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Drawing on institutional theory, this study investigates the role of individual cultural values on the adoption of socially sustainable supply chain management (socially SSCM) for Chinese suppliers facing the normative institutional pressures of guanxi (interpersonal relationships).

Using empirical data collected in three waves from 205 Chinese manufacturers supplying international markets, the proposed theoretical model is tested through partial least squares structural equation modeling (PLS-SEM).

The results indicate that guanxi has a positive impact on socially SSCM, and this positive effect is strengthened when the individual cultural values of the supplier's representative embody high collectivism and low uncertainty avoidance.

This study highlights the leading role of guanxi in improving socially SSCM practices due to its normative institutional force. In addition, the findings suggest that future studies should consider individual differences in supply chain partners, which may lead to distinct reactions when facing normative institutional pressures.

This study suggests international buyers should adopt guanxi management with their Chinese suppliers to encourage them to adopt socially SSCM. In addition, managers should note that the guanxi strategy is more effective when the supplier's representative collectivism is high and uncertainty avoidance is low.

This study contributes to socially SSCM research in emerging economies by unveiling the role of guanxi as a key driver of socially SSCM in the Chinese market and providing empirical evidence of the moderating effect of individual culture on the guanxi normative institutionalization process.

This paper aims to investigate how emerging market multinational enterprises (EMNEs) are integrating and expanding into other emerging market host countries, focusing on Chinese mining companies in Peru.

Adopting a qualitative approach, an in-depth analysis of two Chinese state-owned enterprises’ strategies was conducted, building on stakeholder theory and the business ecosystem perspective.

This study reveals a reliance on high-level political lobbying rather than localized engagement strategies. However, findings point to increasing grassroots resistance among local stakeholders, undermining EMNEs’ bargaining power.

This paper argues for a paradigm shift toward inclusive, cooperative “translocal governance” approaches as empowered communities gain voice. Key contributions include advancing theoretical understanding of changing stakeholder relationships and power configurations in emerging countries, underscoring the rising significance of microlevel sociocultural embeddedness for MNE success and highlighting practical imperatives for EMNEs to embark on rapid localization strategies in Latin America. By elucidating multilayered integration realities in Peru, this interdisciplinary study yields contextualized insights and enriches perspective on the conditions and pathways for EMNEs to build sustainability in Global South emerging market environments.

The purpose of this study is to shed light on the twin transition in China in the organization of innovation processes in artificial intelligence (AI) and green technology (GT) development and to understand the role of foreign multinationals in Chinese innovation systems.

A qualitative research approach is used by interviewing executives from German multinationals with expertise in AI and GT development and organization of innovation processes in China. In total, 11 semi-structured interviews were conducted with companies, and the data were analysed with a thematic qualitative text analysis.

The findings show that AI applications for GT are primarily developed in cross-company projects that are led by local and regional authorities through the organization of industrial districts and clusters. German multinationals are either being integrated, remaining autonomous or being excluded from these twin transition innovation processes.

This paper aims to fill the gap in the literature by providing one of the first qualitative approach towards twin transition innovation processes in China and exploring the integration of multinational enterprises in cluster organizations. To the best of the author’s knowledge, this is one of the first twin transition studies from this perspective in emerging economies.

This study aims to explore the internationalization of multinational enterprises (MNEs) from China and aims to examine the relationship between Chinese MNEs’ duration of internationalization and export intensity, and the contingent roles of the home country government.

By extending the springboard theory with institutional and cost-benefit analyses, the authors elaborate a two-phase framework of internationalization to explain how Chinese MNEs develop their international business under the influences of the home country government. Furthermore, the authors apply the Heckman two-stage method based on a panel data set of 19,994 firm-year observations of Chinese listed firms in 2008–2018 to test the hypotheses.

The research findings demonstrate an inverted U-shape relationship between the duration of internationalization and the export intensity of MNEs from China. The export intensity of MNEs from China increases during the initial phase of internationalization, and decreases during the subsequent. A further study reveals that the inverted U-shape of Chinese non-SOEs is steeper than that of SOEs, and this moderating effect is more salient after the Belt and Road Initiative. These results highlight the influence of the home government through state ownership and policies on the inverted U-shaped relationship.

This study helps to refine the understanding of Chinese MNEs’ global expansion by addressing time as an explicit dimension and revealing the mechanism of state ownership and the home country governmental policy in the dynamic internationalization process.

This paper investigates the impact of financial integration on the capital structure of the firms operating in mainland China, examining the firm-level and country-level integrating variables for 2,878 listed Chinese firms over the period of 1991–2016 in regard to the firms' capital structures. Finally, the study revisits the associations for the state-owned and multinational firms in the context of China.

A large sample of unbalanced data from firms were used to explore the relationship firm-level and country-level integrating variables has with firm leverage and maturity; this is accomplished using the fixed effect model. For robustness, a system-generalised method of moments was used.

The results indicate that internationalisation positively impacts the leverage and debt maturity of all listed Chinese firms and multinational firms and that state-owned firms are financed mainly by the state. For country-level integration, the authors find that credit and equity markets are negatively related to a firm's leverage. A negative relation with credit markets suggests that Chinese firms have much cheaper financing options than the benefits that arise from credit market integration. Moreover, the effect of equity market integration is more pronounced on Chinese firms' capital structure and debt maturity than credit market integration.

The results provide valuable implications of financial integration for policymakers as well as capital structure decision-making for managers in China.

Few studies have examined the impact of integration on firms' capital structures in developing countries. After controlling for unobserved heterogeneity and endogeneity, this study adds new multilevel integration evidence on the capital structure of Chinese firms.

This study aims to explore the extent to which Chinese multinational enterprises (MNEs) rely on supranational institution – the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) – versus host country institutional quality to navigate their foreign location choice.

This study uses a conditional logit regression model using a sample of 1,302 greenfield investments by Chinese MNEs in 54 BRI participating countries during the period 2011–2018.

The results indicate that as a supranational institution, the BRI serves as a substitution mechanism to address the deficiencies in institutional quality in BRI participating countries, thereby attracting Chinese MNEs to invest in those countries. In addition, the BRI’s substitution effect on host country institutional quality is more pronounced for large MNEs, MNEs in the manufacturing industry and MNEs in inland regions.

This study expands the understanding of the BRI as a supranational institution for MNEs from emerging markets and reveals its substitution effect on the host country institutional quality. Furthermore, it highlights that MNEs with diverse characteristics gain varying degrees of benefits from the BRI.

Given the great upheaval in the international situation and the increasing operating risk in international business, research on corporate diplomacy is thriving. However, it still lacks clear conceptualization and operationalization. Based on social capital theory, our study conceptualizes corporate diplomacy as a three-dimensional construct and quantifies its distinct and combined impacts on multinational enterprises’ (MNE) subsidiary performance.

This research analyzes 134 responses collected from a questionnaire survey among key informants in Chinese MNEs using the regression method.

This research finds that corporate diplomacy is positively correlated with MNEs’ subsidiary performance. Specifically, compatriot-oriented diplomacy is the most effective, followed sequentially by host-partner-oriented and host-regulator-oriented diplomacy. In addition, compatriot-oriented diplomacy substitutes for host-partner-oriented diplomacy but complements host-regulator-oriented diplomacy in enhancing subsidiary performance.

Our research enriches the conceptualization and operationalization of corporate diplomacy and provides a nuanced view of its distinct and combined effects on MNEs’ subsidiary performance.

This paper aims to examine the question, “How do firm-level, home-country and host-country environmental performance (EP) affect the outward foreign direct investment (OFDI) of Chinese multinational enterprises (MNEs)?”

The authors examine the relationships between EP and OFDI propensity and between EP and OFDI intensity using a sample of 359 Chinese firms in industries with a significant environmental footprint between 2009 and 2019 (2,002 firm-year observations) and a Heckman two-stage model.

This study shows that the propensity for OFDI by Chinese MNEs is significantly and positively related to the firm’s prior EP and the country-level EP of China. However, the amount of FDI invested is significantly and positively related to the firm’s prior EP and negatively related to the EP of the host country.

The findings suggest that FDI in a country by an MNE is determined by a combination of firm-level EP, home-country EP and host-country EP. This study finds that the decision to undertake FDI (propensity) and the decision about how much to invest (intensity) are determined by different factors. The propensity for FDI is determined by the home-country EP and firm-level EP. However, the intensity of FDI is determined by a combination of the host country EP and firm-level EP. A limitation is that this study only examines MNEs in China, so the findings may not apply to other countries.

This paper shows that MNEs’ EP is positively related to the propensity and intensity of their OFDI decisions. However, this paper shows that the home-country and host-country EP may also play an important role in determining the propensity or intensity of OFDI.

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.

By analyzing data from listed Chinese MNEs from 2012 to 2022, this study applies a negative binomial regression model to test the research hypotheses.

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.

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.

This study aims to examine the effect of board gender diversity on corporate litigation in China’s listed firms. The key questions this study addresses are: what are the effect of board gender diversity on corporate litigation in terms of both the frequency and severity of consequence, is there any heterogeneous effects of the relationships across firm performance?

A sample consists of 25,668 firm-year observations from over 3,340 firms is examined using logistic regression analysis and negative binomial regression analysis. The authors also use event study method and ordinary least square (OLS) regression to explore female directors’ effects on reducing the negative consequences of litigation. The logistic regression and OLS regression are reestimated with interaction terms when examining the firm performance heterogeneity.

The authors document that firms with greater female representation on their boards experience fewer and less severe corporate litigations. Moreover, in high-performing firms, board gender diversity plays a more potent role in reducing the frequency and consequences of corporate litigation than low-performing firms.

This study is among the first to examine the relationship between board gender diversity and the comprehensive corporate litigations under Chinese context. It sheds new light on China’s boardroom dynamics, offering valuable empirical implication to Chinese corporate policymakers on the role of female directors.