Technical efficiency of the main footwear industry clusters in the state of São Paulo: a Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA) approach

• Grant number: 23/05287-8
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships in Brazil - Scientific Initiation
• Start date: August 01, 2023
• End date: July 31, 2024
• Field of knowledge: Applied Social Sciences - Economics - Industrial Economics
• Principal Investigator: Ana Elisa Périco
• Grantee: Murilo Henrique Zucolotto Escardovelli
• Host Institution: Faculdade de Ciências e Letras (FCL). Universidade Estadual Paulista (UNESP). Campus de Araraquara. Araraquara , SP, Brazil

Abstract

Brazil occupies the fifth (5th) position in the global ranking of footwear production, being today one of the main producing countries, responsible for 3.9% of the total footwear manufactured in the world and is the twelfth (12th) ) largest exporter in the sector in number of pairs. Historically, the state of São Paulo represents the roots and references of footwear production in the country, since the main industries in the sector were born and strongly developed in the state in the 19th century. However, since the 1970s, and more rapidly from the 1990s, the sector has undergone a strong process of deindustrialization and organizational restructuring, where a large number of companies migrated to other regions of the country in search of economic benefits. However, the state of São Paulo is still present and participating in national production, appearing as the sixth (6th) most participatory state within the country, responsible for 5.5% of production. Given the process of reorganization of the footwear industries, the presence of footwear clusters in São Paulo became common, that is, cities with conglomerates of industries in the sector and related activities that specialize in the segment. The main footwear clusters in the state of São Paulo are: Franca, Birigui and Jaú. Together, their participation for state production in 2021 resulted in 76.2% of the total pairs produced. In this context, this study aims to analyze the technical efficiency of the three main footwear clusters in the state of São Paulo, based on Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA), in the period from 2012 to 2021, investigating which are the main factors that contribute to their efficiency , such as skilled labor, inputs and investment. This research proves to be extremely relevant, since the industrial footwear sector has great national and international relevance and that, given the transformations in the segment, it is possible to analyze its performance, in terms of efficiency, in relation to the deindustrialization process of recent decades. , as well as the slowdown of the economy in recent years and, in particular, with the Covid-19 pandemic. It is also worth mentioning that this work collaborates with the scarce amount of investigations on the sector using DEA and from the perspective of clusters and industrial conglomerates.