Latin American Multinationals Research Articles

Decoding corruption in Brazilian construction multinationals

PurposeThis study aims to investigate whether firms involved in a major corruption scandal, with broad ramifications across several emerging and advanced markets, design the content of their corporate codes of conduct to either improve corporate ethical standards and practices or merely manipulate the impression of stakeholders.Design/methodology/approachThis study adopts an impression management perspective. It uses content analysis techniques to examine the codes of conduct adopted by seven Brazilian engineering and construction multinationals accused of corruption. The analysis covered five major themes: (1) forms of corruption, (2) values or principles, (3) interested parties, (4) procedures and routines and (5) punitive action.FindingsThe study provides detailed evidence that the codes of conduct adopted by these firms are mere artifices that aimed at meeting legal requirements but do not target the relevant corporate audience involved in grand corruption. At best, such a code may impede petty and bureaucratic corruption.Originality/valueThis research contributes to improving the understanding of how Latin American multinationals adopted codes of conduct after a major scandal and how they failed—at least to some extent—to design codes complying with established corporate governance principles. It shows that management manipulated the impression of stakeholders by selectively adopting or omitting certain terms, examining or concealing various issues and addressing mainly petty crimes rather than grand corruption. It also identifies areas where Western ethical values conflict with established practices and cultural norms in Latin America.

Motivations for a sustainable ethos: evidence from the globally present Brazilian multinational Natura &Co.

Driven by improvements in the understanding and the growing importance of sustainability engagement among individuals and companies, this study aims to analyze the sustainable development of a renowned Consumer Goods Company. Natura &Co is a Brazilian multinational that forms among the five largest global beauty corporations, owning four major brands-Avon, The Body Shop, Aesop, and Natura. This study used a case study methodology and had the objective of analyzing the strategies adopted by the company through time while engaging in the global sustainability agenda. It also covers a gap in the literature in analyzing Latin American multinationals. The company is assessed through a case summarized into a sustainability motivations framework of four quadrants, namely social insurance, market success, legitimacy, and process improvement. As one of the main findings, the case confirms literature indications of the evolution of sustainability motivations and strategies from simple compliance with the law and social rules into innovation and differentiation, which allowed the company to compete globally.

Talent identification strategy in Latin American multinationals: perceptions of corporate actors

ObjetivoA identificação de talentos é um processo crítico de todo sistema de gestao global de talentos, e pouco se sabe sobre isso em multinacionais de origem latinoamericana. Este estudo qualitativo tenta compreender, através das percepções dos diretores globais de talento corporativo, a estratégia de identificação de talentos adotada, os fatores envolvidos nessas escolhas estratégicas e a origem das ferramentas utilizadas na sua implementação.Abordagem metodológicaA amostragem do estudo foi baseada em 17 multilatinas da Argentina, Brasil, México, Chile e Colômbia. Entrevistas qualitativas foram realizadas com gerentes globais de gestão de talentos.ResultadosOs resultados mostram que a estratégia de padronização na identificação de talentos constitui a principal tendência. Essa escolha estratégica pode ser explicada por vários fatores: novas estruturas societárias, modo de entrada por meio de fusões e aquisições, cultura nacional/regional, proximidade geográfica e afinidade cultural, cultura organizacional, práticas de gestão dos países de destino e grau de integração entre Matriz e subsidiárias. A maioria das multilatinas privilegia as ferramentas de seu próprio design, em vez das “melhores práticas”. Diversos fatores foram identificados. São apresentadas as conclusões e futuras linhas de pesquisa.OriginalidadeEste é o primeiro estudo que examina a estratégia de identificação de talentos em multinacionais latinoamericanas e os fatores envolvidos, contribuindo a preencher uma lacuna na literatura

Understanding the interplay between brand and innovation orientation: Evidence from emerging multinationals

Drawing on brand and innovation management literature, this article presents the development and testing of a theory about the way strong brands shape innovation orientationunder conditions of institutional uncertainty. Using a unique database of sixty-two large Latin American multinationals (multilatinas), we illustrate that the strong brands of emerging multinationals interact with institutional uncertainty in the host market to shape the firms’ innovation orientation. We confirm the robustness of the results, by using secondary data on foreign direct investments, advertising, and R&D investments. The implications of our findings for managers of multinational companies are clear: While strong brands enhance the innovation orientation of emerging multinationals, conditions of institutional uncertainty in host markets weaken this relationship.

Region-Based Institutions and Internationalization Decisions: Evidence from Latin America

ABSTRACTWhile the importance of country-level institutional influence is well-documented, we theorize and investigate how region-based institutions affect decisions of a segment of emerging market multinationals. Specifically, we examine the level of ownership pursued by Latin American multinationals during cross-border acquisitions. As predicted, increased levels of political democracy and capital investment prompted increased ownership pursued by Multilatinas. Increased levels of regulatory control were also found to spur increased ownership to a point, after which ownership was dissuaded (inverted U relationship). Further, Multilatinas are 3.4 times more likely to pursue full ownership within Latin America as opposed to an external region.

Multilatinas and International Business Studies

I study Multilatinas, Latin American multinationals, and explain how their analysis helps provide new insights on internationalization. I propose that the historical commonalities among Latin American countries help control for influences that facilitate the analysis of the impact of the home country on internationalization in a way that is not possible when studying firms in other regions. I illustrate this idea explaining how internationalization is affected by geographic distance markets, by political influences on state-owned firms, by the size of the home market, and by the new middle classes in emerging economies.

Internationalization of Mexican family firms: the cases of Xignux and Grupo Alfa

PurposeThis theory testing paper compares and analyzes the internationalization process of two Mexican family-owned firms: Xignux and Grupo Alfa. This paper is intended to offer a theoretical understanding using existing frameworks such as OLI (ownership, location and internationalization), LLL (linkage, leverage and learning) and the Uppsala model. Furthermore, it tests whether the theoretical framework of organizational capabilities and international ventures fits the internationalization of these companies.Design/methodology/approachThis paper is based on case study methodology using the companies’ publically available data. Both within-case and cross-case analysis were carried out to identify specific traits in the internationalization pattern of both firms; cases were also compared with literature to identify conflicts and similarities that enable a better understanding of the phenomenon.FindingsIt was found that not a single theory fully and satisfactorily explains the internationalization of both Xignux and Alfa, instead, issues like internationalization into low psychic distance countries, establishment of strategic alliances and the exploitation of locational-specific advantages contributed in the international expansion of the studied companies.Originality/valueThere is an increasing amount of available literature regarding internationalization strategies and internationalization theories applied to developing and emerging country firms. However, most of the studies analyze companies from Asia, and there are limited studies on multilatinas (i.e. Latin American multinationals). Furthermore, scholars in the field of international business are still debating whether the existing theories, or an adaptation of them, explain the internationalization of multilatinas.

Multilatinas as sources of new research insights: The learning and escape drivers of international expansion

This study reviews the literature on multilatinas, Latin American multinationals, and provides suggestions for using these firms as a laboratory for extending exiting theories and models of the multinational. Analyses of their behavior tend to discuss their upgrading of capabilities and their patterns of internationalization. An additional opportunity exists to contribute to the literature by analyzing how some of the unique characteristics of Latin American countries affect the internationalization of firms. The review explains how four characteristics of their home countries (political uncertainty, violence, pro-market reforms and reversals, and geographic isolation) can result in the foreign expansion of firms, either because managerial learning of the home country conditions facilitates internationalization (the learning driver), or because the home country conditions induce internationalization to escape those conditions (the escape driver).

When distance does not matter: Implications for Latin American multinationals

Distance is an important concept for the study of international location decisions, but conflicting empirical results call for the investigation of when distance matters. Based on institutional distance, this conceptual paper proposes that the general preference for less distant countries is lower when: the company is state owned; internationalization motives are asset, resource, or efficiency seeking rather than market seeking; and internationalization occurs after globalization and the advent of new technologies. Conflicting results may be a consequence of studies mixing these circumstances without properly controlling for them. As circumstances under which distance matters the least are typical of companies from Latin America, distance should be less important for these companies.

Multilatinas as Sources of New Research Insights: The Learning and Escape Drivers of International Expansion

This study reviews the literature on Multilatinas, Latin American multinationals, and provide suggestions for using these firms as a laboratory for extending existing theories and models of the multinational. Analyses of their behavior tend to discuss their upgrading of capabilities and their patterns of internationalization. An additional opportunity exists to contribute to the literature by analyzing how some of the unique characteristics of Latin American countries affect the internationalization of firms. The review explains how four characteristics of the home countries (political uncertainty, violence, pro-market reforms and reversals, and geographic isolation) can result in the foreign expansion of firms, either because managerial learning of the home country conditions facilitates internationalization (the learning driver), or because the home country conditions induce internationalization to escape those conditions (the escape driver).

International Value Creation: An Alternative Model for Latin American Multinationals

Recently, there has been considerable research on the great rise of Emerging Market Multinationals (EMNEs). Yet very few EMNEs are generating a significant portion of their profits abroad, and there is a growing list of failures associated with these firms’ internationalization efforts. This paper summarizes traditional thought on international strategy, explains the historical trajectory of EMNCs, and highlights how EMNCs have adapted to mainstream IB strategy theories. The paper develops a new model of international value creation based on primary and secondary data from the largest firms in Latin America. Specific examples of how to operationalize the model are offered.

Estratégias de Internacionalização de Empresas Multinacionais Brasileiras e Avaliação das Dimensões Culturais Nacionais: Estudo de Caso Setor de Fabricação de Implementos Agrícolas.

This article has since objective sketches an evolutive picture of the Brazilian multinationals, from the perspective of the development of the Latin-American multinationals, from the point of view of his insertion in the process of globalization. It is looked to characterize the typical profile of these enterprises in agreement with the Model of Dunning to be confirmed if this typology still if adequate the characterization of the strategies of internationalization. In the complementary form, there is used the Theory of the Cultural Dimensions of Hofstede .While doing this, one checked in which measure the strategic alignment is orientated a marks in terms of: (i) exploration of natural resources and advantages of costs of labour not qualified (resource seeking); advantages (ii) of location and synergies of market (market seeking); investments (iii) orientated to the search of strategic assets of the type efficiency seeking (for what they look to rationalize the production and to explore savings of specialization and location); investments (iv) of the type strategic asset seeking (turned to the acquisition of resources and competences with the objective to develop his competitiveness through of the innovation and growth of the strategic capacities). There is claimed also summarize the picture referential system that makes possible the development of a future diary of inquiries for the delineation of the principal strategies, of the public politics of the National States and the financial strategies of these enterprises.

Strategies of Internationalization of Multinational Brazilian Enterprises: Evaluation of the Cultural National Dimensions.

This article has since objective sketches an evolutive picture of the Brazilian multinationals, from the perspective of the development of the Latin-American multinationals, from the point of view of his insertion in the process of globalization. It is looked to characterize the typical profile of these enterprises in agreement with the Model of Dunning to be confirmed if this typology still if adequate the characterization of the strategies of internationalization. In the complementary form, there is used the Theory of the Cultural Dimensions of Hofstede .While doing this, one checked in which measure the strategic alignment is orientated á marks in terms of: (i) exploration of natural resources and advantages of costs of labour not qualified (resource seeking); advantages (ii) of location and synergies of market (market seeking); investments (iii) orientated to the search of strategic assets of the type efficiency seeking (for what they look to rationalize the production and to explore savings of specialization and location); investments (iv) of the type strategic asset seeking (turned to the acquisition of resources and competences with the objective to develop his competitiveness through of the innovation and growth of the strategic capacities). There is claimed also summarize the picture referential system that makes possible the development of a future diary of inquiries for the delineation of the principal strategies, of the public politics of the National States and the financial strategies of these enterprises.

Innovation in the strategies of Internationalization of Brazilian Multinationals: Evaluation of the Cultural National Dimensions: A Study Case of the Meat Processing Sector

This article sketches the evolution of Brazilian multinational companies, from the perspective of the development of Latin-American multinational companies, with respect to the process of globalization. With this article, we looked to characterize the typical profile of these enterprises in agreement with the Dunning Model to confirm if this typology is adequate for the characterization of internationalization strategies. We also explored the Theory of the Cultural Dimensions of Hofstede. While doing this, we analyzed which model measures the strategic alignment and is more orientated in terms of: (i) exploration of natural resources and advantages of costs of labor not qualified (resource seeking), advantages; (ii) location and synergies of market (market seeking), investments; (iii) search of strategic assets of the type efficiency seeking (for what they look to rationalize the production and to explore savings of specialization and location), investments; and (iv) type of strategic asset seeking (turned to the acquisition of resources and competences with the objective to develop competitiveness through of the innovation and growth of strategic capacities). We also summarize the referential system that makes possible the development of future inquiries for the delineation of the principal strategies, of the public politics of the National States, and also the financial strategies of these enterprises. Keywords: Strategic innovation; Brazilian multinationals; foreign investment; globalization; Latin American multinationals and multinationals from emerging countries

Resources and Internationalization Strategies:The Case of Latin American Multinationals

In light of the recent interest in the internationalization of multinationals from emerging countries (EMNCs), we propose an analytical framework that challenges the somewhat condescending way in which these global players have been portrayed. Case studies of Latin American multinationals provide empirical evidence of the way certain resource attributes – availability, transferability and substitutability – are related to the decision to exploit, develop or defend their resources in foreign markets. We find that the internationalization strategies deployed by EMNCs are similar to those of traditional multinationals in many respects. To characterize them as resource 'laggards' is an oversimplification and hinders the development of comprehensive theories of the internationalization of EMNCs.

Corporate Social Responsibility and Latin American Multinationals

This paper looks at corporate social responsibility (CSR) practices of multinationals from Latin America. In spite of the economic growth in recent years, social problems in the region persist. Poverty is endemic and Latin America is still today one of the most unequal regions in the world. Multinationals from Latin America have thrived in the last years and are embracing CSR practices. The paper asks if these CSR practices are effective or whether they should become more proactive in poverty alleviation.

Latin American multinationals: A historical and theoretical approach*

Among the so‐called multinationals from the South, Latin American multinationals are outstanding for being pioneers. Their history goes even back to the end of the 19th century. In this article, we sketch a brief history of Latin American multinationals, but we concentrate on their development and growing importance since the 1980s within the context of economic reforms and globalization. We then apply a theoretical and typological perspective in order to characterize these multinational companies and to identify the elements that will condition their future behavior and development