Crawling up the value chain: domestic institutions and non-traditional foreign direct investment in Brazil, 1990-2010

Brazil attracted relatively little innovation-intensive and export-oriented foreign investment during the liberalization period of 1990 to 2010, especially compared with competitors such as China and India. Adopting an institutionalist perspective, I argue that multinational firm investment profiles can be partly explained by the characteristics of investment promotion policies and bureaucracies charged with their implementation. Brazil's FDI policies were passive and non-discriminating in the second half of the 1990s, but became more selective under Lula. Investment promotion efforts have often been undercut by weakly coordinated and inconsistent institutions. The paper highlights the need for active, discriminating investment promotion policies if benefits from non-traditional FDI are to be realized.

Human Rights promotion in Serbia: a difficult task for the European Union

This article explores the role of the European Union in the human rights protection, implementation and promotion in Serbia. It is clear that the EU demands on democratisation in the region of Western Balkans are crucial to achieve the respect for human rights. The human rights standards as part of the conditionality criteria of the EU is a clear message towards the countries aspiring membership. However, Serbia progress in the field has been difficult due to several internal constraints. This paper aims to uncover the democratisation process of Serbia on its path towards the EU, and its progress (or not) regarding human rights protection and implementation.

Transaction costs: an empirical analysis of their relationship with investment and foreign direct investment

As stated by the New Institutional Economics theory, transaction costs play a relevant role in economics and, according to the extent of such costs, agents make investment decisions. Actually, transaction costs may represent a disincentive to entrepreneurship. This work aims to verify whether transaction costs are related to investment rate and foreign direct investment rate (FDI) in different business environments. The results suggest that foreign investors do not have precise information about other countries as domestic investors do; as it is observed, only the relation between transaction costs and investment rate is significant. Furthermore, there is evidence that the business environments of BRIC countries are less developed when compared to business environments of other countries in the study

INTERNATIONALIZATION OF STATE-OWNED ENTERPRISES THROUGH FOREIGN DIRECT INVESTMENT

ABSTRACT State-owned enterprises (SOEs) are created to focus on domestic needs, and yet recent evidence points to increasing outward foreign direct investment by SOEs. Existing International Business (IB) theories focus on efficiency-based motives for internationalization; therefore, they do not fully capture SOEs' internalization dynamics, which are driven largely by political factors and social welfare considerations. We integrate public management and IB theories to develop propositions that combine these questions: why SOEs internationalize; what are their motivations; and what are the main managerial outcomes of SOEs' internationalization. Our findings suggest that SOEs display little hesitancy in entering international markets, and that SOE international expansion is not contradictory with the goals of state-ownership if the purpose is to adjust the company to changing institutional environments both in the domestic and international markets. Our propositions about SOE internationalization are based on an in-depth case study of the outward foreign direct investment conducted by Brazil's Petrobras over the past three decades.

Intergenerational interaction in health promotion: a qualitative study in Brazil

OBJECTIVE: In 1994 a pilot intergenerational project was started in the city of Taguatinga, Brazil, to promote the well-being of both elderly and adolescent populations using reminiscence processes as a means of interaction. The purpose of the study is to evaluate the project from the participants' viewpoint and to improve the contribution of those age groups in building up social capital. METHODS: From November 1999 to April 2000 a qualitative study using focus groups technique was conducted. Using a discussion guide, 9 groups of students, ranging in age from 13 to 19 years old, and 3 groups of elderly aged 60 years and over were interviewed to collect data regarding their interaction before and after an intergenerational program. RESULTS: The main findings suggested a change in attitude of young people toward old age and elderly people. Participating elderly people reported improvement in their health status. For both age groups the findings suggested a better understanding between generations. CONCLUSIONS: It seems that reminiscence intergenerational activity contributes to building up mutual trust and reciprocity. These results seem to indicate this is an alternative for investing in social capital and improving participants' well-being. However, further work is needed to support these findings.

Traditional knowledge for promotion of socioeconomic inclusion of local communities

This paper discusses the key role played by public research institutes for promoting socioeconomic inclusion of local communities based on traditional knowledge and traditional medicine. Nongovernmental organizations and cooperatives have had an important role in raising financial resources, being involved with advocacy of local communities and advancing legislation changes. But strict best manufacturing practices regulations imposed by the Brazilian National Health Surveillance Agency on the requirements for approval and commercialization of drugs based on herbal medicine products call for the involvement of strong public research institutes capable of supporting community-based pharmacies. Thus, public research institutes are pivotal as they can conduct scientific research studies to evidence the efficacy of herbal medicine products and help building the capacity of local communities to comply with current regulations.

Brazilian physical activity guidelines as a strategy for health promotion

Public health actions endorsed by the federal government, for instance, health promotion initiatives, usually have greater impact at population level compared to other types of initiatives. This commentary aims to instigate debate on the importance and necessity of producing federally endorsed brazilian physical activity guidelines as a strategy for health promotion.

Prevalence of health promotion programs in primary health care units in Brazil

OBJECTIVE Assessment of prevalence of health promotion programs in primary health care units within Brazil’s health system. METHODS We conducted a cross-sectional descriptive study based on telephone interviews with managers of primary care units. Of a total 42,486 primary health care units listed in the Brazilian Unified Health System directory, 1,600 were randomly selected. Care units from all five Brazilian macroregions were selected proportionally to the number of units in each region. We examined whether any of the following five different types of health promotion programs was available: physical activity; smoking cessation; cessation of alcohol and illicit drug use; healthy eating; and healthy environment. Information was collected on the kinds of activities offered and the status of implementation of the Family Health Strategy at the units. RESULTS Most units (62.0%) reported having in place three health promotion programs or more and only 3.0% reported having none. Healthy environment (77.0%) and healthy eating (72.0%) programs were the most widely available; smoking and alcohol use cessation were reported in 54.0% and 42.0% of the units. Physical activity programs were offered in less than 40.0% of the units and their availability varied greatly nationwide, from 51.0% in the Southeast to as low as 21.0% in the North. The Family Health Strategy was implemented in most units (61.0%); however, they did not offer more health promotion programs than others did. CONCLUSIONS Our study showed that most primary care units have in place health promotion programs. Public policies are needed to strengthen primary care services and improve training of health providers to meet the goals of the agenda for health promotion in Brazil.

Validation of an instrument to evaluate health promotion at schools

ABSTRACT OBJECTIVE To validate an instrument designed to assess health promotion in the school environment. METHODS A questionnaire, based on guidelines from the World Health Organization and in line with the Brazilian school health context, was developed to validate the research instrument. There were 60 items in the instrument that included 40 questions for the school manager and 20 items with direct observations made by the interviewer. The items’ content validation was performed using the Delphi technique, with the instrument being applied in 53 schools from two medium-sized cities in the South region of Brazil. Reliability (Cronbach’s alpha and split-half) and validity (principal component analysis) analyses were performed. RESULTS The final instrument remained composed of 28 items, distributed into three dimensions: pedagogical, structural and relational. The resulting components showed good factorial loads (> 0.4) and acceptable reliability (> 0.6) for most items. The pedagogical dimension identifies educational activities regarding drugs and sexuality, violence and prejudice, auto care and peace and quality of life. The structural dimension is comprised of access, sanitary structure, and conservation and equipment. The relational dimension includes relationships within the school and with the community. CONCLUSIONS The proposed instrument presents satisfactory validity and reliability values, which include aspects relevant to promote health in schools. Its use allows the description of the health promotion conditions to which students from each educational institution are exposed. Because this instrument includes items directly observed by the investigator, it should only be used during periods when there are full and regular activities at the school in question.

Surveillance, health promotion and control of Chagas disease in the Amazon Region - Medical attention in the Brazilian Amazon Region: a proposal

We refer to Oswaldo Cruz’s reports dating from 1913 about the necessities of a healthcare system for the Brazilian Amazon Region and about the journey of Carlos Chagas to 27 locations in this region and the measures that would need to be adopted. We discuss the risks of endemicity of Chagas disease in the Amazon Region. We recommend that epidemiological surveillance of Chagas disease in the Brazilian Amazon Region and Pan-Amazon region should be implemented through continuous monitoring of the human population that lives in the area, their housing, the environment and the presence of triatomines. The monitoring should be performed with periodic seroepidemiological surveys, semi-annual visits to homes by health agents and the training of malaria microscopists and healthcare technicians to identify Trypanosoma cruzi from patients’ samples and T. cruzi infection rates among the triatomines caught. We recommend health promotion and control of Chagas disease through public health policies, especially through sanitary education regarding the risk factors for Chagas disease. Finally, we propose a healthcare system through base hospitals, intermediate-level units in the areas of the Brazilian Amazon Region and air transportation, considering the distances to be covered for medical care.

An analysis of the influence of discount sales promotion in consumer buying intent and the moderating effects of attractiveness

ABSTRACT The purpose of this paper is to analyze the influence of discount sales promotion in the purchase intention and the moderating effects of attractiveness in the relationship between intention to purchase a discounted product and the impulsiveness, hedonic perception and financial risk. Thus, an experiment involving 613 students was conducted. The hypotheses predicted that a product with discount promotion would relate positively with impulsivity, as well as with a hedonic perception about the good offered, and negatively with the perception of financial risk associated with the product offered with discount. A positive moderation was expected of the perceived attractiveness of the announced discount promotion on the intentions of behaviors. The results confirmed the hypothesis, indicating positive effects of impulsivity and hedonic perception by purchasing the discounted products, in addition to the negative link between the intention of purchasing discounted products and the perception of a financial risk. The moderating effects were not confirmed. Final considerations conclude the work.