Business groups and their corporate strategies on the Argentine roller coaster of competitive and anti-competitive shocks
研究了阿根廷经济剧烈波动下，大型商业集团如何通过调整业务组合、利用市场缺陷和关系网络来应对不确定性，并发现国际化与本地管理团队结合能带来竞争优势。
Executive Overview Argentine economic history can be pictured as a series of severe economic ups and downs, which created unique managerial challenges for growing businesses. In this article we show how Argentine entrepreneurs have successfully crafted strategies and organizational forms to cope with this economic “roller coaster.” Our work is founded on the resource-based view, state development and market-failure theories, and relies on data from historical evidence, surveys, and thorough interviews with CEOs of the largest Argentine firms--known as Argentine Business Groups (ABGs). We found that ABGs generally expanded their corporate portfolios in periods of higher uncertainty by skillfully maneuvering through labor and capital market deficiencies and leveraging preferred foreign and local contacts and opportunities. We also found that in response to the Argentine market-oriented reforms of the 1990s, many ABGs trimmed their business portfolios and expanded internationally to compete more effectively. As for the recent economic turmoil, internationally diversified ABGs who relied more heavily on managerial teams with local expertise had a competitive advantage over ABGs with an exclusive local market focus or even multinational subsidiaries relying on international managerial teams. We derive lessons for firms managing businesses in similar environments and those wishing to reap opportunities in Argentina.