How does public support influence the Large Brazilian Pharmaceutical Companies’ decisions to internationalise?

The study explores how public policies have supported the internationalisation of the Large Brazilian Pharmaceutical Companies and analyse the influence of two types of support (financial or non-financial) in the decision to go abroad based on the companies’ point of view. The methodology consists of a multiple case study through document analysis and interviews with eight Large Brazilian Pharmaceutical Companies (making up 30% of the Brazilian pharmaceutical market share), five policymakers, and three sector experts. Regarding the findings, the non-financial support was more critical for companies at the beginning of going international by compensating the latecomer disadvantages. Nevertheless, financial resources for internationalisation were previously generated and leveraged, partly, by policy incentives to strengthen local production. This paper presents a pioneering case study research for Brazil on different policies to support the internationalisation of companies. So far, the studies on the Brazilian government backing companies’ internationalisation have focused on the general policies and financial support or the natural resource-based companies. This paper contributes to the literature of International Business by focusing on a science-based sector and contrasting the effects of two types of support for the internationalisation of companies. The study provides policy recommendations to support the internationalisation of pharmaceutical companies. Supporting companies from developing countries, such as Brazil, is necessary to compensate for the lack of advantages of being a latecomer and to reduce the knowledge gap between the different institutional environments.