STRATEGY, COMPETENCES AND LEARNING: A SUPERMARKET CASE IN THE CITY OF SOROCABA

Abstract

This paper examines the link among strategy, skills and learning, based on a supermarket case in the city of Sorocaba. The paper takes learning as beliefs changes that has impact over strategies and argue how the competences are based on customers’ value perceptions, the Critical Success Factors (FCS). To take the FCS in this case it using the trade-off matrix to set the preferences for a number of people in a set of variables. The experiment involved the preferences investigation of two hundred customers of a supermarket with relation to seven attributes related to services provision. The research revealed the misalignment between what the company considered competence and what the customers really valorized. The finding starts a learning process with beliefs replace, strategic reorientation and investment in new business competences. Another point to be noted is the use of Trade-off matrix as research technique appropriate to Micro and Small Enterprises due a low cost and also  not requires hard procedures of technological knowledge for use the tool enabling reliable results and capable of changing the Micro and Small Enterprises learning structure.