The initiative, currently in its 3rd edition, should provide training to 1,500 businessmen and should tackle multidisciplinary topics such as marketing, finance and logistics.

"The matters to be approached during the courses will depend on the demand in different states of the country," informs Priscila Massot, an analyst with the IEL.

Another agreement, signed with the Sebrae and the National Council for Scientific and Technological Development (CNPq), of the Ministry of Science and Technology, is going to train 4,000 managers from micro and small enterprises across the country, in courses turned mainly to innovation management. The courses are scheduled to begin in 2010.

IEL analyst Eliane Menezes explains that the lack of practice in innovation management leads to companies' losing opportunities.

"Issues to be discussed," said Menezes, "include the importance of leadership for managing innovation and knowledge, and strategies for innovation."

The average individual value exported by companies in the sector has also been growing firmly in recent years, reaching US$ 163,900 in 2007, up 12.5% over the previous year and posting average growth of 10.5% over the last five years.

This and other figures referring to the performance of Brazilian exports over the decade are included in the just-released study Micro and Small Companies in Brazilian Export -  Brazil and States – 1998/2007.

Ordered by the Sebrae (Brazilian Service of Support for Micro and Small Enterprises) to the Foreign Trade Studies Center Foundation (Funcex), the study is executed based on figures supplied by the Foreign Trade Secretariat (Secex) and other organizations.

The base collects and also crosses with figures by other organizations information about all the 13,000 or so micro and small companies in Brazil that exported in the period between 1998 and 2007.

The document should serve as an important reference for internationalization activities of micro and small companies promoted by the Sebrae and by partner institutions.

"This study is the consolidation of some tendencies that have been crystallizing since 1998. Through it, we may identify what are the difficulties faced by companies to stay on the market, the existing opportunities and the successful experiences," said the Strategic Management manager at the National Sebrae, Pio Cortizo.

Accompanying the general rhythm of Brazilian exports, small companies operated specially in the fields of industry and trade in 2007. Thus, 59% of exporters in 2007 (7,670 enterprises) belonged to the field of industry and 35% (4,550 companies) were in the trade field.

Among the micro companies there was a reduction in the number of firms in all sectors, except for agriculture. The opposite took place among small companies, with a larger number of companies in all cases, including the industrial field, but with an exception in agribusiness.

With regard to the value exported, the industrial sector answered to 60.1% of the value exported by micro and small companies in 2007, which represents a total of US$ 1.3 billion. Trade came in second place, with 33.6% of the total exported, and in last came the service sector, with 0.2%.

Among the special micro companies (which employ little and export much), industrial firms answer to 60.1% of the total, against 33.9% of commercial organizations. The value exported by these companies was divided into similar shares among the industrial and trade sectors, 49.4% and 42.8% last year.

The number of micro and small export companies has not been accompanying the growth of export volume. This figure remained stable in 2007 when compared to 2006 (12,986 against 13,001). In this period there was growth of just 1.6% in the number of exporters and reduction of 2.3% in the number of micro companies.

According to the study, this has been taking place since 2004, when a reduction in the number of micro and small companies contrasted with the relative stability in the number of special organizations and of medium firms and there was an increase of 5.1% in the number of large exporters.

Sebrae

The Brazilian Development Bank (BNDES) spent US$ 3.7 billion in loans in the first quarter of this year. The value, according to information disclosed yesterday by the bank, is 10% greater than that registered in the same period in 2004.

The BNDES has a budget of US$ 23.44 billion for financing in 2005. The performance until now, according to the bank, was driven mainly by the loans to the industry and the infrastructure sector.

In the first case, the financings added up to US$ 1.88 billion in the first three months of the year, an increase in 12% in comparison to the same period in 2004. In the case of the infrastructure area, the loans reached US$ 1.13 billion, or 49% more than in the first quarter last year.

In the bank’s evaluation, the increase in spendings with micro, small and medium sized companies were also expressive, adding up to US$ 1.17 billion, with an increase of 11% in relation to the first three months of 2004. The companies of the sort that received most of the loans were exactly the ones related to the infrastructure area.

“The increase in loans for the smaller companies is a priority in harmony with the federal government’s policies for motivation of the segment, known for its great capacity of generating jobs,” says the statement issued by the BNDES.

The financings for exports, in turn, added up to US$ 1.1 billion. There was a drop in 6% in comparison to the first quarter last year.

There was, however, an increase in 38% in loans to the transport materials exporting sector (automotive vehicles, vessels, railway equipment and aircrafts), which reached US$ 899 million.

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Among the 1,020 Brazilian companies that started exporting last year, around 900, or 88%, are micro and small. This information was supplied by the director of the Department of Foreign Trade at the Ministry of Development, Edson Lupatini Júnior.

This figure reveals the importance that foreign trade gained last year. This is so true that the quantity of companies that started selling outside Brazil in 2004 was well above that in 2003, when 336 companies entered foreign trade.

“This shows that the policy of support mechanisms that the federal government has been establishing aimed at increasing the export base is correct,” stated Lupatini. Brazil had revenues of US$ 96.5 billion with exports in 2004, an increase of 32% over 2003.

According to Lupatini, the year of 2004 also marked the expansion of destinations, products and export regions. Eight countries showed expressive growth in imports of Brazilian products, among them Liberia, Sudan, Cyprus, Malta and Poland.

The addition of new products to the trade basket, according to the director, represented revenues of almost US$ 1 billion in the Brazilian trade balance.

Most of the articles are manufactured, with machinery for moulding rubber, presses for extrusion of metals, cranes for towers, machinery for iron processing, medications, wind powered electric generators, and instruments and equipment for telecommunications.

From Brazil

The 2004 balance also shows greater trade of different products from different regions, adding to the Southeast and South, which are the largest exporters.

Part of this, according to Lupatini, is the result of the State Exporter project, through which the federal government provides incentives to the increase of exports from states where they do not exceed US$ 100 million.

Acre, Amapá, Pará, Rondônia, Roraima and Tocantins, all northern states, Mato Grosso and Distrito Federal, in the Midwest, Maranhão and Rio Grande do Norte, both in the Northeast, which participate in the program, managed to exceed these revenues and have now been given another target, US$ 500 million. The project will also cover other states this year.

According to Lupatini, almost all the Brazilian states increased their exports. Sixteen states had export increases over the country average, which was 32%, in 2004.

The only state where there was a decrease was Amazonas, in the North of the country, due to the increase in consumption of mobile phones on the domestic market.

Lupatini clarified, however, that removing these goods, which are the main product exported by the state, the increase in state exports was 26%.

ABr

Brazil’s micro and small firms are picking up space on the international market. Between 1988 and 2003 the number of Brazilian micro and small firms that engaged in export activities increased 21%, from 5,778 to 7,002.

Over the same period, their foreign sales grew 31.9%, from US$ 1.086 billion to US$ 1.515 billion. Of this latter sum, micro firms were responsible for US$ 132.4 million, while small firms accounted for US$ 1.382 billion (0.2% and 2.2%, respectively, of the country’s total exports).

The encouraging results of the study “Micro and Small Firms in Brazilian Exports,” announced yesterday by the Brazilian Micro and Small Business Support Service (Sebrae), indicate that conditions are improving each year for small firms to keep selling abroad on a continuous basis.

Beginning in November the study, which was conducted by the Foreign Trade Studies Center Foundation (Funcex), will be updated each semester, to provide the sector a better accompaniment.

A big share of the sector’s good performance follows in the wake of government measures to stimulate exports, such as the Exporters’ Consortium created by the Brazilian Export Promotion Agency (Apex Brazil/MIDCT).

Add to this the Post Office’s Easy Export program, the National Network of Foreign Trade Operators, and diversification of the national export portfolio, which introduced new companies and products to the international market.

“As well as expanding employment, exportation enlarges market options, incorporates new technologies, raises quality standards, and leads to improvements in the training of the labor force,” emphasized Gustavo Morelli, Sebrae Manager of Strategies and Guidelines.

He explained that the study dealt with various business aspects, such as export destination, categories of products, export frequency, degree of technology, and dynamism of export products.

The research covered the country’s 11,271 exporters of industrial goods, in every state and the Federal District.

The methodology that was adopted considered as micro firms those with up to 19 employees and annual exports up to US$ 300 thousand.

Small firms were those with 20-99 employees and annual exports between US$ 300 thousand and US$ 2.5 million.

Agência Brasil
Translator: David Silberstein