On the Globalness of Emerging Multinationals: A Study of Indian MNEs

Abstract

Contrary to contentions in prior literature that emerging multinationals are only regional players, the evidence on the globalness of Indian firms presented in this study suggests that a number of emerging multinationals are global firms. Their strategies are targeted at both the developed and developing markets with the intensity of their overseas operations comparable or far greater than those of the world’s leading multinationals. Many of these firms have greater sales or capital assets outside their home base. Indeed, many of them qualify as global firms as they have a significant presence (over 10 percent of sales) in each of the four regions (triad and the non-triad developing regions) and no one region accounts for more than 50 per cent of their global sales. The study of the transformation of emerging multinationals into non-home region players provides considerable potential for better understanding management theories and practices.