Tension between multinational enterprises and host country government partners : a spillover perspective in natural resource-rich developing economies

[摘要] This dissertation presents a novel theoretical framework that conceptualises theexistence of tension between multinational enterprises (MNEs) and local firms, inparticular host-country government partners (HGPs), and its mediating mechanismswith regard to the realisation of spillovers from inward foreign direct investment (FDI) inemerging and developing economies. The contributions are twofold: firstly it provides abetter understanding of the potential strategies used by local firms to get and maximisebenefits they obtain from spillovers of inward FDI; secondly, it contributes to the extantliterature with novel theoretical constructs that conceptualise the abovementionedtension and its mediating mechanisms. An in-depth qualitative interview data analysisis used to support the findings and build up the proposed theoretical constructs.With regard to the potential causes that underpin the existence of tension in a spillovercontext, four main causes were identified, that closely relate to the dyadic contrastingobjectives of MNEs profit maximisation and of local firms benefits maximisation. Thenewly proposed framework brings together three theoretical lenses – competitivetension, relational competition and network bargaining power – under the central themeof spillover perspective to build an overall powerful model of the interactions betweenMNEs, the host-country government and its local partners as well as domestic firms.The overarching and resulting model highlights the relational interaction, as opposed topurely transactional or rivalrous behaviour, between MNEs and local firms. It alsoshows use of bargaining influence by locals to align realised spillovers to theexpectations of locals, both as spillover enhancing and tension relieving mediatingmechanisms.

[发布机构] University of Pretoria