ResumoNa Rio+20, conferência da Organização das Nações Unidas (ONU) sobre o desenvolvimento sustentável, dois temas foram debatidos: economia verde e o quadro institucional para o desenvolvimento sustentável. Visando contribuir para a discussão deste segundo tema, investigou-se o papel dos países em desenvolvimento na dimensão institucional do desenvolvimento sustentável segundo percepção da ONU. Para isto, com base na análise crítica do discurso, foi analisado o relatório que examina os temas desta conferência, tendo sido constatados, pelo menos, dois papéis atribuídos aos países em desenvolvimento: recebedores e beneficiários de investimentos de fundos internacionais para o desenvolvimento sustentável e produtores e consumidores insustentáveis.Palavras-chave: Desenvolvimento sustentável. Países em desenvolvimento. Análise crítica do discurso. Rio+20. AbstractAt the Rio+20 conference of the United Nations (UN) on sustainable development, two issues were discussed: the green economy and the institutional framework for sustainable development. To contribute to the discussion of the latter issue, we investigated the role of developing countries for the institutional dimension of sustainable development in the perception of the UN. To this end, guided by critical discourse analysis, we analyzed the report which examines the themes of this conference and found at least two roles assigned to developing countries: recipients and beneficiaries of international investment funds for sustainable development and unsustainable producers and consumers.

Este artigo aborda a classificação das relações entre os gestores dos Pontos de Cultura e seus stakeholders no Grande Recife. Para isto, tem como base teórica a tipologia de stakeholders de Mitchell, Agle e Wood, que trata das relações de poder, legitimidade e urgência. A ARS - Análise de Redes Sociais foi empregada para dar suporte metodológico ao cabedal teórico da tipologia de stakeholders. Partiu-se das hipóteses de que as técnicas de ARS permitem observar as relações entre stakeholders e os seus papéis na percepção de diferentes gestores, e que os gestores percebem stakeholders, os quais constituem uma rede caracterizada por agrupamentos de laços fortes e atores centrais. Foram utilizadas técnicas de ARS e um questionário para avaliar as relações de poder, legitimidade e urgência na rede. De maneira geral, os stakeholders dos Pontos de Cultura analisados são atores vistos como legítimos nos níveis individual, organizacional e social, são ativos na busca de atenção dos gestores e têm alta influência simbólica. Após o mapeamento da rede dos Pontos de Cultura do Grande Recife, foi possível observar que ela é amplamente caracterizada pela presença de relações de legitimidade, fazendo com que muitos atores sejam classificados como stakeholders discricionários.

ResumoEste artigo tem o objetivo de apresentar uma classificação paradigmática das referências predominantes sobre a teoria do capital social na ciência da administração a partir da identificação dos princípios epistemológicos subjacentes. Os cientistas sociais têm oferecido uma variedade de definições de capital social, nas quais cada uma expressa uma particularidade significante. Subjacente a esse fato estão os princípios epistemológicos que têm sido utilizados para guiar os investigadores em suas pesquisas, que refletem uma visão de mundo que é anterior aos conceitos que estão tentando definir. Neste artigo, a análise epistemológica é guiada buscando identificar elementos do empirismo, do racionalismo, do utilitarismo, do positivismo, do funcionalismo, do sistemismo e da dialética. São analisadas as contribuições de Bourdieu, Coleman, Putnam, Fukuyama e Ghoshal sobre a teoria do capital social. As análises são apresentadas considerando a área de especialização dos autores, seja a sociologia, a ciência política ou a administração. De maneira geral, pode-se concluir que os princípios do sistemismo são predominantes nas concepções de capital social elaboradas pelos autores analisados. As abordagens de Coleman, Putnam, Fukuyama e Ghoshal podem ser classificadas como desenvolvidas em um paradigma funcionalista, enquanto a abordagem de Bourdieu pode ser posicionada em um paradigma crítico. Palavras-chave:Capital Social. Princípios Epistemológicos. Administração. AbstractThis article aims to present a paradigmatic classification of the predominant references on the social capital theory in management science from the identification of the underlying epistemological principles. Social scientists have offered a variety of definitions of social capital, in which each one expresses a significant particularity. Underlying this fact, scientists have used epistemological principles in their research, which reflect a worldview that is prior to the concepts they are trying to define. In this article, the epistemological analysis seeks to identify elements of empiricism, rationalism, utilitarianism, positivism, functionalism, systemism and dialectics. We analyse the contributions of Bourdieu, Coleman, Putnam, Fukuyama and Ghoshal on the social capital theory. The analyses are presented considering the area of Artigo submetido em 16 de junho de 2014 e aceito para publicação em 30 de setembro de 2014.

This study aimed to examine the institutional dimension of conventional and organic cotton farming; specifically, the relationships between farms and government organizations. In both, conventional and organic production systems, the farmers are located in varying institutional environments. These environments include a social capital formed by relationships of trust and cognitive affinities. This study focused on the social capital and guidelines for sustainable development. Multiple study cases were used for explanatory purposes. Such cases refer to a conventional cotton farming business and a civil society organization dedicated to organic cotton farming, both located in the state of Piauí. A comparative analysis perspective was adopted based on the elements of content analysis. The results showed that the conventional cotton farming business comprises relationships with governmental organizations that are predominantly oriented towards economic efficiency purposes, while the family-based organic cotton farming association comprises relationships oriented by economic, social, and environmental objectives. The present study extends the discussion on these topics by analyzing the institutional dimension oriented towards the sustainable development premises.

In this chapter, the implementation of an information strategy project in a Portuguese real estate company is analyzed. This involves its framing—historical and socio-economic—and a brief description of the activity sector in which the company operates. Several well managed projects have been developed to improve the competitive position of the company, but without focus all the activities lose strength because they might not reach their proposed targets. Some tools to identify the information needs of business activity developed are described, as well as the role of information as a promoter of competitive advantages. Social media tools were utilized and proved to be a great strategic decision. To conclude, a few reminders of the factors to consider in developing the information strategy to implement and that information management without a strategy could result in several diversified decisions without any positive consequence for the organization.

Abstract:The present paper approaches one of the most important themes in the business and economic areas since the second half of the 20th century: innovation; in particular for developing countries such as Brazil. For these countries, competitiveness is directly linked to the ability to foster and sustain a higher level of firms´ innovativeness. In Brazil, despite the overall economic and innovation conditions such as the presence of relevant innovation agents (i.e. universities, government, research centres and investors) and access to financing mechanisms as well as public policies which facilitated innovation initiatives have apparently been improved, innovation rates does not take off. So, considering this context, the present paper tried to examine what problems were hampering or inhibiting the improvement and increasing of the level of country´s innovativeness from the perspective of micro and small technology-based firms. The findings showed that there are still some problems such as lack of government support, funds and financing mechanisms as well as high costs of innovation and organizational resistances which play an important role pushing firms not to innovate.

The current paper investigates the role of interactions based on geographic proximity for the development of firm’s innovation activities. Many authors such as Porter (1998) argued that the formation of interactive linkages based on geographic proximity seem to facilitate the search for new knowledge, information and technologies able to impact the development of innovation activities inside the organization generating competitive advantages. To perform this research, the authors decided to investigate the interaction behavior of micro and small firms in the information, communication and technology (ICT) sector located inside and outside the technological park in the city of Salvador, State of Bahia, Brazil. The findings showed in general that firms which had innovation activities, also had some kind of interactions with other agents, confirming that innovation is not a solitaire phenomenon. However, the empirical evidences did not confirm that interactions based on geographic proximity were relevant for the development of firms’ innovative activities. The study showed that, nowadays, firms use to interact with others regardless of whether they are geographically close or not. This may happen due to the fact that with the facilitation and the intensive use of new communication technologies have helped firms to reach partners wherever they are located at. Also, the study may suggest that arguments such as the role of geographic proximity and business agglomerations based on spatial proximity may need to be revised

Purpose: This theoretical essay aims to explore sustainable consumption, emphasizing the sharing of representations with business proposals and government policies. Originality/value: Through consumption, gains in quality of life and forms of social insertion are created by social businesses. Studies on social representations can indicate the sharing of views between different social actors, such as companies, governments and consumers. The text continues with a discussion on the theory of social representations and the dynamics of sustainable consumption. Social representations guide the views, actions, and attitudes of individuals, including when it comes to insertion in the dynamics of consumption. Subsequently, business proposals for the base of the pyramid are highlighted, discussing different possible scenarios for their relationships with consumers and government policies. Design/methodology/approach: The theoretical essay is characterized by the development of theory as a conceptual production, in which logic takes the place of data for evaluation and elaboration of propositions. Findings: A greater or lesser sharing of representations allows for the design of different possible scenarios for the relationships between consumers with a moralistic or hedonistic vision, social or traditional business proposals, and governments with policies for sustainable or spurious development. Finally, propositions about the existence of gaps between the representations of the needs of consumers oriented towards sustainable development, value propositions of social businesses, and government instruments in emerging markets are mentioned.