International Business Review最新文献

Beyond the knowledge acquisition facilitated by global value chain (GVC) participation for small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), extant studies have largely overlooked its impact on the knowledge structure (knowledge depth vs. breadth) of SMEs, whose GVC linkages are normally trapped in captive relationships dedicated to customized and exclusive tasks. Introducing an interactive perspective of power-embeddedness logic, this study examines how GVC participation affects SMEs’ knowledge structure. Based on the large longitudinal data of China’s SMEs, estimations from the Panel Fixed effects model and Negative Binomial model indicate that while GVC participation has a positive effect on knowledge depth, it has an inverted U-shaped effect on knowledge breadth. Moreover, relationship history and indigenous R&D differently moderate the effects of GVC participation on knowledge depth and breadth by influencing either power or embeddedness logic. These findings provide new insights into the complex interaction between the two logics and SMEs’ constraint response in GVC linkages through deliberate knowledge management.

This article focuses on the role that MNEs play in the implementation of the 17 UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Using input collected from the corporate websites of selected MNEs, a review of the extant literature, and views by academics in the field, we provide a synthesis of knowledge referring to the past, present, and future role of MNEs in accomplishing these SDGs. The literature review revealed that ‘responsible consumption and production’, ‘no poverty’, ‘peace, justice and strong institutions’, and ‘climate action’ were among the most frequently examined SDGs. Also, the analysis of the content of corporate websites and the views of academics showed a similar pattern as to the emphasis put on the role of MNEs in achieving SDGs, with ‘responsible consumption and production’ and ‘climate action’ attracting the highest attention. Important theoretical and managerial implications are derived from the study findings, while directions for future research are also recommended.

The dynamic world we live in requires that traditional international business theories be revisited to obtain insights into the internationalization of emerging market ibusiness firms (EMIFs). Research states that an ibusiness firm’s internationalization process is distinct and faster because users co-create content through interactions among themselves to generate value for the firm. However, it is unclear how EMIFs become credible global players within a short period despite being late arrivals in the market and having fewer resources. Drawing on insights from the linkage, leverage, and learning (LLL) framework, this research aims to understand the internationalization process of EMIFs from India by adopting a multiple case study–based approach whereby we conducted multiple in-depth interviews with 14 Indian ibusiness firms. This study contributes to the extant literature on ibusiness internationalization by developing a framework to advance our understanding of the internationalization process for EMIFs. Further, the study contributes to the LLL framework by offering novel additions to the three aspects of linkage, leverage, and learning, thereby, extending LLL framework to the ibusiness firms.

In international business, firm-level language choices are important questions that require scarce organizational resources to deal with external stakeholders’ diverse preferences. While language choices have a major impact on the success and survival of SMEs, current knowledge of these choices is mainly based on data from MNEs, which constitutes a research gap. We help address this gap by exploring from a social exchange perspective why and how decision-makers in international small firms choose between “English-only” and “multilingual” approaches to language. We find that when evaluating the cost and benefits of these alternatives, decision-makers aim for high levels of both external and internal resource sharing. However, external language diversity and limited internal availability of relevant language competencies force them into difficult trade-offs.

Drawing primarily on institutional theory, this paper investigates the interplay between perceived institutional obstacles, networking, and the propensity to export by SMEs in three under-studied regions – South Eastern Europe, Central Asia, and the Middle East. Using data from 2673 SMEs in the three regions, we test whether perceived institutional obstacles and knowledge obtained from formal networking are positively associated with the propensity to export nS argue that these relationships will be moderated by regional context. We find broad empirical support and discuss how our findings help reconcile previous theoretical approaches to SME exporting in the emerging economy context.

Destructive leadership and its effects on followers all over the world have been emphasized in cross-cultural research in recent years. Despite continued scholarly and practitioner interest in both destructive leadership and job performance due to its implications for cross-cultural research, we have an incomplete understanding of the impact of cultural context on the relationship between destructive leadership and followers’ task performance. We advance international business research by building and testing implicit leadership theory predictions about the impact of country-level cultural values as moderators of the relationship between destructive leadership and followers’ task performance. We test our hypotheses and research question with a meta-analytic dataset that includes respondents from 12 countries (k = 72, N = 20,878). Our results demonstrate that several of the Global Leadership and Organizational Behavior Effectiveness (GLOBE) framework’s cultural value dimensions moderate the relationship between destructive leadership and followers’ task performance across countries. The findings are driven by the strong predictive validity of the performance orientation, in-group collectivism, gender egalitarianism, and humane orientation cultural value dimensions. Our contributions are important because we generate nuanced knowledge about the independent, relative, and collective predictive validity of cultural values in explaining the strength of the relationship between destructive leadership and followers’ task performance across countries.

This study investigates the effects of international investment agreements (IIAs) on the internationalization decisions of emerging market multinationals (EMNEs). Drawing on the POLI advantage framework, we argue that bilateral investment treaties (BITs) add to the political and institutional capabilities of EMNEs, enhancing their OLI advantages in host countries. We identify two mechanisms through which BITs facilitate EMNEs’ internationalization: by offsetting political risk and by mitigating the informational asymmetries and transaction costs associated with investing in unfamiliar destinations. We probe the plausibility of our claims with data from an original survey of firms in four emerging economies and a larger sample of bilateral FDI flows from UNCTAD’s FDI/MNEs database. Our findings show a positive association between BITs and FDI from the South, especially in politically unstable and unfamiliar contexts. Apart from adding to the International Business literature on EMNEs, this study contributes to International Political Economy scholarship on FDI by highlighting the growing relevance of South-South IIAs.

Prior research shows that in multilingual teams, using a foreign language may adversely affect various work processes and outcomes, resulting in a language barrier. Using a qualitative interview-study approach, this study explores whether such barrier effects of foreign language use (FLU) also apply to team creative processes. The results show that FLU-induced barrier effects may extend to team creative processes and can hinder them—especially if language skills are lacking—due to reduced comprehension, increased workload and complexity, and foreign language anxiety. In addition, extending prior research, this study documents unexpected positive springboard effects of FLU on team creative processes. At the individual level, FLU may prompt linguistic detours, multiplicity of meanings, and alternative (e.g., acoustic, visual) associations. At the team level, spillover effects from the language domain may effectuate a generally more error-tolerant and less time-pressured team environment. Overall, this study enriches literature on language in international business by uncovering counterintuitive springboard effects of FLU and by integrating it with literature on collective creativity. It adds to research on collective creativity by advancing FLU—a characteristic central to international business—as a boundary condition of team-level creative synthesis, thereby illustrating the potential for cross-fertilization of these largely separate research fields. Finally, we highlight implications for international business practice.

Previous research has delved into both economic and non-economic determinants influencing foreign exits, yet the role of socioemotional wealth (SEW) in this strategic decision of family firms has been underexplored. Our study addresses this oversight by examining three principal dimensions from the FIBER SEW framework: family control (F), binding social ties (B), and the renewal of family bonds (R). We utilise a probit model to analyse data from Chinese listed family multinational corporations spanning 2008 to 2019. Our analysis yields two primary insights. Firstly, the presence of family directors and international experience collectively diminish the probability of foreign exits. Secondly, our findings do not indicate gender differences among successors as influencing foreign exits. Notably, the association between poor performance and foreign exits becomes attenuated with an increase in the number of family directors and their international experience, and in scenarios involving male successors. These insights significantly enrich our theoretical comprehension of how SEW dimensions inform strategic decision-making regarding foreign exits in family enterprises.

Burgeoning complexity and variability in the political and social contexts in which multinational enterprises (MNEs) operate has led to increased research on MNE nonmarket strategy. This focus is enhanced by ethical concerns about the nonmarket practices of big business, particularly in institutionally fragile or nascent market contexts. In this introduction to our special issue on the complexities and varieties of nonmarket strategy, we review the extant research on MNE nonmarket strategy, specifically on corporate political activity and corporate social responsibility. Our review suggests that to address the complexities related to nonmarket strategy in a changing international context, corporate stewardship is inadequate and MNEs must adopt a more authentic and culturally embedded values-based nonmarket strategy approach, which can contribute to long-term advantage. Subsequently, we introduce and synthesize the papers in our special issue and present a research agenda for furthering scholarship on values-based nonmarket strategy.