Sobre o Programa

The Program

The general objective of the Program is to enhance the training of personnel at the stricto sensu level, equipping them for research, analysis, production, and application of acquired knowledge in the field of Administration, in general, and in the program's concentration area (Organizational Networks), in particular, addressing the demands of the country and society as a whole. By pursuing this, the PPGA aims, on one hand, to meet the demand of researchers graduating from or coming from other institutions who seek to deepen their theoretical, methodological, and/or empirical reflections on Organizational Networks, and, on the other hand, to address the development needs of the Stricto Sensu Graduate Programs at UNIP.

Target Audience

Professionals with degrees in Administration or other areas (engineering, psychology, communication, law, among others), whose interest lies in researching topics related to Administration, Management, and Organizations.

The Master's Program in Administration at Universidade Paulista began its activities in 1997, being recommended by CAPES in 2005. At the time, under the concentration area titled "Strategy and Its Organizational Formats," the purpose was to analyze and study strategies and organizational networks in their various dimensions. Simultaneously, by contributing to knowledge and the improvement of management, the program developed debates, research, and propositions of theories and models for associations, NGOs, and governments. Two research lines were established: "Organizational Strategy" and "Business Network Management."

The research line "Organizational Strategy" dealt with the reconciliation between the external environment and internal resources, investigating how organizations faced and responded to confronted situations. The research projects were grouped into three central themes, all aligned with the divisions recognized by the Strategic Management Society (SMS) and the National Association of Graduate Studies and Research in Administration (ANPAD). The research line "Business Network Management" analyzed, critiqued, and expanded the concepts of networks. It developed methodologies to identify, monitor, and evaluate the processes and performance of networks in their various manifestations. The research projects, aligned with the network divisions recognized by international literature and grounded in the works of classical authors such as Granovetter's "Economic Action and Social Structure: The Problem of Embeddedness" (1985), Nohria & Eccles' "Networks and Organizations: Structure, Form, and Action" (1992), and Castells' "The Network Society" (2005), were grouped into the themes of Social Approach and Economic Approach in Business Networks.

Over time, respecting the dynamics of Graduate Studies to adapt to the emergence of new areas of knowledge and methodologies that expressed the State of the Art and following the recommendations of the CAPES Area Committee, there was a need to update the Concentration Area and the program's research lines. In 2015, the Program began a transition phase, consolidated in the 2017-2020 quadrennium with the proposal of a new Concentration Area and research lines. The Concentration Area was renamed "Organizational Networks," and under it, two lines were established: "Strategies and Operations in Networks" and "Social Approaches in Networks."

The research line "Strategies and Operations in Networks" assumes that networks are arrangements of organizations aimed at reducing costs and resource dependency for companies. Thus, both the network and each organization within it can be studied. Within this approach, studies on strategies, chains, clusters, and operations in networks are found.

The research line "Social Approaches in Networks," in turn, understands that every organization or set of organizations, regardless of its purpose and/or nature, contains a web (network) of social relationships that directs, influences, and determines the actions, strategies, decisions, and behaviors of the actors. Changes in this web alter processes, governance, and organizational outcomes. Studies in this area seek correspondences between social relationships and other network variables, such as strategy, innovation, production practices, governance, content, structure, dynamics, and results.

Since the change in the concentration area, the Program has held events and activities that consolidate it in its Concentration Area. Evidence can be found, for example, in the leadership of themes at national and international conferences. Additionally, with the purpose of contributing to the training of qualified personnel in underserved regions of the country, the Program began, in September 2019, an interinstitutional master's class—MINTER—in partnership with the Educational Association of Rondônia—UNESC, in the city of Cacoal, Rondônia. The MINTER, approved by CAPES in August 2019 and completed in 2022, had a class of 9 (nine) regular students. In May 2020, the PPGA had its doctoral program recommended by the Coordination for the Improvement of Higher Education Personnel—CAPES.

Some numbers that illustrate the Program's evolution are:

• 2013: 6 qualification boards and 6 dissertation defenses held;
• 2014: 7 qualification boards and 9 dissertation defenses held;
• 2015: 12 qualification boards and 5 dissertation defenses held;
• 2016: 32 qualification boards and 27 dissertation defenses held;
• 2017: 14 qualification boards and 18 dissertation defenses held;
• 2018: 15 qualification boards and 14 dissertation defenses held;
• 2020: 19 qualification boards and 8 dissertation defenses held;
• 2021: 14 qualification boards and 25 dissertation defenses held;
• 2022: 5 qualification boards and 8 dissertation defenses held;
• 2023: 10 qualification boards and 7 dissertation defenses held, in addition to 5 qualification boards and 1 doctoral thesis defense;
• 2024: 5 qualification boards and 8 dissertation defenses held, in addition to 5 qualification boards and 3 doctoral thesis defenses.

The mission of the Stricto Sensu Graduate Program in Administration at Universidade Paulista is to promote the dissemination of knowledge in the areas of Administration and Organizational Networks, training qualified citizens capable of contributing to the country's development. This training occurs through the enhancement of students at the master's and doctoral levels, with research activities aligned with the demands of contemporary society and the world of work. The Program is guided by respect for diversity and the promotion of solidarity, inclusion, human values, and ethics.

General Objective of the Program

To train professionals capable of contributing to research, analysis, production, and application of knowledge in the field of Administration, in general, and, specifically, in the Program's concentration area: Organizational Networks. By pursuing this objective, the Graduate Program in Administration (PPGA) seeks, on one hand, to meet the demand of researchers graduating from or coming from other institutions who wish to deepen their theoretical, methodological, and/or empirical reflections on Organizational Networks; and, on the other hand, to contribute to the strengthening and development of the Stricto Sensu Graduate Programs at Universidade Paulista - UNIP.

Specific Objectives for the Program:

1. Qualify faculty, primarily in the field of Administration, to enhance the content of their disciplines and the possibilities of their teaching methods.
2. Develop researchers capable of contributing to the advancement of knowledge in the field of Administration, especially for themes involving organizational networks and their social, strategic, and operational developments.
3. Train academic leaders who contribute to scientific, technological, and professional qualification policies.
4. Promote the integration of UNIP with the local community through the research conducted in the Program, endorsing the institution as a reference for the development of policies related to organizational networks.
5. Qualify professionals, especially managers and business owners, to have a critical vision and practical tools for business development and their relationships with other actors, such as public, private, and third-sector institutions.

Concentration Area: Organizational Networks

The Program seeks to analyze, critique, and expand the concepts of organizational networks, developing theories and methodologies capable of identifying, monitoring, and evaluating the performance of networks in their various manifestations. These networks can be investigated from different levels of analysis. When considering the object of analysis, the literature points, among other possibilities, to the observation of the isolated organization, dyads, and chains as a way to understand the networks they are part of, as well as the network as a whole.
On a theoretical level, the literature on organizational networks highlights two main approaches: (1) Social and (2) Economic. These approaches underpin the two research lines of the Graduate Program: "Strategies and Operations in Networks" and "Social Approaches in Networks," demonstrating the strong alignment between the concentration area and the Program's research lines.

Line 1: Strategies and Operations in Networks

This research line considers the economic and competitive aspects of business networks, focusing on projects that reinforce these specialties among its researchers. It is structured into two main thematic axes: i) Strategy in Networks and ii) Operations in Networks.

The Strategy in Networks axis covers the main competitive aspects related to business networks, with emphasis on studies on internationalization strategies, entrepreneurship in franchise networks, and business competitiveness in organizational networks. In this context, research is conducted on:

• Competitiveness of companies embedded in business networks;
• Internationalization strategies in franchise networks;
• Strategy and entrepreneurship in franchise networks.

The Operations in Networks axis includes research focused on interorganizational relationships, considering physical, informational, technological, and financial exchanges in environments such as Global Value Chains, Supply Networks, Business Clusters, and Local Productive Arrangements. The research developed in this axis covers topics such as:

• Competitiveness in clusters;
• Development of operational competencies in supply networks;
• Governance instruments in supply networks;
• Organizational performance;
• Project management;
• Interorganizational networks: evolutionary nature and competitiveness.

Line 2: Social Approaches in Networks

This research line assumes that every network, regardless of its purpose and nature, is composed of a web of social relationships that influences, directs, and conditions the actions, processes, strategies, decisions, and behaviors of the involved actors. Changes in this web of relationships directly impact the governance, processes, and outcomes of organizational networks.

The studies developed in this line seek to understand the correspondences between social relationships and other network variables, such as strategy, innovation, production practices, governance, content, structure, dynamics, and performance.

Currently, the line encompasses research on the following themes:

• Learning, social capital, and governance structure in intraorganizational networks;
• The influence of social relationships on the development, diffusion, and commercialization of innovations, technologies, and products in innovation networks;
• Institutionalism and neo-institutionalism in studies of practices in organizational networks, with an emphasis on public policies;
• Social networks, embeddedness, and social capital, and their interfaces with different forms of entrepreneurship and entrepreneur profiles;
• Trust, commitment, and power relationships, and their connections with classical themes in Administration.

All research projects conducted by PPGA-UNIP faculty are related to the concentration area, the objective, and the program's context of operation. Some of the research projects coordinated by faculty and recently conducted are:

1. Locally Built Governance as an Organizing Axis in Network Formation (Ernesto Michelangelo Giglio)
2. Social Capital, Networks, and Entrepreneurship (Victor Silva Corrêa)
3. Diffusion of Safety Culture Among Aeronautical Maintenance Companies: An Analysis Using the Social Network Analysis Approach (Márcio Cardoso Machado)
4. Initial Entrepreneurship: The Influence of Embeddedness in Reciprocity and Redistribution on the Development of Ventures Between 3 and 42 Months in the State of São Paulo (Victor Silva Corrêa)
5. Study of the Competitiveness of Companies Operating in Business Networks and Industry 4.0 Through CAC-REDES (José Celso Contador)
6. Sustainable Operations Management in Business Networks
7. Behavioral Intelligence Applied to Performance Improvement in Supply Chains (Ana Beatriz Lopes de Sousa Jabbour)
8. SMARTER - Smart Technologies in Organizational Networks (Mauro Vivaldini)
9. Supply Chain Finance (Inventory Finance) (Mauro Vivaldini)

• Social Approaches in Organizational Networks
• Strategies and Operations in Networks

Strategic planning has been conducted in a structured manner since 2013 and is linked to the Graduate Studies strategic planning and the Institutional Development Plan (PDI) of UNIP itself. Reviewed annually, the PPG's planning is intensively updated every four-year evaluation cycle.
Among the goals and objectives established by PPGA-UNIP are initiatives that encourage faculty to publish articles, supported by the institution. At the same time, it sets goals related to faculty participation in scientific events in the field.
Additionally, it aims for commitments in training, production, and other impacts of the PPG, and is linked to the mission and general and strategic objectives of PPGA-UNIP. This alignment effort seeks to provide consistency and unity of purpose to the desired results. Reviewed annually, the PPG's planning is intensively updated every four-year evaluation cycle, demonstrating the maturity of the planning system, which is continuously evolving.

Universidade Paulista (UNIP) offers an efficient administrative infrastructure, providing full support for the revision and didactic organization, monitoring of dissertation and thesis submission deadlines, as well as other administrative activities. UNIP also has a research laboratory structure that supports graduate activities at the master’s and doctoral levels.

At the Graduate Program in Administration, students and the local academic community have access to computer labs, including the most recent one, created in 2024: the Extension and Research Laboratory in Administration (LEPq). This space offers infrastructure suitable for the development of research and studies, serving students, professors, and researchers from the Graduate Program in Administration (PPGA) at UNIP. With the aim of expanding the social and cultural impact of the PPGA, the LEPq also supports the local community, allowing primary, secondary, and higher education students to use its equipment and resources.

Available resources include:

• Computers with internet access, international scientific article and data databases, and specialized software, such as:
  • Data analysis (SPSS for statistical analysis, NVIVO for qualitative analysis, SmartPLS for structural equation modeling, and UCINET for network analysis);
• Reference management software;
• Consumables (paper, ink, etc.);
• Permanent materials (furniture, equipment, and various instruments).

Main goals of the LEPq:

• Primarily provide tutoring, mentoring sessions, advisory meetings, academic research, and other related activities;
• Support the development of teaching and research projects related to the master’s and doctoral programs in Administration;
• Serve the community without compromising the regular pedagogical activities;
• Carry out activities under partnerships or agreements established by the PPGA-UNIP with public or private institutions, both national and international, aiming at the continuous improvement of teaching and research.

More information about the LEPq is available on the Graduate Programs webpage of Universidade Paulista at:
unip.br/cursos/pos_graduacao/strictosensu/laboratorios/extensao_pesquisa_administracao_lepq.aspx

In addition to the LEPq, UNIP provides another computer lab for students and faculty, equipped with 20 computers, a printer, and technical support. All computers have access to databases and text editors.

The computer labs, as well as student and faculty rooms, are connected to UNIP’s network, with high-speed internet (including wireless), email, and library systems, ensuring full access to the university’s bibliographic collection.

Additionally, UNIP offers the following for PPGA-UNIP:

• Lecture and seminar rooms: air-conditioned, equipped with computers, multimedia projectors, DVDs, screens, desks, and chairs;
• Qualification and defense rooms: two air-conditioned rooms with multimedia projectors, computers, screens, padded chairs, and a five-seat table for the examination committee;
• Student and faculty rooms: both air-conditioned, with desks, chairs, high-speed internet-connected computers (including wireless), scanner, and printer;
• Auditoriums: located in the Graduate building, with capacities of 50, 150, and 600 seats, fully equipped for classes and events;
• Graduate Office: provides support to students and faculty of the program;
• Library: The Indianópolis Library has a specialized team, accessible infrastructure, and individual and group study areas. It has computers with internet access for research in national and international databases, along with a diverse collection of books, journals, and multimedia. All UNIP libraries are online and interconnected, providing 24-hour access to services and resources. UNIP continuously invests in expanding its collection, which currently comprises 1,720,314 copies. The university also provides access to online databases via the CAPES Portal and is a member of the Federated Academic Community (CAFe), granting access to databases such as Web of Science, Scopus, Emerald, and Taylor and Francis.

Rector: Sandra Rejane Gomes Miessa
Vice-Rector for Graduate Studies and Research: Prof. Dr. Marina da Camino Ancona Lopez Soligo
Office of Research and Graduate Studies: Prof. Dr. Marina da Camino Ancona Lopez Soligo
Graduate Studies Secretary (Stricto Sensu): Vera Lúcia Carlos Maia
Program Coordinator: Prof. Dr. Marcio Cardoso Machado
Assistant Coordinator: Prof. Dr. Victor Silva Corrêa
Secretary: Aline Nascimento
Phone: +55 11 5586-4040
E-mail: pgadministracao@unip.br

The Graduate Program Self-Assessment Committee is an internal body of the Graduate Programs, responsible for coordinating and conducting self-assessment processes, with the aim of promoting continuous improvement in student training, academic production, and the program's social impact.

Aligned with the guidelines established by the CAPES Self-Assessment Working Group (GT) and the institutional Self-Assessment Committee (CPA), the self-assessment of UNIP's PPGA was conceived as a continuous and formative process, allowing the identification of its strengths and challenges, guiding its strategic planning, and promoting adjustments that ensure greater academic and social quality and relevance. Its main points are described in the program's internal regulations and are based on the following fundamental principles:

1. Alignment of PPGA's self-assessment policy with the Institutional Development Plan—PDI;
2. Formation of a committee composed of the coordinator, faculty, students, and staff to coordinate the self-assessment process;
3. Data collection from graduate students through various instruments and methods, such as focus groups, interviews, questionnaires, meetings, debates, and workshops;
4. Use, in the self-assessment process, of data collected from graduate students, the results of quadrennial evaluations, as well as data from program quality monitoring and its training process;
5. Observation and identification of weaknesses, strengths, strategic challenges, improvements, and future developments;
6. Preparation of partial reports on the implemented self-assessment process, highlighting especially evidenced strengths and weaknesses, as well as a list of possible future actions;
7. Implementation, based on the obtained results, of an action plan to improve the management of the Program's outcomes;
8. Publicize this policy through its dissemination on the Program's website.

Presence on social media and communication channels

The Graduate Program in Administration at Universidade Paulista (Master's and Doctoral) is present on social media. PPGA-UNIP has a LinkedIn page where it shares the main achievements of faculty, students, and alumni. Access is available via the link: https://www.linkedin.com/company/ppg-administra%C3%A7%C3%A3o-unip/posts/?feedView=all