How does the strategy formation process occur in higher education institutions? - a study in Santa Catarina, Brazil

The objective of this work is to know the process of strategy formation of HEI in the State from Santa Catarina, under four theoretical approaches: process planned, negotiated, permanent construction and change, from the introduction and impact of LGB 9.394 / 96. In terms of methodology, this research took a quantitative approach, using the survey method. This research is classified methodologically as descriptive, exploratory and explanatory. Constituted questionnaire collection instrument composed of 41 closed and objective questions Likert five points type and two associative tables for respondents to relate in order of importance the conditions for the formation of strategies. The questionnaires were distributed during the period of March and April 2011, at 61 HEIs from Santa Catarina, not getting return of 20 institutions. The data were tabulated and received statistical treatment through the software Statistical Package for the Social Sciences - SPSS version 20.0, making use of multivariate statistics for analysis purposes. The results go back to the process of strategy formation is strongly influenced by the task and the variables of the overall environment and atmosphere that HEIs realize its strategy as supported by the planned training strategies process. This study provided a better understanding of how the strategies in HEIs are formed in the face of environmental conditions and the choices that the leaders make to fulfill their purposes, since their performance has a strong relation with the administrative policies adopted, but mainly because of the implications that the strategic decisions adopted have contributed to its evolution.