International Business Review最新文献

This study aims to propose a new comprehensive conceptualization of the manager-level international experience (MIE) concept. It achieves this by building a framework based on Dewey`s philosophy of experience, conducting a systematic review of business and management literature, and integrating the results of these two steps. The outcome depicts MIE as a nine-dimensional concept encompassing length, depth, breadth, diversity, intensity, extensity, complexity, epic, and echo, operationalizable at regional or global levels of analysis. The new conceptualization can integrate the literature and pave the way for future empirical studies in various research fields, such as experiential knowledge and learning.

Taking a behavioral perspective, we explore how environmental diversity in a firm’s country portfolio shapes managers’ decisions to adjust the portfolio through foreign entries and exits. We argue that country portfolio diversity causes firms to exponentially incur behavioral failures and coordination costs that serve as a distress signal to managers, who therefore increasingly restrict foreign entries and increasingly undertake foreign exits as a function of such diversity. Applying performance feedback theory, we also argue that managers’ tendency to interpret behavioral failures and coordination costs from portfolio diversity as a distress signal – and, hence, their tendency to restrict entries and undertake exits as a function of such diversity – depends on whether their firm performs below or above their aspirations. Using measures of cultural, administrative, geographic and economic portfolio diversity, we find support for our ideas in a panel data analysis of all foreign entries and exits by 232 retailers from 24 countries over the period 2001–2007. Our findings illustrate the value of applying a behavioral lens to explain changes in a firm’s full set of international activities.

Firms’ internationalization, the most essential topic in the international business discipline, have in recent years become highly entangled with political processes at multiple levels. Neither firm strategies and processes, nor IB theories and models have yet caught up with increasing politicization. In this paper, we pose three questions: why are firms increasingly affected by politics in their internationalization? How do firms respond to the increasing role of politics? And finally, how do theories considered foundational across IB research incorporate politics? We discuss how the resource-based view, transaction cost economics, institutional theory and agency theory relate to politics. Further, we identify eight predominant dimensions where firms are affected by politics. Finally, we suggest that the increasing role of politics can be ascribed not only to specific macro-level historical events but also to more fundamental micro-level transformations in prevalent institutional configurations of firms’ value adding activities.

Amid growing environmental concerns and increasing customer demand for environmental sustainability practices (ESP), international firms strive to develop ESP and leverage resources across their global networks as key players in global innovation systems. In this context, we investigate whether adopting an open innovation (OI) strategy is a viable solution to meet the demand for ESP and foster internationalization. Specifically, this study examines the potential moderating effect of OI on ESP because both entail the ability to coordinate, orchestrate, and synchronize networks to enhance international sales. Our study encompasses a multicountry sample of 514 internationally operating manufacturers. The findings reveal that simultaneous efforts to adopt OI with suppliers and ESP constrain the positive association between ESP and international sales intensity. We provide theoretical arguments to elucidate this counterintuitive finding, thereby revitalizing the discussion on the role of international firms’ adoption of ESP and sustainable innovation.

Using the exploitation-exploration framework to conceptualize international joint ventures (IJVs)’ innovation strategy, this study develops a contingent governance view to posit that the effectiveness of exploitative and explorative innovation strategies depends critically on the governance mechanisms between IJV partners. Based on empirical analyses of 187 IJVs in China, our results reveal that explorative innovation strategy generates a greater positive effect on IJV new product performance than exploitative innovation strategy. Furthermore, exploitative innovation strategy has a positive impact on IJV new product performance at high levels of contractual governance but has a negative effect at high levels of relational governance. In contrast, explorative innovation strategy contributes more to IJV new product performance at high levels of relational governance but shows a negative effect at high levels of contractual governance. This study offers important implications for IJVs to better design and manage their innovation strategies.

Although internationalizing small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) are heterogenous as a population, they face similar resource constraints, such that resource management is central to their internationalization efforts. However, the management of diversity, as a specific resource, remains insufficiently studied. Building on resource-based theory, this article explores how SME managers assign value to diversity and implement diversity management across various types of internationalizing SMEs. The multiple-case qualitative study, involving 14 SMEs that represent traditional internationalizers, early internationalizing firms, and born-again globals, reveals that diversity is valued and managed differently by different categories of internationalizing SMEs. For early internationalizing firms, within-type heterogeneity is stronger than between-type heterogeneity. Furthermore, SMEs may value resource diversity as instrumental, terminal, or even destructive, which influences how they manage it. In presenting ideas for the effective strategic management of diversity, as displayed by some SMEs, this article contributes to research on SMEs’ internationalization and diversity management.

While studies show that different internationalization rhythms may result in differing financial performances or cost efficiencies, the relationship between internationalization rhythms and innovation performance remains underexplored. More importantly, the moderating role of speed on this relationship has not been examined, given the limits to how much expansion firms can absorb within a given period without jeopardizing operations and as time compression diseconomies may emerge with high-speed expansion. Here, we apply an absorptive capacity perspective to examine the moderating role of internationalization speed. Unbalanced panel data from Chinese multinational enterprises between 2008 and 2014 reveal a negative relationship between parent companies’ internationalization rhythm and innovation performance, with stronger effects under high internationalization speed. Meanwhile, this relationship weakens (strengthens) with increasing internal organizational slack (external competitive intensity).

International Business (IB) has increasingly focused on born-digital multinationals, but less attention is being directed to traditional multinationals aiming to remain competitive by digitally transforming themselves (that is, achieving greater digital maturity). This phenomenon cannot be extrapolated from born digitals. This gap is deeper with emerging market multinationals (EMNEs), which find major challenges to joining the digital age. Recalling that strategically located subsidiaries are critical for EMNEs’ success, we ask: How do EMNEs pursue digital maturity and how do their subsidiaries contribute to this process? A capability-based view of multinational enterprises and relevant EMNE literature help us to conceptualize Digital Maturity Capability as a complex capability paramount to developing competitiveness in the digital age. Using survey data from 91 Brazilian multinationals, we found that EMNEs build elements of competitive advantage in modern markets through enhanced digital maturity while leveraging foreign subsidiaries for increasing value chain and ecosystem integration.We contribute to making the capabilities framework more relevant within IB and advance the analysis of going digital multinationals with the experience of EMNEs. Such results have practical implications for managers navigating the digital era's choppy waters.