Andrea Goldstein

Emerging multinationals: home and host country determinants and outcomes

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to present a framework for analyzing home and host country determinants and outcomes of emerging multinationals (EMNCs).Design/methodology/approach – The paper applies a conceptual approach combined with analyses of statistics and secondary material.Findings – The paper identifies changing trends and features of outward foreign direct investment (OFDI) from emerging economies and identifies in particular differences between outflows from Brazil, Russia, India, and China (BRIC).Originality/value – The paper puts forward a framework for analyzing determinants and outcomes of structures and strategies of multinational companies from emerging economies and surveys contemporary trends and features of outward FDI from these economies.

Emerging economies' multinationals: General features and specificities of the Brazilian and Chinese cases

The expansion of South-North and South-South FDI reflects the rise of cross-border capital flows, a distinguishing feature of the contemporary global economy, together with the increasing size and complexity of emerging market multinational corporations (EMNCs). Against this background, in emerging economies governments have become increasingly aware of the role outward FDI (OFDI) can play as an instrument to deepen the integration into the world economy. This paper analyzes recent trends in OFDI from Brazil and China. Using annual data for the period 1980 to 2006 for both countries, we test the well-known investment development path (IDP) theory, according to which the net outward investment position of a country depends on its level of development. Results show that both China and Brazil are moving towards the third stage of the path, where domestic firms have acquired ownership and other advantages to go abroad and become leading outward investors. The role of governments, institutions and the characteristics of domestic firms in both countries are considered to be crucial factors in determining the movement along the path.

The Political Economy of Industrial Policy in China: The Case of Aircraft Manufacturing

This paper focuses on Chinas efforts to build a world-class aircraft manufacturing industry. In the first half of the 1990s, the potential of the Chinese industry to mount a competitive challenge to Western aircraft builders was largely discounted. Nowadays, the threat is taken more seriously. The growth in the Chinese air transport market has reinforced the bargaining power of national aircraft producers and authorities are giving priority to building science and technology capacity in this area. Progress in creating military/civilian synergies has proven much more modest and the overall industry still lacks effective coordination.

Infrastructure Development and Regulatory Reform in Sub-Saharan Africa: The Case of Air Transport

This Technical Paper analyses the main policy issues raised by regulatory reform in air transport in sub–Saharan Africa. Its basic premise is that improving air infrastructure is of paramount importance for the region as it tries to integrate more thoroughly into the world economy. On the basis of the experience of OECD countries with privatisation, liberalisation, and regulatory design, the author analyses progress being made in sub– Saharan Africa and identifies three important case studies: the restructuring of the regional airline of Francophone Western Africa, the sell–off of the state–owned airline of Kenya, and the overall reform process in South Africa, by far the largest market in the sub–continent.The analysis highlights the importance of regional dynamics in the upgrading of the air transport industry in developing and emerging areas. Sub–Saharan Africa has made smaller progress in this respect than, for instance, Central America. As the start of the Millenium Round and ... Ce Document analyse les principales questions de politique economique soulevees par la reforme de la reglementation du transport aerien en Afrique subsaharienne. Il montre que l’amelioration de l’infrastructure du transport aerien constitue un enjeu fondamental dans les efforts de la region pour s’integrer devantage dans l’economie mondiale. Sur la base des experiences des pays de l’OCDE dans les domaines de la privatisation, de la liberalisation et de la reglementation, l’auteur analyse les progres realises en Afrique subsaharienne et identifie trois etudes de cas particulierement importantes : la restructuration de la compagnie aerienne regionale de l’Afrique de l’Ouest francophone, la vente de la compagnie aerienne publique du Kenya et le processus plus general de reformes en Afrique du Sud, de loin le plus grand marche du continent.L’analyse met en lumiere l’importance des dynamiques regionales pour renforcer l’industrie du transport aerien dans les pays emergents et en ...

The Chinisation of Africa: The Case of Angola

(1249) Renato Aguilar and Andrea Goldstein The relationship between the Asian Drivers and Angola has attracted an attention only paralleled by the one surrounding interactions with Sudan. Three closely related perspectives are important. First, the rapid expansion of the Chinese and Indian economies has sustained the world price for oil, of which Angola is the second‐largest producer in sub‐Saharan Africa. In the process, China has also become Angola’s third‐largest trading partner, with a sizeable trade surplus favouring Angola. Second, from an international financing perspective, China’s keen interest to diversify the portfolio of assets in which to invest its huge international reserves is only matched by Angola’s need to find alternatives to normal and concessional sources of international financing, from which it is excluded due to the lack of progress in negotiating with the Bretton Woods institutions. Third, all these issues must be understood in the broader and possibly more complex scenario of the political economy of the relationship between Angola and the world. Because of the country’s size and control over huge oil resources, the growing presence of China in Angola has reverberations across the rest of Africa. And Angola has also joined OPEC in late 2006.

Local operations of chinese construction firms in africa: An empirical survey

Abstract Over the past decade, Chinese construction activity in Africa has been dramatically enhanced with the launch of China’s ‘going out’ national strategy and the support and coordination of the Chinese government, business associations, and banks, and with innovative financing approaches such as Angola Mode. Based on original empirical data collected through interviews and questionnaire surveys, this paper analyzes the local operations of Chinese construction firms (CCFs) in the African construction market. It provides a descriptive profile of CCFs in terms of project pursuit, procurement of materials and equipment, workforce composition, financing sources, technology practices, environmental and social safeguards, and language barriers. The study offers a unique look into the behaviour of a crosssection of the largest players from the Chinese construction industry at a time when they are expanding aggressively beyond their traditional home market. The article also characterizes indirectly the expanding but complex African construction market.

The gender dimension of business elites: Italian women directors since 1934

Abstract Gender is an important, albeit understudied, dimension in the analysis of business elites. In this paper we analyze the importance of women in the board of directors of listed Italian companies since 1934. We show that women are less represented in boards in Italy than in other comparable OECD countries, but also that listed companies are less open to women than other centres of powers, such as the public administration and liberal professions. In addition, in a country where board interlocking is a key device to ensure separation between ownership and control, very few women hold multiple directorships. We then present the results of a prosopographical study on women directors in seven benchmark years: 1962, 1970, 1978, 1986, 1994, 2002, and 2007. We conclude with a discussion of various policy options to enhance gender diversification on the boards of Italian listed companies.

Egypt and the Investment Development Path: Insights from Two Case Studies

According to the Investment Development Path (IDP) hypothesis, there is a U-shaped relationship between a countrys economic development and its net outward investment position. An emerging country should evolve from a position of net recipient of foreign direct investment (FDI) to net exporter of FDI as its level of economic development increases. Under the combined pressure of global competition, trade and financial liberalization, privatization and regulatory reform, and faster and shorter product cycles, firms in emerging, transition, and developing countries are expanding overseas through FDI in greater numbers and at an earlier stage of their lifecycle. Much of the existing literature (albeit limited itself) examines this important new phenomenon in a small group of large emerging economies (Brazil, China, India, and Russia). This paper, on the other hand, covers Egypt, an under-researched country in an under-researched area (North Africa). Short of fully testing this hypothesis, this paper looks at the incipient internationalization of the Egyptian economy through the experience of a couple of its multinational corporations (MNCs), Orascom and Oriental Weavers. The paper starts by providing a brief description of the Egyptian economy and industrial structure. It highlights how Egypt, due to poor investment climate and broader geopolitical motives, receives limited FDI inflows, while outward FDI remains limited in size and scope. It then dwells in details into the international expansion of the two MNCs. The paper concludes by pointing to the importance of promoting corporate internationalization throughout an active policy to make the business environment more conducive to risk-taking, instead of rent-seeking, behaviors.

The ‘Making of’ National Giants: The International Expansion of Oil Companies from Brazil and China

The global economy is changing rapidly and multinational corporations (MNCs) are at the forefront of this transformation. This book provides novel and profound analyses of how MNCs and emerging economies are related, and how this relationship affects the dynamics of the global economy. In particular, the authors deal with the nexus between multinationals, emerging economies and innovation from a variety of different perspectives. Innovation is regarded as a core driving force in the global economy but the authors show how it can impede as well as encourage sustainability. The book brings together insights from business studies and economics, and combines concise theoretical discussion with empirical analyses of unique data.

The Political Economy of Global Business: the Case of the BRICs

Gaining greater knowledge of the characteristics of large firms that dominate the global economy is an inherently important endeavour. Brazil, Russia, India and China (the BRIC economies) have gained influence in the global economy and this is reflected in the increasing weight of their companies in Fortune Global 500 rankings. Uneven access to data and information makes understanding the strategy, structure, ownership and performance of large business an ambitious programme of research. The BRIC economies are different from each other and this is also true as far as the heights of their respective business worlds are considered. But they also share some crucial features: concentrated ownership, with governments and families at the helm, diversification and internationalisation.