The Challenge of Bric Multinationals: Volume 11

In this chapter, we document the growing importance of FDI from BRIC countries in relation to FDI from both developed and developing countries and investigate the types of firms that are responsible for BRIC FDI.

We follow a two-step empirical approach. First, we provide macro evidence on FDI from BRIC countries. We use UNCTAD data to highlight the patterns of FDI flows and stocks. Second, we provide firm-level evidence on FDI. Using ORBIS data, we elaborate a rich taxonomy of FDI that accounts for the decision to invest abroad and for the location, ownership, and number of foreign subsidiaries. Thus, we characterize BRIC multinationals’ involvement in FDI and examine the relationship between FDI and performance at the firm level.

We unveil new facts about BRIC multinationals. BRIC multinationals are in the minority in their home countries, but they outperform domestic enterprises. Within the group of BRIC investors, those firms that invest in developing countries, that operate in joint ventures, or that have more than five foreign subsidiaries are in the minority, but they outperform those firms that select other FDI strategies.

Our estimates document a positive and robust correlation between FDI and performance; however, the cross-sectional nature of our data does not permit a proper causality analysis.

Our work contributes to the International Economics literature on internationalization and firm performance as well as to the International Business literature on FDI from emerging economies. With respect to the former, we innovate by studying the relation between FDI strategies and firm performance. In relation to the latter, we innovate by introducing firm-level data and a cross-country approach that lets us illustrate the roles and features of FDI from BRIC countries.

The investment development path of emerging markets’ MNEs is significantly different from the developed (TRIAD) world’s MNEs; BRIC MNEs seem to have taken a different trajectory on account of various political and economic reasons, ranging from the ‘forms of entry’ to ‘country-specific advantages’ (Tulder, R. V. (2010). Toward a renewed stages theory for BRIC multinational enterprises? A home country bargaining approach. In K. P. Sauvant, G. McAllister, & W. A. Maschek (Eds.), Foreign direct investments from emerging markets: The challenges ahead (pp. 61–74). New York, NY: Palgrave Macmillan). Yet, some believe that in the long run the internationalization strategy of the developed world MNEs and BRIC MNEs will converge. Internationalization strategies as measured by OFDI depend on various macroeconomic determinants such as income, interest rate, openness of the economy, etc. The chapter intend to highlight, the significant difference between these two groups of countries on account of diverse political reforms towards internalization of firms, yet see if these different countries might converge.

Regression analysis examines the significance of the role of home government by testing the effect of governance indicators; that is voice and accountability, on OFDI. It further, tests for convergence of internationalization strategies of the two historically divergent groups, also, it tests convergence amongst the BRIC nations. Along with forecasting, time series analysis is also employed to examine convergence using univariate sigma convergence techniques.

Impact of voice and accountability is significant but it hinders OFDI for BRIC nations, while it promotes OFDI for TRIAD & ALL. Moreover, the analysis found the existence of convergence, that is BRIC will catch up with TRIAD, but though convergence exists amongst BRIC if we take a long span of time (45 years), it is absent in short span of time (19 years), as lately BRIC have shown divergent tendency.

Small sample size in multivariate regression analysis. Also, the governance indicator, that is voice and accountability, is perception based, and missing gaps in data for governance indicator is filled using interpolation.

Empirically testing the convergence of BRIC nations with the developed world. A univariate time series analysis is undertaken to understand each country’s heterogeneous FDI outflows and to address the research gap in existing forecasting literature. In addition, the comparison specifically between the Emerging Market Economies, that is the BRIC nations and the developed world gives some useful insights. This chapter ascertains the impact of governance indicator on OFDI; empirical literature shows such analysis for IFDI & FDI, but OFDI is rarely been dealt with.

The research question is how home country corruption and nationalism may affect operations of BRIC multinational enterprises. BRIC composition permits a comparison of two authoritarian regimes and two constitutional democracies. Each BRIC features a different combination of corruption and nationalism. The chapter adds South Africa information for two limited reasons. First, from 2010 South Africa is a member of the BRIC summit process. South Africa is an important entry point to Africa, for BRIC multinationals and particularly for China. Second, concerning corruption and nationalism South Africa is analytically useful as a control context that helps illustrate but does not appear to change highly exploratory BRIC findings.

The chapter draws on limited literature and information concerning corruption and nationalism in BRICs to suggest tentative possibilities. Transparency International provides bribe payers index estimates for 28 large economies, with important multinational enterprises, and corruption perceptions index estimates including those 28 countries. These estimates include the four BRICs and South Africa. The available sources suggest some suggested findings about varying impacts of home country corruption and nationalism on operations of BRIC multinationals.

China and Russia are authoritarian regimes in transition from central planning-oriented communist regimes. They are global military powers, expanding influence in their respective regions. Brazil, India, and South Africa are constitutional democracies. India, a nuclear-armed military power, seeks a regional leadership role in South Asia. Brazil and South Africa are key countries economically in their regions. BRIC multinationals are positioned between home country and host country conditions. Chinese and Russian multinationals may reflect a stronger nationalistic tendency due to home country regimes and ownership structure.

The chapter is an original but highly exploratory inquiry into impacts of corruption and nationalism on BRIC multinationals. Extant BRIC literature tends to understudy effects of home country corruption and nationalism on managerial mindset and incentives in either commercial or state-owned enterprises.

The goal of this chapter is to discuss the managerial implications of regulatory reforms in BRICS countries and how those reforms affect the strategy and performance of BRICS multinationals. In particular, we consider (1) how firms may learn from the institutional and competitive changes at home that accompany pro-market reforms and use this knowledge to venture out successfully across borders, (2) how firms may learn through their international operations as a means to enhance their competitiveness and responsiveness to reforms in their home market, and (3) how BRICS multinationals differ from other emerging market multinationals.

The chapter is primarily conceptual and relies heavily on case studies, interviews, and public financial data.

Ultimately, reforms are implemented by the state, but the strategic responses of managers to these reforms are largely what determine whether their firms will survive and thrive under the new and evolving regulatory conditions. BRICS firms are particularly well positioned to take advantage of reforms within their own countries and in other emerging markets, including other BRICS nations.

The chapter underscores the importance of aligning strategy with home and host market policies and environments.

The observations presented are conceptual and have not been verified quantitatively. We rely heavily on historical observation and, therefore, much of the analysis is selective to those firms and may not apply to other firms.

This chapter aims to provide a descriptive analysis and a theoretical interpretation of the challenges for international expansion of four large multinationals of each of the BRIC countries (JBS from Brazil, VimpelCom from Russia, Tata Motors from India, and Lenovo from China).

This study employs a qualitative approach, following a multiple-case study methodology, by analyzing four prominent cases of the internationalization of BRIC multinationals.

The internationalization process of the studied BRIC multinationals was influenced by the type of inputs and resources that each company had in their home country and the search for needed resources in other firms abroad that may have helped them to complement their business assets. The international expansion of these firms have been characterized by overcoming of several obstacles through the possession of firm-specific advantages, mainly composed of managerial capabilities, expertise, and knowledge about the markets and their companies.

The aim of this study is to ponder over the issue of the combined political and economic importance of the BRIC(S) countries. The study highlights the performance of BRICS countries on the basis of various economic and social indicators, as well as patterns of trade and investment. The chapter examines the origin and the status of the BRICS Development Bank as a sign of the creation of a new political and economic block.

The present study adopts a descriptive method. It uses secondary data from several multilateral organisations.

The BRICS countries not only differ in their contribution to the global economy but also along major social indicators. BRICS Bank (New Development Bank) is an important step taken by BRICS countries, but its sustenance depends on the future policies and coordination of BRICS countries.

No econometric techniques are applied due to insufficiently available secondary data.

The main purpose of this chapter is to explore the role BRICS countries have played in the formation of regional (free) trade agreements. The present chapter tries to understand and document recent developments and directions taken by the BRICS countries either individually or in aligning with each other at the regional and mega-regional levels.

The chapter is largely empirical and descriptive to analyse the recent RTAs policies of the BRICS countries.

This chapter provides in particular as assessment of the impact on BRICS countries of the three recent Mega-RTAs; that is TPP, TPIP and RCEP. For this purpose, an attempt had been made to find out the commonalties and divergences in the RTAs policies of the BRICS countries.

The chapter is divided into six sections. After a brief introduction, the second section deals with the reasons for countries entering into RTAs. The third section documents the directions of the current negotiations on Mega-RTAs and its (potential) geographical implications for the BRICS countries. The fourth and the fifth sections deal with the current status of these RTAs and their noticeable impact on the response of the BRICS countries. The final section concludes the research with suggestions and recommendations.

RTAs and Mega-RTAs frameworks have been useful for BRICS countries. This recent development in trade negotiations can be regarded as promising for them.

The purpose of this chapter is to explore the role of the home country government in the internationalization of multinationals from emerging markets. This is an important topic because governments play a greater role in BRIC countries. We build upon the literature on non-market strategy, extending this to emerging market multinationals.

We ground our arguments based on a multimethod case study of Vale, a Brazilian mining multinational.

Our study suggests that the role of home country governments is crucial for internationalization of firms from emerging markets, but also that it changes over time, is complex, and context-specific. We suggest that non-market strategy development is a process of co-evolution that is intricately linked to both external and internal factors.

These findings are of relevance to emerging markets where governments are less constrained and perhaps more inclined to intervene in the private sector due to a legacy of state-led growth.

We tease out unique links between market shifts, government tactics, and firm strategies. Our study shows the need to shift our attention to home country non-market pressures as an explanatory factor for internationalization trajectories.

This study traces the internationalization strategy of Hering, a Brazilian-based apparel company active in manufacturing and retail.

The data set and analysis is presented in chronological order and decisions taken by the company are viewed based on internationalization theories. It presents two main internationalization frameworks, the production network and the value chain models.

While the company started the internationalization process in the 1960s and reached a consistent global presence in distinct markets, it has now retracted from main markets in Europe and North America and is focused on its own distribution network in South America. Hering has changed its strategy of a global production network player into a leader in the retail value chain model with regional distribution. This strategy change has been possible by valuing brand management and distribution instead of manufacturing capacity.

BRIC countries are known for exporting commodities but have poor performance in selling its own branded consumer goods abroad. This study provides such a rare case of a Brazilian consumer good company operating abroad.

The purpose of this chapter is to offer instructors and students a real managerial dilemma faced by a large Brazilian company in the cosmetics industry as it ventures into the European arena after successful expansion in Latin America.

This is a teaching case for use in class discussion about the advantages and disadvantages of certain courses of internationalization, in particular, standardization versus adaptation of the marketing mix, the choice of entry and operation modes, and the management of international acquisitions.

Since this is a teaching case, there are no “findings” in the usual sense of the word related to traditional empirical studies.

Data for the case came mainly from the manifested perspectives of the company’s Vice-president of International Operations, complemented by the opinions of the company’s Senior Manager of Strategic Planning and of a business analyst of the cosmetic industry, which has been following the company for years. Such data may reflect the particular views of these actors. The authors also used public secondary data from the company’s presentations to the public, consulting companies, and business magazines. Although these accounts may be partial, this is not a severe limitation since a teaching case is expected to provide some information, but not a full set of information, in order to reflect better the real context of managerial decisions.

This teaching case study can help students reflect upon a real managerial dilemma related to international expansion of a firm into psychically distant markets.

This teaching case discusses how an emerging market firm can challenge strong incumbents in developed markets and find a viable positioning, based on a distinctive sales model and value proposition for customers.

The case of Wines Manufacturer from an Emerging Economy (WMEE) aims to provide a starting point for reflections and discussions about the influence of home country formal institutions on the internationalization process of an industry in an emerging market context.

The plot revolves around the Wines Manufacturer from an Emerging Economy project, which was created to promote the Brazilian wine industry in the international market. A qualitative-descriptive approach was applied to the study, and data collection was conducted through primary and secondary sources.

The context involves the difficulty of positioning Brazilian wines in both the domestic and international markets, especially fine wines. The relationship networks built during internationalization processes (in most cases promoted by formal institutions such as WMEE) help to shape strategies for Brazilian wineries.

Doing business in international markets has made Brazilian wine known worldwide and internationalized wineries can attain new levels of learning, which can be transposed into their domestic operations. If, on the one hand, institutions are important for promoting the industry and its internationalization process, on the other hand, it is equally true that the fragmented institutional structure and their overlapped roles generate many conflicts.

We examine how home market political connexions can influence internationalisation as the number of foreign subsidiaries and the volume of investment abroad when targeting specific host countries. Our aim is to provide in-depth insights into the relationship between multinational enterprises and home country institutions by presenting a teaching case about a Brazilian construction company operating in more than 20 countries.

We developed a longitudinal study based on the trajectory of Odebrecht, an important Emerging Market Multinational Enterprise, highlighting the relevance of governmental support for its international expansion.

We could reveal that international strategy is constituted not only by internal appraisal (availability of resources) and market factors, but also linked to national political priorities.

We only used secondary data to develop this teaching case. Even though we built the case also using the information available on the company’s website and its annual report, we believe that newspaper articles might provide some bias in the way they were written. Then, we tried to be neutral and just use facts mentioned in the articles to understand the international strategy.

The literature tends to emphasise the role of institutions in international business activities. We contribute to the literature by presenting the benefits and consequences of political connexions for an EMNE’s internationalisation path. Moreover, our study brings light to the need of redefining the firm’s international strategy without taking into account the governmental alignment.

Russia is one of the leaders in outward FDI from emerging market economies and at the same time Russian MNCs have their specific features. The purpose of this chapter is to analyze characteristics of Russian MNCs by researching relationship between specificities of Russian economic and political model, on the one hand, and specific features of Russian MNCs, on the other hand.

For these researches, traditional instruments of neoclassical theory are basically used.

The principal finding is that specific characteristics of Russian MNCs reflect specificities of Russia’s economic and political model. To some extent, they correlate with characteristics of MNCs of other two leading emerging economies – China and India.

Russian MNCs operate in line with principal theories of FDI, that is, on the basis of their country and firms’ comparative advantages. However, they possess specific features: many of them are state-controlled MNCs; private MNCs are controlled by oligarchs; all of them have tight relations with offshores and offshore conduit countries. The comparison with China and India shows that some of these specific features are typical of Chinese and Indian MNCs to more or less extent.

The empirical part of the chapter analyzes scope, industrial and geographical profiles of Russian MNCs, their motivation and management, impact on Russian economy and regional integration.

National MNCs with their offshore affiliates are the leading tax evasion economic agents in Russia. Moreover, stable FDI outflow reduces gross capital formation in Russia which is insufficient (19–25% of GDP) for substantial economic growth by standards of emerging economies in this decade (from 4.3 to −3.8 in Russia, from 6.8 to 9.5 in China, from 5.1 to 7.3 in India).

The principal value (originality) of the chapter is its comparatively detailed review of main aspects of Russian MNCs’ worldwide activity made from the point of view of its connection to Russia’s economic and political model.

To analyze internationalization patterns among large Russian multinational corporations (MNCs).

Case study analysis of systematic internationalization attempts within three industries: IT, banking, and steel. For case studies, secondary data was used along with industry expert interviews.

The first finding is that Russian firms actively pursuing internationalization strategies through mergers and acquisitions (M&As) and greenfield investments were not as successful as several optimistic assessments had earlier suggested. Few global corporate champions emerged among Russian MNCs, despite a decade of record high outward foreign direct investments (OFDI). Secondly, we observed the unique trend of splitting operations between international and Russian businesses, which proved more sustainable than operating as a single firm. For example, the IBS-Luxoft group achieved success through gradual legal and organizational separation of branches in order to serve rising demand in developed markets and from its Russian business within the same industry. This double-headed strategy divides a business into two parts that are controlled by the same owners, but operate independently: one firm operates within the home market, while another firm aims to expand globally. This seems to be a typical trend, confirming recent findings for Russian small and medium enterprise (SME) internationalization and reinforcing earlier literature on institutional constraints in the Russian economy.

We analyzed major cases from three actively internationalizing industries. For each industry, we extensively analyzed one main case in particular. Industries’ choice also affects specific internationalization strategies.

This study identifies two distinct approaches in the literature on Russian business internationalization and attempts to combine both. We will also highlight organizational dilemmas as well as patterns in Russian businesses’ successful and failed internationalization strategies over the last decade. We identified an original double-headed internationalization strategy consisting of the separation of the national and global businesses, rather than leveraging their synergy. We will also question the established optimistic assessment of Russian MNC internationalization.

Economic sanctions imposed by the EU and United States on Russia have brought significant changes into Russian foreign economic policy, in particular leading to deepening cooperation with Asian countries and China in particular. The present contribution aims to shed light on the influence of sanctions on Russian multinational enterprises (MNEs) internationalization toward China using the example of energy and information and communication technology (ICT) industries.

The chapter builds on case study analysis. The choice of sectors allows us to highlight the recent strategic trends in the internationalization of oil and gas industry, dominated by state-owned multinationals, and in ICT by privately owned companies.

Our results provide empirical data for understanding the influence of sanctions on MNEs from the country being under the sanctions. In the case of Russian oil and gas industry and ICTs, research indicates that the shift toward China was not initiated primarily by the sanctions. In both cases, expansion to Asian markets was correlated with business interests in the Chinese market. However, changes in geopolitical and macroeconomic business environment accelerated Russian MNE’s pivot to China, for the purposes of attracting capital and reaching new markets in context of deteriorating relations with western partners. The cases demonstrate a moderating role of the industry in the context of sanctions, helping compensate for the slowdown of economic relations with traditional partners.

The novelty of the chapter is to delineate the consequences of sanctions on MNEs from the country being under sanctions. In this way, it illustrates the role of geopolitical environment in intensifying internationalization of Russian MNEs toward China.

To understand how diaspora entrepreneurship evolves and becomes a small-scale emerging market multinational and how this process is enabled.

Case study and ethnographic methods were employed.

Diaspora entrepreneurs can act as change agents who create and penetrate markets under difficult conditions. They are less influenced by institutional voids in home and host countries when they have strong international diaspora networks that enable a connection to resources, overcoming such voids. Diaspora entrepreneurs may be resource-embedded socially in a way that creates superior competitive advantages and reduces liabilities of foreignness and of outsidership.

Diaspora entrepreneurship incorporates invisible and idiographic potential, such as social capital and knowledge networks. These are not available for other non-incumbent companies (e.g., foreign entrants) and are difficult to research due to access barriers.

Perception and active management of network-based resources is important for opportunity and business development. Management in a transition economy context requires holistic views, deep understanding, and working linkages across markets.

Transgenerational entrepreneurship and ethnic traditions are important for the community. Entrepreneurship provides continuity and identity, such as using ethnic language, as well as prosperity and solidarity that are important for supporting cultural identity.

This study connects diaspora entrepreneurship in Central Asia and emerging market multinationals that are small and medium-sized enterprises. Both are underexplored domains, but may share particular institutional settings. Growth and internationalization into a multinational enterprise with an emerging market origin, especially by women entrepreneurs, are rarely studied. This case illustrates the need to capture the processual dynamics, resources, and actor networks, including sociocultural and spatiotemporal factors for better contextualization.

This case study presents the challenges and opportunities faced by a Russian-based firm in terms of expansion to neighboring emerging markets. The case reviews the efforts of a large Russian-based business-to-business firm, which is the leader in the field of fire production gear and equipment, both in manufacturing and sales, and has recently expanded their operations into the neighboring country of Belarus.

The case examines the initial decision to expand to Belarus and what types of risks were assessed prior to entry. Included in the case is a review of the background of the company under consideration, including their history in Russia and how the company addressed the managerial problem of: Why should the company decide to penetrate a foreign market?

The study documents and highlights those variables and critical decisions that needed to be made prior to entry, and which items proved to be the most straightforward; those that resulted in the greatest challenge; and those that were highly unexpected.

The case demonstrates that the form of penetration strategy selected by a firm operating in this region must balance the breadth of stakeholder interests. The two theoretical frameworks; international expansion strategy; stakeholder balance strategy illustrate how a firm can benefit from the proper integration of these theories within the existing resources of the firm. Additionally, the case provides a potential prescription in terms of how to best select a future country for expansion.

By analyzing a firm that has successfully operated in Russia, and has expanded internationally to another emerging market, Belarus, contributes to the limited existing literature that has applied international strategic theories to actual international practice.

This study is a response to the paucity of research into early internationalising firms based in India. We seek to explore the internationalisation of small and new Indian firms and the decision-making process of their entrepreneurs/managers.

The study uses original, primary data gathered from in-depth, semi-structured interviews conducted with the managers of six such firms to explore the factors that might facilitate, motivate, or impede the efforts undertaken by young Indian firms to embark upon a process of early internationalisation.

Our findings suggest that, in line with their counterparts from other countries, the early internationalisation of small firms from India is driven primarily by the search for more favourable demand conditions overseas and is facilitated by new technologies. However, we find no evidence suggesting that the emergence of early internationalising firms from India is driven by the search for more favourable production conditions or by the direct international experience and exposure of their founders. In line with prior scholarly work, our research suggests that government support is an important facilitator of early internationalisation of small firms.

The study provides insights into the internationalisation process of INVs from India and contributes to broadening our understanding of the behaviour of firms under a set of specific institutional conditions. Based on our findings, we develop a conceptual framework which can be useful for further empirical testing. Our study is also one of the few to be conducted on a sample of INVs from India.

This teaching case describes a born-global Indian enterprise in R&D that developed and leveraged knowledge-intensive business services in speciality chemicals, custom synthesis of genes and contract research co-evolving dynamic capabilities in partnership with multinationals from Europe and North America. The purpose of this case to explore how emerging market multinationals can leverage factor market strengths for niche positioning in industries generally populated by large players, in this case, the big Pharma companies.

The case describes how the international strategy of the company was rooted in the “Make in India” national policy. The risks and opportunities involved a “springboard” approach of gaining customer confidence in North America, Europe and Japan in incremental steps. Challenges concerned fostering a credible talent management eco-system where scientific spirit and business pathways were pursued around unknown and unfamiliar projects challenging resource-based views of the firm.

An interesting facet of this case is how the nexus of treaties with stakeholding constituents were configured and sustained for strategic management of intellectual capital and organizational knowledge.

The novelty of the case is in demonstrating how small EMNCs can leverage factor market advantages to become world leaders in niche segments. Another interesting feature is how such firms are organized around sustainability of shareholder value without profitability in their initial years.

To understand the rationale for foreign direct investment of Chinese electronic companies, their location decisions and entry mode choices

Secondary data on foreign direct investment of the top 100 companies in China’s electronics industry are analysed. The first part covers an exploratory analysis of the industry and the second part presents a comparative longitudinal analysis of three case studies of representative companies: Haier, Huawei, and Lenovo.

The three key findings are: (1) market-seeking is the primary motivation for foreign direct investment of Chinese companies in the electronics industry, yet the strategic-asset-seeking gains importance as the internationalization of the company advances; (2) foreign investment path normally starts at adjacent foreign markets, but more distant markets are gradually targeted and become more important for the company; (3) wholly owned investments are the preferred market entry modes in the international expansion.

This research is based on secondary data, and more in-depth, interview-based studies are needed to explore the perceptions of decision-makers, and a plethora of contextual factors, which result in specific market entry decisions. As only the 100 largest companies were studied, future research should put under scrutiny also internationalization of smaller firms.

Implications of such findings are discussed in the light of classic internationalization theories as well as the current research on internationalization of companies from emerging/developing countries.

Provides an account of foreign direct investment in a context of a substantial and growing importance for the practice of international business, and identifies an agenda for promising future scholarly inquiries.

The aim of this chapter is to show how new players in an emerging market, through their multinationals, have strategized and operationalised their international interests. This international context consists of various stakeholders: states, civil society organisations, multinationals, local communities and institutions which define and regulate the power relations. This study highlights how CNPCIC, a Chinese multinational owned by the state, designs and implements its proclaimed ‘win-win’ cooperation strategy with its host country and the local community for an oil extraction project – called the Rônier Project – in southern Chad.

The analysis is based on a case study approach, especially concerning the town of Koudalwa, the oil-producing area in southern Chad. The author conducted qualitative research to collect the data, using ethnographic strategies consisting of field research, interviews with stakeholders.

Negative externalities as consequences of practices from CNPCIC underlie environmental degradation, socio-economic conflicts and governance problems, despite the existence of an alleged regulatory framework, the role of which is to avert the ‘resource curse’.

Organisations of local and international civil society oscillate between the logic of cooperation, alliance and confrontation with their main stakeholders, CNPCIC and the government.

The ‘win-win’ cooperation advocated by China is implemented in the form of commercial cooperation with full mercantilism where CNPCIC benefits from oil, the Chadian state benefits from oil revenue in the form of royalties and other stakeholders, such as the local communities, only benefit from a fraction of the revenues. The chapter concludes that, within this oil project, CNPCIC developed a corporate diplomacy stance within which, according to the circumstances, predation, philanthropy and strategic alliance are valued at the expense of corporate responsibility despite civil society advocacy for a responsible extraction.

Some stakeholders of the project declined the invitation to participate in the research. This may have influenced its findings.

The value of this chapter resides in the use of various theories (corporate diplomacy, stakeholder theory, resource curse) to explain the practices and interests of stakeholders within an oil project at different scales, both local and international.

According to data released by the Brazilian Institute of Geography and Statistics (Ernst & Young, 2010), the Brazilian middle class is represented by approximately 100 million people. Moreover, according to the Brazilian Association of Importers and Manufactures of Motor Vehicle Companies (ABEIFA, 2015), Brazil was ranked fourth in the world in the ranking of major automobile consumers. This is undoubtedly a highly attractive market for world producers in this sector. However, the Brazilian automobile market has some specific features that require a very prudent operation. This case aims to investigate how those idiosyncrasies were approached by the Chinese car manufacturer JAC Motors, which in addition to not having previous experience in that market, also presented a negative country of origin image.

We rely on a case study method to better understand how the executives of this Chinese firm approached the Brazilian market.

Pulling and pushing factors are the basis of the adaptation process followed by the car manufacturer to better serve the identified idiosyncrasies. It was not only China that pushed JAC Motors to go abroad, but also Brazil that attracted (pulled) the car manufacturer’s investment. Additionally, there is evidence of pushing factors on the side of JAC’s strategy and pulling factors on the side of a Brazilian partner.

Internationalisation decision-making processes often result from a combination of factors which gain a specific ‘momentum’ that result in an extraordinary occasion that provides a unique opportunity to invest abroad.

The uniqueness of the opportunity to invest abroad is the result of the alignment of pulling and pushing factors, in the country, the company and at the decision-making level.