Organisational Competencies as Launch Pads for Internationalisation

As we have seen in the first two chapters, at the macro level there are various sociocultural, economic and political institutions which are responsible for the kind of policies and practices that a country develops and implements. These in turn make up the resource pool from which companies may draw, internalise and then utilise. In other words, it was argued, national competitiveness is a significant factor in a company’s ability to internationalise and become a major global player. Even though some companies might develop such abilities in spite of their home countries, they might still be hindered by their home government’s policies to put their abilities to international practical use. Reliance, India’s largest private-sector firm, for example, has all the qualities of a world-class player and in a recent study of competitiveness has been ranked as the most competitive firm in India and among the top ten in Asia (The Economist, 25 July 1998, p. 84). But what has in fact prevented it from becoming a global player is certain government regulations regarding capital movement overseas (letter by Reliance’s Chairman in Europe, The Economist, 15 August 1998, p. 8).