Socioeconomic development of the footwear sector: one company, two regions

Abstract

With the phenomenon of globalization, Brazilian companies have sought growth opportunities in several ways. Through tax incentives the states, from their governments, aimed to attract investment generating competition with others, a practice known as tax competition. Some companies, using this feature installed new production units or even moved to distant regions with poor socioeconomic conditions and poor qualification of manpower. This study aimed to examine the use of the territory from the case of a footwear company, located in two regions - South and Northeast - with quite diverse Human Development indices. From a comparative analysis of the perception of 658 workers of group D on development, it is assessed the impact of the industry installation in the new location, as well as with the workers working in the company's headquarters. It was also verified the socio economic growth of the municipalities of Nova Petrópolis in RS, and Russas, in Ceará, in the decade from 1997 to 2007.From the results of the research it has been identified differences between workers of the South Unit and the Northeast Unit regarding to formal education, salary level, family income, unionization, the first job, among others. As to the quality of life, satisfaction levels of workers before employment and after being hired by the company are also different in the two units. However there are points in common that relate to the acquisition of material goods, occupation and level of ambition of the workers.