Análise da governança plural em franquias agroindustriais : casos de carnes e hortaliças no Centro-Oeste e Sul do Brasil
Abstract
The Transaction Costs Economics is an important analytical tool in the study of microeconomic
organization of firms, especially concerning governance structures adopted by them. Although
it is a widespread theory, as the New Institutional Economics as a whole, its empirical
application is still incipient in the context of organizational plurality, given that it aims
deterministic solutions where transactional attributes align to an optimum governance, which
minimizes transaction costs. However, companies often combine alternative forms of
governance for the same type of transaction in a given institutional environment, which suggests
that the understanding of governance is richer than the choice of alternatives modes of
coordination. Therefore, it is extremely desirable the incorporation of plural forms phenomenon
to Transaction Costs Economics, so in this research it is proposed, through two case studies, to
identify the factors that influence the adoption of plural forms of governance on small size
regional franchises from agrifood sector, on structuration and those are suppliers/producers of
premiums goods. The choice of franchises as study object due to the fact that these are empirical
cases of organizational plurality by excellence, because is usual the concomitant operation of
owned and franchisees stores, besides the abundant data about the sector. Moreover, the focus
in the agrifood segment is justified by its importance to the Brazilian economy, and mainly by
the intrinsic peculiarities of its products – such as perishability and seasonality –, inducing
agents to adopt solutions that are faster and more efficient in the management of their
businesses. Size, niche market, time and operating range are regularities observed in both cases,
similarities that allow comparing them to obtain higher-level theoretical findings, which
abstract from the specificities of units analysis. Not only it was listed the reasons why such
franchises adopt the organizational plurality, but also this study contributed to the incorporation
of plural forms in the analytical scope of traditional Transaction Costs Economics. This research
contributed to it in three ways: a) it was evident that the particularities of agrifood chains and
products play an important role in the use of organizational plurality in the cases examined; b)
the concepts of complexity, strategic behavior and ambiguity proved to be empirically valid
and robust at the explanation of the phenomenon of plural forms, and the attributes of
transactions contributed to this due to the various interfaces found between them and the other
studied constructs; and c) the traditional factors that usually define the optimal hierarchical
level in a franchise network, also help to justify why to adopt the organizational plurality in the
examined companies, mainly to lead to an increased market power and better strategic
positioning of the franchisor front of their franchisees.