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Research on diversification has produced insights into possible linkages between organizational scale and scope and firm performance. However, the paucity of research on strategy implementation has hindered our understanding of the broader performance implications of diversification. We extend the resource-based view and diversification research by examining how firms can exploit diversifying investments designed to achieve scale and scope economies. Successful firms more effectively structure their resource portfolio, bundle resources into capabilities, and leverage these capabilities when implementing a diversification strategy. We develop a model linking strategies by which firms expand product and geographic market scope to the actions they take to manage resources. We examine three actions – internal development, acquisitions, and strategic alliances – and discuss the implications of these actions using the resource management framework.

Young/small firms are often seen as acquisition targets, but rarely viewed as potential acquirers. However, in this study we found that one-third of the young ventures in our sample pursued aggressive growth though acquisition of their competitors. Furthermore, contrary to conventional wisdom, we found striking evidence that young firms pursuing growth via acquisition significantly outperformed their peers who pursued growth via internal development. Thus, growth via acquisition clearly represents a viable strategic option for young, small firms.

This paper offers a discussion of the key multilevel issues pertaining to the multinationality–performance (M–P) relationship. Arguably, one of the most important areas of research in international business, firm internationalization and its consequences are multilevel phenomena, influenced by forces at different managerial and structural levels: from the executive, subsidiary and firm, to the country and industry. We suggest that accounting for important factors at each level and for their cross-level interactions may help reconcile inconsistent findings and advance our understanding of the M–P relationship. Based on a critical review of the literature, we offer recommendations regarding the appropriate levels of theory, measurement, and analysis to guide future research.

The purpose of this paper is to examine how home institutions moderate the influence of internationalization, and the effect this has on the performance of stock-listed Chinese firms.

A sample of 118 stock-listed Chinese firms over the period 2006-2011 was considered, using the panel data method.

The results show that foreign ownership and region-specific marketization help firms reap the performance benefits of internationalization, while state ownership plays an insignificant role.

The findings may not hold for unlisted firms, service firms or firms from other emerging economies.

The study suggests that Chinese managers should take advantage of home country institutions to improve the effects of internationalization on performance.

This research suggests that the analysis of the performance consequences of internationalization should go beyond the nexus between internationalization and performance, and also consider the home institutional factors that may facilitate or constrain the focal relationship.

Understanding institutional distance – i.e., the difference in institutional context between countries – is critical for firms whose operations span national boundaries. Institutional distance impacts the relative attractiveness of country markets, trade-offs among foreign market entry strategies, the management of subsidiaries abroad, and ultimately, firm performance. Although scholars in various disciplines have made great advances in defining and measuring the institutional characteristics of nations, we contend that many of these advances have occurred in a parallel fashion. Moreover, extant empirical studies focus disproportionately on the impact of different subsets of the identified institutional characteristics. We suggest that it is time to find common ground across the disparate literatures. Doing so would allow us to view differences in institutional contexts more holistically, and refine our understanding of their implications for multinational corporations.

This study aims to explore the effects of subsidiary–local supplier linkage characteristics in a supply chain and the moderating effects of a multinational corporation’s (MNC’s) international experience (IE) and a subsidiary’s innovation orientation (IO) on the subsidiary’s technological capability.

A new research framework is developed comprising four constructs and six research hypotheses. Applying the regression model, the hypotheses were tested on data from Taiwanese MNC’s subsidiaries of manufacturing industries in Asian developing countries.

The subsidiary–local supplier linkage characteristics, including economic aspect: asset-specific investment (ASI) of local supplier and social aspect: relational capital (RC) of local linkage, are positively associated with subsidiary’s technological capability. Moreover, the MNC’s IE can enhance the positive effect of RC on the subsidiary’s technological capability and the subsidiary’s IO decreases the positive impact of ASI on the subsidiary’s technological capability.

This study provides useful insights into how MNCs and subsidiaries should concentrate on the factors that increase the subsidiary’s technological capability. Moreover, MNCs’ and subsidiaries’ managers must endeavor to establish long-term linkages with carefully selected local suppliers, induce these suppliers to provide appropriate ASI, and actively develop RC in the subsidiary–local supplier linkage to enhance the subsidiary’s technological capability.

This study demonstrates that subsidiary–local supplier linkage characteristics, MNC’s IE and subsidiary’s IO can be applied to examine the technological capability of subsidiaries operating in less advanced countries.

The purpose of this paper is to study draws on the resource- and knowledge based views (RBV/KBV) of the firm to explain the internationalisation speed of retail firms.

The authors use a panel data set of 144 international retailers over a ten-year period and employ feasible generalised least squares analysis in order to assess the effect of intangible assets and international experience on internationalisation speed.

The results support direct effects of intangible assets and international experience, while the latter effect is also moderated by firms’ home-region concentration.

The study investigates the determinants of retailers’ internationalisation speed. While research stresses the positive performance effects of rapid internationalisation, future research should investigate the role of internationalisation speed for the performance of retailers empirically. The findings support the usefulness of adopting a RBV/KBV for explaining internationalisation speed.

The findings imply that firms need to have particular intangible resources before being able to internationalise rapidly. They also show that decision-makers need to be mindful of the effects of international experience in allowing them to expand overseas both within and outside their home region.

There has been very little research into the speed with which firms in general and service sector firms in particular expand their operations internationally. Through a theory-based analysis of a newly created panel data set this study provides novel insights into the factors that lead retail firms to internationalise rapidly.

The purpose of this paper is to map the existing patterns in the development of services innovations in financial institutions.

The data come from a dedicated survey of banks located in Luxembourg. Executives and innovation managers reported on banks’ innovation processes for the period of 2010-2012.

The study unveils four patterns of new service development (NSD) processes. The problem-driven pattern starts with problem definition and represents a bank’s response to an issue. The proactivity-driven pattern commences with idea generation to explore a variety of alternatives. The market-driven pattern emphasises a profit rationale and starts with a business analysis. The strategy-driven pattern frames idea generation within the scope of business goals and starts with the development of a service concept. Most banks keep a balance between being open and closed to cooperation with external partners in the innovation process. Service concept development is the stage most open to the cooperation for innovation, while introduction to a market is the opposite.

The national context and small sample size are the limitations of this study. Promising research avenues include the extension of findings to other settings and understanding of the effects of NSD patterns.

Banks adopt different approaches to the innovation process in order to pursue their innovation goals. Practitioners may use this knowledge in order to re-think the way they innovate.

The unveiled mapping of NSD processes contributes to the understanding of the innovation in financial services. The findings will be valuable for innovation managers, scholars, and students.

The purpose of this paper is to investigate the performance implications of internationalization strategies for Chinese multinational corporations (MNCs). Specifically, the authors examine the individual and joint effects of speed of internationalization in developed and developing countries and age on Chinese MNCs’ performance.

The authors constructed a unique and comprehensive database on the internationalization strategies of 206 Chinese firms over 14 years and deployed random-effect regressions to assess the effects of age, speed of expansion in terms of number of subsidiaries and countries, and the types of destination (developed vs developing country) on firm performance.

The analyses show that age is negatively related to performance but rapid expansion of subsidiaries in developing countries and geographic scope in developed countries are positively related to performance. In addition, the impacts of young age and two types of expansion, fast expansion of subsidiaries in developing countries and fast expansion of geographic scope in developed countries, are cumulative.

The authors combine the arguments of the learning advantages of newness and fast movers and model the simultaneous effects of age and speed of two types of international expansion (in terms of number of subsidiaries and countries) in both developed and developing countries on performance. The strong empirical support for the hypotheses based on analyses of a unique data set of Chinese MNCs’ internationalization patterns lends credence to the proposed model.

We examined the effects of group structure and electronic communication patterns on the performance of 18 multinational teams over an 8-month period. The teams were composed of a mix of Western and non-Western executives located throughout the world. In these highly diverse teams, team performance did not vary as a function of demographic heterogeneity; however, demographic homogeneity within the teams’ subgroups negatively affected team performance. The following communication patterns were associated with better team performance: a hierarchical communication structure, expressions of trust in the team's competence, references to the self, and information-providing statements.