The Target Plan and the business and financial structure of the machinery and equipment industry in Brazil: Dedini and Romi, 1955-1961

Abstract

The Target Plan was critical to the change in the productive structural in Brazil in the late 1950s, increasing the industry's relative share in the economy and linking industrial development to more complex and technology-intensive sectors. An important question is how the Target Plan affected specific industries, such as machinery and equipment. The aim of this paper is to examine the evolution of the business and financial structure of the machinery and equipment industry in Brazil. This is carried out through the analysis of balance sheets and document records on the Board of Trade of Romi and Dedini, the largest domestic producers of machine tools and agricultural equipment, respectively, together with the economic policies derived from the Target Plan for the period 1955 to 1961. The main conclusions were that the policies implemented during that time had a positive impact on investment and a negative impact on the profitability of these national machinery and equipment companies.

Keywords:
Target Plan; Industry; Machinery and equipment; Dedini; Romi