Brazil represents approximately 29% of the world’s coffee exports, with 15% of that being "specialty coffee." Most Brazilian coffee exports are composed of commoditized green beans, influencing the value chain to be grounded on an exchange paradigm. This scenario started to change with the introduction of specialized coffee shops, coffee capsules for home consumption, and demand for a more artisanal product. A paradigm of value creation along the chain drives production processes that aim to differentiate products through superior coffee beans and unique experiences. This study was developed through content analysis of 15 years of news collected from two Brazilian newspapers. Additionally, we interviewed owners of coffee shops, coffee producers, cooperatives, intermediaries, and regulators. We concluded that the value chain faces challenges in reaching higher value-in-use creation for all involved actors.

This research aims to understand the process of cars' disposal, its context, its influences and its impacts on the meanings for consumers and their identities, as well as the new behaviours of these consumers when living without their car(s). We conducted, analysed and interpreted 20 in‐depth interviews with consumers that had previously owned at least one car and had no financial reasons for disposing of their car(s), but had decided to do it, and started to live without them, adopting alternative methods of transportation. Our findings show that these consumers faced a complicated process regarding the disposal of their car(s) but, due to the changes in their circumstances, they re‐signified relevant concepts that were connected to the ownership of a car: Their perception of freedom, comfort, safety and status changed during and after the disposal of their car(s). We also noticed that there were implications in terms of changes in their attitudes and behaviour as both citizens and consumers. As a contribution to the literature, our findings indicate that the re‐signifying of concepts related to possession of the object as well as changes in attitudes and behaviours that consumers undergo in the postdisposal stage, must be included in the model proposed for evaluating consumer behaviour in product disposal.

universidade estadual do ceará ELIANE PEREIRA ZAMITH BRITO fundação getulio vargas-escola de administração de empresas de são paulo RESUMO Apesar do crescimento no número de cursos de Administração ao longo dos últimos anos, pesquisas mostram que o Brasil possui um dos piores indicadores de desempenho organizacional do mundo; e a formação profissional dos gestores nacionais pode ser apontada como uma das causas desse baixo rendimento, em especial, se considerar a relevância da gestão para o desempenho das empresas. Neste cenário, esta pesquisa teve como objetivo analisar o currículo de formação em Administração de universidades do Brasil, bem como as competências trabalhadas pelos cursos e compará-las com a formação de escolas dos EUA. Para tal, foi realizado um estudo de caráter tanto qualitativo como quantitativo, para tanto, levantando-se dados de cursos de Administração do Brasil e dos EUA. Para assegurar a autenticidade dos resultados, foi realizada triangulação de dados de diferentes fontes. Os resultados revelaram que, conquanto o modelo pedagógico americano tenha servido de base para a formatação dos cursos nacionais na década de 1940, as escolas brasileiras parecem não ter acompanhando o seu ritmo de mudança, promovendo uma reprodução técnica e instrumental desassociada da formação de pensadores críticos e criativos. Ademais, adaptações à realidade socioeconômica do contexto local parecem não ter sido avaliadas profundamente desde a criação do currículo mínimo em 1993. Palavras-chave: Cursos de Administração. Formação Profissional. Competências. ABSTRACT Despite the increasing number of Management courses over the last years, researches have demonstrated that Brazil has one of the worst organizational performance indexes in the world, with the vocational qualification of national managers being pointed out as a reason for this poor performance. In this scenario, this research aims to analyse the vocational qualification curriculum in Management schools of Brazilian universities, as well as their working skills

Objective: As highly relational services are so heavily dependent on customer participation, it is relevant to understand how organizations can turn mandatory participation into more productive interaction; and how customer empowerment can be used as a mechanism to enhance participation and subsequently affect service evaluations and behavioral intentions. Method:Conceptual article analyzing the literature on customer participation and empowerment and presenting a framework that explores the effects of these constructs on service evaluations and behavioral intentions. Main Result: Service providers that offer opportunities to customers to move from the audience to the stage turn customers into competent partners, empowered-to-act, who can impact processes and outcomes. Under these conditions, the company together with the customer co-create personalized experiences, and the company can achieve a competitive advantage. Contributions:The distinction between different empowerment mechanisms and their effects on how participation develops in highly relational services contributes to the literature on service marketing, which may consider distinctive effects in models explaining service performance. The article discusses that customer empowerment impact on participation follows an inverted-U curve shape. Relevance/Originality:The empowerment-to-act mechanism described may contribute to a reduction in value co-destruction risk, as customers will be more prepared to assume their roles. Social and Managerial Implications: Organizations can clarify the effects of chosen strategies to promote customer empowerment; and public policies can also benefit from a more comprehensive understanding of mechanisms influencing customers behavioral intentions toward institutions, as customers who are more capable of taking decisions are less vulnerable.