Beyond Bureaucracy: How Prosecutors and Public Defenders Enforce Urban Planning Laws in São Paulo,Brazil

Cities need law to thrive, but it is not clear how abstract texts become tangible policy outcomes. Existing research on the role of law in urban affairs conceives law as either an algorithm that shapes urban life or a reflection of political disputes. The former assumes that the meaning of law is obvious; the latter claims it is irrelevant. In contrast to these views, I argue that laws are multipurpose instruments that acquire a specific function when enforced by those government agents who operate at the frontlines of public service. To understand what these agents do and why, I conducted a qualitative study of the Ministério Público and the Defensoria Pública in São Paulo, Brazil. Through this process, I found that these government agencies are not cohesive bureaucracies but heterarchies composed of distinct internal factions with different evaluative principles. Moreover, officials within them are not isolated from other entities in society but tightly entangled with them, and these connections influence what these officials do. Finally, enforcement agents are not always resigned to solving conflicts as they arise. Rather, they strive to find acceptable solutions in the interstices of existing conditions or even change the circumstances that created the conflict in the first place.     

Cerrado meets savannah,family farmers meet peasants: The political economy of Brazil’s agricultural cooperation with Mozambique

Brazil’s development cooperation policy with sub-Saharan Africa has intensified since the end of the 2000s, with Mozambique being the country’s largest partner. This South–South Cooperation enterprise has shown intentions to share elements drawn from previous experiences of programmes implemented in Brazil, particularly in the rural sector. However, Brazilian agricultural policy is notorious for its dualistic structure, and dominant political strategy has been marked by the accommodation of two different – occasionally contradictory – agricultural policy agendas, reflecting how current political forces are organized. This article demonstrates how such a dualistic structure shapes Brazil’s technical cooperation with Mozambique, pointing out that it is still unclear how far rural development perspectives rooted in the particularities of Brazilian agrarian dynamics would be useful for projects implemented in different rural contexts. We argue that, since Mozambican agricultural plans primarily emphasize a perspective that focuses on market-oriented agricultural modernization, a potential reform of the current cooperation policy toward more inclusive agenda, focused on family farming, faces political economy constraints. We conclude that the appropriation of a foreign project relies on the political economy dynamics of related contexts and power relations of involved stakeholders, an area that could deserve further attention from researchers investigating Brazil–Mozambique relations.     

浅析中国巴西经贸关系

中国与巴西同为金砖国家,处在经济迅猛发展阶段,其相互合作意义重大。巴西原材料丰富,中国产品物美价廉,两国良好的经贸关系不仅体现在进出口上,在投资领域,经贸科研等方面也深入合作。近几年签署了多项大型合作项目,贸易往来能够通过本币进行结算,虽然巴西对来自中国进口商品的反倾销调查有所增加,但双边经贸关系发展前景广阔。     

Horizontal Strategic Alliances and Company Behavior

Abstract

Despite the growing interest over the last ten years in strategic alliances as a source of competitive advantage, such initiatives have often been affected by different sorts of problems during implementation. This paper examines the categories into which such problems can be classified-environmental problems, structural problems, and problems with management attitudes and expectations-and discusses their effect on two cases of horizontal strategic alliances in Brazil.

A pesar del creciente intérs en los últimos diez años con respecto a la utilización de alianzas estratégicas como una fuente para generar ventajas competitivas, estas iniciativas han sido frecuentemente afectadas ppor diferentes tipos de problemas en su fase de implementación. Este artículo examina las categorías en que estos problemas pueden ser clasificados-problemas ambientales, problemas estructurales y problemas inherentes a las actitudes y expectativas de la administración-y discute sus efectos en dos casos de alianzas horizontales en Brasil.

Apesar do crescente interesse a respeito de alianças estratégicas como uma fonte de vantagem competitiva durante os últimos dez anos, essas iniciativas tem sido freqüentemente afetadas por toda a sorte de problemas durante a implementação. Esse trabalho examina as categoriasnas quais esses problemas podem ser classificados-problemas ambientais, problemas estruturais e problemas com as atitudes e as expectativas dos gestores-e discute os seus efeitos sobre dois casos de aliança estratégica horizontal no Brasil.     

Personal values associated with political consumption: an exploratory study with university students in Brazil

Emerging countries have witnessed an incredible change in their societal structure in the last few years. In Brazil, the economical rise of the middle class brought more that 100 million people to the marketplace. This stimulus to consumerism (i.e. the social and economic order that encourages the purchase of goods and services in ever‐greater amounts) is accompanied by a notable growth in social movements and mobilization of citizen‐consumers, which indicates changes in the values of individuals and concerns with the direction the society is taking. Conscious and political consumption consequently arises as an alternative way. Especially among young consumers such issues are interesting to address from a theoretical and social point of view, as this new generation will shape the future of the nation. Therefore, the main objective of this study is to analyse socially conscious and political consumption in terms of consumers’ civic engagement as political citizens. We argue that the young political consumer is value‐oriented. The study relied on quantitative research, conducted through an internet‐based survey where 458 valid questionnaires were obtained. Schwartz's Portrait Values Questionnaire was used to measure personal values of the interviewees. Conscious and political consumption were measured through eight questions addressing alter‐ and anti‐consumption actions. The results indicated significant differences among the personal values of the university students that were classified as political consumers. Universalism and benevolence stood out among the core values of this group, with prominence of self‐transcendence, appreciation for equality and concerns for the well‐being of others. However, a gap was observed between the discourse and action of interviewees, once only one‐third of the sample undertook some form of political consumption. The conclusion was that most of the university students interviewed show the will to change society with individual actions, but demonstrate very little political commitment, and currently do not act politically in their purchases.     

The concise economic history of Portugal – a comprehensive guide

Most research on British business in Latin America has concentrated on the free-standing companies, such as the railways, which characterised British investment before 1914. Apart from Royal Dutch Shell, the most important new British investments thereafter were manufacturing companies, which steadily increased their presence in the region. Some began to arrive before 1914, but several more made significant investments between the wars, especially in Argentina and Brazil, with a further wave of new investment after 1945. This paper utilises corporate archives, as well as those of the British government and Bank of England, to investigate the financial aspects of their growth. While the provision of finance for fixed investments and working capital was relatively straightforward before World War II, thereafter it became more difficult due to government regulation on both sides of the Atlantic, leading to ingenious solutions to overcome financial challenges.     

Specification and estimation of stochastic multiple-output production and technical inefficiency

This paper presents a primal-based approach for specification and estimation of multiple-output production frontiers that allows simultaneous identification and estimation of determinants of technical inefficiency. The proposed model extends the technical efficiency effects model by Battese and Coelli (1995) to general multiple-output technologies. An empirical application using Swedish health care panel data from the years 1989–1994 is included. The key issue is to test for the effects on technical efficiency of an organizational reform implemented with the primary purpose to increase efficiency. The results reveal no significant effect on technical efficiency of the reform, but evidence of overall decreased technical efficiency and technical progress in the provision of health care over the studied time period are found.     

Critical Areas and Entry Points for Sustainability‐Related Strategies in the Sugarcane‐Based Ethanol Industry of Brazil

This study reveals five critical areas that Brazil's sugarcane‐based ethanol industry could capitalize on to incorporate sustainability into their firms' strategies. The emergent theoretical framework represents a starting point for further investigations aimed at integrating the sustainability construct and strategies for the industry. A growing body of literature calls for strategic management to adapt to complex and ever‐changing environments and sustainability trends. For many firms in developing economies, sustainability remains isolated from mainstream strategy, resulting in reactive approaches on the part of management. A qualitative research method – grounded theory – was used to induct from data. Five themes emerged from the analysis providing guidance on where sustainability‐related strategies ought to begin. This research posits that existing sectoral innovation systems could be used to channel sustainability‐driven innovations. In addition, a combination of public and private efforts to foster innovations based on the emergent themes could increase the value of industry under study, while lessening its social and environmental footprint. Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd and ERP Environment.