Estratégias competitivas em uma empresa atacadista/distribuidora do sertão de Pernambuco : o caso da empresa COMPARE do município de Floresta

Abstract

The Hinterland of Pernambuco (PE) is a region characterized by presenting a series of adversities, such as weather, social and economic problems. In this context, local businesses play an important role, assisting in the development of the regions where they are installed, as public policy, today, are not yet sufficient to remedy all these problems. Among the main benefits of these companies highlight: employment and income generation, increased revenues of municipalities and social responsibility actions. However, on the one hand, companies are so necessary for the development of regions, such as the backlands of PE, on the other hand, these regions offer several difficulties with regard to the maintenance of these companies, such as: methodical and theoretical knowledge that are insufficient on business management on the part of managers and lack of skilled labor. Despite these obstacles, there are companies that have grown increasingly expanding, not only for other regions of Pernambuco, as for other Northeastern states, occupying today, prominent position. From this background, this document studied the competitive strategies, the influence of external factors and internal organization as well as the approach used in developing strategies of these companies, seeking to demonstrate how some businesses in the Hinterland of PE have been able to developing within the State and other regions of the Northeast. The study was based on elements of the Strategic Management and Behavior Theory. The qualitative data analysis revealed that the main competitive strategies used by the undertaking are: focus on quality of services, vertical integration, horizontal strategy, strategic alliances (creation of partnerships), creating a brand of the company of its own, geographic expansion and related diversification that generate competitive advantages essential to business success. Furthermore, it was found that on the approach used by the company, the choice of these strategies, it is considered that the management was based on factors external to it, since it does not perform pre-planning to set goals and future actions, based on their internal resources, but rather acts on the basis of appearance and / or identification of market opportunities. It is worth noting that the company has only managed to run, effectively, the chosen strategies, because of high level of commitment, knowledge about the company, confidence and esteem by all their managers and also the vast majority of employees who operate at the operational level.