João Carlos Ferraz

Macro/Micro interactions: Economic and institutional uncertainties and structural change in Brazilian industry

This article analyses the ways in which the recent structural evolution of the Brazilian industrial sector has been profoundly influenced by rapid sequential changes in the microeconomic and macroeconomic policy environment. As Brazil moved towards greater openness and macroeconomic stability in the second half of the 1990s, strategies pursued within the industrial sector underwent radical change as enterprises sought to realize badly needed improvements in international competitiveness. This article argues that this process can be best understood in terms of a dynamic, two-way interaction between microeconomic and macroeconomic forces. In particular, it is suggested that ongoing structural change within Brazilian industry may be exerting a significant influence on the nature of current and prospective macroeconomic conditions.

UK Corporate Acquisitions in Latin America in the 1990s: Lost Opportunities in a New Economic Environment

During the 1990s, foreign direct investment flowed into Latin America at an unprecedented rate. Capital inflows associated with privatizations and private mergers and acquisitions (M&As) rose steeply. Drawing on original firm-level transactions data, this article examines the extent to which UK enterprises participated in the Latin American privatization and private M&A boom. The authors conclude that, relative to their counterparts in many other major industrial countries, UK enterprises adopted a cautious stance, largely eschewing privatization opportunities and concentrating M&A activities on relatively few operations, sectors and countries, in order to strengthen product and market positions. Moreover, the strategic logic guiding the most important corporate acquisitions centred on gaining access to domestic markets rather than attempting to create global export platforms. Copyright 2002 CIRIEC.

Corporate Governance, Regulation and the Lingering Role of the State in the Post Privatized Brazilian Steel Industry

Regulating Development examines the impact that regulation – good or bad – can have on the development of poorer societies. It opens with a succinct review of critical issues, including the implications of the spread of intellectual property rights legislation and the role of the World Trade Organisation (WTO).

Economic Instability, Market Opening and Adjustment Strategy in the Brazilian Industry

Following the external debt crisis of 1982, the Brazilian economy entered a period of profound macroeconomic instability, in spite of successive economic plans and policies aimed at stabilization. From the end of the 80s, a new development strategy started to emerge. Since then, trade liberalization has been increased, privatization carried out and free market mechanisms enforced, exposing the local industry to full international competition. However, stability and economic growth were only partially achieved with the Plano Real of 1994. Throughout this process, Brazilian industry has developed a varied adjustment behavior in order to cope with internal macroeconomic changes and external competition. The objective of this paper is to discuss the impacts on the structure of Brazilian industry of the adjustment process it has been through since the early eighties. In order to do that, first, a brief characterization of the institutional changes and the macroeconomic background against which the adjustment process took place is presented. Second, the adjustment strategies adopted by firms aiming at surviving under a hostile environment are reviewed and their main results and problems analyzed. Finally, based on exports and imports time series and on investment data, the impacts of these changes on the structure of Brazilian industry and its future prospects are discussed.

Development, Technology, and Flexibility: Brazil Faces the Industrial Divide@@@Hi-Tech for Industrial Development: Lessons from the Brazilian Experience

1. Introduction and Analytical Framework 2. The Use of Modernizing Innovations Analyzing Circumstances and Prospects 3. The Brazilian Style Development 4. Changes in Industrial Structure, Growth and Competitiveness Expectations for the Future 5. Determinants of Innovation 6. The Diffusion of Modernising Innovations 7. The Implications of Modernizing Innovations 8. Employment and Skills 9. Degradation, Continuation or Transformation?.

Modernizing innovations: Analysing their use and prospects in Brazil

Abstract A recent study, conducted in Brazil, has investigated the difusion of new technologies and new organizational techniques—both important facets of the emerging technoeconomic paradigm—in the context of a newly industrializing country. In addition to examining current levels of use of these innovations in leading firms, it examines the expectations of managers as to future prospects for their use, and the implications for employment, training and competitive circumstances. As well as presenting methodological innovations, this article reports on the empirical results—indicating considerable uptake of some elements of the new paradigm, but less effort with respect to others—and develops scenarios for the future of the Brazilian economy.