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The international business (IB) literature emphasizes knowledge sharing and knowledge hiding as part of the knowledge transfer process. However, limited studies discuss the antecedents of the two practices in the same organization in international assignments. This study aims to explore the knowledge transfer practices of expatriates in emerging economy multinational enterprises (EMNEs) conducting international assignments in developing economies and identify the reasons why expatriates share knowledge and/or hide knowledge in interaction with the local environment.

In-depth, semistructured interviews with Chinese expatriates from a Chinese state-owned multinational enterprise (MNE) operating in three African countries were conducted to obtain their experience of knowledge transfer behaviors in international assignments. Thematic analysis was used to analyze interview data.

The results show that knowledge sharing is more common than knowledge hiding in the overseas operations of EMNEs in developing economies. Cooperation requirements, corporate incentives, company support and the host country environment facilitate knowledge sharing; conversely, competitiveness and company policies are related to expatriate knowledge-hiding behaviors in other emerging economies.

This paper provides the enlightenment of Chinese MNEs on knowledge management in overseas operations in developing economies and reflects the company’s system and practice in knowledge management from the level of expatriates, as well as the role of company practices in choosing knowledge sharing or hiding behaviors.

Although the literature recognizes that coopetition plays a significant role in the success of international construction joint ventures (ICJVs), the impacts of coopetition on the performance outcomes of ICJVs remain largely unknown. This study extends this line of research by theorizing coopetition from three dimensions, i.e. coopetition intensity, coopetition balance and coopetition structure, and examining the relationships between coopetition and ICJV performance outcomes from both the contingency and configuration perspectives.

The hypotheses were tested using survey data from a sample of 188 ICJVs. Structural equation modelling was employed for the contingency approach to estimate the relationships between the three dimensions of coopetition and performance. For the configuration approach, cluster analysis was utilized to identify coopetition patterns. Subsequently, an analysis of variance was employed to analyse the relationships between these coopetition patterns and performance.

The contingency results indicate that while coopetition intensity is positively related to all types of performance, coopetition balance is only positively related to project performance and partner performance. Moreover, coopetition structure is only related to partner performance and socioenvironmental performance. The configuration approach identifies six patterns of coopetition, manifesting different levels of project, partner and socioenvironmental performance.

These findings, therefore, contribute to the ICJV literature by extending the understanding of how coopetition dimensions individually and jointly influence ICJV performance.

Through the subject of business network dynamics, this study aims to examine how business network relationships impact company entry market and development within fast growing economies as China. The paper looks at business network relationships in a fast-growing economy and provides an understanding of the relational perspectives in internationalisation of three luxury fashion companies and their entry models affected by the China context-related variables.

The methodology is following a qualitative approach, based on multiple case-studies research, proposing three cases of companies entering the Chinese market in the luxury and fashion industry.

The research analyses the local business network paths and how they affect the entry strategy through the socio-cultural and political players. The paper adds knowledge to studies in market entry and business networks, in the fast-growing economies area, with its new norms and values.

This study tries to analyse how business networks and related relationships “with Chinese characteristics” affect the market entry strategy in the internationalisation path from the perspective of the luxury fashion industry sector. In so doing it tries to provide an original further development of business network models within the new Chinese context.

Members in the international joint ventures (IJVs) for high-speed rail (HSR) projects usually engage in coopetition interactions to create common benefits (CB) and simultaneously safeguard private benefits (PB). Previous studies of coopetition and performance using variance-based methods usually ignore the combinational influence of diverse coopetition constructs on performance, which can be effectively compensated by adopting a configuration perspective. Therefore, this research aims to ascertain various combinations of three coopetition constructs (coopetition relationship, coopetition capability and coopetition strategy) that lead to high IJVs’ performance through a configuration approach.

First, the research framework of coopetition configuration was established, and the key constructs were operationalized, which were validated by expert interviews. Then the information on 12 HSR IJVs was collected and quantified through nine rounds of interviews and a questionnaire survey. Later, the fuzzy-set qualitative comparative analysis (fsQCA) was applied to explore what coopetition configurations benefit the CB or PB achievement.

Configuration results indicate that six coopetition configurations lead to CB outcome and seven configurations lead to PB outcome. Based on the results, coopetition contexts are divided into four categories: firm-based coopetition, project-based coopetition, firm-project-based coopetition and none-based coopetition. Then, a selection scheme for coopetition strategies in various contexts has been developed. The results also show that the core conditions mostly appear in the coopetition relationships and coopetition strategies dimensions, and the optimal coopetition strategies vary in different contexts.

This study enhances the theoretical understanding of coopetition in HSR IJVs and assists relative HSR industrialists, as well as the mega infrastructure project managers, in IJVs’ implementation. The configuration perspective of this paper also contributes to a systemic and holistic view of coopetition in HSR IJVs.

Equitable risk allocation is important for the effective management of inevitable risks in International Construction Joint Venture (ICJV) projects. Previous studies have documented risks facing ICJV projects. However, there is a dearth of studies on the risk allocation preferences that take into consideration the opinions of both the local and foreign partners. This study aims to fill this gap by ascertaining the risk allocation preferences of the partners of ICJV projects for effective risk management.

Through a survey, data on risk allocation preferences were collected from both local and foreign partners of ICJV projects using a comprehensive register of 74 risks.

Following analysis, six risks were allocated to the local partner, 11 were allocated to the foreign partner, 51 risks were shared, four were allocated to a third party and two were to be negotiated based on the specific circumstances of the project. Practically, the study’s findings will help ICJV partners in drafting their ICJV contracts to adequately allocate risks and reduce contract negotiation time considerably.

The findings from this study will help partners in drafting their joint venture contract agreement and also reduce the period for contract negotiation. Knowledge of the preferred risk allocation is important in allocating risks in the contract agreement to the relevant partner for effective management.

This study, to the best knowledge of the authors, is one of the early studies to ascertain the risk allocation preferences of ICJV project partners in the Ghanaian construction industry – a departure from previous studies which focused on the identification and evaluation of risks. This study is also different from previous studies by considering the allocation preferences of both partners of the ICJV. The collection of data from both partners of the ICJV helped to consider their perceptions on risk allocation and evaluation, essentially leading to cross-cultural and optimal risk allocation preferences.

Foreign subsidiaries of multinational enterprises (MNEs) operate in complex and competitive international environments, implement market and non-market strategies, manage resources and value-added activities and contribute to the overall performance of their parent firms. Thus, the research question on the determinants of MNE foreign subsidiaries’ performance is of interest to managers and academic researchers. The empirical literature has flourished over the recent decades; however, the domains are fragmented, and the findings are inclusive. The purpose of this study is to systematically review, analyse and synthesize the empirical articles in this area, identify research gaps and suggest a future research agenda.

This study uses the qualitative content analysis method in reviewing and analysing 150 articles published in 24 scholarly journals during the period 2000–2023.

The literature uses a variety of theoretical perspectives to examine the key determinants of subsidiary performance which can be grouped into six major domains, namely, home- and host country-level factors; distance between home and host countries; the characteristics of parent firms and of subsidiaries; and governance mechanisms (the establishment modes and ownership strategy, subsidiary autonomy and the use of home country expatriates for transferring knowledge from the headquarters and controlling foreign subsidiaries). A range of objective and subjective indicators are used to measure subsidiary performance. Yet, the research shows a lack of broader integration of theories and presents inconsistent theoretical predictions, inconclusive empirical findings and estimation bias, which hinder our understanding of how the determinants independently and jointly shape the performance of foreign subsidiaries.

This study provides a comprehensive, nuanced and systematic review that synthesizes and clarifies the determinants of subsidiary performance, offers deeper insights from both theoretical, methodological and empirical aspects and proposes some promising avenues for future research directions.

The purpose of this study is to examine different paths to overcoming the liability of foreignness. Based on the eclectic paradigm, the authors construct a theoretical framework comprising enterprise nature, location choice, entry mode and internationalization strategy.

The paper uses fuzzy-set qualitative comparative analysis (fsQCA) method to test the framework with data covering 120 multinational Chinese subsidiaries in 34 host in 2019.

The results show that liability of foreignness (LOF) is multiple concurrency, equifinality and asymmetry. When investing in Belt and Road (B&R) countries, non-SEOs can weaken LOF by applying the greenfield mode and resource-seeking strategy, other MNEs can implement a market- or resource-seeking strategy via cross-border M&A to reduce LOF. But when investing in non-B&R countries with a strategic asset-seeking strategy, the LOF is increased. The B&R initiative can reduce the LOF effectively.

The authors construct a general framework to explain the paths of overcoming LOF by bridging the OLI with LOF and introduce fsQCA method into the field of LOF to make up for the shortcoming of existing test method by explaining the influence of more than three factors on LOF.

Based on organizational learning theory, this study aims to investigate the performance consequences and potential contextual factors of outward foreign direct investment (OFDI) persistence.

A regression analysis was conducted on a sample of 19,950 OFDI events of 1,425 A-share listed Chinese enterprises from 2008 to 2022. The estimator used was ordinary least squares with residual analysis, which allowed us to obtain robust and reliable results.

The results indicated that persistence in both greenfield investments and cross-border M&As had a significant and positive impact on firm performance, and such relationship was positively moderated by organizational absorptive capacity.

This study only tested the economic performance of OFDI persistence rather than innovation and social performance. Exploring the effects of OFDI persistence on other aspects may also add new insights to the persistence literature. Besides absorptive capacity, it might be useful to conduct a more comprehensive consideration of moderators in the future.

This paper contributes to the research on the temporal dimension of internationalization by introducing the concept of OFDI persistence. Additionally, we used the OFDI spell to capture the notion of OFDI persistence, which is an endeavor to overcome the shortcomings of the traditional indicator. Finally, this paper also contributes to the organizational learning perspective by applying it to analyze persistent OFDI operations.

This study aims to study the moderating effects of private ownership and government support on the relationship between outsourcing and product innovation in entrepreneurial ventures in a transition economy.

The data of 10,296 Vietnamese entrepreneurial ventures from the four rounds of the survey conducted by the General Statistics Office (GSO) of Vietnam to investigate the moderating effects of private ownership and government support on the association between outsourcing and entrepreneurial ventures’ product innovation performance. The Probit regression model is employed to estimate such associations.

Our research uncovered that the impact of outsourcing on the likelihood of product innovation is more significant for entrepreneurial operations characterized by a substantial degree of private ownership and government backing as opposed to those without.

The results of our research indicated that the resource-based perspective and extended resource-based view (ERBV) are essential in examining the impact of gaining resources or skills from external sources on the growth of entrepreneurial enterprises. These ideas have significance and importance not just in industrialized economies but also in countries undergoing transition. Our findings suggest that entrepreneurial enterprises should have the ability to manage a wide range of resources and make decisions about which activities should be handled internally and which should be delegated to other parties.

Our findings also imply that entrepreneurial ventures should be able to control many resources and choose which tasks should be performed in-house and which should be outsourced to third parties.

By adopting and leveraging the resource-based view (RBV) and extended resource-based views (ERBV), our study developed a theoretical model about private ownership and government support for moderate outsourcing’s impact on entrepreneurial innovation in a transition economy.