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Advisor(s)
Abstract(s)
This paper analysed the strategy of Corticeira Amorim, in many ways confused with the story of the Amorim family, since the first generation started a small workshop producing cork stoppers, in the 19th century, until it became a big multinational, present in 70 countries. In the first phases of the business, internal advantages were dominant, namely the lower wages in the North of Portugal (Santa Maria da Feira), where the firm was located, relatively to the South of the country (Setúbal), where were located its main competitors, and also the presence of the Amorim firm in a cluster, with many small firms and family workshops, dependents and at the same time supporters of the leading firm, in terms of supply and demand, market regulation and credit flows. In a second stage of the business, particularly after the 1960’s, the strong commitment to internationalise, first the supply of its products, and afterward the production itself, was crucial for the dominance of Corticeira Amorim. This internationalisation process, for reasons well described in this paper, assumed great resemblance to the so-called “Upsalla Model”, which was appropriate for the characteristics of the company and the times it started and developed its opening to the world. Another important feature of Corticeira Amorim’s trajectory, dating from the 1970s, was the internationalisation to Spain, according to a strategy of vertical specialisation, well suited to the globalization process of the last decades. The expansion to the neighbouring country of Portugal, Spain, always its main historical competitor in the cork business, confirms the leading stagey of Corticeira Amorim, by controlling its strongest competitor and reinforcing the worldwide leadership of the cork business.
Description
Keywords
Amorim & Irmãos Small Family Firms Multinational Company Cook Business International Trade
Pedagogical Context
Citation
Branco, Amélia … [et al.]. (2017). “From a portuguese small firm to world leader in the cork business : the role of the internationalisation of Corticeira Amorim to Spain”. Marché et organisations, Vol.30, No. 3: pp. 165-183
Publisher
L’Hamattan