A inovação a partir do processo de subcontratação nas indústrias do setor metalmecânico no Município de Santa Rosa/RS

Abstract

In development studies, innovation has been gaining importance, especially since the end of the 20th century, not only because of comparative advantages but also because of the incentive to generate new products, processes, organizational practices and management that tend to occur in the process of interaction between companies and other public and private institutions involved. Studying how these innovation processes occur and their possible influences on development dynamics is a challenge for applied social,and,social,sciences. This dissertation is dedicated to the study of a concrete experience occurred in the city of Santa Rosa, Rio Grande do Sul (RS), from the implementation of a process of subcontracting, occurred in the scope of industries of the metal-mechanical sector, under the leadership of Your Agriculture Compamy (AGCO) and Deere & Company (John Deere). The objective is to understand the innovations of processes, products and practices of organization and management that occur in companies of the metalworking sector of Santa Rosa, from the adhesion to the subcontracting process proposed by AGCO and John Deere. The basic questions that guide the investigation go in the direction of identify if there were processes of innovation in the companies from the adhesion to the proposal of subcontracting; what are the main innovations in terms of processes, products, organizational and management practices; and whether the innovations occur due to the transfer of technology (applied knowledge) by the contracting companies or are derived from the learning generated by the process itself, in the interaction between contractors and contractors. In the search for an answer to the questions pointed out and in the perspective of meeting the objectives set, the use of the dialectical method to govern research is used. From the dialectic approach the literature review is carried out to constitute the necessary inputs for the analysis of the information obtained through Innovation Research (PINTEC) and semi-structured interviews, using the instruments of content analysis. As a result, subcontracting is important because it is possible to absorb the benchmarking of leading companies seeking new innovative processes in subcontractors, and that development is not driven by the industries themselves but is a process of social interactions, which stimulated the emergence of the productive arrangement of machinery and agricultural implements located in the city of Santa Rosa.