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In this paper, we critically review previous studies on multinational companies' responses to financial crises in emerging markets, propose an integral framework to classify crisis responses, and report findings from a survey of multinationals during the recent Argentine financial crisis. The companies surveyed were generally patient and cautious during the crisis. Their most popular response was operational adaptation, which includes restructuring current operations, relieving excess capacity, and cutting costs while keeping the same level of resource commitments. The least popular response was strategic retrenchment, or withdrawing all resource commitments from the market. FDI and non-FDI firms displayed largely similar response patterns, but several differences were noted between exporters and non-exporters, between licensors and non-licensors, and between firms in different industries. We also noted a tendency whereby multinationals separately employed strategic and operational measures. The findings were compared to multinational firms' responses reported from the recent Southeast Asian crisis. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Industries are responding to the challenge of increasing globalization of production by restructuring into leaner and more flexible production processes in order to cut costs and gain global competitiveness. The auto industry, which is one of the most globally oriented industries has been especially involved in this movement. Since 1990 the market environment of the Argentine auto industry has changed rapidly from that of a closed, highly protected environment to an open one that includes economic integration with the world's 9th largest auto producer, Brazil. The need to be globally competitive has forced firms to adopt Just-in-Time/Total-Quality-Control (JIT/TQC) systems of production. This paper presents micro, plant level research on the response of Argentine autopart manufacturers to this radical change in its market environment. The analysis is based on a case study of 10 well-established autopart firms which were interviewed in depth to get some idea of the measures being taken by them to survive in this new global climate. The extent to which the ''world class manufacturing techniques'' of JIT/TQC are being adopted in these firms is examined. The survey finds a wide variety of adaptations of these techniques. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Privatization transformed Latin America during the late 1980s and early 1990s. The programs were controversial since they unleashed powerful political interests and economic forces. That is why some of the privatizations were initially disapproved. Most of privatization studies have looked at the process as having only one direction, as several attempts have resulted in failure. Furthermore, most studies have looked at privatization from a single perspective. This paper looks at the privatization process as having two possible outcomes, acceptance and rejection. It also looks at the economic and political variables are more important in determining if the program is accepted. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Copyright of Latin American Business Review is the property of Taylor & Francis Ltd and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Copyright of Latin American Business Review is the property of Taylor & Francis Ltd and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Copyright of Latin American Business Review is the property of Taylor & Francis Ltd and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Since the early days of the economic history of Argentina, foreign resources have played a significant role. Their relative importance declined in the chaotic 70's and 80's, but increased again after the structural reforms which took place starting in 1989, in which the participation of foreign capital proved to be crucial. The new wave of FDI shows both differences and similarities with the pattern of past foreign investments. Although it is true that the economic environment has dramatically changed in Argentina, some of the reasons that led to the establishment of multinational enterprises in the country during the previous decades partially resemble those of today. And despite the economic transformation, Argentina remains dependent on, and hence sensitive to, the availability of foreign financing. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

We construct measures of export similarity among seventeen Latin American countries over the period 1962-1991, and use cluster analyses to identify groups of countries with similar comparative advantage based mainly on their principal primary products. While exports of primary products have declined in importance for Latin America, they still play a significantly large role. There is a long-run trend toward increasing export similarity among Latin American countries, which consists of convergence between clusters and divergence within clusters. This result suggests that the increased export similarity is due primarily to an increase in exports of differentiated manufactures relative to primary products. The convergence in the export patterns of the largest economies (Argentina, Brazil, and Mexico) provides further support for this hypothesis. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]