Papel da informatização na pequena e média empresa brasileira: investimentos em TI, percepção da gestão e impacto nos resultados

In this competitive environment globalized that we live nowadays there is a growing recognition of the central role of Information Technology (IT) to determine the success of the company, leading to better results. SMEs have also adopted IT with the same purpose, obtaining benefits of such use, but their reality is quite different in most cases of the large enterprises, especially for lack of the same resources and skills in the IT field. Apart from the competition sometimes other factors such as legal requirements in the Brazilian case, requires that companies seeks greater computerization. As companies are in different kind and stages of computerization, and especially also because IT plays a different role in each company, this study aims to determine whether there is a correlation between spending and IT investments and the performance of small and medium Brazilian companies. The study seeks to capture the differences in the outcome of the company arising from the use of IT, and for this observes financial data, taking into account also the executive's perceptions about the role that IT play in business. The methodology involves the application of questionnaires to obtain quantitative data on the profile of the use of IT and financial information; as well as qualitative data on the perception of the Information Technology role in business. After what was applied the cluster analysis technique, which presented four groups with different behaviors in relation to variables, called "Digital"; "Prudent"; "Conservatives" and "Analog". The results point to evidences of the relationship between IT spending and investments and the increase of the company's profitability, especially when in the presence of specific perceptions of managers about the role that IT plays in the company. Companies with a higher level of IT expenditure and investment, combined with a strong awareness of managers that IT can contribute positively to the company's objectives, result in a higher level of profitability, while companies whose managers realize, intensely, that IT can not contribute positively to the company's goals, even if the IT spending and investments are considered above average levels, have a lower level of profitability. This work studied 355 small and medium Brazilian companies, and the main conclusion was that the higher the perception of managers of the positive impact of IT in the company's business processes as a whole, the greater the impact of IT spending and investments in profitability company.