Resumen

MELEAN ROMERO, Rosana  y  NAVA VASQUEZ, Yuneska. Business Strategies Applied to the Productive Process for the Pasta Industry in the State of Zulia. Revista Venezolana de Gerencia [online]. 2007, vol.12, n.39, pp.431-450. ISSN 1315-9984.

This article analyzes the business strategies applied by pasta industries in the State of Zulia for organizing their productive processes. The research is of a descriptive type, using a non-experimental, field approach; it begins with a brief description of the food industry context in order to later carry out a theoretical-practical analysis of the intra-company strategies applied in the industry’s productive processes. Empirical information was collected using a questionnaire applied to the plant managers for the analysis units. Results indicated that large companies have adopted business strategies directed toward the interior of their installations; they have modernized their processes by adopting automated production technology for manufacturing long and short pasta, in addition to the strategy of subcontracting in order to externalize the process for making specialties in cottage industries.  On the other hand, small companies do not apply business strategies; their production technology is mechanized and they do not include specialties in their product portfolio. Conclusions are that in large companies, the modernization of production lines for long and short pasta have allowed for reorganizing processes, continually improving them and despite reducing the number of jobs, the amount is minimal to talk about numerical flexibilizing. The fundamental reason for subcontracting specialty manufacture is cost reduction, while in the small companies, none of these strategies are present.

Palabras clave : Business strategies; productive process; technological modernization; externalization; pasta industry.