Expandindo além das fronteiras através do investimento externo: um estudo dos fatores determinantes do investimento externo direto da companhia providência nos Estados Unidos

Abstract

Due to the growing movement of foreign direct investment by Brazilian companies in the recent decades, it was decided to develop a study on this phenomenon. For Morschett, Schramm-Klein and Swoboda (2010), despite many decades of research in fact no one knows for sure what are the variables that determine the decision of the entering mode abroad.This fact also affects Brazilian companies, because little is known about the impact of the variables that determine the decision of entering mode. This dissertation is a descriptive qualitative case study in which the Company Providencia S.A. was studied. This company is a Brazilian producer of non-woven fabric which through its strategy of internationalization is exporting to several countries. The Company Providencia held in 2011 its first greenfield foreign direct investment in the United States. The study of the process of international expansion the Company Providencia S.A. verified the determining factors in the decision of foreign direct investment in the United States and analyzed this phenomenon from the perspective of various theories of internationalization in the literature. As method of investigation, it was performed a case study descriptive type of a company of Brazilian origin that decided to hold foreign direct investment in the United States. Data collection was done through multiple sources of evidence such as interviews, desk research, literature research and direct observation. Afterwards, the theoretical review of the theme was performed and was developed the data analysis and the construction of the final report. Based on three theoretical perspectives of internationalization, the Uppsala School, Eclectic Paradigm and International Entrepreneurship, it has been identified the convergence between theories and case. Many internal and external factors that determined the Company Providencia foreign direct investment were identified: (1) market of major proportions that even accesses the NAFTA bloc; (2) emerging market opportunity in mature market, in the adult diapers segment in the United States; (3) availability of factors of production in the host country, because it is a pole of manufacturing non-woven fabric; (4) low cultural distance between company directors with regard to culture, language, management and production method; (5) market for non-woven fabric in Brazil and Latin America with super capacity; (6) managers’ international experience for performing the operation; (7) know-how in non-woven fabric production; (8) resource advantage, obtained from high-tech machine; (9) know-how in the ratifying of the plant; (10) strategic motivatin of being close to the customer for developing product innovation. Finally, factors that can be analyzed by the company in future expansions of the Company Providencia were suggested.