An analysis of the effectiveness of public policies relating to Local Productive Arrangements (LPA'S) on local development from the perspective of institutional theory

Abstract

The aim of this paper was to identify to what extent public policies were responsible for the strong economic development seen in the Arapongas/PR furniture-focused Local Productive Arrangement (LPA), between 2000 and 2012, as seen from an institutional perspective. The research for this paper based itself on a case study using both qualitative and quantitative methods. The qualitative phase involved the analysis of the thematic content of documents, carried out in 2012, which then supported the quantitative phase through the application of a structured questionnaire in 2013 to 38 companies within the LPA. The conditions of the institutional environment altered the technical environment in terms of allowing for the level of development observed to be sustained. However, they proved much weaker than expected in terms of improving the competitiveness of and economic benefits to these companies as per the APL model disseminated. This was evident in the limitations seen in social relations, which were too weak to offer local actors a degree of trust and to reduce isolation in small groups and individual competition.

Keywords:
public policies; economic development; institutional context; social relations.