The decline of large brazilian companies

This article focuses on the organizational decline and, more specifically, the evolution of a selected group of Brazilian companies that were included in the Largest and Best ranking of Exame magazine in the period between 1974 and 2006. Our descriptive analysis shows two main effects: firstly a high rate of decline among the largest Brazilian enterprises and secondly, that there is an acceleration of the decline process, that is: the companies have become gradually less capable of maintaining a superior level of competitiveness during an extended period of time. The study of the strategy, as a discipline, that seeks to understand and aid companies to capture and sustain a competitive advantage shall be reinforced by the understanding of the causes of unsuccessfulness and the loss of their ability to sustain competitiveness. Organizational Decline is, in this context, a process that warrants further analysi