Efeitos da flexibiliza����o das rela����es de trabalho na qualidade de vida no trabalho : o caso da regi��o metropolitana de Curitiba

A acirrada competi����o econ��mica e a profunda revolu����o tecnol��gica imp��em ��s organiza����es contempor��neas mudan��as significativas na organiza����o da produ����o. Nesse contexto configuram-se algumas contradi����es. Por um lado exalta-se a import��ncia da participa����o do trabalhador como fator decisivo na constru����o de vantagens competitivas, uma vez que o sucesso da organiza����o tem como um dos principais requisitos a implanta����o de modelos de funcionamento que contemplem atividades geradoras de conhecimento novo, disseminem-no amplamente a toda organiza����o e, rapidamente, incorporem-no a novas tecnologias e produtos. Por outro lado, tamb��m na busca de maiores graus de competitividade, pr��ticas de flexibiliza����o das rela����es de trabalho v��m sendo adotadas como forma de diminui����o dos custos de produ����o, atrav��s da redu����o das formas de prote����o da rela����o de trabalho. No Brasil, a a����o flexibilizante j�� vem ocorrendo desde 1965 e encontra-se hoje em tramita����o no Congresso Nacional o Projeto de Lei 5483/2001 que, alterando o art. 618 da Consolida����o das Leis do Trabalho, pretende a preval��ncia do negociado sobre o legislado. Neste sentido, o objetivo da pesquisa �� verificar os efeitos da flexibiliza����o das rela����es de trabalho na qualidade de vida no trabalho, no que se refere, especificamente, �� gest��o do conhecimento e ��s necessidades sociais do trabalhador quanto aos seus benef��cios diretos e espont��neos. Configura-se como um estudo de campo com foco nas organiza����es, a partir dos representantes da ��rea de gest��o de pessoas e nos trabalhadores das ind��strias, com mais de quinhentos funcion��rios, instaladas na Regi��o Metropolitana de Curitiba. O m��todo utilizado para tratamento dos dados possibilita mensura����o de vari��veis qualitativas e o estabelecimento da comparabilidade entre os trabalhadores sujeitos ��s pr��ticas de flexibiliza����o e os demais trabalhadores. Os dados coletados por meio de question��rios revelaram que a flexibiliza����o das rela����es de trabalho faz parte integrante do novo perfil das organiza����es e que h�� hoje uma tend��ncia de implemento com a abertura legal. Os efeitos causados por essa a����o sobre a qualidade de vida no trabalho revelam-se predat��rios, na medida em que os trabalhadores com contratos de trabalho flexibilizados encontram-se em posi����o de desvantagem no acesso �� aprendizagem dentro das organiza����es e, tamb��m, na satisfa����o de suas necessidades sociais. Na an��lise comparativa entre as duas categorias de trabalhadores, foi poss��vel verificar diferen��as significativas no que diz respeito aos indicadores de participa����o no processo produtivo atrav��s da freq����ncia m��dia de solu����es apresentadas e incorporadas, da participa����o nos processos de aquisi����o do conhecimento, no acesso a benef��cios diretos e espont��neos e na satisfa����o com o ambiente de trabalho. Essas constata����es permitem concluir que as organiza����es, quando na busca de maior competitividade, incorrem em equ��vocos �� medida em que desconsideram a qualidade de vida no trabalho, especificamente no que diz respeito �� gest��o do conhecimento e �� satisfa����o das necessidades sociais como fatores maximizantes do desenvolvimento econ��mico e de incremento da produ����o.

Business competition dynamics: agent-based modeling simulations of firms in search of economic performance

A inten����o deste trabalho �� explorar din��micas de competi����o por meio de ���simula����o baseada em agentes���. Apoiando-se em um crescente n��mero de estudos no campo da estrat��gia e teoria das organiza����es que utilizam m��todos de simula����o, desenvolveu-se um modelo computacional para simular situa����es de competi����o entre empresas e observar a efici��ncia relativa dos m��todos de busca de melhoria de desempenho teorizados. O estudo tamb��m explora poss��veis explica����es para a persist��ncia de desempenho superior ou inferior das empresas, associados ��s condi����es de vantagem ou desvantagem competitiva

Estimating economic interactions of financial suppliers in Thailand

This paper presents a methodology to estimate and identify different kinds of economic interaction, whenever these interactions can be established in the form of spatial dependence. First, we apply the semi-parametric approach of Chen and Conley (2001) to the estimation of reaction functions. Then, the methodology is applied to the analysis financial providers in Thailand. Based on a sample of financial institutions, we provide an economic framework to test if the actual spatial pattern is compatible with strategic competition (local interactions) or social planning (global interactions). Our estimates suggest that the provision of commercial banks and suppliers credit access is determined by spatial competition, while the Thai Bank of Agriculture and Agricultural Cooperatives is distributed as in a social planner problem.

Essays on economic growth

A fundamental question in development economics is why some economies are rich and others poor. To illustrate the income per capita gap across economies consider that the average gross domestic product (GDP) per capita of the richest 10 percent of economies in the year 2010 was a factor of 40-fold that of the poorest 10 percent of economies. In other words, the average person in a rich economy produces in just over 9 days what the average person in a poor economy produces in an entire year. What are the factors that can explain this difference in standard of living across the world today? With this in view, this dissertation is a conjunction of three essays on the economic growth field which we seek a possible responses to this question. The first essay investigates the existence of resource misallocation in the Brazilian manufacturing sector and measures possible distortions in it. Using a similar method of measurement to the one developed by Hsieh and Klenow (2009) and firm-level data for 1996-2011 we find evidence of misallocation in the manufacturing sector during the observed period. Moreover, our results show that misallocation has been growing since 2005, and it presents a non-smooth dynamic. Significantly, we find that the Brazilian manufacturing sector operates at about 50% of its efficient product. With this, if capital and labor were optimally reallocated between firms and sectors we would obtain an aggregate output growth of approximately 110-180% depending on the mode in which the capital share is measured. We also find that the economic crisis did not have a substantial effect on the total productivity factor or on the sector's misallocation. However, small firms in particular seem to be strongly affected in a global crisis. Furthermore, the effects described would be attenuated if we consider linkages and complementarity effects among sectors. Despite Brazil's well-known high tax burden, there is not evidence that this is the main source of resource misallocation. Moreover, there is a distinct pattern of structural change between the manufacturing sectors in industrialized countries and those in developing countries. Therefore, the second essay demonstrate that this pattern differs because there are some factors that distort the relative prices and also affect the output productivity. For this, we present a multi-sector model of economic growth, where distortions affect the relative prices and the allocation of inputs. This phenomenon imply that change of the production structure or perpetuation of the harmful structures to the growth rate of aggregate output. We also demonstrate that in an environment with majority decision, this distortion can be enhanced and depends on the initial distribution of firms. Furthermore, distortions in relative prices would lead to increases in the degree of misallocation of resources, and that imply that there are distinct patterns of structural changes between economies. Finally, the calibrated results of the framework developed here converge with the structural change observed in the firm-level data of the Brazilian manufacturing sector. Thereafter, using a cross-industry cross-country approach, the third essay investigates the existence of an optimal level of competition to enhance economic growth. With that in mind, we try to show that this optimal level is different from industrialized and under development economies due to the technology frontier distance, the terms of trade, and each economy's idiosyncratic characteristics. Therefore, the difference in competition industry-country level is a channel to explain the output for worker gap between countries. The theoretical and empirical results imply the existence of an inverted-U relationship between competition and growth: starting for an initially low level of competition, higher competition stimulates innovation and output growth; starting from a high initial level of competition, higher competition has a negative effect on innovation and output growth. Given on average industries in industrialized economies present higher competition level. With that if we control for the terms of trade and the industry-country fixed effect, if the industries of the developing economy operated under the same competition levels as of the industrialized ones, there is a potential increase of output of 0.2-1.0% per year. This effect on the output growth rate depends on the competition measurement used.

Creditor's protection and bank loans: lack of competition hamprers bankruptcy reform's effects

This dissertation investigates how credit institutions��� market power limits the effects of creditor protection rules on the interest rate and the spread of bank loans. We use the Brazilian Bankruptcy Reform of June/2005 (BBR) as a legal event affecting the institutional environment of the Brazilian credit market. The law augments creditor protection and aims to improve the access of firms to the credit market and to reduce the cost of borrowing. Either access to credit or the credit cost are also determined by bank industry competition and the market power of suppliers of credit. We derive a simple economic model to study the effect of market power interacting with cost of lending. Using an accounting and operations dataset from July/2004 to December/2007 provided by the Brazilian Central Bank, we estimate that the lack of competition in the bank lending industry hinders the potential reducing effect of the BBR on the interest rate of corporate loans by approximately 30% and on the spread by approximately 23%. We also find no statistical evidence that the BBR affected the concentration level of the Brazilian credit market. We present a brief report on bankruptcy reforms around the world, the changes in the Brazilian legislation and on some recent related articles in our introductory chapter. The second chapter presents the economic model and the testable hypothesis on how the lack of competition in the lending market limits the effects of improved creditor protection. In this chapter, we introduce our empirical strategy using a differences-in-differences model and we estimate the limiting effect of market power on the BBR���s potential to reduce interest rates and on the spread of bank loans. We use the BBR as an exogenous event that affects collateralized corporate loans (treatment group) but that does not affect clean consumer loans (control group) to identify these effects, using different concentration measures. In Chapter 3, we propose a two-stage empirical strategy to handle the H���Statistics proposed by Panzar and Rosse as a measure of market competition. We estimate the limiting effects of the lack of competition in replacing the concentration statistics by the H���Statistics. Chapter 4 presents a structural break test of the concentration index and checks if the BBR affects the dynamic evolution of the concentration index.