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The purpose of this paper is to analyse the decision to export in relation to financial issues, specifically the impact of corporate financial structure on a firm’s export propensity (the likelihood of a firm becoming an exporter) by firm size.

A multivariate probit model is applied to a sample of 8,019 Spanish manufacturing firms drawn from the Iberian Balance Sheet Analysis System (SABI). The analysis is performed separately for small, medium and large firms.

The paper evidences, by firm size, a positive link between ownership concentration and export propensity, although for SMEs if shareholder concentration is very high it can be counterproductive. In addition, a high degree of liquidity influences the probability of entering export markets, while those firms that face high costs as result of their export activity may need to become indebted in order to secure the necessary financial resources. However, the strength of these latter effects differs in SMEs.

This paper broadens the understanding of the relationship between firms’ export propensity and their financial health and ownership concentration, an internal factor not previously considered in the international business literature despite its relevance for firm’s decision to export. The paper highlights that their influence is not uniform but affects firms of different sizes in different ways. This is of interest and value to scholars, investors and policy makers worldwide, since handling corporate financial structure and international strategies needs to be addressed in today’s global business environment.

The aim of this study is to explore the drivers of the evolution of a subsidiary’s strategic role from an ordinary subsidiary into a springboard subsidiary in multinational corporations, paying special attention to the role of subsidiary management in this transformation.

The authors apply a case study methodology to analyse the transformation of three Spanish subsidiaries of European multinational companies into springboard subsidiaries to pursue opportunities in the Latin American region.

The results present evidence that the development of a springboard subsidiary’s role is influenced by a set of preliminary factors that include: (1) the coincidence of a favourable economic change in the target region of expansion and unfavourable market conditions in the springboard subsidiary’s home market; (2) location-specific advantages of a subsidiary that allow it to develop unique capabilities, such as the ability to reduce the psychic distance between the headquarters and target region, to balance intra-regional conflicts within the target region, and to effectively transfer knowledge from the headquarters to the target region; and (3) micro-political headquarters-subsidiary negotiation processes as a result of the subsidiary’s strong initiative, peculiarities of the structure of a multinational company, and a strong dependency of the headquarters on the subsidiary’s unique capabilities.

The study contributes to the International Business literature by providing an in-depth analysis of the evolution of springboard subsidiaries and explaining how ordinary subsidiaries located in saturated markets can trigger organisational change and achieve the extension of their strategic role.

This research explores how subsidiary embeddedness in different networks, both internal and external to the firm, contributes to the innovation of the service multinational corporation (MNC). Specifically, the authors analyze the different effects of networks on MNC’s subsidiaries performing competence-creating or competence-exploiting innovation activities, in the context of the service industry. The present study analyzes the data of 178 foreign-owned subsidiaries in the service sector performing innovation in Spain. The results of data analysis at two points in time show that external and internal embeddedness have a positive impact on the subsidiary innovation. Moreover, external embeddedness has a major positive influence on the competence-creating rather than on the competence-exploiting activities, while the internal embeddedness is equally important for both types of innovation. Therefore, this study contributes to further our understanding of how subsidiaries’ linkages affect innovation of the service MNC.

The aim of this study is to explore how springboard subsidiaries affect the psychic distance between the headquarters (HQ) of multinational companies (MNCs) and a distant target region. The study applies a single case study methodology to analyse a springboard subsidiary located in Spain that helps its German HQ to pursue opportunities in a psychically distant Latin American region. The findings suggest that springboard subsidiaries help MNCs to reduce the perceived psychic distance between their HQ and a target region due to (1) their intermediate psychic proximity in both directions (i.e. to the HQ and the target region) and (2) their location outside the target region, which makes them somewhat ‘impartial’ and not involved in intra-regional conflicts; the study also shows that the sum of psychic distance stimuli between HQ’s home country –springboard subsidiary’s country and springboard subsidiary’s – Latin American countries is actually smaller than the direct psychic distance between HQ’s home country and Latin American countries. No previous studies have explored the effect of springboard subsidiaries on psychic distance.