Influência da governança sobre a upgrading sustentável: estudo de caso múltiplo na cadeia do sisal e proposição de framework integrativo

Abstract

In the field of global value chains, governance is key to generating value and upgrading by producers, firms and networks in developing countries. Its analysis allows us to understand the complexity of the structuring dynamics of inter-firm relationships and the corporate strategies that contribute to establishing value and competitive advantage at all levels. In this context, the present research sought to understand governance in relationships between producers and companies in agro-industrial arrangements in developing countries as well as its influence on the value and economic, social and environmental upgrading of producers, exploring the characteristics existing in these relationships through a study carried out in two stages. First, proach, a systematic review of the literature in the area of Management and Business was carried out that correlates governance and upgrading in several researches developed in the last twenty-one years. Using the Content Analysis (CA) technique, seven categories were identified (learning, trust, collaboration, interventions, power, sustainability and value), which allowed the constitution of a conceptual-analytical framework that articulates the categories and outlines the dynamics of governance and upgrading in agroindustrial chains in developing countries, that is, how each relationship collaborates so that this governance enables actors to appropriate relational gains and advance to positions of greater added value in a chain. The second stage presented the understanding of how governance influences value and upgrading in the context of relationships between producers and processing companies in the Brazilian sisal chain, identifying the main opportunities and barriers to sustainable upgrading in this context, whose discussions and analyzes are incipient and there is still much to be explored. Brazil is the world's largest producer of sisal, a natural fiber with potential and sustainable relevance and productive concentration in the state of Bahia, which was the focus for an empirical study carried out through the Integrated Multiple Case Study (IMC) on data extracted from interviews and technical documents sequentially categorized by CA. Thus, it was possible to create an integrative framework of governance, relational value and sustainable upgrading within the sisal chain, based on the categories and dimensions pre-established in the Systematic Literature Review as well as the theoretical perspective Relational Vision, which assumes that the value produced and captured between the parties is a higher value that transcends individual boundaries. The ECMI revealed that the categories and the framework developed provide a theoretical-conceptual and analytical contribution on the influence of governance on value and sustainable upgrading in relationships, by demonstrating the different motivators, facilitators, barriers and results arising from the relational practices and governance mechanisms adopted. The findings corroborated the theoretical premise of both the Relational View and Governance in Global Chains, that relationships based on collaborative practices contribute to creating superior value and sustainable improvement of suppliers, the company and the chain. Additionally, the main managerial contributions concern the fact that, in a market structure context, it is possible to capture value even if the relationship is not collaborative, as long as there are formal safeguards between the parties. Finally, the results suggest that the various actors present in the chain should assertively explore their relationships inside and outside the dyad through cogovernance, in order to propose effective strategies and policies, with sustainable direction, still crucially needed to provide improvements in the sisal chain.