Manufatura Classe Mundial em Pequenas e Médias Empresas: Uma Proposta de Adaptação para o Contexto Brasileiro

Abstract

Brazilian industrial small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) face structural difficulties in adopting continuous improvement models originally designed for large corporations, such as World Class Manufacturing (WCM). This dissertation aims to propose guidelines for adapting WCM to the context of Brazilian industrial SMEs, based on the identification of causal configurations that explain their operational performance. The research combined descriptive analysis, configurational analysis (fsQCA), and qualitative content analysis, applied to a sample of 24 respondents from the industrial sector. The results identified two central causal configurations: one associated with high operational performance, defined by the joint presence of Critical Success Factors, Work Organization, Quality Control, and Maintenance, regardless of perceived Barriers and without requiring the Managerial Pillars or the Golden Triangle as preconditions; and another associated with low operational performance, defined by the joint absence of all these conditions. The findings invert the canonical hierarchical sequence of WCM and indicate that, in the SME context, organizational barriers can be neutralized through the development of operational capabilities rather than through their prior removal. As its technical-technological product, the dissertation presents a set of adaptive guidelines organized into progressive implementation stages, along with the diagnostic tool, designed to support managers in assessing maturity levels and defining improvement priorities.