Global disasters and the luck of the draw? A serendipity perspective on MNE responses to global disasters

Abstract

Why do some MNEs manage to thrive amidst global disasters? Amidst the most tumultuous of unprecedented global disasters, some MNEs still seem to thrive. While the MNE-disaster response literature often considers responses as deliberately planned actions, some organizations can simply find themselves at the ‘right place at the right time’ during disasters. Yet not all that MNEs seem able to leverage favorable chance events hidden within a disaster context. Accordingly, in this study, we apply the emerging theoretical lens of serendipity to theorize MNE disaster response, illustrated by Chinese MNE's responses to the COVID-19 pandemic. While disasters are expected to be detrimental to MNEs, this unprecedented crisis has shown mixed effects. We collect 89 articles from Caijing—an authoritative business magazine in China and conducted a qualitative analysis of manager-oriented discourse to investigate how the MNE managers made sense of the impact of COVID-19 pandemic. We use the emerging serendipity perspective to recast and interpret reasons behind these mixed outcomes, drawing attention to why some MNE managers were able to ‘connect the dots’ and perceive value in the unexpected. Overall, we advance a timely introduction of serendipity to the MNE disaster response literature and build a preliminary bridge between theory, practice, and chance.