The use of information from the environment in the strategic decision-making process of Brazilian and American business owners of small business

This study aims to understand the practices of Brazilian and American small and medium enterprises with regard to the use of environmental information in the strategic decision-making process. Some aspects were studied in depth: description of the activities performed by these business owners regarding the environmental information and analysis of the differences and similarities between the practices of business owners in the two countries. The research is of an exploratory nature, with a qualitative approach that used the mapping of experiences as a method. The results suggest that both Brazilians and Americans sought to use information from the environment as an aid in the process of strategic decision-making. Some differences were noticed between Brazilian and American practices: the use of intuition, the sharing with family members and the dissemination of environmental information among team members. This study may contribute to the competitiveness of smaller companies in Brazil, which are still susceptible to a high mortality rate. Keywords: environmental information, strategic decision, small and medium enterprises, Brazilian and Americans business owners.