Lean start-up, entrepreneurship and remote orientation: The experience of action research in Manaus, Brazil

Purpose – Creating a new product or service promotes the status quo changes, seeking economic value andsolving customer’s urgent problems. Entrepreneurs play an important role in this changing process throughstart-ups and small and medium enterprises (SMEs), considered one of the leading forces driving an economy’sinnovative and competitive power. However, despite the importance of entrepreneurs, public policies to fosterentrepreneurship ecosystems could be ineffective in emerging countries. Therefore, action research proposesthe qualification of entrepreneurs for the structuring of new businesses through remote orientation, connectingthe country’s main economic centers to emerging areas.Design/methodology/approach – The study is qualitative research comprising two phases. The first phaseconsisted of four-month action research, connecting two researchers and three groups of specialists (from SaoPaulo), with three groups of entrepreneurs (located in Manaus in the Amazon region), through a remoteorientation in entrepreneurship, lean start-up, lean product and process development (LPPD). The secondphase, conducted by a third researcher, regards a case study grounded on interviews and data collection withthe entrepreneurs to capture the outcomes of the remote orientation process.Findings – The remote orientation helped shorten the geographical distance of Amazonas to approach theintegration of business, research and knowledge exchange of such distinct areas in the same country. If aremote orientation program was established as public policy, it could enact subsequent cycles of the lean startup model. Furthermore, the remote orientation could be an alternative to compose the training subsystem in theentrepreneurship ecosystem proposed by Isenberg (2011). On the other hand, a remote orientation could fail toshorten the distance of human values and beliefs, which cannot be neglected when facing a rich territory likethe Amazon.Research limitations/implications – Because of the chosen research approach, a qualitative andexploratory study based on a combination of action research, interviews and case studies, the results may lackgeneralizability. However, further studies can replicate the remote orientation process conducted in the regionof Manaus – Amazon, to obtain distinct results regarding the advantages, disadvantages and effectiveness ofremote orientation as entrepreneurship ecosystem’s human capital dimension development.Practical implications – The outcomes of this research have the potential to start discussions regarding theadoption of remote orientation as a public policy to develop entrepreneurship skills in emerging regions, notonly in Brazil but worldwide. The Brazilian case could be a relevant benchmark due to the large territory andeconomic and social disparities impacting education and entrepreneurship.Social implications – Through start-ups and SMEs, entrepreneurship has innovation potential and is themost solid way to bring economic development. For emerging countries, it can be real game-changer in the economic order. The development of entrepreneurship skills through this remote orientation experience canhelp reduce the economic and social gaps in countries with relevant disparities like Brazil and other emergingcountries.Originality/value – This paper fulfills an identified need to “move the needle of entrepreneurship in the rightdirection” (Isenberg, 2010) by creating local solutions for global challenges. Policymakers and leaders need tocontinue the experiment and learn how to improve the entrepreneurship ecosystem. In this sense, the actionresearch approach, combined with the remote orientation, proposes an alternative to promote changes in howhuman capital dimension can be developed in this challenging ecosystem

Project management: perceptions of public and private agents and the rewards and sanctions in ethical decision making in PPP\'s

O corpo de conhecimento em Gestão de Projetos tem evoluído nos últimos anos, sendo o êxito de um projeto não mais avaliado somente pelos aspectos de custo, prazo e qualidade. Outros aspectos como a ética na condução dos mesmos ganham força, especialmente em um contexto em que se tornam mais complexos. Nesse contexto, a presente dissertação tem como objetivo explorar as diferentes percepções dos agentes públicos e privados na Tomada de Decisão Ética (TDE) e as influências das Recompensas e Sanções (R&S), face a um dilema ético no gerenciamento de PPP\'s - Parcerias Público-Privado. A metodologia é baseada nas etapas de construção de uma situação problema (vignettes ou case scenarios) refletindo um dilema ético em projetos que envolvem os agentes públicos e os privados. Captura-se as decisões de tais agentes por meio da utilização da escala multidimensional de Reidenbach e Robin (1990) ampliada com recompensas e sanções. Utiliza-se da análise fatorial para identificar os diferentes aspectos que direcionam as decisões desses dois tipos de agentes. Os principais resultados indicam que os profissionais da área pública e privada possuem motivadores distintos na tomada de decisão em face de um dilema ético e respondem às sanções e recompensas de forma peculiar. Esses resultados sugerem a necessidade de novos estudos multidisciplinares envolvendo a Administração Pública e o Direito para se ampliar os conhecimentos sobre Gerenciamento de Projetos. Sugerem também a busca de maior clareza e disseminação das recompensas e sanções entre os agentes envolvidos dado serem elas fortes influenciadores do comportamento ético na tomada de decisões.The body of knowledge in Project Management has evolved in recent years and the success of a project is no longer evaluated solely based on the aspects of cost, time and quality. Other aspects such as ethics gain strength, especially in a context where projects become more complex. In this context, this dissertation aims to explore the different perceptions of public and private agents in Ethical Decision Making (EDM) and the influences of Rewards and Sanctions (R&S), facing an ethical dilemma in the management of PPP\'s - Public-Private Partnerships. The methodology is based on the stages of construction of a problem situation (case scenario or vignette) reflecting an ethical dilemma in projects involving public and private agents. The decision of such agents are captured using the Reidenbach and Robin\'s multidimensional scale (R&R) expanded with Rewards and Sanctions (R&S). Factorial Analysis is used to identify the different aspects that drive the decisions of these two types of agents. The mains results suggest that public and private professionals have distinct motivators in decision-making process regarding an ethical dilemma and respond to sanctions and rewards in a peculiar way. These results suggest the need for new multidisciplinary studies involving Public Administration and Law to broaden Project Management knowledge. They also suggest the search for greater clarity and dissemination of rewards and sanctions among the actors involved, as they are strong influencers of ethical behavior in decision making