Journal of International Management最新文献

Underpinning Resource-Based View (RBV) and Relational View (RV) as theoretical premises, we examine the influence of the macro and micro-level factors on inter-organisational relationship/alliances dynamics and competitive advantage of Focal Firms (FF) operating in an emerging Small Island Economy (SIE), Mauritius. Data gathered from in-depth interviews of boundary spanners of FF from diverse industries and sectors, were analysed using the open, axial, and selective coding procedure to establish the main factors influencing inter-organisational relationship dynamics and competitive advantage. Our findings explain and provide insights into the embedded nature of the firms, inter-organisational relationships, value co-creation (VCC), internationalisation capabilities and performance. The novel themes of cultural intelligence and tight-knit society were considered pivotal to firms' relational strategy and advantage, locally; and in their VCC and internationalisation opportunities and capabilities. Our propositions on the emerging themes and the core category web of ties stemming from the situational features define Mauritius, and the multi-level theoretical framework can be extended to understand inter-organisational relationship/alliances in other emerging economies with similar architecture.

Unforeseen environmental shocks, such as the Covid-19 pandemic, often throw organizations into disarray and chaos. Although some organizations can successfully navigate these crises by implementing effective coping strategies, others need more knowledge on crisis management. This paper proposes strategic renewal for multinational enterprises (MNEs) facing such challenges and emphasizes the importance of developing knowledge acquisition, exploitation capabilities, and ambidextrous leadership. Based on an integrative literature review and adopting a pragmatist paradigm approach, we present a multivariate process map for strategic renewal during crises. This can be a valuable tool for MNE practitioners to prepare for future crises preemptively.

This study extends the concept of liability of foreignness from for-profit firms to “hybrid” organizations that combine financial and social goals. By using a global dataset of 655 microfinance institutions (MFIs) observed in 77 countries between 1998 and 2015, we investigate the effect of foreignness on the financial and social performance of MFIs. The results suggest a negative effect of foreignness on the financial and social performance of hybrid organizations. Our results also suggest that the negative financial performance effect of foreignness is stronger in organizations with high social performance and in MFIs hosted in institutionally weaker countries. Furthermore, our results emphasize the moderating influence of scaling and longer tenure of MFIs in their host countries. Interestingly, our findings also shed light on the dual nature of scaling, demonstrating both its positive and negative moderating effects. By applying the concept of liability of foreignness this study enriches the understanding of performance in international hybrid organizations.

While the international entrepreneurship literature suggests that international entrepreneurial orientation (IEO) is a critical strategic posture that can enhance the speed of internationalisation, the drivers pertaining to entrepreneurial aspiration in the international entrepreneurship context remains underexplored. Using the theory of planned behaviour, this study explored how IEO arising from international entrepreneurial aspiration triggers the speed of internationalisation of entrepreneurial ventures in an emerging economy – Ghana. Based on a moderated mediation model, this study posits that international political network ties moderates the positive link between IEO and internationalisation speed and strengthens the positive indirect effect between international entrepreneurial aspiration and the speed of internationalisation. Results from a sample of 229 entrepreneurial ventures supported our hypotheses. Theoretical and practical implications, as well as the limitations and future research directions are discussed.

This study aims to bridge the research on entrepreneur's identity with the literature on cross-country institutions in a digital platform context. It investigates how cross-country institutions impact the effectiveness of digital identities in influencing individual entrepreneurs' success on digital platforms. We offer a granular approach to understanding the role of digital identity by dividing it into two dimensions: the social and the virtual. The social dimension captures individual entrepreneurs' real faces, while the virtual dimension reflects the interactions with stakeholders through social network sites. We argue that both dimensions contribute to individual entrepreneurs' success on digital platforms, while their effectiveness varies across diverse institutional environments in their target countries. We suggest individual entrepreneurs who emphasize the social dimension are more likely to succeed in countries with low network readiness, whereas those who target a country with high network readiness should attach more importance to the virtual dimension. Our empirical analysis of 405 emerging YouTube channels supports our arguments.

The COVID-19 pandemic significantly impacted expatriates' work experiences, emphasizing the need to understand how organizations can mitigate negative consequences through meaningful support. However, a research gap exists regarding the association between perceived organizational support and cross-cultural psychological capital, creativity, and turnover intentions among expatriates during global crises. Drawing on the Social Exchange Theory and Conservation of Resource model, this quantitative study collected data from 314 expatriates in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia during the pandemic. Results revealed the significance of POS in reducing turnover intentions, fostering creativity, and enhancing cross-cultural psychological capital. These findings offer valuable recommendations for global organizations to fulfill their moral responsibility in providing meaningful support to expatriate employees during crises. Additionally, the study contributes to the literature on the impact of organizational support on expatriate outcomes amid uncertainty.

Although internationalization has been extensively studied, the majority of analyses have focused on motives and enablers, also known as triggers, with less attention paid to internationalization paths. To add to the internationalization paths debate, we explore global niche players dubbed as Hidden Champions from Germany and Britain. Our findings show that a large portion of these firms experience an international ‘rebirth’ by adopting a more accelerated approach to internationalization after already gaining first international experience. This is mainly through exporting activity, which is a variation of the Born-Again Global phenomenon. Due to their unique internationalization path, we call these firms Re-Born-Again Globals. Furthermore, we uncover the critical incidents for the internationalization of these firms, namely changes in management, technology advances, and product diversification.

The establishment of the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) has opened new avenues of research interest in International Business and International Management. However, scholarly work in this fledgling area of research has been disparate and often lacking in the assessment of core international business implications of the emergence of the AfCFTA on member states as well as non-member states. This is because, as yet, no systematic attempt has been made to explore the AfCFTA in the context of IB research, or project future IB research directions. Hence, in this paper, using the PRISMA method we have systematically identified the current published research and scholarly work on the AfCFTA and provided a robust picture of the current state of knowledge and available literature on the AfCFTA while at the same time outlining potential areas for future international business research.

The performance implications of internationalization have been a matter of debate in management literature for decades. Similar to developed market multinational enterprises (DMNEs), scholars found that emerging-market internationalizing firms (EMIFs) have initial costs and subsequent benefits of internationalization such that internationalization-performance (I-P) relationship is U-shaped. Emergingness of EMIFs gives us the opportunity to theorize how these internationalizing firms develop novel capabilities relevant to their state of evolution and resource conditions. Relying on resource management theory, we propose two capabilities – management of R&D investments (RIM) to balance between market and resource seeking motivations and re-deployment of strategic resources (SRD) to catch-up with the competitors. We use 20 years data from 837 Indian firms to empirically test whether the proposed capabilities steepen the I-P relationship and shift the turning point of the U-shaped curve to left. We find empirical support for our hypotheses, and thereby contribute to the literature on resource management in EMIFs and empirical analysis of non-linear relationship.

In this study, we aim to better understand the springboard perspective by examining how emerging market firms manage the process of ‘recursive’ cross-border acquisitions. Based on the attention-based view of the firm and resource dependence theory, we propose that ‘recursive’ CBAs augment activity load, limiting decision-makers' information processing capacity. As a result, acquiring firms depend on external resources in the form of more professional advisors. This relationship strengthens when the target firm has a greater degree of product diversity but weakens when the acquiring firm has context-specific experience. From 2000 to 2022, we used a multi-country sample of 2621 CBAs from Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa and found support for our hypotheses.