeys. Therefore, it is no longer necessary to just be present in several channels simultaneously, it is necessary to think about a uniform experience with integrated actions, developing a strategy called Omnichannel (Staflund and Kersmark, 2015). Gasparin, 2020, highlights that the academic researches that deal with this strategy focus on the implementation and the organizational vision of its effects, although they ignore two important points: The way consumers perceive the strategy and the growing use of social media in the customer journeys . Therefore, the present research analyzed the repercussion of the development of an omnichannel strategy for a supermarket chain in Natal / RN. The research comprises an exploratory and descriptive case study, adopting a qualitative and quantitative treatment and analysis of data. Secondary data were collected on the company's instagram, using user-generated content from this platform for categorical analysis and sentiment analysis. The results found point to the direction that the omnichannel service has a good repercussion among customers. An analysis of the comments had a high representation of positive sentiment and showed that, in the view of customers, it presents on Instagram the strategy used to hit the categories of complementarity and purchase journey, but still eliminated to be desired in terms of channel integration. The data found contribute to the advancement of academic research on this topic, reinforcing studies focused on the consumer's view of this transformation process. In addition, the results show the market point of view because it can help decision making regarding the direction of organizational investments in omnichannel strategies from the understanding of the customer's view and their consumption behavior

From technological development, with the web 2.0 and the increase of the online platforms of shared network service in the last two decades, a new way of consuming appears, established also in face of the socioeconomic and environmental crises. This set of factors accelerated the need for rationing and gained prominence for sharing, especially in the online context. Collaborative consumption emerges as an alternative economic model, converging socialism and capitalism from consumption through access. Notoriously, for the tourism sector, consumption by access has had a positive impact through business models such as sharing accommodation (Airbnb, Hostel, among others), food (Eat with, Dinner, among others) and mobility (for example, Valenbisí, blablacar, uber). In collaborative tourism consumption, there is a special emphasis on the Couchsurfing platform, which involves 4 million members around the world and demonstrates a change in tourist behavior in travel. Guests and hosts create relationships that start in the online environment and run through the offline environment, with hosting, with no relationship based on monetary values. Thus, this research will seek to understand the relevant factors for building trust between peers on the couchsurfing platform from Schwartz's Theory of Values and from Interpersonal Trust. Therefore, requiring a depth of investigation, a qualitative research will be developed from a constructivist perspective at an exploratory level. The collection of primary data from the accessibility and non-probability sampling will be done through episodic interviews with a semi-structured script based on the theories of values and interpersonal trust, with members of the couchsurfing community in Natal-RN, in a single cross-section. Content analysis, developed through CAQDAS Atlas.ti 7, identified values associated with risk propensity and openness to change, self-transcendence and a sense of community (benevolence). In this same direction, trust building was strongly associated with the platform's verification tools and reference system in the online context (rationality), continuing through the attitudinal and cognitive dynamics of the offline context, built from time and quality of interaction and exchanges for the construction of affective bonds (emotionality), corroborating the findings of the systematic review as to the constructs addressed in the present work. It is concluded, therefore, that the process of building trust in collaborative consumption through Couchsurfing requires its adaptation to the community through common values, making the platform a mostly homogeneous environment and conducive to the construction of affective bonds, driven by reciprocity and emotivity.

This dissertation has as it’s central theme the processes of policy evaluation in primary health care, with a focus on pay-for-performance programs, addressing technical and socio-political aspects of the field of evaluation. The research aims to analyze the National Program for Improving Access and Quality in Primary Care (PMAQ-AB) in socio-political attributes, based on documentary research supported by the minutes of the National Health Council, and its technical aspects , anchored in quantitative impact assessment methods. The dissertation is reported in two articles and uses a mixed methodology to achieve its goals. The first chapter reports the systematic review of the literature, highlighting the research gap and corroborating its originality. Demonstrates search protocols and general information from the panorama of national and international publications. The second chapter presents the first article, whose methodology is qualitative and proposes to analyze deliberative processes within the National Health Council, with regard to its approach to the Program for Improving Access and Quality in Primary Care (PMAQ- AB), based on the Cycle and Public Policies model. It deals with socio-political aspects of the program, assuming, as a presupposition, that the CNS considers the PMAQ in its agendas and/or discussions, carrying out the social control of the program and deliberating on it, according to its attributions. The methodological procedure is focused on document research, with analysis by coding in two cycles. The results demonstrate that the CNS approaches the PMAQ in its meetings in a predominantly indirect and organic way. The program does not appear on the agendas of executive summaries, but is mentioned by the councilors in several discussions, indicating the council's concern with the quality of Primary Health Care (PHC) and its financing. CNS addresses the PMAQ mainly in its implementation phase, indicating synergy between this and other PHC programs. The third chapter is a quantitative article, aiming to identify the causal relationship between the implementation of the PMAQ in Brazilian municipalities and the results of the Sensitive Conditions Index for Primary Care (ICSAB). The research is carried out with secondary quantitative data available on official platforms of the Federal Government in order to form the database for impact assessment, analyzed through Difference in Differences with multiple periods and study of events. The results show that the PMAQ had a significant impact on the ICSAB, helping to reduce hospitalizations sensitive to primary care, when controlled by socioeconomic factors, keeping everything else constant.

In order to be successful in the incubation process, it is important that incubators
identify the needs of companies, their perceptions in relation to the services provided
and their performances. A growing discussion in the literature deals with the
relationship between the incubation process and the performance of companies; and the
inclusion of dynamic capabilities as mediators can help the understanding of this
relationship. Therefore, the objective of this thesis is to analyze the impact of dynamic
capabilities as mediators in the relationship between the incubation process and the
organizational performance perceived by companies after leaving the incubator.
Although there is growing interest and the focus of research on post-incubation issues,
what happens to graduated companies is still an unexplored area. To this end, a
quantitative and descriptive cross-sectional research was carried out using the survey
research strategy applied to managers of graduated technology-based companies, which
is mandatory in the northeastern region of the country. The segment was chosen based
on the representativeness of the sector investigated and its generation, with regard to the
economic impact in this region of Brazil. A total of 92 valid questionnaires apprehended
the perceptions of managers of technology-based companies. The analysis of the results
was based on descriptive statistics and Structural Equation Modeling (SEM), using the
statistical software Stata/IC 15.1®. At the end of the study, it was possible to confirm the
investigated hypotheses. For the purpose of this study, it was possible to identify the
following findings: strong mediation power of the Dynamic Capabilities construct and a
positive relationship between the latent variables Incubation Process and Organizational
Performance. The study also presents a summarized analytical framework composed of
the three investigated constructs. Finally, the research reveals important contributions to
future studies, such as the advancement of studies on the importance of
interorganizational relationships as drivers of the development of dynamics capabilities,
as well as identifying the main work limitations and important manager actions for the
incubators with companies incubated.

Project success has been widely discussed in the project management literature and the criteria used to evaluate success have been changing over the years. Stakeholder satisfaction has been discussed as an important criterion for project success. In addition, the complex nature of construction projects requires proper analysis of the various stakeholders and the collaboration between them to achieve the project's objectives and meet their needs and interests. Considering the above, this thesis is supported by three articles. Article 1 reviews the literature on the themes of project success, stakeholders and collaboration. Article 2 analyzes how the success of projects is perceived and what are the most important criteria for evaluating it. Article 3 analyzes the salience attributes (power, legitimacy and urgency) of stakeholders and how project collaboration occurs. To achieve the objectives, a literature review was carried out for article 1 and articles 2 and 3 are case studies at a Federal Institution of Higher Education-IFES. In the case study, data were collected through semi-structured interviews and document analysis. In this way, this thesis provided theoretical and practical contributions. From the theoretical point of view, it intends to contribute to the expansion of knowledge in the area by connecting the themes of project success, stakeholder theory and the concept of collaboration. From a practical point of view, it were identified the most important success criterias, the most relevant stakeholders and that collaboration is essential for positive results in projects.

The Lessons learned in Projects have obtained increasing interest from theorists and practitioners, as it is a way to enhance the successes and avoid the repetition of errors in the same project or in future projects. In view of this growing importance, it becomes relevant to understand the possible barriers to its use. To study this phenomenon, the Theory of Planned Behavior (TCP) was chosen as a theoretical lens, as it addresses behavioral aspects that, in exploratory studies, have proved to be relevant. Given this scenario, this research aimed to "Understand how public project managers perceive behavioral barriers to the use of Lessons learned". This study adopts a predominantly qualitative approach, although some quantitative analyzes have been incorporated as a way to better understand the phenomenon. To compose the theoretical framework, Systematic Literature Reviews were carried out, which proved the gap and relevance of the study; they made it possible to learn about advances in the theme; and, deepen in the TCP, which was the main reference for the elaboration of the research model with 04 hypotheses. To test the hypotheses, 02 field researches were carried out with 15 Project Managers chosen by sampling of specialists. The first field research was carried out, from 12/09/2020 to 29/01/2021, through interviews that totaled almost 13 hours of audio and 100,000 words transcribed. With this textual corpus, it was possible to perform lexical analysis using the IRAMUTEQ software. In a complementary way, the information recorded in memos allowed the elaboration of a questionnaire to deepen the knowledge of the phenomenon. This second collection took place through Google forms, from 4/28 to 5/3/2021. Among the most relevant results, there is evidence of the importance of behavioral barriers, Attitude, Subjective Norms and Perceived Control (TCP constructs) to the use of Lessons learned. This study provided some theoretical contributions, among which the following stand out: Categorization of barriers to the use of Lessons learned; Survey of ways of using lessons learned in public projects; Lifting barriers to the use of Lessons learned in public projects and their categorization according to the types of barriers and constructs of TCP; Models of data collection instruments; and, Proposition of a research model based on the behavioral barriers and construct of TCP. From a managerial point of view, the following contributions stand out: alerting Project Managers about the importance of using Lessons learned; highlight the importance of behavioral aspects in Project Management; present a list of recommendations for Project Managers to adopt as a way to combat behavioral barriers arising from TCP constructs. The limitations of the research are inherent to the software used, the financial restrictions of the research and the typical limitations of a qualitative research that concern the subjective choices of the researcher. Two future studies are suggested: adapting the questionnaire to a quantitative model with more comprehensive numerical scales and applying it to a larger number of Project Managers; and, replicate this research in the private corporate environment and compare the results with the public environment. In view of the above, it is possible to consider that the research objectives were fully achieved and that their results enable scientific advancement and can contribute to managerial advancement.

Since 2015 it’s been possible to identify an increase in the debentures emission and negotiation from brasilian companies. These transactions can be arising from implementation of the restrict efforts instruction 476/09, the 12.431 law of  infrastructure debentures emission improvement, the debentures price and pricing monitoring, from the REUNE, and the change related to the BNDES fundings and the SELIC rate decreasing. This way, verified only the ANBIMA  debenture index and the Board Quantum existence, it was proposed, in this work, a new index family for the fixed income market. Therefore, it is suggested a methodology to the building of general debentures negotiation  index (IDGng) and the B3 debenture index (IDB3). Being the IDGng theoretical portfolio composed of stocks independent from their ratings and the IDB3 portfolio only with debentures issued from companies traded on B3. It also added to the two indexes the non-inclusion of stocks  with expiration less than a month and the need to be up to date with the payment of events.  On the other hand, the stock's theoretical quantity was obtained by the market quantity weighting with the negotiation factor. Being the index calculated using the summation of the sum of the product of proportional theoretical quantity with the unitary price in a specific date with the product of proportional theoretical quantity with the asset event. For this reason, it was used fixed income market datas, available on the site ANBIMA Data, between 2018 and 2020. Thus, the IDGng’s portfolio was composed of 32 debentures and the IDB3’s of 30. Therefore, after the series calculus, could be verified an increase in the IDGng from 2018 until June 2019, when it starts to show a tendency of decrement. While  the IDB3 shows the highest score in mid 2020. Being with that verified, in the sequence, the persistence influence and the asymmetry on its return series volatility. Fact indicates that the proposed indexes present long memory characteristics, based on the results of the low order models implantation, GARCH (1,1), EGARCH(1,1) and TGARCH (1,1).

This work analyzes how on-line textual news affects the financial market. This research is organized in two essays: the first evaluate the relationship of complexity textual in financial news and the speed of market information diffusion, the second essay focuses on the noise produced by complex news and the realization of corporate investments. In this research methods of textual processing and web scraping were developed, were collected journalistic articles from the specialized media channels and processed to obtain three types of variables: textual complexity, textual sentiment, and media attention. The results found are: less complex news are related to higher trading volumes and higher corporate investments, the effect of the news sentiment is very short term and the news complexity affects the speed of market information diffusion for longer periods. Other results are: the corporate investment is directly related to the sentiment of the news published right before the spending is carried out, for older news the effect is the opposite, old bad news are related to biggest corporate investments, was also observed that media attention is related to higher volumes traded and higher absolute values of corporate investment, however, media attention showed an inverse relationship with corporate investment calculated as a percentage of company assets, indicating that firm size is related to the amount of news published in specialized media.

Corporate governance has been gaining prominence in government and academic
interest in recent years, being seen as a tool for preventing economic crises by
increasing the reliability of companies. International organizations have proposed to
disseminate good practices in the area through publications of principles and guidelines,
as well as by promoting academic studies on the effects of good governance. In the
meantime, different countries have reformed their laws in favor of implementing these
best practices. In Brazil, after successive cases of corruption involving state-owned
companies, Law 13.303/16, known as the State-Owned Liability Law, was enacted in
June 2016, which brings a series of recommendations in favor of an improvement in the
corporate governance of Brazilian state-owned companies. In view of this scenario, this
work sought to evaluate the adoption of the new legislation on two aspects: the
alignment of the regulation in relation to international governance principles and the
dynamics of the implementation of practices by companies. Using the document “OECD
Corporate Governance Guidelines for State-Owned Companies”, published in 2015 and
the 5th edition of the Code of Best Corporate Governance Practices produced by the
Brazilian Institute of Corporate Governance (IBGC), as a reference basis, the study
carried out a convergence analysis of 65 governance practices brought by the new
legislation and in a second moment evaluated 23 state-owned companies listed at B3 in
relation to the implementation of 48 practices instituted by the law based on an indicator
based on IG-SEST. The results obtained validate previous studies when concluding that
Law 13.303/16 is in large part adhering to the best international practices in the area of
corporate governance, but it expands the knowledge acquired by identifying points
where the legislation does not have the alignment with that recommended in the
documents of area reference. Regarding the implementation of practices by companies,
the governance indicator (Adjusted IG-SEST) shows that the implementation of the
legislation occurred in large part, however, practices and companies with delay in
implementation were identified. As a product, there are also findings of distinctions
between companies in different sectors, spheres of control and firm size, and finally the
conclusion that Brazilian state-owned companies have a tendency to reactively adopt
governance practices, with the model of rigid law ( hard law) best suited to achieve the
objective of increasing the level of corporate governance of these companies in Brazil.

The thesis aims to analyze the implementation of the National School Feeding Program (PNAE) by associations and cooperatives of family farming punctuating analytical categories of the institutional market, epistemological elements, territorial development, institutions, social capital and the performance of empirical leaders. The research is organized in the format of four articles. The first article is intended to designate analytical categories of research in the PNAE in its dialogue with family farming as a way of identifying research trends and verifying theoretical and practical implications. The second article aims to reconcile analytical categories of the insertion of family farming in the PNAE based on interfaces between scientific publication and research at the stricto sensu graduate level in Brazil in the field of Administrative Science, performing an exercise to classify such research in the Circle of the Epistemic Matrices (PAES DE PAULA, 2016). The third article summarizes dimensions of territorial development, institutional and social capital in the implementation of PNAE by associations and cooperatives of family farming in the rural territories of Serra do Brigadeiro / MG and Mato Grande / RN. The fourth article analyzes the implications of PNAE at the local level, in the administrative apparatus and in the performance of leaders of family farming organizations in the aforementioned territories, using the public policy implementation model (LIMA, D´ASCENZI; 2013) in the interpretation of the results. Regarding the qualitative methodological procedures, the first two articles follow literature review exercises, the third and fourth articles originate from multiple case studies in 10 associations and family farming cooperatives. Data analysis included the Atlas.ti and Iramuteq software. The results of the first article reveal five analytical categories for the study of the PNAE - political and institutional aspects; historical trajectory; family farming attributes; success factors and barriers; from these categories research trends were identified and theoretical and practical implications were found. The classification in the Circle of Epistemic Matrices, in the second article, places three studies on the border of the empirical-analytical matrix with the hermeneutical matrix, one research on the border of the hermeneutical matrix with the critical matrix and four in the hermeneutical matrix, a result that admits conciliation with the five analytical categories derived from the processing of the publication in the previous article, revealing that, even though transiting in different epistemological matrices, researches in PNAE and family agriculture, in the stricto sensu postgraduate course in Administrative Science, have common elements to scientific publication in the area. The results of the third article summarize dimensions of territorial development - economic, social, cultural and environmental - present in the rural territories and the way in which the institutional format of the PNAE contributes to the emergence of specific norms in associations and cooperatives, reveals the presence of social capital in relations of trust as well as in articulation of organizations with different social actors. The fourth article finds that the PNAE at the local level, in one territory, is served only by cooperatives, with origins in associations, the administrative apparatus has changed more intensely in one territory than in the other, and the role of directors in the implementation shows participation in the creation and / or transformation of organizations. For future research, it is suggested to expand the database to identify research trends in other fields of science and to enlarge the field of study to include social actors from other territories / states of the Federation, in order to deepen transformations in family farming imputed to the PNAE, including the generation of factors by quantitative methods

A growing discussion in the literature approaches the relation between Corporate Social Performance (CSP) and Corporate Financial Performance (CFP). Previous studies have shown the role of intangible resources in mediating this relation, however tangible resources have been disregarded. Thus, the general objective of this thesis was to evaluate the mediating effect of internal resources (association of tangible and intangible resources) in the CSP-CFP relation. Additionally, still in the CSP-CFP relation, it aimed (a) to estimate mediations exercised by categories of internal resources (financial, physical, human and organizational); (b) to evaluate double mediations carried out by categories of internal resources and (c) to measure mediations performed by tangible (financial and physical) and intangible (human and organizational) resources. A methodology to apprehend the perceptions of managers of small and medium-sized companies about CSP, CFP and internal resources was proposed and empirically tested. When applied in compounding pharmacies, it contributed to reduce the gaps related to the CSP and CFP relation in small and medium-sized companies. A total of 89 valid questionnaires registered the perceptions of managers of compounding pharmacies and supported the analysis of structural equations using partial least squares. The results showed that, when considering internal resources, the direct effect of the CSP variable on the CFP became practically a fifth (β=0,063) in relation to the model not controlled by mediation (β=0,297; Difference: t=17,3; p-value<0,01) and the Variance Accounted For (VAF) found for the variable internal resources was of 71,7%, indicating a partial mediation that approaches a total mediation. As for the mediation exercised by the categories of internal resources, only financial resources (VAF=13,4%) were not qualified as mediators, while the others, physical (VAF=38,2%), human (VAF=21,6%) and organizational (VAF=22,4%) were assessed as partial mediators. Although financial resources were not considered simple mediators, they played an important role in the design of the internal resources variable and were also involved in double mediation processes, especially with human resources. When comparing the mediation power of intangibles and tangibles, the former were superior. The internal resources construct, as an integrating composition between tangibles and intangibles, offered a broader understanding than the observation of a fraction of these resources. As for the direct relation between CSP and CFP, which was not significant, added to the other results of this study, it strengthens the role of internal resources as mediators of this relation, showing, in addition to the intangibles, that the tangible ones need to be considered. Carroll's model (1979) proved to be suitable to be used as a basis for measuring CSP in the segment of compounding pharmacies, confirming that its proposed dimensions remain current and are configured in a stable way of thinking the construct. The present study investigated the relation in the CSP-CFP orientation. Future research can analyze the opposite orientation (CFP-CSP). New researches can also contribute regarding the time investments in CSP take to present significant effects on the CFP, which would require longitudinal studies.

This study aims to investigate factors that influence the consumer intention, responsible for disposals of smartphones. Therefore, a research model is proposed that integrates the Theory of Planned behavior and Norm-Activation Theory (Altruism Theory), and constructs convenience of recycling, responsible disposals information and corcerns about data privacy. This research is descriptive with a quantitative approach. The population of this research is smartphone users, and the sample consisted of 1394 graduate students from courses associated with the area of Applied Social Sciences at brasilian universities. Data collection was performed through questionnaires applied in person and online. The analysis was performed by Exploratory Factor Analysis (AFE) and Structural Equation Modeling (SEM) in two steps: analysis of the measurement model (Confirmatory Factor Analysis - AFC) and analysis of the structural model. The results obtained indicate that factors such as attitude, moral norms and perceived behavioral control are the variables that most influence the intention of responsible disposal of smartphones. The students demonstrated a positive attitude, a sense of responsibility and a moral obligation to dispose of their smartphones in an environmentally correct way, however they face barriers such as the absence of adequate infrastructure and a lack of information about how and where to properly dispose of their obsolete electronic equipment. The concern for data privacy, contrary to what was expected, had a small negative influence on the intention to dispose responsibly, showing that, according to the sample, privacy of smartphone data is not a potential barrier to your responsible disposal.

CELESTINO, Maxwell dos Santos. Strategies of knowledge organizations and their relationship with the resource-based view: the UFRN case. 2020, 244f. Doctoral thesis (Doctorate in Administration). Post-Graduation Program in Administration, UFRN, Natal/RN.

At the moment, studies based on knowledge organizations presents gaps in the quantitative understanding of their component dimensions, the interrelationship between their variables, and their relationship to the resource-based view, core competencies, and the creation of competitive advantage .This thesis considers the convenience of bringing an empirical and current understanding of how to develop knowledge-focused strategies; their relevance for the adoption of management practices oriented to the efficient use of resources; practical implications that may contribute to solving internal strategic problems present in the context of a Higher Education Institution. As mentioned, the present thesis aims to analyze if the resources, capabilities and essential competences may be related to the development of strategies that lead to the generation of competitive advantages, present at the Federal University of Rio Grande do Norte. To achieve the proposed objective, a research characterized as descriptive, bibliographic and survey will be conducted. This case study will be conducted by an analytical survey applied to a sample of 730 (seven hundred thirty) individuals who are part of the university community of the studied organization. Quantitative data will be collected through a survey with 75 (seventy-five) conceptually structured variables in order to gauge the perception of the academic community of the studied organization, regarding the relationships between the dimensions of knowledge organizations, resource-based view and advantage developed by the organization studied. The data will be statistically treated by the application of multivariate techniques, with emphasis on Exploratory Factor Analysis and Structural Equation Modeling in Partial Least Squares (PLS-SEM), where we will use the IBM SPSS® and SmartPLS 3.2.8 software. The data will be analyzed after the conclusion of the thesis qualification stage which will allow to reach conclusions that will answer the problematic of this research. We can conclude, through structural equation modeling, that the role of the three dimensions of the proposed knowledge organizations model are important in the performance management process and in strategic decision making, confirming the relationship between the knowledge organizations model addressed in this research the RBV, the VRIO model and the essential competencies. The paths identified in the integrated structural model point to the existence of relevant relationships, which allow inferences to be made for the formulation of strategies that generate competitive advantage and make it possible to sustain it, thus collaborating with the theory of RBV.

Dengue  is a disease associated to many adverse effects on the Brazilian economy, represented not only by health care expenditures, but also by the loss of productivity of the workers and by the decrease in tourism revenues. In addition, in recent years it has been discovered that Aedes aegypti is also a vector for chikungunya and Zika, diseases that leave severe sequels in the infected person, with the last one associated to a generation of babies affected by a severe form of microcephaly. Because of the persistence of the problem, some municipalities have adopted innovative biological control strategies. Among them is the release of the genetically modified mosquito (called OX513A), a lineage of male mosquitoes developed by the company Oxitec, which has already been implemented in the municipalities of Juazeiro/BA, Jacobina/BA, Piracicaba/SP, Juiz de Fora/MG and Indaiatuba/SP. In the present study, we will evaluate the impact of this strategy on the incidence of dengue, through the synthetic control method, which allows the construction of a counterfactual for the treated municipalities through the optimal weighting of municipalities that did not adopt the strategy. The results showed that the effects are not statistically significant, and so can not be meaningfully interpreted. 

Small Enterprises have a high socioeconomic importance in the world and Brazilian scenario, due to their generation of employment and income for the population. In addition, given the intense globalization and global development, these companies have also been relevant in the innovative process of the countries. In Brazil, over the last decades, several policies, actions, laws and entities have been developed in the promotion of these companies and their innovation. This dissertation aims to analyze the association of characteristics of companies participating in the SEBRAE Local Innovation Agents Program’s with the program’s focus on the levels of and gains of innovation achieved in the 16/18 cycle within the State off Rio Grande do Norte, through an econometric evaluation using the regression method. Thus, this work performed a managerial analysis of the Program by measuring the characteristics of entrepreneurs and companies participating in the Program in Brazilian companies in the state of Rio Grande do Norte, which revealed the importance and strength of companies located in the capital, political, economic, financial center. and the state social and, therefore, already more structured in the global maturity of organizational innovation and more engaged in the development of the innovation actions proposed by the Program in face of its strong market competition. Thus, the location in Natal can be used by ALI managers as a means of selecting the companies most likely to focus on the Program's results and may also use the actions taken by this company as a model for expanding the most varied innovation actions ( in various dimensions) to the other MPEs of the State providing advances in innovation in the economy of RN.

Project governance can be recognized as a critical factor for project completion and successful result. The role of the sponsor provides the critical link between corporate and project governance and it’s important to ensure that governance requirements are met and support is provided to projects and programs. In the literature, it has been noted that there is a gap to explore a project management technique or model involving governance and the role of the sponsor throughout the project life cycle. At this point, was identified a public educational institution that uses the Life Cycle Canvas® visual model that integrates the project life cycle idea with the concept of canvas. Thus, the present paper sought to examine the role of the Life Cycle Canvas® visual model for the governance function performed by the project sponsor in the project life cycle of a public educational institution. To achieve this, a descriptive research was carried out, with bibliographic and case study procedures, the approach followed qualitative parameters, where the subjects of this research comprised the members of the institution's project office and the sponsors themselves. The sample was defined in a non-probabilistic manner comprising only the projects of the office with closed or in the closing phase. Data collection was performed through semi-structured individual interviews, so we could interview three office members and four sponsors involved in any of the projects in the sample. Data analysis was performed through content analysis, where as a treatment aid was used the software ATLAS.ti, version 7. The previously defined categories represented the six dimensions of sponsor roles in the project governance context cited by Crawford et al. (2008). On this paper, it was identified that the Life Cycle Canvas® visual model can contribute to this role in the six dimensions suggested by Crawford et al. (2008). Considering the list of identified codes, it can be argued that it assists in the dimensions governing the project, guiding and making decisions and critically reviewing progress. It is still possible to claim that the model has a major role in the sponsor's role of governance making it reflect on factors that without the model would not be possible. In this way, the Life Cycle Canvas® visual model can assist the sponsor at all stages of the project life cycle, contributing to the performance of its governance function.

A presente tese teve três objetivos principais, articulados na forma de três artigos independentes, que partilham a temática do papel do Conselho de Administração (CA) nas firmas do Novo Mercado da bolsa de valores brasileira e que o inferem de acordo com a análise de conteúdo das atas das reuniões, usando um esquema de classificação baseado na metodologia de Schwartz-Ziv e Weisbach (2013). O primeiro trata da análise do papel do Conselho de Administração sob a ótica das teorias da Agência, da Riqueza Socioemocional e da Abordagem Legalista. Verificou-se que o papel predominantemente exercido pelos Conselhos é o de gerenciamento das companhias, em oposição a ênfase nas atividades de monitoramento, esperada à luz da Teoria da Agência. Esse resultado se sustenta mesmo em empresas familiares, divergindo dos argumentos teóricos preconizados pela Riqueza
This thesis has three main objectives, separated in three independent articles which share a common theme – the role played by the board of directors of firms listed on B3’s Novo Mercado – and a common method to infer this role: a content analysis of the board meetings minutes, based on a classification scheme proposed by Schwartz-Ziv and Weisbach (2013). The first objective was an analysis of the role played by the boards under three theoretical settings: Agency Theory, Socioemotional Theory and Legalist Approach. We found that the main role played by boards was the managerial one, opposing the theoretical Agency proposition that it should be the supervisory. This result is also held for a subset of family-managed companies, diverging from the Socioemotional theoretical background, and does not seem to be influenced by the presence of blockholders in the firm’s ownership structure. Besides, it was verified that the Brazilian Corporate Laws is responsible for demanding less than half of the boards’ reported work and thus cannot be argued as being the quintessence of its role; and that there is no associative pattern between board composition and its main role, which translates into the number of members, independence and gender diversity being insufficient to direct board activities. The second objective was to analyze if boards have been displaying any level of institutional isomorphism and whether director interlocking influences this process. We found no systematic similarity between boards’ roles when aggregated at Novo Mercado or Industry levels. Besides, there is no evidence of interlocking boards being having more similar roles than the ones which do not share directors. It was concluded that boards are not being subject to major influences from coercive, mimetic or normative isomorphic pressures. The third objective was an analysis of the influence of board role over the cost of capital, using as theoretical background Agency and Resource Dependence theories, and the wealth redistribution hypothesis. Meeting frequency was found to be important for the effectivity of board role, and that placing emphasis in supervisory duties is associated to a discount in the cost of equity. As we found no evidence of a relationship between cost of debt and the role played by boards, we cannot infer that there is a strong divergence between the interests of shareholders and debtholders. Thus, adopting a monitoring-oriented approach should improve the capital structure of the company, as it benefits at least one class of stakeholders.

This research aims to investigate the influence of the mandatory dividend rule on the informational content of dividend announcements. Initially, we observed how market react to unexpected quarterly and annual dividend change. Then, we related the dividend status to earnings quality. The sample consist in firms listed on Brazil, Chile and Greece, countries that have minimum mandatory rule, from 2000 to 2017. The fundamental and financial data are collected at COMPUSTAT Global and Bloomberg, and analyst forecast are from I/B/E/S. The results show that analysts have optimistic forecasts for the dividends distribution and 81.3% of companies are worried about disclosing dividend equal to or greater than the minimum mandatory. Using the event study methodology, abnormal returns are observed following quarterly dividend announcements that follow quarterly earnings announcements, suggesting that dividends may provide a confirmatory information of preceding earnings announcement. Abnormal returns are observed when annual dividend announcements higher than the minimum mandatory. However, when analyzing the relation of accumulated abnormal returns to dividend announcements under the approaches of Signaling and Free Cash Flow theories, it was not possible to prove that the changes in dividend announcements are related to future changes in results, as the average returns in response to the announcement of the dividend payment are greater in the companies with excesses of investments. The results of the second part of the study suggest that the mandatory dividend rule may reduce the information of dividend announcement about earnings quality, once by adding the mandatory dividend limits, only dividend announcements higher than the minimum mandatory increase the earnings persistence, and down earnings management is observed when related to unprofitable companies, which are not required to distribute dividends, and by companies with dividends above the minimum mandatory.

The present research had as general objective to propose a Model for Selection of Suppliers aiming at the construction of collaborative relationships in the Supply Chain of the Wind Energy Sector. Initially, the criteria that are currently used by companies producing Wind Energy in the Selection of Suppliers of goods and services were identified. Following, the profiles defining the three levels of Supply Chain relationships: cooperation, coordination and collaboration were defined. Finally, a protocol was presented to support the decision-making of the Managers in Supplier Selection, aiming at building collaborative relationships in the Supply Chain of the Wind Energy Sector. The research is applied, quantitative, exploratory and descriptive and used as technical procedures the bibliographic research, the application of an online questionnaire and the quantitative modeling. The research was carried out with the Wind Energy companies that own the wind farms installed in Rio Grande do Norte, Bahia and Ceará, which are the three Brazilian States with the largest installed wind capacity and the largest number of wind farms operating under test or commercially. The research subjects were 12 Managers who act directly in the process of Selection of Suppliers of goods and services from 10 of these companies. The research was divided into four stages: identification of criteria, definition of profiles, construction and validation of the Model. Regarding the results of the research, a reference frame of criteria for Supplier Selection was developed, consisting of 09 generic criteria and 06 specific to the subproblem of collaborative relationships or soft factors; it was found that what differentiates the profiles of the three levels of Supply Chain relationships is the intensity with which companies incorporate 07 characteristics and 08 behaviors, ranging from low in cooperation to high in collaboration; a Multicriteria Decision Support Model was constructed and validated, which allows, in a systematized and structured manner, to classify suppliers at the levels of cooperation, coordination or collaboration, according to their performance in the established set of criteria; Finally, a protocol was presented to support the decisionmaking of the Managers in Supplier Selection, aiming at building collaborative relationships in the Supply Chain of the Wind Energy Sector.

The quality of Brazilian public education has been around the same level since the 2000s. This stagnation means that the educational gap between Brazil and the developed countries, and even other Latin American countries, is increasing. In addition, the country coexists with large regional socioeconomic disparities and provision of educational resources, which in turn may be associated with the difference in educational quality. Thus, the Brazilian government has been seeking different ways to improve student performance, with emphasis, in recent years, in policies of full time education. Given this scenario, this thesis is divided in two parts that aims at Brazilian public primary education. The first is to assess the level of efficiency, using a dynamic model, taking into account the differences in the socioeconomic levels of its students. This model includes an infrastructure index as a variable that links each period of time. We used three model's specifications that differ in the usage of the socioeconomic variable. The results showed that the efficiency distributions of these models are not statistically equal, but the general conclusions are convergent. There was almost no evolution in school efficiency between 2007 and 2015, but our model indicate a possible way to improvement the efficiency by investing in school infrastructure.

The second part of the thesis evaluates the \textit{Programa Mais Educação} (PME) created by the Brazilian Federal Government with the aim of improving education at the fundamental level. This policy seeks to implement the model of school full-time, with at least seven hours a day, through the implementation of extra socio-educational activities in the public school second-shift. Our objective is to estimate the impact of the program on the average academic performance in Portuguese, mathematics and approval rate, in addition to the new violence index. For this, we propose the use of the augmented weighted propensity score method, which seeks to establish an adequate control group to compare with the group of treated schools, since the program is aimed mainly at the most vulnerable schools. Then, we estimated the impact of the program's performance between 2007 and 2017 through the differences-in-differences method. The evidence obtained points to negative effects between 2009 and 2011, no statistical significance in 2013 and positive effects in 2015 and 2017. The cost-effectiveness of the program is on average 0.2 points in Portuguese and Mathematics and 0.4 \% - 0.8 \% in the approval rate for every ten thousand reais invested in the school. Finally, the program has a positive effect on school efficiency in all models.

Understanding the "Project Complexity" construct has challenged researchers and professionals since the study of Baccarini (1996) initiated in-depth discussions on the subject.  Within this context, the development of methods and tools, which can directly contribute to the insertion of the complexity dimension in the project management practices, has run into the difficulty of measuring it. In this sense, this research had as general objective to construct a measurement model of the Project Complexity for the Brazilian public sector. To do so, it was considered as the basis the perception of 16 specialists and 118 professionals in the area of management project who act or have already acted in public projects. The research was divided into two stages. In the first, we initially mapped a set of 96 complexity factors identified from a systematic review of the literature. These factors were evaluated through questionnaires by 16 experts and 118 professionals who identified the ten most relevant factors for the complexity of public projects. In the second stage, machine learning techniques were applied with support vector machines to construct a measurement model of the Project Complexity. In the model, three levels were defined to classify the complexity of a project: low, medium and high. The model was validated by 17 experiments divided in three rounds and was based on a set containing 36 test cases, where the average accuracy level of classification was evaluated. As for the research results, two new concepts were proposed, one for project management and the other for project complexity. It was proposed a theoretical model containing 11 dimensions and 96 project complexity factors based on a systematic review of the literature. It was identified the ten most relevant complexity factors for public projects in the opinion of Brazilian specialists and professionals in the area of project management. Finally, the MMCP-PUB / BR (Measurement Model of Projects Complexity for Brazilian Public Sector) was constructed and validated through machine learning techniques and refinements that resulted in 100% accuracy in the predictions made for 36 elements present in the test set. Based on the results, it was concluded that the use of machine learning to measure the complexity of projects demonstrated the feasibility and ability to contribute to increase the insertion of the dimension complexity in the project management practices.

The purpose of this thesis to verify if the use of the Life Cycle Canvas (LCC) visual project management model promotes the project teams engagement in the light of the Job Demands-Resources Theory (JD-R Theory). According to JD-R Theory, work demands are the main predictors of burnout syndrome and psychosomatic health problems. On the other hand, personal and job resources are the most important predictors of job satisfaction, motivation and engagement (Bakker & Demerouti, 2014). Considering that project teams have high demands, work under pressure, manage conflicts, deal with high stress levels and rely on various resources to achieve success, this study seeks to debate the thesis that the benefits provided by using the LCC visual project management model promote job resources that, in turn, promote project team engagement. Thus, an exploratory cross-sectional study was conducted through an electronic survey with a sample of 98 LCC certified professionals, considering a population of 125 people certified in the model until the time of data collection. The survey was conducted in June 2019 with the support of Google Forms and forwarded to respondents through a messaging app. Data were collected based on a questionnaire composed of 40 questions formulated from other instruments available in the literature to measure personal resources, job resources and the variables vigor, dedication and absorption of the job engagement construct used by JD-R Theory. A systematic literature review was also performed which mapped the personal and job resources related to JD-R Theory studied empirically in the literature. This mapping served as the basis for conducting empirical research. The collected data were quantitatively analyzed using descriptive statistics and Partial Least Squares Structural Equation Modeling (PLS-SEM). The results of the measurement model analyzes validated Hypothesis 1, pointing out that LCC promotes job resources: psychosocial colleague support, task clarity, performance feedback, professional development opportunities, and supervisory support. Within the personal resources inherent to the professionals certified in CCL, there were five resources: self-efficacy, self-esteem, hope, optimism and resilience. The analysis of the structural model pointed out that both the job resources promoted by the LCC and the personal resources inherent to certified professionals are mediators of work engagement regarding the vigor, dedication and absorption construct. These results validated the hypotheses defined in the research and point in line with the literature related to JD-R. Finally, it is noteworthy that the use of visual project management models, such as LCC, promotes job resources that can be decisive in team engagement and project success, as well as contributing to the improvement of individual and organizational performance.

ospital’s purchasing management deals with different item categories. These categories, due to their nature of supply, demand and technological knowledge, affect buyer’s rationality. Considering the criteria and strategies for purchasing intrinsic to hospital’s context, the present study aims to propose a hospital purchasing portfolio model to classify purchasing items. Conflicting interests within hospital supply chain actors are discussed based on Agency Theory. In the methodological aspect, the study uses qualitative and quantitative approaches. A systematic literature review (RSL) was performed to identify the criteria and strategies used in hospital’s purchasing decision process. The criteria, derived from RSL, were assessed through an online survey with 39 purchasing managers from large private hospitals in the southern, southeastern and northeastern regions of Brazil. Data were subjected to principal component analysis (PCA) validating eleven criteria (lead-time, cost, reputation, negotiation, monopoly, volume, customization, storage, assistance, physician’s preference and knowledge). The latent variables from PCA formed the dimensions of the proposed model: universal purchasing parameters; dependence on supply; and knowledge asymmetry. The model was applied in a large private hospital, analyzing a sample of twelve hospital purchasing items. On the item classification step, the Fuzzy-TOPSIS method was used. Of the twelve items in the sample, two were classified in the “non-critical” category, two in “leverage”, two in “bottleneck”, three in “strategic” and three in “critical”. The result was validated by hospital purchasing managers. A sensitivity analysis attested the robustness of the model.

The research aims to clarify how the Life Cycle Canvas model can support Project-Based Learning when in the learning context of Management students. The work is characterized as exploratory and brings a qualitative approach to explain this phenomenon in the context in which it happens. To achieve this objective a field research was carried out, in which the researcher conducted a course in Management course at a Federal Institution of Higher Education, which was analyzed the development of the competences of 16 students from the context of the models inserted in the discipline. Data collection was done from the students' learning portfolios and a questionnaire, as well as the observation of the researcher and a press conference. Content analysis was used for the treatment of the data generated in the discipline supported by the software NVivo and Copy Spider. As results, we have that the main theoretical contribution was the alignment between the skills and abilities that are part of the learning of a Manager with those who benefit from PjBL. In this sense, it was verified that the LCC does not directly support the development of competences, however it supports the learning model which, therefore, ends up benefiting the development of competencies. Thus, the LCC model is shown as an auxiliary in the project-based learning environment, while the students in this context need to make a project, feel safer in decision-making since the model prints on its own communication and a dynamism that has proved necessary. The challenging environment that PjBL promotes, fits synchronously to the training context of an administrator. In a complementary way, it was evidenced the need that the students of Management feel throughout the course about the lack of practice during the disciplines. The practice was one of the strong points of the discipline, which ended up stimulating the students mainly in the skills of problem solving and teamwork. Thus, the study showed that the assumption was confirmed, and the students understood that only the fact that the LCC helps the project, would therefore be a facilitation in the discipline, resulting in a facilitation in the learning process. The study, in addition to creating critical mass on experiences with PjBL in Management Education in Brazil, inaugurates the use of a project management model throughout a discipline, as an aid in student development in its learning

The objective of the research is to analyze, in the light of self-management precepts, the incubationsolidarity economy based on empirical experiences of group Organization of Learning and Knowledge in Solidarity Initiatives and Studies in the Third Sector (Oasis / UFRN). The OASIS group develops integrated teaching, research and extension activities aimed at strengthening collective initiatives among young people and adults, based on principles of solidarity economy, both through voluntary social projects and the purpose of generating work and income. The methodological course of the dissertation began with a search for articles dealing with the incubation of Solidarity Economy projects in the Capes Portal and for theses and dissertations in the Institutional Repository of UFRN. Then the self-management literature was mapped and the categories of analysis used were selected. In order to meet the research objective, the study adopted a qualitative approach through a case study strategy. The data were collected through documents, semi-structured interviews and participant observation with undergraduate students of the OASIS group, and later processed through the basic lexicographic analysis supported by the IRAMUTEQ software. IRAMUTEQ generated six analytical classes for the textual corpus from the data collection: a) contributions; b) experience; c) self-management; d) incubator; e) activity and) enterprise. These categories generated by the software were compared to the categories of analysis of the self - management organization of Carvalho (1983) and Oliveira (1996), organized by Toledo (2008), which are: decision making, division and participation in work, on self-management and solidarity economy, division of labor between planning and execution, personal relations, hierarchy and education.

Finally, it appears as true theoretical statement of this research that says there is social and pedagogical relevance of the type of work done by graduate students both as a contribution to the projects and in terms of pedagogical feedback process. It was verified that the skills that undergraduate students learn in the context of the work they carry out in the context of the solidarity economy, are related to professional training in a perspective of attending to public different from what is studied in the undergraduate course;and that although undergraduates do not precisely define the concept of self-management, in their activities of incubation of solidarity economic enterprises are applied principles of self-management and solidarity economy.

This dissertation aims to reveal, in the light of the construct social utility, dimensions of work and production in the solidarity economy based on the experiences of women in enterprises of the handicraft segment. The dissertation was derived from the project Social Management, Social Technologies and Sustainability: Incubation of Solidarity Economic Enterprises in the Municipality of Natal (2016/2017) originally fomented by the former National Secretariat of Solidarity Economy of the Ministry of Labor and Social Security (Senaes / MTPS) by means of action research conducted by the Organization of Learning and Knowledge in Solidarity Initiatives and Studies in the Third Sector of the Federal University of Rio Grande do Norte (Oasis / UFRN). Particularly, regarding the limited financial return and the questionable economic viability of the enterprises, by identifying precariousness in the organization of the enterprises, considering the predominance of informal groups with a reduced number of members. In terms of incomes, monthly compensation amounts below a minimum wage, very low income and even nonexistent, directly impact the permanence of the partners and the longevity of the enterprises. Throughout the contact with the productive groups of handicrafts, object of the UFRN / MTb cooperation project, it became evident peculiarities of the routine of operation and the behavior of the associates and motives that took them to the environment of the production of handicrafts. When the limited financial return of the activity is verified, the problem that guides this research emerges: if the financial return of the productive activity of the solidary economic enterprises of the Natal´s handicraft segment is uncertain and limited, what explains the permanence of the groups? Despite the restriction of socioeconomic profile surveyed, the assumptions made are that crafts enterprises assume a condition of welfare promoters, because they link work and art, and in this condition, the economic dimension appears subordinated to social utility. In addition to this, it is assumed that the mechanisms of performance evaluation centered on the economic, monetary and market bias are not sufficient to evaluate economic enterprises in solidarity that assume high community representativeness and social relevance. As operational objectives, there is a) characterization of the dimensions of social utility in the productive practices of the ESS; b) to identify in the perspective of social utility the characteristic that explains the viability of the enterprises and c) to evidence contributions of the studied SEEs to the life of the associates and the community. Methodologically, this dissertation adopts a qualitative character of research, with descriptive-exploratory, cross-sectional objectives. The case study was considered and the data collection was done through observation and the realization of focus groups. In all, 12 focus groups were held, with 13 of the 17 groups mapped out to participate in the UFRN / SENAES / SEMTAS Natal cooperation project. The sessions were guided by a semistructured script and the data collected were analyzed through content analysis (BARDIN, 2011) and lexicographic analysis, with the aid of the free IRAMUTEQ analysis software. The software generated six interlaced analytical categories, derived from the textual corpus of data collection, which resemble the categories of analysis created based on the theoretical framework to understand the dimensions of social utility in associations. As results, it can be understood that the strongest variables in the process of explaining the feasibility of these enterprises were sociability and knowledge, not income, as in analyzes of traditional viabilities. It has been proved that the survival of these enterprises is not only due to economic and monetary bias. It happens through the social, cultural and affective relations of social utility and by the capacity of the enterprises to develop associative dynamics, to establish cooperative ties based on trust, solidarity and sense of belonging.

The present study aim to understand how the investor who chooses for the barbell strategy with the greatest part of the portfolio seeking less risk exposure and consistent gains while the other part focuses on the high valuation potential and consequent protection in the option market through an atypical event. Thus, a backtest analysis of Petrobras' OTM put option (PETR4) was used to evaluate what proportion of the portfolio needed to be allocated in the strategy to protect the portfolio of a Black Swan event. The results indicated that the systematic purchase of Petrobrás (PETR4) OTM options helped to smooth the loss of profitability of the portfolio, thus achieving an increase of 12% in profitability with the use of options as protection mechanism.

The thesis assumes the objective of analyzing the operation of the Unified Social Assistance System (SUAS) based on empirical experiences of secretariats and councils of municipalities of the Territory of Mato Grande / RN and, as a theoretical reference, the constructs intergovernmental relations and institutionalism . The management of the Single Social Assistance System is a contemporary event considering that its institutionalization took place in 2004. The management of the System is addressed here both through social assistance policy and the way in which relations between government and civil society are established from of the new institutional model of civil society participation introduced by the Federal Constitution of 1988. For this, the present research incorporates analytical categories of the Pentagon model of Public Policies of Lascounes and Le Galès (2012), that is, actors, institutions, processes, representations and results. It is a case study that addresses the management of SUAS from twelve units of analysis - seven municipal secretariats and five municipal councils in the Territory of Mato Grande / RN. The data collection was performed through a semistructure interview and the data were transcribed and assembled in a textual corpus. They are being processed with the support of the free software IRAMUTEQ (Interface for Multidimensional Analyzes of Textes et de Questionnaires) based on lexical analysis and content of Bardin (2011). The results provided information that confirms that the Pentagon categories - intercession between actors, representations, institutions, processes and results - serve as a parameter in the management of the Single Social Assistance System. In the case at hand, although faced with difficulties and precariousness, the actors strongly attribute positive feelings and values to SUAS. Given the results achieved, the study allowed a satisfactory answer to the question asked. However, in the light of the analyzes carried out, it is opportune to indicate gaps that are registered here for future studies. It is necessary, for example, a study that advances in terms of the influence on success / failure of SUAS from the nature of the bond and the hiring of personnel. In the present case, the temporary hiring of personnel evidenced the limited institutionality of SUAS. In this sense, it is pertinent to highlight the high staff fluctuation and the clear difficulty in hiring qualified professionals since the municipalities maintain the SUAS with temporary staff and low monthly incomes. Thus, a bias of studies that seeks to reveal contracted (temporary) dichotomy influences versus permanent staffing in the performance of SUAS. However, the results obtained were sufficient to conclude the thesis, explained from the components of the Pentagon model of (LASCOUMES & LE GALÈS, 2012), which are: intercession between actors, representations, institutions, processes and results.

The modern organizations, because of the multiplicity, omnipresence and intensity in the usage of the information and communication technologies, impose to professionals the performance in a diverse number of appointments and roles at the same time and in different spaces. Such context occurs for teachers, especially for those who teach in virtual learning environments also known as e-learning. Despite the wide dissemination of studies on e-learning, little is known about the intertwined relationships of the temporal orientations of the teaching staff who works in virtual learning environments, being this what justifies the choice of the subject for this thesis. To address this gap, the aim of this research is to understand the connection of the roles and the temporalities of the teachers and also represent them conceptually through a framework applied to the e-learning environments. It is a qualitative and exploratory theoretical study, in which is applied the methodology of construction of conceptual framework proposed by Jabareen (2009). The theoretical basis used in this research was identified by a systematic data collection on the literature about time, e-learning and teaching roles. Through the analysis of the theoretical basis adopted, it was identified the roles of the teachers in e-learning, which are classified in: technological, managemental and educational. In addition, the analysis of the temporalities has identified the monochronic and polychronic time as important agents of the temporal orientation of the individuals, which results in a temporal symmetry or asymmetry of the environment investigated. After the interpretation of the bibliographic data, a conceptual framework is proposed to represent the relationships of the roles played by the teaching staff with the monochronic and polychronic time and the issues of temporal symmetry or asymmetry among the actors involved in this relationship. It is understood that the research result is an original contribution to the understanding of the connection between the roles and the temporalities of the teaching staff in e-learning environments. The proposed conceptual framework can provide the self-knowledge of the temporal perceptions of the teaching staff and the analysis of the impact of the temporal orientation of third parties on the teachers’ temporality, resulting, for example, in the identification of corrective actions of behavior.

The increasing scarcity of natural resources, the accelerating pollution of the environment, and the looming threat of global climate change have attracted the interest of IS scholars. The environmental damages have affected the economy and caused social injustice due to the consequences of global warming. Some of the main drivers of global warming are from anthropogenic activities associated with the waste generation. Thus, Higher Education Institutions (HEIs) are change agents in which must have institutionalization of environmental policies to promote research and development of technologies for sustainability. Moreover, the services and infrastructure of HEIs require solutions to manage the waste discarded. Given these needs, green information systems (Green IS) would be an alternative to manage waste activities at HEIs reducing the environmental impacts and promoting sustainable development. Nevertheless, some uncertainties towards of the Green IS adoption are associated with various obstacles, unknown challenges, and the complex understanding of the relation between technology, organization, and environment. One of the great challenges of environmental action lies in knowing what to do, limiting the ability to develop plans which are able to address such issues. The prior literature does not explore deeply “how” people act surrounding of the complex issues into the Green IS adoption process. Yet, there is a lack of appropriated theory to understand how individuals make the decision to adopt Green IS initiatives. This current research aims to outline a framework for the green information systems adoption at Brazilian Universities. It analyzes the phenomenon using Design System Theory as theoretical lenses and multi-method approach. To build the framework, it has followed the steps of the design science by Hevner and Chatterjee (2010) as well as the design-science research guidelines by Hevner et al (2004). The analysis aimed identifying the general principles of the Green IS adoption through deductive and inductive processes. First, deductive process has been performed by scientometric analysis and systematic literature review. Second, inductive process has conducted semistructured interviews performed with individuals of the three universities involved in the sustainability projects. The analysis was based on thematic analysis, using cognitive mapping techniques performed by Atlas.ti software. The results provide um framework that helps practitioners to know what must be done when the organizations decide to undertake green information systems. Theoretically, the application of the framework can be tested in any organization using green information systems for monitoring environmental performance. It also suggests methodological procedures showing how it can be measured for future validation.

This dissertation is proposed to understand the structural and institutional changes occurred in the management of the Hospital Universitário Lauro Wanderley (HULW), linked to the Universidade Federal da Paraíba (UFPB), with the adhesion of the university to Empresa Brasileira de Serviços Hospitalares (EBSERH). The research conducted was qualitative and was classified as a case study, taking as subjects of the research the managers of the HULW, the dean of the UFPB and the representative of the labor union of the servants of the UFPB. The data were analyzed and interpreted through content analysis with the use of thematic analysis. In what refers to the structural changes occurred with the transition of the management of the HULW for the EBSERH one checked that you arrange the EBSERH of mechanisms and tools more modern of management, with the implementation of the strategic projection and it structures less placed in a hierarchy. As for the performance, it was still not possible to value if it had or it does not improve, even with the occurred institutional changes, originating from alterations or prescriptive innovations, such as to Law nº 12.550/2011, which created the EBSERH. By end, regarding the organizational challenges of the HULW after the transition, the existent necessities of improvement of the quality in the service, of the overcoming of the rigidity in the management and better use of the resources.

The constant changes in the organizational environment and the intense movement for quality and the increase of productivity in the public sector, made the policies of strategies on management by results, become one of the most valuable resources for public organizations. They are common to attempts to identify more effective management models, sources of competitive advantage and mechanisms to sustainably promote organizational development. One of the management strategies that seeks the continuous improvement of human resources in organizations is variable remuneration. Its purpose is to encourage human resources, through remuneration for performance and results, increasing the efficiency and effectiveness of services provided to society. In the public sector, this concept of variable remuneration is being addressed in the new public management model, from which it seeks greater flexibility in the implementation of public organizational strategies and greater proximity of the public servant to the citizen. In the public health sector in Brazil, there is a need for restructuring in its productive process, as there is a need for a better performance in the resolution of primary health care. Especially in areas whose nature is the preservation of the human being. The present study has the general objective of identifying the perceptions of the employees after the implementation of the gratification stimulus to productivity, in the Obstetric Center of a Hospital of the Public Network. The study used the analysis of public employees working in the obstetrics sector of the Hospital, Using the Likert method as a tool for the elaboration of the research form. The analysis criteria used in the method were aspects of individual motivation, management and organizational behavior in the public health sector. A questionnaire was used for data collection and spreadsheet for its treatment. The results show that there is a need to improve the working conditions and a more efficient management of results in the hospital unit researched. Among the difficulties encountered in the obstetrics sector is the lack of quality in the provision of a quality service, due to the absence of supplies and the overcrowding of the beds. The respondents revealed that the productivity incentive law implemented by the state government allows a greater effort in the work, besides providing a greater gain to the servants. It is suggested as future work the use of other methods that can evaluate the perceptions of public servants, allow to solve complex problems existing in the public health organizations of Brazil.

The aim of this work is to develop a methodological support for project management evaluation in Brazilian Federal Universities (IFES). To fulfill this activity successfully, the research was founded on project management maturity models consolidated in the market and scientific literature, and on main critiques listed in this literature. With the objective of developing the methodological support in the form of a maturity model, we have defined seven criteria to compose the model: project management technical capacity, organizational skills, behavioral skills, informatization, resources management, risk management and innovation capability, with five levels of maturity which based a script for semi-structured interview. The responses provided input data to the Multicriteria Decision-Aid ELECTRE TRI. This method allows the flexibilization of classes of model, fitting it to the need of organization through elicitation of weights, thresholds between classes, and pseudo-criteria. The application of the model has occurred in four departments of Federal University of Rio Grande do Norte (UFRN), having in Project Management Secretary of UFRN as partner for eliciting model values. The results show that three departments are within the acceptable standard for university. Although, one of them is about to be reallocated to a lower level of maturity. The fourth department was allocated to the lowest level. The main contributions of the present study are: (1) possibility of flexibilization of the model, according to the organization need, (2) segmented model for IFES, until now not proposed, and (3) a model that takes into account the main critiques to tradicional maturity models.

This thesis had as general objective to analyze the interorganizational relations of the Schools of Government of Rio Grande do Norte that are part of the National Network from Social Network Analysis (ARS). It was assumed that the interorganizational relations developed between the Government Schools (EGRN, CEAF and EMGESP), through participation in the National Network, contribute to the development of their actions, but in a different way depending on the relations established by Each school and its specific features. This analysis used the Social Networks Theory as a conceptual basis and the Social Networks Analysis (ARS) as an analytical tool. This conceptual and methodological basis made it possible to analyze the interorganizational relations of the aforementioned Network, from the mapping of relationships established between the Government Schools of Potiguares and between these and other organizational actors that are related to the development of their activities. With regard to methodological aspects, the interpretative paradigm was used, from the qualitative approach in the case study of the Rio Grande do Norte Government School Network. As results, it was identified that interorganizational relationships form a network with low degree of connectivity and asymmetric relations. This can be considered cohesive because most of its actors are connected by strong ties. And the EGRN, despite having diminished its actions for lack of resources, is the central actor (intermediary), connecting previously disconnected actors and consequently has the greater control. Another feature of the School Network is the low degree of relationship between the actors, which classifies it as diffuse (sparse), with little information generation. The current configuration of the Network allows generating contributions to the actions, but also, limitations. Considering that the less connected schools are also configured as the schools with the lowest number of developed actions, such as EGESP. And on the other hand, the school with the greatest connectivity in the network, the EGRN, also has a greater number of actions developed. Thus, the results lead to the conclusion that the development of the actions of the Government Schools receives influences from the level of relationships established by them. Although all the schools analyzed are part of the National Network, it was observed that these are related in a different way.

The proposition that a processing composed of two systems - Intuitive and Rational - is responsible for the cognitive processes finds numerous references in the literature. Recent reviews suggest that the Intuitive System could be composed of a Set of Autonomous Systems (TASS) and the Rational by two levels of control: algorithmic and reflexive mentality. Although there is significant acceptance of the triple structure by artificial intelligence studies, current literature converges to dual processing, so there are still discussions about the components of the mind. Given that the systems would be responsible for promoting systematic deviations of normative reasoning (biases) and evaluation of heuristic attributes (heuristics), it has to be that the studies in the area can help in the understanding of the heuristic decision, therefore, more studies are needed, especially empirical ones, referring to the subject. Given the above, the present study treat to evaluate the multivariate architecture of the dominance of cognitive systems in the generation of behavioral biases. For this, a questionnaire was done with 2,958 participants from 21 public universities that measured the Representativity Heuristic, Anchoring, Availability Heuristic, Illusion of Control, Loss Aversion, Overconfidence, Optimism, Endowment Effect, Affect Heuristic, Conjunction Fallacy, Framing Effect, Mental Accounting, Disposition Effect, Intuitive System, and the Rational System. The scales were validated and analyzed by a Confirmatory Factor Analysis and then applied to the Structural Equation Model (SEM) and the invariance tests for sub-samples of the different genres, regions and professional qualification areas. Among the scales used, only Loss Aversion was not validated, probably because it was considered a clipping of the original (too large to be included). The Rational System was subdivided into 2 factors called Algorithmic and Reflexive, corroborating with studies about a tripartite structure. Two-dimensional structures were observed in the Optimism and Disposition Effect, according to what was observed in Bandeira et al. (2002) and Melo (2014), respectively. Concerning the specification of the structural model, it was noted that the Overconfidence, Optimism and Pessimism result from the same combination of systems, presenting indications that these could indeed appear together when analyzed empirically, as stated by Taylor and Brown (1988) and Barros and Silveira (2008). Anchoring would be occurring in what would appear to be a primming effect and the Mental Accounting showing to be partially responsible for causing the Disposition Effect, both observations according to the literature of the area. On the other hand, the Fallacy of the Conjunction, contrary to what was expected, did not demonstrate a significant relationship with the Heuristic of Representation, and this result may be due to the instrument, that measured the fallacy, be composed of issues that are heavily treated in the present day, thus allowing Availability to predominantly govern the bias. The SEM proved the influence of rational systems on the Affect Heuristic and Endowment Effect, in consonance with Kahneman (2012). Finally, when testing the invariance, it has been that, in all cases the rejection of the invariance hypothesis, proving that the cognitive aspects present a strong individual subjectivity and emphasize the importance of the profile for the understanding of the dominance of the systems.

Technology-based companies face dual demands for the exploration of new products and existing product enhancement processes. These actions are not trivial tasks for entrepreneurs, but are considered essential for organizational performance, since the entrepreneurial skills guide the actions to be developed in the organization. From the systematic review of the literature, it was verified the absence of studies analyzing the axes of the ambideestria from the entrepreneurial competences. In this sense, this thesis aims to analyze the opportunity and organizational skills existing in entrepreneurs of technology-based incubators and how these competencies direct their actions to deal with the contradictory forces of exploitation and exploitation. This is a qualitative-descriptive study that, based on a semi-structured interview script, analyzed the actions of the eight entrepreneurs at Inova Metrópole, an incubator of technology-based companies at the Instituto Metrópole Digital, UFRN. For the analysis of the qualitative data, we used the analysis of categorical content made line by line, so that the interviews after their transcription, went through three moments of codification the initial, focused and categorical analysis. To assist in the interpretation of qualitative data, figures, tree maps and word clouds were created with the support of NVivo® software version 11 for Windows. This research used quality criteria for its development, to cite triangulation, intercasos and intracasos comparison, detail of the research process, peer review and reflexivity. The main results of the research were the concentration of actions aimed at identifying opportunities in the competence of opportunity and in the organizational competence, highlighting the actions focused on control, delegation, leadership and motivation. In the ambidexterity axes, it has been that the entrepreneurs were more likely to develop actions for the exploitation. In this sense, it was observed that there is an alignment between the competences studied and the axes of ambidestria. 

Several studies have addressed the evidences of behavioral biases regarding individual’s decisions either in an isolated or in a group composition. However, there are not reports in the academy about researches that seek to observe how the consciousness impact about the bias or knowledge regarding biases by individuals in the reduction of its impacts. In this way, the current research has its main objective focused on the investigation of the decreasing impact of information regarding behavioral biases related to the decisions taken by individuals. In other words, this research seeks to answer how the conscious or knowledge about de biases act concerning their decisions. It is a descriptive, quantitative research developed from a quasi-experiment done through a survey. The samples are of non-probabilistic types, composed by participants of an extension course in finance (210 valid observations), and another one by the accounting students of UFRN (288 valid observations). The quasi-experiment was implemented from an execution plan that sought to determine the evidence and intensity of the behavioral biases in two distinctive moments, before and after, the exposition of the videos that explained and promoted the consciousness and objective information to the individuals about the different behavioral biases. The cross-tab technique was used having as a significant statistical verifier the McNemar test, bearing in mind that it would be the most adequated test for studies that involve “before and after”. The results have shown a significant reduction on the impact of the loss aversion and mental accounting and marginally for the anchoring biases. However, it was not possible to notice a significant change according to the statistical point of view regarding the endowment effect. Therefore, the current research presents retraction evidence about the impact on behavioral biases from the moment that the individuals have become conscious regarding the biases. To the verify the persistence of this impact over time, a new intervention was made a few months after, seeking to check the possibility of the impact being only transitory. For this sample, the impact does not seem to persist over time. However, that does not mischaracterize the main idea of the research, neither the knowledge as a dampening of the behavioral biases, considering that the intervention done was extremely short and raised significant impact, that could provoke insights for future researches with the use of long-term methodologies as for example, semester courses.

Studies on Brazilian fiscal federalism have disregarded the effect of intergovernmental transfers on the fiscal management of municipalities. Moreover, the concept of effectiveness, that is, the capacity to produce positive results, is not properly investigated in the context of the fiscal management of subnational government. This thesis seeks to present an alternative vision to the analysis of fiscal management based on the verification of the levels of fiscal effectiveness of municipalities, by means of the analysis of budgetary autonomy and effective fiscal imbalance observed in local governments. This analysis considers the fundamental aspects of the federative arrangement and the effects caused by the flypaper effect and the phenomenon of fiscal illusion, intrinsic to the model. The research question that guides the development of this study is: are there differences in fiscal effectiveness among municipalities with similar socioeconomic and budgetary characteristics? If so, what are the consequences of these differences in the fiscal management of local governments? The hypothesis of this work is that fiscal management presents problems due to imbalance observed and the low level of autonomy from the budgetary point of view, considering the relation between tax revenues and total revenues. These aspects behave differently in each municipality, resulting in varying levels of fiscal effectiveness. In order to observe these questions, a Coefficient was constructed that behaves as a managerial parameter that identifies the level of effectiveness of the fiscal management of the smallest sphere of government (Fiscal Effectiveness Coefficient of Municipalities - CEFM). In addition to the budgetary variables, we considered some socioeconomic characteristics of the municipalities and applied a cluster analysis in order to group the similar municipalities and to observe, later, the changes in the clusters caused by the inclusion of the fiscal management parameter. Succinctly, it was verified that the level of autonomy and the size of the fiscal imbalance affect the administration of resources and the allocation decisions, and that there are different levels of effectiveness in the fiscal management of Brazilian municipalities.

The judicialization of public health policies is a contemporary and growing phenomenon in the Brazilian reality, with the potential to generate impacts on public management, whether positive or negative. In this sense, the present thesis sought to understand the causes of the judicialization and its consequences for the public management in the implementation of the policy of oncology in Rio Grande do Norte. For this purpose, the objectives and analytical categories of the thesis (failures, causes, consequences, alternatives and evidences) were incorporated into the judiciary cycle of public policies of Barreiro and Furtado (2015), adapting it in order to analyze a federal public policy and Which had its implementation governed by the top down model, and was analyzed by the following aspects: service provision, hierarchy, communication and hierarchical structure (Edwards’ model). Following the definitions of the thesis, the methodology of case study was chosen, having as analytical unit the state of Rio Grande do Norte, and as data source: a) judicial decisions rendered in second instance by the Court of Justice of Rio Grande do Norte and by the 5th region Federal Regional Court, in a historical analysis from 2007 to 2016, b) management documents: state health plan, multiannual plan, state oncology plan, annual management reports and c) interviews with management professionals and Implementation of cancer policy in Rio Grande do Norte. The data were then analyzed through the content analysis of Bardin (2011). The results showed that the main causes of cancer drug treatment in the newborns include: budgetary and financial constraints, existence of care gaps, inconsistency with providers of cancer services, lack of updating of clinical protocols involving cancer drugs, difficulties in diagnosing cancer and In the patients' access to SUS services. The drugs most demanded judicially (2007-2016) were: trastuzumab, rituximab, temozolamide, sunatinib, bevacizumab, bortezomide, sorafenib and cetuximab, with breast cancer and non-hodgkin lymphoma being the most prevalent in decisions. It has been shown that, for public management, the effects are primarily negative and focused on budget and financial mismatch and the loss in the provision of services to the community. Nevertheless, this thesis points out possible alternatives to be applied by federative entities, both in the short term and in the long term, that are able to mitigate the possible damages to the public health service, requiring the commitment of all those involved in favor of the greater good: public cancer care being provided with excellence and comprehensiveness for all who need cancer treatments in the state of Rio Grande do Norte. Thus, the present thesis subsidizes public management, as it analyzes jointly the causes, effects and alternatives involving the judicialization and oncology in the NN, allowing strategies to be drawn up simultaneously to reduce the negative effects of the judicialization, to increase the capacity for debate Involving the positive effects and, therefore expanding the implementation of cancer policy throughout the state.

This study aims to analyze the influence of model Life Cycle Canvas (LCC), through visual management, for project planning, based on the PMBOK Guide. It is argued that organizations generally face several changes, especially in its structures, based on a scenario of increased competition and a need for organizational modernization. Within this context, the project management practices receive more attention and are adopted by these organizations. Planning is one of the most relevant stages of project management, because it defines the baseline for it´s execution, in addition to resolving the procedures for monitoring and control of the activities involved. However, in the absence of a project-oriented culture and of greater complexity inherent in the organizational context, the traditional practices of planning, such as the PMBOK Guide, present difficulties of adherence to this new scenario, while canvas-based models and visual tools gain space, by proposing a simple and flexible way to plan projects. Such models have your origin in Lean approach, linked to the operational management, and assumed a new concept, from the model Business Model Canvas (BMC), proposed by Osterwalder and Pigneur (2011). Since then, several models and visual tools have been developed for planning, especially in the area of project management. However, there is still a lack of studies proving that canvas-based visual models can be useful in planning projects, and at the same time admire the good practices suggested by traditional management approaches. In order to prove this relationship, this research examines the LCC proposed by Veras (2016), relating the benefits of visual management present in this model with the processes suggested by the PMBOK Guide to plan projects. For this, the present research used a deductive methodological approach, quantitative in nature, through a survey conducted with 104 professionals who used the LCC model to plan projects, where the descriptive analysis, the Mann-Whitney U test and the technique of multiple linear regression analysis to analyze the data. The results showed that the LCC model proved to be adherent to the practices suggested by the PMBOK Guide. In relation to the use of tools to support project planning, research showed that the group of respondents who used these tools had a higher perception relative to LCC model when it was compared to the group that did not use. The study also observed that the more the LCC model becomes visible and transparent information, promotes communication between those involved and promotes the coordination of work in the preparation of the project, the more it influences in project planning. These results reinforce the importance of using visual planning structures in project management, so long as they behold the aspects already recognized practices in this field and that project managers can stimulate these benefits proposed by visual management.

O objetivo geral de pesquisa é compreender se as práticas de gestão de Unidades de Conservação na Mata Atlântica do Rio Grande do Norte podem ser configuradas como práticas participativas de gestão.  Será utilizado o referencial teórico sobre participação, com o foco na operacionalização da participação, retrantando os aspectos sobre como colocar em prática a participação. O lócus de pesquisa foram as unidades APA Piquiri-Uma e Parque das Dunas do Natal. O presente estudo assume o interacionismo simbólico como postura teórica. É uma pesquisa com abordagem qualitativa do tipo exploratória e descritiva. A pesquisa utilizou as seguintes técnicas de coleta de dados: entrevista semiestruturada, observação não participante estruturada e questionário. Os sujeitos foram os gestores das unidades e os membros do Conselho Gestor. A partir da análise do modelo gestão de UC proposto, concluiu-se que em ambas as unidades estudadas há práticas de gestão que podem ser configuradas como práticas participativas de gestão. No entanto, a APA Piquiri-Una possui mais práticas participativas ao definir regras de conservação, na educação da população e no monitoramento e feedback e uma estratégia inovadora para alcançar recursos financeiros em comparação ao Parque das Dunas, que por criar recentemente o conselho gestor e mecanismos participativos, se encontra em um processo inicial de inserção da participação em suas atividades. Conclui-se que a participação pode ser em ambas as unidades melhor trabalhada e desenvolvida, inserindo-a em novas práticas.

The present research aims to explain how cognitive and affective aspects influence the actions of entrepreneurs women at different stages of development of a business. Due to this direction, it is guided by a model that suggests that the affective aspects are most influential in the actions of entrepreneurs in the early stages of a project and, as this develops, cognitive factors become more present. To better demarcate such periods of evolution, an approach that identifies five stages of development of a business has been integrated. In the theoretical framework are treated entrepreneurship and the particularity of women in this theme, the entrepreneurial attributes and characteristics of each development phase of a business. In methodological terms, this is an exploratory study of a qualitative nature. The sampling is not probabilistic, selected intentionally between the entrepreneurs of the city of Currais Novos, which is in the Seridó region of Rio Grande do Norte State. Two women leading businesses were selected into each of the five stages, resulting ten semistructured interviews type. The technique used for qualitative data analysis was the thematic content analysis which identify the units of meaning that make up the communication in question and whose presence or appearance frequency represent any significance on the chosen analytical objective. Among the results, this survey found that in the birth stage the investigated entrepreneurs act influenced by emotional aspects, such as independence, passion for entrepreneurship and willingness to do what they like and in the following stages, when there is a perceived need for better organization , planning, goal setting and training partnerships become sought. In addition, aspects such as perseverance, initiative, courage and achievement by doing what you love remain influencing, bringing the conclusion that the influence of cognitive grows, but with the influence of affective aspects. This research confirms the relevance of the proposed model, both leading to cognitive and affective aspects suggested, that were actually identified as relevant to the actions of entrepreneurs, as the variation of these aspects in the development of enterprises. The interviews emerged fear as an emotional aspect that permeates the action of entrepreneurs in the renewal phase and negotiation skills, as a cognitive aspect highlighted by the entrepreneurial decline phase, suggesting the incorporation of these two aspects in future studies that explain this relationship between entrepreneurs.

With the widespread use of smartphones, many mobile applications (apps) are being developed to run in mobile operating systems. The increased use of theses apps by consumers and its potential on mobile advertising commercialization are perceived by companies as a promising way of advertise. From previous literature was possible to identify a gap relation to mobile advertising area in the context of the response to promotional advertises for purchasing apps. Most studies about the subject focused ads on SMS and MMS. Based on these considerations and in other to fill this gap, the present study objective is to investigate which factors influence the young consumer behavior in relation to promotional advertises in paid apps. The research line we intend to adopt is Pocinho (2012), making some adaptations to the subject studied. The Theory of Reasoned Action of Fishbein and Ajzen (1975) along with some factors founded in literature that influence attitude, intention and consumer behavior related to mobile advertising were the theoretical framework to build the research model. Regarding the methodology this is a descriptive study with qualitative approach. The population will include mobile applications consumers’ which have a smartphone, internet access and installed some free app. The sample will be made up by new students on the courses offered by Centro de Ciências Sociais Aplicadas in Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Norte. Data will be collected through questionnaire and analyzed using multivariate analysis technique, such as: exploratory factory analysis and Structural Equation Modelling: confirmatory factor analysis and structural model. Regarding the results, besides contributing to enrich the knowledge about this issue, it is expected that this research will provide suggestions for marketers about the determinants that influence the aquisition of mobile applications from promotional advertises.

In 2014, Brazil hosted the 20ª edition of FIFA World Cup, which took place simultaneously in 12 host cities, among them Natal/RN. The event employed more than 177,000 men and invested R $ 1.1 billion only in the security area. The numbers's magnitude sets FIFA World Cup 2014 as an important reference for those working in the project management field, due to its complexity and relevance. The Federal Police (PF) was responsible for five areas (borders, immigration, federal and transnational crimes, dignitaries and terrorism) and managed its actions through a program based on its own project management methodology, developed from the Project Management Body of Knowledge (PMBOK).This work aims to analyze, from the perspective of governmentality, the lessons learned in the FIFA World Cup 2014 security program in charge of the Federal Police in the city of Natal/RN. Governmentality proposes to make the self supervision become reflexive through spontaneous submission and the employee commitment, which makes external sources of unnecessary surveillance. The approach demanded by the object is qualitative and constitutes a descriptive research that uses documentary analysis as general method to study the lessons learned by the PF in the event, which were later submitted to content analysis aided by the Atlas.ti software. The dissertation addresses the development of its own project management methodology by the Federal Police, based on the Project Management Base of Knowledge and describes the state of the art in governance and governmentality, relating its contents to project management. Having as "corpus" the documented records of the lessons learned by the 21 operational coordinators, the results reveal a mismatch between the formally adopted governance model, internal and organic, consistent with the governmentality theory, and the one effectively used in the event, which was external and mechanicist. The results also helped to identify the common elements between the governance of the event security project and governmentality literature, which were Coherence, Deconcentration, Self-Regulation and Engagement. Finally, this study has identified specific governmentality solutions for the governance of future mega events security projects. 

The evolution of democratic theories have indicated an opening tendency for social participation, with the possibility of the public express their demands for public policies through various media, as shown by the studies Held (1987) and Pateman (1992). In deliberative democracy, more modern aspect, it indicates the need for institutionalized spaces for the realization of this participation as the Public Policy Councils or master plans, for example. In this sense, this work aims to verify how it gives the exercise of deliberative democracy at a local level through the evaluation of the functioning of one of these instruments, through a case study in the city of Parnamirim. The objective of this research is to understand the role of the Parnamirim's Municipal Council of Education. Therefore, an applied research, descriptive and qualitative approach was developed. In order to carry out analysis of the Council was used the evaluation methodology proposed by Gonçalves et al (2012). The data collection was carried out through desk research, structured interviews and questionnaires. As a result, it was observed that the studied board has attributes necessary for deliberative democracy, as the high interaction, communication and mutual trust between the collegiate members. Despite its creation does not come from a community movement, it is possible to see a better functioning of the board over the years. In contrast, lack of improvement with regard to setting goals and means to give training to its members, allowing a more qualified participation. It also notes the need to approach the council to the population when looking for the educational demands of the municipality.

Technological startups are embedded in highly dynamic environments, marked by uncertainty where traditional predictions of the future for decision-making become too complex, difficult and far from reality. Thus, it is believed that the entrepreneur would be more likely to adopt a predominantly effectual decision logic, against the current paradigm. By doing so he will face the uncertainty by building an environment and set of relationships that, in effect, will trigger future scenarios close to what was originally aspirated. Therefore, the objective of this study is to check how technology startups incubated entrepreneurs experience the logic of strategic decision regarding the effectuation theory and the influence of the incubator in the process. Therefore, a descriptive research was carried out, throgh multiple cases, with eight startups incubated at Inova Metropolis at Natal/RN, qualitatively analyzing the content of the speeches collected in the semi-structured interviews conducted. As a result, it was possible to clearly identify some of the principles of the effectual logic, especially the formation of strategic alliances to overcome adversity and leverage growth. It also sets up the incubator as a major strategic partner , leveraging the network of relationships and providing guidance for their incubated grow safely, among the uncertain environment

This study investigates the information content of insider trading in 32 judgement cases of insider trading in Brazilian's Stock during 2002-2015. The statistical method used was event study to assess the impact of a relevant event on the stocks return. The abnormal return gives the impact of an unanticipated event has on shareholder value versus the penalty risk for white-collar crime. The research findings show that: (i) it could have a significant statistic to incriminate the indicators for using privilege information to obtain abnormal returns in 19 judgment cases (59% of sample); (ii) however the Brazilian laws are not possible to incriminate all that cases. Only 11 judgement cases (34% of sample) have been punished with monetary penalty and only 2 cases added the administrative penalty. In addition, the probabilities associated with the judging results and abnormal return are the same. It means that statistical evidence of abnormal return may not be used as judge evidence, Brazilian first prison sentence case for insider trading ever was judged in 2011. The result may indicate that Brazilian regulation has a hard work to apply the enforcement. Other results have been found as: (iii) size and book-to-market index have a low statistic power of return's explanation, even so the explanatory variables have been kept in the model considering their importance; (iv) the chance of abnormal return in purchase transaction is 4.54 times greater than the selling transactions. The academic literature suggests that more important than regulation is the surveillance and enforcement, that could influence the average behavior of an insider, increasing the fraud detection risks. This research question is relevant not only to academics but also to regulators and corporate managers by shedding further light on the relationship between corporate governance and corporate risk-taking, since the illegal conduct impact on the integrity of Brazilian market. A better understanding of the issue will allow regulators to evaluate whether reforms in the rules and regulations (such as insider trading enforcement) are needed to promote investments and growth in the Brazilian market.

The study developed a brand equity model for private higher education institutions from a consumer perspective. Furthermore, through theory, it defined the set of dimensions, history and consequences of higher education institutions brand equity, as well as sought to clarify the deployment of these factors in the proposed model. Finally, an analysis of the University Experience, Controlled Communication, e-WOM, Co-Creation, Brand Awareness, Brand Association and Overall Brand Equity relational model was conducted, aiming towards the validation of the theoretical model developed in this thesis. In order to achieve this, a deductive reasoning approach was applied, and the research, from a methodology standpoint, was divided into three phases: exploratory, descriptive and analytic. The exploratory phase focused on clarifying the topic´s concepts, defining the research problem, elaborating the theoretical model, and developing the instrument to be used for data collection. During the descriptive phase, a survey questionnaire pre-test was conducted, scales were adjusted, the sample size was defined and data collection procedures were detailed. The probability sampling process was not employed, either intentionally or by judgment, and individuals were selected using criteria established by the researcher. The sample size of 1156 Business Administration students was used, and data was collected from university institutes and privately run universities located in the Brazilian states of Rio Grande do Norte and Pará, ranked 3 or higher according to the country´s Course Ranking Index. Data analysis was conducted using a multivariate quantitative approach, including exploratory factor and confirmatory analysis, and structural equation modeling. Data analyses confirm that the variables scale is representative of the object to be measured, and demonstrate both content and statistical validity. It is worth highlighting confirmation of the hypothesis of positive correlation between eWOM and Brand Association, as well as Co-Creation and Brand Awareness. Empirical modeling also confirmed the validity of the higher education institutions brand equity measurement model, based on consumer perspective.

The following study seeks to comprehend in which way Information Technology (IT) users and manager conduct the adoption of Bring Your Own Device (BYOD) practices, under the light of Effectuation theory principles. The theoretical framework brings discussions on the context of consumerization, its applications and implications for organizations and individuals, the Effectuation theory approach, the effectual logic, its principles and process. This is an exploratory-descriptive study, which uses both qualitative and quantitative research methods by means of one single case study, in which took part 42 users and the IT manager of a company that has been operating for the last 49 years in the retailer/wholesaler sector in the city of Natal/RN. Descriptive statistics, logistic regression (bootstrap), Pearson correlation and Mann-Whitney U test were used for the analysis of the data collected from the IT users, along with the aid of the Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (SPSS) software, version 21. Categorical content analysis – thematic analysis – was used for the analysis of the interview granted by the IT manager, with the support of the ATLAS.ti software, version 7.5.1.5. The research evinces, by means of metainferences, the existence of divergences between the adoption of BYOD practices by IT users – effectual profile prevalent – and by the company, represented by the IT manager – causal profile. The management aspects concerning unforeseen events mitigation, information safety and control enforcing the used towards work activities go against IT users’ perspective, which assume that, by means of BYOD practices, it is possible to attain an autonomous and innovation-biased performance, due to contingencies exploration and the establishment of partnerships with coworkers and/or clients and/or suppliers. Nevertheless, both IT users and manager converge regarding the perspective towards the benefits to the organization activities, in terms of employees’ satisfaction, to the improvement of customers services and to the realization of partnerships for the adoption, since the IT manager perceives the availability of IT infrastructure by the company so that the employees may use their own devices as a partnership. It is concluded that the establishment of partnerships encompass the occurrence of interactions between the used and the IT manager, which enhance the human action upon the construction of BYOD practices adoption, especially when intelligent altruism is present. It must be highlighted that, in the adoption policy, the user educational level and the perspective that these practices adoption occur due to the possibility of the devices being used anywhere must be considered, according to the logit models, in order to optimize the meeting of the demands from most IT users of the company.

A educação formal, compreendida pelo processo gradual que ocorre na escola, tem como objetivo a aprendizagem de conhecimentos sistematizados e é de grande interesse da sociedade, pois beneficia seus indivíduos e acarreta em diversos efeitos positivos, como o aumento de produtividade e de bem-estar (JOHNES; JOHNES, 2007). Entender o que influencia o resultado educacional é tão importante quanto o resultado em si, porque permite gerir estas variáveis de forma a obter um melhor desempenho estudantil. Este trabalho faz uso da análise envoltória de dados (DEA) para comparar a eficiência das escolas do Rio Grande do Norte. Neste método não-paramétrico, é construída uma fronteira de eficiência a partir das escolas que melhor usam os insumos definidos para gerar os produtos educacionais. Para tanto, os dados utilizados foram obtidos através da Prova Brasil e Censo Escolar do ano 2011 para as escolas públicas estaduais e municipais do Rio Grande do Norte. Algumas das variáveis consideradas como insumos e produtos já foram obtidas diretamente destas bases, outras duas foram elaboradas, com uso da Teoria de Resposta ao Item (TRI) – são elas os índices socioeconômico e de infraestrutura escolar. Numa primeira etapa, foram comparados diversos modelos DEA, com alterações de variáveis de insumos. Em seguida, foi escolhido o modelo não discricionário para o qual foi aprofundada a análise de resultados. Os resultados mostraram que apenas sete escolas foram eficientes no 5° e 9° ano simultaneamente; não houve diferenças significativas entre a eficiência das escolas municipais e estaduais; bem como não houve diferenças entre escolas grandes e pequenas. Analisando os municípios, Mossoró se destacou em ambos os anos com maior proporção de escolas eficientes. Por fim, o trabalho sugere que utilizando as projeções proporcionadas pelo método DEA as escolas mais ineficientes conseguiriam alcançar a meta do IDEB em 2011, ou seja, é possível melhorar a educação do estado de forma significativa apenas com mudanças na eficiência comparando com melhores escolas.

Este trabalho investigou a relação e o impacto provocado por eventos de fusões e aquisições (F&As) horizontais, nos retornos das ações das empresas participantes e concorrentes com relação à criação ou destruição de valor para essas firmas no Brasil, no período de 2001 a 2012. Para tal, utilizou-se, inicialmente, a metodologia do estudo de eventos – que estimou alterações anormais ocorridas nos preços das ações e, posteriormente, realizaram-se análises de regressões múltiplas - cujas variáveis independentes possuíram algumas motivações que poderiam gerar o aumento ou a diminuição de valor das firmas. Os resultados do estudo de evento atestaram que, ao utilizar subperíodos para os dados antes e após o período de crise, os efeitos foram diferentes para as empresas alvo - antes negativos, depois positivos. Com relação às empresas adquirentes e concorrentes, os resultados foram constantes. Os retornos foram próximos à zero para as firmas compradoras, já para as concorrentes foram negativos. Ademais, os resultados das regressões em relação às firmas adquirentes mostraram que as firmas investiram em processos de F&As para obterem um aumento ainda maior da sua eficiência. Além disso, esta pesquisa indicou que o endividamento da firma adquirente exerceu um papel importante para a criação de valor em aquisições quando ela possuiu um Q de Tobin mais elevado. Em relação aos resultados das firmas alvo, este trabalho concluiu que as pequenas empresas, quando fazem um anúncio de fusão ou aquisição, obtêm um melhor retorno do que as grandes empresas.

Tradicionalmente, o conceito de resistência alude a movimentos coletivos e explícitos de oposição, como greves e paralizações. A modernização das ferramentas de controle e das práticas gerenciais evidenciaram formatos informais e menos visíveis de oposição, como piadas e ironias. Desde então, pesquisadores de diversos campos tem estudado a resistência para compreender estes comportamentos. A partir da revisão da literatura, verificamos que pouco se sabe sobre as respostas dos gestores e sobre as implicações da resistência informal. Assim, o objetivo deste trabalho foi compreender como os gestores lidam com a resistência informal à vigilância eletrônica. A coleta e a análise dos dados foram realizadas com base na Teoria do Processo de Trabalho (LPT) e na literatura decoping. Em termos metodológicos, este trabalho é do tipo descritivo e exploratório, com adoção da abordagem qualitativa, uso do método de estudo de casos múltiplos e aplicação de entrevistas semiestruturadas episódicas. Devido ao caráter controlador de suas atividades, a amostra foram nove gestores de equipes de teleatendimento (call centers) que trabalhavam em diferentes empresas na cidade de Natal. Para analisar os dados foi utilizada a Análise de Conteúdo com a adoção da técnica de análise categorial ou temática. Para dar consistência e agilizar o processo analítico, foi utilizado o software NVivo® para codificar, categorizar e realizar análises comparativas através de modelos dinâmicos, mapas de árvore e nuvens de palavras. Os nossos resultados confirmam o controle intensivo do trabalho em empresas de teleatendimento. Foram identificadas 15 expressões de resistência informal nos casos investigados, sendo fofoca o tipo mais citado pelos entrevistados. A maioria dos gestores afirmou tomar uma atitude imediata assim que identifica a resistência, sendo a conversa a atitude mais citada. Por fim, apenas dois entrevistados reportaram casos de flexibilização das normas por causa da resistência de rotina, em todos os outros casos ela não pareceu ter gerado mudanças.

O estudo sobre governança corporativa ganhou forças nas últimas décadas, estimulando agentes do mercado e acadêmicos. No Brasil, o principal órgão de divulgação de boas práticas de governança é o IBGC – Instituto Brasileiro de Governança Corporativa, sendo responsável pelo Código de Melhores Práticas de Governança Corporativa e, também, por estimular pesquisas sobre o assunto. Este trabalho se dedicou ao estudo de mecanismos e práticas relacionados ao funcionamento dos conselhos de administração. Especificamente, dimensionamos a incidência de dualidade do CEO em empresas brasileiras de capital aberto e investigamos se há relação entre a dualidade do CEO e desempenho em mercado de capitais. Foi encontrada relação negativa significativa entre dualidade do CEO e Q de Tobin nas companhias em nossa amostra, contra os trabalhos seminais internacionais na área, em linha com resultados empíricos de trabalhos brasileiros não tão antigos, contra trabalhos brasileiros recentes e em linha com diretrizes do IBGC e da  BM&FBovespa.

O presente estudo, baseado no modelo teórico de portfólio de
compras proposto por Kraljic (1983), apresenta um modelo de
portfólio de compras voltado para gestão de
compras hospitalares, por meio da aplicação do método de decisão
multicritério Fuzzy-TOPSIS. Para fins de exemplificação do
método, a pesquisa foi aplicada em um Hospital de grande
porte localizado em Natal/RN e teve como amostra doze itens de
compras. Os itens foram avaliados pelo grupo
de decisores nas dimensões de importância da compra e
complexidade de fornecimento, sendo cada
dimensão composta por quatro critérios. Por meio da
utilização do método Fuzzy-TOPSIS e de regras de decisão, os
itens foram classificados entre as categorias: estratégicos,
gargalos, alavancagem e não-críticos. O resultado dessa etapa
identificou três itens estratégicos, seis itens gargalos, um item
de alavancagem e dois itens não-críticos. Para
os três itens classificados como estratégicos, foi aplicado o
método Fuzzy-TOPSIS visando a identificar o posicionamento
estratégico do Hospital em relação aos fornecedores
desses itens, a partir da avaliação das dimensões força do
mercado fornecedor e força da empresa compradora, sendo cada uma
composta por quatro critérios. Nessa etapa, foi identificada uma
postura de balanceamento das forças. Conclui-se a efetividade da
ferramenta de portfólio de compras para
gestão hospitalar, proporcionando uma visão mais clara das
características, inerentes ao processo de compras nesse contexto
complexo. O método Fuzzy-TOPSIS apresentou-se como uma ferramenta
flexível, capaz de lidar com problemas de
classificação, gerando resultados satisfatórios e contribuindo
para a tomada de decisão. 

Cada vez mais, a Tecnologia da Informação (TI) vem sendo utilizada para dar sustentação as estratégias de negócio, ocasionando aumento da sua relevância. Por isso, a Governança de TI é vista com uma das prioridades das organizações no momento. A busca pelo alinhamento estratégico entre negócio e TI é debatida como um fator relevante para o sucesso empresarial, mas mesmo com essa importância, normalmente os principais gestores de negócio relutam em assumir a responsabilidade das decisões que envolvem a TI. Tudo isso, devido a complexidade de sua infraestrutura. Já a computação em nuvem vem sendo vista como um elemento capaz de auxiliar na implantação das estratégias organizacionais, em virtude de suas características permitirem uma maior eficiência e agilidade da área de TI, sendo considerada como um novo paradigma computacional. O objetivo principal do estudo foi analisar as relações entre os arranjos de governança de TI e o alinhamento estratégico com a infraestrutura como serviço (IaaS) da computação em nuvem pública. Para tanto, foi desenvolvida uma pesquisa exploratória, descritiva e inferencial com abordagem ao problema da pesquisa de forma quantitativa, utilizando o método survey descritiva e de corte transversal. Foi utilizado um questionário eletrônico aplicado com os Associados do ISACA dos chapters do Estado de São Paulo e Distrito Federal, totalizando 164 respondentes. O instrumento utilizou como base as teorias de Weill e Ross (2006) para matriz de arranjo de governança de TI; Henderson e Venkatraman (1993) e Luftman (2000) para modelo de maturidade do alinhamento estratégico e NIST (2011 b), ITGI (2007) e CSA (2010) para maturidade da infraestrutura como serviço (IaaS) pública em suas características essenciais.  No tocante aos principais resultados, esta pesquisa comprovou que com a IaaS pública as estruturas de tomada de decisão foram alteradas, havendo uma maior participação dos altos executivos em todas as cinco decisões-chave de TI (matriz de arranjo de governança de TI), inclusive decisões mais técnicas como arquitetura e infraestrutura de TI. Foi observada, também, a diminuição na participação dos especialistas de TI, caracterizando-se o processo de decisão com o arquétipo duopólio (decisão compartilhada).  No quesito alinhamento estratégico foi observado que este é alterado com a computação em nuvem, tendo as organizações com IaaS pública uma maturidade do alinhamento estratégico com diferença estatisticamente significativa e superior, quando comparada com as organizações sem IaaS.  A maturidade da IaaS pública se encontra no nível intermediário (nível 3 – “processo definido”), tendo a elasticidade e mensuração obtido o nível 4 – “gerenciado e mensurável”. Diante disso, foi possível inferir que nas organizações com IaaS pública há correlações entre as decisões-chave e a maturidade da IaaS, principalmente em princípios, arquitetura e infraestrutura de TI e com os arquétipos que envolvem altos executivos e especialistas de TI, além da correlação entre a maturidade do alinhamento estratégico e a maturidade da IaaS pública. Portanto, quanto maior o alinhamento estratégico, maior a maturidade da IaaS pública e vice-versa.

O Programa de Alimentação do Trabalhador (PAT) é referido como a principal política de Segurança Alimentar e Nutricional voltado para o atendimento das classes trabalhadoras e tem como objetivo a melhoria da situação nutricional dos trabalhadores. São atendidos atualmente pelo PAT cerca de 19 milhões de trabalhadores em todo o Brasil, o que dá uma ideia da sua dimensão e importância. No Rio Grande do Norte, estima-se que aproximadamente 120 mil trabalhadores sejam beneficiados. Ainda assim, não há registros de estudos de análise do Programa no Estado. Diante disso, a presente tese desenvolveu uma avaliação do Programa de Alimentação do Trabalhador no Rio Grande do Norte, tendo como objetivo avaliar o seu impacto sobre o estado nutricional dos trabalhadores beneficiados. Para tanto, foi desenvolvida uma pesquisa observacional, transversal e prospectiva com base numa amostra aleatória probabilística, estratificada, em multi-estágios e comparativa entre indústrias de pequeno e médio porte, do Setor de Transformação (têxteis, alimentos e bebidas, e minerais não-metálicos) do RN, divididas igualmente em dois grupos (PAT e Não PAT), num total de 26 empresas. As entrevistas foram realizadas por entrevistadores treinados e ocorreram de terça a sábado, entre setembro e dezembro de 2014, em cada empresa, em local definido para este fim. Foram coletados dados das empresas (de caracterização e de informações que se relacionem com os resultados almejados pelo Programa) e dos trabalhadores (informações pessoais, profissionais, antropométricas, de saúde, estilo de vida e do consumo alimentar do dia anterior). As informações obtidas foram organizadas em banco de dados no programa Microsoft Excel® e a análise estatística realizada pelo Stata® 11.0. Foram calculadas estimativas populacionais, para o RN, das características dos trabalhadores e das variáveis do estudo. As estimativas dos erros padrão foram corrigidas para o agrupamento dos trabalhadores em cada indústria, com base no coeficiente de correlação intraclasse; e para amostragem sem reposição, utilizando-se o fator de correção para populações finitas baseado no total de indústrias segundo o subsetor de atividade econômica no Estado e no total de trabalhadores de cada indústria selecionada para o estudo. A variável principal foi o IMC. As variáveis secundárias foram a circunferência abdominal, o diagnóstico nutricional, a ingestão calórica, a pressão arterial, as variáveis metabólicas e os indicadores de estilo de vida. O método estatístico utilizado foi a regressão linear de efeitos mistos hierárquica para as variáveis de intervalos e a regressão logística de efeitos mistos hierárquica para as variáveis binárias. As variáveis medidas em escalas ordinais foram analisadas por regressão logística ordinal ajustada para variáveis correlatas, adotando-se erros padrão robustos. Os resultados para as variáveis de intervalos, estão apresentados como estimativas pontuais e seus intervalos de confiança de 95%; e como odds-ratios e seus intervalos de confiança de 95% para as variáveis binárias. Para comparações simples entre proporções e entre médias foram usados, respectivamente, os testes exato de Fisher e o teste-t de Student. Foram consideradas estatisticamente significativas as diferenças com p<0,05. Todos os testes foram bicaudais. Foram entrevistados 1069 trabalhadores, sendo 541 do grupo PAT e 528 do grupo Não PAT com média de idade de 34,5 anos, sexo masculino foi predominante nos dois grupos, foram observadas diferenças significantes entre os grupos quanto ao grau de escolaridade, à renda superior a 1 SM e à formação específica para o cargo que ocupa na empresa. Os resultados demonstraram diferenças significantes entre o IMC dos trabalhadores beneficiados, que foram em média 0,989 kg/m² mais elevado do que o IMC dos trabalhadores do grupo não PAT (p=0,002); e entre a CABd, cujas medidas dos trabalhadores do grupo PAT foram em média 1,528 cm maior (p<0,05). Maiores prevalências de sobrepeso e obesidade (p<0,001) e risco cardiovascular (p=0,038) foram constatadas no grupo PAT. Testes de possível efeito do PAT sobre indicadores de saúde (pressão arterial e indicadores metabólicos) e de estilo de vida (hábito de fumar, consumo de álcool e prática de atividade física) não foram significantes. Com relação à alimentação dos trabalhadores, foram significantes as diferenças no consumo alimentar de gordura saturada (almoço e consumo diário), sódio (almoço, demais refeições e consumo diário) e proteínas (Demais refeições e consumo diário), sendo o consumo desses nutrientes menor no grupo PAT. O estudo demonstrou um possível impacto positivo do PAT sobre o estado nutricional (IMC e CAbd) entre trabalhadores beneficiados. Não foram observados possíveis efeitos do Programa sobre os indicadores de estilo de vida pesquisados. Trabalhadores beneficiados apresentaram menor consumo de sódio, gordura saturada e proteína. Reconhece-se a relevância do PAT para essa parcela da sociedade e entende-se que, se ele tem alcance e impacto sobre a sua clientela, é possível que o desenvolvimento de ações de educação para a segurança alimentar e nutricional também possam exercer influência positiva.

Esta Tese tem como intuito compreender como uma determinada condição social adquire relevância a ponto de ser considerado um problema que merece uma ação governamental e como determinadas propostas de solução ganham evidência em detrimento de outras. Mais especificamente, pretende-se analisar o campo das políticas públicas de educação e verificar se os modelos analíticos adotados possuem força explicativa para se compreender como o tema do analfabetismo escolar entrou na agenda do governo do Estado do Ceará e como o Programa de Alfabetização na Idade Certa (PAIC) foi se configurando ao longo do tempo. Do ponto de vista empírico das políticas públicas de educação no Brasil, trata-se de um caso relevante ao se verificar que, historicamente, as políticas de alfabetização concentraram-se nos jovens e adultos, revelando a ausência de ações específicas para as crianças em estágio de alfabetização.

Para compreendermos as razões que levaram o tema ao topo da agenda governamental cearense, esta Tese tem como base principal de sustentação a literatura sobre a análise de políticas públicas, com ênfase nos processos de formação de agenda e elaboração de alternativas. Recorre-se a uma abordagem híbrida a partir da combinação das ferramentas analíticas do Modelo de Múltiplos Fluxos de Kingdon (1995), do Modelo de Coalizão Advocatória de Sabatier e Jenkins Smith (1993) e da abordagem do neoinstitucionalismo histórico.

A pesquisa é de natureza qualitativa e adotou como estratégia o método de estudo de caso único. Foi realizada uma triangulação de dados a partir de documentos institucionais relativos ao PAIC, notas taquigráficas de eventos organizados pela Assembleia Legislativa do Ceará, matérias da mídia, estudos acadêmicos e entrevistas com atores chave de diferentes instituições.

Esta Tese conclui que, dada a complexidade do caso em estudo, a combinação conjunta das três abordagens analíticas mostrou-se adequada e necessária para a compreensão dos múltiplos fatores que explicam a entrada do tema na agenda decisória do governo estadual cearense e o desenho do PAIC. Destacam-se a importância das ideias e do empreendedor de políticas públicas, a relevância da etapa de reconhecimento do problema para a formação de uma ampla base de coalizão, o processo de construção das alternativas de ação e a trajetória histórica das políticas de educação no Ceará. Este estudo contribui, portanto, para uma melhor compreensão das etapas que compõem a formação de agenda nas políticas públicas, em particular no campo da educação.

No Brasil, a escolha dos diretores escolares é formulada de maneira descentralizada por estados e municípios, com processos que podem variar ao longo do tempo para uma mesma localidade. No estado da Bahia, os diretores das escolas estaduais eram indicados politicamente até 2008, quando a escolha passou a ser por eleições. O objetivo deste artigo é analisar os efeitos de tal mudança no rendimento escolar dos alunos. Para tanto, são usados os métodos de dados em painel e de diferença em diferenças que compara as escolas estaduais (grupo de tratamento) às escolas municipais (grupo de controle) que não foram afetadas pela mudança na política e, portanto, continuaram selecionando os diretores por indicação. São utilizadas as bases de dados da Prova Brasil de 2007, 2009 e de 2011, a primeira anterior e as outras duas posteriores à política de seleção adotada pelas escolas estaduais. Os resultados mostram que, tanto para a proficiência em Língua portuguesa quanto em Matemática, o desempenho médio dos alunos das escolas em que os diretores são selecionados e posteriormente eleitos é um pouco menor do que o desempenho médio de alunos que frequentam escolas em que os diretores são apenas indicados. Este resultado pode estar relacionado, segundo a literatura, a efeitos perversos da política de escolha do gestor por voto, tais como o clientelismo, o corporativismo e a politização do ambiente escolar.

A fonte de energia eólica offshore é limpa, renovável e apresenta melhor desempenho do que a fonte onshore em quesitos como maior estabilidade e incidência de ventos, menor impacto visual e sonoro, dentre outros. Em contrapartida, ainda é cerca de duas vezes mais cara que a fonte onshore. Muito em parte isso se dá pelos elevados custos de instalação e manutenção no mar. Para entender melhor como esses custos direcionam o preço da fonte offshore esse trabalho calcula o Nivelized Cost of Energy – LCOE, que representa o retorno mínimo para cobrir os custos de desenvolvimento, produção e manutenção de um projeto eólico. O LCOE foi calculado para todos os parques eólicos onshore brasileiros listados no Bloomberg New Energy Finance®, contabilizando 71 parques. Como o Brasil ainda possui parques eólicos offshore, os valores do LCOE para estes foram calculados dobrando-se os custos dos parques onshore e realizando simulações para estimar a produção de energia no mar. A análise de sensibilidade para os parâmetros que compõem o LCOE indicam que maiores fatores de capacidade obtidos no mar em detrimento da fonte onshore tem o potencial de reduzir significativamente o preço da energia.

O presente estudo tem por objetivo verificar a relação entre empreendedorismo e incidência da corrupção burocrática nos estados brasileiros e Distrito Federal. A principal hipótese do estudo é que a abertura de empresas nos estados brasileiros é afetada negativamente pela incidência da corrupção. O referencial teórico é dividido em Empreendedorismo e Corrupção burocrática, com ênfase na perspectiva materialista (objetivista) do empreendedorismo e nos efeitos da corrupção burocrática sobre a atividade empreendedora. Através do método de regressão com dados em painel, foram estimados os modelos com dados agrupados e com efeitos fixos e aleatórios. Para mensurar a corrupção, utilizou-se o Índice Geral da Corrupção para os estados brasileiros (Boll, 2010), e para representar o empreendedorismo, a abertura de empresas per capita por estado. Os testes (de Chow, Hausman e Breusch-Pagan) apontam que o modelo de efeitos aleatórios é o mais apropriado, e seus resultados indicam um impacto positivo da corrupção burocrática sobre a atividade empreendedora, contrariando a hipótese esperada e encontrada em trabalhos anteriores, para o Brasil, e corroborando a proposição de Dreher and Gassebner (2011) de que, em países com alta regulamentação, a corrupção burocrática pode ser um “lubrificante” na abertura de empresas.

O Rio Grande do Norte apresenta um relevante potencial na cadeia produtiva da criação de camarões em viveiros. Na etapa de larvicultura responde por mais da metade da produção nacional de pós-larvas. Por sua vez, na etapa de engorda esse Estado é o segundo maior produtor de camarão do país. Na etapa de beneficiamento, as plantas instaladas no Estado possuem quase 40% da capacidade de beneficiamento de camarão do Nordeste. Ocorre que o Brasil apresenta a carga tributária mais alta entre os principais países produtores de camarão. Diante da influência que os tributos exercem na concorrência entre as empresas, o presente trabalho se propõe a analisar o impacto dos tributos indiretos nas etapas supracitadas da cadeia produtiva do camarão de viveiro no Rio Grande do Norte. Para tanto, serão utilizados os dados do Censo da Carcinicultura de 2011 e será aplicado o Herfindahl-Hirschman Index para identificar em quais formas de mercado opera cada etapa da referida cadeia. De modo a contribuir na caracterização da cadeia serão realizadas entrevistas com diretores de fazendas de engorda e plantas de beneficiamento. Será analisada a elasticidade-preço da pós-larva, do camarão in natura e do camarão beneficiado para verificar a possibilidade que as etapas supracitadas possuem de repassar o ônus da criação de um novo tributo de abrangência estadual para o seguinte elo da cadeia. A análise dos dados mostrou que o setor de larvicultura funciona como um duopólio e que, diante da criação de um novo tributo ad valorem de abrangência estadual incidente sobre toda a cadeia, a maior parte do ônus do mesmo seria transferido para o setor de engorda. Já este setor funciona em uma estrutura de mercado mais semelhante à concorrência perfeita, o que diminui sua possibilidade de transferir esse ônus para o setor de beneficiamento. Esta situação provocaria uma redução na quantidade produzida. O setor de beneficiamento também funcionaria como um oligopólio com concentração pouco inferior ao de larvicultura, mas, por se defrontar com um oligopsônio, acabaria por arcar com a maior parte do ônus, ocasionando uma queda na quantidade de camarão beneficiado. Conclui-se que a criação de um novo tributo impactaria negativamente, no Estado do Rio Grande do Norte, a cadeia como um todo, mas principalmente as etapas de engorda e beneficiamento.

Na última década a complexidade do ambiente no qual as organizações estão inseridas aumentou dramaticamente, tendo de um lado os consumidores cada vez mais exigentes no que se refere à qualidade e valor agregado do produto e do outro as empresas com a necessidade de reduzir seus custos operacionais a fim de obter maior lucratividade, sem que para isso haja uma retração no seu crescimento ou na sua fatia de mercado que lhe compete. Nesse contexto surge a necessidade da estruturação eficaz das ações referentes ao planejamento estratégico organizacional alinhado com os processos de trabalho operacionais a fim de que os objetivos empresariais sejam alcançados, garantindo a competitividade da organização. Assim, este trabalho tem o intuito de analisar como é realizada a gestão da cadeia de suprimentos em um supermercado varejista à luz das diretrizes da Supply Chain Management através da utilização do modelo SCOR. Para efetivação desse estudo foi necessária uma pesquisa, classificada quanto aos seus objetivos, exploratória e descritiva, quanto ao seu procedimento, documental, de campo e estudo de caso. Destarte, o tratamento dos dados será de mérito qualitativo, utilizando a análise categórica temática de Bardin (1977). Destarte, para a obtenção de dados foram realizadas entrevistas juntos aos gestores operacionais e estratégicos de uma empresa que recebeu o nome de Supermercado Ômega. Diante da análise das informações obtidas percebe-se que há um esforço da organização em aprimorar sua gestão da cadeia de suprimentos. No entanto, verificou-se a ausência de um alinhamento entre as diversas áreas que a compõe. Quanto aos seus processos de trabalho, ressalta-se que o foco da empresa ainda está muito direcionado à venda e não à rentabilidade, embora esteja passando por uma transformação em sua cultura organizacional. Contudo, registra-se a existência de muitos projetos de aprimoramento em desenvolvimento. Assim, pode-se perceber que há certa congruência entre os pressupostos do Modelo SCOR e os aplicados dentro da cadeia de suprimentos do Supermercado Ômega, embora ainda seja necessário um esforço maior para um melhor alinhamento com o modelo estudado.  

Os estudos sobre estratégia têm se difundido há muitos anos e, mais recentemente, o  seu  processo  de  formulação  na  perspectiva  individual  também  tem  ganhado atenção  no  meio  acadêmico.  Corroborando  com  esta  tendência,  o  objetivo  deste estudo é discutir o processo de formulação estratégica a partir de uma perspectiva individual  com  base  nas  três  dimensões  do  processo  estratégico  (mudança, pensamento  e  formação)  propostas  por  De  Wit  e  Meyer  (2004).  Para  isso,  este estudo exploratório-descritivo, utilizou-se das técnicas de análise fatorial, correlação não  paramétrica  e  regressão  linear  para  analisar  dados  levantados  junto  a  93 decisores  do  ramo  varejista  de  construção  civil  de  Natal  e  região  metropolitana. Como  resultados,  tem-se  que  os  fatores  formadores  das  dimensões  investigadas foram  identificados  em  sua  maioria,  confirmando  desta  forma,  a  existência  de paradoxos  no  processo  estratégico,  e  que  há  uma  relação  entre  o  pensamento lógico e a formação deliberada com o nível hierárquico dos decisores.

O Portal de Periódicos da Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior (CAPES) tem como missão prover a Informação em Ciência e Tecnologia (ICT) para usuários do meio acadêmico e é considerado um instrumento relevante para a política de dinamização da pós-graduação para o desenvolvimento da Ciência e Tecnologia (C&T) do país. Apesar da sua importância, existem poucos estudos focados na análise da eficácia dessa política. Esta pesquisa visa preencher essa lacuna, pois busca analisar o uso do Portal de Periódicos da CAPES na realização de pesquisas por mestres e doutores formados pelo Programa de Pós-Graduação em Administração (PPGA) da Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Norte (UFRN). A operacionalização deste objetivo se deu através dos seguintes objetivos específicos: a) caracterizar o perfil dos egressos do PPGA da UFRN quanto a motivação para o uso do Portal de Periódicos da CAPES; b) identificar os aspectos positivos e as dificuldades percebidas pelos egressos no processo de busca da informação no Portal de Periódicos da CAPES; c) identificar o grau de satisfação dos egressos no processo de busca da informação no Portal de Periódicos da CAPES; d) verificar o uso das informações obtidas pelos egressos ao acessarem o Portal para desenvolvimento de suas atividades acadêmicas. A pesquisa é do tipo descritiva, empregando uma estratégia metodológica mista, com predomínio da abordagem quantitativa. A coleta de dados foi feita através de um questionário online (websurvey). Para a análise quantitativa dos dados, foi empregado o método estatístico. Para a análise qualitativa, foi adotado o modelo teórico-metodológico Sense Making de Brenda Dervin e a análise de conteúdo das questões abertas. A amostra investigada foi composta por 90 egressos do PPGA da UFRN que defenderam suas dissertações/teses no período entre 2010-2013, representando 88% dessa população. Quanto ao perfil dos egressos, a análise evidenciou que inexiste diferença quantitativa significativa no tocante ao sexo. Porém, percebeu-se a predominância dos egressos do sexo masculino com idades entre 26 e 30 anos, enquanto que no sexo feminino, a maioria concentrou-se entre 31 e 35 anos. A maioria dos egressos tem formação em nível de mestrado e em sua maioria obtiveram bolsas para cursar sua pós-graduação. Atestou-se também que a imensa maioria dos respondentes disseram ter utilizado o Portal durante sua pós-graduação, sendo que os principais motivos apontados para seu não uso foram: a preferência por acessar outras bases e a falta de conhecimento do Portal. Observou-se que o material informacional mais utilizado no Portal foram as dissertações/teses. Os dados também indicaram que a maior dificuldade para suprir as necessidades de informação, através do uso do Portal, foi o acesso ao texto completo. Destaca-se, também, que todos os que disseram ter utilizado o Portal, também afirmaram ter buscado outras fontes eletrônicas para suprirem suas necessidades de informação. No que se refere ao uso das fontes de informação pesquisadas fora do Portal, foram identificadas fontes tais como: monografias, dissertações, teses. Também ficou em evidência que a fonte de informação eletrônica mais utilizada foi a Scielo. Os resultados revelaram, portanto, que, em relação ao acesso e uso do Portal de Periódicos da CAPES, o Portal tem sido utilizado de forma regular durante a pós-graduação, mas os egressos também acessam outras fontes de informação eletrônicas para suprirem suas necessidades de informação. O estudo também comprovou a importante missão desempenhada pelo Portal para produção da comunicação científica brasileira, embora os usuários tenham reportado a necessidade de melhora de alguns aspectos, para que seu uso seja mais intenso, tais como: realização de treinamentos periódicos para divulgar, incentivar e ensinar a utilizar o Portal de modo mais eficaz; investimento na ampliação do acervo destinado à área de Ciências Sociais Aplicadas e implementação de processos contínuos de avaliação da satisfação dos usuários em relação aos serviços prestados.

Este trabalho tem como objetivo analisar a relação entre preço médio com a concentração nos mercados (municípios) do estado do Rio Grande do Norte, faz-se uso de uma ferramenta pouco aplicada para o mercado brasileiro que é o modelo econométrico espacial. Para tanto, foi utilizada uma base que contém dados de todos os postos das principais cidades do estado do Rio Grande do Norte e inclui 144 observações referentes a postos. Modelos teóricos predizem a relação entre o número de competidores num mercado e o preço médio; estes modelos teóricos, compreendem: os de competição monopolística de Perloff e Salop (1985), e os de search-theoretic, de Carlson e McAfee (1983) e de Varian (1980). Os resultados empíricos mostraram que uma maior densidade dentro de um espaço geográfico está associada a um preço médio mais baixo, convergindo assim, com o modelo de competição monopolística e com o search-theoretic de Carlson e McAfee (1983). Os parâmetros estimados pouco variaram com inclusão/exclusão de variáveis controles, mostrando a robustez dos mesmos.

Nesta pesquisa, foram analisados os componentes de estrutura organizacional da UFRN e em que medida eles afetam no seu desempenho organizacional. O estudo, classificado como exploratório e descritivo, foi conduzido em duas fases, a primeira tratou-se de um teste piloto para refinar o instrumento da pesquisa e identificar os componentes latentes da estrutura organizacional, e na segunda, buscou-se caracterizar os componentes identificados na fase anterior e, a partir daí estabelecer as relações com o desempenho organizacional. Na primeira fase, a pesquisa foi conduzida em 20 unidades organizacionais da UFRN com participação de 84 servidores entre técnicos-administrativos e docentes, após considerados os missing values e os outliers. Enquanto que a segunda fase ocorreu em duas etapas: uma realizada com 279 casos válidos, constituídos por técnicos-administrativos e docentes de 37 unidades da UFRN, e outra com 112 gestores da instituição nas 49 unidades identificadas nesta pesquisa. O instrumento adotado na primeira fase foi composto de 36 indicadores de estrutura organizacional, sendo 6 extraídos e adaptadas do instrumento elaborado por Medeiros (2003) e 30 foram elaborados com base na revisão da literatura, tendo como base em Mintzberg (2012), Hall (1984), Vasconcellos e Hemsley (1997) e Seiffert e Costa (2007), e 7 indicadores de desempenho adaptados com base em Fleury e Mills (2006), Vieira e Vieira (2003) e Kaplan e Norton (1997) do instrumento de autoavaliação em uso pela universidade, nesta fase os dados foram analisados através das técnicas de análise fatorial e análise de confiabilidade por meio do Alpha de Cronbach, visando extrair os fatores que representam os componentes da estrutura organizacional. Na etapa 1 da segunda fase, foi utilizado o instrumento, refinado e reduzido na fase anterior, com 24 variáveis de estrutura organizacional e 6 de desempenho, e na etapa 2, foi adotado um roteiro de entrevista com perguntas semiestruturadas, organizados em nove elementos de estrutura organizacional, visando levantar subsídios para compreender a relação da estrutura com o desempenho da UFRN. As técnicas utilizadas na segunda fase, como um todo, foram a análise fatorial e a análise de confiabilidade para caracterizar os componentes extraídos na fase anterior e validar as variáveis de desempenho; e análises de correlação, de regressão e de conteúdo para estabelecer e compreender as relações entre a estrutura e o desempenho. Os resultados apontaram, nas duas fases, seis componentes latentes de estrutura organizacional no contexto em estudo – treinamento e internalização, comunicação, hierarquização, descentralização, formalização e departamentalização – com elevados índices de alpha de Cronbach, podendo assim, serem caracterizados como os componentes da estrutura da UFRN. Seis indicadores de desempenho foram validados nessa pesquisa, mostrando-se como eficientes e de fiabilidade elevada. E, por fim, constatou-se que os componentes formalização, comunicação, descentralização e treinamento e internalização afetam positivamente o desempenho da UFRN, enquanto que a departamentalização afeta negativamente e a hierarquização não apresentou uma relação significativa. Os resultados alcançadas neste trabalho são importantes para subsidiar em estudos futuros a elaboração de um modelo de estrutura que represente as especificidades da instituição universitária.

A utilização de dispositivos móveis, dentre os quais se destacam os smartphones e tablets, tem crescido no mundo todo de forma exponencial. Até o final de 2014, espera-se que 1,75 bilhões de pessoas possuam smartphones (EMARKETER, 2014). Como consequência, um novo modelo de negócio se desenvolve no ambiente das lojas de aplicativos móveis, impulsionado pelo avanço da utilização da internet e das redes sociais. No contexto da mobilidade, a prática do boca-a-boca eletrônico (eWOM) acontece através da avaliação ("reviews") dos aplicativos, da troca e propagação de informações. Alguns estudos de marketing eletrônico têm abordado o eWOM, mas há poucos trabalhos focando o engajamento dos consumidores no fornecimento de comentários negativos. O objetivo deste trabalho é compreender os motivos que levam os consumidores a fornecer comentários negativos em um ambiente de mercado de mobilidade.Estudos anteriores constataram que o eWOM negativo tem uma maior influência sobre os potenciais consumidores que o positivo (PARK e LEE, 2009; YANG e MAI, 2010). A Teoria do Comportamento Planejado juntamente com os motivadores identificados na literatura, tais quais altruísmo, emoções, desabafos de sentimentos negativos, vingança, busca por providências, reputação e reciprocidade, foram adotados como arcabouço teórico para compreensão do engajamento dos consumidores no ambiente das lojas de aplicativos móveis. A pesquisa, do tipo descritiva, utilizou uma abordagem qualitativa e adotou o interacionismo simbólico como postura teórica, de modo a entender os significados atribuídos pelos indivíduos as suas experiências. Foram coletados dados verbais, através de entrevistas episódicas semiestruturadas realizadas e gravadas no ambiente online com consumidores que praticam o eWOM negativo. Para a análise dos dados, foi utilizada a análise de conteúdo categorial com o auxílio do software QSR NVivo. Na interpretação, foram feitas análises comparativas com uso de mapas de árvore, matriz estrutural e matriz de codificação. Como resultado, as razões mais evidentes para o uso de aplicativos foram a satisfação de necessidades, facilidade nas atividades, recomendação de amigos, mobilidade e uso atrelado a serviços. Quatro motivadores foram evidenciados pelos consumidores para a propagação de “reviews” negativos nas lojas de aplicativos móveis, são eles: o Altruísmo, ressaltando o desejo de alertar outros consumidores; a Busca por Providências, com ênfase na busca por melhorias dos aplicativos; Emoções negativas, destacando a frustração e raiva e a Reciprocidade, realçando o aspecto do companheirismo e o desejo de se sentir ajudado. Os consumidores mostraram que se engajam neste ecossistema móvel independente das pressões sociais e de influência de amigos. Os fatores ambientais, tais como o canal de avaliação e a Internet, são vistos como facilitadores, enquanto que a falta de interação e alguns incentivos utilizados pelos desenvolvedores, como a emissão de alertas, podem prejudicar o comportamento de engajamento com eWOM. Os resultados da pesquisa contribuem para explorar o campo de estudos sobre o eWOM negativo no contexto nacional, e também avança o conhecimento sobre os motivos para a propagação de comentários negativos e hábitos dos consumidores nas lojas de aplicativos móveis. Com base nas informações da pesquisa, os desenvolvedores e empresas poderão desenvolver estratégias de aperfeiçoamento de interação com os consumidores de aplicativos móveis.

A capacidade de TI é uma habilidade organizacional para realizar atividades dessa função de maneira mais efetiva e um importante mecanismo na criação de valor. Seu processo de construção (estágios de criação e desenvolvimento) ocorre através de iniciativas de gestão para melhorias no desempenho de suas atividades, usando recursos humanos e ativos de TI complementares responsáveis pela evolução das suas rotinas organizacionais. Esta pesquisa trata das capacidades de TI relacionadas aos sistemas SIG (sistemas institucionais integrados de gestão), criados e implantados na UFRN (Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Norte), para realização e controle das atividades administrativas, acadêmicas e dos recursos humanos. Desde 2009, através de acordos de cooperação com instituições federais de ensino e da administração direta, a UFRN tem apoiado a implantação destes sistemas, atualmente envolvendo mais de 30 instituições. O presente trabalho objetiva compreender como as capacidades de TI, relevantes na concepção, implantação e disseminação dos SIG da UFRN, foram construídas ao longo do tempo. Trata-se de um estudo de caso único de natureza qualitativa e longitudinal, realizado através da captura, codificação e análise de dados secundários e provenientes de entrevistas semi-estruturadas realizadas principalmente com membros da Superintendência de Informática, unidade organizacional responsável pelos sistemas SIG na UFRN. Como resultados, foram identificadas as capacidades técnica, de relacionamento interno e de cooperação externa como relevantes na trajetória bem sucedida dos sistemas SIG, e que evoluíram de maneiras distintas. A capacidade técnica, iniciada em 2004, percorreu os estágios de criação e desenvolvimento até que atingiu o estágio de estabilidade em 2013, em decorrência de limites tecnológicos. Quanto à capacidade de relacionamento interno, iniciada em 2006, esta percorreu os estágios de criação e desenvolvimento, tendo seu escopo de atividades estendido em 2009, estando em desenvolvimento desde então. Diferente do padrão de ciclo de vida observado na literatura, a capacidade de cooperação externa foi iniciada por uma intensidade de iniciativas e evoluções nas rotinas em 2009, que foram decrescendo até cessarem, em 2013, no intuito de estabilizar a estrutura tecnológica já criada para as instituições cooperadas. Identificou-se ainda o início das cooperações, em 2009, como um importante evento de seleção, responsável por alterar ou criar trajetórias de evolução nas três capacidades. As iniciativas de melhorias mais frequentes foram as de natureza organizacional e o planejamento interno foi a atividade mais transformada nas rotinas das três capacidades. Importantes recursos e ativos complementares foram identificados como importantes para a realização das iniciativas, como os recursos humanos de conhecimento técnico, para as capacidades técnica e de cooperação externa; e o conhecimento negocial, para todas elas, além dos ativos de TI complementares: as aplicações iproject, de controle dos processos de desenvolvimento, e o repositório de documentos wiki. Todos estes recursos e ativos complementares evoluíram junto às capacidades, mostrando-se de valor estratégico para a SINFO/UFRN.

O objetivo desta tese foi analisar os recursos intangíveis de um destino turístico. Foi feito um estudo de desempenho da cidade de Natal tendo como base a teoria das capacidades dinâmicas. Inicialmente, foi desenvolvido um instrumento de pesquisa para oportunizar a construção de um modelo de medida com vistas à captação de variáveis latentes para os recursos intangíveis existentes no setor do turismo em Natal-RN. Em seguida, foi realizada uma análise dos recursos intangíveis que são evidenciados pelos turistas acerca da cidade. Finalmente, foi feita a investigação de um modelo de estrutura que estabeleceu as relações entre as variáveis latentes dos recursos intangíveis e a percepção de desempenho do turismo na cidade de Natal. Procedeu-se uma revisão de literatura para construção de um modelo inicial acerca dos ativos intangíveis dentro da teoria das capacidades e foram relacionados dez recursos, quais sejam: recursos humanos prestadores de serviços; recursos humanos como gestores; cultura local; conservação do meio ambiente; know-how empresarial; inovação empresarial; tecnologia; marca; preço; e promoção. Estes dez recursos, em conjunto, seriam responsáveis pelo desempenho do destino turístico. Após ser realizada uma análise de equações estruturais, apenas quatro recursos manifestaram relações com o desempenho: marca; cultura; conservação do meio ambiente; e preço. Após a análise dos dados, verificou-se que a variável desempenho positivo da cidade na ótica do turista se manifestou fortemente e foi influenciada de forma extremamente forte pela cultura local, marca e conservação do meio ambiente em conjunto. O preço foi influenciado pelo desempenho positivo mostrando que o turista sente que o preço pago foi satisfatório diante dos atributos do destino Provavelmente, isso seja um ponto positivo muito forte para o destino turístico de Natal, pois, em termos de recursos intangíveis e de juntos formarem capacidades, eles são inimitáveis, raros e são capazes de se ajustarem às mudanças organizacionais e ambientais, para reconfigurar os ativos e as estruturas de um destino, corroborando, assim, com a teoria das capacidades dinâmicas. Esses recursos da cidade de Natal, como destino turístico, são únicos e provavelmente têm um peso muito maior para o desempenho da cidade do que problemas existentes na localidade. Logo, esses recursos devem ser estimulados a continuar crescendo e se modificando de acordo com as exigências atuais e futuras de consumo.