MultiMexicans: An Introduction

Abstract

This chapter explains the benefit of analyzing Mexican multinationals, MultiMexicans, as a laboratory for better understanding of the internationalization of emerging market firms. MultiMexicans are increasingly expanding across countries, and some have become leading firms in their industries. The chapter provides, first, a review of the traditional models of the multinational, which have been based on the study of firms from advanced economies: those that explain the existence of multinationals (the OLI framework, the internalization model, and the knowledge-based view) and those that explain the internationalization process (the product lifecycle model, the incremental internationalization model, and the innovation related model). It then presents a review of models introduced to explain emerging market multinationals: the LLL model, the springboard model, the “new” model of the multinational, and the non-sequential internationalization model. Building on these, the chapter then explains how the analysis of MultiMexicans helps better understand the internationalization of emerging market firms by taking into account the influence of the home country on firm internationalization, and the tradeoffs that emerging market firms face as they expand abroad. The chapter concludes with a summary of the contents of the book and the lessons drawn from the comparison of MultiMexicans in multiple industries.

Keywords: Multinational firms, emerging markets, Mexico, theory, internationalization, emerging market multinationals

JEL Classification: F23