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Numerous empirical investigations have attempted to study the relationship between multinationality and firm performance. Results from these studies have produced conflicting findings about this relationship. We argue that one of the causes of the conflicting findings may be an imprecise conceptualization of multinationality. We propose a multidimensional conceptualization based on a methodological review of previous research.

This study provides a deeper insight into the performance effects of internationalization of the most international multinational enterprises (MNEs). Most MNEs perform their business activities within their home-regional block of the world – North America, Europe or the Asia-Pacific block. Whether these regional strategies pay off is explored by means of two analyses: first, the impact of internationalization in terms of the transnationality index, and second, the impact of foreign intra-regional sales on performance is examined. Results indicate that regional strategies smooth performance declines in the early stages of internationalization but also smooth performance increases during a phase of high-foreign expansion.

This chapter attempts to reinvigorate scholarly interest in executive scanning by outlining a model to guide future research on executive search within the context of international strategy. Executive scanning has received considerable empirical attention but only limited theoretical attention. Most of this research has studied scanning as the receipt rather than the search for information. Based on the application of learning theory, we outline a model advancing two broad categories of executive search exploitative and explorative, consisting of six specific search behaviors. We advance search as integral to managerial decisions relating to the various aspects of internationalization, notably choice of location, corporate strategy, and mode of entry. The implications for future research are presented.

Kostova, Roth and Dacin called in 2008 for the advancement of a theoretical conception of the multinational corporation (MNC) that takes into account both power relationships among actors and the structure of its internal institutional field. While micro-political scholars of MNCs have started to answer the former part of the call regarding power, the second part has not been thoroughly addressed yet. Furthermore, the agentic aspects typical of power games and the structural aspects characterizing institutional fields have not been fully combined in a multi-level perspective of MNCs so far. Leaning on Bourdieu, we suggest an answer to the pending call. We theorize the MNC as a playing field of power emerging around the issue of finding a meta-rate of conversion of the actors’ capitals constituted in national fields. We conceive such issue field in a dynamic state due to the constant entry and exit of new players (e.g. through mergers, acquisitions or divestitures). This results in the need to continuously test the validity of exchange rates. The role of the metainstitutional field level of the MNC as a global category is also discussed.

The purpose of this paper is to map out the soft and hard infrastructures that may have contribute to the SRI indices development in China. As part of the research, the author particularly focuses on the governance, reporting and transparency of corporate sustainability issues in China.

The author reviewed literature, new articles, research reports and documents of the two stock exchanges, Shanghai Stock Exchange and Shenzhen Stock Exchange, in China, to understand the current SRI development and the challenges and opportunities for SRI indices in the market.

The major findings from this paper are four‐fold. First, as the government's influence in the market is still substantial, government leadership in promoting corporate sustainability and SRI is essential in China. Second, with the stock exchanges already taking a proactive role in corporate sustainability with the stringent listing regulations, they are the natural facilitators in having SRI indices and promoting corporate sustainability in the market. Third, the lack of transparency in China is a barrier for SRI development. While there are positive developments on corporate disclosure, “how much information the corporations are willing to disclose” or “whether they disclose the information you ask for” are the two key questions. And fourth, there are lots of interests from globalised SRI investors in China. Currently, majority of SRI investment in emerging markets (including China) is from globalised SRI investors. This trend will continue as the size of local SRI investors in emerging markets is still relatively small.

The paper highlights the current development of SRI in China and identifies the issues that contribute or hinder the development of SRI and SRI indices in the market. The analysis of the SRI development in China can shed some lights to the current research on SRI and SRI indices, which have largely focused on developed markets. With the rapid economic growth in emerging markets (especially China), the development in these markets could not be neglected. Furthermore, this paper will enhance global SRI investors' understandings on SRI in China.

The purpose of this study is to examine the application of sports sponsorship in China, particularly to gain some understanding of the benefits as perceived by corporate sponsors. In-depth interviews were conducted with 19 sports sponsorship experts in China. The results provide insights into how sports sponsorship works in this emerging market.

This paper is positioned as a manager's guide to the new export opportunity, the export trading company (ETC). ETCs are defined in terms of both the legislative provisions and practical managerial opportunities. A number of different ETC models are presented, both hypothetical and real. Guidelines for creating or joining an ETC are offered, and expectations for short‐term performance are assessed by reference to practical examples of new ETCs. Perspectives for future development of U.S. ETCs are also presented.

The purpose of this paper is to discuss economic and social issues of contemporary capitalism through the views and works of Grazia Ietto-Gillies who has a long experience of research in these fields. The issues relate to strategies of TNCs, to globalization and transnationalization, to internationalization indices, to linkages between innovation and internationalization, to uneven development, and, finally, to issues related to the economics profession and the dissemination of research in the twenty-first century.

In-depth interview; use of relevant literature to support statements by interviewer and interviewee; qualitative analysis of issues discussed.

The article links together under the same theoretical umbrella the following issues: a theory of TNCs based on strategic approach towards labour, governments and suppliers; the development of an internationalization index based on the geography of TNCs' networks; and the possible impact of internationalization on innovation. Uneven development is linked to current problems in Europe. The need and opportunity to reconsider the economics profession and the peer review system in the digitalization era is presented.

The article is based on the views of the interviewer and the interviewee. Their views are backed by their own previous research as well as by research by other scholars cited in the article.

The interview draws policy implication in relation to TNCs and other actors who interact with them such as labour and governments. There are also policy implications in the economic and social spheres regarding the implications of TNCs' strategies and the aftermath of the 2007/2008 crisis.

At the methodological level the article highlights the advantages of in-depth interviews. Specifically, it allows the interviewee to give an overall perspective on her research and to show how the various strands are connected and how they developed through the decades of her research. It allows both interviewer and interviewee to link the issues to a variety of literatures in the economics, sociology and politics fields.

This paper illuminates the distinction between individual and organizational actors in business-to-business markets as well as the coexistence of formal and informal mechanisms of coordination in multinational corporations. The main questions addressed include the following. (1) What factors influence the occurrence of personal contacts of foreign subsidiary managers in industrial multinational corporations? (2) How such personal contacts enable coordination in industrial markets and within multinational firms? The theoretical context of the paper is based on: (1) the interaction approach to industrial markets, (2) the network approach to industrial markets, and (3) the process approach to multinational management. The unit of analysis is the foreign subsidiary manager as the focal actor of a contact network. The paper is empirically focused on Portuguese sales subsidiaries of Finnish multinational corporations, which are managed by either a parent country national (Finnish), a host country national (Portuguese) or a third country national. The paper suggests eight scenarios of individual dependence and uncertainty, which are determined by individual, organizational, and/or market factors. Such scenarios are, in turn, thought to require personal contacts with specific functions. The paper suggests eight interpersonal roles of foreign subsidiary managers, by which the functions of their personal contacts enable inter-firm coordination in industrial markets. In addition, the paper suggests eight propositions on how the functions of their personal contacts enable centralization, formalization, socialization and horizontal communication in multinational corporations.