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1 – 10 of 506Silvia Massa, Maria Carmela Annosi, Lucia Marchegiani and Antonio Messeni Petruzzelli
This study aims to focus on a key unanswered question about how digitalization and the knowledge processes it enables affect firms’ strategies in the international arena.
Abstract
Purpose
This study aims to focus on a key unanswered question about how digitalization and the knowledge processes it enables affect firms’ strategies in the international arena.
Design/methodology/approach
The authors conduct a systematic literature review of relevant theoretical and empirical studies covering over 20 years of research (from 2000 to 2023) and including 73 journal papers.
Findings
This review allows us to highlight a relationship between firms’ international strategies and the knowledge processes enabled by applying digital technologies. Specifically, the authors discuss the characteristics of patterns of knowledge flows and knowledge processes (their origin, the type of knowledge they carry on and their directionality) as determinants for the emergence of diverse international strategies embraced by single firms or by populations of firms within ecosystems, networks, global value chains or alliances.
Originality/value
Despite digital technologies constituting important antecedents and critical factors for the internationalization process, and international businesses in general, and operating cross borders implies the enactment of highly knowledge-intensive processes, current literature still fails to provide a holistic picture of how firms strategically use what they know and seek out what they do not know in the international environment, using the affordances of digital technologies.
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Tong Tong, Tarlok Singh, Bin Li and Lewis Liu
This paper aims to investigate the primary motivations for China’s outward foreign direct investment (ODI) decisions.
Abstract
Purpose
This paper aims to investigate the primary motivations for China’s outward foreign direct investment (ODI) decisions.
Design/methodology/approach
Using a panel data sample covering the period 2003–2012 and a comprehensive set of 176 host countries.
Findings
This study finds that market size, trade variables and natural resource variables are strongly related to the Chinese ODI stocks. This indicates that Chinese ODI decisions are driven by both market- and resource-seeking motives. The subperiod sample test results lend even stronger support to the market-seeking motive for ODI.
Originality/value
These results seem to emerge from the policy changes that were undertaken during the sample period. Consistent with subgroup tests, this study finds that the main purposes of China’s ODI in the top 100 countries are natural resource explorations and production line replacements.
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Heba F. Zaher and Gilberto Marquez-Illescas
This paper aims to examine the existing literature on firms’ power through the lens of the supply chain and highlights some gaps that could be covered by future research.
Abstract
Purpose
This paper aims to examine the existing literature on firms’ power through the lens of the supply chain and highlights some gaps that could be covered by future research.
Design/methodology/approach
This study uses a systematic framework-based review combining the insights of the antecedents, decisions and outcomes (ADO) and theories, contexts and methods (TCM) frameworks. The review was carried out using a sample of 108 articles published between 1984 and 2022 in 25 prestigious journals.
Findings
The ADO framework maps out the state of the art of the antecedents of power (i.e. sources and types of firm power), the decision to use power and the effect that exercising power over other firms may have on firm performance and the quality of inter-firm relationships. In addition, this framework highlights factors that mediate or moderate the decision to exercise power and the factors that mediate or moderate the outcomes of exercising power or power asymmetry. The TCM framework provides insights into the theories, contexts (i.e. countries, industries, level of analysis and sources of data) and methods used by the existing literature. The content analysis using the aforementioned frameworks provides the basis to elaborate propositions for future research on power in the supply chain from the perspective of gender differences.
Research limitations/implications
This systematic literature review offers a comprehensive guide for researchers to understand the antecedents, decisions and outcomes of firm power in the supply chain, as well as the TCM used in the literature. The content analysis using frameworks provides a road map to investigate the proposed factors that might moderate the decision to exercise power and the outcome of exercising power or power asymmetry from the perspective of gender differences. In addition, based on content analysis, the authors make propositions about TCM that could be applied in future research.
Practical implications
From a practical perspective, this systematic literature review may help managers to better understand the sources and consequences of their firm’s power. This would allow managers to make better decisions when negotiating with their supply chain parties, which could potentially lead to better performance for their firms and the whole supply chain.
Originality/value
To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this study is the first to conduct a comprehensive systematic literature review of the different dimensions of firms’ power in the supply chain.
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Nripendra P. Rana, Anurag Singh, Satyanarayana Parayitam, Anubhav Mishra and Deepa Bhatt Mishra
The pandemic has severely affected sharing economy businesses specially ride-hailing services due to high levels of human-touch points. This research investigates the impact of…
Abstract
Purpose
The pandemic has severely affected sharing economy businesses specially ride-hailing services due to high levels of human-touch points. This research investigates the impact of COVID-19 infodemic, identification, and emotional support on intention to use ride-hailing. The authors further examine the moderating effects of internalization, compliance, social currency and informational support in the proposed conceptual model.
Design/methodology/approach
The data were collected from 412 respondents from Delhi in India, and hypothesized relationships were tested using hierarchical regression.
Findings
The results indicate that COVID-19 infodemic has a negative association with intention to use ride-hailing. Identification and emotional support show a positive association with intention to use ride-hailing. The results also support internalization and compliance as moderators between infodemic, identification and intention to use ride-hailing. Further, social currency and information support moderate the relationship between emotional support and intention to use.
Originality/value
This is the first research, which adds to the expanding literature on ride-hailing, especially during the post-pandemic period of “new normal”.
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Sarah Franz, Axele Giroud and Inge Ivarsson
This study aims to analyse how multinational corporations (MNCs) organise value chain activities to penetrate new market segments. It contributes by expanding traditional…
Abstract
Purpose
This study aims to analyse how multinational corporations (MNCs) organise value chain activities to penetrate new market segments. It contributes by expanding traditional decisions regarding the vertical fine-slicing of value chain activities (whether performed internally or externally) and the consideration of resource-sharing decisions (integration or separation) for each value chain function.
Design/methodology/approach
The authors draw on primary data collected from two case study firms operating in the large emerging Chinese market: Volvo Construction Equipment AB and Epiroc AB. In-depth cases illustrate how foreign MNCs expand into new market segments and simultaneously target both the lower-priced mid-market and the premium segments in the Chinese mining and construction industry.
Findings
The results reveal that product diversification creates challenges for managers who must oversee new (vertical) value chains, often simultaneously. Beyond geography and modes of governance, managers must decide whether to integrate or separate value chain activities for the new product lines. The study identifies four main strategic choices for firms to address this complexity, focusing on the decision to internalise or externalise (i.e. within or across organisational boundaries) and integrate or separate value chain activities between different product lines.
Originality/value
This study builds upon the internalisation theory and recent international business contributions that focus on value chain configurations to explain MNCs’ product diversification as a growth strategy in a host emerging market. It also sheds light on the choice of conducting new activities in-house or externally and elucidates firms’ managerial decisions to operationally integrate or separate individual value chain activities. The study provides insights into the drivers explaining managerial decisions to configure value chain activities across product lines and contributes to the growing body of literature on MNC activities in emerging economies by highlighting that product diversification impacts entry mode diversity and resource sharing across units.
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Kaone Bakokonyane and Nkobi Owen Pansiri
The purpose of this study was to examine the application of the collaborative research supervision approach (CRSA) to learning projects in higher education, using socialisation…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this study was to examine the application of the collaborative research supervision approach (CRSA) to learning projects in higher education, using socialisation, externalisation, combination and internalisation (SECI) dimensions. The study, therefore, examined how these dimensions assisted learners in Botswana's higher education to generate research knowledge.
Design/methodology/approach
The study used a mixed-method research approach and exploratory research design. Purposive sampling was used to examine how the CRSA dimensions were employed in a classroom of 111 higher education learners who were carrying out research projects. Out of this population, 97 responded to a questionnaire, and 14 learners participated in a face-to-face interview. One hundred and eleven research documents produced by learners were analysed, and 42 observations were conducted.
Findings
The study found that the four dimensions of CRSA assist greatly in the development of knowledge of the research processes. This study confirms that the CRSA in higher education institutions has the potential to enhance research knowledge and skills, build learners' confidence in research, engage in learning, reduce workload, reduce the frustration of doing research and help learners complete their work in time. Learners with weak research skills easily catch up with their average-performing peers.
Research limitations/implications
It is important to recognise the methodological limitations of this study. The study used a mixed method and a single case. As a result, the results' significance cannot be justified. Additionally, the context and methodology restrict the findings' generalisability. There is obviously potential for additional cases since this article only offers a preliminary analysis of the single case issue. Consequently, the study recommends that yet another study could be conducted to check if the approach could be used for graduate learners. Another study could also be conducted to check if the approach could be used as a supervisory approach that can provide prospects for knowledge sharing and creating learning in an organisation.
Practical implications
The study discovered that when properly implemented, CRSA arrangement enhances research knowledge development and reduces the workload for both the supervisor and the student. When choosing this desired research supervision approach, either in terms of policy or in actual practice, it is important to take the potential for information exchange into account. This might result in improved research supervision efficacy in higher education and hence the production of better quality graduate learning projects.
Social implications
This study recommends the use of the CRSA in higher education, so as to help learners with weak research skills, to collaboratively work with learners with high and average research skills. It also improves the quality of supervisor–learner learning relationship.
Originality/value
The research results were given to participants and respondents for approval to find out if what was written was what they said. The research results were also given to colleagues to check whether the analysis is balanced and fair and to check biases and exaggerations.
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Fei Li, Yan Chen, Jaime Ortiz and Mengyang Wei
Deglobalization and the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic have severely hindered multinational enterprise (MNE) investment. At the same time, digital technology is…
Abstract
Purpose
Deglobalization and the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic have severely hindered multinational enterprise (MNE) investment. At the same time, digital technology is seriously challenging it with traditional production factor flows. Few studies have realized that the impact of digitalization is not limited to either transaction costs or the location-boundness of firm-specific advantages (FSAs), but extends to profound changes in the fundamental essence of MNEs. There is still limited understanding of this body of knowledge as a whole, including how its subtopics are interrelated. This study took the production factor change perspective to review MNE theory in the digital era. Therefore, this study aims to identify any upcoming and undeveloped themes in order to provide a platform suited to direct future research.
Design/methodology/approach
This paper presents a summary and a review of 151 articles published between 2007 and 2020. Such review was conducted to systematically explain the connotations and influential mechanisms of digital empowerment on MNE theory. This was achieved by using the CiteSpace citation visualization tool to build a keyword co-occurrence network.
Findings
The research findings pertain to how digitalization expands, breaks through, and even reshapes traditional MNE theory from four distinctive angles: the influential factors of internationalization, the process of internationalization, competitive advantage, and location choice. The findings are followed by the presentation of future research directions.
Originality/value
This paper presents an examination of MNE theory in the digital era from the perspective of production factor change. In doing so, it identifies significant theoretical innovation opportunities for future scholarly research priorities.
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Ebrahim Merza and Omar Alhussainan
This paper aims to investigate the drivers of foreign direct divestment (FDD), how it relates to foreign direct investment (FDI) flows and stocks and its implications for…
Abstract
Purpose
This paper aims to investigate the drivers of foreign direct divestment (FDD), how it relates to foreign direct investment (FDI) flows and stocks and its implications for developing countries. While divestment occurs for various reasons, it can be explained by reversing the propositions implied by FDI theories.
Design/methodology/approach
The authors combine FDI data and FDI theories to provide theoretical explanations for FDD and what it means for developing countries. FDI stock and flow data are used to derive inferences on trends in FDD and examine the implications of FDI theories on FDD.
Findings
Changes in the modes of global production and the rise of COVID-19 have reinforced the trend of stagnant or diminishing FDI flows observed since the global financial crisis, with implications for FDD. The authors demonstrate how the various FDI theories can be used to explain FDD, except for the currency areas hypothesis. By reviewing the costs and benefits of FDI, it is concluded that shrinking FDI flows and stocks may not be as detrimental for developing economies as it is typically portrayed.
Originality/value
The paper uses two original approaches to measure and explain the motives for FDD. The first is a reassessment of FDI theories in a way that makes them valid theories for FDD. The second original approach is to interpret data on FDI flows and stocks to imply the trends governing FDD, which is useful, as data on foreign divestment are not available on a country or regional basis.
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Torbjørn Bjorvatn and Trond Randøy
The purpose of this study is to describe and explain the organisation design antecedents of coordination, learning and trust in an international strategic alliance in a…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this study is to describe and explain the organisation design antecedents of coordination, learning and trust in an international strategic alliance in a cross-border context characterised by extreme political volatility.
Design/methodology/approach
The research was carried out as a single-case study in situ in a humanitarian international strategic alliance in Pyongyang, the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (North Korea).
Findings
In addition to explaining the effects of interface, specialisation, formalisation and centralisation on coordination, learning and trust, the study demonstrates the influence of classic international business (IB) “costs of doing business abroad” (Hymer, 1960/1976) on the same organisational outcomes. Moreover, the study identifies intergovernmental engagement/containment/disengagement as a contextual antecedent of both organisation design and outcomes.
Originality/value
The study extends IB theory by indicating that mainstream IB perspectives may not fully explain intraorganisational outcomes in cross-border contexts characterised by extreme political volatility. Notably, the study suggests that complementary constructs such as intergovernmental engagement are needed to account for the additional costs incurred by such settings.
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Jorge Alcaraz, Julio Martinez-Suarez and Miguel A. Montoya
This paper aims to determine whether policy uncertainty caused by institutional decay in countries with populist rulers influences the internationalization decision of emerging…
Abstract
Purpose
This paper aims to determine whether policy uncertainty caused by institutional decay in countries with populist rulers influences the internationalization decision of emerging market firms (EMFs).
Design/methodology/approach
The study used binary logit analysis on firms from Latin American countries undertaking cross-border greenfield investment projects.
Findings
The results suggest that internationalization decision is demotivated by policy uncertainty generated by populist chief executives and promoted by that of political parties.
Originality/value
This study uses populist rhetoric to describe policy uncertainty due to chief executives and ruling parties, which influences internationalization decision by increasing anticipated transaction costs. This inquiry identifies populism as a variable that influences EMFs to internationalize, while empirically testing the claim of theoretical scholarship that populism reconfigured the sociopolitical and institutional forces that shape the world’s business. This study further advances institutional theory by offering a fresh perspective on the influence of home instead of host-country institutions on the internationalization motivation of firms due to institutional decay caused by populist regimes.
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