A first wave of theories on globalization suggested that because of new competitive pressures, national economies would converge into a single market economy model. Economic rationale would overcome politics, and political choices would be restricted to the implementation of a set of policy prescriptions aimed at favoring private investment, so-called “market-oriented reforms”. More recently, research based on economic sociology and historical institutionalism has shown that the implementation of market-oriented reforms at national, regional and industry-level has been characterized by a variety of outcomes, and politics has played a major role in producing such variety. The analysis of official documents, newspaper articles, interviews and other sources related to the main actors in the Brazilian air transport industry shows that the implementation of market-oriented reforms in this industry has also been marked by a complex political dynamics, comprising conflict, dispute, negotiation and compromise. This political dynamics has forged a trajectory that is unique in relation to other economic sectors in Brazil, and to the same industry in other countries. This paper concludes that politics has to be seriously taken into account in the debate on the search for efficiency and competitivity in the Brazilian air transport industry.

O artigo aborda as transformações no estilo de atuação política do empresariado do setor de aviação comercial no Brasil, analisando o padrão dos períodos anteriores e posteriores às reformas para o mercado. Especialmente a partir dos anos 1960, os empresários constituíram um padrão de atuação de natureza bastante particularista, marcado por uma relação direta com a burocracia estatal responsável pelo controle da atividade (o Departamento de Aviação Civil, ligado ao Ministério da Aeronáutica). Essa aproximação permitiu que os empresários desfrutassem de uma situação de mercado privilegiada, em um modelo regulatório voltado para as estabilidades financeira e operacional das poucas empresas existentes. Com a redemocratização, esse modelo passou a ser crescentemente desafiado. As políticas de combate à inflação, o questionamento do controle exercido pelos militares sobre o setor, o retorno dos trabalhadores à cena política, assim como a chegada ao poder de uma elite tecnocrática disposta a extinguir as conexões entre Estado e agentes econômicos, obrigaram os empresários a redefinir as suas estratégias. Assim, são analisados diferentes momentos da atuação empresarial na década de 1990 e nos primeiros anos do novo século, procurando mostrar como o novo ambiente, marcado pela incerteza política e pela crise econômica, abre espaço para posturas menos particularistas, acenando para questões como a competitividade das empresas e a maior abertura a fóruns públicos de interlocução, apostando mesmo no diálogo com trabalhadores e outros atores sociais.

This article looks at the transformations in styles of political action regarding entrepreneurs of the commercial aviation sector in Brazil, analyzing patterns for periods before and after market reform. Particularly as of the 1960s, entrepreneurs established a pattern of action that was peculiarly linked to their particular interests, marked as it was by their direct relationship with the state bureaucracy responsible for control of their sphere of activities (the Department of Civil Aviation, linked to the Ministry of Aeronautics). These connections enabled entrepreneurs to enjoy a privileged market situation linked to a regulatory model geared toward the financial and operational stability of the few existing companies. With re-democratization, this model was faced with increasing challenges. Policies to combat inflation, questioning of military control over the sector, the working classes' return to the political scenario, as well as the coming to power of a technocratic elite that was interested in extinguishing the connections between the State and economic agents obliged entrepreneurs to redefine their strategies. In this vein, we analyze different moments in entrepreneurial action over the decade of the 1990s and the first years of the new century, seeking to demonstrate how the new environment, marked by political uncertainty and economic crisis, made room for positions that are less focused on particular interests and gestured toward issues such as firms' competitiveness and greater opening up toward public forums for interlocution, placing higher stakes on dialog with workers and other social actors.

L'article aborde les transformations dans le type d'intervention politique des entrepreneurs du secteur de l'aviation commerciale au Brésil, en analysant le modèle des périodes antérieures et postérieures aux réformes pour le marché. Surtout à partir des années 1960, les entrepreneurs ont bâti un modèle d'intervention assez particulariste, caractérisé par une relation directe avec la bureaucratie d'état responsable du contrôle de cette activité - le Département d'Aviation Civil, lié au Ministère de l'Armée de l'air. Ce rapprochement a permis que les entrepreneurs jouissent d'une situation de marché privilégiée, dans un modèle régulatoire consacré à la stabilité financière et opérationnelle de quelques sociétés. Avec la rédémocratisation, ce modèle commence à être de plus en plus mis en question. Les actions politiques pour enrayer l'inflation, la mise en question du contrôle exercé par les militaires sur le secteur, le retour des travailleurs à la scène politique, ainsi que l'arrivée au pouvoir d'une élite technocrate désirant la fin des connexions entre État et agents économiques, ont obligé les entrepreneurs à redéfinir leurs stratégies. Ainsi, de différents moments d'action des entreprises dans les années 1990 et dans les premières années du nouveau siècle sont analysés, et on cherche à présenter comment le nouveau environnement, caractérisé par l'incertitude politique et par la crise économique, favorise des conduites moins particularistes, annonçant les questions comme celle de la compétitivité des entreprises et une plus grande ouverture à des forums publics d'interlocution, en pariant vraiment pour le dialogue avec les salariés et les autres acteurs sociaux.

Procuramos discutir teoricamente a noção de que a ordem econômica e suas instituições, aí incluídas as empresas, são construções sociais, passíveis, portanto, de serem apreendidas sob outros olhares que não o de uma racionalidade exclusivamente formal de caráter econômico. São apresentados também alguns temas que têm sido tratados por cientistas sociais, em um esforço no sentido de criar uma Sociologia da Empresa brasileira.

The authors attempt a theoretical discussion of the notion that the economic order and its institutions, including firms, are social constructions, which can therefore be apprehended by approaches other than that of an exclusively formal rationality of an economic character. Also presented here are some themes which are being treated by social scientists in an effort to inaugurate a Brazilian Sociology of the Firm.

Cet article est une discussion théorique sur la notion selon laquelle l'ordre économique et ses institutions, y compris les entreprises, sont des constructions sociales - passibles, donc, d'être comprises sous d'autres regards que celui d'une rationnalité exclusivement formelle de caractère économique. Sont présentés aussi quelques thèmes qui ont été traités para les sciences sociales dans l'effort d'inaugurer une Sociologie de l'Entreprise brésilienne.