Through extensive research on Brazil’s economy and the leading practices of its successful businesses, we identified four critical actions that companies can take to improve national productivity through change at the business level: pinpoint the productivity bottlenecks, extract more value from their assets, digitally boost their employees and plug the information gaps.

1. What Business Must Do to
Reignite Brazil’s Productivity Growth
Research reveals four business-led
actions to drive productivity

2. 2
The productivity priority
Brazil’s poor economic standing reflects persistent underinvestment
Copyright © 2016 Accenture All rights reserved. Source: Oxford Economics, Accenture analysis
Brazil’s productivity growth compares
unfavorably with other major economies
Total factor productivity growth 1990 to 2013 (CAGR, percent)
Brazil’s productivity growth—stagnant since the
boom of 2000 to 2008—is seen by businesses as
government’s responsibility.
Our research found:
• Brazil’s productivity deficit demands urgent action
• Brazil’s businesses must seize productivity
impetus from government
3.19
1.17
1.07
0.62
0.51
0.35
-0.04
China
India
US
South Korea
Indonesia
Mexico
Brazil

3. 3
Brazil’s productivity deficit demands urgent action
Political and business leaders have been slow to address the productivity crisis
Copyright © 2016 Accenture All rights reserved.
There is an urgent need to improve productivity:
Economic changes expose the productivity deficit:
• Demand for Brazil’s natural resources and
commodities is declining
• Domestic demand from the new middle classes
is waning
Brazilian companies must invest today to be ready
for the upturn tomorrow
Brazil must increase its
productivity through additional
investment in both fixed capital
and worker skills and through
reforms, thereby reducing the
so-called ‘Brazil cost’.
Ilan Goldfajn, Itaú Unibanco chief economist
“ “

4. 4
Brazil’s businesses must seize productivity impetus
Businesses cannot wait for government to act on productivity crisis
Copyright © 2016 Accenture All rights reserved.
Structural problems are visible in the supply chain.
In the automotive industry:
• Vehicle registrations fell by 24 percent in the
first ten months of 2015, compared with 2014*
• The industry lost nearly 12,000 jobs in just
12 months**
Brazil is caught in a vicious
circle of low investment and low
productivity. Both government
and business need to change
their expectations and act in
parallel to shift Brazil’s economy
to a higher growth trajectory.
Naercio Menezes-Filho, IFB professor and
director of the Center for Public Policy, Insper
“ “
*Source: ANFAVEA (Brazilian Association of Automotive Vehicle Manufacturers)
**Source: Exame, a fortnightly magazine specializing in economics and business

5. 5
Four actions toward higher business productivity
Success stories show that business-led action can be powerful
Copyright © 2016 Accenture All rights reserved.
Our research shows four actions to progress
productivity:
Pinpoint the productivity bottlenecks
Extract more value from existing assets
Digitally boost employees
Plug the information gaps
Brazil’s success stories show
that Brazil’s companies can,
and do, overcome the multiple
and complex barriers they face
to become successful. This is
an encouraging story.
Professor John Van Reenen, Director of the
Centre for Economic Performance, London
School of Economics
“ “
1
2
3
4

6. 6
Pinpoint the productivity bottlenecks
There is a case for deep and rapid performance assessments
Copyright © 2016 Accenture All rights reserved.
Brazilian companies need to:
• Establish formal metrics to assess the efficiency
and effectiveness of investments
• Identify the worst operational bottlenecks and
measure their impact on the business
• Drive decision-making capabilities with real-time
intelligence
of Brazilian
executives said
mobility technology
was important for
their firm and were
willing to invest.*
87%
of Brazilian
executives had
identified key
performance
indicators for new
initiatives.*
13%
Yet only
*Source: Accenture interviews and research 2015

7. 7
Extract more value from existing assets
Brazilian companies must discover new value in existing assets
Copyright © 2016 Accenture All rights reserved.
Brazilian companies need to:
• Define targets to improve capital utilization
across existing assets
• Prevent ineffective use of assets, including
excess downtime
• Introduce asset-enhancing technologies—such
as sensor-driven computing, industrial analytics
and intelligent machine applications
increase in capital
productivity by
introducing
automation and
more flexible
production
techniques*
30%
connected devices
already in Brazil130M
*Source: “Driving Unconventional Growth through the Industrial Internet of
Things,” Accenture 2014

8. 8
Digitally boost employees
Employees can be empowered to overcome some of Brazil’s perennial problems
Copyright © 2016 Accenture All rights reserved.
Brazilian companies need to:
• Use smart devices to help employees improve
productivity, wherever they are
• Apply digital sensing, monitoring and reporting
technologies to bring health and safety
improvements that raise workforce productivity
• Grow the organization’s expertise through
effective knowledge management,
communication and training platforms
One of Brazil’s largest banks
introduced a single corporate
intranet and saved
45 minutes each month
per employee—generating
yearly benefits equivalent to
four times the total investment.*
*Source: Accenture analysis

9. 9
Plug the information gaps
Optimizing the flow of information will enable cross-functional collaboration
Copyright © 2016 Accenture All rights reserved.
Brazilian companies need to:
• Introduce process and governance structures to
reliably deliver the right information to the right
person, in the right format, at the right time
• Establish an integrated data platform that
crosses organizational silos and gives decision
makers a shared view of company performance
• Generate mutual benefit with partners outside
the company by sharing real-time information
In a Brazilian energy company,
use of technology that plugs
information gaps can translate into
cost savings of 2% to 5% during the
engineering phase and 3% to 6%
in the construction phase of a
capital project.*
*Source: Accenture analysis

10. 10
Where next?
Businesses must take action to resolve the country’s productivity crisis
Copyright © 2016 Accenture All rights reserved.
Productivity imperatives for five major industries in Brazil:
BANKING
The next wave of
productivity
improvements in the
banking sector should
come from use of
technology to better
serve customers, rather
than from operational
changes.
ENERGY
Long-term competition
from shale gas and
renewable energy sources
will mean that Brazil’s oil-
based energy industry is
under scrutiny. The
combination of cost
pressures and soaring
demand accents the need
to invest in productivity
improvements.
CONSUMER GOODS
AND SERVICES
Sales processes are ripe
for improvement. To
remain competitive,
consumer goods
companies will need to
find new sources of
growth; productivity
improvements can be a
critical source.
RETAIL
Companies can look for
ways to capitalize on
Brazilians’ love of social
media and shopping, by
making more strategic
use of eCommerce
channels and engaging
with them through online
platforms to boost
consumer loyalty.
MINING
By undertaking initiatives
to improve mining
productivity, the industry
will be better equipped to
face external challenges
such as price fluctuations
and currency risks, as
well as the unavoidable
decline in the quality of
the mineral resources.

11. 11
Accenture research
Productivity growth in Brazil
Copyright © 2016 Accenture All rights reserved.
The research involved:
• Economic analysis and growth decomposition in collaboration with Oxford Economics
• Deep dive analysis of five key industries (banking, energy, consumer goods, retail and mining)
• Case study research of Brazilian companies
• Conversations with nine key subject-matter experts:
Edson Dossi
Managing director, Banking, Accenture, Brazil
Wilson Jensen
Managing director, Strategy, Products, Accenture, Brazil
Daniel Rocha
Managing director, Energy, Accenture, Brazil
Clau Sganzerla
Managing director, Mining, Accenture, Brazil
Edmund Amann
Professor of economics, director of International Research Programme
on Brazil and Africa, University of Manchester, United Kingdom
Lourdes Casanova
Academic director of the Emerging Markets Institute, Johnson
School of Management, Cornell University, United States
Naercio Menezes Filho
Professor of economics, director of the Center for Public Policy,
Insper Institute of Education and Research, Brazil
Sérgio Lazzarini
Professor of organization and strategy, Insper Institute of Education
and Research, Brazil
John Van Reenen
Professor of economics, director of the Centre for Economic
Performance, London School of Economics, United Kingdom

12. 12
Authors
Copyright © 2016 Accenture All rights reserved.
Stay Connected
Athena Peppes
Research fellow
Accenture Institute for High Performance
London
athena.peppes@accenture.com
Armen Ovanessoff
Principal director
Accenture Institute for High Performance
São Paulo
armen.ovanessoff@accenture.com
@AccentureINST
linkedin.com/company/accenture_institute
Further Reading
www.accenture.com/brazilproductivity

13. 13Copyright © 2016 Accenture All rights reserved.
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