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The purpose of this paper is to use stakeholder theory as the theoretical reference framework to study the influence of internationalization (geographic international diversification) and social performance on multinational companies’ (MNCs) reputation.

The authors confirm the research hypotheses using a sample of 113 US MNCs in the chemical, energy and industrial machinery sectors during the period 2005-2010.

This study contributes to the literature in three ways. First, it incorporates literature on internationalization to study the possible connection between geographic international diversification and social performance in MNCs. Second, it sheds light on the debate between corporate social responsibility (CSR) and the reputation of MNCs in a very diverse transnational context in which MNCs must meet the needs of stakeholders at both local and global levels. Third, it incorporates the mediating role of social performance in the relationship between geographic international diversification and the firm’s reputation.

Prior studies have hardly analyzed this relationship, which becomes especially relevant for MNCs, since their implementation of advanced CSR practices in the different markets in which they operate will gain them a good reputation, not only in specific local contexts but also globally, benefitting the organization as a whole and enabling it to gain internal consistency (improvement in internal efficiency), transparency and legitimacy.

The purpose of this paper is to explain the different international environmental strategies that multinational enterprises (MNEs) can adopt.

This study updates the traditional country‐specific advantages/firm‐specific advantages (FSA/CSA) framework. In order to do so, the concepts of environmental institutional distance between countries and MNEs' availability of slack resources are used.

First, a low environmental institutional distance between headquarters' and subsidiaries' countries contributes to creating environmental standards within the company. Second, MNEs with high availability of slack resources are willing to standardize their environmental practices. However, those MNEs that have a high availability of slack resources but have units based in high‐distance countries prefer to generate valuable and advanced environmental management practices only in specific countries. Finally, those MNEs with a low level of slack resources and with units based in low‐distance countries only comply with national environmental institutional requirements, becoming isomorphic with other local firms.

Although previous findings suggest that MNEs are increasingly standardizing their environmental practices, this generalization can be applied to those MNEs with units based in low‐distance countries that have a high availability of slack resources, which lead them to create valuable non‐location‐bound, green, firm‐specific advantages (FSAs).

This paper sheds light on the way in which MNEs' activities affect the natural environment. Since MNEs are key actors in terms of economic and environmental development, they can promote social and environmental values in society, and at the same time encourage other organizations and institutions to adopt a socially responsible attitude.

Purpose – We analyze the influence of the internationalization process of small and medium-sized enterprises on the adoption of a proactive environmental strategy.

Design/methodology – Using direct interviews with the CEOs of 106 Spanish export firms from the food industry, we tested our research question through ordinary least squares regression analysis.

Findings – We find that a high degree of environmental international diversification leads these firms to take advantage of different environmental competitive advantages from the different locations where they operate, and consequently integrate environmental proactive practices and programs within their organizational strategy.

Research implications/limitations – The result obtained in this work contributes to better understanding of the importance of firms’ internationalization process in the generation of valuable environmental knowledge abroad. The chapter also discusses implications for managers, scholars, and policy makers. Future analysis should include longitudinal data of export firms based in other countries.

Originality/value of chapter – We pay special attention to the environmental management undertaken by small- and medium-sized export enterprises. Specifically, we study the environmental institutional profile of the different regions where these firms operate.

The purpose of this paper is to review the literature on corporate reputation and internationalization to identify key research theories, contexts, characteristics, methodologies, applications, limitations and opportunities for future research on the interlinks between these two complex constructs.

Elements of systematic literature review and bibliometric analysis were used to analyze theories, contexts, characteristics, methodologies and opportunities for future research based on 90 articles published in 50 journals over 27 years.

The findings suggest that this is a contemporary yet expanding research field explored from a variety of theoretical, methodological and empirical standpoints, which hinders broad conclusions and warrants further research. More specifically, this paper identifies three broad research streams that link international expansion and corporate reputation and suggests avenues for future studies: cross-national institutions, strategic decisions and corporate reputation; international marketing, consumers and brand credibility; and corporate image, international trade and investment flows.

Reputation and internationalization are constructs with multiple applications and interpretations. The way companies build, maintain and extend their reputation and legitimacy, and the drivers, motives and difficulties faced by them when expanding operations internationally have been widely studied separately. This manuscript reviews the nascent and promising linkage between these two elements that have recently drawn the attention of business practitioners and scholars alike.

This volume of Progress in International Business Research includes a selection of 13 papers from the 35th European International Business Academy (EIBA) annual conference, which was held in Valencia (Spain) from the 13 to the 15 of December 2009. Following the usual guidelines for EIBA annual conference organization, papers submitted to this conference had a double-blind revision process. The acceptance rate for oral presentations was 68%.

The purpose of this paper is to analyze gaps and trends, as well suggest approaches and methodologies that should be addressed by future studies for implementing the lean and green management in the agri-food sector.

Based on a sample with 117 papers, this paper presents a systematic review on the integration of lean and green in the agri-food sector.

Key findings indicate that research on lean and green topics has increased in recent years, an important gap in the integration of lean and green in the agri-food sector has been identified. Two paths that remain open for further research are detected: the lack of theoretical, prescriptive and quantitative research and the possibility of integrating the two most used tools of lean (i.e. value stream mapping) and green (i.e. life-cycle assessment).

This study does not only advance the theoretical knowledge of the lean and green field, but it is also beneficial for agri-food companies who aim to effectively deploy lean and green in their processes in order to improve both operational and environmental performances.

No other industry matches in such a complete way the agri-food industry’s challenge of sustainability that is due to the amount of resources it consumes and its interrelatedness with the well-being of humanity.

There are separate streams of established research on lean and green management in the agri-food sector, yet very few authors have addressed the intersection of these strategic initiatives.

The purpose of this paper is to summarize previous research findings of the relationship between reputation and sustainability at the firm level.

This research uses a systematic literature review of 306 retrieved articles that matched the search criteria. After applying filters and narrowing the sample to a total of 156 articles of a 19-year period (2000–2019) that were finally content analyzed for this study in order to identify sources, authors, theories, methodologies, and opportunities for future research.

Findings demonstrate that in most of the cases, sustainability appears to be an antecedent of corporate reputation and a tool to enhance stakeholders' acceptance and perceptions on companies' activities.

The study shows the potential of sustainability reporting as a tool to enhance corporate reputation; moreover, it also discussed the likely effect of sustainability over brand equity. This research confirms the importance of having strategic management of both corporate sustainability and reputation management. Including both reputational management and sustainability in the corporate strategy can be a potential source to create value, protect against difficulties and liabilities, and maximize business survival.

For business, establishing clear positions in relation to environmental and social issues, building collaborative global networks and authentic local relations, giving signals that reaffirm business purposes with all stakeholders, and adhering to the sustainable development agenda enhance positive corporate reputation.

In addition to answering the stated research question and in fact filling a gap in the literature, this study led us to identify 25 research questions classified in seven different areas (measurement and scales; causes and effects; longitudinal studies; geographical contexts; theory building; digital as a novel environment; and new actors and institutions).