No abstract

The firm and chief executive officer correlates of aggressive export behaviour were examined in a random sample of 45 Brazilian wood‐furniture manufacturers. Because of the importance of earning foreign exchange to make payments on international loans, the Brazilian government has made major efforts to stimulate firms to export. This study examines whether the characteristics of aggressive exporters under such stimulation are different from those found in other environments. The results indicate that governmental intervention does not materially affect the characteristics of aggressive exporters and that the aggressive‐passive dichotomous model is, with a few exceptions, valid under export stimulation programmes in Brazil. However, it was not possible to affirm that aggressiveness was correlated with firm export performance.

A number of studies have reported characteristics of innovative firms; however, these studies have typically been conducted in freely competitive markets. Angela da Rocha, Carl Christensen and Newton Paim have studied firms within the Brazilian computer industry. The Brazilian government regulates the entrance of foreign competitors to this market. Thus, the authors are able to ask whether the characteristics of innovative firms in a protected market differ from characteristics previously reported in competitive markets. With only a few minor exceptions, the reported profiles of innovative firms are quite similar. These results suggest that characteristics of innovative firms are generalizable across certain industry and environmental conditions, including protected markets.

The images of Brazilian and foreign technology in the Brazilian chemical polymer industry were found to be very different. Foreign technology was generally seen as being superior technologically and the Brazilian technology as being better adapted to the national markets, raw materials and labour skills. Executives from multinational firms had much more positive views of foreign technology than did those from Brazilian national companies. The implications for both suppliers of foreign technology and the Brazilian Government are examined.