This volume looks at interaction between business firms and socio-political actors in emerging markets - and how this relationship can be managed - and deals with the interconnection between the socio-political organizations in emerging markets and MNCs. Inferring to different business perspectives, the volume includes papers studying firms' strategic actions towards socio-political organizations, i.e. the interplay with socio-political actors and how this affects firms' competitive advantage in a particular market. The book discusses this in relation to a number of critical strategic areas such as brand building, market orientation and CSR. It also offers a number of practical illustrations from empirical studies from different markets. In this volume different authors contribute chapters focusing on diverse empirical and theoretical aspects covering the impact of socio-political environments on the success of international firms.

In their foreign markets, MNCs interact not only with customers and suppliers but also with governments and bureaucrats. The book is an outcome of several years of research on MNCs market activities in developing and industrialized countries. Different from the earlier studies this book addresses how interactions not only with business partners, but also with the vast variety of governmental and legislative organizations, affect local firms and MNCs??? businesses. Based on the business network theory, the book develops a new model for the exchange relationship between local customers and MNCs and investigates the effect of different political organizations and other business firms. It examines relationship using several dimensions, business, social and political, through multiple cases from a developing country (DC) and industrialized countries. The comparison provides deepened knowledge on strength and longevity of business relationship in these two different business worlds. The outcomes reveal new insights with the claim for general appliance for DCs. The book supports the management of MNCs in their understanding of local firms??? behavior in such markets and to retain appropriate measure in their globalization efforts. The book also enables governments in DCs to realize consequences of their political actions for both local firms and MNCs and thereby industrialization of the country.

Government interventions in the economies of developing countries frequently do not achieve their intended goals. Policymakers' expectations often fall wide of the mark when compared with actual behavior of consumers, producers and businessmen. In an important study that has wide significance for the field of development economics as a whole, Hadjikhani and Amid study the impact of trade and industrial policies on the economy and business behavior of Iran. Part one of the book deals with the impact of government policy on various aspects of foreign trade, while the second part studies the effects of various industrial relationships of Iranian firms with their foreign partners.