Indigenous brazilian management practices

Abstract

Purpose: The present research seeks to understand to what extent companies in emerging countries, specifically, Brazilian, adopt dominant management practices, the so-called Euro-American practices, possess their one, or show a syncretism between the two. Methods: Mixed research. One phase was to collect data using a survey about cultural dimensions adopted from GLOBE (House 1998) management practices and also from Brazilian academy. Another was to collect data through interviews, which were analyzed in parallel. Results: Of the seven dominant cultural dimensions, indigenous practices influenced two. Another three were influenced by dominant management practices. Two of the local dimensions, even with internationalization, merged practices with Brazilian cultural traits. Even so, the practices derived from Jeitinho diminished relative to the international relations and experience of managers. Conclusions: The paper shows the existence of powerful Brazilian Indigenous Managerial Practices such as personalism and formalism. These practices have great influence on international business negotiations. On the other hand, it also shows that there are still dominant managerial practices specially in the case of more internationalized Brazilian managers. © Universidad Alberto Hurtado, Facultad de Economía y Negocios.