De-internationalization: An organizational institutionalism perspective

Abstract

Few studies have focused on de-internationalization. In this study, partial and full de-internationalization are considered as export responses in the context of firms in a highly opaque field that were pursuant to a policy that would not serve their intended goals. With intellectual property rights (IPRs) serving as a coercive policy defining the domain of inquiry and compliance as the driver for firm responses, the institutional logic of national interest, firm orientation (interests, decisions), firm maneuvering (intentional-reactive, involuntary-proactive), and firm response (partial and full de-internationalization) was unpacked alongside associated institutional complexities through the lens of organizational institutionalism. Noteworthily, the organizational institutionalism theory of de-internationalization suggests that (1) partial de-internationalization characterized by intentional-reactive maneuvering across three variants of means-ends decoupling involving balancing, pacifying, and bargaining, and (2) full de-internationalization involving involuntary-proactive maneuvering in exiting or withdrawing from the international market may occur in response to (3) institutional constraints such as IPRs in favor of national interest. Thus, this study sheds light on the asymmetry between institutional logic and institutional complexity and the firm responses to such institutional arrangements, thereby delineating the manner in which the aforementioned concepts could relate to each other to enrich our understanding of de-internationalization in international business.