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The purpose of this paper is to theorize and empirically examine the effects of intra- and inter-regional geographic diversification on firm performance in China. Furthermore, it investigates they key firm capabilities, which moderate the relationships between intra- and inter-regional geographic diversification and firm performance.

In this research, the authors studied 366 listed companies that invest in mainland China. The authors used the Taiwan Economy Journal database to construct a panel data set from 2005 to 2014 and employed panel regression estimations as part of the empirical analyses.

The authors find that the effect of regional diversification on firm performance is significantly influenced by the contexts of the expansion. More specifically, the results show that the effect of intra-regional geographic diversification on firm performance takes the form of a U-shape relationship. In contrast, the authors find that inter-regional geographic diversification has a negative effect on firm performance. Firm marketing, research and development (R&D) and managerial capabilities moderate these relationships.

First, the companies studied in this research are mainly Taiwanese manufacturers with investments in mainland China. Second, the current model can be expanded by exploring additional process explanations and moderators in future research.

An important practical implication of this research is that when firms choose an intra-regional expansion strategy in China, they should adopt a moderate provincial diversification strategy in the invested region and reinforce its marketing capability to enhance firm performance. A careful consideration of a firm’s marketing, R&D and managerial capabilities is needed for successful regional diversification strategies in the China market.

The findings of this study contribute significantly to the existing literature on firms’ regional diversification. First, the authors explore and empirically test intra- and inter-regional geographic diversification strategies in China. The authors find that the effect of regional diversification on firm performance varies according to the contexts of the expansion (for instance, global, regional, in a single country). Second, this study furthers the research theme of intra- and inter-regional diversification by introducing and investigating previously unexplored firm capabilities as part of the framework.

This study aims to ascertain whether technological diversification (TD) enhances firm performance and explores the effect of patent portfolio balancing (PPB) on firm financial performance and the moderating role of research and development (R&D) intensity.

This study empirically investigates a panel dataset based on 296 information and communications technology (ICT) small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) over 5 years, using a fixed-effects panel regression with time-lagged and moderating effects. Data are collected from a government survey and a firm and patent database.

The relationship between PPB and return on assets (ROA) is negative, indicating that TD in SMEs adversely affects firm performance. R&D intensity positively moderates the relationship between PPB and ROA, implying that follow-up R&D after creating new patents could weaken the negative relationship between TD and firm performance. This moderating effect only occurs when R&D intensity is sufficiently high, suggesting that high R&D firms could be more successful at diversification.

As TD consumes many resources, managers should set the optimal level of diversification and recognise the need for follow-up R&D for successful diversification.

This study conceptualises a unique theoretical framework for the PPB of ICT SMEs, revealing the moderating role of R&D intensity in changing the negative influence of PPB on firm performance.

During the last two decades, studies on the theoretical models in the area of international business (IB), such as gradual internationalization and the born-global firms, have gained the attention of researchers. The purpose of this paper is to critically review the studies on the process of internationalization (Gradual Internationalization vs Born-Global/International new venture models) to identify the research gaps in this area and to prepare a future research agenda.

Systematic literature review method was employed for this review. The authors highlight the findings from prior studies, compare and contrast salient characteristics and features, based on the articles published in journals with an impact factor score of at least 1.0, and provide directions for research.

The authors find that there are several areas that were under-explored in prior research. There is a great potential for theoretical extension and theory development in this field as it covers the tenets of four subjects: IB, marketing, strategic management and entrepreneurship.

There is no comprehensive/integrated review exploring the methods/variables and constructs used in prior studies integrating gradual internationalization/born-global models based on all the articles published in well-regarded academic journals. This review seeks to provide deeper insights, which help us to contribute toward the development of this research field.

Much prior work involving director incentives and corporate behaviour has been focussing on their absolute dollar value or the intrinsic value and generated mixed findings. Comparison theories, however, suggest that the relative value of an incentive may be the main drive for individual performance. This study attempts to investigate the role of director relative pay in promoting the board’s intervention with unrelated diversification decisions.

The analysis uses data from firms operating in more than one segment during the period from 1999 to 2019. Data were obtained from WRDS databases. Ordinary least squares (OLS) regression analysis and the two-stage system generalized method of moments (GMM) were run to test the hypotheses. To test the robustness of the findings, alternative proxies for the key independent variables were used in separate analyses.

The results support the hypothesis that unrelated diversification negatively impact firm performance, while higher director relative pay will help reduce unrelated business diversification. The absolute director pay, however, has no significant impact on corporate strategic choices. The results also highlight the moderating effect of director overcompensation. Director overcompensation will cancel out the impact of relative director pay on unrelated diversification.

This study takes a fresh theoretical perspective by framing the investigation using the dimensional comparison theory to address the single untended comparison framework in the director pay structure – the intra-individual framework. It is the first to investigate the role of director relative pay in corporate strategic choices. The findings support the contention that the relative value of the incentive is an important indicator of the effectiveness of the pay.

The purpose of this paper is to differentiate between intra- and inter-regional diversification and explore how each affects firm performance. Existing studies show that both intra- and inter-regional expansion provide benefits and incur costs but the findings are mixed. This study aims to explain the mixed findings.

This study uses secondary data and quantitative methodologies to test hypotheses.

Using data from 663 Canadian firms over a six-year period (2006–2011), the authors find that the relationship between firm performance and the depth and width of intra-regional expansion is nonlinear. The authors also find a sigmoid-shaped relationship between firm performance and inter-regional diversification, i.e., performance initially increases with home regional diversification, decreases with bi-regional diversification and finally increases again with multi-regional diversification.

The findings of this study shed light on the current debate on the merits of inter- and intra-regional diversification and have important theoretical and managerial implications.

Aim of the present monograph is the economic analysis of the role of MNEs regarding globalisation and digital economy and in parallel there is a reference and examination of some legal aspects concerning MNEs, cyberspace and e‐commerce as the means of expression of the digital economy. The whole effort of the author is focused on the examination of various aspects of MNEs and their impact upon globalisation and vice versa and how and if we are moving towards a global digital economy.

The purpose of this paper is to address the question of how regional diversification affects subsidiary staffing composition in multinational enterprises. Another important objective of this study is to examine the effects of institutional distance, specifically regulative and normative distances, on foreign subsidiary staffing composition.

To estimate firm- and country-level parameters simultaneously, hierarchical linear modeling was conducted on a sample of 1,068 foreign subsidiaries of South Korean firms operating in 25 countries in 2014.

The results reveal that intra-regional diversification has a positive effect, whereas inter-regional diversification has a negative effect on local staffing in foreign subsidiaries. In addition, there is a positive association between informal distance (such as normative distance) and local staffing of foreign subsidiaries, while formal distance (such as regulative distance) is negatively related to local staffing of foreign subsidiaries.

The cross-sectional nature of the data in this study may preclude examination of the relationships among institutional distance, institutional environment, and subsidiary staffing composition. The authors suggest that future researchers employ a longitudinal design to examine the effects on staffing composition of institutional distance and institutional environments over time.

The paper contributes to the literature on international human resources management by highlighting the importance of combining multilevel parameters to improve assessment of the importance of firms’ competitive strategy and institutional environments in local staffing in foreign subsidiaries.

Current discussions in the international business community have demonstrated that the focus of MNCs operations tends to be more regional than global. This paper aims to investigate the performance effects of intra-regional and inter-regional strategy among large companies in European countries.

The authors test the research hypothesis on a sample of 25 largest European companies from six regional, as well as global-oriented, industries using the random effects model.

The authors find that an increase in a firm’s degree of regionalization leads to value enhancement. On the other side, the results reveal that an inter-regional strategy is associated with value discount. Moreover, empirical findings show that the higher the degree of inter-regional expansion the more pronounced is the effect of firm-specific assets related to marketing on performance. Hence, the negative valuation impact of an inter-regional strategy may be attenuated or even overcome through the interplay of inter-regional internationalization and firm-specific assets related to marketing.

By introducing a theoretical framework, the authors discuss the performance effects of regional-oriented and inter-regional-oriented strategies. Furthermore, they investigate the moderating effect of inter-regional expansion on the performance impact of firm-specific assets related to marketing in the case of large companies. Empirically, they test the hypotheses on a sample of large firms for an 11-year period using different measurements regarding the degree of intra-regional and inter-regional expansion.

The purpose of this paper is to provide a critical discussion of the scope and correct scale metrics used in the measurement of multinationality.

There are two ways of measuring the degree of multinationality (sometimes called the international diversification) of firms. The literature is reviewed using both types of metric, and then both are applied to tests of the regional nature of international business.

It is found that the correct method is to use a scale metric which captures the degree of multinationality, such as the ratio of foreign to total sales. This paper provides empirical evidence that the scope metric, which counts the number of countries in which a firm has a foreign subsidiary, is unsatisfactory.

The paper provides a new scale metric of the intra‐regional activities of large US firms.

The purpose of this paper is to investigate the effect of a focus loan strategy on Islamic banks’ (IB) performance in three areas: sectoral, geographic and the type of Islamic instrument. This paper specifically addresses two questions. First, should IBs focus or diversify their loan portfolios? Second, how does focus in lending affect IBs’ returns and risk?

The panel generalized linear squared method was used for regressions throughout the paper. Data used in the analysis were extracted from IBs’ publicly available regulatory reports in the Gulf Cooperation Council countries. The sample is an unbalanced panel that includes financial data on 26 banks during the period 2010–2018.

Focusing on Islamic instruments and economic sectors would harm IBs’ profitability while reducing their risks. Geographic focus increased the profitability of IBs, but it also increased their default risk. The focus in Islamic instruments was beneficial when risk is low to moderate, but when the risk of an IB increased, it was better to diversify across Islamic instruments. Focus in geographical areas, on the other hand, had a non-linear U-shaped relationship with return, which means that when IBs’ risk is high, focusing their loans in one geographic area enhances their returns.

This paper fills the existing gap in Islamic banking literature regarding the focus/diversification dilemma. It is the first attempt to study the effect of focus in three areas (sectoral, geographic and instrument used) on the return and risk of IBs.