This article analyses the strategies applied by the Brazilian industrial groups during the period 1980-1993: that is to say, before the Real Plan was put into effect. After some introductory comments regarding the debate on economic groups, hypotheses are presented on the evolution of the Brazilian industrial groups in the 1980s and early 1990s; the main elements in the Brazilian economy which conditioned the restructuring strategies of the groups are identified, and these strategies are categorized on the basis of this analysis and of the hypotheses put forward in the introductory section. A general analysis is then made of the strategies of a sample of industrial groups, and in conclusion some aspects of the Brazilian groups are compared with those of "winning" business organizations (the Japanese Keiretsu and the South Korean Chaebol); and some theoretical considerations are put forward on the possibilities of expansion of the Brazilian groups in the light of their sectoral location.