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Diametrically opposed views exist on the nature of global strategic management, the existence of global multinational enterprises (MNEs), and the performance implications of regional and global orientation. However, these divergent opinions on the nature of global strategy “should be considered a starting point for introducing systematically a regional component in international business research” (Rugman & Verbeke, 2004a, p. 5). Our aim in this chapter, therefore, is to examine the geographic orientation (i.e., regional versus global) of multinational firms to provide new insights into some of the important characteristics that distinguish between these MNE archetypes. Our findings suggest that the interaction between the MNE's organizational characteristics and its geographic orientation is associated with MNEs performance. By arguing for a contingency perspective on regional and global strategy, we thus attempt to bridge the gap between these two opposing viewpoints.

The aim of the chapter is to identify the internationalization models of SME industrial district firms within a very integrated and dynamic Regional Innovation System (RIS) of Italy. By doing so, we investigate which are the strategies of firms embedded in a RIS to access global suppliers and markets. Accordingly, this chapter explores the role of SMEs firms' dynamic capabilities, its linkage with the industry investments in ICT (information and communication technologies) and the impact of the utilization of regional knowledge intensive business services (KIBS) in shaping the degree of internationalization of local firms.

The analysis is based on a survey addressed during 2004 to entrepreneurs or managers of a sample of 125 SMEs firms operating in 7 industrial districts (biomedical, ceramics, shipbuilding, footwear, textile, plastics and packaging) of the Emilia Romagna.

The results coming from a structural equation model revealed factors that impact on firms' degree of internationalization in the input (relocalization of foreign purchases through global value chains) and in the output dimension (export sales). Some interesting insights on what lies beneath the internationalization of firms in a very dynamic regional innovation system like that one of Emilia Romagna are provided.

This chapter seeks to explain cases whereby locationally advantageous countries do not give rise to internationally competitive national firms, as theory suggests. Rather, foreign firms enjoy equal access to the country resources and build strong competitive position based on them. It suggests that location resources vary in terms of the extent to which foreign firms experience liabilities in accessing them, and in the ability of MNE internal networks to provide substitute for them. It introduces a hierarchy of location resources along these two dimensions and suggests that the position of resources in the hierarchy determines variations between foreign and national firms in terms of their ability to access location resources. When critical advantages are based on location resources that are high on the hierarchy, that is, are exclusive to national firms, the latter are likely to take the lead in an industry, establishing strong competitive position based on these superior resources. In contrast, when critical advantages are based on location resources which foreign firms can access on similar terms to those of national firms, or else can rely on the MNE network for their provision, the leading firms in an industry are likely to originate in multiple countries and no apparent home country effect will be observed. This chapter outlines the implications of the findings for MNE location strategies and for policy makers.

The present study develops an international joint venture (IJV) partner selection framework to explain the choice between state-owned or privately owned local partners in the context of emerging economies. We suggest that once an IJV is selected as the mode of entry, a multinational enterprise's strategic motivations – that is, efficiency seeking, market seeking and knowledge seeking – will influence its choice of IJV partner type: state-owned enterprise or privately owned firm. We argue that liability of foreignness and rule of law moderate the multinational enterprise's selection of IJV partner type.

Liability of foreignness (LOF) is a well-known concept in international business domain. At the core of LOF is the insight that firms face social and economic costs when they operate in foreign markets. Extant literature acknowledges that the ability of firms to overcome LOF in host locations varies; however, it does not discuss the possibility that the LOF itself could vary for different firms at the same location. We extend this literature by examining how a firm's interaction with the host and the home country environments affect the LOF that it faces in foreign markets.

We argue that there are two sources of LOF – environmentally derived LOF and firm-based LOF. The environmentally derived LOF has its source in home and host country environments. Firm-based LOF, on the contrary, derives from firm-specific characteristics including ownership structure, firm-specific resources, learning and network-based linkages such as affiliation to a business group. Furthermore, we argue that both the environmentally derived and the firm-based LOF are different for emerging market (EM) firms as compared to developed market (DM) firms. We develop testable propositions about how environment-specific and firm-specific factors affect LOF and suggest directions for future research.

The chapter adopts the international production typology offered by the OLI paradigm whereby firms are classified principally as market seekers, efficiency seekers, natural resource seekers or partner seekers. These motives to reach overseas are tested against 26 location factors, categorised under ‘business climate’, ‘market conditions’, ‘local resources’ and ‘incentive packages’, and three sets of control variables: industry, age and entry mode. The empirical analysis based on firm-level data from 15 sub-Saharan countries shows that, for all types of firm, the presence of local markets, regional markets and key clients are the positive determining location factors, followed by business climate factors, such as labour costs, the availability of skilled labour, raw materials and local suppliers. For market-seeking MNEs, the political and economic stability, infrastructure, country's legal framework and the transparency of investment all rate high. Importantly, the implication for host-nation promotion agencies is that once the motive to enter their economies is clear, they can – and should – play a skilful negotiation game with MNEs at the entry point itself. Based on the empirical analysis, a conceptual two-step approach to understanding FDI decisions, intimately linked to the liability of foreignness concept, is suggested.

Existing research in firm internationalization tends to adopt the perspective of relatively fixed country specific advantages and disadvantages. However, firms operating from small developing countries may experience rapidly shifting country-specific advantages due to industrial policy interventions. These changes influence the internal configuration and, ultimately, the internationalization paths of firms, a factor that is not captured by current theory. Using a combination of a country case study and nested multiple firm cases, data were collected on how organizations internationalized from Trinidad and Tobago, a small developing country. Unlike the relatively deterministic outward patterns predicted by existing theories, analysis revealed both evolutionary and co-evolutionary trajectories of development. These outcomes suggest that as a country moves to more open economic environment, network connections in the form of supplier and institutional relationships are of increased value for firms seeking to enter external markets.

This research examines the differential impact of the importance of internally and externally sourced information and knowledge and their relationship to absorptive capacity and firm performance. In addition, this analysis deals directly with the unobservable heterogeneity amongst firms that is generally viewed as the raison d'être for a unique resource-based perspective of organizational performance. Latent class, finite mixture regression models are used that show that a single model relating knowledge sourcing, absorptive capacity and firm performance is inadequate in explaining even a minor portion of the variation which is seen between firms.

This chapter provides a logical extension to the understanding of firm-specific advantages and disadvantages and the enabling role of existing and emerging country-specific advantages relevant to the process of Chinese firm internationalization. Its longitudinal perspective considers the changing objectives and actions of firms that enable them to compensate for disadvantages and create new or strengthen existing competitive advantages. The case study evaluation reveals that the evolution of strategic resources is the key motivator behind the internationalization of Chinese firms. Decisively encouraged by the Chinese government firms with corporate entrepreneurship aspire to alter themselves from home market leaders and regional players into globally competing multi-nationals. This process is made possible via the development of firm-specific advantages and continuous compensation for firm-specific disadvantages. The aspiration for strategic asset acquisition from developed countries combined with cost leadership and independent customer-centred innovation brought about strong firm-specific advantages stimulating the internationalization process of firms. The chapter focuses on the interdependence of country- and firm-specific advantages and disadvantages, thus recognizing the significance of the home country institutional context in Chinese outward foreign direct investment. It has been identified that corporate entrepreneurship is a significant firm-specific advantage for firm internationalization being a major force in gaining, accumulating, utilizing and leveraging resources for transforming firm-specific disadvantages into advantages. We argue that if the relational framework between governmental institutions and firms is more developed, the impact of country-specific advantages on firm-specific advantages is more favourable. This assumes that the government espouses an ideology that is favourable to corporate entrepreneurship.

The purpose of this chapter is to contribute to research in the field of international entrepreneurship by complementing existing levels of analysis with a network perspective that captures how the pursuit of international opportunities at the foreign market level unfolds through processes ingrained in the network structures that firms are embedded in. By performing a multilevel review of 50 studies within the international entrepreneurship research field, the chapter contributes with an analysis of the evolvement of the international entrepreneurship field between the years 1994 and 2010, a discussion of the field's current status and where it is going from here. The results of the review show that whereas early work in the field of international entrepreneurship is primarily concentrated on individual entrepreneurs or individual firms, network-level-focused studies dominate among the later publications. Studies that adopt explicit network approaches have the potential to contribute to international entrepreneurship research by being able to shed light on the actual mechanisms and processes by which foreign market opportunities are exploited.