Varig and Brazil between national development and global competitiveness

Abstract

In this article I aim to develop a sociological approach to the firm, based in the notion that it is a social actor that (re)produces values, culture, forms of sociability and power relations in its interaction with society. I analyse the strategies pursued by Varig airlines in two different periods of brazilian economic history: the 1960s-70s and the 1990s. By analyzing some of the firm’s publications (Anual Board of Directors Reports and publications aimed at the employees), I show that in the first period, the discourses are focused on a view of the enterprise “serving the country”, as well as on a “Great Varig” identity, consistent with the “Great Brazil” project that marked that period of the country´s economic development. In the second period under analysis, a lean company identity comes to the fore, along with a “global competitiveness” immagery. In this moment, strategies such as personnel downsizing, concentration of the operations in the most rentable niches and the search for participation in global alliances are pursued In the final part, I discuss the relationship between these strategies and the crisis that struck the firm, causing it to almost stop its activities in 2006.