EXPORT INDUSTRY CHALLENGES OF SMALL AND MEDIUM BRAZILIAN ENTERPRISES

Abstract

The objective of this communication is to understand the principal challenges to a larger participation of the small and average companies in the export of the Brazilian industry.  The small industrial companies have contributed with only 5% of the total exported in 2004. In spite of the Brazilian exports having had a widespread expansion with a growth of the number of companies which participate in the external trade, this has happened independent of the company size. Through the identification of the success factors and failure in national and international experiences, the consortia of clothing in Campina Grande, Paraíba, and in New Friburgo, Rio de Janeiro were analyzed. The two principal obtained results are: first, as noted in the literature, the scale disadvantage, technology and employees' qualification are a barrier for the information. Second, in both analyzed cases, the entrepreneurs don't get to notice the benefits in adopting a cooperative behavior in the process of decision, preferring act in an isolated and individual way. This attitude ends up frustrating their attempts of enlarge the access to the external markets.