How Corporate Governance helps firms to overcome challenges in the internationalization process

Abstract

The goal of this thesis is to fill the gap in the literature concerning the corporate governance as a facilitator of the internationalization process, helping firms to overcome specific challenges during this process. To answer our research question, we conducted a qualitative study, the case study method, based on a Portuguese international company. The data was collected mainly by primary data, interviews, and as secondary data, internal and external documents provided by the company. The findings show that corporate governance helps surpassing the following challenges: cultural differences, spatial distance, communication problems, language differences, maintaining the same reputation and image, the management of the human resources and the different subsidiaries. The mechanisms that help to overcome these challenges are: the role of the board and its small size, the non-presence of external members, the engagement of the board, the separations of ownership and control and the good communication channels in the model of governance.

Date of Award	19 Mar 2018
Original language	English
Awarding Institution	Universidade Católica Portuguesa
Supervisor	Laure Léglise (Supervisor)