Strategic Cost Management in a Closed Complementary Pension Entity

Abstract

Given the current speculation that concern the pension reform in Brazil, proposed by the Federal Government, is timely strategic analysis of private pension sector structural closed in the country. Thus, this study aims to identify how its value chain, strategic positioning and the cost drivers (of costs) in a Brazilian Pension Fund, adapting the guidelines originally proposed by Shank and Govindarajan (1993) and Costa (2011). To this end, we conducted a case study with semi-structured interviews, observation and document analysis. The results present the settings, links and existing activities in the value chain, highlighting the strategic suppliers, since actuarial consultancy, investment and legal; the internal activities of the entity, that start in attracting participants contributions collection, application and granting of benefits; and participants who receive the benefits of retirement, sickness, pension and annuity. External factors are also shown, in addition to the strategic position of the entity. The analysis of the determinants of costs demonstrates the importance of the commitment, experience, quality, technology, model management, scope, scale, and institutional factors in the costs of the organization.