Pub Date : 2025-12-22DOI: 10.1016/j.intman.2025.101325
Rai Siddhant Sinha , M.K. Nandakumar , Martina Battisti
This work theorizes about the dyadic interplay between entrepreneurs and VCs and how these individual-level interactions lead to firm-level outcomes such as the decision to internationalize. We integrate agency and prospect theories to explain how different combinations of risk preferences between entrepreneurs and VCs can reduce or increase agency effects and the subsequent effect on the propensity to internationalize. Using prospect theory's utility curve, we conceptualize the reference point as an individual's aspiration to illustrate how higher entrepreneurial aspiration (reference point shifting) helps mitigate agency effects and increases the propensity to internationalize. We further enhance the explanatory power of our theory by introducing the notion of (shared) mental models and cross-understanding to the internationalization literature. Based on six different scenarios, we provide several testable propositions and future research directions that can enrich international entrepreneurship theory and practice.
{"title":"When agency theory weds prospect theory! How does VC–entrepreneur's dyadic interplay impact internationalization of a born global firm?","authors":"Rai Siddhant Sinha , M.K. Nandakumar , Martina Battisti","doi":"10.1016/j.intman.2025.101325","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.intman.2025.101325","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>This work theorizes about the dyadic interplay between entrepreneurs and VCs and how these individual-level interactions lead to firm-level outcomes such as the decision to internationalize. We integrate agency and prospect theories to explain how different combinations of risk preferences between entrepreneurs and VCs can reduce or increase agency effects and the subsequent effect on the propensity to internationalize. Using prospect theory's utility curve, we conceptualize the reference point as an individual's aspiration to illustrate how higher entrepreneurial aspiration (reference point shifting) helps mitigate agency effects and increases the propensity to internationalize. We further enhance the explanatory power of our theory by introducing the notion of (shared) mental models and cross-understanding to the internationalization literature. Based on six different scenarios, we provide several testable propositions and future research directions that can enrich international entrepreneurship theory and practice.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":47937,"journal":{"name":"Journal of International Management","volume":"32 1","pages":"Article 101325"},"PeriodicalIF":4.9,"publicationDate":"2025-12-22","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145915363","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"管理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2025-12-18DOI: 10.1016/j.intman.2025.101324
Yi Sun , Yong Lin , Yongjiang Shi
This study examines how emerging-market multinational enterprises (EMNEs) sustain their international operations through ecosystem-level resource orchestration amid geopolitical conflicts. Unlike advanced-market multinational enterprises (AMNEs) that rely on well-established valuable, rare, inimitable, and non-substitutable (VRIN) resources, EMNEs often compensate for institutional and resource deficiencies by acquiring VRIN resources abroad while leveraging home-country capabilities. Yet these traditional strategies, developed under assumptions of global integration, are increasingly disrupted by geopolitical shocks that constrain resource mobility and accessibility. Adopting an ecosystem perspective, we investigate how EMNEs coordinate resource flows across home and host ecosystems to adapt to systemic uncertainty. Based on multiple case studies of three Chinese engineering and construction EMNEs, we conceptualize geopolitical-ecosystemic rupture and geopolitical-ecosystemic erosion as dual manifestations of geopolitical disruption that jointly propel EMNE ecosystems into a new sustaining stage of ecosystem evolution. In this stage, firms shift from expansion toward risk mitigation through three ecosystem resource geo-strategies: integrating home-ordinary with host-VRIN resources, bundling home-ordinary with host-ordinary resources, and reconfiguring home-VRIN with host-VRIN resources. This study advances EMNE theory by revealing how geopolitical conflicts reshape global resource management, extends ecosystem theory by introducing a sustaining stage of evolution, and broadens the resource-based view (RBV) and the composition-based view (CBV) to the ecosystem level, highlighting a shift from resource acquisition to cross-ecosystem recombination and the resilience-enhancing role of host-country ordinary resources.
{"title":"Sustaining ecosystems amid geopolitical conflicts: Evidence from Chinese EMNEs","authors":"Yi Sun , Yong Lin , Yongjiang Shi","doi":"10.1016/j.intman.2025.101324","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.intman.2025.101324","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>This study examines how emerging-market multinational enterprises (EMNEs) sustain their international operations through ecosystem-level resource orchestration amid geopolitical conflicts. Unlike advanced-market multinational enterprises (AMNEs) that rely on well-established valuable, rare, inimitable, and non-substitutable (VRIN) resources, EMNEs often compensate for institutional and resource deficiencies by acquiring VRIN resources abroad while leveraging home-country capabilities. Yet these traditional strategies, developed under assumptions of global integration, are increasingly disrupted by geopolitical shocks that constrain resource mobility and accessibility. Adopting an ecosystem perspective, we investigate how EMNEs coordinate resource flows across home and host ecosystems to adapt to systemic uncertainty. Based on multiple case studies of three Chinese engineering and construction EMNEs, we conceptualize geopolitical-ecosystemic rupture and geopolitical-ecosystemic erosion as dual manifestations of geopolitical disruption that jointly propel EMNE ecosystems into a new sustaining stage of ecosystem evolution. In this stage, firms shift from expansion toward risk mitigation through three ecosystem resource geo-strategies: integrating home-ordinary with host-VRIN resources, bundling home-ordinary with host-ordinary resources, and reconfiguring home-VRIN with host-VRIN resources. This study advances EMNE theory by revealing how geopolitical conflicts reshape global resource management, extends ecosystem theory by introducing a sustaining stage of evolution, and broadens the resource-based view (RBV) and the composition-based view (CBV) to the ecosystem level, highlighting a shift from resource acquisition to cross-ecosystem recombination and the resilience-enhancing role of host-country ordinary resources.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":47937,"journal":{"name":"Journal of International Management","volume":"32 1","pages":"Article 101324"},"PeriodicalIF":4.9,"publicationDate":"2025-12-18","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145915362","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"管理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2025-12-08DOI: 10.1016/j.intman.2025.101316
Ludan Wu , Dylan Sutherland , Qi Chen
Springboard theory emphasizes the imperative for emerging market multinational enterprises (EMNEs) to catch up with developed market MNEs (DMNEs) by acquiring and repatriating assets from strategic asset-rich foreign targets. However, the theory underemphasizes the location-bound nature of many target firm capabilities, which may compel acquirers to invest in those firms in situ. We hypothesize that EMNEs, in pursuing firm-level catch-up, are more likely than DMNEs to foster post-acquisition intangible asset growth in target firms. We further argue that (a) institutional distance and (b) related international experience positively moderate this effect for EMNEs, while (c) cultural distance exerts a comparatively stronger negative impact on them. Using a longitudinal sample of 1975 intangible asset-rich target firms and 1373 acquirers from 2010 to 2019, we employ propensity score matching and time-varying difference-in-differences analysis. Our results support the hypothesized differences and offer implications for EMNE strategy, the refinement of springboard theory, and policy design.
{"title":"How do international springboard acquisitions impact intangible asset creation in foreign target firms? An international comparative analysis of emerging and developed market MNE acquirers","authors":"Ludan Wu , Dylan Sutherland , Qi Chen","doi":"10.1016/j.intman.2025.101316","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.intman.2025.101316","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Springboard theory emphasizes the imperative for emerging market multinational enterprises (EMNEs) to catch up with developed market MNEs (DMNEs) by acquiring and repatriating assets from strategic asset-rich foreign targets. However, the theory underemphasizes the location-bound nature of many target firm capabilities, which may compel acquirers to invest in those firms in situ. We hypothesize that EMNEs, in pursuing firm-level catch-up, are more likely than DMNEs to foster post-acquisition intangible asset growth in target firms. We further argue that (a) institutional distance and (b) related international experience positively moderate this effect for EMNEs, while (c) cultural distance exerts a comparatively stronger negative impact on them. Using a longitudinal sample of 1975 intangible asset-rich target firms and 1373 acquirers from 2010 to 2019, we employ propensity score matching and time-varying difference-in-differences analysis. Our results support the hypothesized differences and offer implications for EMNE strategy, the refinement of springboard theory, and policy design.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":47937,"journal":{"name":"Journal of International Management","volume":"32 1","pages":"Article 101316"},"PeriodicalIF":4.9,"publicationDate":"2025-12-08","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145915369","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"管理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2025-12-08DOI: 10.1016/j.intman.2025.101317
Mike Szymanski, Junbeom Park
This study replicates and extends the findings of Szymanski et al. (2019) on the impact of multicultural managers on organizational performance. Using a significantly larger dataset of 810 teams, we confirm the original results, demonstrating that multicultural leaders positively influence organizational outcomes in highly diverse competitive environments. Additionally, we test the robustness of these findings in a new but related context—female football teams (N = 295)—providing further evidence of the generalizability of multicultural leadership effects. Our study contributes to the international management literature by reinforcing the reliability of prior research and showcasing the advantages of sports data for replication studies. Sports contexts offer publicly available, transparent, and high-quality performance data, facilitating rigorous and replicable research. In an era of increasing concerns about transparency and data accessibility in management research, our findings highlight the potential of sportsbased studies to enhance methodological rigor and strengthen the empirical foundations of international business research.
{"title":"Multicultural managers and competitive advantage: the second leg. Replicating the effect of managers' multicultural backgrounds on organizational performance","authors":"Mike Szymanski, Junbeom Park","doi":"10.1016/j.intman.2025.101317","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.intman.2025.101317","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>This study replicates and extends the findings of Szymanski et al. (2019) on the impact of multicultural managers on organizational performance. Using a significantly larger dataset of 810 teams, we confirm the original results, demonstrating that multicultural leaders positively influence organizational outcomes in highly diverse competitive environments. Additionally, we test the robustness of these findings in a new but related context—female football teams (<em>N</em> = 295)—providing further evidence of the generalizability of multicultural leadership effects. Our study contributes to the international management literature by reinforcing the reliability of prior research and showcasing the advantages of sports data for replication studies. Sports contexts offer publicly available, transparent, and high-quality performance data, facilitating rigorous and replicable research. In an era of increasing concerns about transparency and data accessibility in management research, our findings highlight the potential of sportsbased studies to enhance methodological rigor and strengthen the empirical foundations of international business research.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":47937,"journal":{"name":"Journal of International Management","volume":"32 1","pages":"Article 101317"},"PeriodicalIF":4.9,"publicationDate":"2025-12-08","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145915364","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"管理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2025-12-01DOI: 10.1016/j.intman.2025.101294
Kristin Ringvold , Nicolai J. Foss , Frank Elter
International business research is increasingly taken up with the relations between digitalization and internationalization at the level of multinational enterprises (MNEs). However, so far, the research literature has paid little attention to the important phenomenon of established MNEs that seek to build and replicate digital business models across borders and how they do this. MNEs often rely on established networks in foreign markets, build digital business models on top of existing non-digital businesses, and usually adapt digital business models to local circumstances. Hence, their digital internationalization approach cannot rely on uniform replication of a business model or international scaling, the replication approaches typically highlighted in the literature. Relatedly, the international digitalization strategies of established MNEs involve distinct management challenges that are not currently well understood. To improve the understanding of these challenges, we undertake a qualitative analysis of the cross-border replication of two digital business models by Telenor, a major established firm in the telecom industry. We summarize our findings and analysis in six propositions about the management of digital business model replication across borders by established MNEs.
{"title":"How do established multinational enterprises replicate digital business models across borders? The case of Telenor","authors":"Kristin Ringvold , Nicolai J. Foss , Frank Elter","doi":"10.1016/j.intman.2025.101294","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.intman.2025.101294","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>International business research is increasingly taken up with the relations between digitalization and internationalization at the level of multinational enterprises (MNEs). However, so far, the research literature has paid little attention to the important phenomenon of established MNEs that seek to build and replicate digital business models across borders and how they do this. MNEs often rely on established networks in foreign markets, build digital business models on top of existing non-digital businesses, and usually adapt digital business models to local circumstances. Hence, their digital internationalization approach cannot rely on uniform replication of a business model or international scaling, the replication approaches typically highlighted in the literature. Relatedly, the international digitalization strategies of established MNEs involve distinct management challenges that are not currently well understood. To improve the understanding of these challenges, we undertake a qualitative analysis of the cross-border replication of two digital business models by Telenor, a major established firm in the telecom industry. We summarize our findings and analysis in six propositions about the management of digital business model replication across borders by established MNEs.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":47937,"journal":{"name":"Journal of International Management","volume":"31 6","pages":"Article 101294"},"PeriodicalIF":4.9,"publicationDate":"2025-12-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145705669","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"管理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2025-12-01DOI: 10.1016/j.intman.2025.101304
Xuemeng Liu, Joel Hassan, Hongzhi Gao, Revti Raman Sharma
The 2018 U.S.–China trade war signaled the emergence of selective de-globalization, fueled by China's rapid technological advancement and growing U.S. concerns over national security and economic rivalry. Government interventions have disrupted global supply chains, compelling MNEs to reassess their sourcing strategies. This study draws on neo-institutional theory, integrating geopolitical coercive pressures and geopolitical legitimacy to analyze firms' strategic responses under selective de-globalization.
Applying an abductive approach, we examine five case studies of firms from the U.S. and India. These cases reveal a shift from regulatory to geopolitical coercion, prompting a redefinition of legitimacy as geopolitical legitimacy. Through this new understanding of geopolitical legitimacy, which incorporates both home-country and global dimensions, we provide a framework for assessing MNE responses to escalating geopolitical pressures. We categorize firms' sourcing strategies into four types: substantial decoupling, symbolic decoupling, balanced decoupling, and no decoupling. Our study provides a new institutional framework for understanding MNE sourcing adjustments under selective de-globalization, offering practical insights for businesses and policymakers and suggesting future research directions.
{"title":"A typology of de-coupling in international sourcing by MNEs in selective de-globalization","authors":"Xuemeng Liu, Joel Hassan, Hongzhi Gao, Revti Raman Sharma","doi":"10.1016/j.intman.2025.101304","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.intman.2025.101304","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>The 2018 U.S.–China trade war signaled the emergence of selective de-globalization, fueled by China's rapid technological advancement and growing U.S. concerns over national security and economic rivalry. Government interventions have disrupted global supply chains, compelling MNEs to reassess their sourcing strategies. This study draws on neo-institutional theory, integrating geopolitical coercive pressures and geopolitical legitimacy to analyze firms' strategic responses under selective de-globalization.</div><div>Applying an abductive approach, we examine five case studies of firms from the U.S. and India. These cases reveal a shift from regulatory to geopolitical coercion, prompting a redefinition of legitimacy as geopolitical legitimacy. Through this new understanding of geopolitical legitimacy, which incorporates both home-country and global dimensions, we provide a framework for assessing MNE responses to escalating geopolitical pressures. We categorize firms' sourcing strategies into four types: substantial decoupling, symbolic decoupling, balanced decoupling, and no decoupling. Our study provides a new institutional framework for understanding MNE sourcing adjustments under selective de-globalization, offering practical insights for businesses and policymakers and suggesting future research directions.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":47937,"journal":{"name":"Journal of International Management","volume":"31 6","pages":"Article 101304"},"PeriodicalIF":4.9,"publicationDate":"2025-12-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145705676","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"管理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2025-12-01DOI: 10.1016/j.intman.2025.101309
Javad E. Nooshabadi , Audra I. Mockaitis , Richa Chugh
This research seeks to enrich our understanding of small and entrepreneurial firms' internationalization processes by investigating how the dark triad personality traits (Machiavellianism, narcissism, and psychopathy) of chief executive officers (CEOs) influence international strategic choices. We conceptualize the relationship between CEO dark triad personality traits and born global internationalization. The premise is that dark triad CEOs may benefit firms by hastening the pace of internationalization. Firms led by dark triad CEOs are likely to pursue early and rapid internationalization (born global) through a blend of exploration, exploitation, and reconfiguration activities, deviating from the traditional, incremental approach (the Uppsala model) to international expansion.
{"title":"Dark triad personality traits and born global internationalization","authors":"Javad E. Nooshabadi , Audra I. Mockaitis , Richa Chugh","doi":"10.1016/j.intman.2025.101309","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.intman.2025.101309","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>This research seeks to enrich our understanding of small and entrepreneurial firms' internationalization processes by investigating how the dark triad personality traits (Machiavellianism, narcissism, and psychopathy) of chief executive officers (CEOs) influence international strategic choices. We conceptualize the relationship between CEO dark triad personality traits and born global internationalization. The premise is that dark triad CEOs may benefit firms by hastening the pace of internationalization. Firms led by dark triad CEOs are likely to pursue early and rapid internationalization (born global) through a blend of exploration, exploitation, and reconfiguration activities, deviating from the traditional, incremental approach (the Uppsala model) to international expansion.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":47937,"journal":{"name":"Journal of International Management","volume":"31 6","pages":"Article 101309"},"PeriodicalIF":4.9,"publicationDate":"2025-12-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145705663","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"管理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2025-12-01DOI: 10.1016/j.intman.2025.101292
Tetsuya Usui , Masaaki Kotabe
Home-based firm-specific advantages (FSAs) are fundamental in shaping the initial business models of multinational corporations, serving as the primary source of competitive strength in foreign market expansion. However, prior research offers limited clarity on the processes by which firms identify and leverage these home-based resources to create value abroad. Through an embedded case study of a firm's simultaneous foreign market entries, we highlight the critical managerial practices involved in effectively leveraging home-based FSAs. Building on these findings, we introduce a resource repositioning framework that demonstrates how firms can systematically transform home-based resources into non-location-bound FSAs, thereby establishing robust competitive positions across diverse international markets.
{"title":"How do you identify and leverage your advantage: Developing a resource repositioning framework","authors":"Tetsuya Usui , Masaaki Kotabe","doi":"10.1016/j.intman.2025.101292","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.intman.2025.101292","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Home-based firm-specific advantages (FSAs) are fundamental in shaping the initial business models of multinational corporations, serving as the primary source of competitive strength in foreign market expansion. However, prior research offers limited clarity on the processes by which firms identify and leverage these home-based resources to create value abroad. Through an embedded case study of a firm's simultaneous foreign market entries, we highlight the critical managerial practices involved in effectively leveraging home-based FSAs. Building on these findings, we introduce a resource repositioning framework that demonstrates how firms can systematically transform home-based resources into non-location-bound FSAs, thereby establishing robust competitive positions across diverse international markets.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":47937,"journal":{"name":"Journal of International Management","volume":"31 6","pages":"Article 101292"},"PeriodicalIF":4.9,"publicationDate":"2025-12-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145705667","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"管理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2025-12-01DOI: 10.1016/j.intman.2025.101310
Manon Meschi , Anna Dimitrova , Dora Triki
We investigate how exporting SMEs respond to the underexplored, yet increasingly important, risk of cargo hijacking and how two dimensions of firms' international experience, i.e., length and diversity, moderate this relationship. Combining contingency theory and organizational learning theory and using a unique dataset of 3240 French exporting SMEs, we reveal that the risk of cargo hijacking significantly affects SMEs' export strategy in a rather unusual way: when exposed to this risk SMEs tend to enter new export markets to offset the potential loss of affected destinations and maintain a diversified export market portfolio. Moreover, the propensity to enter new markets when exposed to a cargo hijacking risk is amplified by the diversity of experience the firm has acquired through operating in contexts characterized by varying levels of country risk. However, a firm's length of experience in foreign export markets has no significant moderating effect, thus reaffirming that not all experience is equal. We contribute to extant research on SMEs' internationalization and exogenous risks by highlighting that cargo hijacking constitutes not only a risk, but also an opportunity for firms to expand into new markets. We also reveal that it is the diversity, rather than the length of international experience, that plays a key role in strengthening export market expansion.
{"title":"Risk on the road: How cargo hijacking impacts SMEs' new export market entry and why international experience matters","authors":"Manon Meschi , Anna Dimitrova , Dora Triki","doi":"10.1016/j.intman.2025.101310","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.intman.2025.101310","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>We investigate how exporting SMEs respond to the underexplored, yet increasingly important, risk of cargo hijacking and how two dimensions of firms' international experience, i.e., length and diversity, moderate this relationship. Combining contingency theory and organizational learning theory and using a unique dataset of 3240 French exporting SMEs, we reveal that the risk of cargo hijacking significantly affects SMEs' export strategy in a rather unusual way: when exposed to this risk SMEs tend to enter new export markets to offset the potential loss of affected destinations and maintain a diversified export market portfolio. Moreover, the propensity to enter new markets when exposed to a cargo hijacking risk is amplified by the diversity of experience the firm has acquired through operating in contexts characterized by varying levels of country risk. However, a firm's length of experience in foreign export markets has no significant moderating effect, thus reaffirming that not all experience is equal. We contribute to extant research on SMEs' internationalization and exogenous risks by highlighting that cargo hijacking constitutes not only a risk, but also an opportunity for firms to expand into new markets. We also reveal that it is the diversity, rather than the length of international experience, that plays a key role in strengthening export market expansion.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":47937,"journal":{"name":"Journal of International Management","volume":"31 6","pages":"Article 101310"},"PeriodicalIF":4.9,"publicationDate":"2025-12-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145705662","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"管理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2025-12-01DOI: 10.1016/j.intman.2025.101305
Leon Faifman , Ru-Shiun Liou , Kimberly Ellis
Utilizing a sample of 1103 cross-border acquisitions by 792 EMNEs from 27 emerging economies, this study examines how home-country institutional constraints influence ownership strategy in international expansion. We find that political instability and corruption exert opposing effects on EMNEs' pursuit of controlling ownership — while political instability deters control, corruption motivates it. Drawing on the institutional escapism perspective, we show that EMNEs proactively adjust ownership structures to navigate institutional adversity. Moreover, firm-level political ties (e.g., government ownership) moderate these effects, especially under political instability, constraining firms' ability to escape. We further explore how military ties between home and host countries shape ownership decisions amid rising geopolitical tensions. By examining how home-country institutional constraints interact with firm-level political ties and cross-national military relationships, this study contributes to a more nuanced understanding of EMNE ownership strategy through the lens of institutional theory and international business strategy in politically complex environments.
{"title":"Escaping political instability and corruption: Emerging market multinational enterprises' controlling ownership in cross-border acquisitions","authors":"Leon Faifman , Ru-Shiun Liou , Kimberly Ellis","doi":"10.1016/j.intman.2025.101305","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.intman.2025.101305","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Utilizing a sample of 1103 cross-border acquisitions by 792 EMNEs from 27 emerging economies, this study examines how home-country institutional constraints influence ownership strategy in international expansion. We find that political instability and corruption exert opposing effects on EMNEs' pursuit of controlling ownership — while political instability deters control, corruption motivates it. Drawing on the institutional escapism perspective, we show that EMNEs proactively adjust ownership structures to navigate institutional adversity. Moreover, firm-level political ties (e.g., government ownership) moderate these effects, especially under political instability, constraining firms' ability to escape. We further explore how military ties between home and host countries shape ownership decisions amid rising geopolitical tensions. By examining how home-country institutional constraints interact with firm-level political ties and cross-national military relationships, this study contributes to a more nuanced understanding of EMNE ownership strategy through the lens of institutional theory and international business strategy in politically complex environments.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":47937,"journal":{"name":"Journal of International Management","volume":"31 6","pages":"Article 101305"},"PeriodicalIF":4.9,"publicationDate":"2025-12-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145705677","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"管理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
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