Despite of the importance of small business for Brazilian economy, a lack of studies in construction management literature about of this sized companies is observed. Thus, this paper aimed to analyze the perception about the success criteria of managers from Small Business of construction sector. To do so, was performed a study with managers of three construction companies from a semiarid region at northeast of Brazil. Through a qualitative and exploratory approach, 14 criteria to evaluate the organizational success were analyzed in depth comparing importance with use. It was observed that the perception of importance to each success criterion was higher than its uses. It was evidenced difficulties regarding the designers and the low importance attributed to environmental sustainability. Some similarities with medium and large business were also identified. We can conclude that the business are strictly focused on financial performance, while elementary aspects as health and safety are not achieve and reinforcing the connotation of social irresponsibility of the construction sector.

Este artigo teve como objetivo analisar a percepção de gestores de Micro e Pequenas Empresas do setor de construção sobre Fatores Críticos de Sucesso (FCS). O estudo foi realizado por meio de entrevistas em profundidade com três gestores de empresas de Crateús-CE, cidade do nordeste do Brasil. Foi possível explorar a importância e o nível de aplicação de cada FCS e o porquê dessa percepção, o que permitiu identificar algumas barreiras para as MPE. Em geral, a importância atribuída foi superior à sua aplicação, o que era esperado. Destacam-se, a gestão de riscos, gestão da cultura do trabalho e gestão estratégica como as maiores dificuldades de implementação nas empresas. O estudo contribuiu ao expandir as evidências de FCS em MPE, tema pouco explorado na literatura brasileira de gerenciamento de obras.