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The purpose of this paper is to analyze to which point collective intelligence (CI) concepts and ideas, as applied to organizations, can contribute to enlarge the conceptual basis for business sustainability (BS).

The paper is written from an engineer‐minded, systemic and cybernetic perspective. It begins by establishing a definition for business as a special type of organization and frames its sustainability on autopoietic theory. Next, it presents basic ideas on CI and of its application to businesses. Then, it singles out which concepts of CI are of interest to BS.

Inside the autopoietic analysis of organizations, it is found that evolvability, understood as learning, is a concept with a potentially deeper and larger value than sustainability. Since evolvability (as learning) matches well the concept of intelligence, it is found that the application of CI ideas to businesses is relevant to BS. In particular, CI provides systemic arguments in favor of changing the condition of “employeeship” to “ownership” for BS, as a corollary.

All the findings indicated above are deemed relevant to managerial practice and general thinking and action on BS.

To the best knowledge of the author, this paper presents for the first time useful conceptual connections between BS and CI. The proposal of “evolvability”, understood as learning, as a concept to ground deeply BS is deemed original, as well as the systemic arguments in favor of turning “employeeship” into “ownership”, inside businesses. For the value, let the reader judge.

Paint that is used as exterior finish is subject to the stresses of the climate. The factors of climate such as sun and rain are major source of quick deterioration of paint. The existence of saline air and endogenic salt in substrates in any environment will increase the rate of failure and frequency of repainting of building exterior wall. The purpose of this paper is to ascertain the difference in the frequency of repainting of exterior surface of buildings in areas at close proximity to the Atlantic Ocean and the hinterland.

The research adopted a survey method that involved the administration of structured questionnaire on 384 respondents to elicit data for analysis. SPSS 15.0 software was used to analyse the data. The study area is divided into two zones.

Paint of the same quality from the same manufacturer is found to perform differently. All defects that are caused by salt attack occur earlier in Zone B than Zone A. The frequency of repainting (maintenance) in Zone A is two years due to direct contact with the Atlantic Ocean and Zone B is four years because of the distance from the ocean.

This study enlightens the stakeholders in the building industry in the preparation of maintenance schedule for buildings in salty environment. It will also assist the architects in decision making during specifications of exterior finishes in such environments. The maintenance challenges of paint that is applied as exterior finish in salty environment is made clear.

It is a novel search into understanding the maintenance frequency of paint that is applied as exterior finish of buildings in areas with direct and indirect contact to salt attack.

This paper aims to investigate the effects of formal institution agents on export performance, mediated by coopetition. It presents novel scales for evaluating firms’ adherence to cooperation agreements with competitors, identifying coopetition networks’ main motives and goals. The study also focuses on the relationship between the export performance of small and medium enterprises from emerging markets and coopetition strategies.

The study adopts a quantitative methodology using multivariate and confirmatory methods. The sample comprised 166 firms from three different industries in an emerging market (Brazil).

The results indicate that adherence to formal institution agents promotes cooperation among competitors and that such coopetition tends to improve export performance. The role played by formal institution agents minimizes the paradoxical tension and fosters coopetitive performance. Firms in developing markets look to mediated coopetition to achieve coopetitive advantages. They cooperate to create collective advantages from shared resources, but they do not lose sight of the ultimate objective of appropriating these advantages. The cycle of creation and appropriation of advantages is fostered by the formal institution agent, acting as the conductor of an orchestra, coordinating movements and setting the rhythm for the partners. The institutional agent, thus, constitutes an important hub of the coopetition network.

The paper contributes to understanding a type of coopetition that has hitherto been underexplored in the literature – mediated coopetition.

This chapter describes and discusses the main results of the successful off-hour delivery (OHD) pilot test in the city of São Paulo, Brazil, which took place between October 2014 and March 2015. The pilot engaged major stakeholders in urban distribution, including local authorities, shippers, carriers, and receivers, with the aim to determine what are the main requirements, constraints, opportunities, and threats for establishing a public policy related to shifting deliveries to late night in order to mitigate traffic congestion.

Differently from the former City of New York OHD pilot, here all participant companies were volunteers, with no need for cash incentives. The primary focus in São Paulo was on the issues of safety and noise, besides productivity aspects of travel time, truck speed, and delivery time.

The pilot was very successful, with no registered complaints of noise or security incidents. Travel speeds were obtained from global positioning system (GPS) tracking data and internal delivery systems. The chapter compares daytime and night operations and shows that productivity in some chains would improve significantly, but noise and safety must be carefully controlled to guarantee the expansion of the concept.

Literature has suggested that the agenda of corporate social responsibility (CSR) is an extension of corporate governance (CG) and would be under the responsibility of the board of directors. In this sense, the authors seek to understand the perception of board members on the CSR issue.

Exploratory survey with 128 Brazilian board members was carried out. The authors looked at their perception about the incorporation of CSR in business agendas and on what they consider when deciding on issues related to CSR.

The results show that board members understand the organization more as an entity that has a social role to play than something that simply acts pragmatically. This position is reflected in their decision-making processes rather than in the values and beliefs of the controllers’ majority shareholders, which consider what creates long-term value for organizations. The directors seek to create and maintain value for organizations for them to operate sustainably.

This research contributes to structuring boards. When choosing board members, having only technical requirements is no longer sufficient; their psychological profile and history also need to be taken into account. It also contributes to the drafting of CSR policies by showing what board members think of CSR and how they make decisions.

This study focuses on understanding how the director as an individual observes CSR. Much has been studied about CG, CSR and board members; however, little is known regarding the opinion of board members with regard to CSR. The authors are suggesting an approach to the singularities of directors as another direction in governance research.

Challenges in social housing projects (SHP) in Brazil are mainly related to design and construction quality and cost constraints. Value delivery to end-users must be a goal, however, jointly considered with the restrictions of such developments. In the SHP context, tight cost constraints frequently have a negative impact on delivering value to end-users. The purpose of this paper is to put forward the proposition that value enhancement can be achieved by reallocating costs to better meet the attributes most valued by end-users, without increasing initial project costs.

A set of tools used in value methodology (VM) is adopted to assist a systematic process with the goal of attaining an optimal functional balance between costs and value delivery to end-users. Desired values were indicated by users in a previous study, resulting in an Index of General Significance. A single case study was carried out to test the approach in a SHP. Opportunities for improvement guided by the desired values of end-users were evaluated.

The VM approach suggests that initial project cost constraints do not necessarily induce value loss for end-users, a recurrent problem that designers and stakeholders frequently face in such contexts. Improvements were made possible through simple cost reallocation.

A single case study was carried out to validate this approach. To create a generalized approach for other similar context further tests should be undertaken.

The proposed VM approach was shown to be efficient in assessing decisions which designers and stakeholders must take, bearing in mind cost constraints and improvements in value delivery to end-users.

Currently in Brazil, end-users’ perceptions are rarely considered into the design process of SHP. The research shows that the proposed approach could be used in similar contexts of social housing to enrich the design process and attain higher satisfaction levels.

An important lesson learned was that subjective parameters based on the desired values of end-users could be combined with technical and functional analysis, thus an objective improvement process was devised. The approach can have clear implications for the product development of SHPs to best match the end-user's value propositions, without neglecting financial and economic needs in such a context.

This paper aims to analyze how strategizing practices can legitimate construction of public sector policy. The Porto Alegre Film Commission was set up as part of a strategy to increase the city’s competitiveness as a tourism destination. The municipal government engaged with private and public stakeholders and embarked on a collective process of policy construction.

The authors based their research on two theoretical lenses from business administration theory: strategy as practice (SaP) and neo-institutional theory (NIT), whereby SaP attempts to explain formation and implementation of strategy on the basis of a process that seeks a collective result, whereas NIT reveals the limits of this formation and implementation, attributing the process to influences of power and legitimacy. Thus, the authors get a more accurate view of the actors and the system of governance, considering the in-built reflexivity of these relationships and their capacity to change institutional arrangements. The authors conducted an in-depth case study with a qualitative approach, using semi-structured interviews, participatory observation and documentary analysis.

The results revealed the role played by the government and how practices used in the strategizing process ensured the legitimacy of public sector policy formulation and engaged private and public stakeholders.

The authors recognize limitations such as the investigation being set in a single country and responses based on the interviewees’ perceptions of momentum. It would be interesting to undertake cross-national comparisons using empirical data that allow comparison of film commissions with different relationships between strategizing, power and politics.

This case study analyzed the relationship between formal institutional agents and the strategies adopted to create and run the Porto Alegre Film Commission (PAFC), positioning Porto Alegre as a destination for film and video production and, reflexively, making it more attractive to tourists interested in getting to know the locations where publicity campaigns, films and soap operas were filmed. This formal institution agent was converted into a strategic catalyzer to influence the institutional issues in a creative industry in which trade associations and firms had encountered difficulties when they attempted to set up a film commission alone.

The evidence compiled showed that the practices, besides being strategic, were enacted in a specific context and directed toward results and survival of the PAFC. The practices shaped the results, because they were constructed together with other actors, achieving legitimacy through collaborative development of practices and targeting survival by establishing governance structures capable of riding out periods of political transition. In short, the collective construction of the PAFC policy, led by the public sector, legitimized it in the eyes of society.

This study furthers the discussion about strategizing in an organizational field marked by power relationships and how their consequences can affect society in general. There is a need to take a closer look at the implications of strategizing for power relationships and how the consequences can influence the organizational field.