O processo de adaptação de uma empresa angolana à mudanças no meio ambiente em que se insere: um estudo de caso

Abstract

This is a descriptive case study performed in a company hosted in Luanda, capital of Angola. The general objective is to understand how the process of adaptation to changes in the environment occurs through time, for the survival and development of a company hosted in Angola. Currently the country is the result of intense changes that have occurred in the last thirty five years. In this period, the country lived a war for independence, a Marxist-Leninist ideology, thirty years of civil war, capitalism, economic opening, and currently presents a high rate of economic growth. The company studied is an Angolan family enterprise that has existed for thirty four years, that is, it is a company, which survived and adapted itself to the changes in Angola at that time, and finds itself today in a phase of growth and expansion. The data was collected through documents, interviews, and direct observation during a period of five months. In this study the environment in which the surveyed company is inserted is characterized, the main changes that have occurred in the environment since the foundation of the company until 2007 are described, the characteristics of a live firm proposed by De Geus (1998) are identified in the company studied, and the way the company has adapted to the changes occurring in the environment is described. The results obtained through content analysis show that the company studied: a) is not characterized as a live firm in De Geus`s (1998) proposal; b) created its own conditions to survive, to adapt, and to grow in a historically unfavorable environment; c) the current economic growth in the country provides opportunities for the development and diversification of business. However, this growth now needs better structuring and professionalism, so as to consolidate itself. The present study also proposes a model that characterizes the adaptation, survival, and growth of this company studied in an Angolan context. There are four components in this model: a) knowledge of the environment acquired during the history of the company and renewed continuously; b) determination and persistence of the founders in continuing to work despite the adversities of the environment; c) perception of opportunities derived from the current economic growth in the country originated the current diversification of business; d) the necessary financial subsidy to permit new business. The presence of these four components has been producing adaptation, survival, and growth in the company studied.