Lourdes Casanova

In the past few years, emerging market companies have stormed on to the world stage.

According to the World Investment Report (2008), outward foreign direct investment from emerging economies reached US$ 253 billion in 2007, the highest level ever recorded, representing 14% of world outward flows.
The number of multinationals from emerging economies in the Global Fortune 500 has increased from 19 in 1990 to 76 in 2008, with ten of them coming from Latin America.

This growing number of Latin American corporate giants, which are referred to as 'Global Latinas', is the subject and title of INSEAD Lecturer, Lourdes Casanova's new book, in which she explains the reasons for their dramatic appearance and explores the major potential that they represent.

Most of the research carried out so far on multinationals has focused on companies from developed markets. Research on multinationals from emerging economies is relatively new and mainly focused on Asia. Little research has been carried out on the internationalisation strategies and challenges of Latin American multinationals. 'Global Latinas' aims to fill this void.

We asked Lourdes to tell us more about her book. Read on.

Lourdes Casanova

Watch a short video interview with Lourdes about her book on INSEAD Knowledge. To buy a copy online from the publisher, click here. To buy a copy from Footnote, click here.

About the author
Lourdes Casanova is a Lecturer at INSEAD and specialises in international business with a focus on Latin American business. She has a Master's degree from the University of Southern California and a PhD from the University of Barcelona. She has taught at INSEAD since 1989 and was a visiting professor at the University of California at Berkeley from 1996 - 1999. She also manages INSEAD's relationships with corporations in Latin America. She is a consultant to the Inter American Development Bank.

Lourdes has taught in and directed different executive education programmes at INSEAD for managers from European and Latin American firms. Her research is on winning strategies for Latin America with a special focus on 'natural markets'. Her recent research projects have investigated strategies of companies from Asia, Europe, and the USA for entering Latin American markets and the responses of Latin American firms to global competition and deregulated economies.

Only INSEAD may distribute the Alumni Newsletter. The Alumni Newsletter may not be copied in part or in whole, nor sold or otherwise circulated, without prior written consent from INSEAD. For any queries please contact the Alumni Relations Department by email: alumni.relations@insead.edu © 2009 all rights reserved, INSEAD