Organizational secrecy as viewed by the agents of a multinational corporation: A Case Study

Homero Cremm Busnelo; Julio Cesar Donadone

doi:10.1590/1806-9649-2020v28e5700

Artigo Original

Organizational secrecy as viewed by the agents of a multinational corporation: A Case Study

Homero Cremm Busnelo; Julio Cesar Donadone

http://dx.doi.org/10.1590/1806-9649-2020v28e5700 Gest. Prod., vol.28, n1, 5700, 2021

PDF

SciELO

Downloads: 0

Abstract

abstract: Only a limited number of theoretical studies have been conducted with regards to the issue of organizational secrecy. This study examines similar and different views about secrecy within three executive levels of an industrial multinational organization named Motores. This is achieved through a case study for which the data has been collected by using a survey-like questionnaire and semi-structured interviews. The different maturity levels and process structures in the enterprise account not only for different stages, concerns, and types of knowledge involved in addressing secrecy, but also for the role boundaries among the agents surveyed. Furthermore, while these agents are well acquainted with suppliers and customers, whereby confidentiality is ensured through confidentiality agreements (NDAs) and patent protection, their relationships with institutions and organizations appear to be areas of little or no knowledge, especially when it concerns competitors, class entities, and government relations. Leaks of classified information occur, and the places and situations where they may take place are identified. No potential mitigation situations were identified in our case study, and no systemic protocol exists for dealing with classified topics in the different areas where secrecy is involved, including business strategies. Transparency is recognized and desired; however, its risks and consequences require evaluation.

Keywords

Information secrecy, Transparency, Hierarchical view, Social process, Governance

Referências

Arnott D. C. Trust–current thinking and future research. European Journal of Marketing. 2007;41(9/10):981-7.

Barca M. Economic foundations of strategic management.. 2017.

Barney J. B. Gaining and sustaining competitive advantage.. 2006.

Bertram D. Likert scales. 2007.

Bobbio N. Democracia e segredo. 2015.

Bok S. Secrets: On the ethics of concealment and revelation.. 1989.

Lei nº 12.529, de 30 de novembro de 2011. Dispõe sobre a Estrutura o Sistema Brasileiro de Defesa da Concorrência; dispõe sobre a prevenção e repressão às infrações contra a ordem econômica. 2011.

Bromiley P. The behavioural foundations of strategic management. The International Journal of Leadership in Public Services. 2005;1(1):56-7.

Busnelo H. C. Confidentiality-multiple dimensions: Action of agents, forms of understanding and organizational dynamics. 2018.

Busnelo H. C., Donadone J. C. Triad of secrecy in organizations: secret information understanding and boundaries that might impact on strategy. 2019.

Capasso A., Dagnino G. B. Beyond the “silo view” of strategic management and corporate governance: Evidence from Fiat, Telecom Italia and Unicredit. The Journal of Management and Governance. 2014;18(4):929-57.

Capasso A., Dagnino G. B., Lanza A. Strategic capabilities and knowledge transfer within and between organizations: New perspectives from acquisitions, networks, learning and evolution.. 2005.

Charreaux G., Desbrières P. Corporate governance: stakeholder value versus shareholder value. The Journal of Management and Governance. 2001;5(2):107-28.

Coff R. W. Human assets and management dilemmas: coping with hazards on the road to resource-based theory. Academy of Management Review. 1997;22(2):374-402.

Costas J., Grey C. Bringing secrecy into the open: Towards a theorization of the social processes of organizational secrecy. Organization Studies. 2014;35(10):1423-47.

Currall S. C., Inkpen A. C. A multilevel approach to trust in joint ventures. Journal of International Business Studies. 2002;33(3):479-95.

Delerue H., Lejeune A. Managerial secrecy and intellectual asset protection in SMEs: The role of institutional environment. Journal of International Management. 2011;17(2):130-42.

Denis D. K. Twenty‐five years of corporate governance research… and counting. Review of Financial Economics. 2001;10(3):191-212.

Derrida J., Brault P. A., Naas M. “To do justice to Freud”: The history of madness in the age of psychoanalysis. Critical Inquiry. 1994;20(2):227-66.

Diefenbach T., Sillince J. A. Formal and informal hierarchy in different types of organization. Organization Studies. 2011;32(11):1515-37.

Donaldson L., Davis J. H. Stewardship theory or agency theory: CEO governance and shareholder returns. Australian Journal of Management. 1991;16(1):49-64.

Dufresne R. L., Offstein E. H. On the virtues of secrecy in organizations. Journal of Management Inquiry. 2008;17(2):102-6.

Fama E. F., Jensen M. C. Separation of ownership and control. The Journal of Law & Economics. 1983;26(2):301-25.

Ferrin D. L., Dirks K. T., Shah P. P. Direct and indirect effects of third-party relationships on interpersonal trust. The Journal of Applied Psychology. 2006;91(4):870-83.

Friedman D. D., Landes W. M., Posner R. A. Some economics of trade secret law. The Journal of Economic Perspectives. 1991;5(1):61-72.

Petrobras divulga nota sobre furto de dados. . 2008.

Galison P. Removing knowledge. Critical Inquiry. 2004;31(1):229-43.

Goffman E. The presentation of self in everyday life. 1978:56.

Goffman E. Stigma: notes on the management of spoiled identity.. 2009.

Grandori A., Soda G. Inter-firm networks: antecedents, mechanisms and forms. Organization Studies. 1995;16(2):183-214.

Granovetter M. Economic Action and Social Structure: The problem of embeddednes. AJS. 1985;91(3):481-510.

Grey C., Costas J. Secrecy at work: The hidden architecture of organizational life.. 2016.

Habermas J., Habermas J. The structural transformation of the public sphere: An inquiry into a category of bourgeois society.. 1991.

Hannah D. R. An examination of the factors that influence whether newcomers protect or share secrets of their former employers. Journal of Management Studies. 2007;44(4):465-87.

Harrigan K. R. Declining demand, divestiture, and corporate strategy.. 2003.

Hart O., Moore J. Property rights and the nature of the firm. Journal of Political Economy. 1990;98(6):1119-58.

Horn E. Logics of political secrecy. Theory, Culture & Society. 2011;28(7-8):103-22.

Hoskisson R. E., Cannella Jr A. A., Tihanyi L., Faraci R. Asset restructuring and business group affiliation in French civil law countries. Strategic Management Journal. 2004;25(6):525-39.

Jensen M. C. Value maximization, stakeholder theory, and the corporate objective function. Business Ethics Quarterly. 2002;12(2):235-56.

Jensen M. C., Meckling W. H. Theory of the firm: managerial behavior, agency costs and ownership structure. Journal of Financial Economics. 1976;3(4):305-60.

Jensen M. C., Warner J. B. The distribution of power among corporate managers, shareholders, and directors. Journal of Financial Economics. 1988;20:3-24.

Kroeger F. Trusting organizations: the institutionalization of trust in interorganizational relationships. Organization. 2012;19(6):743-63.

Ku A. S. Boundary politics in the public sphere: Openness, secrecy, and leak. Sociological Theory. 1998;16(2):172-92.

Lafer C. Vazamentos, sigilo, diplomacia: a propósito do significado do WikiLeaks. Política Externa. 2011;19(04):11-7.

Maccarthy B. L., Fernandes F. C. A multi-dimensional classification of production systems for the design and selection of production planning and control systems. Production Planning and Control. 2000;11(5):481-96.

March J. G., Simon H. A. Organizations.. 1958.

March J. G., Schulz M., Zhou X. The dynamics of rules: Change in written organizational codes.. 2000.

Marin L. The logic of the secret. Cross readings. 1998:195-204.

Porta R. L., Lopez-De-Silane F., Shleifer A., Vishny R. W. Trust in large organizations. 1996.

Porter M. E. Competitive advantage: creating and sustaining superior performance.. 2008.

Rao A., Schmidt S. M. A behavioral perspective on negotiating international alliance. Journal of International Business Studies. 1998;29(4):665-94.

Roe E. Narrative policy analysis.. 1994.

Rumelt R. P., Schendel D. E., Teece D. J. Fundamental issues in strategy: A research agenda.. 1995.

Simmel G. The sociology of secrecy and of secret societies. American Journal of Sociology. 1906;11(4):441-98.

Stohl C., Stohl M. Secret agencies: the communicative constitution of a clandestine organization. Organization Studies. 2011;32(9):1197-215.

Teece D. J. Contributions and impediments of economic analysis to the study of strategic management.. 1988.

Teece D. J., Pisano G., Shuen A. Dynamic capabilities and strategic management. Strategic Management Journal. 1997;18(7):509-33.

The Snowden effect. . 2013.

Thompson E. D., Kaarst‐Brown M. L. Sensitive information: a review and research agenda. Journal of the American Society for Information Science and Technology. 2005;56(3):245-57.

Vermeir K., Margócsy D. States of secrecy: An introduction. British Journal for the History of Science. 2012;45(2):153-64.

Warren S. D., Brandeis L. D. Right to privacy. Harvard Law Review. 1890;4(5):193.

Weber M. Ensaios de Sociologia. 2013.

Williamson O. E. Corporate Governance. 1984.

Yin R. K. Case study research: Design and methods (applied social research methods).. 2009.

Yu R., Weise E. Hackers demand ransom for stolen Disney movie. USA today. 2017.

Zaheer A., Harris J. Interorganizational Trust. Handbook of strategic Alliances. 2006:169-98.

Zerubavel E. The elephant in the room: silence and denial in everyday life.. 2006.

Zucker L. G., Darby M. R., Brewer M. B. Intellectual capital and the birth of US biotechnology enterprises. 1994.

Organizational secrecy as viewed by the agents of a multinational corporation: A Case Study

Homero Cremm Busnelo; Julio Cesar Donadone

Abstract

Keywords

Referências

Links

Compartilhar

Gest. Prod.