Casos de Ensino/ Gest o: Pipeway Engenharia: O Desafio de Conquistar o Exterior sem Arriscar a Lideran a no Mercado Doméstico

The market for inspection and maintenance of oil pipelines is an attractive niche in several countries and is dominated by American and Canadian companies. However, three Brazilian entrepreneurs challenged the industry leaders and, in 1998, established Pipeway Engenharia (Pipeway Engineering), a start-up incubated in Instituto Gênesis (at the Pontifical Catholic University in Rio de Janeiro) and supported by Petrobras, the Brazilian national petroleum company. The firm initially focused on the Brazilian market, but its success abroad – although unplanned – was a natural consequence of its competence in offering good products and services. The founding partners now acknowledge that the international expansion cannot proceed just from inertial movements, but has to be carefully structured. That is, decisions related to country selection, foreign entry modes (e.g., partnership vs. go it alone), type of activities to execute abroad (e.g., R&D or just commercialization and services to client), as well as coordination of operations abroad, all need to be more systematized in order to build up a more solid competitive position in the future. The partners know that competing abroad would bring several advantages, but it would also entail several risks. In addition, they cannot neglect the Brazilian market, in which the big international players have a great interest.