Alessandro Teixeira is the new president of APEX

 

Hope of the leather-footwear chain is renewed.

 

The economist Alessandro Teixeira implemented, in the first mandate of Lula's government, the ABDI – Agência Brasileira de Desenvolvimento Industrial (Brazilian Industrial Development Agency). When Juan Quirós left APEX-Brasil, Alessandro Teixeira was named president of that entity, according to himself, to “equip APEX-BRASIL with instruments that facilitate the internationalization of the Brazilian corporations”.

 

COUROBUSINESS: As new president of APEX-BRASIL, which are your business plans in general; and specifically as related to the leather-footwear chain?

 

ALESSANDRO: One of the first ideas is to strengthen the commercial intelligence taking advantage of the existing experiences and structures. This would be the case of having partnerships with CNI – Confederação Nacional da Indústria (National Industry Confederation) and with the Ministério das Relações Exteriores (Ministry of Foreign Affairs). It is a differentiated attitude, which at first sight, strays away from the personalism to embrace the cooperativism, in its most intelligent meaning.

 

COUROBUSINESS: How would you implement the basic conditions for internationalization?

 

ALESSANDRO: My intention is to actuate in four fronts: image, brand, product and corporation.

In several segments, the companies (not all of them) are in the same line. At the first moment they try to give an external visibility to the brand and to the product, inserting them in the global market, so as, if this is the case, to facilitate the internationalization of the company itself. Institutionally, the effort for dissemination of a good image of the country needs apparently new concepts and actions.

Some commercial promotions funded by public resources - of APEX-Brasil itself – including international fairs, insist in selling a Brazil of samba and mulatto women, while the Chinese pragmatism arrives with product and price, preparing itself, within 10 years, to consolidate five global brands, as is the case of the footwear.

The intention to work the image will result for sure in a new concept and behavior. And, the internationalization of the companies passes through another screen, the good will of the businessmen. Several prefer to close their plants and invest in cattle breeding, leaving a track of frustration and unemployment.

 

 

COUROBUSINESS Conclusion

 

Up to now, in a critical vision of APEX-BRASIL actuation during the last few years, the option would have been the commercial promotion, isolated, in the formulation as well as in the implementation.

Matching the foreign trade policy with the industrial and technological policy certainly, based on what has been done in the ABDI and in the statements of the new president, will be the path.

If it is, so better for the Brazilian economy, because the pragmatism of Alessandro Teixeira, added to a consistent academic qualification, and free political transit, provide him with all the accreditations for a good work.

Up to now, the new president did not say too much, but the little he said generated positive expectations. The use local fairs, strong, consolidated, private trading instruments, would deserve, according to COUROBUSINESS, thoughts and reviews.

Through this moment, all the prestige was given to the class entities, some of which under the leadership of executives not businessmen, which not always are owners of the fairs existing today. To the contrary, almost always they are not. And even more, the exhibitors of some major fairs of the leather-footwear chain, for example, only one third are members of these associations called local. In addition to the partnership mentioned by the new president with the CNI and the Itamaraty, it is important that such partnership be extended, in the case of fairs, to local entity of fair promoters, or even, to the companies owners of the fairs, as the result would be, for sure, a better use of the resources, specifically financial and optimization of the results.

If the administration of Alessandro Teixeira, as president of APEX-BRASIL, gives new life to what up to the present moment can be considered its main objective: “we should invest in the internationalization”, the country will accumulate at the end, important structural gains, because, without an adequate strategic vision, several businessmen and executives not businessmen will continue in the eternal lamentation covering the exchange rate, high interest rate and excessive taxation..