The purpose of this study is to verify if exchange rate fluctuations interfere with competitive exportation of Brazilian steel sector. For this purpose it was used a hyphotesis guideline. By hyphotesis adopted, price advantages originated from exchange fluctuations lose importance because of the oligopoly control over world steel companies, international depression of steel prices, imposition of barriers and other restrictions imposed by central countries government , specially U.S. For the purpose of this research it was done a historical cut of five years, delimiting research period from 1997 to 2001. The objective of this cut was the isolation of facts that can determine the competitiveness such as exchange fluctuations, market structure, trade barriers, and other factors for example privatization that can interfere with the results. The content of this analysis was composed of affiliated companies of Brazilian Steel Institute in 2002. The subject of this study was the exportation supported by Brazilian steel companies within research period. Methodologically speaking, observation, comparative and statistics methods were used according to ex post fact research method and documented bibliography. In the preview of this literature were focused international trade, International Monetary System, Brazilian exchange rate environment after Real, competitiveness and market structure. The discussion was addressed to the situation of world steel sector and specific situations of the United States and Brazil. The study was concluded with final considerations. It was concluded that hypotheses was veridical. The data showed that exchange fluctuation (exchange devaluation) does not increase competitive exportation of the sector because there was no relevant increase in several steel products exportation indicating that oligopoly structure of the sector and market protection barriers eliminate exchange advantages. Nevertheless, the conclusion was that exchange fluctuation interferes with financial performance of Brazilian steel companies causing high debts in dollars. / O objetivo deste trabalho é verificar se as flutuações da taxa de câmbio interferem na competitividade exportadora do Setor Siderúrgico Brasileiro. Para isso, utilizar-se-á de uma hipótese diretriz. Pela hipótese adotada, as vantagens de preço oriundas das variações do câmbio perdem significado devido à estrutura oligopolizada da indústria siderúrgica mundial, da depressão internacional dos preços do aço e da imposição de barreiras e outras restrições impostas pelos governos das nações centrais, principalmente os Estados Unidos da América. Para a finalidade da pesquisa, procedeu-se a um corte histórico de cinco anos, delimitando o período de pesquisa entre 1997 e 2001. O objetivo desta limitação é isolar os fatores que podem determinar a competitividade, a saber, a flutuação cambial, a estrutura de mercado e as barreiras comerciais, de outros, por exemplo, a privatização, que pode interferir nos resultados. O espaço de análise do presente estudo é composto pelas empresas afiliadas ao Instituto Brasileiro de Siderurgia, no ano de 2002. O objeto de estudo é a exportação realizada pelo conjunto das indústrias siderúrgicas brasileiras, no período escolhido para pesquisa. Em termos de metodologia, foram utilizados os métodos observacionais, comparativos e estatísticos, em acordo com a tipologia ex post facto e bibliográfica-documental. Na revisão da literatura, tratou-se do comércio internacional, do Sistema Monetário Internacional, do panorama da taxa de câmbio brasileira pós-Real e da competitividade e estrutura de mercado. Na discussão, tratou-se da situação do Setor Siderúrgico em nível mundial e tratou-se das situações específicas dos Estados Unidos e do Brasil. Finalizou-se o trabalho com as considerações finais. Concluiu-se pela veracidade da hipótese de trabalho. Os dados mostraram que a flutuação cambial desvalorização cambial não incrementa a competitividade exportadora do Setor, por não ter havido significativo aumento na exportação dos vários tipos de produtos siderúrgicos, o que indica que a estrutura oligopolizada do setor e as barreiras protecionistas anulam as vantagens do câmbio. No entanto, constatou-se que a flutuação cambial interfere no desempenho financeiro das siderúrgicas brasileiras, com elevadas dívidas em dólares.

The European Union faces challenges related to climate change, security of energy supply, and competitiveness of European industries. Energy efficiency indicators are required for monitoring and controlling the effectiveness of policies such as the recently endorsed Energy Efficiency Directive. This thesis aims at assessing whether traditionally used energy efficiency indicators capture the development of energy efficiency in the iron and steel sector. The study is based on results from two statistical methods: a top-down, i.e. Malmquist productivity index, and a bottom-up, i.e. partial least squares regression. The specific energy consumption (the indicator representing the sector within the Odyssee energy efficiency index) was scrutinised together with associated indicators based on economic production using the aforementioned statistical methods. The results demonstrated the specific energy consumption does not capture the characteristics of the value chain of steel products. Therefore, it is not sufficient for capturing the energy efficiency of iron and steel industries. Previous studies suggest using indicators based on economic production (e.g. value added) since they represent the value chain to larger degree. However, the value creation process of companies belonging to larger international groups cannot be estimated reliably. Furthermore, the trends of both types of indicators tend to be highly influenced by structural changes, veiling the actual efficiency development. Energy use statistics published by international organisations were also compared for the Swedish case. The results demonstrated that international organisations use different methodologies for allocating energy use statistics between consumption and transformation sectors. The method has significant implications on the trends observed, if based on openly available statistics. This thesis complements previous research by reviewing implications of traditional energy efficiency indicators based on company data, national statistics or openly available statistics and contributes with insights essential for future efforts towards improving energy efficiency indicators for the steel industry. / Den europeiska unionen står inför utmaningar relaterade till minskad klimatpåverkan, säkerställd energitillgång samt konkurrenskraften hos europeisk industri. Energieffektiviseringsindikatorer krävs för att övervaka och kontrollera effektiviteten hos energipolicy såsom det nyligen antagna energieffektiviseringsdirektivet. Den här avhandlingen syftar till att bedöma om traditionellt använda energieffektiviserings-indikatorer fångar järn- och stålsektorns utveckling inom energi-effektivitet. Studien är baserad på resultat från två statistiska metoder: en top-down-metod, Malmquists produktivitetsindex, och en bottom-up-metod, partiella minsta kvadratmetoden. Den specifika energikonsumtionen – indikatorn som representerar sektorn i Odyssees energieffektiviseringsindex – granskades tillsammans med andra energieffektivitetsindikatorer med hjälp av de ovan nämnda statistiska metoderna. Resultaten visade att specifik energikonsumtion inte fångar karaktären av stålprodukternas värdekedjor. Indikatorn är därför inte tillräcklig för att fånga energieffektivitet inom järn- och stål-industrier. Tidigare studier föreslår att använda indikatorer baserade på ekonomisk produktion (exempelvis förädlingsvärdet) då de representerar värdekedjan till högre grad. Förädlingsvärdet kan dock inte uppskattas tillförlitligt för företag som tillhör större internationella grupper. Trend-erna hos båda typerna av indikatorer tenderar dessutom att påverkas av strukturella förändringar, vilka döljer den riktiga effektivitetsutvecklingen. En jämförelse gjordes även av energianvändningsstatistik publicerad av olika internationella organisationer för det svenska fallet. Resultaten demonstrerade att internationella organisationer använder olika metoder för att allokera energianvändning mellan konsumtions- och omvandlings-sektorer i statistiken. Metoden påverkar observerade trender signifikant om de baseras på öppet tillgänglig statistik. Avhandlingen kompletterar tidigare forskning genom att belysa innebörden av traditionella energieffektiviseringsindikatorer baserade på företagsdata, nationell statistik eller öppet tillgänglig statistik samt bidrar med insikter som kommer att vara väsentliga för framtida satsningar i att förbättra energieffektiviseringsindikatorer för stålindustrin.

The diploma thesis is devoted to the problem of the modern world of differences among two of the most important standards in the world of financial accounting and reporting: IFRS and US GAAP. The main focus was on comparing and searching for the possible differences on the financial reports of US Steel, which has its basement in the USA and it is using US GAAP standards and its subsidiary in Slovakia using IFRS, within the steel sector. The concrete financial statements were analysed by the tools of financial analysis. Hypothetical scenarios were made on the basis of the results, which could have occurred during the decision making process and which were influenced by the differences among the applied standards. The main goal and important thought of the thesis was to indicate to a reader, in which state the convergence between these two standards is and which differences need to be eliminated to make standards equal in giving the view on the financial statements and financial decision making of each company.

Made available in DSpace on 2016-04-25T16:44:53Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Sergio Iunis Citrangulo de Paula.pdf: 1128127 bytes, checksum: e68440296bb2124e7bfb68ede484ef39 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2007-03-11 / In the current economy, with both the information speed and the hypercompetition among the companies, it is necessary to analyze and understand new strategic alternatives to place organizations into this new environment. The traditional trade-off cost vs. differentiation diffused by Porter (1986) needs to be reevaluated to fit to this new market reality and taking into consideration the complexity of some new emerging strategic deals. This dissertation addresses theories about the competitive strategy based on a case study of Companhia Siderúrgica Nacional (CSN). This strategic analysis is made based on Porter s (1986) model and using the Delta Model proposed by Hax & Wild II (2001), applied as an alternative to the Porter s one. From a review of the literature over both models and also from the CSN s case analysis, this study presents the possibility to excel on Porter s trade-off in the strategic formulation, going deeper in the actions, combining costs vs. differentiation, taken by the Company. Based on the identification and consideration of the decisions made by the top management of the company, which lead CSN to present competitive advantage and, during these last years of privatization, has been enabling economic returns over the competitors and the interest of many investors. This dissertation discuss the consistence and effectiveness on Porter s (1986) generic competitive strategy proposal, and that it is possible to go further on the proposed trade off and think about combined strategies / Na atual economia, a velocidade das informações e hiper-competição entre empresas, torna-se necessário analisar e compreender novas alternativas estratégicas para posicionar as organizações diante deste novo cenário. O tradicional trade off custos versus diferenciação difundido por Michael E. Porter (1986) precisa ser reavaliado para esta nova realidade de mercado e da complexidade de alguns dos novos arranjos estratégicos emergentes. Esta dissertação discute teorias sobre estratégia competitiva a partir de um estudo de caso na Companhia Siderúrgica Nacional (CSN). Esta análise estratégica é feita a partir do modelo de Porter (1986) e utilizando o Modelo Delta proposto por Hax & Wilde II (2001), aplicado como alternativa ao modelo porteriano. Este estudo fará uma revisão da literatura sobre ambos os modelos e da análise do caso da CSN, apresentando a possibilidade de superação do trade-off porteriano na formulação estratégica ao se aprofundar no detalhamento das ações que combinam custos versus diferenciação tomadas pela Empresa. Estará identificando e refletindo sobre as ações e mudanças tomadas pela alta administração da empresa que levaram a CSN a apresentar vantagem competitiva, que nestes últimos anos após privatização da empresa tem proporcionado retornos econômicos acima da concorrência e o desejo de muitos investidores. Esta dissertação discute a consistência e validade na proposta de estratégias competitivas genéricas de Porter (1986), e que é possível ir além do trade off proposto e pensar em estratégias combinadas