A company in a competitive environment that wishes to be a benchmark in the business world needs a management model that enables the development of systemic thinking on the part of its executives. In addition to systemic thinking, it is also necessary that executives (i) are aware that the decision-making processes should be shared, (ii) have bounded rationality, and (iii) exert political influence according to their preferences. In this context, the aim of this paper is to describe a conceptual scientific model for strategic decision-making from rules originating from Complex Adaptive Systems and the following mathematical techniques: Analytic Network Process and Linear Programming. This applied and quantitative study is a theoretical essay developed from an integrative review of the aforementioned concepts and techniques, resulting in the proposition of a scientific and conceptual mathematical model that can be applied to a wide variety of business environments. The results obtained from a hypothetical example (Strategic Operation Management Decision) show that the model is able to rank a set of strategic decisions in the environment of most companies and generate information to minimize the negative effects of shared decisions.

OBJECTIVE:To assess the quality of services offered by health service providers, according to the perception of consumers. METHODS:A cross-sectional study with 360 consumers from seven health service providers in the metropolitan area of Curitiba, Southern Brazil, in 2008, was performed. An individual questionnaire measuring the consumers' preferences in relation to six attributes (location of service points; effectiveness of doctors, clinics and hospitals; promptness and kindness when caring for patients and family members; ease of access to the authorization forms for consultations; price; diversity of available doctors, clinics and hospitals) for each one of the analyzed health service providers was carried out. The Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP), a multiple criteria tool for decision analysis and planning, was used to analyze the responses. RESULTS:The attribute most valued by the consumers was "price". The companies were grouped into two sets, regarding the mentioned attributes: two had lower preference (between 19% and 23% ) and fi ve, higher preference (around 10% each). CONCLUSIONS:With this type of research, health service providers could reshape their structures, processes, prices and accredited networks, in order to improve their market strategy.

One of the most important features to be considered by health service providers when developing and promoting their products (or services) is the consumers' perception of their products' (services') attributes. The purpose of this study is to define the hierarchy for the attributes of services developed by major health plan operators in the city of Curitiba (PR) as perceived their consumers. The classical analytical hierarchy process (AHP) technique, a multicriteria tool for decision analysis and planning, was used to analyze seven companies and six attributes of each of them. The results show that the most meaningful attribute for health service consumers is the "price" and that companies can be separated into the following groups: HP1 and HP2 (Health Plans 1 and 2, with approximately 23% and 19% of consumers preferring each one) and HP3, HP4, HP5, HP6 and HP7 (with approximately 10% of consumers preferring each). Based on the results for each attribute analyzed, the conditions exist for the companies to redefine their structures, processes, prices, and service providers to reach their target customers.

A company operating in a competitive and ever changing environment that wishes to be recognized as world class requires a management model that affords its executives a systemic vision. This article aims to describe a scientific conceptual model of an integrated support system for decision making (marketing, production, human resources and finance) for industrial companies based on the rules that originated in the theories and concepts of: (i) systemic administration; (ii) complex adaptive systems; and (iii) optimization methods (more specifically of artificial neural networks, the analytic hierarchy process and linear programing). The proposed model was presented to a group of 10 executives and consultants from industrial companies. The Collective Subject Discourse of these executives includes the possibility of having “tools” that guide their companies to World Class management, although the computerization and automation process of decision making can be “something” difficult and burdensome.

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