Corporate Political Strategies and State Owned Enterprises (SOEs): An Alliance to Conquer International Markets

Management literature is replete with cases of companies that use competitive strategies in the markets in which they operate. However, organizational success often depends on other variables, such as political action, which has been neglected in more detailed studies in strategy literature in general. Researchers such as Epstein (1969), Mizruchi (1992), Schuler (1996), Hillman and Hitt (1999), Blumentritt (2003), Boddewyn (2003), Hadani (2007) and Tian, Hafsi & Wu (2009) have stressed the importance of political strategies, claiming that organizational decisions and actions are influenced in practice by them. In the competitive international markets corporations use political strategies to influence stakeholders in order to conquer segments of the market that they focus on and also to prevent from other adverse interests. In this context, home country governments also assist domestic MNC's international ventures using their state owned enterprises (SOEs). This paper aims to examine the political strategies practiced by a Brazilian multinational engineering company in its international operations in its dealings with home country state owned enterprises. The methodology employed was the single case study, using a qualitative approach for data collection and analysis at a large Brazilian multinational engineering company. The findings revealed that political strategies directed at SOEs from home governments are critical to a company's internationalization process.