Cristiano Cechella
University of Azores
Abstract:
In response to a survey of Fortune 1000 companies enquiring in 2007 about “the biggest barrier in doing business in the world market”, cultural differences ranked at the top of the list. For a long time culture and economy have been treated as broadly independent areas of research The gap to recognize cultural differences was the most common cause of failure for cross-national enterprises. Members of different cultures express different values and priorities when they make and implement decisions. This article seeks to measure the influence of factors such as history, language and culture in foreign direct investment (FDI) of Brazilian companies in Portugal, two countries with deep cultural affinity. Brazil is an emerging country that is increasing your importance as international investor. Firstly, we will describe the increase importance of emerging countries in the world economy, Brazil as international investor and the luso-Brazilian economic relations, especially after 1990s. Secondly, it will take surveys and assesses approaches to explain a multidimensional analysis of the FDI, in particular those related to culture. After that, through a regression analysis based on interviews answered by Brazilian companies in Portugal, we measure by a regression model the influence of the Uppsala School, or Scandinavian, which postulates the importance of culture in corporate investment abroad. While geographic, political and economic approaches have own advantages of their own, the cultural area is particularly useful for a long-term comparative economic analysis.
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Keywords: cultural affinity – enterprises – Foreign Direct Investment – Brazil – Portugal – emerging countries – Stepwise method – Eclectic theory – Scandinavian Theory