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The economic realignment in Latin America has created two clusters, one stagnant in the north and the other growth-bound in the south. This study aims to focus on Brazil, the key player in the growth-bound southern cluster, and address three fundamental questions: how Brazilian executives in four B2B sectors (telecommunications, business equipment, steel, and transportation) viewed the internal competitive developments, how they strategically responded to these developments, and what were the marketing and financial outcomes of these strategies.

Data were obtained by interviewing top decision makers such as president, chief executive officer, and director of the companies.

Findings show that the intensity of competitive pressures due to globalization varied by sector and so did strategic responses of firms. Marketing and financial performance outcomes also varied by sectors.

The study adds to the growing literature on competitive market developments, strategic responses and performance outcomes of firms in Brazil, an important emerging economy and the key player in the southern Latin America cluster.

The purpose of this paper is to apply the structure‐conduct‐performance theory and the strategic fit concept to examine the effects of globalization on markets, strategies, and performance of business‐to‐consumer firms in Brazil.

The paper takes a qualitative approach to answer the research questions. Top decision makers such as president, chief executive officer, chairman of the board, vice president, and director of the companies were interviewed. The elite approach to in‐depth interviewing was followed to obtain reliable information from the decision makers.

Findings indicate that globalization and especially the entry of Chinese firms significantly changed market contexts in Brazil. Brazilian executives responded to changes in market contexts by shifting from production to customer orientation, building brand equity, developing new products, and differentiating offerings. Overall, marketing performance of Brazilian firms was positive, but profitability suffered.

The study contributes to the literature by showing that globalization has changed market contexts in Brazil by developing a new form of competition in which firms from emerging economies are now competing against each other. Findings from this study can provide useful theoretical and strategic insights into the behavior and performance of firms in other emerging markets.

We present a critical literature review debating Brazilian research on social and environmental accounting (SEA). The aim of this study is to understand the role of politics in the construction of hegemonies in SEA research in Brazil. In particular, we examine the role of hegemony in relation to the co-option of SEA literature and sustainability in the Brazilian context by the logic of development for economic growth in emerging economies. The methodological approach adopts a post-structural perspective that reflects Laclau and Mouffe’s discourse theory. The study employs a hermeneutical, rhetorical approach to understand and classify 352 Brazilian research articles on SEA. We employ Brown and Fraser’s (2006) categorizations of SEA literature to help in our analysis: the business case, the stakeholder–accountability approach, and the critical case. We argue that the business case is prominent in Brazilian studies. Second-stage analysis suggests that the major themes under discussion include measurement, consulting, and descriptive approach. We argue that these themes illustrate the degree of influence of the hegemonic politics relevant to emerging economics, as these themes predominantly concern economic growth and a capitalist context. This paper discusses trends and practices in the Brazilian literature on SEA and argues that the focus means that SEA avoids critical debates of the role of capitalist logics in an emerging economy concerning sustainability. We urge the Brazilian academy to understand the implications of its reifying agenda and engage, counter-hegemonically, in a social and political agenda beyond the hegemonic support of a particular set of capitalist interests.