Organizational forms, technological and competitive strategies in paraná furniture industry

Abstract

Technological innovations in the industry of wood pieces of furniture are related to process, new products, new materials, design development, technological innovation of production means and management. There is a strong tendency in the organization of the companies, mainly inside the clusters, towards specialization of the firms. The furniture pole selected for study, Arapongas, is specialized in linear pieces of furniture. The objective of the paper is to understand the dynamics of the furniture industry in Arapongas, one of the six largest poles in Brazil. Data collected with owner/managers of ten small and medium-sized firms allowed for the identification of technological and competitive strategies. These data formed the basis for an analysis of the potential formation of a cluster of companies in this region. The paper is structured in four sections. The first introduces the discussion. The next one presents the idea of industrial cluster and its main characteristics. The following section explore the data obtained during interviews with 10 entrepreneurs running small and medium-sized furniture manufacturing firms. The final section concludes with an analysis of the possibilities and limitations related to a potential formation of a furniture industrial cluster in Arapongas, an organizational form that brings many competitive advantages for an economic region.