Banking efficiency, governance and financial regulation in Brazil: some brief explorative notes

In this note I will analyze briefly some issues that I consider important in the discussion related to the banking efficiency, governance and financial regulation, with special focus on Brazil. The subject is complex as involve different dimensions and I will explore here only some of them, some related to past researches other that should be explored in further research.

Strategic options development and analysis: the case of the brazilian railways

Judging by their success in Europe, Asia and North America, passenger and cargo railways are appreciated as the key to infrastructural development in Brazil. The issues are complex and steeped in uncertainty, as well as political and economic agendas, and a wide array of intersecting issues such as business and unionized interests, agricultural and industrial geographical spreads, as well as the emergence of alternative power sources. Not only are the issues systemic, but railway development itself always comes as a physical network structure. The situation under consideration, in other words, is systemic from both the soft and hard systems point of view, thus promising a rich context for systems studies. As an initial attempt in understanding the situation at hand, the research reported here applied the problem structuring approach known as Strategic Options Development and Analysis (SODA) in order to map and analyze issues facing the Brazilian railways. Strategic options for the future development of the railways were identified and analyzed, and ways forward for future research are proposed. In addition, the report serves as an initial knowledge base that can guide future systemic planning studies in the industry.

Racial discrimination in Brazil: interviews with leaders of the black movement

Racism in Brazil has some specificities when compared to other countries, for, differently from, for instance, South Africa and the United States, Brazilian Constitutions, ever since the Independence (1822), have never distinguished the citizens according to race or color. Furthermore, since the mid-1900s, Afro-Brazilian cultural manifestations, such as, for example, samba and capoeira, started to be valued as a part of our “national identity”. These specificities make race relations in Brazilian society a much more complex issue. This paper is focused on selected parts of interviews that deal with the nature of racial discrimination in Brazil, extracted from interviews with leaders of the black movement produced within the scope of the project “The History of Black Movement in Brazil: organization of a collection of Oral History Interviews”, developed by CPDOC, Getulio Vargas Foundation (Rio de Janeiro). These “histories within history”, as told by our interviewees, may be transformed into images that will be able to condense a given reality, thus allowing us to evaluate the gains obtained by oral history methodology.

Essays on the general equilibrium effects of barriers to trade on economic growth, foreign trade and the location of economic activity in Brazil

This work presents a fully operational interstate CGE model implemented for the Brazilian economy that tries to quantify both the role of barriers to trade on economic growth and foreign trade performance and how the distribution of the economic activity may change as the country opens up to foreign trade. Among the distinctive features embedded in the model, modeling of external scale economies, port efficiency and land-maritime transport costs provides an innovative way of dealing explicitly with theoretical issues related to integrated regional systems. In order to illustrate the role played by the quality of infrastructure and geography on the country‟s foreign and interregional trade performance, a set of simulations is presented where barriers to trade are significantly reduced. The relative importance of trade policy, port efficiency and land-maritime transport costs for the country trade relations and regional growth is then detailed and quantified, considering both short run as well as long run scenarios. A final set of simulations shed some light on the effects of liberal trade policies on regional inequality, where the manufacturing sector in the state of São Paulo, taken as the core of industrial activity in the country, is subjected to different levels of external economies of scale. Short-run core-periphery effects are then traced out suggesting the prevalence of agglomeration forces over diversion forces could rather exacerbate regional inequality as import barriers are removed up to a certain level. Further removals can reverse this balance in favor of diversion forces, implying de-concentration of economic activity. In the long run, factor mobility allows a better characterization of the balance between agglomeration and diversion forces among regions. Regional dispersion effects are then clearly traced-out, suggesting horizontal liberal trade policies to benefit both the poorest regions in the country as well as the state of São Paulo. This long run dispersion pattern, on one hand seems to unravel the fragility of simple theoretical results from recent New Economic Geography models, once they get confronted with more complex spatially heterogeneous (real) systems. On the other hand, it seems to capture the literature‟s main insight: the possible role of horizontal liberal trade policies as diversion forces leading to a more homogeneous pattern of interregional economic growth.

Entry strategies on an emerging market: Brazil: case studies of French cosmetics companies in Brazil

Este trabalho envolve as estrategias de entrada sobre um mercado emergente, o mercado brasileiro. Os estudos de casos que apoiam o assunto são de empresas francesas do setor de cosméticos. Uma revisão da literatura sobre o assunto sera comparada com os resultados dos estudos de caso. Isso para conduzir numa observação do estado atual das caractéristicos de instalação no mercado brasileiro deste setor para empresas estrangeiras de tamanho médio. O estudo da literatura que já existe sobre o assunto se concentra sobre varias problemáticas conectadas com a problemática geral: as razões para internacionalizar, o modo de entrada, os obstáculos encontrados, as estrategias especificais e as adaptações do marketing mix. Depois este trabalho se concentra sobre tres empresas francesas representativas das problematicas atuais do setor : Norlessi, LaboBio e Plains Cosmetics. Os estudos de caso são sustentados por entrevistas e coleção de dados de varios origens, descrevedo mas precisamente na parte de methodologia. Depois será feito uma cross-analysis tentando comparar as conclusões do estudo empirico e do estudo literário. As conclusões finais tem como objetivo de ser uma observação objetiva do raciocinio das empresas consideradas sobre as problemáticas escolhidas.

O processo de institucionalização de um sistema de planejamento governamental : o caso do Estado do Parana

O objetivo da presente monografia é descreveruma experiência de planejamento governamental, mediante a utili zação do modelo de desenvolvimento institucional e enfocando o caso do Estado do Paraná. A escolha do tema decorreu, em grande parte, da existência de um sentimento generalizado nos meios técnicos oficiais, da inviabilidade do planejamento governamental a nível estadual no Brasil; sentimento motivado pela constat~ ção de uma excessiv'a centralização da formulação de políticas públicas e dos seus principais instrumentos implementadores pelo Governo Fedéral. E, .também~ da possibilidade de estar a experiência de planejamento vivida pelo Governo do Paraná, ~o período de 1975 a 1980, sendo conduzida de forma a consti tuir uma exceçao a esse sentimento. o desenvolvimento do estudo utilizou como refe rencial teórico o modelo formulado por Milton J.Esman e Hans C.Blaise, do Inter-University Research program in Institution Building - IRPIB, capitaneado pela Universidade de Pittsburgh. O,modelo fundamenta-se na teoria geral de sistemas e, conse qUentemente, visualiza as organizações como sistemas abertos, em contínuo relacionamento com o meio ambiente,pelo que as diversas variáveis exploradas pelo modelo concentram-se na caracterização de três elementos básicos: a organização, o meio ambiente e as transações. A monografia está dividida em cinco capítulos.No primeiro, uma introdução ao tema procura apontar a sua impor tância, os seus objetivos e a metodologia adotada. O segundo capítulo descreve o modelo teórico e sua utilização como um guia de pesquisa no campo organizacional e faz uma breve re visão da literatura mais relevante. No terceiro capítulo en contra-se uma resenha histórica da utilização do planejameg to governamental no Brasil, mais especificamente no Estadodo Paraná, que evolui até mostrar a configuração organizacio nal atual do sistema de planejamento estadual. O quarto ca pítulo refere-se ã aplicação do modelo teórico, através da identificação das variáveis institucionais (liderança.doutri na. programa. recursos e estrutura interna). dos elos insti tucionais-ambientais (elos capacitadores. normativos. funci~ nais e difusos) e das transações. o que permitiu a formula ção de considerações sobre o grau de institucionalidade. Fi nalmente. no quinto capítulo, estão formuladas as conclusões, com comentários gerais sobre o organismo objeto do estudo e suas perspectivas.

Lean management and innovation in operational efficiency: the EGR project implemented by Pirelli Tyre Brazil in Santo André plant

O trabalho tem como objetivo avaliar e descrever analiticamente a implementação de práticas de manufatura enxuta pela Pirelli Pneus no seu complexo industrial da América Latina. Além de uma descrição estruturada e ampla dos princípios de produção de Toyota e fundamentos teóricos do Lean thinking, uma ênfase especial será dedicada ao projeto EGR (Especialistas em Gestão da Rotina), como uma ferramenta estratégica para ser usada pela empresa multinacional italiana no futuro próximo, de modo a alcançar um resultado mais eficaz e eficiente na gestão da rotina diária. Este projeto, que representa um componente significativo do Pirelli Manufacturing System (PMS) e, principalmente, voltado para supervisores e gestores de plantas, consiste principalmente em ajudar a empresa a desenvolver a capacidade empresarial para avaliar corretamente o gap potencial existente entre os resultados atuais e os esperados, para tanto entender os desvios, bem como as causas subjacentes, e melhorar continuamente o desempenho da empresa por meio da padronização de processos e redução de desperdicios. Esses objetivos podem ser perseguidos, atuando em dois meios essenciais: habilidades técnicas e comportamentais de liderança para apoiar cada equipe de projeto; uma maior eficácia na gestão de indicadores de desempenho nas diferentes unidades de fábrica, de acordo com KPIs estabelecidos no nível central pelo Head Quarter. Além disso, a investigação será focada na experiência peculiar da planta de Santo André, onde o EGR começou como piloto, com o objetivo de captar as alterações relevantes (no lado organizacional e econômico) que este projeto trouxe para a empresa, através da realização de pesquisa de campo e entrevistas, que são orientados a recolher provas, considerações e opiniões de todos os principais atores envolvidos.

The Market for borrowing securities in Brazil

We report the results of an exploratory data analysis of the Brazilian securities lending market. The analysis is performed over the full historical data set of each individual loan offer and loan contract negotiated between January 2007 and August 2013. We give a quantitative description of volume and loan fee trends and fee dependence on asset characteristics. We also unveil new stylized facts specific to the Brazilian market on market access asymmetries between different types of investors. The emerging picture is that the Brazilian securities lending market is a complex environment with specific frictions and strong asymmetries among players. In particular, we describe a tax arbitrage operation performed by domestic mutual funds which generates a significant distortion in the data. In one such event, we estimate additional aggregate profits of 24.25 million Reais (around 10 million Dollars).

Economic landscapes, what are they? an application to the Brazilian economy and to the sugar cane complex

In assessing the economic impact of a sector or group of sectors on a single or multiregional economy, input-output analysis has proven to be a popular method. . However, there has a problem in displaying all the information that can be obtained from this analytical approach. In this paper, we have tried to set new directions in the use of input-output analysis by presenting an improved way of looking at the economic landscapes. While this is not a new concept, a new meaning is explored in this paper; essentially, it will now be possible to visualize, in a simple picture, all the relations in the economy as well as being able to view how one sector is related to the other sectors/regions in the economy. These relations can be measured in terms of structural changes, production, value added, employment, imports, etc. While all the possibilities cannot be explored in this paper, the basic idea is given here and the smart reader can uncover all the various possibilities. To illustrate the power of analysis provided by the economic landscapes, an application is made to the sugar cane complex using an interregional inputoutput system for the Brazilian economy, constructed for 2 regions (Northeast and Rest of Brazil), for the years of 1985, 1992, and 1995.

Corporate diplomacy in action: diplomatic ties of Maersk in Brazil

Durante as últimas três décadas, a globalização tem empurrado empresas em direção a internacionalização, e consequentemente essas mesmas corporações tem se tornada instituições independentes parecidas com estados. Estes “estados independentes” precisam de estratégias internacionais coerentes e relações diplomáticas com funcionários da administração pública a fim de acompanhar as demandas desses mercados, criar estratégias para minimizar riscos, e ganhar legitimidade. O objetivo desta dissertação foi explorer a complexa relação entre o Grupo Maersk e o governo brasileiro e outros atores involvidos no Mercado de olio e gas controllado pelo estado. Afim de compreender o processo de diplomacia corporativa da empresa ,entrevistas semi-estruturadas foram realizadas com os indivíduos presentes na cadeia da diplomacia corporativa da empresa . A descoberta revelou a importância de diplomacia corporativa para a Maersk. Relações diplomáticas pessoais forjadas com entidades representativas e brasileiras são a chave para a Maersk impulsionar seus objetivos. Também mostra a importância das missão diplomáticas dinamarquesa ajudando a empresa a ter acesso a autoridades governamentais.

Social media crises in the organization: exploring management strategies through cases from France and Brazil

The aim of this Master’s thesis has been to shed light on the response strategies that organizations are implementing when facing a crisis created on or amplified by social media. Since the development of social media in the late 1990s, the interplay between the online and the offline spheres has become more complex, and characterized by dynamics of a new magnitude, as exemplified by the wave of “Twitter” Revolutions or the Wikileaks scandal in the mid 2000s, where online behaviors deeply affected an offline reality. The corporate world does not escape to this worldwide phenomenon, and there are more and more examples of organizational reputations destroyed by social media “fireballs”. As such, this research aims to investigate, through the analysis of six recent cases of corporate crises (2013-2015) from France and Brazil, different strategies currently in use in order to identify examples of good and bad practices for companies to adopt or avoid when facing a social media crisis. The first part of this research is dedicated to a review of the literature on crisis management and social media. From that review, we were able to design a matrix model, the Social Media Crisis Management Matrix, with which we analyzed the response strategies of the six companies we selected. This model allows the conceptualization of social media crises in a multidimensional matrix built to allow the choice, according to four parameters, of the most efficient (that is: which will limit the reputational damage) response strategy. Attribution of responsibility for the crisis to the company by stakeholders, the origin of the crisis (internal or external), the degree of reputational threat, and the emotions conveyed online by stakeholders help companies determining whether to adopt a defensive response, or an accommodative response. The results of the analysis suggest that social media crises are rather manichean objects for they are, unlike their traditional offline counterparts, characterized by emotional involvement and irrationality, and cannot be dealt with traditionally. Thus analyzing the emotions of stakeholders proved to be, in these cases, an accurate thermometer of the seriousness of the crisis, and as such, a better rudder to follow when selecting a response strategy. Consequently, in the cases, companies minimized their reputational damage when responding to their stakeholders in an accommodative way, regardless of the “objective” situation, which might be a change of paradigm in crisis management.