The footwear industry in Vale do Sinos (Brazil): Competitive adjustment in a labour-intensive sector

This article analyses the production relocation strategies deployed by firms in the Vale do Sinos footwear cluster in Rio Grande do Sul, in response to competitive pressures from other parts of the world, mainly Asia. The hypothesis proposed here is that, as the sector competes mainly in terms of product price, the factors that most directly influence that variable —such as wages, the exchange rate and tax and financial incentives— have affected the industry’s spatial distribution. The study’s main conclusions are that, since 1990, footwear production has been migrating to other parts of Brazil and firms have been seeking other sources of competitiveness.