Subnational Institutions and Location Choice of Emerging Market Firms

I examine how subnational institutions of emerging markets affect the location choice of emerging market firms. I argue that the weak institutions in emerging markets push firms to acquire the skills needed for survival in unfavorable institutional environments. When they start their international venturing, such knowledge, skills, and capabilities will become their unique advantage, which makes them more resilient to red tape, nepotism, and corruption in the host countries. Using a sample of 143 outward FDI events of Chinese multinationals, I test the relationship between subnational institutions at home and firm propensity to enter a target market with weak institutional systems and found robust empirical support for the use of different estimation strategies. Further, my results demonstrate that the effect of subnational institutions at home on location choice is more pronounced in private enterprises compared to state-owned enterprises. This study reveals the importance of home country effects in location choice research and tests empirically the existence of institutional advantage.     

Subnational FDI Legitimacy and Foreign Subsidiary Survival

We examine how organizational ecology and the strategic choice perspective can be combined to provide more contextualized insights into how multinational corporations (MNCs) can better counter environmental pressures with evolving subnational FDI legitimacy and improve the survival likelihood of their subsidiaries. We consider three organizational identity-based strategic choices, i.e., country-of-origin (COO) agglomeration, expatriate staffing level and subsidiary ownership level. We hypothesize a U-shaped relationship between FDI legitimacy and subsidiary mortality, and that this relationship will be moderated by the level of COO agglomeration at a subnational level. We also hypothesize that with improving FDI legitimacy, the use of higher levels of expatriates and ownership will jeopardize the survival of larger subsidiaries. A longitudinal dataset (2001–2016) for 3025 subsidiaries formed by 1147 Japanese MNCs in China was used in hypothesis testing. Results largely supported our hypotheses. We discuss how an identity-centered approach can contribute to theory and practice.     

Enhancing the learning advantages of newness: The role of internal social capital in the international performance of young entrepreneurial firms

In this paper, we draw on social capital theory to explore the role of internal social exchanges in contributing to the international performance of young entrepreneurial firms. We argue that internal social capital embedded within young ventures helps them cultivate international learning effort pertaining to the effective alignment of resources and activities related to their international growth. The empirical analysis, based on a sample of 150 young internationalizing SMEs from India, demonstrates both direct and indirect effects of internal social capital on international performance. Whereas previous research focuses on the importance of social networks with external actors, our study emphasizes internal social capital linked to the underlying learning advantages of newness and opportunity capture and contributes to the literature on early and rapid internationalization.     

The Role of the State in Explaining the Internationalization of Emerging Market Enterprises

While the competitive advantages of firms from developed economies are well understood, knowledge of the advantages that enable emerging market enterprises (EMEs) to expand overseas remains limited. Our analysis goes beyond theorizing that focuses on firm resources, enhancing the understanding of how EMEs expand abroad by internalizing home‐country institutional advantages that extend beyond the firm boundaries. More specifically, we examine how the state and institutional idiosyncrasies in the home country help EMEs internationalize. We demonstrate that state ownership has a strong independent effect on the international expansion of EMEs. This effect, however, is contingent upon firms' own resources and other location‐ and industry‐specific forces pertaining to the market orientation of each subnational region and the institutional policies within a given industry.     

Multinationals and Skills Policy Networks: HRM as a Player in Economic and Social Concerns

This paper uses an embeddedness framework to reconceptualize HRM agency over the external labour market, and in so doing bring into focus the societal implications of HRM. Drawing on qualitative data from 53 key informants in two English regions, we identify the ways in which the subsidiaries of foreign multinationals (MNCs) engage with labour market skills actors. Our findings reveal how power structures are mobilized by local economic actors to align labour market skills with MNCs’ demand priorities. We show that multinationals may seek to partially endogenize (i.e. take ownership of) the resources of local labour markets when their competitive value is redefined in social as well as economic terms, and demonstrate that the social structure of sub‐national institutional governance arrangements and firm strategic action on skills creates the conduit through which resource endogenization may occur. Theoretically, this paper identifies the social structure of networks as a casual mechanism to bridge divergent skill interests, which is mobilized when network actors have the capacity to frame fields within the social structure of the network around ideas on economic sustainability and moral interest.     

Institutional distance and ownership in foreign acquisitions

In this study, we take a balanced view on cross-border distances and argue that there are both costs and benefits when multinational companies (MNCs) operate in distant environments. When conducting cross border acquisitions (CBAs), MNCs attempt to minimize the costs while also maximizing the benefits offered by institutionally distant host countries. MNCs do so by sharing the equity ownership with the local partners who help MNCs navigate the local environment and derive location-specific advantages. We also propose that the effect of institutional distance is directional such that firms are more likely to opt for shared ownership when the target is located in a country with less developed institutions than in a country with more developed institutions. Further, firm-specific and context-specific factors impact the costs and benefits of operating in distant countries and condition the relationship between institutional distance and the likelihood of a firm opting for shared ownership in CBAs. We test our arguments on a sample of 37,588 CBAs involving 52 home and 54 host countries over 17 years (1996–2013).     

Managerial Risk‐taking in International Acquisitions in the Brewery Industry: Institutional and Ownership Influences Compared

This paper deals with the role that institutional differences play in managerial risk‐taking when firms engage in international acquisitions. It is assumed that multinational corporations (MNCs) have different interests and capabilities when dealing with international acquisition, which in the authors’ view are significantly shaped by specific home country institutional influences. This study concerns the question of how different forms of ownership – concentrated (e.g. family and bank based) and dispersed (stock market based) – influence risk‐taking and managerial decision‐making in large international acquisitions. Comparing a total of 12 large acquisitions of four leading MNCs in the global brewery industry, the paper shows that mutually reinforcing influences of country of origin (coordinated vs liberal market economies) and ownership (family ownership vs stock market ownership) lead to different risk profiles and managerial risk‐taking with regard to international acquisitions.     

高层管理团队内部社会资本、团队冲突和决策效果的关系——研究综述与理论分析框架

反映在结构因素、关系因素和认知因素三个维度上的高管团队内部社会资本为决策信息的交换和共享提供了机会、意愿和能力,有利于团队内部形成建设性的冲突模式,促进决策效果的提高.本文以团队冲突为中介变量,建立了高管团队内部社会资本与决策效果的关系的理论框架,提出了研究命题,并对企业高管团队内部社会资本的培育提出建议.     

Relationship multiplexity,multiple resource acquisition,and export performance of emerging-market firms

Drawing on the relational view and absorptive capacity theoretical lens, we examine the relationship between relationship multiplexity, multiple resource acquisition and export performance of emerging-market (EM) firms participating in buyer-supplier relationships with developed-country multinational companies (DC MNCs). Based on a sample of 128 firms in aviation, furniture, steelworks, automobile, and electronic sectors, we find that relationship multiplexity is positively related to the capacity of EM firms participating in these inter-firm exchanges to acquire technological, marketing, and managerial resources from their DC MNC counterparts, with the most benefit occurring in the acquisition of technological and marketing resources. Furthermore, our study shows that as EM firms seek to enhance their export performance while supplying DC MNCs, it is their successful acquisition of technological and marketing resources, but not managerial resources, that are significantly associated with their superior export performance. Our study contributes to the extant literature by providing important insights into the specific sources of internationalization advantages and/or disadvantages for EM exporters by being suppliers to DC MNCs in multiplex relationships.     

店铺形象和店铺位置在O2O环境中还重要吗？

O2O模式，因为其能够通过渠道间的整合充分发挥线上和线下渠道各自的优势，为企业带来更高的利润和客户保留率，而受到很多企业的追捧。而渠道整合的过程中店铺形象、店铺位置是否还会发挥作用等问题还没有明确的答案。本研究应用网络数据爬虫和问卷调查的方法，收集了北京市西城区、朝阳区、海淀区、东城区的148家开展了在线外卖服务的餐馆数据，利用Smart PLS2.0对数据分析后发现，在O2O环境中，店铺形象尤其是线上店铺形象对渠道整合、企业绩效都发挥着重要的作用，而店铺位置是调节渠道整合的一个重要因素。这些研究发现不仅增加了我们对渠道整合环境中店铺形象、线下店铺位置作用的认识和理解，对开展O2O业务的企业也有着重要的借鉴和参考价值。     

社会资本与女性创业——基于GEM数据的跨国(地区)比较研究

从女性的社会地位和社会角色分工切入,探讨在不同经济发展水平和制度背景下社会资本对其创业选择的影响,并采用全球创业观察(global entrepreneurship monitor)和全球政府治理指标(worldwide governance index)两个大型国际数据库进行跨国(地区)比较研究,发现女性创业者社会资本与其创业选择呈倒U型关系,在一定阈值下社会资本能增加女性的创业选择,而超过该阈值社会资本的增加反而会降低女性的创业选择.同时,女性个人的人力资本和国家(地区)的经济发展水平会削弱社会资本的上述作用,制度环境则会增强社会资本的上述作用.这一研究揭示了社会地位、社会角色期望对女性参与创业活动的束缚,是将女性的社会角色纳入创业分析的一次有益探索.     

环境不确定性、企业高层管理者社会资本与企业绩效关系的实证研究

在对来自中国企业的438份有效问卷进行调查,以及对14位中国企业的高层管理者开展深度访谈的基础上,研究了企业高层管理者社会资本与企业绩效的关系,以及环境不确定性在两者关系间的权变作用。研究结果表明,企业高层管理者社会资本分成市场社会资本和非市场社会资本2种,这2种社会资本都会显著提高企业绩效。随着外部环境复杂程度越来越高,企业高层管理者非市场社会资本对企业绩效的正影响越来越显著;随着外部环境动荡程度越来越高,高层管理者市场社会资本对企业绩效的正影响越来越显著。此研究结论不仅通过实证检验了企业高层管理者对企业绩效的积极作用,拓宽了现有的战略管理体系对其作用的认识,而且有助于解决中国企业高层管理者的现实困惑。     

Impact of subsidiaries' cross-border knowledge tacitness shared and social capital on MNCs' explorative and exploitative innovation capability

As subsidiaries' cross-border knowledge increases in tacitness, it becomes more difficult for subsidiaries to articulate and for multinational corporations' (MNCs') headquarters to integrate and apply. Herein, dynamic capabilities and social capital theory frame structural and relational social capital as capabilities that improve the productivity of subsidiaries' cross-border knowledge tacitness shared on MNCs' headquarters explorative and exploitative innovation capability. The hypotheses are tested on a data set consisting of survey data collected from 220 senior managers or executives at the headquarters of Taiwan-based MNCs. Interestingly, structural social capital between headquarters and subsidiaries strengthens the negative association between subsidiaries' cross-border knowledge tacitness shared and explorative innovation capability; relational social capital attenuates the negative association between subsidiaries' cross-border knowledge tacitness shared and both explorative and exploitative innovation capability. Stated differently, different types of social capital can facilitate (i.e., relational social capital) or impede (i.e., structural social capital) innovation capability when cross-border knowledge tacitness is high. The validity and managerial implications of these findings are explored through interviews with senior managers or executives of MNCs headquarters or subsidiaries. Theoretically, this study emphasizes the importance of understanding relationships between subsidiaries and MNCs' headquarters to understand the association between subsidiaries' resources and MNCs' headquarters innovation capability.     

“We open doors others do not!”: Position and power of foreign institutional networks

Foreign institutional actors (INAs) can act as a liaison between firms and authorities and other power players to navigate bureaucratic structures, both as resource and legitimacy providers in the host market. Building on institutional theory, this study draws from broader organizational sociological literature, to explore the structural position of INAs in a host country context, and engages with fundamental questions of legitimacy, status, and power. It responds to repeated calls that more studies in international business research are needed on the impact of institutional differences, how to obtain legitimacy, and enhance the home country support networks. To understand INAs' position, specifically within the social structure of a bureaucratic host environment, our study uses in-depth interviews with elite actors from the support networks. Japan is chosen for this study as a host market, because it is the European Union's second largest trading partner in Asia, has a strong central bureaucracy, and historically and currently remains a challenging market for Westerners due to complex market entry barriers. The findings provide a new theoretically derived empirical model demonstrating the positional leverage of these INAs, to “open-doors” into a complex environment and offer a nuanced understanding of their formal and informal structural positions of power. The findings also demonstrate a significant overlap between organizational legitimacy and the exemplary status of these INAs in the bureaucratic environment, which enhances and empowers their leverage to reach authorities, press, and other important actors in the market.     

International venture capital research: From cross-country comparisons to crossing borders

Venture capital (VC) has become an international phenomenon, and VC firms are a specific kind of service firm whose characteristics have distinctive implications for international behaviour. There is now a disparate body of research on international aspects of VC across a number of disciplines comprising finance, economics, strategy, entrepreneurship, international business and economic geography. A novel aspect of this paper is that we review and synthesize this disparate literature. A number of research gaps and limitations in the theoretical and methodological approaches involved in previous studies are identified and suggestions made for further research. We show that the vast majority of the literature relates to cross-country comparisons; that is, macro-level comparisons of VC industries across different countries and micro-level comparisons of VC behaviour across countries. From our review of the literature, we argue that an under-researched area concerns the influence of institutional contexts, especially the role of social networks and cultures. Furthermore, our review of the literature indicates that there is a major research gap in relation to work dealing with the crossing of country borders by VC firms. We suggest that resource-based, capabilities, institutional and network theories may be offer insights to further our understanding of the behaviour of VC firms in this area.     

制度环境、公司治理对企业竞争优势的影响研究——基于中国上市公司的经验证据

如何通过外部制度和内部制度的安排延续企业的竞争优势,是制度变迁背景下中国企业面临的核心问题.本文以2002年-2005年的中国上市公司为样本,基于国内地区差距,实证分析了制度环境和公司治理时企业竞争优势的影响.回归结果发现,政府支持市场化程度、经济法律环境水平、股权集中度、股权竞争度、董事会独立性、专业委员会设置程度以及股东参与决策程度与企业竞争优势显著正相关.研究结果表明,好的制度环境与有效的公司治理能提高企业的竞争优势;企业持续竞争优势的源泉应包含以政府为主体的宏观层次的制度竞争和以企业为主体的微观层次的公司治理竞争.     

Utilization and value of social networking relationships in family and nonfamily firms in an African transition economy

This study investigates the utilization of managerial networking relationships with social and political entities to create social capital in family-owned and nonfamily firms, and compares the impact of the value of the social capital derived from the networking relationships on performance between family-owned and nonfamily firms. Using data from Ghana, the findings show that there are differences in the utilization of networking with social and political stakeholders to create social capital by family-owned and nonfamily firms. While networking relationships with government bureaucratic officials and community leaders have an inverted U-shaped relationship with performance for family-owned firms, it has a linear, positive and monotonic relationship with performance for nonfamily firms. Overall, the findings suggest that networking relationship matters, but extensive utilization of networking relationships with external stakeholders may have diminishing returns to performance for family-owned firms.     

The Impact of Vicarious Experience on Foreign Location Strategy

MNEs can learn from the foreign investment experiences of other firms when evaluating their own foreign entry strategies. We argue that other firms' experiences reduce investment barriers arising from formal and informal institutional environments in host countries that are dissimilar from an MNE's home country, thereby encouraging new entry. Our empirical analysis of foreign entries by Japanese public manufacturing firms over more than a thirty-year period indicates that the prior experiences of other firms in a host country mitigate the negative effect of formal and informal institutional distance on entry decisions: as other firms' experiences in a host country increase, a firm is less deterred by greater institutional distance from entering the country. We also find that the distance-mitigating effect of other firms' experiences in different industries is less significant when a larger body of same-industry firm experience exists in a country, implying a substitution effect between different types of vicarious experience.     

The Development of Entrepreneurial Leadership: The Role of Human,Social and Institutional Capital

This paper contributes to the literature on entrepreneurial leadership development. Leadership studies are characterized by an increasing emphasis given to an individual leader's social and organizational domain. Within the context of human capital and social capital theory, the paper reflects on the emergence of a social capital theory of leadership development. Using a retrospective, interpretivist research method, the authors present the experience of a cohort of business leaders on an executive development programme to uncover the everydayness of leadership development in practice. Specifically, they explore how entrepreneurial leadership develops as a social process and what the role of social capital is in this. The findings suggest that the enhancement of leaders’ human capital only occurred through their development of social capital. There is not, as extant literature suggests, a clear separation between leader development and leadership development. Further, the analysis implies that the social capital theory of leadership is limited in the context of the entrepreneurial small firm, and the authors propose that it should be expanded to incorporate institutional capital, that is, the formal structures and organizations which enhance the role of social capital and go beyond enriching the human capital stock of individual leaders.     

Unravelling Learning within Multinational Corporations*

This article explores the impact of institutional variation on the extent to which subsidiary firms learn from multinational corporations. Learning is conceptualized here as consisting of two aspects: knowledge flow and reinforcement of or change in routines to incorporate the behaviourist assumptions of learning into the international business field. The research is based on in‐depth case studies that systematically compare the ways in which parent company knowledge diffuses to Polish, Turkish, Italian and German subsidiary firms in the chemical industry. The findings show that even though firms face the same global pressure to integrate and pursue the same international strategy, their learning outcomes are not the same. There is heterogeneous learning as a result of differences in the institutional context of home countries. Where institutional structures are not favourable to learning, the proactive or reactive orientation of actors to identifying future needs and modifying existing schemata – which highlight the importance of human agency – is significant in explaining learning.