The challenges of repositioning an international brand: a case study on the hospitality industry

Much has been said in the literature about brand positioning, as well as about international branding and their importance on ever more competitive world marketplaces. Concerning repositioning, however, the literature is not extensive, and if the subject has been considered by a few scholars, it has been, as Ryan, Moroney, Geoghehan and Cunnigham (2007) noted “in passing” and “without elaboration”. It is nevertheless considered as an integral part of “strategic competition” (Porter, M., 1996, as cited in Ryan, P., Moroney, M., Geoghegan, W., Cunningham, J., 2007), as well as an element indispensable to corporate transformation (Dunphy, D., Stace, D., 1993, as cited in Ryan, P., Moroney, M., Geoghegan, W., Cunningham, J., 2007). Investigating it further, looking at it in an international setting, and understanding what challenges can arise when an international firm engages in such practice is thus of interest. This is conducted looking at the recent repositioning of Accor´s brand Sofitel from the high-end to the luxury market segment of the hospitality industry.

Estratégias de internacionalização de empresas multinacionais brasileiras: teoria versus prática

O objetivo desta dissertação é analisar algumas das principais teorias de internacionalização de empresas, comparando-as com a prática observada em duas empresas multinacionais brasileiras de grande porte. A busca por conhecimentos mais profundos sobre a expansão internacional das atividades empresariais tornouse muito importante a partir do final do século XX, considerando-se o crescente volume de fusões, aquisições, parcerias e joint-ventures realizadas entre empresas de diferentes países e estudadas por pesquisadores internacionais. Esses últimos começaram a desenvolver teorias em uma tentativa de explicar o comportamento internacionalizante de tais empresas. Ao longo dos anos, estas teorias se sofisticaram e começaram a dividir-se de acordo com condições pré-estabelecidas, como o volume de vendas, o grau de experiência no exterior, a presença de mercados culturalmente próximos e a localização geográfica. Uma vez que a maioria histórica das empresas internacionalmente expressivas é composta por corporações norte-americanas, européias e asiáticas, observou-se apenas um pequeno volume de estudos voltados à empresas oriundas de países emergentes. Assim, esta dissertação se baseia em exemplos brasileiros, representados pelas empresas Odebrecht e Petrobras, como forma de avaliar a aplicabilidade destas teorias frente a realidade de um expressivo mercado emergente.

A competitividade internacional de firmas transnacionais na nova geografia econômica das nações em processo de integração político-econômica regional: uma análise longitudinal de empresas globais em macrorregiões supranacionais

Devido ao fenômeno da globalização, alguns aspectos em Economia Internacional e Política têm sido amplamente debatidos entre os estudiosos de Negócios Internacionais, dada a extensão do seu impacto sobre a competitividade operacional e estratégica das empresas multinacionais. Em conjunto com a realidade mais regional da maioria dos acordos preferenciais de comércio e de investimentos – que promovem uma integração regional mais profunda dos mercados, ao contrário do teórico mercado "global" – as abordagens teóricas mais globalizantes em estratégia de negócios internacionais têm sido mais questionadas. Enquanto alguns estudiosos, como Pankaj Ghemawat, (2007), propõem abordagens para a chamada "semi-globalização"; outros, por exemplo, com Alan Rugman e Alain Verbeke (inter alias 2004, 2007), por outro lado, defendem abordagens regionalistas mais restritas em negócios internacionais e estratégia de empresas internacionais. Tais posições sobre o desempenho das empresas transnacionais, no entanto, não foram amplamente testadas, deixando, assim, outras questões relevantes sem soluções. Assim sendo, identificou-se um espaço na literatura quanto à questão de as regiões – em vez de países individualmente considerados – serem ou não relevantes ao desempenho global das empresas multinacionais e em que medida. Nesse sentido, foi utilizada uma metodologia quantitativa longitudinal a fim de avaliar a evidência histórica da repercussão de presença em regiões selecionadas e/ou países sobre o desempenho das empresas transnacionais. Foram coletados dados no Compustat Global (2009) com vistas a uma análise econométrica de dados em painel. Nossos resultados consistem, brevemente, em três aspectos. Em primeiro lugar, quando ambas as variáveis (país e região) são simultaneamente consideradas influentes sobre o desempenho, existe significância estatística. Em segundo lugar, ao contrastar ambas as variáveis (país e região) entre si, em relação ao maior nível de impacto no desempenho, ainda que tenhamos encontrado relevância estatística para os países individualmente considerados, suspeitou-se de algum problema nos dados brutos. Em terceiro lugar, ao assumir uma correlação positiva entre o desempenho da empresa multinacional e do número de regiões geográficas onde essas corporações possuem operações significativas, foi encontrada significância estatística. Nossa conclusão, portanto, consiste no fato de que, dado que a maioria dos países são signatários de pelo menos um acordo de integração regional, as regiões devem ser o foco principal dos negócios internacionais e estratégia corporativa internacional, tanto nos propósitos teóricos (tendo em vista as conclusões desta pesquisa e a literatura sobre o assunto), quanto nos aspectos práticos (em vez de da customização da gestão e da estratégia para cada país individual).

Internacionalização do empreendimento social: um estudo de dois empreendimentos sociais que entraram no Brasil

A internacionalização de organizações pode ser observada como um envolvimento crescente em transações internacionais. Dentre as diversas modalidades e alternativas de internacionalização, os modelos estudados têm sido usados principalmente para retratar o processo de internacionalização de indústrias, sendo sua aplicação em outros setores de atividade ainda muito incipientes. O empreendimento social, isto é, a organização ou pessoa que tenta atender a uma necessidade ou resolver um problema de cunho social utilizando métodos empresariais, aos poucos também tem buscado o processo de internacionalização, mas são poucos os estudos que retratam o processo de internacionalização de empreendimentos sociais. O objetivo deste trabalho foi comparar as estratégias e o processo de internacionalização de empreendimentos sociais, com a teoria tradicional de internacionalização verificando se o modelo tradicional pode ser aplicado para compreender o processo (de internacionalização). O empreendimento social no Brasil é bastante significativo, mas de maneira geral permanece limitado às fronteiras do país. Por este motivo, o objeto de nosso estudo foram empreendimentos sociais que se internacionalizaram em direção ao Brasil. Aqui analisamos, através de pesquisa qualitativa pela abordagem exploratória a partir de entrevistas em profundidade, duas organizações que vieram para o país. Os resultados oriundos dessas entrevistas demonstraram padrões e processos diferentes e, como resultado, apresentamos a dinâmica encontrada na internacionalização de empreendimentos sociais.

Growing research where economies grow: essays on strategy and international expansion of companies from emerging countries

In recent years, emerging countries have assumed an increasingly prominent position in the world economy, as growth has picked up in these countries and slowed in developed economies. Two related phenomena, among others, can be associated with this growth: emerging countries were less affected by the 2008-2009 global economic recession; and they increased their participation in foreign direct investment, both inflows and outflows. This doctoral dissertation contributes to research on firms from emerging countries through four independent papers. The first group of two papers examines firm strategy in recessionary moments and uses Brazil, one of the largest emerging countries, as setting for the investigation. Data were collected through a survey on Brazilian firms referring to the 2008-2009 global recession, and 17 hypotheses were tested using structural equation modeling based on partial least squares. Paper 1 offered an integrative model linking RBV to literatures on entrepreneurship, improvisation, and flexibility to indicate the characteristics and capabilities that allow a firm to have superior performance in recessions. We found that firms that pre-recession have a propensity to recognize opportunities and improvisation capabilities for fast and creative actions have superior performance in recessions. We also found that entrepreneurial orientation and flexibility have indirect effects. Paper 2 built on business cycle literature to study which strategies - pro-cyclical or counter-cyclical – enable superior performance in recessions. We found that while most firms pro-cyclically reduce costs and investments during recessions, a counter-cyclical strategy of investing in opportunities created by changes in the environment enables superior performance. Most successful are firms with a propensity to recognize opportunities, entrepreneurial orientation to invest, and flexibility to efficiently implement these investments. The second group of two papers investigated international expansion of multinational enterprises, particularly the use of distance for their location decisions. Paper 3 proposed a conceptual framework to examine circumstances under which distance is less important for international location decisions, taking the new perspective of economic institutional distance as theoretical foundation. The framework indicated that the general preference for low-distance countries is lower: (1) when the company is state owned, rather than private owned; (2) when its internationalization motives are asset, resource, or efficiency seeking, as opposed to market seeking; and (3) when internationalization occurred after globalization and the advent of new technologies. Paper 4 compared five concurrent perspectives of distance and indicated their suitability to the study of various issues based on industry, ownership, and type, motive, and timing of internationalization. The paper also proposed that distance represents the disadvantages of host countries for international location decisions; as such, it should be used in conjunction with factors that represent host country attractiveness, or advantages as international locations. In conjunction, papers 3 and 4 provided additional, alternative explanations for the mixed empirical results of current research on distance. Moreover, the studies shed light into the discussion of differences between multinational enterprises from emerging countries versus those from advanced countries.

Decision of using local supplier as a CSR strategy: drivers and benefits for large international companies

A pesquisa aqui apresentada é uma análise detalhada de estratégias de compra associados à Responsabilidade Social Corporativa das empresas multinacionais e visa identificar os elementos que influenciam na escolha de fornecedores locais e os benefícios que tais estratégias podem trazer a estas empresas. A globalização e a pressão por melhores produtos e menores custos levam empresas a repensarem suas decisões de sourcing. Selecionar competências, recursos e ainda escolher onde comprar ou terceirizar, tornou-se uma decisão estratégica fundamental, e muitas multinacionais optam por usar fornecedores locais como um diferencial e uma plataforma de criação de valor para a empresa e para a sociedade. Enquanto esta abordagem reforça a posição de mercado e garante matérias-primas de qualidade a preços justos, o relacionamento com estes fornecedores traz desenvolvimento econômico e social para as comunidades subdesenvolvidas. Estudos sobre fornecedores locais geralmente focam em vantagens competitivas para as empresas, e na adaptação de cadeias de valor para atender estratégias globais de negócios, no entanto, a difusão do conhecimento sobre a criação de valor compartilhado é ainda limitada. Assim, o objetivo desta pesquisa foi identificar os aspectos de estratégia corporativa, gestão de fornecedores e colaboração que influenciam na criação de valor compartilhado. Dois estudos de casos foram expostos em uma pesquisa qualitativa exploratória com o propósito de avaliar iniciativas que tiveram como base o relacionamento com os fornecedores locais. A análise foi separada em três etapas com o objetivo de identificar (1) influências nas decisões de seleção de fornecedores, (2) aspectos que levam ao sucesso da gestão de fornecedores, e (3) o valor gerado como resultado destas decisões. Conceitos teóricos da CSR, SCM, colaboração e criação de valor compartilhado foram utilizados para apoiar os resultados e as principais conclusões. O resultado da pesquisa revelou que a idéia de co-criação de valor faz parte da cultura da empresa e pode ser considerado um dos motivos pelos quais multinacionais decidem usar fornecedores locais. Contudo, mesmo integrados na estratégia, não garantem criação efetiva de valor compartilhado e diversos componentes em uma estratégia de compras que representam responsabilidade social corporativa devem ser ajustados para motivar mudanças significativas. Ainda, vale lembrar que os elementos de colaboração, tais como a transparência e independência são vitais para melhorar o compromisso entre a multinacional e os negócios locais e criar valor compartilhado.

Financial regulation and international criminal policy: the anti-money laundering system in Brazil and Argentina

The objective of this paper is to present and compare the process and the results of the implementation of the anti-money laundering system in Brazil and Argentina. Considering that the internal transformations cannot be discussed without a clear understanding of the international apparatus, attention will be given to the description of the “international policy” designed and conducted by FATF. Therefore, its incorporation into two different national realities, the Brazilian and the Argentinean ones, will shed light not only on the transnational transformations both States underwent but also on the anti-money laundering regime itself. The paper is divided into five parts. The first one presents a brief introduction on the emergence and development of the relationship between financial regulation and criminal policy. The two following sections are designed to present an overview of the anti money laundering system in Brazil and Argentina and of the role of FATF in their implementation process. The fourth section presents two Brazilian examples of situations in which full advantage of the FATF regime was taken: the National Strategy to Combat Corruption and Money Laundering and the BacenJud, a communication channel between the financial system and the judicial power. To conclude, final comments will be presented in connection with the central questions of the project this paper is part of .

Iguatemi: creating opportunities for international luxury brands in Brazil

The Brazilian luxury goods market has been registering substantial growth with many international brands establishing presence in the country. When entering the market, the perfect location seems for most of them to be found in Iguatemi Group’s Shopping Malls. This research focuses the topic of Luxury Market and Retail, in the form of a case study on Iguatemi Group, which tries to understand How is Iguatemi Group creating opportunities for International Luxury Brands in Brazil? To understand the context of the case, the text explores the Brazilian market evolution, its attraction factors and challenges, the location choice methodology used by international luxury brands, and finally, how is the Iguatemi Group creating opportunities for these brands in Brazil. For doing so, a multiple-methods approach was followed so to achieve a non-biased result. In-depth interviews were conducted with Iguatemi’s managers, international luxury brands’ managers and experts in luxury market and retail; non-participant observation was held, and documentation was examined. The research found that the entry of International Luxury Brands in Brazil started about 20 years ago, mainly explained by the positive structural economic reforms Brazil experienced in this period. 60% of the studied brands chose São Paulo’s Iguatemi malls as first location, in particular Iguatemi São Paulo and JK Iguatemi. The preference over these locations relies mainly on the reputation of the Iguatemi brand and on its positioning in the market which seems to be aligned to that of these brands. From its side, Iguatemi has started actively gathering international luxury brands into the market since 15 years ago, and has intensified its action by creating iRetail, an internal company to the group representing some international luxury brands in Brazil, which have, thus, exclusive locations in its malls. The role of Iguatemi, hence, goes beyond that of a real estate company, by approaching the market with a 360° strategy. These findings contribute for academic purposes, in the extent to which they propose a so far rather unexplored topic, and for managerial purposes by describing a best practice in the shopping center sector. However, the study does not mean to be generalized. Consumers’ perspectives on Iguatemi Group were not addressed; rather, the research took a business to business approach.

International civil society actors in Genetically Modificied Organisms as a field of struggle: a neo-gramscian study in Brazil and the United Kingdom

Since the international financial and food crisis that started in 2008, strong emphasis has been made on the importance of Genetically Modified Organisms (GMOs) (or “transgenics”) under the claim that they could contribute to increase food productivity at a global level, as the world population is predicted to reach 9.1 billion in the year 2050 and food demand is predicted to increase by as much as 50% by 2030. GMOs are now at the forefront of the debates and struggles of different actors. Within civil society actors, it is possible to observe multiple, and sometime, conflicting roles. The role of international social movements and international NGOs in the GMO field of struggle is increasingly relevant. However, while many of these international civil society actors oppose this type of technological developments (alleging, for instance, environmental, health and even social harms), others have been reportedly cooperating with multinational corporations, retailers, and the biotechnology industry to promote GMOs. In this thesis research, I focus on analysing the role of “international civil society” in the GMO field of struggle by asking: “what are the organizing strategies of international civil society actors, such as NGOs and social movements, in GMO governance as a field of struggle?” To do so, I adopt a neo-Gramscian discourse approach based on the studies of Laclau and Mouffe. This theoretical approach affirms that in a particular hegemonic regime there are contingent alliances and forces that overpass the spheres of the state and the economy, while civil society actors can be seen as a “glue” to the way hegemony functions. Civil society is then the site where hegemony is consented, reproduced, sustained, channelled, but also where counter-hegemonic and emancipatory forces can emerge. Considering the importance of civil society actors in the construction of hegemony, I also discuss some important theories around them. The research combines, on the one hand, 36 in-depth interviews with a range of key civil society actors and scientists representing the GMO field of struggle in Brazil (19) and the UK (17), and, on the other hand, direct observations of two events: Rio+20 in Rio de Janeiro in 2012, and the first March Against Monsanto in London in 2013. A brief overview of the GMO field of struggle, from its beginning and especially focusing in the 1990s when the process of hegemonic formation became clearer, serves as the basis to map who are the main actors in this field, how resource mobilization works, how political opportunities (“historical contingencies”) are discovered and exploited, which are the main discourses (“science” and “sustainability” - articulated by “biodiversity preservation”, “food security” and “ecological agriculture”) articulated among the actors to construct a collective identity in order to attract new potential allies around “GMOs” (“nodal point”), and which are the institutions and international regulations within these processes that enable hegemony to emerge in meaningful and durable hegemonic links. This mapping indicates that that the main strategies applied by the international civil society actors are influenced by two central historical contingencies in the GMO field of struggle: 1) First Multi-stakeholder Historical Contingency; and 2) “Supposed” Hegemony Stability. These two types of historical contingency in the GMO field of struggle encompass deeper hegemonic articulations and, because of that, they induce international civil society actors to rethink the way they articulate and position themselves within the field. Therefore, depending on one of those moments, they will apply one specific strategy of discourse articulation, such as: introducing a new discourse in hegemony articulation to capture the attention of the public and of institutions; endorsing new plural demands; increasing collective visibility; facilitating material articulations; sharing a common enemy identity; or spreading new ideological elements among the actors in the field of struggle.

International entry modes in Brazil and the CAGE distances effects

The international entry mode choices have a relevant importance for the impact they have on successful internationalization strategies. Many theories have been developed to describe which entry mode may be better than another according to the particular situation. The CAGE Distances Framework developed by Ghemawat to identify which dimensions companies should look when develop an internationalization strategy, may be useful to identify also how those dimensions impact on the international entry mode decision. The aim of this thesis is to study which kind of relationship exists between Cultural, Administrative, Geographic and Economic Distances and international entry mode choice. It analyzes a sample of companies that have been entered in Brazil through a logistic regression. According to this analysis, a negative and significant relation between Cultural Distance and need of control exists, a positive one exists between Administrative and Geographic, while no significant relationship has been found with the Economic dimension. Those findings are conceivably explainable through the theories found by scholars, but a deeper analysis that may take into account the specificity of every country is highly recommended, like the one developed with Brazil in this thesis.