The symbolic spaces and the constructions of strategies in the Oiapoque popular shopping

Abstract

It is intended through this article to enlighten how the spatial changes (symbolic and geographical) transformed the business strategies of the informal economic organizations, when they were moved from the streets to a popular shopping named Oiapoque, the first of this kind at Belo Horizonte/MG. Trough the perspective of strategy as a social construction and based on the sociological categories of "rua" (street) and "casa" (home) of DaMatta (1991), about the Brazilian society, it is assumed that the symbolical meaning of the shopping is a fundamental factor on the building strategy process as a social construction. Primaries data were collected trough semi-structured interview and the technique of subject analysis was used. In conclusion, it was perceived that the locus of this research is understood both as "rua" (street) and "casa" (home) by the respondents. The first group tried to sustain their former strategic practice on the new geographical place, the shopping Oiapoque, because they didn't feel it as their "casa" (home). The second group, otherwise, built new strategies practices, based upon the conception as the shopping as a new "casa" (home).