Journal of International Management最新文献

There has been much debate on the role of multinational enterprises (MNEs) in ‘Bottom of the Pyramid’ (BOP) markets. MNEs are advised to overcome institutional voids by making maximum usage of informal institutions. In practice, the empirical support for MNEs' success and their contributions to the sustainable development of BOP markets has been limited. In this article, we focus on a realistic path –including the role of MNEs in this journey– to overcome the ‘poverty premium.’ The poverty premium refers to goods being available to BOP customers only at a very high cost, especially when using credit, and we attempt to address the root causes of this barrier. We present an actionable, transaction cost economics (TCE) based approach for MNEs and other market actors to strengthen and leverage contract-enforcing institutions in the long-term, using illustrative examples of the digital and financial inclusion journey observable in India. Our study confirms the continued need in BOP markets to build on conventional economics and management thinking, for the poorest people to be lifted out of poverty. Here, efficient formal institutions do matter.

Despite the burgeoning studies on corporate social responsibility (CSR), little is known about how its three dimensions (i.e., environmental, ethical, and social) influence brand performance. This article examines how corporate social responsibility influences brand performance in Ghana. Results from data collected from 1106 distributing, wholesaling, retailing and vending firms involved in telecommunications activities in Ghana indicate that brand knowledge positively impacts organisational brand value. Additionally, we find that environmental CSR is positively related to brand knowledge and brand loyalty. The study further revealed that ethical CSR has a positive impact on brand knowledge and brand loyalty. Also, social CSR is positively related to brand knowledge and organisational brand value. This study advances our understanding of how CSR dimensions affect brand performance.

This study proposes an integrative framework for analyzing the interdependence of multiple institutional supports for necessity- and opportunity-based female entrepreneurship across countries. The proposed framework incorporates three streams of national institutional systems to capture cross-country variations in national economic institutions, social welfare systems, and socio-cultural attitudes that jointly promote both types of female entrepreneurship. We conducted a fuzzy-set qualitative comparative analysis of data from the Global Entrepreneurship Monitor, which covered 150 country-year observations for 65 countries between 2011 and 2014. The findings suggest that while the two types of female entrepreneurship are associated with different configurations of national institutional supports, there are multiple equifinal pathways for each type to prosper. This study enriches the literature on female entrepreneurship by explicating its institutional embeddedness across countries, thus providing policymakers with important policy implications for supporting female entrepreneurship.

This study examines the impact of the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) on regional trade in the Information and Communication Technology (ICT) and Digital Technologies (DT) sector across 43 African countries from 2014 to 2021. Employing the augmented gravity model and confidence-level estimations, it highlights AfCFTA's mediating role in enabling ICT&DT trade on the continent. Using hierarchical regression analysis of a panel dataset comprising 5,160 observations, the findings imply that trade openness and productive capacities not only facilitate trade in the ICT&DT sector but also result in positive spillover effects across various economic sectors. This study contributes to the international business literature by refining the application of the gravity model to capture the need for sector-specific analyses to unpack institutional dynamics and dis-enablers of trade. It identifies AfCFTA as a pivotal yet underexplored element in the global trade landscape, highlighting its potential as Africa seeks a more prominent role on the global stage. The research stresses the significance of digital empowerment and policy reforms to maximise the benefits of regional integration under AfCFTA.

International entrepreneurship (IE) theory assumes that international entrepreneurial orientation (IEO) and international networks provide foundations of early internationalisation. However, the doubt remains whether the five disaggregated dimensions of IEO play an equally relevant role in SMEs' early access to foreign markets, as well as whether International Networking Orientation (INO) can act as a differentiating factor and foster this relationship. In this sequence, this study aims: i) unpack the distinct impacts of IEO dimensions on early internationalisation, and ii) examine the moderating effects of INO on the relationship between IEO dimensions and early internationalisation, and we also iii) unpack INO effects with competitors and with non-competitors. Using a sample of 171 Portuguese SMEs and resorting to the development of logistic regression models, our results supported that the direct effects on early internationalisation vary across the dimensions of IEO – while innovativeness, autonomy, and competitive aggressiveness positively affect SMEs' early internationalisation, the direct effects of risk-taking and proactiveness were not statistically significant. Besides, we found corroborating evidence that INO with competitors presents a positive moderating effect between innovativeness and early internationalisation. This study reinforces the perspective of SMEs configuring diversified intangible strategic assets to accelerate internationalisation processes, bringing several theoretical and managerial implications.

Emerging market multinational enterprises (EMNEs) often engage in strategic asset-seeking acquisitions to promote innovation catch-up. However, it is unclear why only some EMNEs improve their innovation performance when they face the liability of emergingness (LoE) in overseas markets. To resolve this puzzle, we investigated how EMNEs leverage internal and external LoE to achieve high innovation performance through strategic asset-seeking acquisitions. Application of configurational analysis to data from 162 acquisitions initiated by Chinese multinationals between 2013 and 2017 reveals four scenarios associated with different levels of innovation performance. The results highlight that Chinese multinationals' post-acquisition innovation performance is greater (lower) when both internal and external LoE are low (high), and that entrenched diplomatic relationships are needed to benefit from strategic asset-seeking acquisitions when external LoE is high. Our methodological contribution generates findings that explain variations in EMNEs' innovation performance when pursuing strategic asset-seeking acquisitions, and these findings corroborate the theoretical stance that the effects of strategic asset-seeking acquisitions on innovation performance should be viewed through the lens of the complexities and nuances of LoE.

Research on corporate social innovations (CSI) acknowledges the tensions caused by different stakeholder expectations but is silent on the strategies multinational enterprises (MNEs) adopt to address these tensions. We advance a configurational perspective that recognizes the interdependencies between stakeholder engagement, dynamic capabilities and impactful CSIs. We develop a framework of stakeholder engagement strategies delineating how MNEs manage tradeoffs between conforming to internal stakeholder expectations through strategic intent and being inclusive by routinizing CSIs. The analysis draws on 32 cases of CSI aimed at reducing inequality and enhancing sustainability. These cases were initiated by MNEs headquartered in North America, Africa, Europe, the UK and Australia. We identify combinations of engagement strategies and dynamic capabilities linked to impactful CSI. Our findings highlight the multiple ways in which MNEs can manage different stakeholder preferences to achieve societal impact.

Multinational enterprises (MNEs) are increasingly off-shoring some of their R&D to emerging markets, including China. Much of the extant literature on MNEs' investments in R&D facilities abroad analyses technological and institutional factors at the national level, typically using regressions to examine how host-country institutions influence foreign MNEs' outlays. It, therefore, tends to downplay the importance of sub-national and non-technology-related institutions, and how configurations of home- and host-country institutions interact to influence R&D commitments abroad. Drawing on the global factory model and the Varieties of Capitalism approach, we identify five causal conditions that may influence MNEs' R&D commitments abroad. Conducting an abductive fuzzy-set qualitative comparative analysis, we find four combinations of causal conditions are sufficient to explain substantial R&D commitments in different Chinese provinces. The combination of local corruption and provincial R&D intensity is important, as are the MNE's home-country stock-market capitalization to GDP ratio and minority investor protection. We contribute to the literature on MNEs' investments abroad by extending the importance of sub-national institutions to include those not directly related to technology. We also reveal how combinations of institutions (rather than individual ones acting independently) from the MNE's home and host contexts explain MNEs' R&D commitments in Chinese provinces.

Abstract

State capitalism has been a growing phenomenon since the early 2010s. This is especially the case in emerging markets, in which the state plays a viable and strong role. As it has become particularly prominent due to the international activities of stateowned enterprises (SOEs), state capitalism has been widely discussed in the international business literature. Scholars have emphasized the need to explore the various kinds of state capitalism and to advance our knowledge of its influence on the international activities of firms, beyond that it exerts on SOEs. We proposed the concept of state capitalism as embodied by an omnipresent state that influences the internationalization of both state-owned and private firms. Integrating institutional theory and agency theory, we examined the international activities of Russian SOEs and private firms over the 2013-2018 period and found state ownership and political connections to be the two mechanisms by which state capitalism in Russia can negatively affect the internationalization activities of Russian firms.

As emerging market enterprises (EMEs) shift from passive foreign capital acquisition to proactive “going global” strategies, do their outbound cross-border mergers and acquisitions (M&As) stimulate innovation? By analyzing China's M&A data from 2007 to 2020, we explore firms' total R&D, exploitative R&D, and exploratory R&D. Employing difference-in-differences (DID) and propensity score matching (PSM) methodologies, our findings indicate that, compared to inbound cross-border M&As, proactive outbound cross-border M&As promote firms' exploitative R&D but inhibit total and exploratory R&D. EMEs engaged in outbound and inbound cross-border M&As exhibit distinct R&D orientations. The effects of outbound cross-border M&As on firms' R&D are moderated differently by government subsidies and the intensity of regional intellectual property protection. Further analysis underscores the advantages of participating in cross-border M&As (firms as acquirers and targets) over domestic M&As. Moreover, outbound cross-border M&As increase firms' substantial innovation outputs. Our study further proves that what drives the results is not solely the international dimension of M&As; proactive engagement in outbound cross-border M&As holds greater significance.