Responding to Global Pressure: The Role of Private Partnership and Public Agencies in the Sinos Valley, Brazil

This paper sums up the experience of a Brazilian cluster of small and medium enterprises in the Sinos Valley. It shows that cooperation amongst local enterprises strengthens their ability to compete globally and that business associations can play an important role in identifying the key problems and proposing solutions. This paper was prepared for the Inter-American Development Bank's conference, "Building a Modern and Effective Business Development Services Industry in Latin America and the Caribbean", held in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil on March 3rd-5th, 1999.