Competition & Change

Lula's government in Brazil fostered an engagement with local pension funds that have become key state levers for long-term investment, particularly in large and politically salient infrastructure projects. This process, here called pension fund developmentalism, describes more than specific investment choices; it grounds Brazil's current growth strategy on relationships between the government and a particular set of prominent players, shedding light on the state's more forceful re-engagement as a promoter of development at a time when aspirations for global economic integration have been matched by the commitment to growth through the expansion of local sources of funding.

This article looks at the evolvement of a foreign subsidiary from exploiting to augmenting and asks which strategic decisions and bargaining processes induce this shift. We add to the existing literature by describing and analysing various sources of power and bargaining processes occurring at both the strategic and operative levels. In an explorative case study of a German MNC that upgrades its Chinese subsidiary, we derive several propositions. First, we suggest that bargaining involves a process in which the power resources need to be enacted. This needs time and competences. An important aspect of this empowerment is the assignment of local managers. Second, we suggest that informal linkages complement the formal set-up and decisively influence how power is being distributed. Finally, we underline the importance of the operative level in fostering and blocking decision-making processes in the MNC. The analysis of strategic bargaining in MNCs hence needs to take into account more explicitly the importance of the operative level and its interdependence with strategic management.

The purpose of this article is to assess the financial depth of the Russian economy in the context of its main rivalries within the BRIC group. The Russian financial market is evaluated by a set of key indicators that characterize the level of maturity of the national financial system in respect to international standards. This task is implemented through descriptive analysis of extensive international data generated from a time series covering the period 1995–2010. The article demonstrates that, in comparison to other emerging markets, and its closest competitors Brazil, India and China, the financial depth of the Russian economy may be characterized as inadequate. In the Russian financial market potential for growth is combined with exceptionally high risks. Insufficient depth of the financial system undermines its long-term competitiveness and exacerbates its exposure to shocks in the international market.

The authors argue that a fuller understanding of processes of organizational restructuring in transforming societies emerges from studying not only the expressed motives behind senior managers’ actions but also how these political actions are located within the emergent structural context of power, domination and legitimacy. The politics of restructuring in two former state-owned enterprises and the different strategies top management teams adopted to sustain a favourable internal and external balance of power and control the processes of legitimation, order and opposition are examined. The authors argue that the experiences of the enterprises illustrate two distinct patterns of relationship between forms of managerial politics and processes of enterprise restructuring within transitional circumstances.