PDF Hosted at the Radboud Repository of the Radboud University Nijmegen
Total Page：16
File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb
PDF hosted at the Radboud Repository of the Radboud University Nijmegen The following full text is a publisher's version. For additional information about this publication click this link. http://hdl.handle.net/2066/113965 Please be advised that this information was generated on 2017-12-06 and may be subject to change. гоі Wilma Roos Shaping Brazil's Petrochemical Industry, The Importance of Foreign Firm Origin in Tripartite Joint Ventures НЫ SHAPING BRAZIL'S PETROCHEMICAL INDUSTRY, THE IMPORTANCE OF FOREIGN FIRM ORIGIN IN TRIPARTITE JOINT VENTURES SHAPING BRAZIL'S PETROCHEMICAL INDUSTRY, THE IMPORTANCE OF FOREIGN FIRM ORIGIN IN TRIPARTITE JOINT VENTURES Een wetenschappelijke proeve op het gebied van de sociale wetenschappen Proefschrift ter verkrijging van de graad van doctor aan de Katholieke Universiteit van Nijmegen, volgens het besluit van het college van decanen in het openbaar te verdedigen op vrijdag 28 juni 1991 des namiddags te 1.30 precies door Wilma Roos geboren op 13 juni 1959 te Amersfoort Promotor : Prof. dr. G. Huizer Co-promotor : Dr. D. Haudc PREFACE In 1981, during my study Human Geography of Developing Countries, I had to chose a subject for my MA field research in Mexico. It was my intention to inves tigate the development prospects of the huge oil industry of this country and the involvement of various enterprises in this sector. My supervisor at that time, dr. Otto Verkoren -realistically estimating the research a student going to a Third World country for the first time can do -advised me to concentrate on a somewhat smaller type of enterprise first. It would not only be easier but also far cheaper, since their would be less need in the small Mexican companies to offer expensive business lunches in order to obtain the information. Under his supervision I gained a great deal of experience with industry oriented research in the Third World. Meanwhile, I didn't let go of my wish to investigate larger firms in the oil industry or sectors related to it, and their impact on industrial development. Thus, I was very glad to have the opportunity to become a temporary research assistant at the Third World Center of the University of Nijmegen. From 1987 till 1991 I carried out the research presented here which deals with the functioning of the tripartite developmental model -consisting of joint ventures between large foreign companies, state firms and national private firms- in the petrochemical industry in Brazil. At the time I started the research about four years ago, the increasing inter nationalization of world production had intensified the discussion on the role of multinational enterprises. Besides this, democratization was taken place in a number of countries in Latin America, amongst which Brazil was one of the earliest. In short, all ingredients were present to make this a challenging research project. The first thing I was confronted with in Brazil was its warmth and hospitality. Business executives, employees of government institutes and other researchers were so kind as to spend hours sitting with me, answering my almost endless row of questions, without expecting me to buy a lunch. I, therefore would like to thank the representatives of national chemical enterprises, of foreign chemical companies and of state institutions -the Petroquisa directors in particular- for providing me some insight into Brazil's petrochemical industry. The days I spend at the IBASE office in Rio de Janeiro proved to be very useful as well. In addition, I would like to thank Joäo Bosco Feres, Rute Rios, Roberto and José Renato, who provided me with some key informants and, in particular, showed me a Brazil that I will never forget. Furthermore I greatly appreciated the hospitality of Nel Vijzelman in Rio de Janeiro and Jan and Maria van der Berg in Sao Paulo who helped me to feel comfortable in huge world cities in which one can easily get lost. It is impossible to thank all persons who were of great help during my two field researches in Brazil, but the last persons who meant a great deal to me and showed me the other side of Brazil, the side unknown by most of the managers, executives and government employees I interviewed, are the street children represented on the 'Secundo Congresso Nacional de Meninos e Meninas da Rua' in Brasilia. They ν taught me about the difficulties of staying alive in a Third World country charac terized by extreme differences in wealth such as Brazil. I do hope that the benefits of industrial development will one day reach and enrich the lives of Damilo, Theresa, Fransico, and all the other children presently living on the streets of Rio, Sao Paulo, Salvador and other Brazilian cities. After returning from my final field research trip -the Brazilian 'forro' still in my ears- I was confronted with the task of writing a PhD thesis. Thanks to the support of my colleague's at the Third World Center, and not the least some friends at the Department of Anthropology and the Peace Research Center, to commute from Utrecht to Nijmegen never became a burden. I would like to thank them, in particular for the tea breaks in which a needed distance from the research could be taken. I would further like to thank Kees Koonings, from the State University of Utrecht, who, despite his full agenda, always found time to discuss the processes of industrialization in Brazil with me. I wish to thank Karin Fierke, for correcting my English, Wilbert Kruijsen for the lay-out and Yvonne and Roel for designing the maps and figures. The pleasures of living in a house together with Ciska, Marga and Margreet, who followed the progress of my research with never lasting interest, as well as the support given to me by my family, certainly contributed to the result. But this thesis would never have been completed within the four years as 'Assistant in Opleiding', without the help of Omer van Renterghem, who not only assisted me during the field researches in Brazil, but also made critical comments on the entire text. Despite the fact that his comments on the chapters were sent to me all the way from Sudan, he followed the process from nearby. Wilma Roos Utrecht, 1st April 1991 vi CONTENTS Preface ν List of tables xiv List of figures xv List of photographs xvi List of abbreviations xvii Chapter 1: Introduction 1 Chapter 2: Theoretical assumptions: the role of multinational enterprises in the triple alliance in Brazil 6 2.1. Introduction 6 2.2. From dependency to dependent development 8 2.3. The triple alliance as fundamental factor in dependent development 10 2.3.1. Multinational capital 10 2.3.2. Local capital 11 2.3.3. State capital 11 2.3.4. External conditions 12 2.4. The strategy of the triple alliance in Brazil: contribution and constraints 13 2.4.1. Contribution of the triple alliance 13 2.4.2. Constraints of the strategy of the triple alliance 14 2.4.3. The foreign partner: a neglected participant? 15 2.5. Theories of international business 17 2.6. Kojima's hypothesis 18 2.6.1. Development impact of Japanese investments 18 2.6.2. The role of technology transfer 20 2.6.3. Some critical comments on Kojima 22 2.7. The importance of joint ventures for development 24 2.7.1. Motivations for starting joint ventures 24 2.7.2. Impact of origin on joint venture participation 24 2.8. Stability of joint ventures 27 2.8.1. Different attitudes toward state participation 27 2.8.2. Control over the joint venture 28 2.8.3. Adaptation to local circumstances 30 2.8.4. Corporate culture 31 2.9. Purpose of this research 32 2.9.1. Research objective and research questions 32 2.9.2. Research methods 33 2.10.Summary and conclusions 34 vii Chapter 3: The development of the chemical industry in Brazil 41 3.1. Introduction 41 3.2. Characteristics of the chemical and petrochemical industry 41 3.2.1. The petroleum branch 42 3.2.2. The petrochemical branch 43 3.2.3. The final chemical branch 46 3.3. The development of the petrochemical industry on a world scale 47 3.4. The economic development of the Brazilian petrochemical branch 49 3.4.1. Fluctuating demand for petrochemical products 49 3.4.2. Production growth and stagnation 50 3.4.3. Impressive change in balance of trade 53 3.5. The construction of the petrochemical complexes 55 3.5.1. The Sâo Paulo complex, the first petrochemical producers 55 3.5.2. The Camaçari complex: an integrated complex 55 3.5.3. The Rio Grande do Sul complex: Polosul 58 3.6. The National Petrochemical Programme (PNP) 1987-1995 59 3.7. Shift from petrochemicals to fine chemicals 64 3.8. Summary and conclusions 66 Chapter 4: The importance of the tripartite model in the petrochemical industry in Brazil 70 4.1. Introduction 71 4.2. The creation of the tripartite model 71 4.2.1. The first tripartite firms in Säo Paulo 72 4.2.2. Conflicting interests converted into a model: Camaçari 73 4.2.3. Government aims in the implementation of the tripartite model 74 4.3. The changing contribution of the state to the petrochemical industry 77 4.3.1. The creation of state institutions. 77 4.3.2. Specific nature of the state technocracy 79 4.3.3. Relations between petrochemical technocracy and Bahian state bureaucracy: increasing influence of 80 the state 81 4.3.4. The changing role of Petroquisa 81 4.3.5. The importance of Norquisa 82 vni 4.4.