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Our aim is to analyze the type of lender and the debt maturity of Chilean firms as a function of their ownership structure and their growth opportunities. We perform the empirical analysis using an unbalanced panel data of 169 firms from 1990 to 2001. Our results show that Chilean firms with growth opportunities, ownership concentration, and a need for external funds issue short‐term bank debt to finance their new investments. This financing source is an efficient mechanism in Chile to alleviate agency and asymmetric information problems. The Chilean institutional environment influences firms’ decisions on banking debt.

This chapter combines a global value chain methodology with the case of the development of the farmed Atlantic salmon industry in Chile to inform discussions regarding the globalization of economy and society. The research documents the shifting structure of the value chain from the north to the south as Chile replaced northern Europe as the locus of production and the major world supplier of farmed Atlantic salmon. Farmed salmon was supported by the Chilean state as part of its export-oriented industrialization model that attracted foreign direct investment (FDI) from northern TNCs. Chile's low costs of production combined with growing environmental problems in the north and global retailers' demand for large quantities of low-cost product resulted in the restructuring of the farmed Atlantic-salmon value chain as northern capital sourced the south as a lucrative production platform to service northern consumers. A detailed investigation of the rise in dominance of the firm Marine Harvest is provided to illustrate the process of industry concentration the Chilean farmed-salmon industry. This model has generated a legitimation crisis related to environmental degradation and labor abuses resulting in social movement organization both nationally and internationally. The chapter concludes with a discussion of the implications of the Wal-Mart Effect on the agrifood industry in particular and in the farmed-salmon industry in particular.

The purpose of this paper is to investigate the innovation activities of Chilean firms by using micro-level data.

Micro-level data have been obtained from the World Bank, Enterprise Survey on 696 Chilean small and medium enterprises (SMEs). Bivariate probit estimation method has been used.

The results showed that SMEs are less likely to apply for patents and introduce product innovations. This outcome indicates that Chilean SMEs face resource constraint in terms of introducing product innovations and applying for patents. In addition, SMEs undertaking research and development (R&D) and making network ties with other research institutions are more likely to introduce patents and product innovations. Similarly, SMEs that are engaged in quality programs are more likely to spend on patents. Lastly, SMEs with public support for innovation activities positively influence the patent application.

Findings imply that SMEs investment in knowledge-based assets (e.g. R&D, networks and quality methods) accelerate their innovation output. Policy makers should not only provide financial incentives (R&D subsidies) to SMEs but also encourage their strong ties with research institutions for higher innovation output.

Previous studies showed research gap related to micro-level analysis of the Chilean SMEs. For the first time, multiple proxies have been used as dependent variables (product/process innovations and patent application/spending), which is neglected by the past studies.

The objective of the study is to understand the relationship between entrepreneurial orientation (EO), employers' organizational commitment to their employees (OCE), employees' perception of the adequacy of budgetary resources (BRs), and firm performance in Malaysian and Chilean firms. A survey of 165 managers finds that EO has a significant positive relationship with performance. Additionally, the perceptions about the adequacy of the BR have a significant positive effect on performance. And in the Chilean subsample, the OCE interacts positively with perceptions of budget resource adequacy to affect the firm performance. The total effect of EO on performance is similar across both countries despite the EO being higher in Malaysia and perceptions of budget resource adequacy being higher in Chile. The study highlights the contribution to the literature on the EO – performance relationship – and emphasizes the importance of providing adequate resources to enhance the psychological safety of employees working in less developed countries.

The purpose of this paper is to determine whether bank debt‐maturity decisions are conditioned by growth opportunities, the firms’ ownership structure, or the institutional environment.

The empirical analysis is undertaken using an unbalanced panel data of Chilean and Spanish firms.

The results indicate that when banks are not allowed to become stockholders, managers use bank debt‐maturity as a corporate governance mechanism. When banks can participate in the ownership of the firms that they finance, short‐term bank debt can serve as a substitute for a governance mechanism.

The main contribution of this paper is the analysis of how differences in financial development among countries modify financial decisions by firms.

Although much has been studied about the characteristics of born‐global firms in developed countries, studies about developing economies are far and few between and most tend to be exploratory. The paper aims to discuss these issues.

This paper studies how Chilean born‐global firms behave and examine five distinct factors as compared to enterprises that gradually internationalize. A logistic regression model was applied to a sample of 115 small‐ and mid‐sized enterprises (SMEs) that presented a growing and non‐occasional internationalization to study the change in the probability that a young Chilean exporter will be classified as born‐global.

The results show that a foreign capital network, an economic development agencies (EDAs) network, the cultural distance from the countries receiving the exports, the localization of the SME in the capital city, and the company's size are factors that significantly increase the probability that a young Chilean exporter will be classified as born‐global. In contrast with the high technology content of the born‐global companies that has been reported in developed countries, the technology level was not relevant in how quickly the Chilean SMEs internationalized.

New public policy proposals may be inferred from the results of this paper. For example, the EDAs may increase their effort in promoting internationalization, particularly in geographical regions by taking into account the characteristics of each city and its entrepreneurs. This could help diminish the positive effect of location (i.e. perverse effect of centralization) presented in this study.

Si bien se ha estudiado bastante sobre las características de las empresas globalizadas desde que empiezan (born globals, o BG) en países desarrollados, para las economías en desarrollo son muy pocos los trabajos existentes, teniendo la mayoría un carácter exploratorio.

Este trabajo estudia el comportamiento de empresas que desde el principio nacen globalizadas (BG) en Chile y examina cinco factores distintivos con respecto a las empresas de internacionalización gradual. Se utiliza un modelo de regresión logística sobre 115 PYMES que presentan una creciente y no ocasional internalización para estudiar el cambio en la probabilidad de que una joven empresa Chilena exportadora sea clasificada como BG.

Los resultados indican que las redes con capitales internacionales, las redes con Agencias de Desarrollo Económico (ADE), la distancia cultural de los países receptores de la exportaciones, la ubicación de las PYMES en la ciudad capital, y el tamaño de la empresa son factores que significativamente aumentan la probabilidad de que joven empresa Chilena exportadora sea clasificada como que nació globalizada (BG). Contrario al alto contenido tecnológico de las empresas BG que ha sido documentado en países desarrollados, el nivel tecnológico no es un factor relevante para explicar la rapidez con que una PYME chilena se internacionaliza.

Las ADE Chilenas podrían aumentar su esfuerzo para promocionar la internacionalización, particularmente en regiones geográficas, tomando en cuenta las características de cada ciudad y sus emprendedores. Esto podría ayudar a disminuir el efecto positivo de la ubicación (efecto perverso de la centralización) presentado en este estudio.

A partir de los resultados de este trabajo podrían elaborarse nuevas propuestas de política pública.

The purpose of this paper is to introduce an earnings management dimension to compute pre-manipulated accounting performance (free of discretionary accruals) to determine whether family-controlled firms perform better than non-family-controlled firms.

The authors used Jones’ model (1991) to obtain a pre-manipulated performance measure for a sample of Chilean firms. The authors then regressed the pre-manipulated measures of accounting performance as dependent variables against the family nature of the largest shareholder using the Blundell and Bond generalized method of moments estimator.

The authors found that the pre-manipulated performance of family-controlled firms is superior to that of non-family-controlled firms. The authors also show that the presence of institutional investors in the firm’s ownership structure has a positive influence on the performance of family companies. The results suggest that earnings management behavior is not sufficient to explain the better performance of family-controlled firms that has been reported in the literature.

The authors provide new evidence regarding the real superior performance of family business. These results provide some degree of confidence to investors since family firms provide good quality earnings measures of financial performance.

este estudio pretende determinar si las diferencias en performance entre empresas familiares y no familiares puede ser explicada por la existencia de manipulación contable de los retornos.

usamos el método de Jones (1991) para obtener una medida de retorno contable no manipulado para una muestra de empresas chilenas, y luego estimamos una regresión de tipo panel donde la medida de retorno sin manipular es la variable dependiente, la naturaleza familiar o no de la empresa es la variable independiente y una serie de variables de control. Debido a la posible endogeneidad entre retorno y tipo de empresa, usamos la técnica de Blundell y Bond (Método Generalizado de los Momentos).

encontramos que aun usando retornos libre de manipulación contable, las empresas familiares muestran un mejor desempeño que aquellas no familiares. Además, se observa que la presencia de inversionistas institucionales (AFPs) en la estructura de control de la firma, tiene un efecto positivo sobre el desempeño de las empresas familiares.

se presenta nueva evidencia que ratifica el mejor desempeño financiero de las empresas familiares. Además, mostramos, a diferencia de estudio previos, que la presencia de inversionistas institucionales explica parte del mejor desempeño financiero de dichas empresas. Lo anterior permite a inversionistas estar seguros que el mejor retorno de empresas familiares no se debe a la manipulación contable de las utilidades.

The purpose of this paper is to identify the factors that could help differentiate between successful and unsuccessful small- and medium-sized exporter firms.

A causal model of the exporting process was developed from the literature, from which a set of hypotheses was posed and a questionnaire was made. A sample of 37 small and medium exporter firms in Chile was subject to the questionnaire. From the data collected, the critical aspects that could help differentiate between successful and unsuccessful exporting organizations were statistically identified.

The following aspects are the ones that could allow the statistical differentiation of successful and unsuccessful exporter firms: incentives at the firm level for increasing output, improved operations planning, international quality assurance certification, large percentage of sales devoted to innovation, highly frequent innovations, qualified and innovative workers, local alliances for innovation, and the possession of strategic allies at destination

The results of this research can be useful for intending small and medium exporter firms in Chile, as well as for firms in other developing countries. The results are based on a rather small sample of exporting firms in Chile; therefore, the generalizability of the results cannot be assured

A detailed model of the exporting process of small and medium firm (SMF) was developed that is a contribution of the theoretical framework related to SMFs’ exports. The findings could be used by government agencies to offer better guidance to SMF intending to become exporters

The goal of this research is to evaluate obstacles to innovation according to the perception of firms in the Chilean food sector, and to assess the relationships of these obstacles with innovation spending and willingness to innovate.

We analyzed data from the Chilean National Innovation Survey (Encuesta Nacional de Innovación) of 2017 and 2019, which were administered by the Ministry of Economy and the National Institute of Statistics. This survey is designed to be nationally representative. The methods we employed to analyze the data include linear regression, probit and logit models and factor analysis.

We found that obstacles to innovation can be grouped into five types, namely: cost-based, knowledge-related, market problems, lack of necessity for innovations and regulatory. Cost was positively, and significantly, associated with innovation (expenditures and willingness to innovate). We argue that this is because as firms engage in innovation, they become aware of the associated costs. Also, knowledge obstacles and lack of necessity were negatively associated with innovation. This may mean that as firms engage in innovation, they are able to overcome said obstacles; which speaks well of their innovation ecosystem.

We develop the argument that survey-based studies of obstacles are amenable to a perception-based interpretation of obstacles, because most surveys tend to collect firms' perceptions. Consequently, we provide perception-based explanations for our findings. Additionally, most empirical studies of obstacles in the food sector are of a qualitative nature. Our work supplements this literature with a quantitative analysis that can expand our understanding of innovation in the food industry.

The purpose of this paper is to examine the impact of business group characteristics on firm‐operating performance in Chile.

Using a multiple regression model, this study examines the effect of business group characteristics (interlocking of directors, management concentration, and business group specialization) on operating performance (ROA growth) in a sample of 104 publicly traded Chilean firms.

It is documented that, except for interlocking of directors, the two other business group characteristics (management concentration and business group specialization) are significantly related to the operating performance of firms belonging to Chilean business groups. These findings suggest that Chilean business groups would improve or deteriorate the performance of their affiliated firms modifying its characteristics.

Too little is known about the effect of business group characteristics on firm‐operating performance in Latin American countries such as Chile because there is no research that analyses its impact on firm‐operating performance in the region.