Abstract The Practice-Based View (PBV) is an insightful approach among alternative theories of firm competitiveness. However, it hardly addresses industry level effects on the adoption of management practices and consequent performance impacts. We investigate if industrial sectors that are technologically sophisticated, more exposed to competition, and receiving greater government support adopt more advanced management practices and achieve superior performance. We built an intentional sample in seven industrial sectors, representative of the diversity of local industry, by selecting ten firms in each sector following specific criteria. Data collected following the method proposed by Bloom and Van Reenen was analyzed through Ordinary Least Squares regressions designed to assess our hypotheses. The outcomes confirm previous findings and reveal two insights. First, governmental support does not necessarily enhance management practices at the firm level. Second, the relationship between practices and performance seems to be jeopardized by the turbulence of the local business environment. We contribute to the PBV by shedding light on the implications of the sectoral perspective for the analysis of best practices adoption and performance impacts.

Ancorado na abordagem racionalista, mas na impossibilidade da regra consensual e buscando apresentar as características da regra da maioria e alguns de seus problemas, como o paradoxo de Condorcet, e soluções a esses problemas, como o logrolling, este artigo se propõe a revisar e sintetizar a teoria a respeito, baseado nas principais contribuições ao tema. O estudo se justifica porque, como processo de agregação de preferências, a regra da maioria se destaca para usos eleitorais e de processos políticos internos, em um elevado número de nações.

Anchored in the rationalist approach, but with the impossibility of consensus rule and seeking to show the characteristics of the majority rule and some of its problems, as the Condorcet paradox, and solutions to these problems, such as logrolling, this article intends to review and synthesize theory about it, based on the main contributions to the theme. The study is justified because, as a process of preference aggregation, majority rule is used for election purposes and internal political processes in a large number of nations.

Complexity and constructivism in economics. This paper attempts to show and summarize the concept of rules, order and complexity introduced around the mid-twentieth century by Friedrich August von Hayek. It also attempts to create a current parallel between those concepts and the field of complexity economics. At the time of his writings, the author sought to present arguments against the Cartesian rationality. Nowadays, the concepts presented by him could also serve as arguments against the way of thought used in mainstream microeconomics. A debate can now be seen between the mainstream microeconomics and the authors of the complexity theory applied to the economy, which can be understood as explanations guided by generic assumptions versus natural explanations guided in a computational approach.