The emergence of Brazilian multinational companies
During the decade of the 90's Brazilian companies had a low rate of international activities. A wave of economic reforms in 2000 drove many of them to increase their investments, thus increasing their capacity to expand in international markets
During the decade of the 80's there was a wave of internationalization in Latin America that opened the door to market liberalization and deregulation. However, at the beginning of the 90's in countries such as Brazil, as a result of the lack of technological, managerial, and financial assets, the main companies in the country could not compete with first level players, reverting this regional trend.
Considering their low competitiveness levels in international markets, Brazilian companies decided to concentrate on local markets, a process that was further consolidated by the privatizations of the 90's. Toward the end of that decade a greater participation of institutional investors and professional managers was perceived in Brazilian companies, increasing their investments and expansion to other countries.
At the beginning of 2000, investments of Brazilian multinational companies reached over USD 3 billion, and six years later they were up to USD 19 billion, partly as a consequence of mergers and acquisitions of diverse companies such as Interbrew and Ambev and Inco by Vale, respectively.
Brazilian multinational companies continued to expand to new markets, taking advantage of low interest rates and excess liquidity in the country, leading companies such as Vale, Embraer, and Embraco to become leaders of their respective sectors with business models that combined low costs with a range of attractive products and services, and logistic and information technology systems adapted to the needs of the market.
Currently, a large number of Brazilian multinational companies trade in international markets, competing with large OECD companies in a diversity of sectors such as mining, oil, iron and steel, and aerospace, among others. The publication "Empresas multinacionales latinoamericanas" (Latin American Multinational Companies) looks into several of these successful cases of Brazilian multinational companies in more detail.
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