Integration in New Product Development: Case Study in a Large Brazilian

Proficiency in management activities undertaken in product development processes is regarded as a key competitive advantage for companies, particularly for high-tech industrial firms, which benefit from the important competitiveness factor of launching products with a differentiated technological content. This paper’s objective was to identify, through case study, practices for integration between the roles of R & D with others involved in product development in a large Brazilian company of industrial automation. The results suggest some management practices to improve the integration in new products development, such as the use of employees from marketing with knowledge and experience previously gained from R & D activities and uses the heavyweight product manager to solve synchronization problems between product and technology development

Researcher management and cooperation: challenges in Brazilian research organizations from the perspective of microfoundations

In this work, we explore the dynamics of microfoundations dimensions (individuals, processes and structures) of research organizations (ROs) in order to diagnose the challenges faced by researcher management in Brazilian ROs and improve cooperative actions. To this end, analytical variables were defined from the theoretical fields of management (people and microfoundations) and research-industry cooperation, and applied in three exploratory-descriptive case studies. The results show that the effectiveness of research-industry cooperation depends on paradigm shift and long-term actions, such as the implementation of a collaborative organizational culture and the prioritization of innovative governance. Furthermore, the development of these capacities is hampered by the low maturity of career development processes, structural and financial-budgetary constraints. This research contributes to theoretical development, establishing constructs from the ROs specificities and proposing initial relationships among the analytical variables structured. For practice, we highlight the organizational diagnosis and actions for a better cooperative performance of ROs

Inovação Tecnológica em Projetos de Novos Produtos: Um Estudo Exploratório sobre Relações Gerenciais de Integração entre Unidades de uma Multinacional

Although the topic of integration in product development is widely debated in the literature, there are few studies that address the participation by subsidiaries of multinational and R & D centers around the world in development projects of new products. Focusing on the perception of the Brazilian unit, this paper aims to present and analyze integration practices among subsidiaries, headquarters and R&D centers in product development projects in a multinational high tech company. For this purpose, was conducted an exploratory and qualitative researched operationalized by case study. Among the main results, it was noted collaboration between locals marketing and engineering with the R & D centers, important role of senior management in the Brazilian unit to communicate outcomes of the strategic planning of products and technologies established by the headquarters to the subsidiary, the adoption of technological and information mechanisms and the application of methods such as technology roadmap.Apesar do tema integração no desenvolvimento de produtos ser amplamente debatido pela literatura, são poucos os estudos que abordam nas empresas multinacionais a participação de filiais junto a centros de P&D espalhados mundo em projetos de desenvolvimento de novos produtos. Tendo como foco a percepção da unidade brasileira, este artigo visa apresentar e analisar as práticas de integração entre filial, matriz e centros de P&D em projetos de desenvolvimento de produtos em uma empresa multinacional de base tecnológica. Para isso, além de revisão teórica, foi realizada uma pesquisa exploratória, qualitativa, operacionalizada por meio de estudo de caso. Dentre os principais resultados, notou-se que ocorre a colaboração entre o marketing e engenharia local com os centros de P&D, relevante papel da alta administração da unidade brasileira em comunicar resultados do planejamento estratégico de produtos e tecnologias estabelecidos pela matriz à filial, a adoção de mecanismos virtuais de interação e a aplicação de métodos como o technology roadmap.DOI:10.5585/gep.v3i1.5

Energy-Based Acoustic Localization by Improved Elephant Herding Optimization

UIDB/EEA/50008/2020The present work proposes a new approach to address the energy-based acoustic localization problem. The proposed approach represents an improved version of evolutionary optimization based on Elephant Herding Optimization (EHO), where two major contributions are introduced. Firstly, instead of random initialization of elephant population, we exploit particularities of the problem at hand to develop an intelligent initialization scheme. More precisely, distance estimates obtained at each reference point are used to determine the regions in which a source is most likely to be located. Secondly, rather than letting elephants to simply wander around in their search for an update of the source location, we base their motion on a local search scheme which is found on a discrete gradient method. Such a methodology significantly accelerates the convergence of the proposed algorithm, and comes at a very low computational cost, since discretization allows us to avoid the actual gradient computations. Our simulation results show that, in terms of localization accuracy, the proposed approach significantly outperforms the standard EHO one for low noise settings and matches the performance of an existing enhanced version of EHO (EEHO). Nonetheless, the proposed scheme achieves this accuracy with significantly less number of function evaluations, which translates to greatly accelerated convergence in comparison with EHO and EEHO. Finally, it is also worth mentioning that the proposed methodology can be extended to any population-based metaheuristic method (it is not only restricted to EHO), which tackles the localization problem indirectly through distance measurements.publishersversionpublishe

Innovation in Industrial Clusters: a Survey of Footwear Companies in Brazil

The aim of this study is to characterize the relationships in innovation and business clustering processes in the productive chain of small and medium enterprises (SME) of Brazil. The object of study are SMEs the local procuctive cluster of the shoes in Franca, State of São Paulo. The conceptual model developed is based on the following constructs: vertical integration, innovation and characteristics of the cluster, and it is focused on identifying the agents that act predominantly in product innovation processes in the cluster. A survey was conducted. It was found that there is cooperation between the companies in the productive arrangement studied, and that shoe manufacturers are those who, predominantly, stimulate innovation within the cluster

Using PDCA as a General Framework for Teaching and Evaluating the Learning of Software Engineering Disciplines

Software engineering disciplines need to be taught in contexts as diverse as undergraduate courses and large corporations training programs. A primary challenge in teaching such disciplines, in any context, is to quickly and effectively evaluate the students learning and measure their strengths and weaknesses. Another challenge is to make students of different instances of a discipline end up with the same basic foundations, making the knowledge independent of the instructor. To overcome these challenges we propose an approach for software engineering teaching based on adapted PDCA cycles and checklists as instruments of evaluation. We also report a case study which shows the implementation of this approach in teaching a first year undergraduate software engineering course. With a careful definition of checklists, the use of the adapted version of PDCA as a methodology for software engineering teaching is promising, allowing an efficient form of evaluation

O empreendedorismo na ótica da economia e da administração

RESUMOEste artigo propõe o resgate da bibliografia a respeito do ato de empreender sob aspecto histórico e econômico, as organizações, as ações no Brasil e em ambiente internacional. Conecta as teorias de empreendedorismo e a aprendizagem organizacional ao ambiente estratégico das demais áreas de negócios. Colabora para análise de investimentos e ampliação de mercados emergentes, de modo a evidenciar o quanto essa área de estudo está aberta a pesquisas setoriais.Palavras chaves: empreendedorismo, empreendedorismo internacional, aprendizagem organizacional ABSTRACT This Article proposes to rescue the bibliography concerning the act of taking in the historical aspect and economic organizations, the actions in Brazil and in international environment. Connects the theories of entrepreneurship and organizational learning environment of all other business areas. Collaborates with investment analysis and expansion of emerging markets in order to show how this area of ​​study is open to industry research.Keywords: entrepreneurship, international entrepreneurship, organizational learnin

Capacidade de uso de solo das propriedades rurais na microbacia do córrego Guará no Município de Marechal Cândido Rondon/PR

Soil is a finite resource, limited and non-renewable. The type of soil management is crucial to the sustainability of hydrological and productive potential of a watershed. This study aimed to diagnose the current state of the watershed of the Guará River, performing characterizations of the physical and environmental management tools such as use territorial environmental and land. The investigative unit was the soil in order to find the main agents of degradation, and finally recommend the best ways to watershed management, minimizing soil degradation.The land use is the most relevant for agriculture (65.9%) cultivated with soybeans, corn and wheat. The area used for pasture was (11.8%) used for dairy cattle feeding. The watershed has slopes 0-13 degrees, it reducing the risk of erosion. In the analyzed properties, the main obstacles were risk of erosion, stoniness, and flood risk. The watershed has a great capacity for agriculture, and areas not suitable for agriculture, appear suitable for grazing and forestry.O solo é um recurso finito, limitado e não renovável. O tipo de manejo do solo é determinante para a sustentabilidade do potencial hidrológico e produtivo de uma bacia hidrográfica. Este trabalho visou diagnosticar a situação atual da microbacia do córrego Guará, realizando caracterizações do meio físicoe ambiental, como ferramentas de gestão ambiental territorial e do uso do solo. Tendo como unidade investigativa o solo, a fim de encontrar os principais agentes de degradação, e por fim recomendar as melhores formas de manejo para a microbacia, minimizando a degradação do solo. O uso de solo de maior relevância é o destinado à agricultura (65,9%) cultivada com soja, milho e trigo. A área destinada à pastagem (11,8%) utilizada para alimentação do gado leiteiro. A microbacia apresenta declividade de 0 a 13 graus, com isso diminui os riscos de erosão hídrica. Nas propriedades analisadas, os principais empecilhos encontrados foram risco de erosão, pedregosidade e risco de inundação. A microbacia apresenta grande capacidade para agricultura, e nas áreas não aptas para agricultura, mostram-se aptas para pastagem e silvicultura

Estimativa do consumo de forragem em vacas mestiças lactantes usando óxido crômico e n-alcanos como marcadores externos

The n-alkanes have been used to estimate forage dry matter intake, digestibility and the diet composition in grazing animals. The objective this study was to compare chromium oxide and n-alkanes techniques used to estimate forage intake. Twenty lactating dual-purpose cows receiving two sources of fat (treatments: conjugated linoleic acid (CLA) or Megalac (control)) plus 4 kg of concentrate were dosed with n-alkanes and chromium oxide to estimate the intake of stargrass (Cynodon nlemfüensis Vanderyst var. nlemfüensis). The in vitro dry matter (DM) digestibility of the stargrass and concentrate were used to estimate the nutritive value of the digesta. The n-alkanes between C23 and C36 were quantified in the digesta and feces. The regression between metabolizable energy requirement (MEr, Mcal d-1) and supply derived from forage DM intake estimated using chromium oxide was ME IntakeCr = 19.1 + 0.62 MEr (R² = 0.27) and the same relationship estimated using C35:C36 n-alkane ratio was ME IntakeC35:C36 = 9.3 + 0.77 MEr (R² = 0.52). There was a treatment effect on fecal concentration of chromium oxide with daily and period variations. For the n-alkane technique, treatment and period effects and a linear effect of day of collection on the fecal concentrations of C35 were found. For C36 fecal concentrations, there was a treatment effect and a quadratic effect of collection day. There was no treatment effect on the fecal concentration of the C35:C36 ratio, but a period effect and a linear effect of day of collection were found. Estimates of daily intake using the two markers were different, but those obtained using the C35:C36 pair of n-alkanes were more precise than those obtained using chromium oxide and in vitro digestibility. Management of experimental animals could have influenced the concentration of markers in the feces, determining variations and inconsistencies that partially explain the inaccuracy of the estimates.Os n-alcanos têm sido utilizados para estimar o consumo de matéria seca, a digestibilidade e a composição da dieta de animais em pastejo. O objetivo desse estudo foi comparar as técnicas de óxido crômico e n-alcanos usadas para estimar o consumo de forragem. Vinte vacas lactantes cruzas Holandês × Gir recebendo duas fontes de gordura (tratamentos: CLA (ácido linoleico conjugado) ou Megalac (controle)) mais 4 kg de concentrado foram dosadas com n-alcanos e óxido crômico para estimar o consumo de estrela-africana (Cynodon nlemfüensis Vanderyst var. nlemfüensis). A digestibilidade in vitro da matéria seca da estrela africana e do concentrado foi usada para estimar o valor nutritivo da dieta. Foram quantificados n-alcanos entre C23 e C36 na dieta e fezes. A regressão entre exigência e o consumo de energia metabolizável (EMr, Mcal d-1) derivada da matéria seca da forragem calculada usando óxido de cromo foi ConsumoCr = 19,1 + 0,62 EMr (R² = 0,27) e a mesma relação estimada usando a relação C35:C36 de n-alcanos foi ConsumoC35:C36 = 9,3 + 0,77 EMr (R² = 0,52). Houve efeito de tratamento na concentração fecal de óxido de cromo com variação diária e entre turnos. Para técnica de n-alcanos, houve efeito de tratamento e período e efeito linear de dia de coleta nas concentrações fecais do C35. Para as concentrações fecais do C36, houve efeito de tratamento e um efeito quadrático de dia de coleta. Não houve efeito de tratamento na concentração fecal da relação C35:C36, mas houve efeito de turno e efeito linear de dia de coleta. As estimativas do consumo de forragem obtidas com os dois marcadores foram diferentes, mas aquela obtida com o par de alcanos C35:C36 foi mais precisa que aquela obtida com o óxido crômico e a digestibilidade in vitro. O manejo dos animais experimentais pode ter influenciado a concentração dos marcadores nas fezes, determinando variações e inconsistências que explicam parcialmente a falta de acurácia das estimativas

Decision making in the product portfolio: Methods adopted by Brazil's innovative companies

Product portfolio management is one of the leading contemporary trends in innovation strategy and R and D management. This paper aims to present and analyze methods that companies from the electronics and computer sectors adopt for decision making in their portfolios. A survey that collected information from 71 companies operating in Brazil was carried out, and it was noted that despite the financial methods, market research, and mapping being employed by some firms to base decision making on their product portfolios, most of them rely upon the informal decisions of senior management. In this way, the results of this survey indicate that, in addition to the formal methods, aspects of the influence and bargaining power of leaders must also be considered when analyzing and proposing management practices related to product portfolios