Hostname: page-component-586b7cd67f-l7hp2 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-28T03:28:44.793Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Multinational Firms' Responses to Integration of Latin American Markets

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  20 January 2017

Claudio Frischtak
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

This paper discusses how MNCs reacted to NAFTA and MERCOSUR in terms of their investment and operations patterns in three sectors - automotive, electronics, and apparel - and assesses the likely impact of the upcoming Free Trade Agreement of the Americas (FTAA). It shows that NAFTA functioned – at least in its first years - as an investment relocation engine, while MNCs' reaction to MERCOSUR was significant only in the automotive sector. The emergence of China and other Asian economies, with their low cost and vast markets, and the progressive enlargement in the scope of MNCs operations, seem to diminish the economic relevance of NAFTA and MERCOSUR. FTAA may provide a new impetus to the integration of the automotive industry in the Americas, and a stronger rationale for a slowdown of plant relocation to Asia in light industries such as electronics and garments. But it is unlikely that it will reverse current trends which point to Asia – with China at the epicenter – as the global magnet for manufacturing and exports.

Keywords

MultinationalsNAFTAMERCOSURFTAA
Type
Research Article
Information
Business and Politics , Volume 6 , Issue 1 , April 2004 , pp. 1 - 37
Copyright
Copyright © V.K. Aggarwal 2004 and published under exclusive license to Cambridge University Press 

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

BBVA Bancomer. 2003. Economic Report (November-December) Google Scholar
Best, Michael. 1990. The New Competition-Institutions of Industrial Restructuring, Harvard University Press Google Scholar
CEPAL. 1998. La inversión extranjera en América Latina y el Caribe-Informe 1998.Google Scholar
CEPAL. 1999. La inversión extranjera en América Latina y el Caribe-Informe 1999.Google Scholar
CEPAL. 2000. La inversión extranjera en América Latina y el Caribe-Informe 2000.Google Scholar
CEPAL. 2001. La inversión extranjera en América Latina y el Caribe-Informe 2001.Google Scholar
Gereffi, Gary. 2000. The transformation of the North American apparel industry: Is NAFTA a curse or a blessing?. CEPAL, Serie desarrollo productivo 84.Google Scholar
Goldman Sachs. 2003. Latin America Economic Analyst (7 November, 2003) Google Scholar
Máttar, Jorge; Moreno-Brid, Juan Carlos and Peres, Wilson. 2002. Foreign Investment in Mexico after Economic Reform. CEPAL.Google Scholar
McKinsey Institute. 1999. Produtividade no Brasil: a chave do desenvolvimento acelerado, Campus, Rio de Janeiro.Google Scholar
Peters, Enrique Dussel. 2000. El Tratado de Libre Comercio de Norteamérica y el Desempeño de la Economía en México. CEPAL.Google Scholar
Porter, Michael. 1990. The Competitve Advantage of Nations. Free press Google Scholar
Santos, Angela M. Medeiros, M. 2001. Reestruturação da Indústria Automobilística na América do Sul. BNDES Setorial.Google Scholar
Shatz, Howard J. 2001. Expanding Foreign Direct Investment in the Andean Countries. CID. Working Paper No. 64. Center for International Development at Harvard University.Google Scholar
Toyota Motor Corp. 2003. Toyota and the World 2003. Tokyo.Google Scholar
United Nations. 2000. World Investment Report 2000: Cross-border Mergers and Acquisitions and Development.Google Scholar
United Nations. 2002. World Investment Report 2002: Transnational Corporations and Export Competitiveness.Google Scholar
Vial, Joaquím. 2002. Foreign Investment in the Andean Countries. CID Working Paper No. 85. Center for International Development at Harvard University.Google Scholar