Measurement instruments and data collection

Get Complete Project Material File(s) Now! »

Host government regulation of MNEs

The need for host governments to regulate MNEs is universally accepted. It is only on the degree and extent of regulation, as well as on what the outcomes of regulation will be, that there is a difference of opinion. Contemporary international management theory on the focuses on the demands on host governments to reconcile efficiency pressures for global competitiveness with political and market forces for local responsiveness (Lenway and Murtha, 1994). Haley (2001) attributes the imperative of host governments to play a regulatory role to the effects that MNEs may have on countries and societies. Blumentritt and Nigh, (2002) observe that since MNE subsidiaries often are large operations and valuable additions to the economy of foreign countries, they are clearly targets of host governments.

Policy networks

The activities of policy-making have various networks involved. According to Forrest (2003) these networks not only involve societal stakeholders and government decision-makers, but also various secondary networks. Amongst these are the governance networks which have evolved out of political struggle for policy reform or party positioning; the social networks located principally within grass roots levels of society but intersecting dynamically with government forces; the proto-networks reflecting partially successful efforts at organising an inter-governmental set of relationships; and, issue networks referring to inter-organizational ties created in regard to a single policy issue (Forrest, 2003).

Strategic focus on government relations

Government, as a key stakeholder to business, occupies a prominent position on the strategic agenda of companies. The objectives of business political strategy relate to the positive outcomes derived from relations as discussed in the previous section (Chen, 2004); as an increase in MNEs‟ bargaining power producing favoured status and support from authorities to its objectives in a specific policy, access to the policymaking process, as well as stability and predictability in operations in spite of political and economic turbulence. Additional advantages that relate to the development of social capital are the improvement of mutual understanding, trust, commitment, relational satisfaction and mutual control.

Perspectives on political strategy

Various points-of-departure are employed throughout the literature to classify political strategy; the levels of action (Lenway and Murtha, 1994), the approaches to strategy (Hillman and Hitt, 1999; Lenway and Murtha, 1994; Weidenbaum, 1980), the type of strategy (Weidenbaum, 1980), resources employed (Hillman, 2003), whether the focus is on relations in general or the specific transaction (Hillman and Hitt, 1999; Hoskiss and Hitt, 1990; Weidenbaum, 1980), and, also the process employed (Mahon, Heugens & Lamertz, 2004).

Gap Analysis

Specific studies have progressively enabled the discovery of the gap in the literature. Agmon (2003) describes the adversarial background against which business – government networks operate. Dunning (2001b) and Healy (2001) explain the reasons for the distrust and the resultant poor relations between MNEs and host governments. Parts (2004), Putnam (2000), Bordieu (1986) and Coleman (1990) highlight the role of social capital in establishing and maintaining relations, and building trust. A role for social capital in establishing relations was identified when Putnam (2000) described the bridging characteristic that social capital exhibits in overcoming ethnocultural barriers in the forming of networks inside an organisation.

Problem Statement

The challenges MNE managers face in creating social capital in MNE relations with a host government come in the form of restraining forces or barriers. The source of social capital in the business environment is different to that of typically a social environment. Social networks and relations have their origin in kinship or in other forms of social proximity, such as communities or the work place (Putnam, 2000, Bordieu, 1986). Social capital spontaneously evolves as a result of repeated interactions. In contrast, in business relations, especially those between MNE employees and host government officials, a number of barriers exist that are prohibitive to interaction, the source of social capital and resulting relations (Agmon, 2003).

Contents :

• Chapter 1: Orientation
  • 1. Introduction
  • 2. Background to the study
  • 3. Objectives of the study
  • 4. Research environment
  • 5. Methodology
  • 6. Importance of the Study
  • 7. Delineation of the Scope
  • 8. Terminology
  • 9. Overview
• Chapter 2: Literature Study
  • 1. Introduction
  • 2. Social capital
  • 2.1 Components of social capital
    • 2.1.1 Networks
    • 2.1.2 Trust
    • 2.1.3 Norms
  • 2.2 Social factors of social capital
  • 2.3 The application of social capital
  • 2.4 Facets of social capital
• Chapter 3: Problem Statement and Propositions
  • 1. Introduction
  • 2. Literature study
  • 3. Gap analysis
  • 4. Research problem
  • 4.1 Problem statement
  • 4.2 Research questions and propositions
  • 4.3 Summary
• Chapter 4: Research Design and Analysis
  • 1. Introduction
  • 2. Approach to the research
  • 3. Study design
  • 3.1 Case selection
  • 3.2 Research population
  • 4. Measurement instruments and data collection
  • 5. Data analysis
  • 5.1 Coding
  • 6. General due diligence
  • 7. Limitations of case study research
  • 8. Summary
• Chapter 5: Results
  • 1. Introduction
  • 2. The data
  • 3. Within-case analysis
  • 3.1 Case
    • 3.1.1 Actor characteristics
    • 3.1.2 Government relatedness
    • 3.1.3 Planning
    • 3.1.4 Context of relations
  • 3.2 Case
    • 3.2.1 Actor characteristics
    • 3.2.2 Government relatedness
    • 3.2.3 Planning
    • 3.2.4 Context of relations
  • 3.3 Case
    • 3.3.1 Actor characteristics
    • 3.3.2 Government relatedness
    • 3.3.3 Planning
    • 3.3.4 Context of relations
  • 3.4 Case
    • 3.4.1 Actor characteristics
    • 3.4.2 Government relatedness
    • 3.4.3 Planning
    • 3.4.4 Context of relations
  • 3.5 Survey results
• Chapter 6: Discussion, Conclusions and Recommendations
  • 1. Introduction
  • 2. Contributions
  • 2.1 Filling the gap
    • 2.1.1 Creating social capital
    • 2.1.2 Third party networks
    • 2.1.3 Bridging social capital
  • 2.2 Emergent themes
    • 2.2.1 Distance between MNEs and government
    • 2.2.2 Social capital as relational capital
    • 2.2.3 Social capital as prerequisite for business relations
      • 2.2.3.1 Context and components of social capital
    • 2.2.4 The phenomenon of bridging and a possible role for the profit motive
  • 3. Limitations and further research
  • 4. Conclusions
  • 5. Recommendations

GET THE COMPLETE PROJECT
Social Capital in Multinational Enterprise – Host Government Relations A South African Perspective