Problemas globais, respostas locais : a indústria de móveis de madeira no Brasil à luz dos enfoques de cadeia produtivas e sistemas regionais de inovação

Abstract

As últimas décadas colocaram as economias regionais frente à Globalização e a Reestruturação Industrial, obrigando regiões relativamente isoladas e com indústrias preocupadas apenas com a concorrência local, regional ou nacional, a enfrentar ambientes cada vez mais competitivos. A inovação que caracterizava quase exclusivamente setores de alta tecnologia ou intensa competitividade, torna-se fator de sobrevivência da atividade industrial em geral. A Política Industrial nacional e regional se torna estratégica e cada vez mais integrada à Política Científica e Tecnológica. As novas formas de regulação do mercado internacional ocasionaram uma perda relativa de autonomia dos Estados Nacionais, sobretudo para fazer política industrial, além destes disporem de menos recursos para isso devido à crise fiscal. A forma de implementação destas políticas se modifica, a política industrial deixa de ser atribuição exclusiva e responsabilidade do Estado, para se tornar objeto da ação coletiva dos interessados na capacitação de setores ou regiões. O objeto desta tese são os impactos desta conjuntura sobre o setor moveleiro, o qual passou por grandes transformações nos anos noventa, quando os móveis se tornaram produtos significativos no comércio internacional e o setor se tornou competitivo e inovador mantendo sua estrutura, onde predominam pequenas empresas concentradas em aglomerações locais. Analisamos as formas usuais pelas quais atores locais diferenciados (empresas, instituições de ensino e pesquisa e poder político local) constituem um Sistema de Inovação.

The past few decades have seen Globalisation and Industrial Restructuring processes impact on regional economies; compelling relatively isolated regions, with industries that traditionally dealt only with local, regional or national competition, to confront increasingly competitive environments. Innovation, that used to characterize almost exclusively high technology or highly competitive sectors, became a factor in the survival of industrial activity in general. National and regional industrial policy is becoming strategic and gradually more integrated in Science and Technology Policy. New forms of regulation in the international market have reduced the autonomy of Nation States especially in industrial policy formulation and implementation. In addition, Nation States have fewer resources to invest in such activities as a result of chronic financial restrictions. The implementation of these policies has been modified; industrial policy fails to remain exclusively the responsibility of the State, and instead becomes that of collective action by those interested in capability improvement within the relevant sectors or regions. The object of this thesis concerns the impacts of these recent changes on the wooden furniture industry, which has undergone large transformation throughout the nineties. Over this period furniture became a significant product on the international market, and the sector became more competitive and innovative whilst maintaining its structure, predominated by small companies concentrated in local clusters. We analyse the usual ways by which the various local actors (companies, research and education institutions, and local political power) constitute a System of Innovation. The System of Innovation approach intends to fulfil the analysis of this articulation. It considers innovation as an interactive and localized process, where different actors articulate themselves with the goal of producing and applying new knowledge in the development of new products and production processes. In addition they attempt both to build the required human resources and institutional capabilities and create the formal and informal mechanisms that articulate and provide the circulation of information between those involved in this process. We analyse the furniture industry throughout the World, in Brazil, and in the Bento Gonçalves furniture cluster, localised in the State of Rio Grande do Sul, in order to provide an in-depth understanding of the reach and, above all, limits of collective action that seeks to include regional industry within global competition.