LEVERAGING AND CONTRIBUTING TO ECOSYSTEMS IN DEVELOPING MARKETS: THE INTEGRATIVE ROLE OF SWEDISH COMPETENCE-CREATING SUBSIDIARIES IN BRAZIL

ABSTRACT We analyze the role of Swedish competence-creating subsidiaries in the upgrading of local ecosystems within the Brazilian context. Using multiple cases we highlight the role of subsidiaries for job creation and economic development - via spillovers of knowledge and the critical role of subsidiary learning developed from sustained interactions with local actors. Highlighting how, after the initial investment by the MNE, interactions between competence-creating subsidiaries and institutions, organizations, and individuals in Brazil play a critical role in the emergence and development of local ecosystems. Subsidiaries form networks with both market and non-market stakeholders, contributing to the technological, economic, environmental and societal development in Brazil through both spillovers and their own requirements to collaborate with ecosystem actors to fulfill their competence-creating mandate. We provide managerial implications focusing on the scope of local businesses to collaborate with foreign organizations, to bridge resource and knowledge gaps to foster robust and collaborative business environments.