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This paper aims to determine the essential “collective goods” which a foreign multinational enterprise (MNE) must have before production can start in a remote area of an emerging economy, and to consider the alternative governance modes available to procure or create these goods.

This purpose is examined conceptually and theoretically. First, the concept of “collective goods” is presented, followed by a consideration of the traditional “buy, ally or make” contractual approaches available to obtain goods and services. These approaches are repositioned in the context of an “emerging economy” so that alternative “ordering systems” as well as “non-contractual” means of obtaining things have to be considered in the context of internalization and reciprocity theories.

It is difficult to obtain collective goods in remote areas of emerging economies where private ordering prevails and even succeeds but at high transaction costs and with substantial government intervention. However, the use of non-contractual modes of exchange such as reciprocity is available to facilitate exchanges between market MNEs and nonmarket state offices and civil-society associations such as non-governmental organizations with which collaboration is necessary but which cannot be acquired or controlled by MNEs. However, market firms can use philanthropy and lobbying to obtain the help of these nonmarket actors who know how to operate under private and state-ordering systems.

Theoretical implications: Internalization theory explains why MNEs are able to obtain collective goods by providing them “in-house”, while reciprocity theory exemplifies how non-contractual modes of exchange can substitute for the traditional but contractual “buy, ally and/or make”.

Managerial implications: In terms of the organizational structure of the subsidiary of an MNE operating in an emerging economy, it appears that the line functions of procurement, engineering and production may rely more on contractual exchanges with foreign suppliers, while the staff functions of public affairs, government relations and human resources may be more adept at using reciprocal exchange with local suppliers.

The provisioning of the collective goods when a firm builds its facilities in a remote and underdeveloped part of an emerging economy has hardly received any research attention nor have the non-contractual ways – such as reciprocity – available in the context of private ordering to obtain these goods.

The purpose of this paper is to extend the purview of internalisation theory in understanding the global allocation of resources in different institutional contexts.

Theoretical extensions of internalisation theory are proposed in response to a comment.

The traditional focus of internalisation theory can be extended beyond the normal market exchange context, first, by expanding the range of transactions; second, by including non-market actors; and third, by expanding the relevant welfare criteria.

Comparative institutional analysis is enhanced by expanding the consideration of the range of intermediate goods that are traded, the potential providers examined and extending the criteria of assessment beyond efficiency to include equity, sustainability and legitimacy. These extensions add value to the internalisation theory.

The purpose of this study is to apply the institution-based view and resource dependence theory in arguing that perceived deficiencies in a legal service sector where a foreign subsidiary operates will influence the intensity of its political ties with actors in both the regulatory and legal arenas. The authors further theorized that these relationships will vary across governance environments.

The research context for this study was multinational enterprises (MNE) wholly owned foreign subsidiaries and international joint ventures (IJVs) operating in the Philippines and Thailand. Data for most variables in this study came from primary survey data collected in 2018 from senior managers of MNE WOSs and IJVs operating in the Philippines and Thailand.

The authors’ analysis of 352 foreign subsidiaries operating in the Philippines and Thailand show that, in a flawed democracy, perceived deficient legal services enhance the intensity of foreign subsidiary political ties with government actors in both the regulatory and legal arena. However, in a hybrid regime, perceived deficient legal services enhance only the intensity of foreign subsidiary political ties with government actors in the regulatory arena. The authors’ findings also suggest that the relationship between perceived deficiencies in legal service sector and the intensity of political ties is stronger for foreign subsidiaries that operate in heavily regulated industries across both a flawed democracy and hybrid regime. Conversely, the authors do not find the market orientation of these foreign subsidiaries to play a role in this process.

The authors’ study was unable to control for whether managerial perceptions of deficient legal services were well informed at the local or federal level. This issue raises the question of will the presence of an in-house legal department influence managerial perceptions with regard to deficiencies within a legal service sector? Based on these limitations, the authors suggest that future research can further extend political ties research by using a fine-grained analysis in investigating the antecedents of managerial perceptions of legal services within different legal jurisdictions.

The political ties literature has largely argued that political ties are more prevalent in environmental contexts comprising institutional voids as MNEs attempt to mitigate volatility associated with the lack of developed institutional infrastructure (e.g. Blumentritt & Nigh, 2002; Bucheli et al., 2018). However, the concept of institutional voids is very broad and still rather abstract in nature. Hence, scholars have yet to fully understand what types of institutional voids may drive MNE foreign subsidiary political tie intensity in varying governance contextsThe authors’ study attempts to contribute to this important line of research by investigating how one type of institutional void, namely, perceived deficiencies in the legal service sector, can influence the intensity of political ties in varying governance environments.

Smuggling represents a significant proportion of world trade. However, its nature and rationale are not sufficiently understood in comparison with those of counterfeiting, parallel importing and contraband trade. The willing or unwilling involvement of MNCs in smuggling is also poorly perceived. These issues are reviewed here as well as actions aimed at reducing smuggling's growth.

The topic of internationally standardised branding has been widely debated in the marketing literature. However, no studies have empirically examined the actual extent of international brand penetration and standardisation. Based on a survey of US brand managers of consumer products, this study found that while some 66 per cent of the responding brands are used abroad and most are internationally standardised, approximately 80 per cent of sales still come from the US market. Overseas, US brands generate most of their sales in culturally similar markets, specifically Canada and the United Kingdom.

This title is obviously a variation on the major theme of Bill Clinton's presidential campaign in 1992. His emphasis on the state of the U.S. economy underscored the fact that, at times, certain topics have achieved or deserve greater salience. And so, my theme is that the study and teaching of international business must place greater emphasis on political institutions, developments andbehaviors.

The purpose of this paper is to show that the market-internalization framework can be applied to non-economic institutions because society’s non-market sub-systems – political, social and cultural – are subject to failures just like economic markets, and firms can contribute to their repair or replacement by selectively, strategically and responsibly internalizing the market and non-market arenas for these sub-systems’ functions.

Internalization theory is applied to a new area – that of societal failures.

Internalization theory can be applied to the joint failures of economic and non-economic institutions, and this helps explain the growing “political role” of multinational enterprises in economies in transition as well as the phenomenon of increasing multinational firm activity in underdeveloped economies.

The limits and implications of internalization are drawn in terms of theory development, legitimacy and managerial strategies.

This paper is the first to analyze the selective internalization of societal failures by the multinational enterprises. It extends internalization theory and examines the contested notion of “public goods”.

This 1993 update of previous 1973 and 1983 surveys of US marketing policies in the now renamed and reshaped Economic Union reveals that the obstacles to standardization remain high, and that it has broadly, if not uniformly, decreased since 1983 – opposite to the trend between 1973 and 1983. Moreover, more marketing decisions by US firms are now made at the European level. Theoretical and managerial implications are drawn from these findings.

This empirical study examined U.S. advertising agencies' practices in the Asia Pacific Region to decide whether they were following Theodore Levitt's advice to promote products and services the same way everywhere. Information regarding environmental factors and advertising strategy were gathered from 200 Asia Pacific Region affiliates of U.S. advertising agencies in 11 countries. It was found that in general, agencies were neither standardising nor customising their sales platforms and creative contexts. Instead they tended to utilise the adaptative approach‐‐a strategy that is becoming viewed as the optimal approach by multinational ad agencies.

Considers various approaches to the study of comparative marketing, suggesting methodology that provides an adequate framework on which to base comparative domestic marketing studies. States the first objective here is to explore various definitions of the term ‘comparative marketing’ to place the area of study in its rightful place; second, is to suggest a methodology provide an adequate framework on which to base domestic comparative marketing studies. Proposes that if improvement in the state of knowledge is to take place, commonality of terminology and methodology must first be established. Concludes that information provided gives the background necessary to achieve desirable objectives.