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Abstract This paper aims to analyze the role of social protection structures in the economic integration of refugees. While most of the literature on economic integration focuses on refugee access to formal workforce, this paper explores the importance of social protection in the integration process and how it paves the way for greater economic integration. This paper investigates both formal social protection structures and informal ties within immigrant communities that help refugees obtain a basic income while they are in the process of integration. Brazil has no national program for economic integration of refugees and, in terms of social protection structures, they are recipients of the same social assistance programs that are offered to the low-income population. By looking at a conditional cash transfer program, Bolsa Família, and analyzing the access and outcomes of this program for Syrian refugees in the city of São Paulo, this paper shows the limitations of providing these programs to refugees without considering their specificities. In conclusion, for a stronger economic integration, formal structures of social protection need to be more efficient and better address refugees’ needs. In order to conduct this work, I used academic and news articles, and interviewed members from the government and civil society organizations who work with refugee integration.

Abstract Project management increasingly focuses on delivering benefits, considering institutional complexity and global challenges. Inland waterway transport (IWT) projects appear in the Brazilian Nationally Determined Contribution following the Paris Agreement. However, Brazilian IWT projects remain underdeveloped, and waterway freight transport capacity is underutilized. There is a literature gap on the links between budget performance, policy, politics, and project management. In particular, we know little about the effects of the interactions between governance mechanisms and public budget execution on the procurement of waterway transport infrastructure projects in Brazil. This paper aims to assess Brazilian waterway infrastructure budgetary execution and governance arrangements to determine the influence of these factors on policy failures. We performed a qualitative analysis of policy plans and investments made between 2014 and 2020 through interviews and documental research to examine 109 waterway infrastructure projects. All respondents pointed out the lack of planning as an obstacle to waterway projects, and 74% reported budget shortness. Nevertheless, we found USD 43.2 million available in budgets that were never utilized. The inability to invest is a bigger obstacle for Brazilian waterway projects than budget insufficiency. We recommend an adaptive management approach to allocate investments, in which stakeholders learn together to implement more effective project strategies.

Abstract This special issue, generously accepted and published by Cadernos EBAPE.BR, emerges from the daily life-preserving struggles in Brazil and other parts of the Global South against the radical invisibility of colonial and racial oppressions at a time of the double pandemic of COVID-19 and white supremacy. This collection of articles that we have the pleasure to share with you embodies our decolonizing and deracializing response to normalization of necropolitics, of deciding who may live and who must die. This normalization can be seen in the false idea of impunity of law enforcement officials, such as the Minneapolis police officer who killed George Floyd in the USA. It is important to highlight that George Floyd’s death would have been yet another mere statistic if not for the courage and determination of the 17-year-old Black teenager who filmed it with her cell phone. Inspired by the attitude of this Black girl, we brought together eight provocative and insightful articles which will help us to reflect on the struggles faced by marginalized communities and the impact of the domain of Eurocentric perspective on the understanding of management practices and organizations’ dynamics. These papers cover topics such as the role of accounting in the slave-owning system, contemporary forms of slavery in Brazil, and the intersectional experiences of Black women in labor exploitation. Our goal is to challenge existing narratives and shed light on hidden histories to contribute to the decolonization and deracialization within and outside the field of Management and Organizational Studies.

Abstract A few research papers on modern slavery have outlined how this phenomenon flourishes and persists despite institutional pressures against inhumane practices. In order to analyze slavery from an institutional perspective and answer the question of the main factors in the institutional field that sustain modern slavery, qualitative data were collected in the Brazilian context, where the country is widely recognized for its significant actions against modern slavery practices. This study draws on primary and secondary data collected through in-depth interviews and participant observation at conferences, as well as content analysis of documents using NVivo software. The study suggests that certain contextual conditions legitimize organizational practices of formal and informal firms, called institutional deflection. As a contribution to modern slavery management patterns, this article presents the “modern slavery wheel” based on the results of a dynamic cycle that incorporates and systematizes the elements that support the phenomenon. Wheel mechanisms such as favorite conditioning, recurrence, enticement, and truck system seem to contribute to modern slavery practices and their maintenance over time. Moreover, we suggest that these same components may also contribute to breaking the modern slavery wheel

Abstract This special issue of Cadernos EBAPE.BR sought to provoke a reflection focused on uncertain consumption practices in an uncertain future. While prior marketing and consumer research has explored consumer practices framed by an institutionalized, known, and more or less predictable context, the set of articles approved in this edition reveals different nuances. From experiential accounts of grief to the role of music in coping with the struggles of isolation to the overlap of social roles, these papers may help us to reflect on what we can do together, as a society, to tackle the challenges brought by COVID-19 not only at the local level but also globally.

Abstract The phenomenon of watching live online music events became popular during the COVID-19 pandemic as a leisure activity practiced at home while social distancing. For 3 months, they were part of the routine of Brazilians and foreigners, before exponentially losing their audience. This trajectory is the object of research for this paper, studied under the prism of practice theory to understand the elements that form this consumption practice, its synchrony with other everyday practices, and external phenomena that act in the consolidation (or not) of a practice. In-depth interviews were conducted with 24 practitioners, and the results were analyzed through a thematic analysis. The findings provide clues as to why the practice declined, emphasizing the overlapping of practices belonging to the routine created during social distancing and the reduction of the initial originality (understanding) of more intimate lives that get lost in the search for innovations in practice. Possible developments in the future of post-pandemic live events and theoretical and managerial contributions are also discussed.

Abstract The agroecology movement has become the most relevant resistance to agribusiness in Brazil in recent decades. Grounded on Paulo Freire’s liberating education and critical consciousness theories, we aimed to contribute to Organization Studies (OS) on rural social movements by unveiling the case of the agroecology movement in Araponga, Minas Gerais, Brazil, in its formation phase. We asked: How does the beginning of the trajectory of the agroecology movement in Araponga, Minas Gerais, help us reflect on the construction of the protagonism of the oppressed? Through this case, we highlight that to overcome oppressive relationships, small-scale family farming and peasants/rural workers had to first identify themselves under an oppressive system to which they have been historically submitted. Acknowledging their authenticity and autonomous mechanisms of land access were central to developing new forms of production and redefining their identities. Thus, the second important moment is the pedagogy of women and men in a continuous and permanent process of liberation. Hence, the collective identity and resistance building in the agroecology movement in Araponga arose through farmers and rural workers’ struggle and through their self-recognition as a humanized, critical, free, and autonomous people. This reflects the ‘action-reflection-action’ process of collective and horizontal learning where everyone is both educator and learner simultaneously. From this paper, we encourage more reflections in OS on rural movements through the Freirean approach.

Abstract In recent decades, universities have experienced substantial change. Several studies in Brazil and abroad adopted a critical perspective on the marketization of higher education. This paper contributes to this stream of research and focuses on the transformation of a large private university in Brazil. After an investment fund acquired an equity stake in this university, the institution implemented new teaching and administrative practices and adopted values embraced by private financial organizations and a set of so-called modern management methods. We present the case and discuss the perspectives for private higher education institutions and their faculties. We also claim that private universities should be theorized as hybrid organizations. Finally, we speculate on the vectors that could contribute to a positive transformation of private universities.

Abstract This research analyzes the International Master’s Program for Managers (IMPM) internationalization process through a partnership established with a Brazilian Higher Education Institution. IMPM was conceived by Henry Mintzberg in 1996 as a program strong enough to challenge traditional American MBA programs since Mintzberg proposes that “managers not MBAs” should prevail. A critical perspective is adopted here to investigate whether the IMPM privileges an Anglo-Saxon point of view or not. We used a qualitative approach involving ninety-six in-depth interviews with faculty members and directors from both institutions responsible for establishing this partnership and carrying out the Brazilian module of the program, eight of which are addressed in this paper. Professor Henry Mintzberg was one of the interviewees. The findings show that despite all the efforts to preserve local culture, an Anglo-Saxon logic prevails, and there is an imbalance between the initial proposition and the results. There are a lot of unexplored issues to solve considering this framework, and future studies should consider and propose the recognition of the local production of knowledge and cultural diversity as key elements for the success of international partnerships.

Abstract This paper investigates the causes of generational differences at work and their impact on the propensity to trust. We treated propensity to trust as a proxy for social capital, enhancing cooperation and efficiency. We assessed trust variations in a sample of five companies using combined qualitative and quantitative methods to investigate possible differences in the levels of trust among generational cohorts. We conducted 36 in depth-interviews and 24 focus groups and collected 894 valid questionnaires. The qualitative analysis suggests that differences among generations are related to the experience of time and time-flow and uncertainty and vulnerability throughout one’s lifetime. The results confirm that perceived vulnerability negatively affects the predisposition to trust.