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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.

We wanted to find out how infant multinationals originating from Poland enact opportunities in Sub-Saharan African (SSA) countries.

We conducted a comparative case study of four Polish firms operating in SSA.

We found that when entering SSA, studied firms employed effectual decision-making logic. Thus, their internationalization was means-driven, serendipitous, partnership-oriented, based on the “affordable loss” principle and focused on shaping opportunities in SSA, rather than predicting, analyzing and planning any firm-specific assets or capabilities.

We illuminated the nature of the means employed in effectual internationalization and the role of partners (“effectual stakeholders”) in this process. Thus, we contribute to a deeper understanding of how infant multinationals navigate extreme uncertainty in the emerging SSA markets.

The purpose of this paper is to explore mechanisms of the overseas marketing assets needed for marketing dynamic capability in Chinese multinational enterprises (MNEs) settings. Marketing assets of foreign subsidiaries contribute to the dynamic capability of MNEs, which are crucial for their sustained competitiveness. This kind of mechanism attracts much attention in academia and industry. However, there are few studies on how dynamic capabilities are developed in MNEs considering the organizational structure of geographically dispersed assets in multiple locations. This paper aims to examine the effect of knowledge-based and relational-based marketing assets on dynamic marketing capabilities and the mediating effect of customer orientation on Chinese MNEs.

Integrating the dynamic capability approach and the international marketing literature, this study examines the impact of two types of marketing assets of foreign subsidiaries, focusing on knowledge-based and relationship-based marketing assets, on the dynamic marketing capabilities of Chinese MNEs. A large-scale empirical study of Chinese MNEs operating in overseas markets was performed, and the questionnaires were distributed and collected.

The results suggest a positive impact of knowledge-based and relationship-based marketing assets on marketing dynamic capability. We find that customer orientation has a positive mediating effect on the relationship between marketing assets and marketing dynamic capability. We also find that the competitive strength of the overseas market negatively moderates this relationship.

This study aims to contribute to the existing literature with a more fine-grained understanding of marketing assets and marketing dynamic capability, then provides theoretical guidance and management suggestions for the formulation and implementation of internationalization strategies of Chinese MNEs.

The findings outline several important implications for MNEs seeking into expand to overseas markets.

This paper contributes a novel, combined perspective on marketing assets and marketing dynamic capability.

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.

The consequences of corporate corruption control (CCC) have either been investigated outside the firm (e.g. foreign direct investment inflows) or inside the firm (e.g. profitability). Yet prior research addresses these implications separately, treating them as distinct phenomena, ignoring questions at their intersection. However, corruption control can be leveraged to benefit both organizations (internally) and environments (externally). In line with open systems theory, this study aims to explore a ripple effect of corruption control not only inside organizations (efficiency through adoption of sustainable resource management practices) but also outside [community-centered corporate social performance (CSP)].

Using a longitudinal sample of multinational enterprises from Forbes list of “The World’s Largest Public Companies,” the authors use a cross-lagged panel design to provide clarity regarding causal effects.

Results confirm causal directionality and support the positive effect of corruption control on resource management and community CSP, contributing toward understanding implications at the organization–environment interface.

The authors examine both internal and external implications of CCC. The use of a cross-lagged design that is relatively novel to the management field allows to check for casual effects between CSP elements that were previously assumed to have reciprocal casual effects.

Small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) are highly concerned about every aspect of their international performance (IP) due to their limited resources. However, the literature has not given equal attention to every necessary aspect and has left some fields unexplored. Moreover, different approaches to assessing SME IP have made the literature even more fragmented. This research aims to identify the gaps in the research context and assessment methods of this concept.

A systematic literature review and a thematic analysis method are employed to review 272 journal papers published in high-quality journals.

By extracting six contexts in which the concept of international performance of SMEs has been analyzed, this study integrates the research themes with geographical domains and highlights which contexts require more attention. Moreover, this study provides a comprehensive review of the current state of this concept’s operationalization methods, illustrating the level of fragmentation and differences in the literature. Following the presentation of an enriched future research agenda, this study guides scholars on the current gaps and needs for research in specific contexts and domains while providing suggestions for a more cohesive assessment of the concept.

This study is the first to systematically review the research concerning the foreign performance of firms with less than 500 employees, extract their research context, illustrate uninvestigated fields and provide helpful suggestions about the concept’s operationalization method based on a comprehensive review of the extant assessment methods.

This paper aims to investigate whether the two dominant financial reporting regimes, US Generally Accepted Accounting Principles (US GAAP) and International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS), are associated with audit pricing and audit report lags.

In 2007, the US SEC eliminated the requirement for foreign registrants to reconcile their financial statements to US GAAP from IFRS. In this post-reconciliation setting in the USA, the authors use panel ordinary least square regressions to examine a sample of foreign firms cross-listed in the USA reporting under IFRS and US domestic firms reporting under US GAAP during the fiscal year 2007–2019.

The authors find that the firms reporting under IFRS have longer audit report lags than firms reporting under US GAAP. In addition, the authors find that firms reporting under IFRS pay higher audit fees than their US GAAP counterparts. The results are robust after controlling for the firm- and country-specific characteristics as well as using propensity-score matching.

To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this study is the first to provide empirical evidence that the differences between the two reporting regimes are associated with auditor behavior, possibly through additional audit efforts and audit complexity associated with auditing the principle-based IFRS relative to the rule-based US GAAP.

This paper aims to provide insights into the environment needed for advancing a digitally enabled circular plastic economy in Africa. It explores important technical and social paradigms for the transition.

This study adopted an interpretivist paradigm, drawing on thematic analysis on qualitative data from an inter-sectoral engagement with 69 circular economy stakeholders across the continent.

The results shows that, while substantial progress has been made with regard to the development and deployment of niche innovations in Africa, the overall progress of circular plastic economy is slowed due to relatively minimal changes at the regime levels as well as pressures from the exogenous landscape. The study highlights that regime changes are crucial for disrupting the entrenched linear plastic economy in developing countries, which is supported by significant sunk investment and corporate state capture.

The main limitation of this study is with the sample as it uses data collected from five countries. Therefore, while it offers a panoramic view of multi-level synergy of actors and sectors across African countries, it is limited in its scope and ability to illuminate country-specific nuances and peculiarities.

The study underlines the importance of policy innovations and regulatory changes in order for technologies to have a meaningful contribution to the transition to a circular plastic economy.

The study makes an important theoretical contribution by using empirical evidence from various African regions to articulate the critical importance of the regime dimension in accelerating the circular economy transition in general, and the circular plastic economy in particular, in Africa.

Drawing on the time compression diseconomies perspective and business network theory, this study examines how the international expansion of a business group’s pace, scope and rhythm affects its performance.

Panel data (1999–2013) from the top 100 Taiwanese business groups investing in globalization were collected.

The results show that international pace and rhythm have an inverse U-shaped relationship with business group performance, while the relationship between international scope and business group performance is U-shaped. This study highlights that international expansion is multidimensional and nonlinear and that the factors that shape nonlinear relationships between international processes and performance are different. Furthermore, family group involvement positively moderates the link between international scope and performance and negatively affects the relationship between international pace and performance. However, no significant effect is observed between rhythm and performance. High family business group involvement mitigates the impact of outsiders’ liability and managerial costs; moreover, it enhances the positive effects of location-specific advantages and business network resources.

This study combined the time compression diseconomies perspective and business network theory to explain why and how internationalization may not always lead to good performance by examining the effects of different international expansion processes and the interactive effect of family group involvement.

Preferential market access is a pillar of the enabling clause in international trade, and as such has received scholarly attention in the recent past. This study aims to empirically examine intensity and utilisation of Uganda’s preferential market access.

Secondary data at the six-digit level of the harmonised system was sourced from the International Trade Centre’s and UN COMTRADE’s Trade Map database on trade flows to compute; trade intensity indices, Balsa’s revealed comparative advantage (RCA) indices and the existing potential trade. The time period was 2013–2022.

It is evident that Uganda is not taking full advantage of its preferential market access. The findings of the trade intensity analysis revealed that the strength of trade relations between Uganda and its preferential markets has been consistently weak in the period 2013–2022, while the intensity of trade relations with its FTA partners has been strong. The RCA results revealed that all Uganda’s agricultural exports to its preferential markets have a comparative advantage, with exports of roses reporting an exceptionally high RCA relative to other agricultural exports. The RCA results also show that the comparative advantage of Uganda’s coffee exports recovered after a significant fall in the period 2014–2022. The analysis of the existing potential for trade reveals a disproportionally low market share held by Uganda across all product lines, notably, only 2.3% of the US$29bn coffee imports in its preferential markets.

One limitation of this study is that it primarily relied on quantitative data from the International Trade Centre and thus lacks an exhaustive understanding of the circumstances at the export firm level. Qualitative data, such as interviews with exporters and policymakers, could provide deeper insights into the specific challenges and opportunities faced by Ugandan businesses in these markets.

This paper highlights the need for additional trade facilitation measures to address preferential market access bottlenecks such as stringent rules of origin and call for an aggressive government intervention in enhancing the export readiness of SMEs in Uganda. In addition, the paper is informative to Uganda’s exporters regarding the existing and potential increase in their exports to international markets.

The strength of Uganda’s trade relations with its preferential markets is empirically examined in this paper and provides useful insights for enhancing utilisation of preferential market access by beneficiary countries.