El desempeño medioambiental en empresas multinacionales: Influencia de la distancia institucional entre países | Cuadernos de Economía y Dirección de la Empresa CEDE

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Resumen

Este trabajo analiza la influencia que ejerce la distancia institucional entre el país de la matriz y el de la subsidiaria sobre la estandarización en el desempeño medioambiental en la empresa multinacional. La distancia institucional es analizada considerando tres dimensiones ampliamente aceptadas en el marco de la teoría institucional: regulatoria, cognitiva y normativa. Bajo la perspectiva institucional de las organizaciones observamos que, mientras que una elevada distancia institucional en términos regulatorios favorece el que dichas empresas cuenten con desempeños medioambientales diferenciados suficientes a las peculiaridades de cada entorno en el que la empresa se ubica, una elevada distancia institucional en términos cognitivos y normativos contribuirá positivamente a que las empresas estandaricen su desempeño medioambiental en todas sus ubicaciones, con independencia de los países donde estén ubicadas. Este último hecho viene motivado por un fortalecimiento del perfil institucional interno de dichas empresas.

Palabras clave:

Empresa multinacional

Estandarización medioambiental

Distancia institucional medioambiental

Dimensión regulatoria, Cognitiva y normativa

Abstract

In this paper we analyze the influence that the environmental institutional distance between countries has on the degree of environmental performance's similarity within the multinational enterprise (MNE). We break down the institutional distance between the host and the home country into distances in relation to the regulatory, cognitive, and normative dimensions of institutions. Building upon the institutional approach, we show that not all the national institutional dimensions have the same influence on the environmental performance's similarity within MNES. Whereas a high regulatory distance between countries leads MNEs’ units to have a different environmental performance according to each country's legal requirements, the cognitive and normative distances encourage these firms to standardize their environmental performance, independent of the countries where their units are based.

Keywords:

Multinational enterprise

Environmental standardization

Environmental institutional distance

Regulatory, Normative and cognitive distances

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☆

Este trabajo ha sido parcialmente cofinanciado por diversas becas de investigación concedidas por el Ministerio de Ciencia e Innovación y por el Proyecto de Excelencia con código P06-SEJ- 2356 de la Consejería de Innovación, Ciencia y Empresa de la Junta de Andalucía. Agradecemos a los miembros del grupo de investigación ISDE de la Universidad de Granada sus sugerencias y comentarios en versiones anteriores.

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