Performance in cross-border mergers and acquisitions: an empirical analysis of the Brazilian case

The purpose of this article is to investigate whether the cross-border acquisitions made by Brazilian companies over the past 15 years have improved their financial performance. Drawing on institutional, sociocultural, and organizational learning theories, this study develops and empirically tests several hypotheses on the determinants of M&A performance. The results demonstrate that the cross-border acquisition moves by Brazilian companies actually improve their financial performance. Financial performance tends to be positive when the cultural distance between the countries of the acquiring and acquired companies is low to medium and when the institutional context of the acquired company is a developed one. We also found an inverted-U shape relationship between acquiring companies’ previous international M&A experience and the performance of a new cross-border operation. These findings suggest that research on international M&As should include acquirers’ M&A experience as well as the institutional characteristics of their target countries. = Este artigo tem como objetivo investigar se as aquisições realizadas por empresas brasileiras fora do País nos últimos 15 anos têm aumentado o desempenho financeiro dessas empresas. Além disso, é realizada uma análise empírica dos fatores determinantes desse sucesso, com base nas teorias institucional, sociocultural e de aprendizagem organizacional. Os resultados indicam que, de fato, as investidas cross border de companhias do Brasil melhoram o desempenho, que é positivamente impactado quando a distância cultural entre os países da adquirida e da adquirente é baixa ou média e quando o ambiente institucional no qual a empresa-alvo se encontra é desenvolvido. Já a relação entre as experiências anteriores das brasileiras em fusões ou aquisições internacionais e o desempenho de uma nova aquisição fora do País segue o formato de U invertido, enfatizando a relevância de se considerar a experiência com fusões e aquisições da empresa compradora além das características institucionais dos seus países-alvo.Adriana Bruscato Bortoluzzo, Maria Pia de Siqueira Garcia, Dirk Michael Boehe, Hsia Hua Shen

Knowledge transfer in product development: an analysis of Brazilian subsidiaries of multinational corporations

Several studies about knowledge transfer in multinational corporations have found that the process is influenced by factors such as absorptive capacity, tacit knowledge and power relations, all of which impact knowledge sharing strategies between corporate headquarters and foreign subsidiaries. A multiple case study of Brazilian subsidiaries of three multinational corporations using in-depth interviews, based on a conceptual model consisting of four propositions, was conducted to identify factors linked to the knowledge transfer process and to assess their influence on that transfer. The first proposition tries to assess explicit knowledge, primarily through the use of IT tools; the second analyzes the role of the subsidiary within the corporate network and how it influences the degree of knowledge sharing. The third assesses the influence of subsidiary absorptive capacity and the fourth analyzes the impact of worker exchange programs on knowledge sharing between headquarters and foreign subsidiaries. Study results confirm the four propositions and enable the identification of relationships between factors, especially explicit knowledge and worker expatriation as complementary factors in knowledge transfer strategies

Interrogating Microfinance Performance beyond Products, Clients and the Environment. Insights from the work of BRAC in Tanzania

The performance of microfinance organisations can depend upon many factors. Current research emphasizes factors pertaining to clients, products, or broader environments. But researchers have paid less attention to the workings and internal systems of microfinance organisations. We explore how variation in performance within an organisation can alter the consequences of loans and their popularity among clients and potential clients. We illustrate with data from BRAC in Tanzania, where the arrival and rapid expansion of BRAC’s microfinance programme provides an apposite case study

A conceptual view of internationalization strategies under dual institutional pressures for legitimacy and conformity

Internacionalizar as operações requer que as empresas multinacionais (EMNs) desenvolvam estratégias capazes de lidar, simultaneamente, com as pressões institucionais externas, para a legitimidade, e as pressões institucionais internas, para a conformidade. Neste artigo conceitual e baseado na literatura de teoria institucional em negócios internacionais, desenvolve-se um conjunto de proposições teóricas sobre quais as estratégias de entrada nos mercados externos seguidas pelas EMNs face aos ambientes institucionais. Com foco predominante no ambiente institucional externo e nas diferenças de desenvolvimento institucional, também aborda a relevância de considerar o ambiente interno. As estratégias de entrada tendem a ser baseadas em modos de baixo envolvimento e em parcerias, como joint ventures, para entrar em países institucionalmente imaturos ou institucionalmente mais distantes. As aquisições e as parcerias podem ser usadas se as pressões institucionais forem menores. Conclui-se com uma discussão geral e o apontamento de questões para pesquisas futuras.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

CSR-based differentiation strategy of export firms from developing countries: an exploratory study of the strategy tripod

Published online before print January 28, 2013This study investigates the influences of the strategy tripod, an established concept in the international business (IB) literature, on a corporate social responsibility (CSR)-based differentiation strategy for export firms. This strategy is conceived as consisting of product-level and firm-level CSR. Using a sample of 195 Brazilian export firms, the authors find that innovation capabilities, international market exposure, and institutional pressures significantly influence product-level CSR; however, the latter two factors influence firm-level CSR only through their mediating effects on product-level CSR. This study contributes to the existing CSR and IB literature in three ways. First, it integrates and systematizes the factors influencing CSR-based strategies into the three categories represented by the legs of the strategy tripod to help elucidate the previous research on the factors that drive CSR. Second, it suggests that exporters’ CSR strategies can be affected by social and environmental institutions based outside their home countries. Third, this study contributes to filling an important empirical gap in the research on CSR by focusing on export ventures from emerging countries.Luciano Barin Cruz, Dirk Michael Boehe, and Mario Henrique Ogasavar