Internacioanlização de pequena empresa brasileira de base tecnológica: Caso Pipeway Engenharia Limitada

O objetivo desta dissertação é verificar a aderência de atividades desenvolvidas por uma empresa prestadora de serviços de base tecnológica, atuante na área de petróleo, gás e energia, a Pipeway Engenharia Limitada , aos conceitos teóricos do Paradigma Novas Empresas Internacionais - NEI (RENNIE,1993; MCDOUGALL et. Al., 1994) durante seu processo de internacionalização. Trata-se de um estudo que assume, para o autor, uma relevância significativa, já que a compreensão do processo de internacionalização da empresa analisada, considerada de porte pequeno, permitirá que suas atividades profissionais venham a ser desenvolvidas com melhor compreensão das necessidades, exigências e soluções que esse tipo de empresa requer para a sua internacionalização. Para atingir o objetivo proposto, a metodologia utilizada foi o estudo de caso único em função, assim definido, por um lado, pelo fato de não existir no Brasil uma quantidade importante de empresas com características semelhantes à estudada e, por outro, por ser um método que se aplica, quando se deseja ter respostas a questões, tais como: “como” e “por que”, permitindo a compreensão de fenômenos individuais. Para compreender melhor a evolução do setor de serviços nos mercados internacionais foi necessário fazer um estudo sucinto, baseado em análises documental e bibliográfica, para determinar a evolução e importância do mesmo como fator gerador de riqueza, inovação e sustentação do desenvolvimento empresarial. Considerando que a empresa analisada foca seu trabalho no segmento de petróleo e gás, para melhor compreensão desse segmento econômico, foi realizada análise tanto de âmbito nacional como internacional, de sua atual conformação e situação, pois, diferentemente de outros segmentos internacionais, as empresas que neles desenvolvem suas atividades se deparam com mercados mais abertos e globalizados e essas características têm impacto significativo na empresa analisada. A junção da primeira com a segunda análise permitiu avaliar o grau de competitividade e demais parâmetros a que a empresa estudada teve que atender para ser considerada ou não um Novo Empreendimento Internacional. Posteriormente, com os preceitos metodológicos de estudo de caso, acrescidos dos dados obtidos na pesquisa documental e entrevistas com a alta gerência da empresa, foi efetuado um relato historiográfico da evolução do processo de internacionalização da empresa, destacando os eventos e fatos que possibilitaram verificar a aderência, ou não, aos pressupostos do paradigma NEI. Por fim, foi investigada a evolução internacional da empresa à luz dos critérios de análise, diretamente relacionados com princípios do Paradigma NEI, o que permitiu no capitulo seguinte, vinculado às conclusões em forma empírica, que o processo de internacionalização da Pipeway responde na sua totalidade às características do Paradigma NEI. Um exemplo é a data de início da internacionalização e relação entre as receitas de exportação e faturamento total. Também são apresentadas sugestões para o desenvolvimento de pesquisas futuras, aprimoramento dos programas governamentais de apoio ao processo de internacionalização de Pequenas Empresas e desempenho profissional do autor

Linkages between pro-poor growth, social programmes and labour market : the recent Brazilian experience

From a methodological point of view, this paper makes two contlibutions to the literature. One contribution is the proposal of a new measure of pro-poor growth. This new measure provides the linkage between growth rates in mean income and in income inequality. In this context, growth is defined as pro-poor (or anti-poor) if there is a gain (or loss) in the growth rate due to a decrease (or increase) in inequality. The other contribution is a decomposition methodology that explores linkages between three dimensions: growth pattems, labour market performances. and social policies. Through the decomposition analysis, growth in per capita income is explained in terms of four labour market components: the employment rate. hours of work, the labour force participation rate. and productivity. We also assess the contribution of different nonlabour income sources to growth patterns. The proposed methodologies are then applied to the Brazilian National Household Survey (PNAD) covering the period 1995-2004. The paper analyzes the evolution of Brazilian social indicators based on per capita income exploring links with adverse labour market performance and social policy change, with particular emphasis on the expansion of targeted cash transfers and devising more propoor social security benefits.

Does absorptive capacity affect project performance? A study based on project management practices, organization learning, and knowledge

The literature has emphasized that absorptive capacity (AC) leads to performance, but in projects its influences still unclear. Additionally, the project success is not well understood by the literature, and AC can be an important mechanism to explain it. Therefore, the purpose of this study is to investigate the effect of absorptive capacity on project performance in the construction industry of São Paulo State. We study this influence through potential and realized absorptive capacity proposed by Zahra and George (2002). For achieving this goal, we use a combination of qualitative and quantitative research. The qualitative research is based on 15 interviews with project managers in different sectors to understand the main constructs and support the next quantitative phase. The content analysis was the technique used to analyze those interviews. In quantitative phase through a survey questionnaire, we collected 157 responses in the construction sector with project managers. The confirmatory factor analysis and hierarchical linear regression were the techniques used to assess the data. Our findings suggest that the realized absorptive capacity has a positive influence on performance, but potential absorptive capacity and the interactions effect have no influence on performance. Moreover, the planning and monitoring have a positive impact on budget and schedule, and customer satisfaction while risk coping capacity has a positive impact on business success. In academics terms, this research enables a better understanding of the importance of absorptive capacity in the construction industry and it confirms that knowledge application in processes and routines enhances performance. For management, the absorptive capacity enables the improvements of internal capabilities reflected in the increased project management efficiency. Indeed, when a company manages project practices efficiently it enhances business and project performance; however, it needs initially to improve its internal abilities to enrich processes and routines through relevant knowledge.

Competitividade de destinos turísticos e o imperativo sustentável: avaliação de dimensões e atributos condicionantes no Pólo Costa das Dunas, RN, Brasil

Being available as a tourist destination is a necessary condition but not enough for the expansion and success of tourism activity. To be successful, tourism requires investment, inputs, appropriate planning and management, like any other economic activity. A fundamental goal of the destination management is to understand how the competitiveness of a tourist destination can be improved and sustained. Competitive position of tourism can be measured and assessed by various models. Evaluating the indicators of competitiveness of a tourist destination involves a multivariate analysis, ranging from issues directly related to tourism activity itself to the indirect factors. These are elements that are interrelated and that together will point out the competitive condition of this destination. From the definition and characterization of competitiveness, sustainability and management in the context of tourist destinations, understood as the main concepts of this study, we present the main theoretical and methodological models of assessment of competitiveness of tourist destinations in the literature and represent the state of the issue in the scientific treatment of the subject. These models, designed by researchers from several countries and applied in different tourist destinations, are confronted about their structure, indicators considered and localities in which they were applied. The aim of this study was to know and evaluate the condition of tourist competitiveness of the destination Pólo Costa das Dunas, from the constraints attributes of superior performance of the evaluation model of tourist competitiveness of destinations Competenible, suggested by Mazaro, and that suit the requirements of international market aware of the strength and importance of sustainability. The condition of competitiveness of tourist destination in Rio Grande do Norte Pólo Costa das Dunas was moderate. The competitive strengths and weaknesses of the destination Pólo Costa das Dunas revealed through the dozens of sustainable attributes of the model Competenible showed guidelines and initiatives that can be taken to guide strategic decisions related to their planning and management. Thus, this study should serve as support for strategic planning and long-term management of the sector and as a crucial tool for making decisions related to public policies, sectoral investments, monitor processes, strategic planning, direction and control of the local and regional tourism development of destinations

Foreign Investment in Latin America and the Caribbean 1998

Includes bibliography

Análise da produção e comercialização de mel natural no Brasil no período de 1999 a 2010

The aim of this study was to analyze the evolution of natural honey production in Brazil, as well as the Brazilian performance in the international markets and their own consumption behavior of natural honey in the domestic market. For this study, we used descriptive analysis of time series information, data production and export of natural honey understood, respectively, for the periods 1999 to 2010. To analyze the correlation between the series of apparent consumption per capita (variable X) and the international price data (variable Y), we used the statistical analysis of the correlation coefficient of Pearson (CP). Main results revealed that the Brazilian production of natural honey has more than doubled in the last decade, while the Northeast region was the largest contributor to this performance. This increase in the production was mainly directed towards supplying the international market, which currently consumes more than half of Brazilian production. It is true that the change in the international market price has a direct effect on domestic supply, but the Brazilian domestic market has potential for increasing effective consumer who deserves to be better exploited; it implies to pay attention to the supply of quality natural honey, quantity and regularity.

Compósito estrutural carbono/epóxi via RTM para aplicação aeronáutica: processamento e caracterização

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

Capital flows to Latin America: recent developments

The external environment has deteriorated sharply as a result of the spiraling financial turmoil, and has led to a weakening in commodity prices and fears of a worldwide recession. Latin America and the Caribbean's fastest expansion in 40 years may be threatened as the global credit crunch makes financing scarce and squeezes demand for the region's commodities. This time around the region is better positioned to weather the crisis than in the past, given improvements in macroeconomic and financial policies as well as a reduced net dependency on external capital inflows. However, Latin American markets are feeling the effects of the crisis through a slowdown in capital inflows, large declines in stock price indexes, significant currency adjustments and an increase in debt spreads. Volatility has soared, with the closely watched Chicago Board Options Exchange Volatility Index moving to an all-time high of 70.33 on October 17, indicating that fear (rather than greed) has been ruling the markets.After reaching record lows in May 2007, emerging markets bond spreads are now above pre-Asian crisis levels. The JPMorgan EMBI+ Latin American composite widened by 146 basis points in the third quarter, with spreads reaching 448 basis points at the end of September. Spreads have widened sharply in recent weeks as foreign investors cut back regional exposure for the safety of U.S. Treasuries. The ongoing lack of liquidity and subsequent liquidation of assets is leading to a collapse in asset prices and a sharp widening in spreads. Daily spreads in October have risen to levels not seen since December 2002, making it much more difficult for governments that need financing to get it. Risk premiums for Latin corporates and sovereigns have risen substantially, but have remained well below U.S. junk (high-yield) bonds. Latin corporates are facing a steep rise in foreign exchange borrowing costs (although less than firms in other emerging markets), which raises concerns that refinancing risks will climb.So far, emerging markets vulnerabilities have been more focused on corporates, as sovereigns have improved public debt dynamics and countries' financing needs are under control. Market performance has been driven by the rapid deterioration of emerging markets bank and corporate market, as well as ongoing losses in emerging markets equities. From January to September 2008, the Morgan Stanley Capital International (MSCI) Latin American Index lost almost 28%, while the Emerging Markets Index lost 37% and the G-7 Index lost 24%. While in 2007 the Latin America component gained 47%, almost nine times as much as the MSCI-G7 index for developed markets, since mid-September 2008 stocks in Latin America have been doing worse than stocks in developed countries, as concerns about access to credit and the adverse impact of sharp falls in commodity prices and in local currencies contribute to increased risk aversion and to outflows of capital. Many governments in the region have used revenue from the commodity boom to pay down debt and build reserves. Now, facing a global financial crisis and the threat of recession in developed countries, the biggest question for Latin America is how long and deep this cyclical downturn will be, and how much it is going to reduce commodity prices. Prices for commodities such as soy, gold, copper and oil, which helped fund the region's boom, have fallen 28% since their July 2 high, according to the RJ/CRB Commodity Price Index. According to Morgan Stanley (in a September 29 report), should prices return to their 10-year average, Latin America's balanced budgets would quickly revert to a deficit of 4.1% of GDP. As risk aversion increases, investors are rapidly pulling out massive amounts of money, creating problems for local markets and banks. There is an ongoing shortage of dollars (as investors liquidate assets in Latin American markets), and as currencies depreciate, inflation concerns increase despite the global slowdown. In Brazil and Mexico, central banks deployed billions of dollars of reserves to stem steep currency declines, as companies in these countries, believing their local currencies would continue to strengthen against the U.S. dollar, took debts in dollars. Some companies also made bets using currency derivatives that have led to losses in the billions of dollars. Dramatic currency swings have caused heavy losses for many companies, from Mexico's cement giant Cemex SAB to the Brazilian conglomerate Grupo Votorantim. Mexico's third-largest retailer, Controladora Comercial Mexicana, declared bankruptcy recently after reporting huge losses related to exchange rate bets. As concerns about corporate exposure to dollar-denominated derivatives increases, yields on bonds issued by many of Brazil's and Mexico's leading companies have started to rise, sharply raising the cost of issuing new debt. Latin American external debt issuance came to a halt in the third quarter of 2008, totaling only US$ 690 million. The cost of obtaining loans for capital expenditures, M&A and debt refinancing is also rising substantially for Latin American corporates amid contagion from the U.S. financial crisis. According to bankers, a protracted trend of shortening tenors and widening spreads has intensified in the past few weeks, indicating that bank lending is quickly following the way of bonds and equity. Finally, money transfers from Latin American migrants are expected to decline for the first time this decade, as a result of economic downturns in the U.S. and Spain, inflation and a weaker dollar. The Mexican Central Bank announced that money transfers from Mexicans living in the U.S. dropped a record 12.2% in August. In 2008, migrants from the region will send some 1.7% less in remittances year-on-year when adjusted for inflation, according to the IADB, compounding the adverse effects of the deepening financial turmoil.

The employment situation in Latin America and the Caribbean: Countercyclical policies for a sustained recovery in employment

Latin America and the Caribbean experienced an unexpectedly vigorous economic recovery in 2010 after the output contraction of 2009. This upturn was reflected in the region’s employment and unemployment rates, which resumed the positive trends that had been broken by the crisis, and formal wages rose slightly. The strength of the recovery and labour-market performance varied markedly across subregions and countries, however. The first part of this joint ECLAC/ILO publication on the employment situation in Latin America and the Caribbean looks at how labour markets have responded to the rapid economic upswing in 2010 and early 2011, highlighting both the significant advances achieved in the post-crisis period and the sharp differences evident across subregions and countries. As well as tapping into the improved external conditions which followed upon the Asianled global economic upturn, several Latin American countries were also able to contain the impacts of the crisis and underpin their own recovery with countercyclical policies, thanks to the leeway gained by their macroeconomic management during the run of growth from 2003 to 2008. These countries were in a position to implement expansionary fiscal and monetary policies, some of which channelled higher fiscal spending through labour-market policies or softened the impact of the crisis on employment and income, as discussed in previous ECLAC/ILO bulletins. Since the region is fairly new to the use of countercyclical policies, the second part of this document reviews the experiences arising from those policies and considers lessons for institutionalizing them. Economic growth in the Latin American and Caribbean region has historically been marked by the volatility of its economic cycles, with high-growth periods being succeeded by deep crises. Volatility has conspired against the use of production resources over extended periods and short growth horizons have impeded investment in capital and labour. In the recent international crisis, the deployment of countercyclical macroeconomic policy helped to reduce the depth and duration of the impact and to leverage a more rapid recovery. It is therefore worth looking at the fundamentals of a long-term countercyclical macroeconomic policy which would provide the tools needed to deal with future crises and pave the way for economic growth that may be sustained over time. A special factor during this crisis was that a greater effort was made to support employment and income. Several of the labour-market policy measures taken acted as vehicles for conveying increased fiscal spending to individuals, reflecting greater consideration for equality concerns. Indeed, these measures were aimed not only at stabilizing andstrengthening domestic demand per se, but also at preventing the crisis from hitting lowest-income households the hardest, as had occurred in previous episodes. And —again unlike the pattern seen in previous episodes— inflation actually fell during the crisis as the high food and fuel prices seen in the run-up to it eased as a result of both existing macroeconomic policies and global conditions. This averted the surge in inequality so often seen in previous crises. Two caveats must be added, however. First, not all the countries were in a position to deploy strong countercyclical policies. Many simply lacked the fiscal space to do so. Second, some countries took this sort of measure more as an ad hoc response to the crisis than as part of a clearly established countercyclical policy strategy. The challenge, then, is to institutionalize a countercyclical approach throughout the economic cycle. Taking up this challenge is part of making economic growth more sustainable. This year —2011— was ushered in by rapid economic growth and substantial improvements in labour indicators. With the region’s GDP projected to grow well over 4% this year, ECLAC and ILO estimate that the regional unemployment rate will fall substantially again, from 7.3% in 2010 to between 6.7% and 7.0% in 2011.

A importância da inovação e seus desdobramentos sobre a pesca industrial dos estados do Pará e Santa Catarina (Brasil)

A inovação é um importante instrumento para se atingir o estágio do desenvolvimento socioeconômico tão perseguido pelos países. Quem não inova ou não tem uma agenda atrelada à inovação fica à margem do “grande centro”. Isto é tão verídico que os países desenvolvidos são em totalidade industrializados e inovadores. Não diferente é o Brasil, que apesar de ser a sexta maior economia do planeta continua sendo considerado um país não desenvolvido. Isso se reflete internamente, como no caso da pesca. Apesar de ter um elevado potencial produtivo de pesca extrativa, comparativamente a outros países produtores apresenta baixa capacidade de produção, principalmente em razão da (in)disposição em adotar/desenvolver técnicas (inovações) que possibilitem um melhor desempenho da atividade. Outro aspecto que deve ser destacado é a frágil capacidade institucional de promover o desenvolvimento do segmento. No sentido de buscar alternativas para tornar a estrutura institucional pesqueira do Brasil mais eficaz em relação às suas ações, o governo brasileiro, orientando-se nas diversas estruturas institucionais adotadas pelos principais países produtores de pescado, em 2003 adotou nova forma de governança do setor, porém não alterando a dinâmica existente até então. Nesse sentido, é importante identificar os fatores que tornam esta relevante atividade socioeconômica refém de circunstancias de mercado e de estratégias localizadas, estabelecendo um cenário de desigualdade e de elevada dificuldade por parte de alguns agentes e Estados produtores. A fim de se procurar entender essa realidade, nesta pesquisa se tomou como amostra os estados do Pará e Santa Catarina, os quais são os maiores produtores de peixe do Brasil, ao mesmo tempo são os que mais sofrem os efeitos da instabilidade do mercado e das instituições que os auxiliam, com o objetivo de identificar o papel das inovações no processo de produção. Desse modo, utilizou-se a técnica estatística multivariada de analise fatorial e, a partir de dados coletados junto as principais empresas produtoras dos dois Estados, se elaborou o Índice de Desempenho Inovador (IDI), o qual hierarquiza as firmas em função das suas práticas inovadoras. Neste estudo, as empresas catarinenses apresentaram melhores resultados concretizando a hipótese norteadora da pesquisa de que a inovação é fundamental para um bom desempenho da atividade pesqueira, ao mesmo tempo em que deve ser acompanhada de inúmeros outros elementos, entre os quais, instituições que acompanhem o processo evolutivo das demandas tanto dos agentes internos as empresas quanto os externos (mercados). Outros resultados que devem ser destacados referem-se à capacidade empresarial, medida em termos de habilidades estratégicas, as quais permitem um melhor desempenho em relação ao enfrentamento com o mercado. Os empresários catarinenses apresentaram maior compromisso com a inovação refletido no comportamento de suas empresas. A pesquisa empírica realizada permite asseverar que uma melhor integração das instituições que coordenam a pesca com os agentes que nela tomam decisões pode criar um ambiente mais propicio para um desenvolvimento sólido desta atividade e acredita-se que esta assertiva se aplica a outras atividades. Esta pesquisa aprofundou a discussão dos meandros da inovação, seus desdobramentos e contribuições para o desenvolvimento, permitindo subsidiar políticas públicas setoriais e regionais.

Os estilistas e a produção de moda

Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior (CAPES)

Desenvolvimento de vasos digestores de amostra para microondas doméstico

The application of microwave radiation on the sample preparation has been expanding increasingly in areas involving decomposition by wet and dry roads, fusion, extraction, acceleration of chemical reactions, for example. Currently, the use of microwave ovens for analytical purposes are recognized for having excellent performance for organic and inorganic samples. In the international market there are several kinds of microwaves oven which adapt the varied purposes, however yet with elevated prices which incapacitate your use as routine equipment in laboratory. Thus, many researchers have been choosing for developing own projects of microwaves oven production or to use domestic oven for the laboratory, with or without adaptations. For the evaluation of the proposed method was used in the Kjeldahl methodology for determining total nitrogen in samples of crude protein, using a domestic microwave oven and a digester pot made up in TeflonTM and distillation by steam. Were made to adapt and characterization of a domestic microwave oven, the confeccion vessel digester and the metal support for the vessel. The accuracy of the proposed method was confirmed by comparison of two methods, the standard method for conventional heating and by the proposed method, with heating by microwave radiation through the calculated values of relative standard deviation analysis

Green product development and performance of Brazilian firms: measuring the role of human and technical aspects

The goal of this study is to present and test a conceptual framework that describes the technical aspects (TA), human/organizational aspects (HOA) of the adoption of green product development (GPD) practices and the effect of these practices on firms'environmental (EP), operational (OP) and market performance (MP). To this end, after reviewing the literature on these themes, a conceptual framework with 5 hypotheses is proposed. These hypotheses were tested on 62 Brazilian companies through structural equation modeling using SmartPLS 2.0M3. The main results of this study are as follows: (a) in general, the proposed framework obtained adequate goodness of fit statistics (GoF); (b) technological factors are shown to have an influence on the adoption of GPD practices, and those practices are related to company EP, OP and MP, thus confirming 4 hypotheses of the study; and (c) one of the study's hypotheses is not validated, indicating that the relationship of human/organizational aspects to GPD must be further analyzed. This work extends the literature because: (a) the conceptual framework tested in this study establishes several concepts that have been only partially tested in the previous literature; (b) this work presents evidence about Brazil, where the themes addressed herein have not been yet been thoroughly investigated; and (c) the non-validation of the hypothesis regarding the relationship between human/ organizational aspects with respect to the adoption of product-related environmental practices requires attention. (C) 2014 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Gold and the Stock Market: 3 Essays on Gold Investments

This thesis gives an overview of the history of gold per se, of gold as an investment good and offers some institutional details about gold and other precious metal markets. The goal of this study is to investigate the role of gold as a store of value and hedge against negative market movements in turbulent times. I investigate gold’s ability to act as a safe haven during periods of financial stress by employing instrumental variable techniques that allow for time varying conditional covariance. I find broad evidence supporting the view that gold acts as an anchor of stability during market downturns. During periods of high uncertainty and low stock market returns, gold tends to have higher than average excess returns. The effectiveness of gold as a safe haven is enhanced during periods of extreme crises: the largest peaks are observed during the global financial crises of 2007-2009 and, in particular, during the Lehman default (October 2008). A further goal of this thesis is to investigate whether gold provides protection from tail risk. I address the issue of asymmetric precious metal behavior conditioned to stock market performance and provide empirical evidence about the contribution of gold to a portfolio’s systematic skewness and kurtosis. I find that gold has positive coskewness with the market portfolio when the market is skewed to the left. Moreover, gold shows low cokurtosis with the market returns during volatile periods. I therefore show that gold is a desirable investment good to risk averse investors, since it tends to decrease the probability of experiencing extreme bad outcomes, and the magnitude of losses in case such events occur. Gold thus bears very important and under-researched characteristics as an asset class per se, which this thesis contributed to address and unveil.

The Chilean wheat market and its price support mechanism : a spatial market integration analysis

This research investigates the spatial market integration of the Chilean wheat market in relation with its most representative international markets by using a vector error correction model (VECM) and how a price support policy, as a price band, affect it. The international market was characterized by two relevant wheat prices: PAN from Argentina and Hard Red Winter from the United States. The spatial market integration level, expressed in the error correction term (ECT), allowed concluding that there is a high integration degree among these markets with a variable influence of the price band mechanism mainly related with its estimation methodology. Moreover, this paper showed that Chile can be seen as price taker as long as the speed of its adjustment to international shocks, being these reactions faster than in the United States and Argentina. Finally, the results validated the "Law of the One Price", which assumes price equalization across all local markets in the long run.