Fostering innovation and entrepreneurship in Brazil through private equity and venture capital public policies

It is well documented the positive impact of the Private Equity and Venture Capital (PE/VC) industry on the creation and development of highly successful innovative companies in a few countries, mainly in the United States. PE/VC firms provide not only capital to startups and small and medium enterprises (SMEs) that usually have financing gap, especially in emerging markets, but also strategic resources that enable these enterprises to commercialize innovation. As consequence, government incentive and nurture of local PE/VC industries would be expected in emerging economies due to innovation‟s importance to economic growth. This paper aims to identify if the Brazilian government has supported local PE/VC industry throughout the years in order to foster favorable conditions to creating and developing successful innovative businesses. It also analyzes Brazil‟s main public policies towards PE/VC and if they encompass all the three stages of its cycle – fundraising, investing and exiting. I conducted an empirical research which collected primary data from a sample of 127 PE/VC firms (90% of the population) operating in Brazil as of June, 2008. All firms answered a webbased questionnaire that collected quantitative data regarding their investment vehicles, portfolio companies, investments and exits. I compared the data obtained from the survey with the main local governmental PE/VC support programs. First, I confirmed the hypothesis that the Brazilian government has been using the PE/VC industry as a public policy towards entrepreneurship and innovation. Second, I identified that although PE/VC public policies in Brazil are mostly concentrated in fundraising phase, they have been able to positively impact the whole cycle. Third, it became clear that the Brazilian government became more concerned about Seed and Venture Capital (VC) Early stages due to their importance to the entire PE/VC value chain. As consequence, I conclude that those public policies have been very important to build a dynamic and strong local PE/VC industry, whose committed capital grew 50% per year between 2005 and 2008 to achieve US$27 billion, which invested US$ 11 billion, which employs 1,400 professionals (75% with postgraduate degrees) and maintains 482 portfolio companies, mostly SMEs. In addition, PE/VCbacked companies represented one third of the Initial Public Offerings (IPOs) that occurred in Brazil between 2004 and 2008 (approximately US$15 billion).

Toward convergence? The brazilian stock market concentration and the role of private equity in its diversification

Using quantitative data obtained from public available database, this paper discusses the difference between of the Brazilian GDP and the Brazilian Stock Exchange industry breakdown. I examined if, and to what extent, the industry breakdowns are similar. First, I found out that the Stock Exchange industry breakdown is overwhelming different from the GDP, which may present a potential problem to asset allocation and portfolio diversification in Brazil. Second, I identified an important evidence of a convergence between the GDP and the Stock Exchange in the last 9 years. Third, it became clear that the Privatizations in the late 90’s and IPO market from 2004 to 2008 change the dynamics of the Brazilian Stock Exchange. And fourth, I identified that Private Equity and Venture Capital industry may play an important role on the portfolio diversification in Brazil.

High-growth SMEs and the availability of private equity and venture capital in Brazil

This chapter discusses private equity and venture capital (PE/VC) in Brazil. Firstly, it is shown that PE/VC has a strong impact in the Brazilian capital markets, with PE/VC-backed companies representing close to half the amount raised by initial public offerings (IPOs) in the stock exchanges. By examining two of these deals, which involved small and mediumsized enterprises (SMEs), it is argued that PE/VC managers have acted as catalysts of the impressive growth rates experienced before these companies entered the stock markets. Indeed, PE/VC firms represent an important segment of the capital market, with specialization to invest in high-growth innovative SMEs. PE/VC managers exercise superior selection, monitoring and governance that mitigate the uncertainty and risks of investing in such companies. Despite its successes in Brazil, PE/VC is still very much restrained by the challenging local economic and institutional environment. Thus, changes in the legal and fiscal system, simplification in bureaucratic procedures, and other such improvements will most likely result in a sensible growth in the Brazilian PE/VC industry, with positive impact in the SME access to finance in Brazil. Since most countries in Latin America share similar economic and institutional traits with Brazil, the path followed by the local PE/VC industry can serve as an example for other countries to learn with its successes and failures.

The role of venture capitalists in the identification and measurement of intangible assets

The increase in the importance of intangibles in business competitiveness has made investment selection more challenging to investors that, under high information asymmetry, tend to charge higher premiums to provide capital or simply deny it. Private Equity and Venture Capital (PE/VC) organizations developed contemporarily with the increase in the relevance of intangible assets in the economy. They form a specialized breed of financial intermediaries that are better prepared to deal with information asymmetry. This paper is the result of ten interviews with PE/VC organizations in Brazil. Its objective is to describe the selection process, criteria and indicators used by these organizations to identify and measure intangible assets, as well as the methods used to valuate prospective investments. Results show that PE/VC organizations rely on sophisticated methods to assess investment proposals, with specific criteria and indicators to assess the main classes of intangible assets. However, no value is given to these assets individually. The information gathered is used to understand the sources of cash flows and risks, which are then combined by discounted cash flow methods to estimate firm's value. Due to PE/VC organizations extensive experience with innovative Small and Medium-sized Enterprises (SMEs), we believe that shedding light on how PE/VC organizations deal with intangible assets brings important insights to the intangible assets debate.

Inserção dos hospitais universitários às políticas do SUS : o caso do Hospital Universitário Gafée e Guinle

A crise por que passam os Hospitais Universitários – HU’s, incluindo o Hospital Universitário Gaffrée e Guinle, atualmente, deve ser analisada e entendida como decorrente da crise institucional por que passa o aparelho formador na área de saúde, da crise de financiamento e da estrutura de gastos do sistema de saúde e de condução das políticas públicas. No entanto, é possível estabelecer novas bases de parceria dos HU’s com os gestores do Sistema Único de Saúde - SUS, para construção dos instrumentos necessários tanto para a efetivação da hierarquização e regionalização dos serviços, como para novas diretrizes curriculares, contribuindo, assim, na superação de alguns fatores determinantes da crise. A lógica organizacional da inserção no Sistema Único de Saúde, força os HU’s a adaptarem-se ao atendimento da demanda espontânea e à necessidade de faturamento na tabela do SUS, com conseqüentes distorções no atendimento, desperdícios e pouca resolutividade do sistema, levando a um descompasso entre demanda, oferta, modelo assistencial, currículo e pesquisa.

Organizational modeling with a semantic wiki: formalization of content and automatic diagram generation

A key to maintain Enterprises competitiveness is the ability to describe, standardize, and adapt the way it reacts to certain types of business events, and how it interacts with suppliers, partners, competitors, and customers. In this context the field of organization modeling has emerged with the aim to create models that help to create a state of self-awareness in the organization. This project's context is the use of Semantic Web in the Organizational modeling area. The Semantic Web technology advantages can be used to improve the way of modeling organizations. This was accomplished using a Semantic wiki to model organizations. Our research and implementation had two main purposes: formalization of textual content in semantic wiki pages; and automatic generation of diagrams from organization data stored in the semantic wiki pages.

A satisfação profissional e a cultura organizacional : uma análise a partir do modelo ASH no Centro Federal de Educação Tecnológica do Rio Grande do Norte

With the need of the companies in becoming more competitive within the market, it arises an incessant search for selective human potential, with a high level of capacity and low rotativity, which motivation results in production raise, quality optimization and waste reduction. This scenario requires a strategy development which advantages the Human Resources Quality Management. This way, the model of the Human System Audit (HSA), developed by the Spanish researchers Ouijano and Navarro, presents itself as an important tool to diagnosis and evaluation, contemplating the environment where the organization is inserted, its strategies, its organizational design, its processes and its organizational effectiveness. In this sense, the present study has identified the existent relation between the professional satisfaction and the Organizational Culture, based in the model HSA. The research has been a quantitative-descriptive one and has had as population the technical-administrative workers from the Federal Center of Technical Education of Rio Grande do Norte (CEFET RN). The data collection has occurred during May, 2008, by means of the application of a questionnaire in the HSA model. The sample was composed by 167 subjects, distributed among the Five units of the institution. It was used the factorial analysis, with the extraction method of main components and orthogonal rotation varimax, in order to extract the dimensions of the satisfaction and of the organizational culture and the calculation of Cronbach s Alpha coefficient, to evaluate the reliability of these dimensions. The factorial analysis of the satisfaction indicators has identified four factors,, all of them showing significance: gratefulness and relationship , self-realization , stability and security and physical conditions and social benefits . The result of the factorial analysis with the indicators of the organizational culture has extracted four factors and among them, three of them have obtained significance: Personal Satisfaction Style , Competitive-Denial-Power Style and the Conventional-Dependent Style . After identifying the dimensions of the satisfaction and culture found at CEFET-RN, it has been notice the existence or not of relation among them, through the application of Pearson s coefficient. It has been verified that all of the dimensions of the Professional satisfaction are correlated with some dimension of the organizational culture, having in outstand position, with higher intensity, the relation between the culture style of Personal Satisfaction and the satisfaction factor referring to the self-realization

Terapia comunitária integrativa: construção de um espaço de escuta para os trabalhadores na atenção básica da saúde

This research, which appears in the form of a dissertation, entitled: Integrative Therapy Community: construction of a listening space to health care workers in primary care, addresses the Integrative Community Therapy (ICT) as a tool to create meeting spaces between health professionals where they can be receptive among one another. With the completion of this study aimed to analyze the ICT as a therapeutic approach and space of listening and speaking for health professionals cited here in order to identify their anxieties, doubts, worries and uncertainties arising from the context of labor relations and the impact of therapeutic experiences under the view of the participants. It was developed as an action-science research, involving several steps. The field of research was the ICT meetings of workers from the units under the Family Health Strategy of Northern Health Districts I and II of the city of Natal, using a qualitative approach. The interpretation of data collected was based on content analysis proposed by Bardin. Finally, this study showed the ICT as a space for dialogue and sharing, with repercussions on labor relations and expansions beyond the ICT meetings, reaching out to family and social relationships, contributing to creating bonds and solidarity networks. Under the view of the participants it was recognized as an experience that optimized the socialization, promoting the alleviation of suffering and increasing the well-being. Based on the study findings, it is inferred that ICT can be considered a viable tool for the receptiveness and humanized care of health care workers.

Sensibilidade a herbicidas de acessos de aguapé coletados em reservatórios do Estado de São Paulo

Com o objetivo de avaliar o efeito de herbicidas em diferentes acessos de aguapé coletados em reservatórios de hidrelétricas do Estado de São Paulo, foi realizado um estudo no Núcleo de Pesquisas Avançadas em Matologia da FCA-UNESP, campus de Botucatu. A escolha das plantas geneticamente diferentes foi feita com base em estudos de variabilidade genética, nos quais se utilizou a técnica de RAPD. Avaliou-se o efeito dos herbicidas imazapyr nas doses de 62,5 e 125,0 g e.a. ha-1, glyphosate a 1.680 e 3.360 g e.a. ha-1 + 0,5% V/V de Extravon, diquat a 480 e 960 g i.a. ha-1 e 2,4-D a 670 e 1.340 g e.a. ha-1. Os seis acessos escolhidos foram colocados em caixas plásticas de 28,0 x 14,0 x 12,0 cm, contendo 4 litros de água. A aplicação dos produtos foi realizada com um simulador de pulverização pressurizado com ar comprimido, equipado com barra de aplicação com quatro bicos de jato plano Teejet 110.02 VS. A pressão constante de trabalho foi de 1,6 bar, e o consumo de calda, de 193 L ha-1. A velocidade de aplicação foi de 3,69 km h-1. Durante as aplicações, a temperatura do ar foi de 25 ºC e a umidade relativa de 73%. Foram realizadas avaliações visuais de controle aos 3, 5, 7, 11, 21 e 28 dias, nas quais 0 consistiu em nenhum controle e 100 em morte de plantas. Todos os herbicidas e doses testados proporcionaram controle eficiente das plantas de aguapé, e os seis acessos estudados responderam de forma semelhante.

Desenvolvimento e implantação de um sistema de gestão de pedidos de informação endereçados à Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Norte a partir do serviço de informações ao cidadão (E-SIC)

Among the numerous policy changes that the world has experienced in recent years, occupies a prominent place in the quest for greater transparency of public agencies. Transparency has been an important tool in the accountability of the State to promote greater participation of the society by providing information that was previously restricted knowledge of public agencies. Brazil, following this trend, promulgated in May 2012 the Access to Information Act that seeks to disclose the actions of the State at all levels, in all public administration agencies. On the same day of the enactment of the law is provided society with a site that is empowering citizens to make their requests for information to government agencies. The Federal University of Rio Grande do Norte, which at that time had no a tool to assist them in managing this demand. This project has the objective to describe, build and implement a solution to solve this problem using Design Science Research as methodology. As result, the solution built in this research became a new module of the institution s ERP became it capable to control the entire process, and will be helpful to others partners which use our system ERP

Avaliação e monitoramento de políticas públicas: criação de um modelo sistêmico aplicado ao Instituto de Assistência Técnica e Extensão Rural do Rio Grande do Norte (EMATER-RN)

The nature of this thesis is interventionist and aims to create an alternative on how to control and evaluate the public policies implementation developed at the Institute for Technical Assistance and Rural Extension of Rio Grande do Norte State. The cenarium takes place in a public institution , classified as a municipality that belongs to the Rio Grande do Norte government and adopts the design science research methodology , where it generates a set of artifacts that guide the development of a computerized information system . To ensure the decisions, the literature was reviewed aiming to bring and highlight concepts that will be used as base to build the intervention. The use of an effective methodology called Iconix systems analysis , provides a software development process in a short time . As a result of many artifacts created by the methodology there is a software computer able of running on the Internet environment with G2C behavior, it is suggested as a management tool for monitoring artifacts generated by the various methods. Moreover, it reveals barriers faced in the public companies environment such as lack of infrastructure , the strength of the workforce and the executives behavior

Imaging studies of the hindlimbs of pacas (Cuniculus paca) bred in captivity

Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico (CNPq)

Interface empresa-universidade e a gestão da tecnologia

Este trabalho discute a interface empresa - universidade e a gestão da tecnologia em pequenas e médias empresas tradicionais do setor de manufaturados, com base em modelo conceitual simplificado e em pesquisa de campo, dentro do contexto atual de globalização do mercado. Constatou-se a importância da existência de um modelo de relação interorganizacional, que colabore na otimização dos resultados das pesquisas aplicadas na universidade e disponha de mecanismos de colaboração com aquelas empresas, visando à prática e difusão da gestão da tecnologia e parceria no desenvolvimento de produtos. Com base no modelo proposto em Silva(1999), através do COD - Centro Operacional de Desenvolvimento, o trabalho analisa vários aspectos da interface empresa - universidade e da gestão da tecnologia em empresas.