Les facteurs determinants de l'extension du role des filiales implantees dans un PED: Application au cas de la Tunisie (French text).

摘要

Recent researches in the field of international business have revealed the existence of a number of lacunae in the understanding of the function of subsidiaries in developing countries. This is particularly suggestive of the ways they operate in such countries, the ways they build capacities in a relatively underdeveloped market, and the ways their correspondent Head Quarters value their strategic responsibilities' evolution. The present thesis explores the key determinants that contribute to the evolution of the role assigned to eight western subsidiaries in Tunisia. It is mainly for this reason that we have followed the multiple case studies' approach throughout this study. Since researches on western implantation in the developing countries have largely focused on the conditions of the foreign direct investment (FDI), it is to be stressed, very little has been written on the reality of the functioning and the dynamics of the development of western subsidiaries. The data analysis permit us to maintain that the subsidiaries' growth trajectory takes the form of a two-phase sequence that is consecutive in time: In a first phase, the subsidiaries begin by acquiring new competences which allow them to integrate more value added activities. The subsidiaries that succeeded in attaining the second phase are increasingly intervening in the strategic decisions related to their growth and this, far beyond a purely operational role. These subsidiaries have succeeded in enlarging their regional responsibilities within the multinational. However, it is to be noted that no subsidiary has yet succeeded in reaching a global extension of their strategic role. Moreover, in all the subsidiaries explored in our study, the evolution of responsibilities is never initiated by the head quarters. It is, rather, dictated by the local environment (i.e., exogenous determinants) and negotiated by the subsidiary itself (i.e., endogenous determinants).