Transnational companies and production global networks (original) (raw)
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Internationalization and Management
This article"s objective is to demonstrate how international activity and the international business environment significantly influence an organization"s strategic practices; specifically as to its management, institutional policies, interorganizational relationships, and organizational structure. In order to discuss this influence, our article presents a brief review of the internationalization process, the international business environment, the international convergence of management practices, and the strategic process as viewed from the perspective of strategic practices resulting from internationalization. Empirical studies of international business show that international activity inserts an organization and its managers into the competitive international environment, which influences the decisions and practices managers make towards developing and maintaining competitive advantages. Through a case study of an agro-industrial cooperative in the Brazilian state of Parana, we were able to perceive how international activity and the international business environment significantly influence the cooperative"s strategic process and practices. The case study was of a qualitative and descriptive nature, cross-sectional with longitudinal evaluation, and used content analysis for scrutinizing the data obtained from documents and interviews. The data showed that practices generated by internationalization led to their incorporation throughout the organization, including: negotiation and viability studies for new products; acquisition of units in other states and countries for gains in scale; international quality certification (ISO 9000 and Global Map); redesign of the supply chain between the cooperative and its associates; management systems and management reports; strategic planning based upon indicators; reunions, activities, and training with employees and partners; partnerships with institutions in order to develop a Brazilian model for Global Map certification. As such, this study corroborates the theoretical proposal that international activity influences an organization"s management practices, whether they are directly linked to international activities or not.
Economy Globalization and Internationalization of Business
MPRA Paper, 2008
În condiţiile lumii contemporane, participarea activă la diviziunea internaţională a muncii reprezintă o componentă esenţială a procesului de dezvoltare a fiecărei ţări. În acest context comerţul exterior, ca ramură distinctă a economiei naţionale, reprezintă un factor important al creşterii economice determinat de internaţionalizarea afacerilor şi determinant pentru procesul de globalizare. Pornind de la convingerea că dezvoltarea afacerilor internaţionale tinde să devină o condiţie de existenţă a firmelor, indiferent de mărimea sau domeniul de activitate, în prezenta lucrare voi aborda aspecte teoretice privind globalizarea economiei şi internaţionalizarea afacerilor precum şi corespondenţa dintre stadiile internaţionalizării şi formele tranzacţiilor internaţionale. Cuvinte cheie: globalizarea economiei, evoluţia societăţii contemporane, economia mondială 1. Introducere În condiţiile lumii contemporane, participarea activă la diviziunea internaţională a muncii reprezintă o componentă esenţială a procesului de dezvoltare a fiecărei ţări. În acest context comerţul exterior, ca ramură distinctă a economiei naţionale, reprezintă un factor important al creşterii economice determinat de internaţionalizarea afacerilor şi determinant pentru procesul de globalizare. Dezvoltarea afacerilor internaţionale tinde să devină o condiţie de existenţă a firmelor, indiferent de mărime sau domeniu ECONOMY GLOBALIZATION AND INTERNATIONALIZATION OF BUSINESS
La empresa transnacional, sinónimo de globalización
Revista Mexicana de Ciencias Políticas y Sociales, 1996
El capitalismo mundial ha venido transformándose con base en las formas productivas, en las innovaciones tecnológicas, en los entrecruzamientos más variables y complejos de los capitales a nivel mundial para la valorización de los mismos y en la fragmentación de la producción mundial. Las empresas transnacionales ocupan un lugar privilegiado después de la Segunda Guerra Mundial, porque ahí empiezan su labor fundamental que es la transnacionalización de los capitales; sin embargo, después de la Guerra Fría y dentro del cuadro de la crisis capitalista con sus estrategias renovadas, con sus flujos de capital diversificados, con sus capacidades tecnológicas revolucionadas, no sólo transnacionalizan los capitales sino globalizan toda la relación comercial y financiera. En esta situación se sustenta el grado de sofisticación al que llegó la empresa transnacional, ya que ésta se ha convertido en el nuevo sujeto y actor de las relaciones internacionales.
A Evolução da Internacionalização: A Caminho de uma Nova Teoria
Economia Global e Gestão, 2009
The theories of internationalization encompass a wide variety of explanatory elements that follow the firms' responses to distorted, imperfect markets. Whilst traditional theories were concentrated on foreign direct investment and on how multinationals enlarged their involvement in international markets, recent theories have focused their attention on small to medium businesses following either a staged model or a networked approach. There has been wide disagreement regarding all theories of internationalization. This paper provides a brief literature review on the main theories of internationalization and concludes that due to the emergence of a new polycentric economic world a new theory encompassing new important factors is in strong demand.
On the internationalization process of firms: a critical analysis
Journal of International Business Studies, 1993
Even though international marketing has been challenged because of theoretical and methodological shortcomings, very few researchers have actually attempted to analyze the weaknesses based on principles of theory evaluation. In this article, the author examines two types of models addressing the individual rirm's internationalization process. A theory evaluation is performed based on the explanation and the falsification criteria. In order to improve the internationalization models, some measures are proposed.
The Business of International Enterprise
Internacjonalizacja przedsiębiorstw. Uwarunkowania – procesy – wyniki badań, 2016
this article aims at theorizing about a business of international enterprise. With the vanishing frontiers of entities like enterprises, each and every enterprise is international by default. With the use of intellectual modelling (reflexivity), the article develops propositions and conclusions. It is claimed that enterprise is nudged to concentrate its activities on administrative issues and that successful enterprises focus on core activities refusing administrative ones. There further comes the idea of the spaces of core activities (business, money, competencies, markets and future), followed by the issue of three simple questions (what, why and how) used for each of the spaces. It is concluded that if the business of an international enterprise is nothing but business, its strategy can be built with 75 answers to simple questions.
2011
This volume describes the performance of Multinationals Enterprises (MNEs), proposing an analytical model to be applied to MNEs from the BRIC countries, in particular to Brazilian Multinationals (BrMNEs). Basically, it demonstrates how BrMNEs learned processes and technologies from foreign companies established in Brazil, recreated their own identity and eventually adapted their management style in their subsidiaries located in other countries. The research describes the internationalization process of BrMNEs which will later be compared with the results of a survey. The findings suggest that BrMNEs position themselves in the global supply networks through their subsidiaries. This Brazilian pattern is compared, at first, with Latin American companies (Multilatinas) and then with the RICS' (Russia, India, China and South Africa) MNEs. Highlighting differences, the model is revisited using case studies. At the end, results are presented and key characteristics of BrMNEs and suggestions for future research are made. Probably the most distinctive feature of the emerging countries is that they are rapidly improving living standards with the expansion of the middle class due to their increasing economic aspirations. As a result, their importance to the international economy increases not only as attractive destinations for exports, Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) and supply sourcing (Cavusgil et al., 2010), but also as a resource for understanding the incipient internationalization phenomena, allowing an understanding of specific characteristics of companies from these markets in their early stage of internationalization and the development of research in the area. The study of BrMNEs operating in a global context reported in this book aims to understand: how the processes of internationalization of companies from emerging countries occur? Where do they go to? How do they move outwards? And what impact do they cause on the international production and trade? In order to work on these issues, the following important assumptions are stated: (1) the propensity to internationalize increases whenever there are changes in the paradigms that guide production organization at the global level, thereby creating 'windows of opportunity' and 'waves of internationalization', and (2) seizing those opportunities is connected with the organizational competencies and managerial styles developed by firms which compete in the global industries and interact with their national, or local environments, respectively. The book is divided into two parts. The first part focuses on the analysis of the internationalization process of Brazilian companies, seeking to elucidate an emerging model of international management. Firstly, in a very creative way, the authors seek inspiration in the work of the classic Portuguese writer called Camões (author of The Lusiads), using one of his poems to present the competitive capabilities of the Iberian countries in the XIV and XV centuries, introducing the basis on which the Brazilian culture has been built and, at the same time, constructing the metaphor of 'windows of opportunity' or 'waves of internationalization' caused by changes in technology, economic and social environments. In this context, a brief discussion of globalization is made as an introduction, preparing the scenario, without losing the theme itself inside the discussion. It is possible, at this stage, to notice that the authors relate different perspectives on the subject, avoiding a discourse toward neoliberal globalization as a means of promoting the interests of dominant countries in the international economy. Such discourse is based on the theory that all countries will converge to a neoliberal capitalism (Faria, 2011). Thus, instead of assuming that the dominant nations 'export knowledge' in an uncritically and asymmetric way to developing and emerging countries, it is understood, in the book, that globalization brings new environmental conditions for organizations and institutions in search of global knowledge and influence, whether they are of political, religious, cultural or economic nature. At this point, the first multinationals from the western world are introduced, beginning with the Dutch East India Company in 1602 as the number one, amongst other European companies that will eventually emerge in the following centuries. Here, the concept adopted in the book for MNEs is presented: 'a network of dispersed operations, a configuration of competencies and an international strategy involving Foreign Direct Investment (FDI)'. That is, to be considered a multinational, the company must be headquartered in different countries, develop specific skills and expertise (which are transferred from one country host to another) and have a production line at these locations. Therefore, this is the taxonomy used to classify MNEs covered in the book. It is from this notion that the discussion on emerging markets (and the importance of the BRIC countries, especially Brazil) appears and, then, an analytical model is proposed. This
Emprendimiento y Negocios Internacionales
Se propone una nueva taxonomía, tras la revisión de diferentes enfoques de formación de estrategias empresariales, para el fenómeno de las pequeñas empresas de rápida internacionalización o born globals, con el objetivo de ampliar su conocimiento. El proceso de formación de estrategias para la internacionalización temprana exitosa tenderá a adoptar un enfoque configuracional y holístico, analizando las distintas fases por las que transita una empresa born global. Así, primero la formación de la estrategia tenderá a ser más emprendedora (estrategia emergente), para, con el paso del tiempo, ir convirtiéndose cada vez más en un proceso planificado y sistemático (estrategia deliberada).