Estratégias de realocação de unidades organizacionais sob o contexto da indústria 4.0: um estudo de caso baseado na regionalidade

Abstract

The reshoring movement is a phenomenon that occurs in organizations that have off-shored their production and return their production units or part of their production to the country of origin. The process occurs due to possible cost increases, outsourcing decisions or internalizing production and product quality. These decisions are justified by the lack of control and coordination of costs, low sustainability, political incentives and search for technological capacity. The phenomenon also occurs simultaneously in the context of industry 4.0, which promotes advances in serving the market, reducing costs and solutions in information technologies. The literature also presents other types of situation of relocation of factories, which occur between different regions of the same country, this perspective is also adopted in the present study. The objective of this research is to study the movement of reallocation of production units and processes in the context of industry 4.0 in Brazilian organizations. Data were collected through semi-structured interviews with managers responsible for technological or strategic areas, being coded and categorized later. The field research found 13 cases in 19 interviews, which explain the strategic guidelines, motivational factors (internal and external) for relocation, technologies 4.0 involved and impacts of strategic organization decisions. The companies are located in the Triângulo Mineiro region, São Paulo and other Brazilian states. The cases emphasize the combination of strategies (cost and quality), internal motivations related to the characteristics of the business and production, the initial and gradual adoption of 4.0 technologies into the business and greater advantages in access to specific skills and knowledge in relocating units. The research attributed managerial implications for managers in related areas and theoretical implications.