Localization strategies of multinationals in Brazil which characteristics of the Brazilian market force multinational companies to localize their marketing activities?

Uma vez que as perspectivas de crescimento económico nos países mais desenvolvidos, como a Europa, os EUA eo Japão estão diminuindo, os mercados emergentes têm se tornado cada vez mais importante para muitas empresas multinacionais. Brasil, Rússia, Índia e China (BRICs) são agora os principais mercados em crescimento em todo o mundo e as empresas estão buscando estratégias para explorar ao máximo o potencial de consumo promissor nessas regiões. Um dos modos mais elaborados de prosseguir essa estratégia é conhecida como "localização" - uma adaptação das práticas de negócios (ao longo de toda a cadeia de suprimentos) com as preferências e condições locais. Este artigo é projetado para analisar as atividades de localização de empresas multinacionais no Brasil. O foco da análise é o de investigar as características do mercado brasileiro, que induzem as multinacionais a localizar o seu marketing mix (composto de produto, preço, colocação e promoção). Em dois estudos de casos com a empresa Suiça Nestlé e a empresa Alemã Volkswagen vários padrões de localização foram no mercado consumidor brasileiro. Os quatro resultados mais significativos da análise são os diferentes padrões sociais o Brasil, que forçar as empresas a reformular certas funções do seu mix de marketing (por exemplo, a colocação no caso da Nestlé), a aceitação dos consumidores brasileiros a pagar preços relativamente elevados (por exemplo, taxas de Volkswagen até 100% mais por seus produtos em relação à Alemanha); o enorme tamanho do Brasil ea infra-estrutura deficiente, que exigem uma abordagem de distribuição localizada; eo caráter atualmente ainda menos exigente dos estratos de consumidores brasileiros emergentes, que permitem às empresas oferecer produtos menos sofisticados em comparação aos mercados europeus.

Global governance, currency and trade: implications of one on the other, common problems and how to address cooperation through law at the international level

How to deal with the impacts of the exchange rate on the trade balance of Brazil? There is not a single answer to such question. In order to find out some legal approaches for this matter, this paper aims to describe and analyze the role of the IMF, WTO and the governments of Brazil and the United States on the currency misalignments, especially the extraterritorial effects of such misalignment on the Brazil’s bilateral trade with the United States. The article concludes that the Currency Swap Agreements and other bilateral solutions may minimize the distortions that the Brazilian balance of payment against the USA is carrying, due to the lack of legal solutions for the problem of the exchange rate misalignments that Brazil is facing.

Estrutura institucional e política monetária na República Popular da China

A história da República Popular da China e do Partido Comunista Chinês é uma história de conflitos inter- e intraorganizacionais. Entretanto, desde a ascensão de Deng XiaoPing não houve uma ruptura institucional, apesar do número de interesses e a complexidade terem aumentado. Com base nas reformas no sistema financeiro e no financiamento de longo-prazo para os governos subnacionais, pretende-se demonstrar os conflitos que ocorrem entre os diferentes agentes que possuem interesses quanto a alocação dos recursos financeiros, as mudanças institucionais geradas para acomodar as diferentes demandas, e recentemente o projeto de urbanizar a população chinesa como um projeto político prioritário do novo governo. O aspecto institucional e conflitivo entre diferentes organizações provocam um trade-off que estrutura a economia chinesa e as futuras reformas e políticas públicas que serão implementadas.

Assesment of port governance in Brazil: a managerial perspective on the port of Santos

The role of maritime transportation within international trade was drastically revamped during the inception of the globalization process, which enhanced the contribution of ports in world economy as main logistics gateways for global production and trade. As a result, the relationship between ports and governments has changed. Devolution ideologies that had been applied in other industries decades ago were now being considered by governments for the port industry. Many central governments sought to extract themselves from commercial activities of ports and devolving this responsibility to local governments, communities or private entities. The institution of devolution programs also changed the governance structures of ports further influencing port performance. Consequently, the recent worldwide trend towards devolution in the port industry has spawned considerable variety of governance models that are now set in place around the world. While some countries opt for more decentralized structures others prefer to retain a centralization of powers. In this way some governments consider local features and national integration more than others, which ultimately influence the success of a port reform implementation. Nevertheless, the prime intent of governments is now to maximize the efficiency and performance of their domestic ports. This issue intends to examine the changed port governance environment in Brazil by determining how and why imposed port reforms of the Brazilian federal government have been affecting the overall performance of the national port system, over the last decades, using the Port of Santos as a sample upon an exploratory study. For that, the study will use a contingency theory-based framework – the Matching Framework - that views port performance as a function of the fit among the dimensions of external operating environment, strategy and structure of a port organization. In essence, the greater the fit among these dimensions the better the expected performance of a port will be, and vice-versa. Port managers, government officials and academics alike shall be interested in this document.

Is what you say what you do? Analyzing and comparing the effect of buyer-supplier relationship in the Brazilian and Chinese supplier selection criteria

Choosing properly and efficiently a supplier has been challenging practitioners and academics since 1960’s. Since then, countless studies had been performed and relevant changes in the business scenario were considered such as global sourcing, quality-orientation, just-in-time practices. It is almost consensus that quality should be the selection driver, however, some polemical findings questioned this general agreement. Therefore, one of the objectives of the study was to identify the supplier selection criteria and bring this discussion back again. Moreover, Dickson (1966) suggested existing business relationship as selection criterion, then it was reviewed the importance of business relationship for the company and noted a set of potential negative effects that could rise from it. By considering these side effects of relationship, this research aimed to investigate how the relationship could influence the supplier selection and how its harmful effects could affect the selection process. The impact of this phenomenon was investigated cross-nationally. The research strategy adopted was a controlled experiment via vignette combined with discrete choice analysis. The data collections were performed in China and Brazil. By examining the results, it could be drawn five major findings. First, when purchasers were asked to declare their supplier selection priorities, quality was stated as the most important independently of country and relationship. This result was consistent with diverse studies since 60’s. However, when purchasers were exposed to a multi-criteria trade-off situation, their actual selection priorities deviate from what they had declared. In the actual decision-making without influence of buyer-supplier relationship, Brazilian purchasers focused on price and Chinese buyers prioritized delivery then price. This observation reinforced some controversial prior studies of Verma & Pullman (1998) and Hirakubo & Kublin (1998). Second, through the introduction of the buyer-supplier relationship (operationalized via relational capital) in the supplier selection process, this research extended the existing studies and found that Brazilian buyers still focused on price. The relationship became just another criterion for supplier selection such as quality and delivery. However, from the Chinese sample, the results suggested that quality was totally discarded and the decision was majorly made through price and relationship. The third finding suggested that relational capital could legitimate the quality and sustainability of the supplier and replaces these selection criteria and made the decisional task less complex. Additionally, with the relational capital, the decision-makings were associated to few biases such as availability cognition, commitment, confirmatory and perceived biases. By analyzing the purchasers’ behavior, relational capital inducted buyers of both countries to relax in their purchasing requirements (quality, delivery and sustainability) leading to potential negative effects. In the Brazilian sample, the phenomenon of willing to pay a higher price for a lower quality offer demonstrated to be a potential counterproductive and suboptimal decision. Finally, the last finding was associated to the cultural effect on the buyers’ decisions. From the outcome, it is possible to observe that if a purchaser’s cultural background is more relation-oriented, the more he will tend to use relational capital as a decision heuristic, thus, the purchaser will be more susceptible to the potential relationship’s side effects

Exploring attitudes and behavioral intention of brazilian consumers towards fair trade and fair trade products

As vendas globais de produtos FT cresceram de forma consistente nos últimos anos. De acordo com a FLO, as vendas cresceram de menos de € 1 bilhão em 2004 para cerca de € 5,5 bilhões em 2013. Apesar do movimento ainda estar engatinhando no Brasil, alguns esforços visando a institucionalização da FT estão sendo tomados. Por exemplo, o Schneider (2012) mostrou que existe um mercado potencial para os produtos FT no Brasil. Entretanto, ele ainda não é bem desenvolvido. Portanto, há uma necessidade de compreender melhor as variáveis que afetam a intenção de compra destes produtos. Estudos anteriores identificaram fatores que são considerados previsores de intenção de comprar produtos FT. Considerando esses fatores, o presente estudo tem como objetivo determinar as variáveis que estão mais relacionadas com a intenção de compra e disposição para pagar por produtos FT no Brasil. Com base nas respostas de 124 entrevistados, os resultados mostram que a intenção de compra de produtos FT no Brasil está ligada a atitudes de consumo éticas dos consumidores, o interesse e qualidade dos produtos, baixo ceticismo e percepção de relevância acerca do conceito FT. Os resultados também mostraram dois grupos antagônicos de consumidores a respeito de suas atitudes. O grupo dos "ativistas" tem atitudes positivas, de alta intenção de compra e disposição a pagar mais. Por outro lado, os "incrédulos" têm atitudes negativas, baixa intenção de compra e não estão dispostos a pagar mais. Com base nos resultados deste estudo, organizações e indivíduos que visam fomentar o mercado FT no Brasil podem entender melhor o consumidor e tomar decisões de marketing mais assertivas, considerando a relevância dos fatores que afetam a intenção de comprar, como também as diferenças entre os consumidores.

The manufacturing industry in Brazil in the era of global value chains

This article presents a comprehensive and detailed overview of the international trade performance of the manufacturing industry in Brazil over the last decades, emphasizing its participation in Global Value Chains. It uses information from recent available global inputoutput tables such as WIOD (World Input-output database) and TIVA (Trade in Value Added, OECD) as well as complementary information from the GTAP 8 (Global Trade Analysis Project) database. The calculation of a broad set of value added type indicators allows a precise contextualization of the ongoing structural changes in the Brazilian industry, highlighting the relative isolation of its manufacturing sector from the most relevant international supply chains. This article also proposes a public policy discussion, presenting two case studies: the first one related to trade facilitation and the second one to preferential trade agreements. The main conclusions are twofold: first, the reduction of time delays at customs in Brazil may significantly improve the trade performance of its manufacturing industry, specially for the more capital intensive sectors which are generally the ones with greater potential to connection to global value chains; second, the extension of the concept of a “preferential trade partner” to the context of the global unbundling of production may pave the way to future trade policy in Brazil, particularly in the mapping of those partners whose bilateral trade relations with Brazil should receive greater priority by policy makers.

The BRICS: some historical experiences, growth challenges and opportunities

The acronym BRICS was a fad among the media and global investors. Now, the acronym sounds passé. However, the group of countries remains important, from both political and economic reasons. They have a large aggregate size, 28% of the global GDP and 42% of the world’s population, high growth potential due to the current significant misallocation of resources and relatively low stock of human capital, structural transformation is in progress and one of them, China, is taking steps to become a global power and a challenger to the US dominance. This paper provides a brief overview of the five economies, Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa. We focus on some aspects of their history, the Chinese initiatives in international finance and geopolitical strategic moves, their growth experience and structural transformation over the last 35 years, trade and investment integration into the global economy and among themselves, the growth challenges faced by their economies and the potential gains to the Brazilian economy from a stronger integration with the other BRICS. In association with its efforts to be a global power, China aims to become a major player in global finance and to achieve the status of global currency for the renminbi, which would be the first currency of an emerging economy to attain such position. Despite the similarities, the BRICS encompass very diverse economies. In the recent decades, China and India showed stellar growth rates. On the other hand, Brazil, Russia and South Africa have expanded just in line with global output growth with the Russian economy exhibiting high volatility. China is by far the largest economy, and South Africa the smallest, the only BRICS economy with a GDP lower than US$ 1 trillion. Russia abandoned communism almost 25 years ago, but reversed many of the privatizations of 90’s. China is still ruled by communism, but has a vibrant private sector and recently has officially declared market forces to play a dominant role in its economy. Brazil, Russia and South Africa are global natural resources powerhouses and commodity exporters while China and India are large commodity importers. Brazil is relatively closed to international trade of goods and services, in marked contrast to the other four economies. Brazil, India and South Africa are dependent on external capital flows whereas China and Russia are capital exporters. India and South Africa have younger populations and a large portion living below the poverty line. Despite its extraordinary growth experience that lifted many millions from poverty, China still has 28% of its population classified as poor. Russia and China have much older populations and one of their challenges is to deal with the effects of a declining labor force in the near future. India, China and South Africa face a long way to urbanization, while Brazil and Russia are already urbanized countries. China is an industrial economy but its primary sector still absorbs a large pool of workers. India is not, but the primary sector employs also a large share of the labor force. China’s aggregate demand structure is biased towards investment that has been driving its expansion. Brazil and South Africa have an aggregate demand structure similar to the developed economies, with private consumption accounting for approximately 70%. The same similarity applies to the supply side, as in both economies the share of services nears 70%. The development problem is a productivity problem, so microeconomic reforms are badly needed to foster long-term growth of the BRICS economies since they have lost steam due a variety of factors, but fundamentally due to slower total factor productivity growth. China and India are implementing ambitious reform programs, while Brazil is dealing with macroeconomic disequilibria. Russia and South Africa remain mute about structural reforms. There are some potential benefits to Brazil to be extracted from a greater economic integration with the BRICS, particularly in natural resources intensive industries and services. Necessary conditions to the materialization of those gains are the removal of the several sources of resource misallocation and strong investment in human capital.

Citizens and the future of multilateralism in a polycentric world at 2030: the perspectives of emerging countries for the trading system: the impasse of WTO, the trends of mega agreements, the logic of value chains and the advent of consumers concerns on international trade

A new paradigm is modeling the World: evolutionary innovations in all fronts, new information technologies, huge mobility of capital, use of risky financial tools, globalization of production, new emerging powers and the impact of consumer concerns on governmental policies. These phenomena are shaping the World and forcing the advent of a new World Order in the Multilateral Monetary, Financial, and Trading System. The effects of this new paradigm are also transforming global governance. The political and economic orders established after the World War and centered on the multilateral model of UN, IMF, World Bank, and the GATT, leaded by the developed countries, are facing significant challenges. The rise of China and emerging countries shifted the old model to a polycentric World, where the governance of these organizations are threatened by emerging countries demanding a bigger participation in the role and decision boards of these international bodies. As a consequence, multilateralism is being confronted by polycentrism. Negotiations for a more representative voting process and the pressure for new rules to cope with the new demands are paralyzing important decisions. This scenario is affecting seriously not only the Monetary and Financial Systems but also the Multilateral Trading System. International trade is facing some significant challenges: a serious deadlock to conclude the last round of the multilateral negotiation at the WTO, the fragmentation of trade rules by the multiplication of preferential and mega agreements, the arrival of a new model of global production and trade leaded by global value chains that is threatening the old trade order, and the imposition of new sets of regulations by private bodies commanded by transnationals to support global value chains and non-governmental organizations to reflect the concerns of consumers in the North based on their precautionary attitude about sustainability of products made in the World. The lack of any multilateral order in this new regulation is creating a big cacophony of rules and developing a new regulatory war of the Global North against the Global South. The objective of this paper is to explore how these challenges are affecting the Tradinge System and how it can evolve to manage these new trends.

The manufacturing industry in Brazil in the era of global value chains

This article presents a comprehensive and detailed overview of the international trade performance of the manufacturing industry in Brazil over the last decades, emphasizing its participation in Global Value Chains. It uses information from recent available global inputoutput tables such as WIOD (World Input-output database) and TIVA (Trade in Value Added, OECD) as well as complementary information from the GTAP 8 (Global Trade Analysis Project) database. The calculation of a broad set of value added type indicators allows a precise contextualization of the ongoing structural changes in the Brazilian industry, highlighting the relative isolation of its manufacturing sector from the most relevant international supply chains. This article also proposes a public policy discussion, presenting two case studies: the first one related to trade facilitation and the second one to preferential trade agreements. The main conclusions are twofold: first, the reduction of time delays at customs in Brazil may significantly improve the trade performance of its manufacturing industry, specially for the more capital intensive sectors which are generally the ones with greater potential to connection to global value chains; second, the extension of the concept of a “preferential trade partner” to the context of the global unbundling of production may pave the way to future trade policy in Brazil, particularly in the mapping of those partners whose bilateral trade relations with Brazil should receive greater priority by policy makers

EU-Mercosur trade relations: impacts of exchange rate misalignments on tariffs

The issue of “trade and exchange rate misalignments” is being discussed at the G20, IMF and WTO, following an initiative by Brazil. The main purpose of this paper is to apply the methodology developed by the authors to exam the impacts of misalignment on tariffs in order to analyse the impacts of misalignments on the trade relations between two customs unions – the EU and Mercosur, as well as to explain how tariff barriers are affected. It is divided into several sections: the first summarises the debate on exchange rates at the WTO; the second explains the methodology used to determine exchange rate misalignments; the third and fourth summarises the methodology applied to calculate the impacts of exchange rate misalignments on the level of tariff protection through an exercise of ‘misalignment tariffication’; the fifth reviews the effects of exchange rate misalignments on tariffs and its consequences for the trade negotiations between the two areas; and the last concludes and suggests a way to move the debate forward in the context of regional arrangements

Brazilian competitiveness on international trade

In recent years, Brazil benefited from foreign trade expansion and its exports of goods grew by 16.5%. If this strong growth trend keeps up for the next years, today’s bottlenecks may have a negative impact on the competitiveness of the country’s products in the global market. This is especially critical for one of the main “green fuels” producers in a scenario where the demand for this energy source grows due to rising oil prices and environmental concerns. Based on a survey that collected data from 250 Brazilian exporters, this study focuses on the constraints that reduce the competitiveness of exports. This study differs from previous ones in that it considers the professionals directly involved with export activities and evaluates different aspects, including logistics, operations, taxes, legal, bureaucratic and informational ones. Results show that the most important constraints strongly affect costs and delivery reliability

Fracking, China and the Global Economy

We develop an intertemporal model of the international economy, where tradeable intermediate goods are produced with capital, labor and hydrocarbons, and used in the production of non-tradeable consumption and investment goods. The model is calibrated to 176 countries, grouped according to their characteristics. We conduct simulations about key events that are currently reshaping the world e.g., fracking and China's new model of development. The model reproduces closely the recent fall in oil prices and delivers results about the impact on global output and consumption, but also about the propagation to different countries through terms of trade and capital accumulation.

Hazards in non-pasteurized milk on retail sale in Brazil: prevalence of Salmonella spp, Listeria monocytogenes and chemical residues

Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de São Paulo (FAPESP)

Leptospiral antibodies in wild boars (Sus scrofa) bred in Brazil

In the recent years, the wild boar (Sus scrofa) trade has increased in Brazil. The present study aimed to detect Leptospira spp. infection in 308 blood samples from wild boars bred in São Paulo state, Brazil. The microscopic agglutination test (MAT) was performed using 29 serovars. Sixty three (63; 20.45%) animals tested positive against the serovars Hardjo (29/63; 46.0%), Copenhageni (11/63; 17.4%), Pomona (8/63; 12.7%), Pyrogenes (4/63; 6.3%), Wolfii (4/63; 6.3%), Autumnalis (3/63; 4.7%), Icterohaemorraghiae (2/63; 3.1%), and Hardjo-miniswajezak (1/63; 15.8%). These results indicate that captive wild boars were infected with Leptospira spp. and may represent a source of infection to humans and other animals.