The corporate political activity field has focused on the study of political capabilities that allow firms to influence governments and regulators. Building on previous studies, this thesis examines a set of capabilities that allow host firms to adapt to rather than influence political environments. Specifically, this set of adaptive political capabilities can be used by firms to confront host country political contexts in emerging economies that share two characteristics: authoritarian regimes and weak institutions. The findings of this thesis show that host firms can develop and use adaptive political capabilities rather than political capabilities to start and sustain their operations in this type of political contexts. This entails attuning firm processes, structures, and practices to local norms and political behaviors, rather than attempting to shape the host country political environment in its own likeness. Our results suggest host firms can develop adaptive political capabilities to enhance their strategic repertoire when starting or sustaining operations in emerging economies with such characteristics. Our contribution is that by using mixed methods, we provide and test several exploratory propositions that support the conceptualization of a framework to guide the development of adaptive political capabilities by host firms and we make explicit a taxonomy of corporate adaptive political strategies that can enable firms to envision how they can adapt to host political contexts.

The corporate political activity field has focused on the study of political capabilities that allow firms to influence governments and regulators. Building on previous studies, this thesis examines a set of capabilities that allow host firms to adapt to rather than influence political environments. Specifically, this set of adaptive political capabilities can be used by firms to confront host country political contexts in emerging economies that share two characteristics: authoritarian regimes and weak institutions. The findings of this thesis show that host firms can develop and use adaptive political capabilities rather than political capabilities to start and sustain their operations in this type of political contexts. This entails attuning firm processes, structures, and practices to local norms and political behaviors, rather than attempting to shape the host country political environment in its own likeness. Our results suggest host firms can develop adaptive political capabilities to enhance their strategic repertoire when starting or sustaining operations in emerging economies with such characteristics. Our contribution is that by using mixed methods, we provide and test several exploratory propositions that support the conceptualization of a framework to guide the development of adaptive political capabilities by host firms and we make explicit a taxonomy of corporate adaptive political strategies that can enable firms to envision how they can adapt to host political contexts.

Society's concern over the negative impact of business activities on the natural environment has significantly increased and, as a result, environmental regulations have grown considerably both in number and scope. As these policies affect businesses and their competitive environment, firms are interested in shaping the nature of such legislation through corporate political activities (CPAs). This thesis investigates the CPAs of MNEs in the automotive industry that are directed towards environmental regulations in the EU. Using the resource-based view as its theoretical framework, it investigates six research questions that address the characteristics, determinants and consequences of these CPAs in relation to three regulatory areas (pollutant emissions, CO2 emissions and end-of-life vehicles). Case study analysis is based on 71 interviews with stakeholders from the automotive industry (the entire population of 11 MNEs from the Triad regions that are politically active in Brussels) and related industries, EU institutions and civil society organisations, representing the societal triangle (market, state, civil society). The thesis finds that the 11 automotive firms engage in CPAs to inform policymakers, and because of the impact that regulations have on their businesses. Whilst the firms attempt a cooperative approach, in reality this is not always the case: whereas individual company and association activities should lead to a united voice, this does not occur when it comes to important company-specific technologies and particular environmental policies. These regulations are viewed by companies as both a costly burden and as opportunities, though non-corporate respondents perceive that MNEs see them only as costs. The main (political) resources and competences used in CPAs are found to be human resources (including the related resources of expertise, contacts, trust and reputation, i.e. social capital), and technological resources. Regulations and the technological resources influencing CPAs are directly and uniquely linked to the product portfolios of MNEs. These differences in technological resources and product ranges account for most of the variance in MNEs‟ CPAs rather than the respective countries of origin within the Triad.

Submitted by Ariela Zanetta Simoni (arielazsimoni@gmail.com) on 2018-04-18T21:21:56Z No. of bitstreams: 1 Dissertacao_ArielaSimoni_VF2_2018.pdf: 2154592 bytes, checksum: 3ed46fe4510f5360ed0ab60012235df1 (MD5) / Approved for entry into archive by Debora Nunes Ferreira (debora.nunes@fgv.br) on 2018-04-20T17:07:30Z (GMT) No. of bitstreams: 1 Dissertacao_ArielaSimoni_VF2_2018.pdf: 2154592 bytes, checksum: 3ed46fe4510f5360ed0ab60012235df1 (MD5) / Approved for entry into archive by Suzane Guimarães (suzane.guimaraes@fgv.br) on 2018-04-20T17:34:32Z (GMT) No. of bitstreams: 1 Dissertacao_ArielaSimoni_VF2_2018.pdf: 2154592 bytes, checksum: 3ed46fe4510f5360ed0ab60012235df1 (MD5) / Made available in DSpace on 2018-04-20T17:34:32Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Dissertacao_ArielaSimoni_VF2_2018.pdf: 2154592 bytes, checksum: 3ed46fe4510f5360ed0ab60012235df1 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2018-03-14 / No âmbito das atividades políticas corporativas (CPA) com auxílio das variáveis de recursos, rotina e capacidades da Teoria da Visão Baseada em Recursos (RBV), esta pesquisa pretendeu analisar como as atividades políticas corporativas de Lobby das empresas são realizadas em ambientes de mudanças políticas. O Lobby é uma das táticas mais utilizadas de CPA. Estudos que visam a compreensão por intermédio de fatores econômicos e de outras naturezas são de suma importância na explicação da variação dentro de um determinado sistema, porém, raramente levam em consideração o ambiente político doméstico de um país (YADAV, 2008). O contexto de imprevisibilidade gera incertezas a respeito do ambiente no qual implementa-se a tática de Lobby e diminui a capacidade de previsão de cenários. A consequência disso é a possibilidade de redução da vantagem competitiva das firmas as quais se engajam em estratégias de não mercado. Além disso, ambientes de mudanças políticas caracterizam-se por trocas de executivos no poder provenientes de eleições nacionais (YASUDA; MITSUHASHI, 2017) ou por impedimento em completar o mandato governamental. O cenário político e econômico do ano de 2016 no Brasil serviu como laboratório para o estudo, na medida em que apresenta características do ambiente de mudanças políticas necessárias à pesquisa. Por intermédio de uma pesquisa qualitativa positivista com triangulação de dados primários – obtidos por meio de entrevistas – e secundários – principalmente para entendimento do ambiente político, a pesquisa justifica-se pela importância no aprofundamento da compreensão do fenômeno. / In the scope of corporate policy activities (CPA) aided by resource variables, routine and resource-based capabilities (RBV), this research aimed to analyze how corporate lobbying activities are carried out in politically changing environments. Lobby is one of CPA's most commonly used tactics. Studies that aim at understanding through economic and other factors are indeed important in explaining variation within a given system, but rarely take into account a country's domestic political environment (YADAV, 2008). The context of unpredictability creates uncertainties about the environment in which lobby tactic is implemented and reduces the predictability of scenarios. The consequence of this is the possibility of diminishing the competitive advantage of companies that engage in non-market strategies. In addition, politically changing environments are characterized by exchanges of power executives from national elections (YASUDA; MITSUHASHI, 2017) or by impediment in completing the government mandate. The political and economic scenario of 2016 in Brazil served as a laboratory for the study, as it presents characteristics of the environment of political changes demanded for the research. Through a qualitative positivist research with triangulation of primary data - obtained through interviews - and secondary data - mainly for understanding the political environment, the research is justified by the importance of deeper understanding of the phenomenon.