Privatization and Transnationalization in Portugal (1980-2005)

This text tries to assess the relation between the privatization and transnationalization processes in the Portuguese economy in the last two decades of the 20th century and the early 2151 century. It concludes that the privatization process changed the Portuguese economic system from a strong State capitalism to a weakly regulated capitalism, and promoted both passive transnationalization, i. e. the penetration of foreign economic groups into the Portuguese economy, and the formation, restoration or reinforcement of Portuguese economic groups, some of which started an active transnationalization process. All these processes unfolded according to what could be expected in a European and World context, although Portuguese investments abroad presented some specificities, mainly related to the importance of the Portuguese-speaking countries, the network services and strategical alliances with Spanish enterprises.