The Topology of Contact Center Companies and the Precarization of Work in Uberlândia/MG

• Grant number: 25/03588-6
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships in Brazil - Master
• Start date: August 01, 2025
• End date: July 31, 2027
• Field of knowledge: Humanities - Geography - Regional Geography
• Principal Investigator: Marina Castro de Almeida
• Grantee: Daniel Ajudarte de Campos
• Host Institution: Instituto de Geociências e Ciências Exatas (IGCE). Universidade Estadual Paulista (UNESP). Campus de Rio Claro. Rio Claro , SP, Brazil

Abstract

The main objective of this research is to analyze the role of Uberlândia/MG in the territorial division of labor within Contact Center companies. The city plays a significant role in attracting the sector, hosting the eighth-largest number of operators in Brazil in 2023 (MTE/CAGED, 2024).The expansion of telemarketing services in Brazil coincided with the privatization of telephone companies in the late 1990s. Initially, there was a concentration in metropolitan regions, but from the second half of the 2010s, operations began to disperse toward intermediate urban centers in search of lower wages and weaker worker organization.In this context, Uberlândia/MG emerges as the medium-sized city (SPOSITO, 2004) with the largest number of workers in the sector (MTE/CAGED, 2023), making it a privileged point of observation.Firstly, analyzing the migration of operations may indicate the most relevant factors influencing the sector's attraction dynamics, which are no longer focused solely on metropolitan regions. Additionally, this analysis has the potential to contribute to defining the concept of a medium-sized city, as it can highlight the city's intermediary role in the regional urban network by interpreting its function in the territorial division of labor within Contact Center companies.