Multinational Companies that Grew in a Changing Economic and Institutional Environment: Case Studies During the Neo-Populism in Argentina (2002-2012)

The purpose of this paper is to understand how an important group of multinational industrial com-panies grew in a changing economic and institutional context during the withdrawal of neoliberalism and the establishment of neopopulism in Argentina. The results of the investigation show that multinationals applying non-market strategies (NMS) and market strategies (MS) created an oligopolistic position in these years, taking advantage of elements of neo-populism. The methodology used in this article op-erates on several levels. In the first place, the most appropriate case studies are identified from an ex-amination of industrial production at the meso-eco-nomic level, by selecting the industrial sectors that grew the most in the neo-populist years and did not grow during neoliberalism. Secondly, the MS and NMS strategies of the main multinational companies belonging to these sectors are investigated under an analysis, on the one hand, of the competitive context in the sector in which they participate. And, on the other hand, under a microeconomic study, in which the way of insertion of the companies, the relations they have with the state at an institutional and cultur-al level, and the place that the country occupies with respect to its strategies in the world are inspected.