Les méga-promoteurs immobiliers et le logement en Amérique du Sud

SOCOLOFF, IVANA; RUFINO, BEATRIZ

Paris

Seminario; Séminaire du GT POUM ? Production Urbaine et Marchés; 2023

LATTS

Diversified business groups are a global phenomenon, playing significant roles in various countries, including Sweden and Italy (Colpan & Hikino, 2018). They have also played a crucial role in late-industrializing economies, such as Japan, South Korea, Taiwan, and China. In Latin America, groups are very relevant agents in space production. However, due to real estate development historically representing a minor component of GDP, it has remained a marginalized sector in academia, often overshadowed by industrial case studies (See : Fernández Pérez et al., 2015; Schneider, 2013). So, what exactly are ´diversified business groups´? While the concept is somewhat elusive, Colpan and Hikino (2018) provide a comprehensive framework, defining them as a collection of legally independent companies interconnected through capital ties, all under centralized control that manages affiliated companies in unrelated industries. These groups differ significantly from Chandler´s (1962, 1977, 1990) ´multidivisional company´ model, the prototype of the modern firm. They are typically characterized by family ownership and management control, diversification into unrelated sectors, and a group structure with legally independent subsidiaries and affiliates.Consequently, this structure has been seen as inefficient among business scholars due to the groups’ limitations regarding intra-organizational knowledge transfer and the luck of professional management. However, research has proven otherwise. Leff (1978), for example, has pointed out that diversification, capital sharing through joint ventures, and legal separation of company activities have been strategies employed to mitigate risks, rending groups more efficient in contexts of rapid change in macroeconomic conditions.In Latin America, business groups tend to be relatively small. These firms operate alongside and compete with a well-established set of multinational corporations that maintain strategic positions in most countries (Schneider, 2013). Originating under the “dependent development” model of the 50s, the state played an important role in shaping them in the 60s (Evans, 2018; Lessa, 1985).