The internationalization of the large Brazilian companies and the experience of the Gerdau Group and the Marcopolo

Abstract

The article analyses world flows of Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) and Brazil’s participation in these flows. Furthermore, it describes the main motives that lead firms to invest abroad and discusses the principal characteristics of the most important transnational companies from Brazil and from the State of Rio Grande do Sul. It concludes that the slow productive internationalization of the Brazilian firms of national capital could be related to the homogeneous characteristics of the products manufactured, besides a preference for the internal market. The cases of two Brazilian multinationals – Gerdau and Marcopolo – are analyzed using the Uppsala model and the eclectic paradigm, showing the differences and the similarities between both internationalization processes.