As dificuldades para se fazer negócios intra América Latina, sob a ótica da visão baseada nas instituições: uma pesquisa exploratória com executivos de multinacionais

Abstract

The relevance of this project is linked to the fact that it explores a line of study releated.to the theme of internationalization, leadership and institutions in a scenario that is still little explored: the scenario of business intra-Latin America. The first theories on the subject internationalization were based on multinationals, general coming from industrially advanced countries. In other words, the literature that deals with internationalization of companies from emerging countries is more recent (Fleury; Fleury, 2012). Corruption, logistical difficulties, excessive bureaucracy are some of the points that make doing business with Latin countries difficult, corroborating to the score of these countries on The Economist Intelligence Unit ranking of better countries to do business with on 2023. Latin countries performed minimally better than countries in the Middle East and Africa. In this scenario, this study aims to understand, from an institution-based perspective, what difficulties executives have faced when doing business intra-Latin America. While the Nordic School of International Business points out a tendency for companies to begin their internationalization process in closer environments to reduce uncertainty and feel as less foreigners as possible, it is possible to observe that the behavior of intra-Latin American companies does not always follow this direction. Institutional theory was perceived as the most appropriate to answer this question as it provides foundations not only from formal institutions, but also informal aspects of this markets. The research method was exploratory research with high level executives of multinational companies doing business in Latin America. Based on these interviews, it was possible to catalogue points of bigger difficulties in the development of business in this market. Logistics, low politic and economic integration between the counties in the region and corruption are some of the nuances of the complexity in this economic ecosystem that are mentioned along this research. It was also possible to perceive how these executives have been circumventing this challenging scenario.