Abstract
The aim of this study was to investigate whether culture, knowledge transfer and initiative allow for the configuration of homogeneous groups of Brazilian multinational companies’ subsidiaries – and, as a result, to propose a typology. Thus, based on a previously adapted Birkinshaw model (1999) of subsidiary initiatives tested by structural equation modeling in an earlier phase of research, it was possible to use transfer of knowledge, culture and initiative constructs scores from each sample unit to apply the clusters technique. As a result, three clusters were found – which, based on the Birkinshaw typology (1995) for classifying subsidiaries according to initiative, were defined as: (1) Reconfiguration initiative and (3) Local market initiative. Since the second group of subsidiaries could not be classified by Birkinshaw’s typology, it was called (2) Incipient initiative. Subsidiaries of the Reconfiguration initiative cluster present mainly internal initiatives, although they do identify local opportunities for applying and expanding their resources; whilst subsidiaries of Local market initiative reveal that both knowledge transfer in both directions (headquarters versus units) and culture are relevant to their initiatives, mainly external ones. Finally, subsidiaries from the Incipient Initiative cluster are units that tend to be similar in culture to Brazil, but knowledge transfer is low, indicating that international units do not know enough about the company’s business to be able to propose initiatives.
Highlights
Brazilian companies, after the opening of the market in the late twentieth century, were encouraged to seek new business opportunities in an international context as a way of improving competitiveness.A survey conducted by the Brazilian Society for the Study of Transnational Corporations and Economic Globalization (SOBEET) in 2010 on52 Brazilian companies featuring branches abroad showed that 48.8% of these companies intended to increase their investments abroad in 20102011, whereas in the year before, only 38.8%planned to do that in 2009-2010
The results presented in this article were obtained by analyzing if culture, knowledge transfer and development initiative of foreign units allow to configure homogeneous groups of Brazilian multinational subsidiaries, i.e., we tried to group the subsidiaries according to the features they have in common, creating a typology of companies based on their types of initiatives
This study aimed to find out if culture, transfer knowledge, and initiative allow configuring homogeneous groups of subsidiaries
Summary
After the opening of the market in the late twentieth century, were encouraged to seek new business opportunities in an international context as a way of improving competitiveness.A survey conducted by the Brazilian Society for the Study of Transnational Corporations and Economic Globalization (SOBEET) in 2010 on52 Brazilian companies featuring branches abroad showed that 48.8% of these companies intended to increase their investments abroad in 20102011, whereas in the year before, only 38.8%planned to do that in 2009-2010. After the opening of the market in the late twentieth century, were encouraged to seek new business opportunities in an international context as a way of improving competitiveness. The survey revealed that 25.9% of those companies mentioned international competitiveness as the main reason of their operations abroad. Other reasons, such as global demand (19.5%), the search for economies of scale (15.1%) and reducing their dependence on the domestic market (13.7%) were relevant. The quest for understanding the worldwide process and operation of Brazilian companies in the global context has promoted several academic discussions at national and international level
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