Resumen de A Comparative Study of Italian and Brazilian International Sourcing Practices Authors
Bernardo Dantas, Rebecca Arkader, Otavio Figueiredo
This paper investigates current international sourcing practices in an emerging market context based on a sample of 110 Brazilian importers, comparing them with results from an original study in a developed market context conducted by Nassimbeni (2006) with a sample of Italian companies. The survey identifies the most important motivations, barriers, and benefits associated with international sourcing, as well as selection criteria for supply markets and suppliers. Even though similarities could be identified in the responses to both surveys, results point to some relevant differences, especially in the perception of motivations and barriers. Several requirements mentioned in the literature were observed in the practices of Brazilian importers, indicating a relative degree of development in international sourcing practices in Brazil. As in the original study, factor analysis was conducted in order to identify dimensions behind the constructs of motivations, barriers, and benefits of international sourcing, and resulting factors were compared to those in the Italian study. Conclusions in the paper highlight the nature of differences found in the two surveys and where they can be traced back to context; in addition, a contribution is made to the discussion of the relevant constructs and the proposition of scales to measure them.
