New strategies of transnational corporations in Argentina

This article analyses current trends as regards the role of transnational corporations in Argentine industry in the light of the structural changes taking place on the domestic, regional and international fronts, as compared with the conditions prevailing during the application of the import substitution model. Section I describes the new conditions observed at the national and international levels which are forcing all business enterprises to redefine their production, commercial, financial and technological strategies, with the Argentine subsidiaries of transnational corporations playing the leading role in this process. In section II, the essential characteristics of the transnationals' presence in Argentine industry are evaluated, and the differences between current conditions and those that existed during the period of import substitution are identified. Next, on the basis of information obtained from the major transnationals in 1992, section III discusses some of the most striking aspects of the transitions in these corporations' strategies, within the context of the economic changes taking place in Argentina and that country's place in the global economy. Finally, section IV offers some closing comments.