Texas Instruments TI-1786 by Mesbla

Mesbla S.A. sold in Brazil this colorful edition of the TI-1786 manufactured by SEDASA Sistemas Eletro-Eletrônicos da Amazônia S/A. Why not simply importing the calculator from Taiwan like its siblings?

Main reason is the restricted market access to Brazil!

In the 1980's (and even today) Brazil maintained various barriers to trade of both a tariff and a non-tariff barrier nature. A significant number of tariff peaks existed and the tariff structure showed tariff escalation for all industries, with a higher tariff on finished goods than on semi-processed goods and raw materials. 
The main non-tariff trade irritants included restrictive and non-transparent import licensing, imposition of minimum prices, restrictions to payment of imports, unnecessarily burdensome and costly customs procedures and protection of geographical indications. There was lack of transparency regarding applicable rules and many elements of the trading regime appeared unnecessarily trade restrictive. 
In addition, customs duties of some products remained on restrictive levels and the adverse effect of duties was further amplified by imposition of various charges and taxes that are calculated on top of the duty paid value.

One common solution was an off-shore production of either completely knocked-down-goods or a mixture of foreign and local material. 

Texas Instruments licensed the TI-1786 to SEDASA Sistemas Eletro-Eletrônicos da Amazônia S/A and supplied e.g. the printed circuit board (PCB) with the single-chip calculator circuit to them. 

Other components like the housing and leather pouch were locally sourced by SEDASA.

Don't miss the SR-56, TI-30, Money Manager and TI-55-II manufactured by Texas Instrumentos Eletrônicos do Brasil Ltda. - Campinas and the SR-40 LCD manufactured by Indústrias Gerais da Amazonia S.A..

If you have additions to the above article please email: joerg@datamath.org.

© Joerg Woerner, May 28, 2016. No reprints without written permission.