The internationalization of Latin American industrial firms

The Latin American countries’ position within the international economy finds concrete expression in the international operations of their business enterprises. Some of these operations, such as international trade and finance in major world markets, are already traditional activities of leading Latin American firms, and at least since the mid-1970s, these firms have been part of a rapid internationalization process which gave rise both to the export boom of the 1980s and also to the heavy private external borrowing seen in the 1970s.