The agricultural machinery industry in Argentina: from restructuring to internationalization?

Includes bibliography

Internationalization and technology in MERCOSUR

Includes bibliography

The internationalization of the Latin American economies: some reservations

Includes bibliography

The periphery and the internationalization of the world economy: significance and consequences

Includes bibliography

Transnational enterprises and the internationalization of capital in Brazilian industry

Includes bibliography

Economic integration and the internationalization of production in Latin America and the Caribbean

Includes bibliography

Is production the core competence for the internationalization of emerging country firms?

The rise of new multinationals in countries like Brazil provides an opportunity to revisit and carefully construct theories of how firms internationalize, a topic on which extant theory is weak. Brazilian firms are "infant multinationals", unlike developed country firms that are "mature multinationals". They are also internationalizing in a very different global context, and can do so on the basis of different competitive advantages than multinationals that came before. Therefore, this study aims at creating subsidies for theory building about early-stage internationalization. Emerging country firms have Production competences as main competitive asset to internationalize, what reflects their competitive positioning in home markets and their entry strategy in international markets. In the case of early-entrants - Western multinationals in the 1950s and Japanese in the 1980s - the Production competence played a key role for successful internationalization. Thus, the focus of the study is the role that the Production competence plays in the internationalization of late-entrants, the emerging country multinationals. The research design considers not only the position of the headquarters but also the initiatives of the subsidiaries and the dynamic interplay between both. The paper allows a better understanding of internationalization processes and the role of Production, when firms start building their own international networks. It brings relevant insights about the paths that are being followed by emerging country multinationals, the difficulties they find, the solutions they develop. These are important inputs not only for new theory building but also for managerial practice. (C) 2012 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Internationalization intentions: micro-foundations and psychological distance perceptions in immigrant and non-immigrant entrepreneurs

This dissertation project aims at shedding light on the micro-foundations of international entrepreneurship, focusing on the pre-internationalization phase and taking an individual-level perspective. Three research questions are investigated building on a cognitive model of internationalization intentions. First, what are the antecedents to internationalization intentions, i.e. desirability and feasibility, and how they interact with psychological distance towards internationalization options. Second, what is the role of previous entrepreneurs’ experience on such antecedents, in particular for immigrant vs. non-immigrant entrepreneurs. Third, how are these antecedent elements influenced by entrepreneurs’ individual-level motivations and goals. Using a new data set from 140 independent, non-internationalized, high-tech SMEs and their 169 owners, a variety of analytical techniques are used to investigate the research questions, such as structural equation modeling, hierarchical regression and a "laddering" technique. This project advances our theoretical understanding of internationalization and international entrepreneurship and has relevant implications for entrepreneurs and policy-makers.

Strategic decision making in international firms: effect of top management team internationalization on international strategic decision process

In this research project, I have integrated two research streams on international strategic decisions making in international firms: upper echelons or top management teams (TMT) internationalization research and international strategic decision making process research. Both research streams in international business literature have evolved independently, but there is a potential in combining these two streams of research. The first empirical paper “TMT internationalization and international strategic decision making process: a decision level analysis of rationality, speed, and performance” explores the influence of TMT internationalization on strategic decision rationality and speed and, subsequently, their effect on international strategic decision effectiveness (performance). The results show that the internationalization of TMT is positively related to decision effectiveness and this relationship is mediated by decision rationality while the hypotheses regarding the association between TMT internationalization and decision speed, and the mediating effect of speed were not supported. The second paper “TMT internationalization and international strategic decision rationality: the mediating role of international information” of my thesis is a simple but logical extension of first paper. The first paper showed that TMT Internationalization has a significant positive effect on international strategic decision rationality. The second paper explicitly showed that TMT internationalization affect on international strategic decision rationality comes from two sources: international experience (personal international knowledge and information) and international information collected from managerial international contacts. For this research project, I have collected data from international software firms in Pakistan. My research contributes to the literature on upper echelons theory and strategic decision making in context of international business and international firms by explicitly examining the link between TMT internationalization and characteristics of strategic decisions making process (i.e. rationality and speed) in international firms and their possible mediating effect on performance.

Trade obstacles, inventory level of inputs, and internationalization of enterprise activities : a comparison between Southeast Asia and Latin America

This paper investigates the impact of trade barriers such as customs clearance, subjective trade obstacles (customs and trade regulations), and inventory of inputs on the internationalization of enterprises in Southeast Asia and Latin America, using the World Bank's enterprise surveys. Empirical results show a negative association between the internationalization of enterprises and subjective trade obstacles, while the impact of subjective trade obstacles is not significant on enterprises already internationalized. An international comparison between Southeast Asia and Latin America suggests that enterprises in Latin America face unfavorable conditions that discourage them from becoming more closely inserted into international production networks.

Parallel Virtual Urban Workshops A “resasonable-cost” methodology for academic internationalization in problem-solving oriented postgraduate subjects

Descripción y análisis critic de una metodología de taller de posgrado a realizar entre dos universidades en idioma ingles y con el apoyo de las nuevas tecnologías

English as the medium of instruction: a response to internationalization

The status of English as a lingua franca has led European universities to implement the use of this language as a medium of instruction (EMI). This study presents an analysis of the status quo of EMI at the University of Alicante. It takes into account the institution`s language policy and the programs which offer subjects in English, as well as the challenges, needs and benefits of the professors and students. Qualitative and quantitative data was collected by means of questionnaires and semi-structured interviews. The findings of this needs analysis will help us to create an action plan that will include teacher and student training schemes to foster internationalization.

New Measures Envisaged by Spanish Legislation in Support of the Internationalization of Companies

Medidas tributarias para fomentar la internacionalización de las empresas.

A Contribution to The Study of Global Competition for Talent: the determinants of student mobility and its consequences for the internationalization of the labor market. Bruges European Economic Policy (BEEP) Briefing 27/2013

In a globalized economy the skills of the workforce are a key determinant of the competitiveness of a country. One of the goals of Higher Education is precisely to develop the students’ skills in order to allow them to match the increasing demand for highly qualified workers while it is simultaneously the best period of life to acquire multicultural skills. For this reason, the European Union has fostered student mobility through several programs: the Erasmus program and the Bologna process are the best known among them. Although student mobility is a growing phenomenon, publications and research on the subject remain relatively scarce. This paper aims to contribute to that literature through an empirical analysis which exploits a questionnaire submitted to university alumni and focuses on two research questions: what drives studies abroad and what drives expatriation of graduates. Our empirical analysis first shows that exposure to international experiences before entering tertiary education and family background are the main factors influencing student mobility. A second conclusion is that studying abroad increases the international mobility on the labor market. Both confirm previous studies. Moreover, by making a distinction between participating in the Erasmus program and in other exchange programs or internships abroad, we found that the Erasmus program and the other programs or internships have an equivalent influence on the international mobility on the labor market: they increase by 9 to 12.5 percentage points a student’s chance to be mobile on the international labor market. This result shows the legitimacy of the Erasmus program, but it also reveals the important impact of other forms of experience abroad. It provides support for policy makers to encourage mobility programs, in order to foster integration of the European labor market.