중남미

Founded in 1969 as a Gov't owned company, Embraer has become international manufacturer of regional commercial jet aircraft. After being privatized in 1994, Embraer came to face new turning point. E mbraer, by taking advantage of niche market, embarked on a new project of producing ERJ-145 which turned out to be a great success taking a company out of the red and putting it into the black. Embraer, now the fourth largest airline manufacturer, owes her present status to the production of ERJ-145. Most of the papers on the sources of Embraer's competitiveness focus on Gov't factors: ① Gov't supports in the form of aircraft order for military purposes ② Gov't special favors in financing and taxation ③ Gov't sponsored education system ④ heavy investment in R&D ⑤ well educated and low cost labor input ⑥ prudent capital allocation decision This paper does not deny the important roles played by the Brazilian Govn't in her efforts to develop aircraft industry. But this paper argues that in the absence of entrepreneurial capacity, Embraer could not have succeeded in producing new model like ERJ-145 because, as Kirzner put it, entrepreneurial alertness is essential in finding out what type of product best serve the market. This paper bring into light how important entrepreneurial capacity was in transforming Embraer into a highly competitive enterprise.