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The purpose of this paper is to study the spillover effects of marketing expertise on the market performance of domestic firms and multinational enterprises (MNEs). Specifically, this study examines how the adoption of frequency loyalty programs by a domestic firm following an MNE affects the competitive dynamics and the market performance of both firms in a Chinese retail gasoline market.

This study is based on empirical data that were obtained from a quasi-field experiment in which the MNE entered the market with a frequency loyalty program and the domestic firm later responded with a similar loyalty program. The authors measured the impact of the adoption of a frequency loyalty program by the domestic firm on the market performance of both the domestic firm and the MNE.

The authors find that the domestic firm’s adoption of a similar loyalty program significantly increased its market share in the regular gasoline market. The domestic firm’s adoption of a loyalty program also increased the market performance of the MNE in the premium gasoline market.

This study explicitly demonstrates the spillover benefits through demonstration effects and provides empirical evidence on specific spillover benefits to domestic firms and MNEs based on their competencies in distinct market segments where they compete.

The paper investigates the importance of six sources of technology as used by MNE subsidiaries operating in China. These are determined by the strategic roles of the subsidiaries. This facilitates analysis of the role of technology both in the competitive development of the subsidiaries and Chinese industrialization. Though these subsidiaries build their bridgeheads in China (mainly to supply the Chinese market) around established, standardized parent‐group technology, there is a tendency to broaden technological scope (mostly locally accessed or generated), especially to generate the capability to develop new goods that target the Chinese market.

The purpose of this paper is to summarize theoretical insights about key antecedents of multinational enterprise (MNE) performance and to review and synthesize empirically researched antecedents of MNE performance.

Dominant strategic management approaches to explaining the performance of firms in general are the market‐based view and the resource‐based view. The dominant theory of the MNE from the field of international business is internalization theory. Integrating these three perspectives, this paper elaborates where key antecedents of MNE performance can be expected. Furthermore, this paper reviews empirical research on antecedents of MNE performance published in three top business journals of major importance to the field of international business between 1976 and 2010, thereby synthesizing the most widely accepted knowledge about antecedents of MNE performance.

The paper reveals that theory suggests that key antecedents of MNE performance can be expected at the industry, country, and firm levels. Empirical research, however, hardly offers insights concerning antecedents at these three levels of analysis. Instead, empirical studies have predominantly focused on the intermediate variable of multinationality.

Previous research on antecedents of MNE performance has, by and large, been blinded by the obvious: multinationality has been researched innumerable times, without considering essential theories regarding performance and the MNE. This paper points out that there is much promise in going back to fundamental theories regarding performance and the MNE in order to advance our understanding of key antecedents of MNE performance.

The purpose of this paper is to describe co-devolutionary processes of multinational enterprise (MNE)/emerging economy institutional relationships utilizing concepts from “old” institutional theory as well as the institutional aspects of socially constructed realities.

The authors develop a set of propositions that explore the new concept of a co-devolutionary relationship between MNEs and emerging economy institutions. Guided by prior research, the paper investigates MNE/emerging economy institutional co-devolution at the macro-(MNE home and host countries), meso-(MNE industry/host country regulative and normative institutions) and micro-(MNE and host country institutional actors) levels.

MNE/emerging economy institutional co-devolution occurs at the macro-level via negative public communications in the MNE’s home and host countries, at the meso-level via host country corruption and MNE adaptation, and at the micro-level via pressures for individual actors to cognitively “take for granted” emerging economy corruption, leading to MNE divestment and a reduction in new MNE investment.

By characterizing co-devolutionary processes within MNE/emerging economy institutional relationships, the research augments co-evolutionary theory. It also assists in developing more accurate specification and measurement methods for the organizational co-evolution construct by using institutional theory’s foundational processes to discuss MNE/emerging economy institutional co-devolution.

The research suggests the use of enhanced regulation, bilateral investment treaties and MNE/local institution partnerships to stabilize MNE/emerging economy institutional relationships, leading to more robust progress in building emerging economy institutions.

The research posits that using the concepts of institutional theory as a foundation provides useful insights into the “stickiness” of institutional instability and corruption in emerging economies and into the resulting co-devolutionary MNE/emerging economy institutional relationships.

This essay uses three of Pope John Paul II’s encyclicals, Laborem Exercens, Sollicitudo Rei Socialis, and Centesimus Annus to articulate principles that may be useful in evaluating public oversight of multinational enterprises (MNE). These encyclicals are challenges to the prevailing socio‐economic order by an institution that cannot be dismissed as “knee‐jerk liberal” carping. On the contrary, the fact that a conservative institution asserts these principles repeatedly and over time may mean that they should be included in our public consideration of the global resonance of MNEs. Insofar as MNE expansion can mean pervasive improvements in the standard of living of the earth’s population, the writings of Pope John Paul II lead to the conclusion that MNE expansion should be encouraged as long as all of the participants, especially the citizens of developing countries, participate in the benefits. MNE expansion and the expected socio‐economic dislocations accompanying the expansion will require institutional arrangements to minimize conflict, promote cooperation, and encourage solidarity. An organization for multinational enterprises (an OMNE) could fill this need by reducing MNEs’ fears about adverse host country policy changes and simultaneously providing assurances that the citizens of the MNE‐host country will share in the rents generated by the MNE’s expansion.

Prior studies of competitive dynamics in emerging economies restricted their attention to how the multinational enterprise (MNE) initiates actions against the domestic firm in the market environment with no regard for the home-host relations. By contrast, this study aims to investigate how the domestic firm challenges the MNE in the non-market environment when there is home–host political hostility.

The authors conducted a case study of non-market rivalry between an MNE from the Taiwan region and a domestic firm on the Chinese mainland in the period 2004–2008.

Riding the home–host political hostility, the domestic firm mounted political tactics against the MNE on two fronts. It lobbied the government for identity-targeted policy changes, which demanded state-funded clients buy only from domestic suppliers. It also unethically spread identity-targeted political rumors to vilify the MNE in the local society. The MNE defended itself against the unfavorable policy by engaging in identity work of restructuring its distribution channels to conceal its “foreign” (non-domestic) identity. To fight off the rumors, it built a corporate citizen identity by identity work of aligning corporate social responsibility and research and development with local policy priorities.

The authors broaden the concept of competitive aggressiveness to include non-market actions, particularly unethical ones targeting a rival’s identity. The authors contribute to identity work scholarship by pinpointing an unrecognized phenomenon – high-effort identity work, used by the MNE as a defensive response. The emergent findings develop a moral perspective on non-market rivalry.

After a thorough literature review on multinational learning, it is apparent organizations “learn” when they capitalize on expatriate management, a “learning strategy” (international work teams, employee involvement and other human resource policies), technology transfer and political environment and cross‐cultural adaptation. This suggests learning is possible when control mechanisms are relaxed or reduced, resulting in an ambiguous relationship between multinational learning and control. There has been no research on the relationship between learning and control largely due to this assumption of ambiguity and this paper attempts to overcome this gap by presenting a holistic approach to multinational learning and control. This paper posits that focusing on optimizing learning and control through flexible IHRM policies is a globally sustainable approach to MNE management. The purpose of this paper is to present a conceptual framework designed to address two major issues in international management: organizational learning and managerial control.

Multinational organizations are often faced with a perceived ambiguous choice of promoting learning throughout the organization in a way that facilitates local adaptation of corporate knowledge, while maintaining control over subsidiary corporate culture (control). This paper presents a new model designed to facilitate a balanced approach to learning and control in the multinational enterprise.

The proposed model is one of sustainable management focusing on dynamic IHRM learning and control. The pillars of the proposed model thus include: National Culture, HRM policies and practices and IHRM strategies of the parent MNE; National Culture, locally developed HRM policies and practices, and transferred IHRM policies and practices in the affiliate unit; sharing of learning oriented IHRM policies and/or among MNE affiliates only; and global IHRM control and learning IHRM policies and practices (uniform across MNE units).

While the literature in this realm addresses these issues separately, managers are faced with a delicate balancing act of promoting learning among multinational units while maintaining corporate control over key aspects of the company's core competencies.

In response to the tilted emphasis on the corporate political activities and to the recent call for including the institutional perspective in the research of the MNE’s governmental relations (MGRs), this study aims to, departing from resource dependence theory, introduce the legitimacy formation as a bridging mechanism to MGRs to holistically examine the behavioral types of antecedents of MGRs in contingency with three critical contextual influences.

This study purposely chose a Taiwanese globalized logistic corporation that we have been acquainted with as the entry for collecting data. The study started the survey with the seven foreign subsidiaries of this logistic corporation and invited their customers through their personal referrals to join this survey. Following the snowball sampling, remarks were added in the questionnaire to request respondents’ assistance in inviting TMT members of different MNE subsidiaries in their personal networks to join the survey.

The findings from analyzing a survey data set of 155 MNE subsidiaries during 2016 show that the MNE’s economically-good behaviors are not so influential as Milton Friedman stated in 1962, and can only outperform socially-good and politically-good behaviors in shaping better MGRs under some specific contextual influences.

This study contributes to the international business literature by shedding new light on the sensitivity of behavioral antecedents of MGRs in contingency with contextual influences and provides managerial implications to MNE particularly when they expect to reduce external uncertainties or capturing opportunities by MGRs.

Attempts to establish a decision‐making model by which multinational enterprises (MNEs) front‐end financial target can be evaluated and determined. Explains and defines the financial range. Identifies their strategic concerns in order to do this. Continues by exploring the pattern of front‐end financial target variation and the process of its determination, constructing an international joint venture investment supply‐demand model. Elaborates upon how contingency factors in international operations exert direct impact on this matter and gives some considerations for future research.

Multinational enterprises (MNEs) encourage their subsidiaries to develop and transfer their unique knowledge and expertise back to the MNE as it is critical for the development of the MNE as a whole. However, what underlies the subsidiary ability to create such specialized knowledge that can be transferred to the MNE is less clear. The purpose of this paper is to examine the influence of MNE entrepreneurial strategy, subsidiary initiatives and expatriation on reverse knowledge transfers in a cross-country comparative context.

Data are gathered through surveys from 429 foreign subsidiaries operating in New Zealand and 164 subsidiaries in Brazil, and these are analyzed using variance-based structural equation modeling.

Subsidiary initiatives partially mediate the relationship between MNE entrepreneurial strategy and reverse knowledge transfers in case of subsidiaries operating in Brazil, but they fully mediate in case of New Zealand. Furthermore, expatriation, in case of the latter, has a negative interaction in the relationship between subsidiary initiative and reverse knowledge transfers, but, in case of the former, it has no moderating role. Overall, the results suggest that the influence of MNE entrepreneurial strategy and expatriation on reverse knowledge transfers can be explained by contingencies such as the subsidiary host economy and the heterogenous HQ–subsidiary relationships.

The paper contributes to literature by identifying some contingencies with regard to the occurrence of reverse knowledge transfers. It addresses some research calls with regard to examining reverse knowledge transfers and the role of expatriation across different empirical contexts.