Entrepreneurial and technological management in three selected furniture clusters in southern Brazil

Abstract

The purpose of this work is to study the most important furniture manufacturing districts in Southern Brazil and analyze the increase, innovation and management strategies in order to identify similarities and differences in the recent development and forms of management. This work deals with the furniture clusters of Rio Negrinho (SC), Bento Gonçalves (RS) and Arapongas (PR), with the following specific purposes: a) to identify competitive and innovation strategies adopted by the industries that are part of the clusters, as well as the technological management characteristics; b) to do a survey of the public policies suggestions for the furniture industries; c) to outline a comparison among the three furniture clusters, comparing the strategies adopted, technological management and each cluster’s needs, and verify if it is possible to set up advanced clusters. Brazilian furniture industry has developed itself through clusters formation. In different regions of the country, it started as small carpentries, artisanly, and then it evolved to large scale production and became an important development district, which feeds the local as well as the Brazilian regional economy. The furniture manufacturing districts selected for this study – Rio Negrinho (SC), Bento Gonçalves (RS) and Arapongas (PR) – are considered extremely important in the regional development of Southern Brazil and are among the ten largest ones of the country.