The Role of Flagship Firms, External Actors and Support Institutions in the Emergence of Successful Export Activities in Brazil: Two Industrial Cluster Studies

This paper examines the process by which firms in a cluster start to export based on systemic interactions and the process of diffusion of exporting as a business strategy within the cluster. Two Brazilian manufacturing industries are studied, and within each one a geographic cluster was identified as the origin of dynamic export growth. Players in each industrial cluster, as well as other significant players, were interviewed or identified using secondary sources, and extensive secondary data research was undertaken to study clusters’ historical development. Detailed analysis and a comparison of the two experiences made it possible to draw some general conclusions concerning the similarities and differences between the two clusters in terms of the adoption and diffusion of exporting.Cluster, Exports, Innovation, Brazil

The Emergence of New and Successful Export Activities in Brazil: Four Case Studies from the Manufacturing and the Agricultural Sector

This paper investigates the emergence of new successful export activities in Brazil through the analysis of four industry case studies: furniture, swimwear, soybeans and grapes. Extensive secondary data research was done to study industries’ historical development and to understand the elements that affect the discovery of new export-oriented activities and their diffusion in the economy. Detailed analysis was carried out to identify the role of public sector in the discovery and diffusion process, if any. Comparison of the four experiences show different models of diffusion and demonstrate how barriers to discovery, spillovers and institutions responses varied dramatically among the cases. The paper tries to extract some general conclusions concerning the role of pioneer firms, external actors and public sector institutions. Some lessons learned are presented aiming to help policymakers to design positive policy interventions in Latin America countries.

Respuestas estratégicas a la turbulencia ambiental: un estudio de cuatro "clusters" exportadores brasileños

This paper investigates strategic responses to the global economic crisis that began in 2008, combined with the appreciation of the local currency and the intensification of Asian competition, of four Brazilian clusters comprised of producers and exporters of traditional manufactured products, with different levels of export intensity (footwear, furniture, wines and beachwear). The data were obtained from personal interviews with various actors (entrepreneurs, industry experts, government agents and members of local associations) and a wide range of secondary sources. The clusters present different responses depending on their degree of dependence on external markets, the possibility of redirecting production to domestic markets and level of cooperation.Este artículo investiga las respuestas estratégicas a la crisis económica mundial que comenzó en 2008, junto con la apreciación de la moneda local y la intensificación de la competencia asiática, de cuatro clusters brasileños formados por productores y exportadores de productos manufacturados tradicionales, con diferentes niveles de intensidad de exportación (calzado, muebles, vinos y ropa de playa). Los datos se obtuvieron a partir de entrevistas personales con diversos actores (empresarios, expertos de la industria, agentes gubernamentales y miembros de asociaciones locales) y una amplia gama de fuentes secundarias. Los clusters presentan diferentes respuestas dependiendo de su grado de dependencia de los mercados externos, la posibilidad de reorientar la producción hacia los mercados internos y el nivel de cooperación

Strategic Responses to Environmental Turbulence: A Study of Four Brazilian Exporting Clusters

This paper investigates strategic responses to the global economic crisis that began in 2008, combined with the appreciation of the local currency and the intensification of Asian competition, of four Brazilian clusters comprised of producers and exporters of traditional manufactured products, with different levels of export intensity (footwear, furniture, wines and beachwear). The data were obtained from personal interviews with various actors (entrepreneurs, industry experts, government agents and members of local associations) and a wide range of secondary sources. The clusters present different responses depending on their degree of dependence on external markets, the possibility of redirecting production to domestic markets and level of cooperation

Photography-based taxonomy is inadequate, unnecessary, and potentially harmful for biological sciences

The question whether taxonomic descriptions naming new animal species without type specimen(s) deposited in collections should be accepted for publication by scientific journals and allowed by the Code has already been discussed in Zootaxa (Dubois & Nemésio 2007; Donegan 2008, 2009; Nemésio 2009a–b; Dubois 2009; Gentile & Snell 2009; Minelli 2009; Cianferoni & Bartolozzi 2016; Amorim et al. 2016). This question was again raised in a letter supported by 35 signatories published in the journal Nature (Pape et al. 2016) on 15 September 2016. On 25 September 2016, the following rebuttal (strictly limited to 300 words as per the editorial rules of Nature) was submitted to Nature, which on 18 October 2016 refused to publish it. As we think this problem is a very important one for zoological taxonomy, this text is published here exactly as submitted to Nature, followed by the list of the 493 taxonomists and collection-based researchers who signed it in the short time span from 20 September to 6 October 2016