Ação empreendedora no setor público: a criação do setor de “Pós-compra” em uma universidade pública localizada no sul de Minas Gerais

Abstract

The phenomenon of entrepreneurship was restricted to the private sector for many years, however, from the 90’s it began to incorporate Public Administration. In the private sector, the entrepreneurship is focused on creating new goods and services to attend market demands and generate profit for the entrepreneur. In the public sector, entrepreneurship is a mechanism used by governments in order to dispose quality public services to the society and meet their real needs. Usually, the public and private entrepreneurship’s approaches gives more emphasis to the individual than to the action itself. Nevertheless, this kind of approach has become questioned by some scholars who, on the other hand, propose to study the phenomenon from the perspective of entrepreneurial action, since it allows to understand it in a broader way. Entrepreneurial actions can occur both in the private sector, where associated to innovation seek the production of economic results, promote improvements and creative solutions, as in the public sector, where they are geared to serve the citizen, generate social benefits and satisfy the collective interests. In the context of Federal Institutions of Higher Education, the entrepreneurial action is based on an innovative movement that, through the improvement of management and administrative processes, as it has occurred in the field of public procurement, aims the adequate execution of the main activities of teaching, research and extension. However, the perspective of the entrepreneurial action has been little explored in the public sector context. In this sense, the objective of this dissertation was to describe the process of creation and implementation of the "Post-purchase" sector in a public University located in the south of Minas Gerais and to analyze if this action can be considered an entrepreneurial action. For that, a qualitative and descriptive approach was adopted, supported by an observational case study. The information was obtained through three techniques (participant observation, semistructured interview and documentary research) and analyzed by the technique of thematic analysis, based on theoretical categories adopted in the work and by the proposed theoretical scheme. The creating process of the mentioned "Post-purchase" sector started at the end of 2015 in a context marked by the lack of efficiency in the practices of monitor and control of contractual and legal obligations by the bidders and companies contracted. The creation of the sector provided different social results that manifested through the generation of qualitative and quantitative benefits, in addition to serve the public interest. By the characteristics presented, this action can be considered a public entrepreneurial action in the context of the observed University. It was also verified that the public entrepreneurial action is influenced by factors such as organizational context, external context to the organization, life orientation and social interaction. In the dissertation, the theme of "Post-purchase" in public organizations, the management of public Universities and efficiency of public organizations in the acquisition of materials n' services were explored. The proposed theoretical scheme can also be used in different public organizations and spheres of government. Finally, as a practical contribution, a Service Letter was developed to the “Post- purchase” sector of the University under study.