This electronic thesis or dissertation has been downloaded from Explore Bristol Research, http://research-information.bristol.ac.uk Author: Balakishi, Samir Title: Russian Multinational Firms and Their Investment Activities in Emerging Economies The South Caucasus General rights Access to the thesis is subject to the Creative Commons Attribution - NonCommercial-No Derivatives 4.0 International Public License. A copy of this may be found at https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/legalcode This license sets out your rights and the restrictions that apply to your access to the thesis so it is important you read this before proceeding. Take down policy Some pages of this thesis may have been removed for copyright restrictions prior to having it been deposited in Explore Bristol Research. However, if you have discovered material within the thesis that you consider to be unlawful e.g. breaches of copyright (either yours or that of a third party) or any other law, including but not limited to those relating to patent, trademark, confidentiality, data protection, obscenity, defamation, libel, then please contact [email protected] and include the following information in your message: •Your contact details •Bibliographic details for the item, including a URL •An outline nature of the complaint Your claim will be investigated and, where appropriate, the item in question will be removed from public view as soon as possible. Russian Multinational Firms and Their Investment Activities in Emerging Economies: The South Caucasus Samir Balakishi A dissertation submitted to the University of Bristol in accordance with the requirements for award of the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in the Faculty of Social Sciences and Law School of Sociology, Politics and International Studies March 2020 Word Count: 78,199 Abstract This research explores the behaviour of Russian firms in the oil and gas, electricity, aluminium, telecommunications, insurance, financial and railway industries. Its key aim has been to analyse their investment activities in the South Caucasus emerging economies. Since the 1990s, the rise of Russian multinationals has been remarkable; they have redefined the international business landscape by continuously increasing their FDI activities as a result of political and economic changes. Individual political events have also influenced state-state, state-business and business-business relations. Thus, the study was designed to explore the main drivers of Russian firms’ investments in the South Caucasus emerging economies. This research involved fieldwork and interviews with business and political elites in Russia and the South Caucasus countries between June and September 2017. In order to explain the Russian firms and their business activities, the thesis develops an ‘interdisciplinary theory’ which is built on Dunning’s eclectic paradigm, with the incorporation of the IDP and U-model predictions, state-business and state-state relations, as well as other political factors. The findings show that there are variations in the Russian firms’ ownership advantages, between the locational advantages of the South Caucasus countries, in the Russian state’s interaction with the firms, in the influence of Russia’s relations with the South Caucasus countries on the firms and their corporate roles in these interstate relations, and in the firms’ entry strategies. The results enable a better understanding of the development of the firms’ internationalisation processes and can serve as a reference and guideline for researchers and policymakers. The study shows that the interdisciplinary theory is an analytical framework that is well-suited for exploring and analysing the various kinds of determinants of the Russian firms’ business and investment activities. This analytical framework could also be used to investigate other big emerging economy firms. The study contributes to the theoretical IB and IPE literatures. i Acknowledgements My motivation for conducting this research came from my own personal background and interest. My undergraduate studies in international economic and political relations and my master’s study of international political economy boosted my interest in Russia’s firms and their roles in its foreign economic policy, which was later published as a working paper. I then realised that this research area had considerable potential to develop and contribute not only to knowledge but also to a region which to date had not been substantially studied in this regard. Writing this thesis without the help, support and guidance of kind people around me would not have been possible. I would like to mention some individuals here. This dissertation would not have been possible without guidance, critical but always stirring and inspiring comments and patience of my principal supervisor Dr Magnus Feldmann, not to mention his advice and unsurpassed knowledge of Russian politics. I also thank my former second supervisor Professor Benoit Pelopidas, who supervised me for the first two years. Besides his critical comments, his support and friendship were priceless on both an academic and personal level. I would like to thank Ilham Hidayetov and Hikmet Nasibov who hosted me during my fieldwork in Moscow, Russia. I am very grateful for their kind help and housing support. I also thank Professor Vladimer Papava and other people at the Georgian Foundation for Strategic and International Studies who gave me a warm welcome and allowed me to use their facilities during my fieldtrip to Georgia. Very special thanks to my friends, Dr Rodrigo Mendoza, Dr Charles Chuka Agboeze, Dr Denitsa Pencheva, Dr Alexis Bedolla, Marc Piñol and others in number 3 Priory Road for their encouragement and support over the past years. These acknowledgments would not be complete without mentioning my sincere friends: Carlos Muñoz, Büşra Yücel and Noémie Fedon, who have joined the study group at ‘my cave’ to encourage each other and provide motivation over the past year. The biggest thanks go to Kimon Butzbach for listening to my complaints all the time, providing intellectual conversation, and helping me to improve my errors. I also thank my landlady, Vanessa Evans, for her very kind and invaluable help over the past years, doing my shopping, and many other things to save me time so that I could fully focus on my PhD. ii Above all, I am highly indebted to my parents for their invaluable support and financial assistance. Without them, doing and finishing my PhD would not have been possible. iii Author’s Declaration I declare that the work in this dissertation was carried out in accordance with the requirements of the University’s Regulations and Code of Practice for Research Degree Programmes and that it has not been submitted for any other academic award. Except where indicated by specific reference in the text, the work is the candidate’s own work. Work done in collaboration with, or with the assistance of, others, is indicated as such. Any views expressed in the dissertation are those of the author. SIGNED: .............................................................. DATE:....................................................... iv Table of Contents List of Figures .......................................................................................................................... ix List of Tables ............................................................................................................................ x List of Maps ............................................................................................................................. xi List of Graphs ......................................................................................................................... xii Abbreviations ....................................................................................................................... xiii Chapter 1 ............................................................................................................................... 1 1 Introduction ...................................................................................................................... 2 1.1 Overview ..................................................................................................................... 2 1.2 Outline of the Chapters ............................................................................................... 6 Chapter 2 ............................................................................................................................. 10 2 Theoretical Framework ................................................................................................. 11 2.1 Introduction ............................................................................................................... 11 2.2 Firm-specific and home-country determinants ......................................................... 14 2.3 Locational determinants of the host country ............................................................. 17 2.4 Political economy of investments ............................................................................. 21 2.4.1 State-Business Relations .................................................................................... 22 2.4.2 State-State Relations .......................................................................................... 32 2.5 Firms’ motivations ...................................................................................................