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1 – 10 of over 1000Peng Xiao, Haiyan Zhang, Shimin Yin and Zhe Xia
This study aims to explore the role of international ambidexterity (IA) in improving the innovation capability of emerging market multinationals. In particular, the main purpose…
Abstract
Purpose
This study aims to explore the role of international ambidexterity (IA) in improving the innovation capability of emerging market multinationals. In particular, the main purpose of this research is to study the relationship amongst digitalisation, IA and innovation performance (IP) amongst multinational enterprises in China’s healthcare industry.
Design/methodology/approach
The data for this investigation were collected from 134 listed companies in China’s healthcare industry during the study period. This study tested the hypotheses by constructing a two-way fixed-effects model.
Findings
The results show that both the balance dimension and the combined dimension of IA have significant positive effects on IP. Digitalisation not only has a direct positive effect on IP but also positively moderates the positive correlation between IA and IP.
Originality/value
Previous studies have not captured the relationship between ambidexterity, digitalisation and IP, and this study helps to fill in the gap and examine these associations in China’s healthcare industry. The results of this study provide valuable insights for healthcare industry managers to understand the role of ambidexterity and digitalisation in innovation in the context of internationalisation.
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Dina M. Abdelzaher and Muna Onumonu
The COVID-19 pandemic was an eye-opening experience that put to the test our crisis management competencies across many institutions, including those offered by institutions of…
Abstract
Purpose
The COVID-19 pandemic was an eye-opening experience that put to the test our crisis management competencies across many institutions, including those offered by institutions of higher education. This study aims to review the literature on international business (IB) risks and IB education (IBE) to question whether business graduates are equipped to make decisions in today’s volatile, uncertain, complex and ambiguous (VUCA) marketplace.
Design/methodology/approach
While the IB literature has discussed the importance of various sources of risks on global business operations, IBE did not effectively adopt an integrative approach to building the needed risk management competencies related to those risks into our education. The authors argue that this integrative approach to teaching IB is critically needed to prepare future global managers for addressing crises, like that of the pandemic and others. Specifically, this study proposes that this integrated risk management competency can be developed through the building of “synergistic mindsets”.
Findings
This study presents a conceptual framework for the components of the synergistic mindset, with intelligence that directly links to present IB risks. These components are cultural intelligence (CQ), emotional intelligence (EQ), public policy intelligence (PPQ), digital intelligence (DQ) and orchestration intelligence (OQ).
Originality/value
Insights related to IBE effectiveness in addressing today’s VUCA market demands and IB risks are discussed.
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Shifang Zhao and Shu Yu
In recent decades, emerging market multinational enterprises (EMNEs) have predominantly adopted a big step internationalization strategy to expand their business overseas. This…
Abstract
Purpose
In recent decades, emerging market multinational enterprises (EMNEs) have predominantly adopted a big step internationalization strategy to expand their business overseas. This study aims to examine the effect of big step internationalization on the speed of subsequent foreign direct investment (FDI) expansion for EMNEs. The authors also investigate the potential boundary conditions.
Design/methodology/approach
The authors use the random effects generalized least squares (GLS) regression following a hierarchical approach to analyze the panel data set conducted by a sample of publicly listed Chinese firms from 2001 to 2012.
Findings
The findings indicate that implementing big step internationalization in the initial stages accelerates the speed of subsequent FDI expansion. Notably, the authors find that this effect is more pronounced for firms that opt for acquisitions as the entry mode in their first big step internationalization and possess a board of directors with strong political connections to their home country’s government. In contrast, the board of director’s international experience negatively moderates this effect.
Practical implications
This study provides insights into our scholarly and practical understanding of EMNEs’ big step internationalization and subsequent FDI expansion speed, which offers important implications for firms’ decision-makers and policymakers.
Originality/value
This study extends the internationalization theory, broadens the international business literature on the consequences of big step internationalization and deepens the theoretical and practical understanding of foreign expansion strategies in EMNEs.
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Ying Zhang and Cong Cheng
This study seeks to explore the relationship between performance relative to aspiration and SMEs' internationalization speed, and moderating effects of top management's policy…
Abstract
Purpose
This study seeks to explore the relationship between performance relative to aspiration and SMEs' internationalization speed, and moderating effects of top management's policy knowledge and institutional distance between the above relation.
Design/methodology/approach
This study tests the authors’ hypotheses using data on Chinese manufacturing SMEs over a 5-year period from 2013 to 2017. The authors leverage archival panel data on publicly listed companies on the SME Board, GEM and New OTC Market in the Shanghai and Shenzhen Stock Exchanges. The authors then collected data from the WIND and ZEPHYR databases.
Findings
The results confirm a U-shaped relation between performance relative to aspiration and SMEs' internationalization speed, and show that this relation is steepening by top management's policy knowledge in home country but flattening by institutional distance as environmental dynamics.
Originality/value
The study findings contribute to the international business field by exploring how a firm's risk situation in internationalization can change, thereby influencing SMEs' international expansion.
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Matilde Milanesi, Andrea Runfola and Simone Guercini
The paper delves into the international expansion of luxury SMEs to investigate their internationalization pathways, namely how the internationalization process unfolds in terms…
Abstract
Purpose
The paper delves into the international expansion of luxury SMEs to investigate their internationalization pathways, namely how the internationalization process unfolds in terms of timing of entry into foreign markets, the geographic scope of operations and the scale. The paper examines also the determinants of the internationalization pathways as a set of factors that contribute to developing an asset of foreignness.
Design/methodology/approach
The paper adopts a multiple case study approach and reports findings from four cases of Italian SMEs operating in the luxury fashion industry.
Findings
SMEs’ specific characteristics at the firm and entrepreneurial levels (i.e. craftsmanship, quality, product creativity, entrepreneurial mindset), country of origin attributes (e.g. Italy’s positive image) and the inherently global nature of the luxury industry, can turn foreignness into an asset of foreignness that allows luxury fashion SMEs to pursue internationalization pathways of born globals.
Originality/value
The paper highlights that the global luxury market is not the exclusive domain of MNEs and sheds light on luxury SMEs, overlooked by extant literature. The paper also contributes to understanding early internationalization by highlighting a potential link between internationalization pathways and foreignness and discussed the asset of foreignness by extending it to SMEs.
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Augusto Bargoni, Alberto Ferraris, Šárka Vilamová and Wan Mohd Hirwani Wan Hussain
The purpose of this paper is to provide an integrative picture of the state of the art of the literature on digitalisation of small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) as an…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to provide an integrative picture of the state of the art of the literature on digitalisation of small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) as an enabler for their internationalisation process and as a comprehensive view of the specific domains impacted by digital technologies as well as their repercussions on the international outreach.
Design/methodology/approach
A systematic review which leverages a descriptive analysis of extant literature and an axial coding technique has been conducted to shed light on the current knowledge and to identify primary research areas and future research lines.
Findings
The research indicates that digitalisation impacts the internationalisation of SMEs in three specific domains: (1) internationalisation through the adoption of information and communication technologies (ICT) technologies and e-commerce platforms; (2) international expansion through the digitalisation of value chain activities and (3) international outreach through knowledge acquisition on digital platforms.
Originality/value
The value of this study is threefold. First, the authors attempt to systematically review the literature on SMEs digitalisation and internationalisation and provide a holistic perspective on the intertwining of these two research streams. Second, the authors propose a novel conceptualisation on the dimensions of SMEs digitalisation as enablers to internationalisation. Third, the authors put forward promising future lines of research.
Highlights
Digitalisation represents a pivotal strategy that allows companies to build new strategic capabilities and is a propeller for SMEs internationalisation.
Through e-commerce, SMEs could compete at the same level of multinational companies but enduring lower costs of expansion.
Digital platforms allow SMEs to enhance the learning processes about international markets through an immediate access to relevant information.
Digital entrepreneurship has enabled SMEs to develop new configurations of value chain activities, evolving their business model or reaching new markets.
SMEs are changing the “business as usual” paradigm offering digital tools to build modular architectures that are scalable and agile in their evolution ability.
Digitalisation represents a pivotal strategy that allows companies to build new strategic capabilities and is a propeller for SMEs internationalisation.
Through e-commerce, SMEs could compete at the same level of multinational companies but enduring lower costs of expansion.
Digital platforms allow SMEs to enhance the learning processes about international markets through an immediate access to relevant information.
Digital entrepreneurship has enabled SMEs to develop new configurations of value chain activities, evolving their business model or reaching new markets.
SMEs are changing the “business as usual” paradigm offering digital tools to build modular architectures that are scalable and agile in their evolution ability.
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The purpose of this study is to investigate the impact of rapid internationalization by emerging-market multinational enterprises (EMNEs) on their innovation performance. It also…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this study is to investigate the impact of rapid internationalization by emerging-market multinational enterprises (EMNEs) on their innovation performance. It also seeks to identify any potential moderating factors that could influence this relationship.
Design/methodology/approach
By analyzing data from listed Chinese MNEs from 2012 to 2022, this study applies a negative binomial regression model to test the research hypotheses.
Findings
This study uncovers an inverted U-shaped relationship between the internationalization speed of EMNEs and their innovation performance. It also suggests that strong absorptive, learning and managerial capacities could play positive moderating roles in the effect of internationalization speed on EMNEs’ innovation performance.
Originality/value
This study highlights rapid global expansion, promoting new knowledge acquisition for EMNEs. However, due to time-compression dilemmas with limited EMNE firm-specific advantages, overly accelerated internationalization hinders learning effectiveness. Additionally, this study reveals the critical importance of three firm-specific capacities in EMNEs – absorptive, learning and managerial capacities – in efficiently assimilating newly acquired knowledge from foreign markets and enhancing their innovation performance through rapid internationalization.
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Zhuang Qian, Charles X. Wang and Haiying Yang
This research aims to empirically investigate the impacts of product and international diversification strategies on firm-level inventory performance.
Abstract
Purpose
This research aims to empirically investigate the impacts of product and international diversification strategies on firm-level inventory performance.
Design/methodology/approach
This study empirically examines the associations between product and international diversification strategies and inventory performance based on a sample of 64,124 observations across 7,367 US publicly traded firms between 1989 and 2019 from the COMPUSTAT Segment, Fundamental Annual and Fundamental Quarterly data files. We employ both linear and nonlinear regression models to perform our empirical analysis.
Findings
This research provides strong evidence that there exists a U-shaped relationship between unrelated product diversification and inventory level and a partially inverted U-shaped relationship between international diversification and inventory level. We also find a positive impact of related product diversification on inventory level, but there is no significant curvilinear relationship between related product diversification and inventory level.
Practical implications
Our research findings offer important insights into top management’s strategic planning for diversification strategies and operations manager’s inventory control policies to achieve the strategic fit between corporate diversification and inventory management.
Originality/value
Product and international diversification strategies not only play an essential role in the firm’s competitive advantage, but also have a significant influence on operations manager’s inventory decision. This research is among the first to systematically investigate how top management’s related product, unrelated product and international diversification strategies may have complex nonlinear impacts on inventory performance.
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Goudarz Azar, Georgios Batsakis, Rian Drogendijk, Ashkan PakSeresht and Ruoqi Geng
In this research, we designed and implemented a unique vignette experiment to study the effect of managers' perceptions of institutional distance on foreign location choice, as…
Abstract
Purpose
In this research, we designed and implemented a unique vignette experiment to study the effect of managers' perceptions of institutional distance on foreign location choice, as well as the moderating effect of managerial international experience and preferred entry mode on this relationship.
Design/methodology/approach
We employ an experimental vignette methodology (EVM) approach applied in the context of Chinese managers to test the causal relationships depicted in our hypotheses. In this way, we measure the decision-makers' perceptions ex ante, i.e. in conjunction with and prior to a decision about a foreign location choice.
Findings
Our findings show that managers' ex-ante perceptions of institutional distance negatively affect decisions on foreign location choice. Also, we find that managerial international experience and preference for high commitment entry modes mitigate the negative effect of managers' perceptions of institutional distance on foreign location choice.
Originality/value
This research study adds to our understanding of the effect of managers' perceptions of institutional distance and managerial contingencies on foreign location decisions. Further, it advances novel experimental design in international business research in general and on foreign location choice in particular.
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Aihie Osarenkhoe and Daniella Fjellström
The paper aims to illuminate the platform created by a cluster organization to facilitate its internationalization and thereby enhance its regional innovation system partners'…
Abstract
Purpose
The paper aims to illuminate the platform created by a cluster organization to facilitate its internationalization and thereby enhance its regional innovation system partners' competitiveness by providing access to global value chains and boosting innovativeness.
Design/methodology/approach
The study draws upon the interaction approach, focusing on the interaction process, interaction partners, relationship atmosphere, and relationship environment. A qualitative study was conducted at Future Position X, a Swedish cluster organization. A total of 58 interviews were conducted, including 48 face-to-face in-depth interviews between 2017 and 2019 with six key informants at FPX, representatives from 28 SMEs, ten members of regional innovation systems to which FPX belongs, and four process leaders of regional and local networks, in addition to online interviews with ten members of the regional innovation systems conducted via Microsoft Teams in March 2021. The time span of the study provides a longitudinal perspective.
Findings
The FPX cluster collaborates with actors in the quadruple helix, maintaining a mindset that has led to a number of new partner agreements in the global arena to secure the resources and expertise necessary for cluster activities, and thereby ensuring firms in FPX networks access to platforms for international expansion. Internationalization thus expands the cluster's knowledge base beyond the traditional environment of its member firms.
Research limitations/implications
Very few innovations arise from the isolated work of a lone genius. Instead, most innovation is achieved through complex, interactive, iterative and cumulative learning processes in which a variety of actors are involved. The FPX cluster organization's internationalization platform is therefore vital to the internationalization of its partners since cluster actors lack the time, resources, knowledge, experience, and networks required to break into international markets singlehandedly.
Practical implications
This study suggests that, for practitioners and researchers alike, the growing importance and relevance of the regional innovation system cannot be overemphasized. It also holds policy and societal implications in that FPX's global network helps regional SMEs to internationalize, in addition to inspiring international firms to establish operations in the Gävleborg region, thereby helping to strengthen the overall GIS environment. Internationalization also expands the FPX cluster's knowledge base beyond the traditional environment of its firms, an example of this being the construction start of a Microsoft data centre in the region in 2020.
Social implications
FPX is financed through taxation and grant funding. By initiating projects, creating relationships and building collaborations, FPX thus contributes to collaboration between business, academia and the public sector. FPX also contributes to knowledge development of new technology by creating meeting places and networks around digital issues, such as GIS, AI, the IoT and blockchain technology.
Originality/value
While earlier research has concentrated on endogenous gaps critical to cluster dynamics, comparatively little attention has been paid to exogenous gaps, i.e. linkages between regional clusters and innovation partners elsewhere in the world. This study showcases the richness of interactions in the cluster against the background of wider, global innovation interactions. Future research should examine other vital questions that remain unanswered, e.g. by measuring and exploring the extent to which regional innovation systems can contribute to long-term economic growth for society.
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