State multinationals were investigated in the 1980s. Since then, little work on the state multinational has been done because of the dramatic changes in the world in terms of both politics and economics, such as the waves of liberalization, deregulation and privatization. However, in the current global environment, we see the increase in the number of state multinationals, and thus initiate research of this study. This study investigates two sets of research questions. First, is the state multinational the overlap of two organizational forms (the state owned enterprise (SOE) and the multinational enterprise (MNE))? If so, what are the key characteristics and implications of the state multinational? Second, can the state multinational be considered a hybrid organizational form, which is different from that of its parents? Propositions are set forth to examine the first set of research questions. After clarifying the unit of analysis for this study, the second set of questions asks how state ownership influences the state multinational‘s international diversification and firm performance, and what is the impact of institutional ownership on the state ownership—international diversification relationship, and how home country institutional environments influence the proposed relationships. Hypotheses are proposed to investigate the second set of research questions and are tested with a three-year sample (2004-2007) and a seven year sample (2000-2007) of the state multinational. Results of hierarchical linear models indicate that the state multinational, first, does have characteristics that are different from its parents (i.e., the SOE and the MNE) and thus is considered a hybrid organizational form. Second, state ownership may improve the level of the state multinational‘s international diversification, but reaches a threshold, after which the positive influence diminishes due to the prominent agency costs. Third, institutional ownership has been verified as a useful mechanism to improve the effectiveness of corporate governance in the case of the state multinational. Fourth, home country institutional environments matter in the studied relationships. The state multinational in developed countries with an established institutional environment may not depend on state ownership as much as those in developing and emerging countries. Results also show the influence of state ownership on the state multinational‘s firm performance. The state ownership—performance relationship is also non-linear (inverted U-shaped). Moreover, in the case of the state multinational, the higher the level of international diversification, the higher the firm performance. In addition, international strategies of the state multinational function as a mediator for the relationship between state ownership and firm performance.

This dissertation investigates two major themes: (1) the strategies that global firms use to overcome weak institutions in their outsourcing and (2) how local institutions affected how firms reconfigured their global supply chains in response to the financial crisis. All three papers use a unique dataset of international contract manufacturing orders that provides hitherto unavailable insight into the global supply chains of many of the world's largest brands in footwear, sportswear, and apparel. In the first essay I create a formal model that examines the use of relational contracting by firms to overcome weak contracting institutions in their supply chains. The model predicts that, when the risk of future demand shocks is high, buyers make long-term commitments to source from suppliers in weak institution countries. I test this model and find that buyers preserved their relationships with suppliers in weak contract enforcement countries during the financial crisis for reasons that cannot be explained by cost. In conjunction with the model, these results suggest that relying on relational contracting to overcome weak contracting institutions can reduce a buyer’s flexibility in configuring his supplier networks. In the second essay, I examine whether firms choose to source from multinational (MNC) suppliers instead of local suppliers as a means of overcoming weak contract enforcement institutions or as a means of accessing supply chain management capabilities. I find strong evidence that buyers are more likely to source from MNC suppliers in countries where contract enforcement is weak and when they have less experience sourcing from a given country. Buyers are also more likely to source from MNC suppliers when they source a wider variety of products, have smaller supplier networks, and have smaller order volumes. My third essay investigates how trade credit terms are affected by local credit markets, financial institutions, and market power. I find that trade credit terms are longer when local credit markets are more developed and when buyers have market power. I also test how trade credit terms responded to the financial crisis and find that terms lengthened subject to the depth of local credit markets and buyer market power.

This dissertation consists of three essays in international economics. The first chapter investigates whether opening up to international financial flows improves aggregate productivity in the presence of limited contract enforceability. I present a model of two countries that differ in terms of the degree of contract enforcement and analyze the consequences of financial market integration among those countries. Then, I test the predictions of the model empirically. The model predicts that aggregate productivity improves after financial integration in economies with strong contract enforcement, while it deteriorates in countries with weak enforcement. The empirical analysis confirms that the effect of capital account liberalization on productivity is different in economies with different degrees of contract enforcement. The second chapter addresses whether foreign firms harm the environment in a host country where environmental standards are not as strict as in the source country. The question as to whether strict environmental regulations in developed economies cause the relocation of pollution-intensive production into developing countries has captured the attention of economists. Instead, we ask whether multinational firms, frequently the target of environmentalists, are in fact harmful for a host country's environment. Using plant-level data from Chile, we find that foreign firms are cleaner than domestic plants. We then propose a model that delivers these features of the data. Using the model we get policy implications regarding environmental regulations and multinational production. The last chapter examines the link between producer's productivity and export participation. Empirical work reveals that exporters have substantially higher productivity than non-exporters. The two explanations proposed for the apparent gap are self-selection of firms into competitive export markets and learning by exporting. Knowing the direction of causality between productivity and exporting has important policy implications. If firms become exporters simply because they are more productive and there are no further gains from being an exporter, then policies that aim to increase the number of exporters are not appropriate. I test these hypotheses by applying matching techniques on plant-level data from the Chilean manufacturing sector. I find clear evidence for self-selection, relatively more efficient firms become exporters. However, I do not detect further improvement of productivity following the entry into export markets. / text

This paper reviews and summarises the results of selected empirical studies on performance gaps between multinational enterprises and their domestic counterparts. Performance gaps arise in such fields as productivity, profitability, wages, skills, factor intensity and growth. Of central interest is the question to what extent is foreign ownership an explanatory factor of performance gaps? Empirical evidence supports the existence of performance gaps between foreign and domestic firms, yet foreign ownership is a much less important explanatory factor than normally assumed. Structural factors like industry, size and multi-nationality per se are more important. It is argued that such results are broadly consistent with those derived in the literatures on ownership change, on foreign entry and on spillovers. The concluding section discusses the normative issue whether there is a case for investment promotion policies to discriminate between firms on the basis of performance gaps by ownership. / Series: Working Papers Series "Growth and Employment in Europe: Sustainability and Competitiveness"

We examine the effect of tax burden differences between organizational forms on multinationals choosing an organizational form for a newly established foreign affiliate. Analyzing micro-level data on inbound foreign direct investment relations in Germany, we find that a higher tax burden on foreign income earned in a corporate subsidiary significantly increases the tendency of a multinational to choose a non-corporate flow-through. Income-shifting opportunities, industry-specific risk, country-level differences in regulatory quality, and host-country experience moderate this effect and thus shape the cost-benefit relation of organizational forms in cross-border settings. In addition, we document that multinationals establishing a new affiliate as a flow-through on the basis of a tax benefit invest less in that affiliate and exhibit a more complex group structure. Taken together, our results provide evidence on how tax rules shape group structures of multinationals and suggest that an asymmetric taxation of organizational forms has economic consequences. / Series: WU International Taxation Research Paper Series

Made available in DSpace on 2015-03-13T17:10:35Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 GleydsonPA.pdf: 815402 bytes, checksum: f9fe659f406ddf369252439d01c18227 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2005-11-18 / This research talks about the insertion of the borough Ipangua?u-RN on the agricultural globalization process from 1979 to 2003. At the first moment (1979-1992) with the construction of the A?u?s barrage and the entry of agricultural national enterprises and secondly (1993-2003) with the entry of the multinational Del Monte Fresh Produce enterprise. During all this insertion period the impacts on the local land market. To make the research operational, it was tried to analyze documents of the local registry office and all the local, national and international bibliography about this issue during all the study period. Furthermore, interviews were made. At the ending of this thesis, the results show intensification of the agricultural capitalization on this borough, changing of the productive axis which heads to the external market and the land concentration of this borough. It was concluded that the insertion of this borough in the globalization system will increase the external intervention on Ipangua?u blocking, then, the access if the local population to the land / O presente trabalho versa sobre a inser??o do munic?pio de Ipangua?u RN no processo de globaliza??o da agricultura durante o per?odo de 1979 a 2003, o qual, num primeiro momento (1979-1992) com a constru??o da Barragem de A?u e a entrada das empresas agr?colas nacionais e, num segundo momento (1993-2003) com a chegada da multinacional Del Monte Fresh Produce. Durante todo o per?odo de inser??o se analisa os impactos para o mercado fundi?rio local. Para operacionalizar a pesquisa buscou-se fazer um trabalho de an?lise dos documentos do cart?rio local durante todo o per?odo do estudo, al?m de empreender entrevistas e analisar toda a bibliografia sobre o tema a n?vel local, nacional e internacional. Ao final do trabalho se chega a resultados que mostram a intensifica??o da capitaliza??o da agricultura do munic?pio, a mudan?a do eixo produtivo que se volta para o mercado externo e a intensifica??o da concentra??o fundi?ria no munic?pio. Com isso, se conclui que essa inser??o do munic?pio na l?gica global vai aumentar a inger?ncia externa no munic?pio, controlando entre outras coisas o seu eixo produtivo e aumentando a concentra??o fundi?ria local, impedindo assim o acesso a terra da popula??o local

As modificações do ambiente competitivo nos mercados consumidores maduros, o aumento do número de empresas competidoras e a aceleração da propagação de novos conhecimentos e tecnologias vêm provocando alterações nas estratégias das empresas e contribuindo para a ampliação do processo de internacionalização. O Brasil está inserido neste processo, ampliando a participação no mercado internacional, com o aumento do número de empresas de capital nacional com subsidiárias no exterior. As empresas decidem pela aquisição e implantação de unidades industriais no exterior com o intuito de ampliar seus mercados e rendimentos. A subsidiária contribui não apenas para o mercado ao qual serve, mas também para outros mercados, tanto como plataforma exportadora quanto como unidade que gera conhecimento a partir do relacionamento com agentes externos. Dado que o processo de internacionalização é importante tanto para empresas quanto para países, o objetivo em questão é entender qual tem sido a trajetória das empresas brasileiras. Dessa forma, este trabalho analisa a gestão das subsidiárias de empresas brasileiras e os diferentes papéis dessas unidades, pretendendo, além de obter um retrato do cenário atual destas empresas, compreender a dinâmica entre matriz e subsidiárias. Para atender aos objetivos foi realizada pesquisa de natureza exploratória e qualitativa, através de estudo de caso de quatro empresas. Foram utilizadas técnicas de entrevista em profundidade, com o apoio de fontes documentais. O trabalho com múltiplos casos foi fundamental para caracterizar as diferenças de estratégias entre as empresas, assim como para justificar a escolha das mesmas. A pesquisa mostrou que não é possível estabelecer um modelo de gestão típico para as subsidiárias, isto é, não existe alinhamento ótimo entre os elementos da estratégia de gestão da empresa atribuição da subsidiária, grau de autonomia dos gestores, nível de transações de conhecimento, nível de atividades técnicas e mecanismos de gestão. Conclui-se que o alinhamento é dependente da estratégia, que por sua vez é estabelecida em função da análise do ambiente econômico. / The changes in the competitive environment in mature consuming markets, the increase on the number of competing companies and the accelerated propagation of new knowledge and technologies have been producing alterations in company strategies and contributing for the enlargement of internationalization process. Brazil is inserted in this process, extending its participation in the international market by the increase on the number of national companies with subsidiaries abroad. These companies decide for the acquisition and establishment of subsidiaries abroad intending to extend its markets and incomes. These units contribute not only to the market which they serve, but also to other markets, as exporting platform and units that generates knowledge from the relationship with external agents. Given that the internationalization process is important both for companies and countries, the aim of this study is understanding which has been the trajectory of some Brazilian companies. In this way, it was analyzed the management of Brazilian company subsidiaries and the different functions of these units intending to visualize the current scenario of the companies, as well as understanding the dynamics between national headquarters and their subsidiaries. In order to achieve these objectives it was done a qualitative research, through a case study of four companies. Interviewing techniques were used supported by documentary sources. The work with multiple cases was fundamental to characterize different company strategies, as well as to justify the reasons of choice of the companies. The research pointed out that it is not possible to establish a typical model of management for the studied subsidiaries, that is, there is not an excellent alignment between the elements that are part of the management strategy attribution of subsidiary, management mechanisms and levels of managers autonomy, knowledge transaction and technical activities. One may conclude that the alignment depends on the strategy, which on its turn is established by the economic environment analysis.

Esta dissertação trata da indústria fornecedora de equipamentos para o setor elétrico nacional, com recorte específico para a geração de energia. A partir do contexto de formação do setor de serviços, busca-se estabelecer a trajetória da formação da estrutura de demanda para estes equipamentos. Enfatiza-se a presença do capital estrangeiro neste processo, inicialmente no setor de serviços e mais a frente atuando no setor industrial. Apresenta-se as principais características desta indústria, com destaque para a concentração existente e o favorecimento das empresas multinacionais. A análise é feita sob a perspectiva da oferta e da demanda. / This thesis is about industries which provide equipment to national electrical sector, with specific focus on energy generation. From formation context of service sector, we search to establish the formation\'s trajectory of demands structure for these equipments. Emphasize the presence of foreign capital in this process, at first in service sector and later at industrial sector. Presents this industry main characteristics, prominence to the existing concentration and advantages for multinational companies. The analysis is made in the supply and demand perspective.

Esta tese tem o objetivo de analisar a estratégia de gestão de pessoas de empresas multinacionais brasileiras com base em dois fatores: o nível em que as subsidiárias destas empresas possuem autonomia para decidir sobre a estratégia de gestão de pessoas e o nível de internacionalização de suas políticas de gestão de pessoas. Assim, são propostos dois modelos teóricos. O primeiro deles consiste em analisar o nível de centralização e descentralização de autoridade que a matriz da multinacional repassa às suas subsidiárias. O segundo é analisar o nível em que estas empresas desenham políticas de gestão de pessoas de captação, compensação e desenvolvimento de profissionais de maneira a aproveitar as oportunidades globais. Escolheu-se como estratégia de pesquisa o estudo de múltiplos casos. Foram analisados doze casos de empresas multinacionais brasileiras, as quais foram definidas para este estudo como sendo as empresas que se engajam em investimento estrangeiro direto (FDI) e possuem ou controlam atividades que geram valor em mais de um país. Cada um dos casos foi classificado nos dois modelos teóricos do estudo. Os resultados mostraram a preferência das multinacionais brasileiras em dar autonomia para suas subsidiárias, de forma descentralizadora (quatro casos) ou híbrida (três casos). Esta escolha se destacou pela facilidade das empresas em lidar com a cultura e legislação local, adotando uma postura diferenciada com relação à literatura de multinacionais. O estudo também mostra a classificação de quatro empresas no que se chamou de Nível 2, um nível diferenciado de internacionalização das políticas de gestão de pessoas. As empresas neste nível possuíam maior facilidade em movimentar pessoas internacionalmente, programas de treinamento desenvolvidos em nível global e com o objetivo de compartilhar conhecimentos entre as unidades, e políticas de compensação que favorecem a captação de recursos humanos globalmente. Elas tinham como diferenciais: pro-ativamente enfatizar o recrutamento e seleção global de funcionários como forma de difundir o conhecimento entre as unidades; buscar alternativas para promover a formação e desenvolvimento de competências podem surgir em diferentes filiais; e, finalmente, políticas de compensação que incentivam o desenvolvimento de habilidades globais nos funcionários e facilitam as oportunidades de carreira internacional. Este estudo contribuiu com o aprofundamento da discussão sobre a autonomia das subsidiárias em termos de gestão de pessoas, que já havia sido objeto de vários estudos anteriores, mas nunca com ênfase específica nas multinacionais brasileiras. Além disso, acrescentou uma nova dimensão ao estudo da gestão de pessoas internacional, que é o nível de internacionalização. Além disso, ele apresenta os modelos teóricos que foram base para as análises e podem ser usados futuramente para compreender a gestão internacional de pessoas das multinacionais. / This thesis has the objective of analyzing the human resources management (HRM) strategy of multinational companies, based on two factors. First, the level on which the subsidiaries of these companies have autonomy to decide their HRM strategies. Second, the level of internationalization of their HRM policies. Thus, we propose two theoretical frameworks. The first one is used to analyze the degree of centralization and decentralization of authority to the multinational subsidiaries, when it comes to HRM decisions. The second is examining the level to which these companies design their recruitment e selection, training e development and compensation policies in order to take advantage of the opportunities of globalization. We chose the study of multiple cases as the research strategy. Therefore, we analyzed twelve cases of Brazilian multinational companies (M\'Es). Those companies are the ones which engage in foreign direct investment (FDI) and own or control activities that create value in more than one country. Each case was classified in the two theoretical frameworks. Findings showed the preference of Brazilian multinationals to give autonomy to its subsidiaries, in a decentralized manner (four cases) or hybrid (three cases). This choice made easier for companies to deal with the culture and local laws, adopting a different posture comparing to the International HRM literature. We could also classify four companies in the so-called Level 2, a differential level of HRM internationalization. Companies at this level have greater ease in moving people internationally; they have training programs that are developed at a global level they have the benefit of sharing knowledge between their business units; their compensation policies encourage the uptake of human resources globally. This study contributed to deepen the discussion on the autonomy of the subsidiaries in terms of HRM. It had been the subject of several previous studies, but not with specific emphasis on Brazilian multinational companies. Also, findings added a new dimension to the study of IHRM, which is the level of internationalization of the HR policies. Moreover, it presents theoretical frameworks that can be used to understand and analyze other multinational companies in the future.

The purpose of this study is to analyze the relationship between Brazilian multinationals and Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR). The theoretical framework provides relevant information on CSR and on Sustainability-Oriented Innovation (SOI), which are the basis for the development of hypotheses. In order to collect data, an e-survey was conducted with Brazilian multinationals operating in different industries and segments; as result, we obtained 60 valid questionnaires. In order to analyze the data, a multivariate analysis was accomplished, which involved the procedures of canonical correlation and multiple linear regression. The descriptive analysis indicates that most Brazilian multinationals are headquartered in the Southeast region, especially in the State of São Paulo. The outcomes of the multivariate analysis provided empirical support for five hypothesis: there is a positive correlation between the constructs: i) guidelines for multinationals (defined by OECD and emphasized by several scholars) and the compliance with social and environmental regulation; ii) guidelines for multinationals and CSR as differentiation strategy; iii) compliance with social and environmental regulation and CSR as differentiation strategy; iv) SOI practices and guidelines for multinationals; and v) SOI practices and the compliance with social and environmental regulation. The results did not support the hypothesis that predicted a positive correlation between SOI practices and CSR as differentiation strategy. / O objetivo deste estudo é analisar a relação existente entre multinacionais brasileiras e Responsabilidade Socioambiental Corporativa (RSC). A fundamentação teórica proporciona informações relevantes sobre RSC e inovação para sustentabilidade, ambos os temas são a base para o desenvolvimento de hipóteses. Para a coleta de dados, uma survey eletrônica foi enviada para multinacionais brasileiras que atuam em diversos segmentos e indústrias; 60 questionários válidos foram obtidos. Para analisar os dados, o procedimento de análise multivariada foi aplicado, o qual envolveu os procedimentos de correlação canônica e regressão linear múltipla. A análise descritiva indica que a maior parte das multinacionais brasileiras está sediada na região sudeste, especialmente no Estado de São Paulo. Os resultados da análise multivariada foram suficientes para sustentar cinco hipóteses: existe, então, uma correlação positiva entre os constructos; i) diretrizes para multinacionais (definidas por órgão internacional - OECD - e enfatizadas por pesquisadores) e o cumprimento de regulamentações socioambientais; ii) diretrizes para multinacionais e RSC como estratégia de diferenciação; iii) o cumprimento de regulamentações socioambientais e RSC como estratégia diferenciação; iv) adoção de práticas de inovação para sustentabilidade e diretrizes para multinacionais; e v) práticas de inovação para sustentabilidade e o cumprimento de regulamentações socioambientais. Não houve suporte empírico para a hipótese que previa uma correlação positiva entre práticas de inovação para sustentabilidade e RSC como estratégia de diferenciação.