Abstract

A staple of the PT governments’ new economic policy in Brazil has been the
pursue of the internationalization of a selected group of domestic firms. From 2003 to 2013, the Brazilian State has promoted the globalization of such firms through various public
policies, with the main goal being to position the most of them in the upper echelon of
their respective industry globally. At the same time, internationalization had been a primary
“defensive” strategy adopted by leading Brazilian firms since the ‘90s, turned in a truly “global
strategy” in the last 20 years to deal with deeply transformative trends at world level. Here
we look specifically at the internationalization path followed by JBS, VALE and AB-INBEV,
highlighting common patterns such as undertaking expansive trajectories characterized by
distinctive and cumulative phases of consolidation; penetrating rapidly concentrating world
industries; a common tendency to dispersion of shareholding control, foreign takeover and
delocalization of central activities in major markets; growing financialization of business;
emergency of China as main market of reference. We conclude that the internationalization
trajectories of JBS, VALE and AB-INBEV show some shortcomings in the “National
Champions” strategy. Nonetheless, we warn against the temptation of regarding the mixed
results of this strategy as simply a “failure” of the new industrial policy as a whole.

JEL Classification: F23.