The rise of portuguese multinational enterprises (1980-2005)

Abstract

This paper tries to make an assessment about the process of formation of Portuguese multinationals during the last quarter of century in the context of similar small emerging European economies. The main question to be addressed is how much Portuguese peculiarities shaped the transnationalization process of the Portuguese economy in a different way, when compared to other European economies of similar size, which have also undergone the modern economic growth process during the second half of the 20th century and the privatization process during the last quarter of century. The text focus on the consequences of two relevant facts for the Portuguese transnationalization process: the relative backwardness of Portugal, a latecomer to modern economic growth (a post WW II development, which only matured very recently along the terciarization process); the gradual evolution from import substitution policies (which protected firms from international competition and, eventually, made them less competitive abroad in the long run) to export-led growth. At the same time, the paper tries to identify the typical expansion strategies of active transnationalisation, while the main cases of Portuguese multinational firms will be reviewed and put in the context of the ranking of the World multinationals.