Maturidade da governança corporativa e gestão dos Incentivos fiscais como determinantes da longevidade e Desempenho das empresas do polo industrial de Manaus

Abstract

This dissertation aimed at proposing improvements in processes of Corporate Governance and Management of Tax Incentives so that capacity of adaptation, longevity and performance of companies operating at Manaus Industrial Park (PIM), within Manaus Free Trade Zone (ZFM), could be enhanced. Corporate governance of these companies was analyzed according to an expanded perspective concerning its main features and aspects, and also the good practice of its principles and mechanisms counterbalanced by the specificities of the ZFM model and the current demands of the market. Shared value, Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR), innovation, digitalization and information technology, use of tax incentives and interaction between stakeholders were some of the features and aspects analyzed. The theoretical underpinnings of the analyses developed herein included Agency Theory, Theory of the Firm, Stakeholder Theory, assumptions implicit in the Organizational Life Cycle Theory, and concepts related with organizational performance and longevity and with tax incentives. The Survey technique was applied to 19 S/As companies operating at PIM in order to have their maturity measured. Simple linear regression concerning five years of financial and accounting reports (2013-2018) was employed to help identifying the possible correlations between ZFM tax incentives and the companies’ capital structure, leading to 81 observations. This allowed the identification of correlations between ZFM tax incentives and capital structure, and also between these same incentives and the performance measures Return on Assets (ROA) and Return on Equity (ROE). By additionally adopting both measures to relate maturity results with the companies’ economic performance a methodological triangulation was thus established, making data analyses and interpretations more robust and some conclusions more stable. The Survey technique, aligned with an ordinal scale, conducted to results that showed maturity of corporate governance mechanisms corresponding, in general, to average/low grades. Traditional features of corporate governance presented lower maturity grades compared to the ones found when corporate governance is approached according to an extended perspective, as was illustrated by the high maturity grades attained by both CSR and Stakeholders The use of simple linear regression revealed that PIM companies exhibit, on average, 54% of total debt; from this, short-term debt is close to 39% of the companies’ debts, while the long-term debt shows the lower debt percentage of around 16%; the sum of tax incentives obtained appears to reach, on average, 5,2% of the companies’ assets. By means of Pearson correlation analyses, simple linear regression, normality tests and the T test a positive relation of tax incentives and both total and long-term debts was evidenced, despite a non-significant coefficient; contrarily, short-term debt showed a negative relation, pointing to a higher significance at 5% level. The same techniques were used to check the relation of tax incentives and the companies’ economic performance, represented by ROA and ROE measures; however, the results also pointed to low correlation and significance. The overall results of the present research, therefore, supported the conclusion that corporate governance processes of companies operating at PIM exhibit low maturity grades, except for CSR and Stakeholders. Statistical results suggested that no significant correlation exists between ZFM tax incentives and measures of capital structure and profitability.