As estratégias do Grupo Votorantim em meio à desindustrialização do Brasil: internacionalização, revisão do portfólio e mudanças na gestão do grupo (1980-2019)

Created in 1891 in the city of Sorocaba, Sao Paulo, Brazil, the Votorantim Group started in the 1930s to concentrate its activities in the intermediate goods sector (cement, zinc, aluminum, chemical, and steel products), expanding along the industrialization process of Brazil and becoming the largest private group in the national industry. However, from the 1980s —with the foreign debt crisis— the state-led industrialization model became lost, giving way to the beginning of the country’s deindustrialization process. This paper analyzes the strategies deployed by the Votorantim Group in order to adapt to the Brazilian economic instability after the 1980s, using the Group’s annual reports as a source and understanding the following strategies: internationalization, portfolio review, and changes in group management during the period 1980-2019.