Geographic Scope Under Conditions Of Confined And Connected Change: The Case Of Telefónica (Spain). ACES Working Papers, 2012

Traditional explanations of MNE geographic scope formation fit somewhat uncomfortably with recent empirical and theoretical work in IB that suggests (1) that wholesale (not just gradual) changes in MNE geographic scope may be more frequent than previously thought, and (2) that managers’ responses to a world increasingly characterized by random, unpredictable change are more experimental and less optimizing in nature than assumed in most models of international expansion. In this paper we draw from studies portraying industries as dynamic networks, and from the literature on managerial cognition to provide a complementary explanation of the evolution of MNE geographic scope that reconciles the insights of traditional IB models with the questions raised by more recent studies in this field. We illustrate the proposed model through a detailed account of the internationalization process of Telefonica, the Spanish telecommunications company

MBA International Residency: The Derbi Project - Spain. ACES Working Papers (course development), 2012

The objective of this course is to complement and give closure to the work developed during MBAD204. There are two main components to this course. The first one is to provide the students with a firsthand experience of what doing business in Spain is like. This is accomplished by visiting a number of companies and government institutions in Barcelona and interacting with managers from a variety of industries. The other major component of this trip consists in learning how to present a business proposal or market analysis before a real client

Building International CSR on Solid Foundations: Location and Network Aspects of Nonmarket Environments in Europe and Non-Europe Markets. ACES Working Papers, 2011

Multinational companies' (MNCs) corporate social responsibility (CSR) programs frequently comprise a portfolio of disconnected country-level programs or, alternatively, consist of blanket corporate policies that apply in the same way across the geographies where the company operates. Yet, the international nonmarket environment in which CSR programs operate is neither a completely fragmented nor a perfectly homogeneous one. Building on the concept of stakeholder-issue-networks, we develop a model that explicitly takes into consideration the role of geography in the characterization of a firm's nonmarket environment. This allows us to develop a taxonomy of nonmarket environments on the basis of their geographic spread and their degree of cross-border connectedness. We then explore the strategic and organizational implications that different ideal types of (cross-border) nonmarket environments have for the development of international CSR policies

Essays on global non-market strategy

Thesis (Ph. D.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Sloan School of Management, 2007.Includes bibliographical references (p. [163]-170).This dissertation is centrally concerned with the management of a firm's global non-market environment. The non-market environment of a given firm is conceived as the set of relationships, confrontational or collaborative, that it establishes with actors other than its clients, suppliers and competitors. Because the actions carried out by non-market actors increasingly span multiple country borders, the appropriate level of analysis of this phenomenon is the global arena. In order to better understand how firms manage their non-market environment this thesis focuses in on one particular type of non-market actor: the so-called Non-Government Organizations (NGOs). The reason for choosing NGOs as the central counterpart of firms in the non-market domain is due to its increasing influence in the economic, social and political arenas, and the fact that their influence on firms is still relatively unexplored. While this does not detract from the fact that other non-market actors, namely governments, play a crucial role in the behavior and performance of firms, it is important to acknowledge that the transnational nature of a growing number of NGOs is making firms face challenges that are different in nature to the ones they have had of address in the past. In order to explore this relevant topic, this dissertation is organized in two parts. The first one is conceptual in nature. It provides a framework that integrates the main perspectives in the field of non-market strategy and also helps characterize the sources of internationality of a given non-market environment. The second, by contrast, is an empirical study. It examines the relationships between oil firms operating in the Ecuadorian Amazon and NGOs concerned with the social, environmental and economic impacts of this activity.(Cont.) While extant research on interorganizational non-market behavior has favored structural approaches, the project developed here takes an interpretive perspective. More concretely, instead of trying to explain why NGOs and firms interact in a given way based on their size, the nature of their business, their objectives, or the strategies they favor, the focus is placed here on the extent and the mechanisms by which a given situation is interpreted in different ways by different actors. As a whole, this dissertation joins a small but growing chorus of voices interested in issues such as sustainability, corporate citizenship and ethical management. Because of the incipiency of this academic domain and the interpretive lens chosen to study it, the contributions of this thesis have a marked foundational character. Both the conceptual model developed in the first part and the cognitive perspective proposed in the second aim at providing tools that help make sense of a corporate environment that is radically different from that of just a decade ago.by Rafael Lucea.Ph.D

¿Cómo mantienen su ventaja competitiva las multinacionales de economías emergentes?: el caso de CEMEX

Nos basamos en el análisis de la expansión internacional de CEMEX, el fabricante de materiales de construcción mexicano, para proponer que el crecimiento sostenido de las multinacionales de países emergentes depende de la continua renovación su plataforma de capacidades. En contraste con estudios previos, apuntamos que las nuevas capacidades provienen, con frecuencia, de la periferia de la empresa, no de su país de origen. Para contribuir a la ventaja competitiva de la empresa, dichas capacidades tienen que superar tres criterios básicos: relevancia, apropiabilidad y transferibilidad.Based on the analysis of the international expansion of CEMEX, the Mexican construction materials firm, we propose that the sustainable growth of multinationals from emerging markets depends on the continuous renewal of its capabilities platform. In contrast with previous studies, we suggest that the new capabilities come, in many cases, from the periphery of the firm rather than its country of origin. To contribute to the competitive advantage of the firm, these capabilities have to meet three basic criteria: relevance, appropriability and transferability

Como Mantienen la Competividad las Multinacionales de Economias Emergentes? El Case de CEMEX

La creciente presencia de multinacionales de países emergentes (EMNEs) entre las empresas más importantes del mundo hace necesario entender cuáles son los factores que determinan la sostenibilidad de sus ventajas competitivas a nivel internacional. En el presente artículo nos basamos en el análisis detallado de la expansión internacional de CEMEX, el fabricante de materiales de construcción mexicano, para proponer que el crecimiento sostenido de las EMNEs depende de la continua renovación su plataforma de capacidades. En contraste con estudios previos, apuntamos que las nuevas capacidades provienen, con frecuencia, de la periferia de la empresa, no de su país de origen. Para contribuir a la ventaja competitiva de la empresa, dichas capacidades tienen que superar tres criterios básicos: relevancia, apropiabilidad y transferibilidad. English abstract: Based on the analysis of the international expansion of CEMEX, the Mexican construction materials firm, we propose that the sustainable growth of multinationals from emerging markets depends on the continuous renewal of its capabilities platform. In contrast with previous studies, we suggest that the new capabilities come, in many cases, from the periphery of the firm rather than its country of origin. To contribute to the competitive advantage of the firm, these capabilities have to meet three basic criteria: relevance, appropriability and transferability

The impact of Ibero-American science on global bioethical thinking

The bioethics research conducted in Ibero-American countries has been very much restricted to its own realm. The aim of this study was to perform a bibliometric evaluation of bioethics papers by authors affiliated with Ibero-American institutions, and to determine how their work influences global bioethics literature. We performed a literature search in the Web of Science Core Collection (WoS CC) and Scopus. We identified a total of 5,975 documents, of which 84.3% were articles, 11.6% reviews and 4.1% book chapters. The median number of citations per paper was higher in English-language journals. Only 10 articles published between 2010 and 2019 in peer-reviewed bioethics journals and produced exclusively by authors from Ibero-American institutions garnered more than 15 citations. Our study suggests that if researchers from Ibero-American institutions want to influence global bioethical thinking, they must make the required leap in quality to be able to publish in high-quality bioethics and mainstream journals.MedicinaInstituto de Ciencias de la Vid

Is it possible to avoid the transmission of mitocondrial diseases?. Ethical and medical asessment

El 24 de febrero de 2015 se aprobó por el Parlamento Británico el uso de la transferencia mitocondrial (TM), para prevenir la transmisión de enfermedades mitocondriales (TEM). El uso de la TM para prevenir la TEM plantea indudables problemas éticos, de los que no es el menor la posibilidad de modificar la línea germinal y, desde un punto de vista social, la producción de niños vinculados genéticamente a tres personas, la madre con las mitocondrias alteradas, la donante de las mitocondrias sanas y el varón utilizado para fecundar el óvulo sano producido. Para evitar esta circunstancia recientemente se han propuesto dos nuevas técnicas, la CRISPR/Cas9 y la TALENs, que evitan el uso de la transferencia mitocondrial, minimizando algunos de los problemas que esta técnica conlleva. Ambas técnicas consisten en reparar el ADN mitocondrial, mediante la sustitución de determinados fragmentos por otros de las características que se deseen (CRISPR/Cas9) o su supresión (TALENs). Se pretende aplicar estas técnicas en la corrección directa de las anomalías genéticas de las mitocondrias humanas alteradas. También se pueden utilizar para tratar problemas de infertilidad de causa mitocondrial. Este trabajo es una aproximación al estado actual de la investigación en este campo, analizando tanto los avances tecnológicos y biomédicos más recientes como las consecuencias bioéticas que de ellos pueden derivarse.On February 24, 2015 the use of mitochondrial transfer (MT) to prevent transmission of mitochondrial diseases (MDT) was passed by the British Parliament. The use of MT to prevent MDT raises undoubted ethical problems, which is not the least the possibility of modifying the germ line and from a social point of view, the production of children genetically related to three people, the mother with altered mitochondria, the donor of healthy mitochondria and the male used to fertilize the healthy egg produced. Recently, two new techniques have been proposed, the CRISPR/ Cas9 and TALENs, that exempt mitochondrial transfer process, minimizing some of the problems that this entails. Both techniques consist in repairing the anomalous fragments of mitochondrial DNA, by replacing them by others with the desired features (CRISPR / Cas9) or deletion of specific fragments (TALENs). These techniques are intended to apply to the direct correction of the altered genetic abnormalities of human mitochondria. They can also be used to treat infertility problems with a mitochondrial cause. This paper is an approach to the current state of research in this field, analyzing both the latest technological and biomedical advances as bioethical consequences that may result from them.Medicin