The failure of early-stage technology startups in Brazil: a study about the contributing factors to the early-death of startups between 2009 and 2014 in Southeastern Brazil

This research aimed to find out which are the main factors that lead technology startups to fail. The study focused on companies located in the Southeast region of Brazil that operated between 2009 and 2014. In the beginning, a review of the literature was done to have a better understanding of basic concepts of entrepreneurship as well as modern techniques for developing entrepreneurship. Furthermore, an analysis of the entrepreneurial scenario in Brazil, with a focus on the Southeast, was also done. After this phase, the qualitative study began, in which 24 specialists from startups were interviewed and asked about which factors were crucial in leading a technology startup to fail. After analyzing the results, four main factors were identified and these factors were validated through a quantitative survey. A questionnaire was then formulated based on the answers from the respondents and distributed to founders and executives of startups, which both failed and succeeded. The questionnaire was answered by 56 companies and their answers were treated with the factor analysis statistical method to check the validity of the questionnaire. Finally, the logistical regression method was used to know the extent to which the factors led to the startups’ failure. In the end, the results obtained suggest that the most significant factor that leads technology startups in southeastern Brazil to fail are problems with interpersonal relationship between partners or investors.

Neww challenges in the luxury universe: an exploratory study of the concept of luxury experience in the Brazilian market from the perspective of brands and consumers: a case study of Pati Piva.

Luxury has evolved over the centuries; new challenges have created questions of appropriate strategies for brands. Experience and authenticity became important aspects in the field: consumers are enjoying more material comfort and there is a trend of a cultural shift for personal fulfillment and aspiration through experience. The biggest challenge for today's luxury marketers is to not only talk to the target, but to understand how the target is shifting, while not alienating consumers and damaging the brand´s image. Considering managers and consumers perspectives separately, it would be possible to conclude that their perceptions are congruent, as many studies have presented. However, if perspectives are put together and compared, different realities could emerge. This exploratory research is based on a case study that describes both perspectives of their perception on luxury experience, consumer behavior and consumption motivations, and luxury retailing. It was developed interviews with the brand owner and 10 brand´s consumers, and also indirect observations in the brands distribution formats. In the brand perspective, the case study has shown that luxury experience involves the construction of brand experience strategy based on products, multiple retail channels, consumer engagement, personal activity, exploration of five senses and other forms. In the consumer´s perspective, results revealed that brand consumers interviwed have different luxury experience perceptions and expectations; however, what is common is that service and quality must be maintained and they reflected the overall experience. Additionally, luxury retailing influences directly the consumer´s perception that must integrate multiple channels to fulfill personal demands. The research makes contributions for both actors - brand and consumer, in the sense that translates theoretical concepts of the experience itself and tries to clarify aspects that are still unknown and explored through the exploration of ways to detect the alignment between brand and consumer expectations of the experience.

An exploration of the lean startup approach among brazilian digital startups

Demais startups abortam por lançar produtos que ninguém compra e o uso de metodologiais tradicionais como o planejamento de negócios e o desenvolvimento rigoroso de produto não conseguiram diminuir o número de falhas de startups. É por isso que uma nova metodologia chamada "The Lean Startup" ganhou, por alguns anos, uma popularidade importante entre os empresários que buscam reduzir o risco de fracasso. A metodologia Lean Startup foi desenvolvida por empresários do Vale do Silício para ajudar startups encontrar o “product/market fit” sem gastar uma enorme quantidade de dinheiro. Além disso, o ambiente de startup brasileira foi crescendo nos últimos anos, na sequência dos últimos sucessos brasileiros. No entanto, poucas pesquisas acadêmicas têm sido realizados para explorar o fenômeno da Lean Startup no Brasil. O objetivo deste relatório é identificar quais são os conceitos da metodologia Lean Startup aplicados no Brasil e entender se a metodologia é adaptada em relação às especificidades do país. Os resultados deste estudo foram coletados por meio de entrevistas com empresários que operam no Brasil. A primeira conclusão é que os empresários brasileiros estão familiarizados com a metodologia Lean Startup e alguns deles têm aplicado os princípios fundamentais. Em segundo lugar, muitos empresários entrevistados encontraram dificuldades na aplicação da metodologia, em particular durante o "get out of the building" fase. Por fim, as entrevistas mostraram que a metodologia Lean Startup nem sempre pode ser relevante para o sucesso no Brasil para os empresarios entrevistados, devido ao tamanho do mercado eo alto nível de competição. Verificou-se que "running fat" em vez de "running lean" pode ser uma estratégia eficiente para vencer no mercado brasileiro em alguns casos especificos.

Implications of innovation for inclusive growth: a study of Medellín, Colombia's metro system and integral urban projects

Medellín, Colombia continues to attract global recognition for its evolution from a crimesaturated and desegregated city to an award-winning paragon of innovation. Two innovations in particular, the Metro System & the Integral Urban Projects, have fostered and contributed to Medellín’s inclusive growth, as indicated by a corresponding increase in both social and economic capital. Through a mixed methodology analysis of these two experiences, including participant observation, in-depth interviews with different industry leaders, and household surveys, this thesis explores the extent to which inclusive innovation has contributed to inclusive growth in Medellín. The surveys were distributed to three sensitive neighborhoods of Medellín and apply a Synthesized Framework for measuring inclusive growth, one that includes five indicators for social capital and five indicators for economic capital, emphasizing the importance of progression in both dimensions. By drawing on concepts of inclusivity surfacing more frequently in business lexicon and the emergence of a newly branded Medellín, the findings of this thesis indicates that the implementation of innovations in association with a unified city vision practiced by the local government, corporate and non-profit sector has contributed to achieving inclusive growth, and has left civilians hungry for more.

An evaluation of the Business Model Canvas by technology-oriented startups in Brazil : a qualitative study about the usage of the tool by Brazilian entrepreneurs

The following paper was conducted with the support of several entrepreneurs and startups from Brazil. The aim of the research was to find out which impact the Business Model Canvas, further abbreviated as BMC, has on technology-oriented startups in Brazil. The first step of the study was identify some general concepts of entrepreneurship, as well as the conditions and environment of the country. Afterwards, it was focused on defining and comparing different business model tools and concepts to the BMC. After the literature review and meeting with several professionals in the area of entrepreneurship and startups, a questionnaire was formulated in order to conduct the qualitative study and identify the main impact of the tool. The questionnaire was answered by ten startups. In order to check the validity and credibility of the research outcomes, theory and investigator triangulation was used. As a result, the usage of the BMC could be evaluated by obtaining the outcomes and the theory, which showed that Brazilian tech startups are using Osterwalder’s model for the reason of idea creation and testing, validating and pivoting their business model. Interestingly, the research revealed that the entrepreneurs are using the tool often not in the traditional way of printing it, but rather applying it as a thinking approach. Besides, the entrepreneurs are focusing mostly on developing a strong Value Proposition, Customer Segment and sustainable Revenue Streams, while afterwards the remaining building blocks are built. Moreover, the research showed that the startups are using also other concepts, such as the Customer Development Process or Build-Measure-Learn Feedback Loop. These methodologies are often applied together with the BMC and helps to identify the most sustainable components of the business idea. Keywords: Business

Cabinet composition and assessment of a multiparty presidential system

This doctoral dissertation provides a detailed analysis of the Brazilian cabinet according to the concepts of a multiparty presidential system. Appointing politicians as ministers is one of the most important coalition-building tools and has been widely used by minority presidents. This dissertation will therefore analyze the high-level Brazilian national bureaucracy between 1995 and 2014. It argues that the ministries – or departments – are not equal, and that allied parties therefore take into account the different characteristics of a ministry when demanding positions as a patronage strategy or for use as other kinds of political assets. After reviewing the literature on the theme, followed by a comparative analysis of the Brazilian, Chilean, Mexican, and Guatemalan cabinets, all the Brazilian ministries will be weighed and ranked on a scale that is able to measure their political importance and attractiveness. This rank takes into account variables such as the budgetary power, the ability to spend money according the ministers’ will, the ability to hire new employees, the ministries’ influence over other governmental agents such as companies, agencies, and so on, the ministers’ tenure in office. Finally, a proxy is provided that seeks to identify the normative power a department may hold. All of these characteristics will then be taken into account in considering the representatives’ opinion, thus helping to ascertain whether the cabinet appointment has been coalescent among the several parties that belong to the president’s coalition.

Mala na mão, pé na estrada: à procura de uma pedagogia das singularidades

We make many journeys during our lifetime. In each of them we accumulate experiences that result in an amount of knowledge that constitutes our history. The dissertation presents one of these journeys: that one I took along with students of Pedagogia da Terra project from Universidade do Estado do Rio Grande do Norte UERN to think about the knowledge within their memories in their way from countryside to city seeking for education. I used as main references to this task the ideas of Edgar Morin about Method as Strategy, implication of the subject in knowledge, pertinent knowledge, and knowledge reconnection. And from Paulo Freire I used the concepts of cultural identity assumption and dialog. I built as resource of method the metaphor of the suitcase, called by me the trunk of memory treasures . The use of this cognitive operator makes possible for those students bring their memories to the surface and share them collectively, by the process I name as auto-social- biographical narratives. The explicitness of the memories they choose to reveal by means of these narratives permitted me to understand the metamorphosis of these knowledge since their childhood to nowadays. In order to present an archeology of knowledge within these life histories I chose a narrative writing style concerned with simplicity and lightness, where I use the description of facts and discussions occurred during this journey. My main arguments in systematizing this experience are: scientific production can and should be grounded on knowledge diversity and on a more sensible approach to phenomena; education and pedagogy need to take as starting point and fuel for their practices the singularities of the subjects, their life history, educational background and knowledge resulting from both. Teacher s formation programs which students have mixed, rural and urban, background should value cognitive experiences built in the interaction with that knowledge closer of a sensible logic, deeper grounded in land and nature. Doing so, education can contribute to join diverse knowledge against monocutural forms of thinking and educational practices

Habitus, representações sociais e a construção do ser professora da educação infantil da cidade de Campina Grande - PB

We present here the results of a study whose objectives were to identify the social representation of being a professor of early childhood education in Campina Grande - PB, in the public state and municipal levels, and detect structural diagrams of a possible mental habitus of professorial faculty of education child, which would form the basis for the construction of this representation. As a theoretical base, we adopted the model developed by Domingos Sobrinho (1998, 2000, 2003, 2010, 2011), which articulates the Theory of Social Representations, Serge Moscovici, and the foundations and concepts of Pierre Bourdieu praxiology. It is based also on the Central Nucleus Theory, which focuses on the structural approach of social representations. Thus, puts in evidence the relational dynamics and symbolic, through which individuals come into contact, describe, understand and reproduce the outside world in his image and likeness. 199 teachers participated in the study of child care and pre-schools of Campina Grande - PB and 109 of the state. The methods and techniques used were: a) participant observation of everyday life of teachers of kindergartens and preschools, b) semi-structured interview, c) free associations of words with inducing the expression 'being a professor of early childhood education is ...' and d) semi-structured questionnaire. The data were analyzed in the case of interviews through the categorical content analysis, as proposed by Bauer (2010); free-associations, using the software Ensemble L'Analyse des Programmes Permettant evocations (EVOC), developed by Vergès (2002), which combines frequency and average order of recall (or association) and the questionnaire data, the Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (SPSS). It was verified the existence of a unique social representation shared by the population studied, but its content is structured differently. For local teachers, the centrality of the content is given by the elements commitment, dedication, responsibility, and rewarding teachers for this state revolves around the elements of love, patience, and rewarding responsibility. However, it is constructed mainly based on the related produced by a religious habitus and maternal habitus, which are part of the genesis of the establishment of professorial habitus in focus, among other cultural references of secondary influence. We conclude that a teacher of early childhood education actually researched, is materialized in the practices of educating and caring, in a clear fusion of the role of teacher and mother

Educação escolar para crianças: o que dizem sujeitos deste direito?

The text aims to discuss the problems that this would be set: - What are the concepts of public school children about their right to primary education, as required step in the Basic Education? - What are conducted by children on the elementary school, in terms of its structure, teaching, and acquisitions provide for their users, especially when it comes to literacy? In order to answer these questions, we conducted within the qualitative a case study within twenty children of the early years of elementary public school, ten of the School Mauricio de Sousa and ten children of the School Monteiro Lobato. with construction procedures of data, we worked with observation, semi-directive interview, questionnaire and document analysis. In analyzing the data, two categories emerged: right to education and school for children. The first focuses on what children think about the legal guarantee to school, seeking to understand if they understand the educational area as a right and relate what the law says and the reality in which they participate. The category for school children, including their purposes, characteristics, space literacy and its relationship with the teacher. In this sense, we comment, taking as its founding, the speech of children in their schools, focusing on how they perceive the school in terms of its structure and functioning, relations with the knowledge and the other children. With regard to child rights, the appreciation of Brazilian children should be the basis of the struggle for a more just, democratic, nondiscriminatory. However, children show not recognize education as a right, but as one who deserves the credit, that is, those children who are always attentive, do not fight and do not complain. In interviews, children express a simple wish child that the school had toys. A school for children should be a place with its own characteristics: cheerful, lively, colorful, which included the same time, security and challenges. Children point to the hope that the course of action the teacher was guided by respect their differences in a more emotional, especially with regard to issues of authority and discipline of the group. The most important learning is for all subjects learning to read / write, differing in the idea of how to learn. Unfortunately, for some students, learning reading and writing appears as a difficult and enjoyable process is not perceived by some subjects up to recognize the instrumental writing. Finally, we point to the actors of the school to launch a more accurate to say that the children and how to outline your main locus of learning

Erosion factors and magnetic susceptibility in differet compartments of a slope in Gilbués-PI, Brazil

A erosão é a forma de degradação do solo com efeitos na produtividade das culturas e na poluição do meio ambiente. Para compreender a variabilidade espacial desse fenômeno, técnicas geoestatísticas e conceitos da relação solo-paisagem podem ser utilizados para identificar compartimentos da paisagem com diferentes potenciais de erosão. O objetivo deste trabalho foi estabelecer elementos para a compreensão dos fatores de erosão em compartimentos da paisagem e das relações com a suscetibilidade magnética (SM) dos solos de uma vertente no município de Gilbués -PI. Foram montadas malhas de amostragem nos compartimentos I e II, com 121 pontos, e compartimento III, com 99 pontos, espaçados a cada 10 m. Houve diferença significativa para erodibilidade (K) e risco de erosão (RE); a variabilidade espacial da SM foi menor do que a dos fatores de erosão do solo. As perdas de solo (A), potencial natural de erosão (PNE), RE e SM tiveram relação espacial com o fator topográfico, indicando dependência da erosão ao relevo. Concluiu-se que as perdas de solo, o potencial natural de erosão e o risco de erosão apresentaram relação espacial com o fator topográfico, comprovando a dependência dos fatores de erosão ao relevo. A suscetibilidade magnética do solo pode ser utilizada como variável auxiliar na quantificação indireta do fator erodibilidade e do risco de erosão do solo.

Soil sampling intensity and spatial distribution pattern of soils attributes and corn yield in no-tillage system

Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de São Paulo (FAPESP)

An Anisotropic Model of Damage and Unilateral Effect for Brittle Materials

This work deals with the initial applications and formulation of an aniscitropic plastic-damage constitutive model proposed for non-linear analysis of reinforced concrete structures submitted to a loading with change of the sign. The original constitutive model is based on the fundamental hypothesis of energy equivalence between real and continuous medium following the concepts of the Continuum Damage Mechanics. The concrete is assumed as an initial elastic isotropic medium presenting anisotropy, permanent strains and bimodularity (distinct elastic responses whether traction or compression stress states prevail) induced by damage evolution. In order to take into account the bimodularity, two damage tensors governing the rigidity in tension or compression regimes are introduced. Then, some conditions are introduced in the original version of the model in order to simulate the damage unilateral effect. The three-dimensional version of the proposed model is analyzed in order to validate its formulation when compared to micromechanical theory. The one-dimensional version of the model is applied in the analyses of a reinforced concrete beam submitted to a loading with change of the sign. Despite the parametric identification problems, the initial applications show the good performance of the model.

Stochastic stability for Markovian jump linear systems associated with a finite number of jump times

This paper deals with a stochastic stability concept for discrete-time Markovian jump linear systems. The random jump parameter is associated to changes between the system operation modes due to failures or repairs, which can be well described by an underlying finite-state Markov chain. In the model studied, a fixed number of failures or repairs is allowed, after which, the system is brought to a halt for maintenance or for replacement. The usual concepts of stochastic stability are related to pure infinite horizon problems, and are not appropriate in this scenario. A new stability concept is introduced, named stochastic tau-stability that is tailored to the present setting. Necessary and sufficient conditions to ensure the stochastic tau-stability are provided, and the almost sure stability concept associated with this class of processes is also addressed. The paper also develops equivalences among second order concepts that parallels the results for infinite horizon problems. (C) 2003 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Dynamic Morse decompositions for semigroups of homeomorphisms and control systems

In this paper, we introduce the concept of dynamic Morse decomposition for an action of a semigroup of homeomorphisms. Conley has shown in [5, Sec. 7] that the concepts of Morse decomposition and dynamic Morse decompositions are equivalent for flows in metric spaces. Here, we show that a Morse decomposition for an action of a semigroup of homeomorphisms of a compact topological space is a dynamic Morse decomposition. We also define Morse decompositions and dynamic Morse decompositions for control systems on manifolds. Under certain condition, we show that the concept of dynamic Morse decomposition for control system is equivalent to the concept of Morse decomposition.

Stability of neutral functional differential equations in terms of measures

In this paper we investigate the relationships between different concepts of stability in measure for the solutions of an autonomous or periodic neutral functional differential equation.