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This paper analyzes the influence of economic cycles on the performance of firms. Data on a representative sample of open capital traded firms, operating in eighteen sectors of the economy, were collected for a period of twenty-three years (1986-2008). The results corroborate previous studies to give greater importance to factors associated with characteristics of the firm, even though a period of analysis with more years and, therefore, the contribution of a large number of macroeconomic variables, such as crises and different economic plans. However, it was possible to confirm that longer intervals of analysis tend to reduce the effect of the firm, and that the contributions of the effect in particular years, although the results corroborate previous studies, in absolute terms, have a relatively large variation. The same phenomenon is observed when there is interaction between year and line of business, implying that different branches are unevenly affected by macroeconomic variables in longer periods of time.