Does Internationalization Pay Off? A Study of the Perceived Benefits and Financial Performance of the International Operations of Brazilian Companies

Abstract

This paper examines the relationship between the financial performance of a company's international operations and the degree of its internationalization in a sample of 73 Brazilian companies. On one hand, the results revealed that companies with a higher performance of their international operations in relation to their domestic operations are less internationalized in revenues, assets, employees, geographic dispersion of markets and value chain activities than their more internationalized counterparts. On the other hand, the analyses showed that more internationalized companies have a greater perception of experiencing the following internationalization benefits: "ability to respond quickly and appropriately to international customers," "strengthening of the competitive position," "geographic diversification and less dependence on the domestic market," "effect of demonstration in the country of origin," and "greater stability in the financial and economic results". authors Esta comunicação examina a relação entre o desempenho financeiro das operações internacionais de uma companhia e o grau da sua internacionalização numa amostra de 73 companhias brasileiras. Por um lado, os resultados revelaram que as companhias com maior desempenho nas suas operações internacionais relativamente às suas operações domésticas são menos internacionalizadas nas receitas, activos, empregados, dispersão geográfica de mercados e actividades de cadeia de valor que as suas homólogas mais internacionalizadas. Por outro lado, as análises mostraram que as companhias mais internacionalizadas têm uma maior percepção de experimentarem os seguintes benefícios da internacionalização: «capacidade para responderem rápida e apropriadamente aos clientes internacionais», «fortalecimento da posição competitiva», «diversificação geográfica e menor dependência do mercado interno», «efeito de demonstração no país de origem» e «maior estabilidade nos resultados financeiros e económicos».

Companies' simultaneous embeddedness in local, international and global networks - a conceptualisation from the perspective of local enterprises and their degree of internationalisation

“…Th e adopted measures include, among other things, the proportion of foreign sales, the number of overseas markets where the company is active , turnover and profi t in overseas markets, the proportion of employees working abroad, the level of investment made in overseas markets, the size of foreign assets, the length of time that the company has been active in foreign markets and the number of diff erent forms of international expansion. [Sullivan 1994;Collins 1990;Sambharya 1995;Ramaswamy, Kroeck & Renforth 1996;Daniels, Radebaugh & Sullivan 2004, Barcellos et al 2010Pangarkar 2008] -all measures that are related to business conducted directly in overseas markets, that is with outward activities. Th ese measures may be classifi ed as structural, performance and attitudinal [Sullivan 1994;Dorrenbacher 2000].…”

International Strategy, Cultural Distance and Management Policies in Brazilian Multinational Companies

“…It has been more than ever enriching and challenging to work with different cultures, nations and systems. Companies that have units outside of their home country are not limited to a few huge enterprises anymore; the world has watched the proliferation of multinational companies from many countries, and later from the developing economies (Barcellos et al, 2010).…”