Sharing services, strategy and territories: reflections of operations in Brazil, Portugal and Europe

Abstract

The objective of this text is to analyze territorial development factors, promoted by the agglomeration strategy of shared service centers, which contribute to the regional and urban economy through the spillover effect, observing interrelated corporate components of governance, strategy and location, as well as externalities on non-participants, namely at an economic, social and environmental level. Studies were carried out in different sectors of the Northeast and Center-South geo-economic regions of Brazil, with emphasis on the beverage, pharmacy, transportation and financial services segments; and in the cities of Lisbon, and Porto, in Portugal-Europe in their respective metropolitan areas, namely in the segments of technology, telecommunications, transport, automobiles and health. To this end, a literature review was carried out, relating elements of human capital, innovation and knowledge with the phenomenon of sharing services and areas of research support; and accessed executive documents dealing with the planning and implementation of call centers. The methodology focused on the content analysis of semi-structured interviews with one hundred and fifty professionals from companies and governments in the regions, which provided a better understanding of the phenomenon, its activities and repercussions. The relevance of territorial configurations was perceived as a strategic and economic development component, promoted by the agglomeration of people, processes and technology in sharing services, potentiated by the agglomeration of these equipments, which operate in different ecosystems, but obtain a competitive advantage and increase in supply chains. value through the network economy. The research contributed to broadening the understanding of the relationship between territory and companies' strategies, with emphasis on development factors.