Life Cycle of Small Family Business Brazilian: An Analysis of the Characteristics and Structural Dynamics in a Network of Retail Liquefied Petroleum Gas

Abstract

The aim of this study is to discuss the life cycle of small family businesses Brazilian, their characteristics and structural dynamics in order to identify the theoretical foundations that are absent in organizational studies in Brazil. For this we use the theory of the life cycle of organizations according to the models of Greiner (1972) and Adizes (1998). The empirical study was carried out in small family businesses Brazilian, with its core marketing of LPG (liquefied petroleum gas) and the process of data collection took place in two stages: (a) secondary data collection, identifying the companies and their analysis, (b) primary data collection in family businesses, in which we used the technique of the interview directly with managers. The qualitative data analysis was performed according to the techniques of content analysis and discourse analysis. The results highlight the need to consider the business training and the theoretical foundations of interorganizational learning on the studies of life cycle of small family businesses in Brazil.