DECENTRALIZATION OF BUSINESS UNITS: A CASE STUDY IN READY- MADE ARTICLE SECTOR

Abstract

The entire apparatus provided by the industrial era with its organizational, bureaucratic and hierarchical systems needed to make a room for a faster organization in order to keep its competitiveness and, more than that, survive. Presently, these organizations live in a context characterized by a multitude of variables and complex forces, caused by the agents who act in the environment and who bring changes and turbulences to the organizational performance. Such an environment often varies, now causing threats and pressures that the organization needs to avoid or neutralize, then giving chances, facilities and advantages that need to be profited in benefit of business success. However, it is in such environment that the organization obtains its resources, its technology, and puts its products and services, making revenues and conquering results. This study presents the case of a Brazilian company in the ready-made article sector that, in late 90s, re-structured itself in business units. Initially, the goal was to verify the reasons that led to the decision of de-centering its activities, aiming at understanding the impacts on the decision-making process with the implementation of the decentralization in the business units. The results show the factors contributing to the decentralization, the difficulties confronted in the process and the utilization of performance measures in order to deal with the new structure. Keywords: Decision-making process. De-centering, Business Units.