RESUMOEste ensaio teórico busca analisar os espaços de contribuição da perspectiva institucional de análise para o entendimento das escolhas de modo de entrada de empresas multinacionais provenientes de países emergentes. Modos de entrada referem-se às decisões de grau de controle da subsidiá-ria (subsidiária integral versus joint venture). Alguns autores propõem que o modo de entrada seria influenciado pelas três dimensões do ambiente institucional: distância regulatória, normativa e cultural-cognitiva entre o país hospedeiro e o país de origem da empresa investidora. A partir de ampla revisão bibliográfica, são identificados fatores relacionados aos três pilares do ambiente institucional e formuladas proposições para orientar estudos empíricos futuros sobre modos de entrada de multinacionais de países emergentes.PALAVRAS-CHAVE | Institucionalismo, modos de entrada, multinacionais, distância institucional, paí-ses emergentes. ABSTRACT This essay aims at contributing to the analysis of the spaces for contribution of the institutional perspective of analysis to advance the understanding of entry mode choices by multinational firms from emerging markets. Entry modes refer to the decisions involving the degree of control of a subsidiary (wholly-owned versus joint venture). Some authors propose that three dimensions of the institutional environment influence the entry mode decision: regulative distance, normative distance and cultural--cognitive distance between the host country and the country of origin of the investing firm. Starting from a broad review of the extant literature, this study identifies factors related to the three pillars of the institutional environment and advances propositions to be tested in future studies on entry mode choices of emerging market multinationals. KEYWORDS | Institutionalism, entry modes, multinationals, institutional distance, emerging countries. RESUMEN Ese ensayo teórico busca analizar los espacios de contribución de la perspectiva institucional de aná-lisis para el entendimiento de las elecciones del modo de ingreso de empresas multinacionales provenientes de países emergentes. Modos de ingreso se refieren a las decisiones de grado de control de la subsidiaria (subsidiaria integral versus joint venture RAE-Revista de Administração de Empresas | FGV-EAESP

This work investigates whether host countries institutional factors and firm characteristics can help the understanding of Brazilian multinationals' choices of ownership mode for their foreign direct investments (FDI). Brazil is a privileged locus for research on emerging market multinationals (EMNEs), given its growing stock of outward FDI. The paper contributes to a better understanding of the international strategic choices of EMNEs. First, the phenomenon under study is examined using the theoretical lenses of institutionalism. Second, the study looks at the relationship between state support and choice of ownership mode, a new issue in the area of international business. Third, differences between the decisions taken by manufacturing and service EMNEs are also examined. Fourth, the study focuses on an emerging country, Brazil. The quality of the regulatory environment of the host country, and differences in beliefs, cultural identity and management practices between the host country and the country of origin are factors of the institutional environment significantly related to the choice of ownership mode by Brazilian EMNEs. As to firm characteristics, our results show that state support favors the choice of joint ventures, and that service EMNEs also significantly prefer joint ventures, when compared to manufacturing firms. The findings also support the view that EMNEs are less sensitive to institutional weaknesses in host countries.