Política Industrial e Ambiente Institucional na Análise de Arranjos Produtivos Locais

This paper addresses the following questions: how to explain the origins anddevelopment of a successful local industrial district or Local Industrial Arrangement(LIA)? Which dimensions are important to understand when and how some LIAs areable to move from a situation characterized by informal or illegal production, lowwages and precarious work conditions to one characterized by high level ofproductivity/quality/fair labour conditions?The main arguments developed in this paper are as follows: The process ofpromoting and developing a LIA is multiple and complex. It goes beyond three maintheoretical approaches such as local competitive advantages (market); the settling of aleading enterprise (hierarchies); or a successful cooperative strategy (network). Finallythe paper argue that the development of a LIA, especially in markets in transitionfrom ?traditional? to ?modern? as those in the hinterland of Brazil, is betterunderstood if the focus of the research is reoriented the to the intuitional frameworkin which the traditional/informal LIAs are integrated to a modern economy and theirlegal environment.To illustrate these arguments the paper presents the main findings of a researchconducted in local industrial arrangement of garments, mainly jeans wear, located inthe hinterland of Brazil. The LIA of Jaraguá has a history of a successful transitionfrom illegal (falsification of famous brands), to formal producer of jeans with legalidentity. It is also considered an example of success due to the expressive productionand local employment growth in the last decade.The findings reveal the importance of the legal framework and other institutionsin the transition and development this LIA. However these findings also point to aseries of labour and environmental practices such as the use of child labour, pollutionfrom the jeans´ laundries that need to be addressed if the LIA is to promote localsustainable development.