Thesis
English
ID: <
10670/1.im099b>
Abstract
Within this broad domain of nonmarket strategy, I study a set of research questions concerning firms’ risk and uncertainty management strategies as a response to government’s policy actions. A robust literature in strategy, international business, and management has long established that governments’ and businesses’ interests do not always align and a measure of risks and uncertainty persists regarding governments’ intent, priorities, and future behavior from the firms’ perspective. Adopting a phenomena-driven approach, I advance and elaborate upon our understanding with respect to each of these theoretical perspectives – signaling theory, political risks, and policy uncertainty – by examining instances of governments’ policy actions as shifts in institutional environment and how that may relate to firms’ evaluation of underlying risks and uncertainty. Specifically, I study three such initiatives – law enforcement actions against organized crime, encouraging private participation in infrastructure projects, and harmonization of patent laws with global standards – in the form of three essays. In doing so, I focus on the firm as the unit of analysis, relying principally on quantitative analyses on a sample of observational data but also use other approaches – case study, interviews, etc. – to support my findings.