EMNEs in the Pharmaceutical Industry: Exploring the Impact of National Political Stability Levels on Entry Frequency

Sammanfattning

Using data on Mergers and Acquisitions (M&A) transactions available on the S&P Capital IQ database, this paper aims to contribute to the growing body of knowledge on Emerging Market Multinational Enterprises (EMNEs). Basing itself on the idea that EMNEs may differ significantly in their behavior, investment patterns, and strategic choices from their counterparts from already established markets (referred to henceforth as DMNEs), this paper employs a comparative approach aiming to investigate the validity of previous assumptions and propose areas of further research. To do this, this paper uses a negative binomial regression analysis to study how political risk at the international level affects the frequency with which MNEs choose to enter a given country. To test whether this affects EMNEs and DMNEs differently, a moderated regression analysis is used to study how the political stability/investment frequency relationship changes with company type. As part of this analysis, a model is produced linking political stability to entry frequency, and a moderating effect is discovered, showing that there is indeed a difference in how EMNEs respond differently to political risk as opposed to DMNEs. However, due to limitations in sample size and complex investment relationships, this model’s predictive power is highly limited, suggesting the need for extensive future research on the topic.