ECONOMIC, SOCIAL AND ENVIRONMENTAL CONTRIBUTIONS OF THE STEEL SECTOR

In Brazil, the steel industries play an important role in the country's economy, prevailing in some localities, which raises the discussion about the importance of this activity and regional development, as well as economic, social and environmental representativeness. The municipality of Açailândia - MA is home to the largest steelmaking center in the North and Northeast of Brazil, with a prominent place in the economy of Maranhão. The general objective of this work is to analyze the economic, social and environmental representativeness of the steel sector of Açailândia (MA) for regional development in the perception of stakeholders. For this purpose, the research made use of the qualitative approach with multiple case studies. Data were collected from semi-structured in-depth interviews with three stakeholders (employee, educational institution and community). The analysis of the data was based on intra and intercases analysis that aimed at comparing the results to find similarities and differences and thus obtain valid results for the cases selected in the sampling procedure, which was characterized as theoretical and intentional.