THEORETICAL AND METHODOLOGICAL FRAMEWORK TO IDENTIFYING STRATEGIC CATEGORIES IN THE BRAZILIAN MOBILE PHONE SECTOR (BMPS): TOWARDS THEORY DEVELOPMENT

Abstract

The Brazilian Mobile Phone Sector (BMPS) has been through a series of technological and structural changes in the past few years, which have directly impacted strategic issues that should be taken into consideration by companies in this sector. This article addresses three main objectives: the first is to explore some strategic BMPS categories; the second is to build a theoretical and methodological framework from them; and the third is to present a value-added model supporting theory development. Towards that aim, we build on a theoretical approach to competitive strategy, technological innovation and stakeholders theory, and perform an empirical research supported by interviews with Brazilian experts from the sector; the interviews were further analyzed from a content analysis perspective. The key result from this study concerns the very theoretical and methodological framework for the BMPS, and such a framework can be conceived as a value-added contribution to theory. It is worth noting that some advances over traditional approaches to framework development are made, as well as regarding particular content analysis procedures.