The forms of intermediation in the space of Brazilian micro and small-sized enterprises: SEBRAE, from foundation to performance in the 21st century

Abstract This paper examines the role of the Brazilian service of Support for Micro and Small Enterprises – SEBRAE in Brazil in recent decades organizational environment and aims to contribute to the identification and description of your activity, as a way to understand the organizational transformations of the micro and small companies. Achieving this goal, a field survey was carried out in which were raised institutional documents, records and interviews with professionals connected to the institution. Qualitative analysis were made in the material through five sections: products, agents, customers, structure/strategy and scenario. From the chronological analysis of the data, they were organized in three distinct periods. Each of these temporal spaces significant for the institution’s understanding. In this way, it seeks to portray the processes of transformation and redirection through which SEBRAE has passed in each period, from the foundation to the 21st century, and its forms of intermediation of micro and small Brazilian companies.