Conference Programme ►

Transnational Corporations and Development:
Challenges and Opportunities in Brazil 

Maringá is near to Iguassu Falls, considered one of the nature’s wonders, located on the border between Brazil and Argentina, the Iguassu National Park. It is the largest reserve of subtropical rainforest in the world and a World Heritage Site listed by UNESCO since 1986.

Jointly Organized by

         ♦   Graduate Program in Economics, the State University of Maringá (UEM), Brazil
         ♦   Transnational Corporations Review (TNCR), Ottawa United Learning Academy, Canada
         ♦   National Association of Postgraduate Centers in Economics of Brazil (ANPEC)

• For news or updates: www.uem.br; www.dco.uem.br; and http://www.pce.uem.br and/or www.tnc-online.org, www.tnc-online.net
• For the conference information with registrations: Professor ElianeAraujo at elianedearaujo@gmail.com, and/or ecasbardellati@uem.br
• For paper submissions: Professor Jennifer Ma at sino@tnc-online.org and/or tncr.special@gmail.com

1.  Background and Context

With a population of over 190 million and abundant natural resources, Brazil is one of the ten largest markets in the world, producing tens of millions of tons of steel, 26 million tons of cement, 3.5 million television sets, and 3 million refrigerators. In addition, about 70 million cubic meters of petroleum were being processed annually into fuels, lubricants, propane gas, and a wide range of hundred petrochemicals. The economy of Brazil is the world's seventh largest by nominal GDP. Brazil has moderately free markets and an inward-oriented economy. Its economy is the largest in Latin American nations and the second largest in the western hemisphere. Brazil is one of the fastest-growing major economies in the world with an average annual GDP growth rate of over 5 percent. The Brazilian economy has been predicted to become one of the five largest economies in the world in the decades to come. Brazil is a member of diverse economic organizations, such as Mercosur, Unasul, G8+5, G20, WTO, and the Cairns Group. Its trade partners number in the hundreds, with 60 percent of exports mostly of manufactured or semi-manufactured goods. Brazil's main trade partners include Mercosul and Latin America, EU, Asia (18.9 percent), the United States.

Brazil has rapidly become a significant country for its integration into the world. During this integration process, there are many issues related to development that governments, academia and transnational corporations face in light of Brazil having become an important player with a global context. Within this context, a jointconference on transnational corporations and development in Brazil will take place in Maringa, Brazil from July 24 to 26, 2013. Brazil's rapid integration into the global economy has created tremendous opportunities and challenges for the global economy and institutional stakeholders. Featuring top experts, this conferenceoffers a unique forum for business, government and academia leaders and analysts to discuss and practically assess the existing opportunities and how to optimally advance them in the near future. It aims at providing a critical review of Brazil’s involvement in the global community by exploring a number of urgent and critical issues related to transnational corporations and development.

2. Special Advisors and Keynote Speakers (to be confirmed)

• Dr. Joilson Dias,Graduate Program in Economics,State University of Maringá, Brazil 
• Dr. Fernando V. Ferreira, University of Pennsylvania, USA
• Dr. Badar Iqbal, Aligarh Muslim University, India
• Dr. Karl Sauvant, Columbia University, New York, USA
• Dr. Yongding Yu, Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, Beijing, China
• Dr. Sam Zhao,  Professor and Director of the Center for China-US Cooperation at Josef Korbel School of International Studies, University of Denver, USA

3. Supporting Organizations (to be confirmed)

• Vale Columbia Center on Sustainable International Investment, Columbia University, USA
• European Working Group on Transnational Corporations, Germany
• Investment Analysis Center, UNCTAD, Geneva, Switzerland
• Economic Research and Policy Analysis, Industry Canada
• Brazilian National Scientific and Technological Research Council (CNPQ)
• Brazilian Federal Agency for the Support and Evaluation of Graduate Education (CAPES)
• Araucária Foundation, Brazil
• Federal Savings Bank (CaixaEconômica Federal – CEF)

4.  The Conference Themes

Despite a slight slow-down, the Brazilian economy still aims to revive the industrial sector and maintain consumer spending, as well as public investment in infrastructure. With the goal of stimulating the domestic industry, massive capital inflows have allowed foreign exchange reserves to grow. The experts do not anticipate financing problems in the near future as Brazil’s external financing requirements are comfortably covered by net foreign direct investment. The Fédération Internationale de Football Association’s World Cup and the Olympics might offer opportunities for exporters and investors over the next several years. Within this context, the transnational companies, including multinational think tanks in Brazil, may play active roles in both the domestic and international markets.

Although the central theme of the conferenceis “Transnational Corporations and Development: Challenges and Opportunities in Brazil”, papers are welcomed on all areas of economics, such as: transnational corporations, foreign direct investment, institutional innovation; the crisisof the world capitalist economy; the insertion of the BRICS in the global economic scenario; Brazilian economy; microeconomics and macroeconomics; political economics; public policy; public finance issues; distributional issues and methodologies.

5.  Publications of the Conference

All papers should be submitted to the TNCR editorial office by email at tncr.special@gmail.com. For the submission details on paper format, please follow the “Author’s Guidelines” on TNCR’s website: www.tnc-online.net/page/guidelines/index.php. Each paper should not exceed 15 pages or 5,000 words in English (single spaced with 12pt font Times New Roman, including the paper, reference, tables and graphs). A cover page should be included with the title, authors’ names, affiliations and contact details such as postal address, phone and effective email address. A short paragraph about the author(s) for 150 words or so, along with a recent passport size photo, is also required.

All accepted papers will be published by the Transnational Corporations Review (TNCR) in English as a special collection, and requested for the relevant indexes, including EconLit, SSCI-CPCI, etc. Excellent papers will be selected by the conference academic committee and recommended to be published in one or two regular issues with indexing in the SSCI-listed journals.

6.  Important Dates

• Paper submission: May 31, 2013
• Notification of Paper Acceptance: before June 30, 2013
• Conference dates: July 24 -26, 2013 (Wednesday  – Friday)
• Limited participants planned: 50-70 (about 1/5 from overseas)
• Language: English (possibly with Portuguese for domestic participants)

7. Conference Secretariat

• Nilmen, Sales, Conference Chair, State University of Maringá, Brazil
• Izepão, Rosalina, Conference Acting Chair, State University of Maringá, Brazil
• Dias, Joilson, Conference Secretariat General, State University of Maringá, Brazil
• Araujo,Eliane,Acting Secretariat General, State University of Maringá, Brazil
• Dias, Maria H. A.,Conference Adviser, State University of Maringá, Brazil
• Ma, Jennifer, Ottawa United Learning Academy, Secretariat General (Overseas)
• Carlson, Laura, Transnational Corporations Review, Overseas Communications
• Dang, Hugh, Transnational Corporations Review, Conference Coordinator (Overseas)
• Bhatia, Kul, conference advisor, Professor of the Department of Economics, University of Western Ontario (Western University), Canada
• Tang, Jianmin, conference adviser, Industry Canada
• Yuan, Gloria, Conference administration (Ottawa), Ottawa United Learning Academy, Canada
• Campos, Antonio C., Conference Adviser, State University of Maringá, Brazil
• Couto, Joaquim M., Conference Adviser, State University of Maringá, Brazil
• Parré, José L., Conference Adviser, State University of Maringá, Brazil
• Garcia, Maria F. Conference Adviser, State University of Maringá, Brazil
• Alves,Alexandre F.,  Conference Adviser, State University of Maringá, Brazil
• Cunha, Marina S. Conference Adviser, State University of Maringá, Brazil 

Information about UEM and TNCR

The Course of Economic Sciences at the State University of Maringá, created in 1961, completed 51 years in 2012. A pioneering initiative to create an economics course in a region in the process of colonization, as it was the northern region of Paraná, represented the genesis of Maringá State University (UEM). Created in 1969,UEM merged from the three faculties in Brazil. In 1970, the UEM, by the State Law, was nominated as FundaçãoUniversidadeEstadual de Maringá (FUEM). It received its position as autarchy in 1991. With its growing involvement in a global basis, this institution developed well-known faculties and undergraduate and graduate courses in social sciences, particularly in Economics and Business Administration. The UEM has one campus in Maringá, and four campuses nearby Maringá in several cities. It includes seven Centers of Studies, as well, 48 undergraduate courses and post-graduation courses in Master and Doctorate level in several areas. The Campus has well developed research facilities (equipment, laboratories, centres, etc.) for a great amount of research outputs (projects, programmes, publications, conferences and seminars etc.) distributed in every area of knowledge. Today, UEM is among the top 20 universities in Brazil, in terms of teaching and research.

Established in 2008, Transantional Corporations review (TNCR) is supported by the Vale Columbia Center on Sustainable International Investment at Columbia University in the United States and the Investment Analysis Center at UNCTAD at Geneva. It is a scholarly journal dedicated to providing economic, policy, and business analysis of current issues related to transnational corporations, foreign direct investment, institutional innovation, and international development. As a modern journal, it is among the outlets in these areas that encourage cooperative effort among scholars, industry practitioners, and policy makers through, for instance, co-authorship and co-reviewing. The journal is regularly indexed by ALJC, AMICUS, CrossRef, EBSCO, EconLit, RePEc, Scopus, SSRN and SSCI/SCI (under review).