Market and operational knowledge in expanding from one emerging country to another: Pirelli in Argentina

This article analyzes the internationalization pattern of Pirelli followed in Argentina during the first half of the twentieth century. It focuses on Pirelli’s market entry and on the establishment of international relationships that preceded and accompanied this entry, showing that the internationalization model adopted by the Italian multinational is consistent with the more recent revisions of the classical Uppsala model, wherein internationalization is described as a network building process. This article stresses in particular multinational enterprises’ capability of acquiring both market and operational knowledge through relationships, suggesting a hierarchy in terms of strategic relevance between these two types of knowledge.