Processos inovativos na produção artesanal: o caso de Feliz Deserto/AL

Abstract

Public policies in the Alagoas state have aimed at identifying and encouraging development alternatives to increase social inclusion. In connection with such policies, handcraft has been a key activity given its possibilities to employ the so-called poorly-trained people in simple types of activities. In order to identify elements that are useful to the development of handcraft as an economic activity, this study examined the handcraft production of Feliz Deserto, a municipality that is located in the south coast of Alagoas. The study included the following steps: description of the Innovative Local System (ILS); examination of its role in the development of innovations; mapping of the productive process, trying to pin-point where innovation takes place, types of innovation, the adopted innovative practices, the gains that have been resulted, and its influence or not on the maintenance of the essence (authenticity) of the local handcraft. The study was exploratory in nature and it applied the following data collection instruments/strategies: open interviews and non-participant observation. Evidence was found that the Feliz Deserto’s ILS has led to non-technological innovations, essentially organizational, incremental, intra-organizational and at the local scale. The ILS appears to have reached a mature development level in which a force dynamics was identified which is dependent on such factors as geographical and institutional proximities and a capacity for financial investment. Evidence was also found according to which despite the changes in the productive profile and increase in productivity, the work that has resulted from the ILS hás contributed to the strengthening of the authenticity of the local handwork.