Internationalization Strategy of Brazilian Companies

Since the 1990s, Brazilian companies have sought to operate on the international stage. Studies by different authors have listed the advantages and disadvantages of this move to other countries. With regard to companies in the electricity sector, which have also been operating in other countries, the following question guided this study: Did Brazilian publicly traded companies listed on BM&FBovespa that adopted an internationalization strategy have different economic, financial and social performance in the period 2010-2013 compared to those that did not internationalize? It should be noted that this documentary research studied Brazilian companies with shares traded on the BM&FBovespa, because they make their financial accounting statements available for analysis, as well as social balance sheets; and the period studied was from 2010 to 2013, because in this period the economy became more stable (after the crisis that affected world markets) and, in 2010, the adoption of international accounting standards (IFRS) by Brazilian companies with shares traded on the BM&FBovespa began, which facilitated the comparability of financial statements.