Mais uma abordagem sobre a produtividade, no bom caminho para variar (parte II)

Parte I.
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"Product substitution barriers are manifold. Transport costs prevent costless switching among suppliers even when industry products are otherwise identical. In the manufactured ice industry (SIC 2079), for example, it is unlikely that the physical characteristics of output vary much from plant to plant. However, the obvious transport barriers make manufactured ice in one locale an imperfect substitute for the same product in another. High-productivity plants (Moi ici: O autor volta a errar ao confundir produtividade com eficiência) would be unable to take market share from less efŽficient industry competitors given sufŽficient distance between them, supporting a range of productivity levels in equilibrium.
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Physical product differentiation also limits substitutability. Idiosyncratic consumer preferences across attributes allow some producers to remain viable even if they are less physically efficient than their industry counterparts. Plants producing niche-market specialty products may often have higher per-unit costs than industry competitors who focus on mass production. However, niche producers can survive (and indeed thrive) if their product characteristics appeal to certain purchasers.(Moi ici: Tudo exemplos de produtividade e competitividade obtida à custa do numerador, à custa da diferenciação)
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Branding and advertising can also lead to consumers perceiving physically identical products as being less than perfectly interchangeable. The classic example of namebrand bleach fetching a higher price than chemically identical generic alternatives is illustrative of this. SufŽficient brand identity will allow a producer to operate even in the face an efficiency gap between itself and its industry competitors.(Moi ici: O poder da marca para fugir ao mundo da guerra dos preços e da eficiência)
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Real or perceived differences in services bundled with products, such as delivery speed, documentation, and product support, can also contribute to imperfect output substitutability. Finally, an array of intangible factors such as speciŽfic history-laden relationships between producers and their customers, interpersonal customer-manager interaction, and other assets of goodwill make costless substitution of another manufacturer’s output impossible.
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Alone or in combination, these factors allow productivity differences to persist among industry producers."
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Vamos ligar isto aos intangíveis e a uma história brasileira.