Purpose This paper aims to analyze how emerging market firms upgrade their capabilities by focusing on “uncommoditizing strategies” that enable them to achieve levels of international competitiveness beyond the comparative advantages of their home countries and serve markets with premium pricing, quality and reputation of products. Design/methodology/approach In this paper, the authors studied 18 Latin American companies across six countries. Latin America represents an ideal setting because many of these countries have traditionally developed using natural resource endowments, and their firms have tended to rely on these in their internationalization. To facilitate the analysis of each case and the comparisons across cases, the authors used the same analytical framework for the companies, identifying the sources of differentiation and cost efficiency strategies that enabled these firms to upgrade their capabilities and compete on the basis of premium pricing, quality and reputation. Findings The analysis identified a general framework that represents an abstraction of the actions taken by these companies over time. The proposed model consists of three main elements used to pursue uncommoditizing strategies: tropicalized innovation, global efficiency and coordinated control. Originality/value Recent research on emerging market firms has shown interest in how these firms upgrade their capabilities. This paper contributes to this stream of research by providing an overarching framework that not only bridged previous narrower studies but also explained how firms can develop uncommoditizing strategies to upgrade their capabilities. Further, this paper helps managers by providing a comprehensive yet succinct overview of the main strategies that they can use to help their firms to achieve international competitiveness.
Objective: This article discusses why digital start-ups are flourishing in Latin America. Method: Our research setting is Latin American digital companies. Our analysis is based on digital companies from Brazil, Argentina, Mexico, Chile, and Colombia. We examined lists of Latin unicorn companies (valuation + US$ 1B) and other prominent digital companies compiled from available sources from CB Insights, and TechCrunch. We systematically gathered data on the companies’ growth trajectory from data sources, including online material from the companies’ official websites and public reports, press releases, and press interviews made by the heads of the companies, and internal reports. Main Results: The article discusses the drivers behind the scaling and expansion of digital start-ups and the increasing maturity of the entrepreneurial ecosystems that support them. Relevance / Originality: While Latin digital companies have gained media and investors’ attention, there is scant analysis of how these companies have surpassed the startup stage and scaled up their operations. Theoretical / Methodological Contributions: Our contribution focuses on understanding Latin America's particular conditions and the impact of digital ventures on the region's business landscape. We bring practical insights on how Latin American digital companies are growing, as digital entrepreneurship is experiencing an extraordinary growth route in the region and is linked to economic growth and innovation.
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