Regional Differences in the Determinants of Investment Decisions of Private Firms in Brazil

This study takes on an important part or regional growth, that is, the investment decisions of private firms. The question asked is: do corporations decide on investments in the same way in different parts of the territory? The paper analyses investments of 482 large Brazilian firms in the period 1996-2004. The role of sales, cash-flow, external financing, and working capital is investigated through regression analysis, following the literature on firm investment decisions. Regional dummies used to capture differences in the role of those determinants indicate that there are significant differences across regions. This is important information for regional development policy, for different mechanisms should be used in different regions in order to foster private investments.

Supplying Compliance: Why and When the United States Complies with WTO Rulings

In studies of compliance with international law, the focus is usually on the “demand side” – that is, how to increase the pressure on the state to comply. Less attention has been paid, however, to the consequences of the “supply side” – who within the state is responsible for the compliance. This Article is the first study to systematically address the issue of how different actors within the United States government alter national policy in response to the violations of international law. The Article does so by examining cases initiated under the World Trade Organization (WTO) Dispute Settlement Understanding (DSU). This Article presents empirical evidence that who within the government must supply compliance is the most important factor in explaining both whether and when the United States government complies with WTO rulings, even after controlling for important characteristics of the state filing the request and the political importance of the affected industry. These results demonstrate that understanding the domestic supply of compliance is a critical, if neglected, aspect of international law theory. The results also highlight how the dominant “unitary actor” model (adopted by international law scholars to explain compliance) obscures important causal pathways in the compliance process. This Article opens up a new and rich field of study into what makes international law effective or ineffective

Regional subsidies and industrial prospects of lagging regions

Large and sustained differences in economic performance across regions of developing countries have long provided motivation for fiscal incentives designed to encourage firm entry in lagging areas. But empirical evidence in support of these policies has been weak at best. The authors undertake a direct evaluation of the most prominent fiscal incentive policy in Brazil, the Fundos Constitucionais de Financiamento (Constitutional Funds). In doing so, they exploit valuable features of the Brazilian Ministry of Labor's RAIS data set to address two important elements of firm location decisions that have the potential to bias an assessment of the funds: (1) firm"family structure"(in particular, proximity to headquarters for vertically integrated firms), and (2) unobserved spatial heterogeneity (with the potential to confound the effects of the funds). The authors find that the pull of firm headquarters is very strong relative to the constitutional funds for verticallyintegrated firms, but that, with nonparametric controls for time invariant spatial heterogeneity, the funds provide significant incentives for firms in many of the targeted industries.Economic Theory&Research,Scientific Research&Science Parks,Science Education,Technology Industry,Private Participation in Infrastructure

Carving out new business models in a small company through contextual ambidexterity: the case of a sustainable company

Business model innovation (BMI) and organizational ambidexterity have been pointed out as mechanisms for companies achieving sustainability. However, especially considering small and medium enterprises (SMEs), there is a lack of studies demonstrating how to combine these mechanisms. Tackling such a gap, this study seeks to understand how SMEs can ambidextrously manage BMI. Our aim is to provide a practical artifact, accessible to SMEs, to operationalize BMI through organizational ambidexterity. To this end, we conducted our study under the design science research to, first, build an artifact for operationalizing contextual ambidexterity for business model innovation. Then, we used an in-depth case study with a vegan fashion small e-commerce to evaluate the practical outcomes of the artifact. Our findings show that the company improves its business model while, at the same time, designs a new business model and monetizes it. Thus, our approach was able to take the first steps in the direction of operationalizing contextual ambidexterity for business model innovation in small and medium enterprises, democratizing the concept. We contribute to theory by connecting different literature strands and to practice by creating an artifact to assist managemen

Defining the Legal and Policy Framework to Stop the Dumping of Environmentally Harmful Products

Environmental dumping is a practice historically associated with the export of hazardous product waste from a developed country for irresponsible and often illegal disposal in a developing country. Now, with the industrialization and globalization of China and other developing countries, environmental dumping can involve both developing and developed countries as origin and destination. This dumping can be especially harmful to attempts to control under the Montreal Protocol ozone-depleting and climate-forcing chemical substances and/or products requiring unnecessarily high energy consumption. While developing country Parties to the Montreal Protocol are allowed to delay their phasedown of climate-forcing and ozone-depleting hydrofluorocarbons (HFCs) during a multi-year grace period, there are advantages to earlier implementation when superior alternatives are already available at reasonable costs, as is the case for many uses of HFCs today. Thus, developing countries can benefit under the Protocol from setting controls for environmental dumping. This article aims to give policymakers, especially those in developing countries, a legal and policy “toolkit” that can be used to stop unwanted environmental dumping. It includes an examination of the history of environmental dumping, illustration of such dumping in practice, a detailed explanation and examination of the legal and policy tools, and a summary of the consequences of environmental dumping

Cattle Accumulation and Land Use Intensification by Households in the Brazilian Amazon

In developing countries across the globe the impact of livestock on deforestation levels has been profound. This paper explores the role of the cattle industry in household decision making for small landholders in the Brazilian Amazon. Important inquiries raised in the literature are addressed, including the determinants of the co-evolution of deforestation and cattle herds, the possibility of production specialization, and the role of cattle in household livelihoods. Panel data suggest that households have changed focus from crop introduction to cattle. Empirical models reveal that location, wealth, and education are among the important determinants of production decisions and cattle accumulation. Policy recommendations include a focus on the cattle sector coupled with initiatives to establish and enforce protected areas.Latin America, Brazil, household production, land use, cattle, deforestation, Land Economics/Use, Livestock Production/Industries,

Applications of advanced transport aircraft in developing countries

Four representative market scenarios were studied to evaluate the relative performance of air-and surface-based transportation systems in meeting the needs of two developing contries, Brazil and Indonesia, which were selected for detailed case studies. The market scenarios were: remote mining, low-density transport, tropical forestry, and large cargo aircraft serving processing centers in resource-rich, remote areas. The long-term potential of various aircraft types, together with fleet requirements and necessary technology advances, is determined for each application

NATIONAL INNOVATION SYSTEM AND MACROECONOMIC POLICIES: BRAZIL AND INDIA IN COMPARATIVE PERSPECTIVE

Efforts towards economic development in Brazil and India share some common aspects. From the beginning of the 1950s to the end of the 1980s, both countries adopted import substitution policies including high tariffs and non-tariff barriers. Since the beginning of the 1990s, liberalizing economic reforms have been implemented by the respective Governments. If we compare the reach of the Brazilian reform to that of India, one could easily conclude that the former was more extensive and profound than the latter; and in conventional indicators of innovative effort such as research and development expenditures, education coverage, average years of education and literacy rate, Brazil’s results are a little bit better than those of India. However, since the beginning of the 1980s, India has been showing better general economic performance than Brazil. This paper argues and gives some empirical evidence to show that India’s performance is explained by its institutional capacity for coordinating conventional macroeconomic policies with other policies related to its National Innovation System.