title: The Impact of Foreign Direct Investment on the Local Chilean Industry

authors: Salcedo-Claramunt, Carolina

subjects: Foreign Direct Investment

abstract: For a relatively small country located far from most major markets, Chile has been remarkably successful at attracting inward Foreign Direct Investment (FDI). However, the nature and extent of the contribution of inward FDI to Chile is not well understood. Most research has focused on the direct effects of FDI on the economy or the foreign affiliate. That is, there is a lack of research that considers the impact of FDI on the development of local industry. Therefore, this thesis main research issue is: “How does inward FDI impact on local industry in Chile?” It focuses on the impact of FDI at the firm level by assessing the indirect and direct linkages that foreign affiliates form with local firms, through which they may influence the upgrading of local industry, as well as identifying factors that may influence linkage formation. This thesis uses Scott-Kennel’s model of local industry upgrading as a guideline to address the main research issue. This model provides a micro-level explanation of the Investment Development Path (IDP), in turn, making it feasible to examine how the impact of FDI on local industry upgrading may occur. The model proposes a process of local asset augmentation (upgrading) that operationalizes the IDP by illustrating the mechanisms by which local firms may upgrade their resources and capabilities via linkages with foreign affiliates. However, Scott-Kennel’s model is based on the New Zealand context, which presents differences from the Chilean context. Hence, this thesis assesses the suitability of Scott-Kennel’s model in the context of a developing economy, Chile. From a methodological perspective the value of this thesis originates from the various challenges encountered during data collection by using quantitative methods that triggered the reconsideration of the research context and research questions that ultimately led to adopt a qualitative methodology using multiple case studies. Case firms included in the study are significantly foreign-owned affiliates operating within the service sector in Chile. This thesis provides evidence that FDI has a significant impact on the upgrading of local industry in the context of Chile, through direct effects over the affiliate, competitive effects, local sourcing, assistance linkages, corporate social responsibility linkages and collaborative agreements. The results also support Scott-Kennel’s findings that not all FDI is the same. Distinct groups of affiliates are distinguished according to their extent and quality of linkage formation. In so doing, it provides a starting point for identifying those affiliates that are more likely to be engaged in a variety of local linkages and those that are less likely to be so well integrated with the local industry. A key contribution of this thesis relates to the role of government policy in the process of local industry upgrading via FDI in the context of developing countries. The evidence suggests that while FDI policy may be neutral government policy plays a major role through directive industry policy and the provision of an investment environment which is stable politically and economically. Overall, the findings in this thesis relating to foreign affiliates and their activities in Chile will provide policy makers with a better understanding of the nature and outcomes of interaction between foreign and local firms.

text: The Impact of Foreign Direct Investment on the Local Chilean Industry For a relatively small country located far from most major markets, Chile has been remarkably successful at attracting inward Foreign Direct Investment (FDI). However, the nature and extent of the contribution of inward FDI to Chile is not well understood. Most research has focused on the direct effects of FDI on the economy or the foreign affiliate. That is, there is a lack of research that considers the impact of FDI on the development of local industry. Therefore, this thesis main research issue is: “How does inward FDI impact on local industry in Chile?” It focuses on the impact of FDI at the firm level by assessing the indirect and direct linkages that foreign affiliates form with local firms, through which they may influence the upgrading of local industry, as well as identifying factors that may influence linkage formation. This thesis uses Scott-Kennel’s model of local industry upgrading as a guideline to address the main research issue. This model provides a micro-level explanation of the Investment Development Path (IDP), in turn, making it feasible to examine how the impact of FDI on local industry upgrading may occur. The model proposes a process of local asset augmentation (upgrading) that operationalizes the IDP by illustrating the mechanisms by which local firms may upgrade their resources and capabilities via linkages with foreign affiliates. However, Scott-Kennel’s model is based on the New Zealand context, which presents differences from the Chilean context. Hence, this thesis assesses the suitability of Scott-Kennel’s model in the context of a developing economy, Chile. From a methodological perspective the value of this thesis originates from the various challenges encountered during data collection by using quantitative methods that triggered the reconsideration of the research context and research questions that ultimately led to adopt a qualitative methodology using multiple case studies. Case firms included in the study are significantly foreign-owned affiliates operating within the service sector in Chile. This thesis provides evidence that FDI has a significant impact on the upgrading of local industry in the context of Chile, through direct effects over the affiliate, competitive effects, local sourcing, assistance linkages, corporate social responsibility linkages and collaborative agreements. The results also support Scott-Kennel’s findings that not all FDI is the same. Distinct groups of affiliates are distinguished according to their extent and quality of linkage formation. In so doing, it provides a starting point for identifying those affiliates that are more likely to be engaged in a variety of local linkages and those that are less likely to be so well integrated with the local industry. A key contribution of this thesis relates to the role of government policy in the process of local industry upgrading via FDI in the context of developing countries. The evidence suggests that while FDI policy may be neutral government policy plays a major role through directive industry policy and the provision of an investment environment which is stable politically and economically. Overall, the findings in this thesis relating to foreign affiliates and their activities in Chile will provide policy makers with a better understanding of the nature and outcomes of interaction between foreign and local firms.

year: 2010

title: Assessment of student learning in a business internship

authors: Hodges, David Leslie

subjects: assessment

abstract: Internships, like other forms of cooperative education, involve students undertaking work as an integrated component of their tertiary education programme.  It is only relatively recently that research has been undertaken to consider what it is that students actually learn when undertaking such work. This is because workplace learning is complex, informal, and subject to the contextual influences of the particular workplace.  Such complexities are heightened in some disciplines, like business, where the work occurs in diverse workplace settings, with the work requirements being unique to each student. Not surprisingly, there is even less research that may assist practitioners to find ways of assessing such learning.

Most forms of summative assessment are based on adherence to the principles of criterion-referencing, which require using the same criteria and set of standards for all students. But when the learning takes place away from the formal, structured environment of an educational setting, underpinned by a fixed and 'known' curriculum, adoption of such principles is problematic, and can create the conditions for assessment to be inherently unfair (and therefore invalid).  This is because they can fail to take account of the individual and variable nature of the work, the contextual influences involved, and the conscious and unconscious biases of the assessors.

So how does one assess student performance and learning in cooperative education? This thesis sets out to address this question in relation to a business internship that is part of an undergraduate degree programme in a large New Zealand polytechnic.  A multi-theoretical approach was taken to the study, which provided valuable frames of reference for viewing assessment of learning.  By adopting an interpretive methodology, primarily driven through participatory action research, the contextual complexities involved were able to be incorporated into the research design. Through engagement with the practitioner, a self-assessed, evidence-based portfolio model of assessment was created.  A key feature of the model is that the 'truth' of students' performance emerges through consensus, based on an informed understanding of the subjective elements and contextual influences present.  An important contribution is the on-going dialogue that occurs, throughout the work placement, between the stakeholders (employers, students and academics).

 The study has found that the assessment model developed was able to address the complexities involved. The stakeholders supported and valued the portfolio assessment model, and it was apparent that the formative aspects of the portfolio contributed positively to its summative outcome, without seemingly compromising the nature of either. The portfolio also had a high 'backwash' effect on learning, contributing to its consequential validity.  Such learning included students' increased awareness of the important competencies required in the workplace and how such competencies contribute to effective performance.  In addition, the self-assessed nature of the model contributed to students' development as lifelong assessors of their own learning; preparing them to become self-regulating professionals.   Finally, it was apparent that informal, emergent learning, derived from the sociocultural influences present, was an important feature of students' workplace experiences.

text: Assessment of student learning in a business internship Internships, like other forms of cooperative education, involve students undertaking work as an integrated component of their tertiary education programme.  It is only relatively recently that research has been undertaken to consider what it is that students actually learn when undertaking such work. This is because workplace learning is complex, informal, and subject to the contextual influences of the particular workplace.  Such complexities are heightened in some disciplines, like business, where the work occurs in diverse workplace settings, with the work requirements being unique to each student. Not surprisingly, there is even less research that may assist practitioners to find ways of assessing such learning.

Most forms of summative assessment are based on adherence to the principles of criterion-referencing, which require using the same criteria and set of standards for all students. But when the learning takes place away from the formal, structured environment of an educational setting, underpinned by a fixed and 'known' curriculum, adoption of such principles is problematic, and can create the conditions for assessment to be inherently unfair (and therefore invalid).  This is because they can fail to take account of the individual and variable nature of the work, the contextual influences involved, and the conscious and unconscious biases of the assessors.

So how does one assess student performance and learning in cooperative education? This thesis sets out to address this question in relation to a business internship that is part of an undergraduate degree programme in a large New Zealand polytechnic.  A multi-theoretical approach was taken to the study, which provided valuable frames of reference for viewing assessment of learning.  By adopting an interpretive methodology, primarily driven through participatory action research, the contextual complexities involved were able to be incorporated into the research design. Through engagement with the practitioner, a self-assessed, evidence-based portfolio model of assessment was created.  A key feature of the model is that the 'truth' of students' performance emerges through consensus, based on an informed understanding of the subjective elements and contextual influences present.  An important contribution is the on-going dialogue that occurs, throughout the work placement, between the stakeholders (employers, students and academics).

 The study has found that the assessment model developed was able to address the complexities involved. The stakeholders supported and valued the portfolio assessment model, and it was apparent that the formative aspects of the portfolio contributed positively to its summative outcome, without seemingly compromising the nature of either. The portfolio also had a high 'backwash' effect on learning, contributing to its consequential validity.  Such learning included students' increased awareness of the important competencies required in the workplace and how such competencies contribute to effective performance.  In addition, the self-assessed nature of the model contributed to students' development as lifelong assessors of their own learning; preparing them to become self-regulating professionals.   Finally, it was apparent that informal, emergent learning, derived from the sociocultural influences present, was an important feature of students' workplace experiences.

year: 2010

title: Wearing moko: Maori facial marking in today’s world

authors: Nikora, Linda Waimarie

subjects: moko

abstract: The early voyagers, missionaries, settlers all reacted to the pukanohi, to the marked faces of the Maori people, during the period of first contact, and the century following it. Their accounts are vivid, judgemental, revealing, telling us as much about them as they do about the people they described.
Curiosity and horror are mixed with a genuine
fascination; where sternly evangelizing words
failed, armed confrontation occurred; and we
now live with the results, te ao hou, a new world. In this world, today, wahine mau kauae, tangata mau moko, pukanohi – wearers – are speaking for themselves, about themselves, and commenting on how others view them. Unanimously, they insist that the decision to take the marking is about continuity, affirmation, identity and commitment. It is also about wearing those ancestors, carrying them into the future; as their moko become a companion, a salient being with its own life force, its own integrity and power, beyond the face.

text: Wearing moko: Maori facial marking in today’s world The early voyagers, missionaries, settlers all reacted to the pukanohi, to the marked faces of the Maori people, during the period of first contact, and the century following it. Their accounts are vivid, judgemental, revealing, telling us as much about them as they do about the people they described.
Curiosity and horror are mixed with a genuine
fascination; where sternly evangelizing words
failed, armed confrontation occurred; and we
now live with the results, te ao hou, a new world. In this world, today, wahine mau kauae, tangata mau moko, pukanohi – wearers – are speaking for themselves, about themselves, and commenting on how others view them. Unanimously, they insist that the decision to take the marking is about continuity, affirmation, identity and commitment. It is also about wearing those ancestors, carrying them into the future; as their moko become a companion, a salient being with its own life force, its own integrity and power, beyond the face.

year: 2004-04-04