Embraer S.A

Abstract

Maria Rodriguez has secured an interview for a senior-management position with Embraer S.A. (Embraer), based in S©o Paulo. In preparation, she investigates Embraer's business model and reviews the company's financial statements to make sure she understands each of the important balance sheet and income statement accounts. She feels prepared to discuss the performance of the world's fourth-largest aircraft manufacturer and one of Brazil's most successful exporters, specializing in sales of regional and executive jets. Excerpt UVA-C-2345 Oct. 2, 2013 Embraer S.A. Maria Rodriguez was excited about her new career possibilities. It was late September 2013, and her husband, Carlos Jimenez, had just finished his contractual obligations with the 2012 Summer Olympics in London. Jimenez was a design-team member for London's successful opening ceremony that previous year and had just accepted a similar position with the Brazilian Olympic Committee (BOC). Those summer games were scheduled to take place in Rio de Janiero in August 2016. This would be the first time a South American city would host the event. Rodriguez was looking forward to the move that was now finalized and certain. She had always wanted to experience South American culture, and now she would have at least four years to do so. Brazil's official language, Portuguese, would not be a problem since she was born and raised in Lisbon. Rodriguez had left Portugal in the mid-1990s to pursue her undergraduate degree in accounting from a prestigious university in Texas. The move to Brazil also offered Rodriguez a fortuitous opportunity to change her career path, so she had contacted an employment agency based in Rio de Janiero to help her with her search. She was thrilled to learn she had secured an interview for a senior-management position with Embraer S.A. (Embraer), based in S©o Paulo. Embraer was the world's fourth-largest aircraft manufacturer and one of Brazil's most successful exporters, specializing in sales of regional and executive jets. The company was profitable and growing, earning a 2012 net income of (U.S. dollars) USD349 million ([Brazilian real] BRL711 million) on revenues of USD6.2 billion (BRL12.5 billion). . . .