INVESTMENT AND INDUSTRIAL DEVELOPMENT, AN APPROACH TO THE CALDAS AND MANIZALES INDUSTRY 1985-2005

摘要

This article is the product of the research "Earning, investment and industrial production rate in Caldas and the metropolitan area of Manizales - Villamaría, 1985-2001". It analyzes investment and investment decision making in the manufacturing industry in the department of Caldas and its metropolitan area (Manizales and Villamaría), using sources such as Encuesta Anual Manufacturera (EAM) (Annual Manufacturing Survey) and Encuesta de Opinión Empresarial (EOE) (Enterprise Opinion Survey), and a survey carried out with experts and companies in 2007. The first part comprises a fairly synthetic presentation of investment behavior in Manizales and Caldas during the period studied, compared to what happened with investment in Colombia. In a second instance, the development of the variable from the Enterprise Opinion Survey is examined; and thirdly, the investment decision-making process in accordance to what was reported in the interviews with experts and the surveys carried out with employers in the region, built from the basis of different theoretical and empirical sources; with the latter constituting itself as the central objective of this work. Emphasis is placed on the findings that industrial investment in Manizales and Caldas was not, during the period studied, a determining variable in the industrial development process by not having the expected impact on the productive sectors of greater importance, its volatility and non-recurrence impacted the generation of employment. The non growth of real industrial earnings slowed an improved performance in the coffee axis. At the end of the 1985-2001 period, the metropolitan area of Manizales had had a dramatic drop in the total industrial investment, which had become negative since 1995, all of which was not consistent with the gross product and added value behavior. Likewise, the volatility of investment decisions, the growth of the given production, the installed capacity not pushing investment, and, to a lesser degree, the reduction in labor costs, determined the road of the profits and its stagnation in the businesses in the region. Investment lost momentum and affected the growth of industrial real profits, as well as the fall in the capital stock. The survey carried out showed interesting responses, such as the profits being used to finance investment and that they were taken into account in the investment decision making process, creating a closer relationship with the