Custos de transação no setor sucroalcooleiro no Brasil: uma revisão bibliográfica

Abstract

This work seeks to analyze the transactions in the different links of the sugar and alcohol sector, since it is an environment rich in cases to be studied from the perspective of Transaction Cost Economics. The work carries out a bibliographic review of the investigated theme, considering dissertations and scientific articles related to transaction costs in the sugar and alcohol sector. The goal of the work is to verify which forms of governance are most used in the different links of the sector, to observe the levels of asset specificity, uncertainty and frequency of transactions (if they are high, low or medium levels). Through the analyzes of several authors in the main links involving the production and transformation of sugarcane, it was possible to identify that, in the different regions of Brazil, the agents involved in the sector mostly make decisions that corroborate with the assumptions of Cost Economy of Transaction. It was identified that for all links the transactions bring considerable levels of uncertainty and specificity of the asset, the frequency also proved to be a relevant point in the agents' decision. Among sugarcane producers and mills, vertical integration has high adoption by agents, followed by transactions via contracts, but cases with spot market were seen especially for regions with a considerable number of sugarcane suppliers, demonstrating how the decision for verticalization or contracts is highly affected by market uncertainties. Among distributors and dealer stations, vertical integration was absent, giving space to transactions via contract and spot market. Between input suppliers and sugarcane producers and between mills and distributors, the hybrid form of governance (via contracts) was highlighted, but both also featured governance via vertical integration and the spot market.