RESUMOAs grandes mudanças no cenário competitivo nas últimas décadas do século passado deram novo alento ao ensino e à pesquisa em Gerência de Operações nos principais centros mundiais de ensino de Administração de Empresas. Este artigo busca acompanhar a evolução da pesquisa científica em Gerência de Operações no país, traçando-se, dessa forma, a trajetória das preocupações, dos métodos e da relevância teórica e prática dessa pesquisa no Brasil. A análise inicia-se com o histórico de publicações nos Anais do Enanpad. Seguem as análises das publicações nos periódicos de âmbito nacional mais expressivos na área de Administração: RAE, RAUSP e RAC. A abordagem da literatura completa-se com uma apreciação das publicações de pesquisadores brasileiros em periódicos estrangeiros especializados na área de operações. O artigo é concluído com uma avaliação crítica do estado da pesquisa científica em Gerência de Operações no país. PALAVRAS-CHAVE Gerência de Operações, publicação científica, produção acadêmica, periódicos nacionais. Rebecca Arkader COPPEAD/UFRJ ABSTRACT Changes in competition over the last decades of the 20th century gave new momentum to education and research in Operations

PurposeThe vast majority of literature relating to operations management originates from studies in developed markets. Emerging markets are increasingly important in global business. With this in mind, the purpose of this paper is to analyze differences in outsourcing strategies between manufacturing firms from emerging markets and from developed markets.Design/methodology/approachThe paper is based on statistical analyses of a large data set of manufacturing firms obtained from the International Manufacturing Strategy Survey (IMSS).FindingsThe findings suggest that companies that outsource internationally focus on achieving cost benefits, while companies that outsource domestically focus on achieving capacity flexibility. In addition, the reasons to outsource were found to be independent of the location of firms in both emerging and developed markets. However, within the group of firms from emerging markets, strategies seem to differ according to whether firms are domestically owned or are subsidiaries of companies from developed markets.Practical implicationsThe decisions of firms to outsource do not differ much whether the firms are located in developed‐ or in emerging‐market economies. Firms outsource domestically when they want to increase their capacity flexibility; they outsource internationally when looking for cost advantages.Originality/valueThe value of the paper is that it illuminates an important contemporary phenomenon based on analyses on data from a large‐scale international survey encompassing firms both in developed and in emerging markets.

This paper deals with the perspective of autoparts suppliers in the Brazilian automotive industry on advances and barriers to renewed buyer-supplier relations under lean production practices, as uncovered by a comprehensive case study research. Suppliers perceived advances in the relationships as far as operational issues were concerned, but less so in terms of strategic issues. They also identified both organizational, firm-specific barriers and environmental barriers originating in the peculiarities of the local economic and business environment. These results are discussed in view of the dyadic relationship with buyers, leading to the identification of elements that help to formulate an explanation for the recent path of buyer-supplier relations in the Brazilian automotive industry.

The direct and mediated relationships between supply chain coordination investments and delivery performance Giovani J.C. da Silveira Rebecca Arkader Article information:To cite this document: Giovani J.C. da Silveira Rebecca Arkader, (2007),"The direct and mediated relationships between supply chain coordination investments and delivery performance"If you would like to write for this, or any other Emerald publication, then please use our Emerald for Authors service information about how to choose which publication to write for and submission guidelines are available for all. Please visit www.emeraldinsight.com/authors for more information. About Emerald www.emeraldinsight.comEmerald is a global publisher linking research and practice to the benefit of society. The company manages a portfolio of more than 290 journals and over 2,350 books and book series volumes, as well as providing an extensive range of online products and additional customer resources and services.Emerald is both COUNTER 4 and TRANSFER compliant. The organization is a partner of the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE) and also works with Portico and the LOCKSS initiative for digital archive preservation. AbstractPurpose -To explore the paths by which coordination investments with suppliers and customers relate to improvements in delivery speed, delivery reliability, and manufacturing lead-time. Design/methodology/approach -Regression analysis of data on supply chain coordination investment and delivery performance from 243 manufacturers from 13 countries. Findings -Results provide evidence of direct relationships between supplier coordination investment and manufacturing lead-time, and between customer coordination investment and delivery speed and delivery reliability. Moreover, they suggest that customer investment mediates the relationship between supplier investment and delivery reliability, and that supplier investment mediates the relationship between customer investment and manufacturing lead-time. Practical implications -To achieve sustainable improvements in multiple aspects of performance, management may need to invest in coordination with partners both upstream and downstream in the supply chain. Originality/value -This appears to be the first study to provide evidence of both direct and mediated relationships between supplier and customer coordination investment, and delivery performance.

PurposeTo investigate the relationship between the choice of integrated or functional logistics providers by Brazilian shippers and: the type of their manufacturing process structure, and the level of sophistication of their logistics function, as well as the impact on that choice of possible interactions between these two characteristics of the shippers.Design/methodology/approachData were collected in a comprehensive survey on the use of 3PL service providers in Brazil using a sample of 93 large Brazilian shippers; The analysis tests three research questions on the individual and combined relationships of logistics sophistication, measured on a logistics sophistication index (LSI), and process type (according to Goldratt's V‐A‐T classification for materials flow analysis) with the choice of type of 3PL provider; the methods of analysis were cluster and logistics regression analysis.FindingsThe paper finds: support for an association of sophisticated logistics functions and a preference for integrated 3PLs; support for an association between the A‐type production process structure and preference for integrated 3PLs; and of V and T types for functional 3PLs. However, it also finds that shippers with type T process structure and more sophisticated logistics tend to favor integrated 3PLs.Research limitations/implicationsOne limitation is that logistics performance is not considered; future studies may further refine the proposed framework for segmentation.Practical implicationsThe paper advocates the use of models by providers to segment their customers, and better understanding by shippers of prevailing trends in logistics outsourcing according to their process structure and characteristics of their logistics function.Originality/valueThe paper unveils significant relationships between shipper sophistication of logistics function, manufacturing process structures, and the choice of type of 3PL. It also proposes a new framework for segmenting the 3PL service provider market in terms of sophistication of the logistics function and the logistics task implied by the type of operation.