Strategic management of inner information in small enterprises: comparative studies of cases in the hotel sector of Brotas-SP

Author(s)

Alexandre Farias Albuquerque

• Document type: Master's Dissertation
• Press: São Carlos.
• Institution: Universidade de São Paulo (USP). Escola de Engenharia de São Carlos (EESC/SBD)
• Defense date: 2004-06-18

Examining board members

Edmundo Escrivao Filho; Martinho Isnard Ribeiro de Almeida; Edson Walmir Cazarini

• Advisor: Edmundo Escrivao Filho

Abstract

This dissertation presents proposals for the management improvement of inner information aiming at the strategic management of small enterprises. It presents a bibliographical revision of the process of information management, the information necessary to the strategic process and the specific characteristics of small companies that permit defining the variable of the research. In the fieldwork four small hotel enterprises settled in Brotas city and a medium enterprise settled in Águas de São Pedro city were studied. Both cities are located in São Paulo region. This fieldwork allowed identifying the process of strategic decision-making, the information utilized in this activity as well as the way these companies collect, process and distribute the data and information to the people who make decisions. In a final evaluation it was possible to observe that the organizations analysed presented more facilities than difficulties to the improvement of the information management process. Managers of small hotel are not completely conscious of the benefits that information management can bring. Significant hotel data and information are scattered and flowing without control in the organizations, which hampers their recovery in the decision-making process. Aiming at the improvement of strategic information management five proposals were presented: making managers conscious of the importance of information management process; identification of strategic information by the comprehension of the hotel operation; improvement of data collecting tools; collection and analyses of scattered data and extension of organizational memory; exhibition of reports, graphs or formularies of information either printed or on computer screen. (AU)