Diplomacia corporativa, paradiplomacia e o papel das incubadoras de empresas

Um estudo no Estado do Rio Grande do Norte – Brasil

Abstract

The current articles aims to assess the relevance of the concepts of corporate diplomacy and paradiplomacy for business incubators, as well as to analyze which strategic and operational aspects of the management of business incubators in Rio Grande do Norte are integrated with these concepts. The research is documentary and descriptive, seeking to identify primary, secondary and tertiary sources of information whilst outlining the perspective of incubators’ managers regarding corporate diplomacy and paradiplomacy. The researchers developed and utilized a semi-structured qualitative research instrument. Amongst the nine incubators selected for the study, three participated in the interview, which took place during the month of June 2021 and lasted an average of 120 minutes each through videoconference, being transcribed for subsequent content analysis. As a result, at a conceptual level, it was noticed that the study of paradiplomacy and corporate diplomacy for business incubators is a practically non-existent field, without significant work and with a vast potential for analysis. The research carried out amongst the business incubators indicated that they still have an essentially regional perspective, which limits any planning or action related to the practice of corporate diplomacy or paradiplomacy. It was also noted the need for improvement in three specific areas that can generate a massive impact on the perspective of corporate diplomacy and paradiplomacy for business incubators: a) maximization of networking aimed at the international market; b) knowledge and information management integrating the concepts of corporate diplomacy and paradiplomacy; and c) improvement aimed at the incubated companies to allow for an optimized international competitive advantage.