Sistema Regional de Información
en línea para Revistas Científicas de América Latina,
el Caribe, España y Portugal

Simulations are presented as a methodology that has been neglected in use by the social sciences when compared to the case study and the comparison, as a way to overcome the difficulty to run experiments. The simulation is a "virtual experiment", that requires an operating model representing the system, or processes that characterize it, as a whole or part. The use of this methodology is studied as a form of searching a model, confirming a model or making a projection about future events; in this way it serves both the "context of discovery" and the "context of proof" in sciences. Each of these uses is discussed, as well as the conditions in which simulations should be used and its advantages and limitations. The article explains that due to the advance of computers and their softwares in the last two decades this resource became much simpler to use, and two interactive examples using Excell are introduced, one about complexity theory applied to marketing and the other about microeconomic theory.

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Urban violence has become a major concern for politicians, corporate managers and ordinary people, following social and environmental degeneration in the largest cities in Brazil. In 1998, Inter-American Development Bank estimated that the total costs of urban violence for the Brazilian society were about 10,5% of the Gross Domestic Product. The objective of this paper was to estimate, with the support of a hedonic prices model, the impact of criminal urban violence on the market price of residential real estate in the district of Tijuca, city of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Two hedonic prices models have been used to evaluate both the impact of criminal violence in different districts of the city and the loss of value of houses and apartments due to the nearness of the slums in Tijuca. Main results were in accordance with common sense and previous studies. Readers must be advised that the results are very preliminary, because of the well-known problems with both the data on the Brazilian housing market and the hedonic prices model itself.

The text deals with the relations between economic growth of a sector responsible for consuming non-renewable natural resources and the process of sustainable development in the Eastern part of the Brazilian state of Pará. The mining of metallic ores in Pará has been growing strongly; local mines are global leaders in their respective fields and must operate in tune with established global social-environmental norms. Therefore, almost all of these mining companies are certified, both socially and environmentally. This behavior presupposes that these companies adhere to the principles of sustainability. Thus, the object of this research effort is to inquire about the effectiveness of these certifications for the process of sustainable development of the territorial sections in which those companies operate. The major findings are (1) that the positive consequences of certifications are still much more visible in the realm of the productive performance of the companies than in terms of socio-economic development of the nearby areas and (2) that socio-environmental certification processes place much more emphasis on ecological variables than on social ones.

This article describes a Swedish initiative for providing a joint ISO 14001 certification to small to medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). The model started in 1997 in the Hackefors industrial district – so named Hackefors model – is now used by 450 enterprises of a wide variety of different business in 24 other districts. In this study we examine the use of this successful experiment in a Brazilian industrial district, Fazenda Botafogo, in Rio de Janeiro that, at the same way than Hackefors, is composed by small to medium-sized enterprises.

Environmental management is posing a great challenge to firms and also a permanent test to CEO's in face of the demands derived from a more rigid state legislation and a higher pressure from changing social values. The industrial park of the State of Ceará is presenting a significant growth, leading to a greater concern over environmental impacts generated by these industries. So, the general objective of this research is to study the largest industrial exporters' of Ceará, considering their conditionings and motivations for investment in actions of environmental management. The methodology uses quantitative methods that were analyzed with the usage of Sphinx software. Data were collected with interviews to the CEO's of the largest exporters, and high ranked government officials. Only companies with annual revenue above US $1 million were selected. A census was made since the number of companies in those conditions was limited to 55 units. A research pointed to a close relation between the external pressures and environmental answers from the companies. These pressures were necessary so that firms could improve their environmental actions.

Based on the environmental legislation, specially on Federal Constitution and also on Acts 6.938/81 and 9.433/97 this paper discusses about environmental management in Brazil, particularly environmental licensing, and potentially polluter activities control. An environmental management model focused on environmental quality is proposed. For more than 20 years environmental licensing has been constantly improved without any change in its basis: the consideration of effluents quality standards and maintenance of a quality minimum standard for receiving waters. The model proposed not only keeps focus on environmental quality but also aims to integrate procedures to obtain environmental licensing and water use rights, increasing the possibilities of applying economic instruments to environmental management. This article also describes the experimental use of this proposed model during the installation of a factory. It’s taken as an example a case in Ilha Grande bay hydrographic region, in state of Rio de Janeiro. The lack of accurate environmental conditions data in that area was the main difficulty for applying the proposed model.

The objective of the paper is to establish a panorama of the evolution of the enterprise's social responsibility - RSE in the banking sector, by means of the analysis of the Social Balance of the Banks. The social balance of a period of eleven years consecutive, published for a representative association of the sector, the Brazilian Federacy of the Associations of Banks - Febraban, were analysed. The social balance is considered a multiplying structural arrangement of the RSE, besides disclosing the given treatment to the question. The analysis of the data shows that social responsability was modified along the years (as the practical one of the social responsibility goes if modifying to the long one of the years) - from a relatively simple report in 1993, it reaches to one high level of sophistication, incorporating the economic, environmental and social dimensions of its activities, products and services, in 2002. Thus, while the subject goes gaining amplitude and prominence in Brazil, the social balance goes refining and being modified in order to reflect the new standards demanded for the society, in a reorientation of the actions aiming to acquire greater social legitimacy.

The recent perception of environmental impact of modern consumption patterns and the centrality of this discourse inside the mainstream of Western environmentalism is explained by two discursive "shifts". We will analyse the promises and pitfalls of green consumption proposals and the constraints and possibilities of changing current consumption patterns through the sustainable consumption politics strategies. The present work aims to discuss the following question: which possibilities to enlarge or to inhibit the participation on public domain does emerge with the shift of environmental politics towards the consumption field. Instead of restating the consumer alienation, manipulation and heteronomy, or supporting at once their power and freedom of choice, we chose to stress the dialog of contemporary social theory which accepts the possibility of new ways of political action by the articulation of public and private domains. Thus, the environment and consumption debate can be done not only in a public but also private arena, comprehending topics from both domains. Through this debate, the environmental issue can be placed where private concerns and public issues get together.