L'influence des facteurs structurels sur le choix de mode de présence

Section 2:

Advantages and consequences of internationalization

1 them advantages 

The conjugation of the advantages of the firm, of the advantages of the country and the strategic advantages plays a driving part in the delocalization.

Competitive 1.1-advantages of the firms and comparative advantages of the countries 

The specific advantages of the firms are to be brought closer the more general concept of competitive or competing advantages.

According to Mucchielli (1992)^10(*), these advantages can be of two sources : those which reduce the production costs and those which allow the differentiation of the products.

According to Mucchielli (1985-1987) and To carry (1990)^11(*), the competing advantages of the firms are generally generated by initial advantages of the country of origin concerning its total technological level, the qualifications of its labor, the competing structure of its economy and the importance of its domestic demand.

The advantages of the localization, for their part, must be included in the comparative advantages of the countries, widened to take into account not only the comparative costs, but also the relative advantages of the sizes and dynamic of the requests main road and foreign.

On a side, the firm offers products and asks for factors of production to manufacture them; those must be able to be acquired at the weakest cost so that it remains competitive. Other side, the country offers factors of production through its equipments of factors and of their productivity (quantity and quality of the factors), it also asks products via the consumers (quantity and quality of the goods).

Strategic 1.2-advantages

The synthetic analysis puts, initially, in relation the countries and firm but the sector and the nature of its market play an important part. Insofar as the sector connects the firms between them, its structural characteristics will influence the establishment and initially the mode of establishment.

After Jacquemin (1989)^12(*), the strategic co-operations or alliances between firms must be analyzed by reinstating a dimension of industrial strategy in the theory of the multinational firm.

Strategies of co-operation/competition in an environment where the borders of the sectors, groups and firms, are moving, take the form of races between the various competitors. This strategic race can be observed for the R & D, the production, the marketing and the adoption of the technical standards all along the production process. ^13(*)

Among the various strategies, the firms can establish agreements for the starting stages of research and then compete with themselves without co-operation in the phases of development of the research which must generate the product itself. The reason of this behavior is due to the fact that the stage of fundamental research is rather of type public property, whereas following stages concerning the acquisition of a specific advantage.^14(*)

2 them consequences

The multinationalisation presents generally positive consequences.

2.1-on the country of origin

The investment abroad can be beneficial since it ensures of the sources of provisioning lower cost what makes it possible to restore the competitiveness of the end product or to ensure the survival of certain segments of production. It rather involves a stronger foreign competition which uses same technologies of production but is given weaker wage costs. The industries based on labor are then condemned in the industrialized countries because of their social development.

The transfer of the activities makes it possible each nation to concentrate on the activities in which it has a relative advantage what involves a rise in the level of real income of the population.

With regard to the use and the factor income of production, the investment abroad generally tends to reduce the application for a job little qualified but increases the application for a job more qualified.

2.2-on the host country

The firms bring new technologies in the receiving country what makes increase its productivity and makes him expenditure of research.

The contributions of very qualified work can also allow a transfer of knowledge by the training and the formation of labor with the result that the general economic effectiveness should increase.

Indeed, the establishment of a new foreign firm makes it possible the host country to see growing its revenues from taxes.

However, it should be noted that the foreign subsidiary company profits from an access direct to knowledge of the firm mother, its saving like at the financial markets room and international.

Admittedly, one cannot neglect the negative effects of the multinationalisation on the country of origin or the host country and which can be summarized in three risks :

- The divergence enters the interests of the established firm and those of the nation.

- The widening of the social inequalities.

- The companies are only established to divert the tariff barriers what calls into question the advantage of technology transfer.^15(*)

* ¹⁰ Mucchielli J L  (1992) COp-cit

* ¹¹ Mucchielli J L (1985)  : «  Multinational firms, perspective changes and news  », Paris, Economica Edition

- Mucchielli J L (1987)  : «  Multinational enterprises, International investments and transfers off technology  : the elements off year integrated approach  » Paris, Economica Edition

- To carry M (1990): «The competitive advantage off nation», London, Macmillan

* ¹² Jacquemin A (1989)  : «  International and multinational strategic behavior «, Kyklos, 4

* ¹³ Mucchielli J L (1992)  COp-cit

* ¹⁴ idem

* ¹⁵ Zmerli K (1998)  : «  Determinants of the choice of the mode of presence abroad  : case of presence by the investment in Tunisia  », Memory of DEA, Higher Institute of Management, university of Tunis III