Abstract

This text begins by exploring the Japanese Model of industrial relations and
organization as an alternative to the crisis of Fordism-Taylorism occurring in Eastern Developed
Countries. Acknowledges for such, the importance of improved capital-labour relations,
i.e., workers’ participation in the definitions and in the benefits of common objectives
that results for example in better income distribution. Taking the Brazilian case, it is
diagnosed that the present model of “development” is leading the country to chaos. Radical
economic, social, and political changes are required to recreate a contemporary model of
capitalist development based on Brazilian specificities. In such model, social welfare is one
of its major economic strengths, a genuine international competitiveness will naturally result
from the strengthening of the internal market, and labour is not merely considered a cost of
production but an important resource for building dynamic comparative advantages.

JEL Classification: L53; O15; O10.