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According to data released by the Brazilian Institute of Geography and Statistics (Ernst & Young, 2010), the Brazilian middle class is represented by approximately 100 million people. Moreover, according to the Brazilian Association of Importers and Manufactures of Motor Vehicle Companies (ABEIFA, 2015), Brazil was ranked fourth in the world in the ranking of major automobile consumers. This is undoubtedly a highly attractive market for world producers in this sector. However, the Brazilian automobile market has some specific features that require a very prudent operation. This case aims to investigate how those idiosyncrasies were approached by the Chinese car manufacturer JAC Motors, which in addition to not having previous experience in that market, also presented a negative country of origin image.

We rely on a case study method to better understand how the executives of this Chinese firm approached the Brazilian market.

Pulling and pushing factors are the basis of the adaptation process followed by the car manufacturer to better serve the identified idiosyncrasies. It was not only China that pushed JAC Motors to go abroad, but also Brazil that attracted (pulled) the car manufacturer’s investment. Additionally, there is evidence of pushing factors on the side of JAC’s strategy and pulling factors on the side of a Brazilian partner.

Internationalisation decision-making processes often result from a combination of factors which gain a specific ‘momentum’ that result in an extraordinary occasion that provides a unique opportunity to invest abroad.

The uniqueness of the opportunity to invest abroad is the result of the alignment of pulling and pushing factors, in the country, the company and at the decision-making level.

This chapter aims to provide a descriptive analysis and a theoretical interpretation of the challenges for international expansion of four large multinationals of each of the BRIC countries (JBS from Brazil, VimpelCom from Russia, Tata Motors from India, and Lenovo from China).

This study employs a qualitative approach, following a multiple-case study methodology, by analyzing four prominent cases of the internationalization of BRIC multinationals.

The internationalization process of the studied BRIC multinationals was influenced by the type of inputs and resources that each company had in their home country and the search for needed resources in other firms abroad that may have helped them to complement their business assets. The international expansion of these firms have been characterized by overcoming of several obstacles through the possession of firm-specific advantages, mainly composed of managerial capabilities, expertise, and knowledge about the markets and their companies.

The focus of this chapter is to provide an overview of the role of adapted physical education in the school curriculum as determined by federal law. Adapted physical education is not a new concept, yet dependent upon school district resources, students with unique motor needs may or may not have access to adapted physical education provided by professionals trained in this special education field.

This study consists of an examination of productivity growth following three major technological breakthroughs: the steam power revolution, electrification and the ICT revolution. The distinction between sectors producing and sectors using the new technology is emphasized. A major finding for all breakthroughs is that there is a long lag from the time of the original invention until a substantial increase in the rate of productivity growth can be observed. There is also strong evidence of rapid price decreases for steam engines, electricity, electric motors and ICT products. However, there is no persuasive direct evidence that the steam engine producing industry and electric machinery had particularly high productivity growth rates. For the ICT revolution the highest productivity growth rates are found in the ICT-producing industries. We suggest that one explanation could be that hedonic price indexes are not used for the steam engine and the electric motor. Still, it is likely that the rate of technological development has been much more rapid during the ICT revolution compared to any of the previous breakthroughs.