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The aim of this study was to examine the role of top management’s social capital – focusing on specific components of social capital – in shaping a company’s marketing capabilities. In addition, the study was designed to determine the extent to which cosmopolitanism as a top management’s characteristic serves as a moderator that allows top management’s social capital to influence corporate marketing capabilities.

This study’s sample comprised small- and medium-sized companies in Korea and China. After excluding insincere responses, 636 questionnaires (329 from Koreans, 307 from Chinese) were used for the analysis. A mediated hierarchical regression analysis was performed to verify the hypothesis.

This study proposed the hypothesis that top management’s social capital would have positive effects on corporate marketing capabilities: pricing strategies, product development, distribution strategies and marketing communications. While managerial tie utilization and solidarity were revealed to have positive effects on corporate marketing capabilities, trust did not show statistically significant effects.

This study is subject to several limitations. First, it has not fully addressed various foundational concepts or factors that comprise or facilitate the building of social capital. In addition to trust and the sharing of core values and knowledge among organizational members, there may be other factors involved, so systematic studies should be conducted using a model that can review the roles of various explanatory variables that constitute social capital.

This study’s empirical results contribute valuable data to the literature, as it was based on a survey conducted with actual Korean and Chinese top managers. In addition, the study’s findings are likely to suggest a valuable direction for evaluating corporate marketing strategies and business performance. The study identified powerful effects of top management’s social capital on corporate marketing strategies. Therefore, greater investments should be made to build the top management’s social capital, so that the corporate capacity for marketing strategies will be able to produce maximum effects.

The results of this study suggest the following additional points. A company with a high level of cosmopolitan orientation may have excellent strategies for competing on overseas markets. Companies targeting global markets should leverage accumulated top management’s social capital to discover overseas business opportunities and acquire knowledge of overseas markets. When the corporate executives of companies that attempt to make inroads into overseas markets have such a cosmopolitan orientation and actively seek and seize overseas market opportunities, they are more likely to avoid path dependency, following domestic business activities and become successful in those global markets.

The present study segmented social capital into sub-factors, thereby identifying their relationships with the behavioral outputs of corporate executives, such as business practice processes, marketing capabilities and business performance. Based on the findings of this study, top management’s social capital should enable companies to consolidate corporate business practice capabilities and, eventually, to be seen as closely associated with business performance and the essential qualities and characteristics of top managers.

This paper aims to provide an explanation for foreign small‐ and‐medium‐sized enterprise' (SMEs) internationalization results in China based on human and social capital interactions.

The results of a qualitative comparative case study drawing on primary (interviews, observations) and secondary data (reports) are reported.

The paper finds that human capital dimensions interact and influence social capital development for internationalization purposes. Different types of social capital can be developed (domestic or international) with different effects on internationalization. Similarities with Chinese guanxi practices are also established.

The present paper provides a starting‐point for further research in SME internationalization and entrepreneurs' characteristics in China regardless of cultural traits typically invoked: quantitative analysis, extension to a different context of internationalization or use of different descriptors of human and social capital, etc.

The paper highlights the importance for internationalization agents (such as public agencies) to provide not only cultural training but also, above all, personal coaching to develop some international human capital traits (international orientation, international business skills, etc.) and sectoral connections.

The paper extends the traditional culture‐based guanxi paradigm of internationalization in China to a social capital based approach of emerging entrepreneurship.

This study aims to investigate how employees in export departments help firms develop dynamic capabilities that drive firm performance in global markets. It draws from the previous scholarship in organizational behavior and international business.

Since microfoundations of firm capabilities have not received adequate attention in the context of international business, a qualitative research was carried out by conducting semistructured interviews with export managers to provide new theoretical and practical insights about the role of export department employees in developing firm capabilities.

The results show that organizational citizenship behavior and communication skills are the most highlighted characteristics of export department employees that underpin the improvement of firm capabilities, which in turn, boosts export performance. In addition, teamwork emerged as another contributing factor to firm capabilities.

This study addresses the microlevel foundations of firm capabilities within the context of international business by uncovering the characteristics of export department employees and their team-level contributions to the capabilities of exporting firms.

This paper aims to examine the tensions between global and local corporate social responsibility (CSR) initiatives developed by multinationals managing subsidiaries in different emergent countries. Multinationals carry out a wide array of political activities (Boddewyn and Brewer, 1994; Hillman and Hitt, 1999; Rehbein and Schuler, 1995) supporting their economic objectives, even though the political landscape and the institutional environment may vary significantly in the different countries in which they are located (Luo, 2006). This can raise issues related to the management of cross-border political imperatives as well as the coordination of political activities among multinational companies and their subsidiaries.

Based on a documentary research, this paper analyses the key challenges facing the non-market and CSR strategies of GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) a world leading, research-based pharmaceutical and health-care company.

The paper further looks at the way in which GSK deploys its global non-market strategies and manages their alignment with local CSR initiatives in emerging markets, particularly in China.

Further research is required to address the question of international CSR mediation and moderation of this imbalance between pressures for global consistency and local responsiveness. More specifically, in-depth case studies designed to target local managers, as well as their counterparts from the MNE headquarters, should allow us to more effectively analyse and capture the perceived biases with regard to the way the CSR agenda is set at the central level, in light of its global strategy and to the needs and demands of their local host countries’ stakeholders.

This exploratory research based on secondary data allows an interesting base for analysis of the synergies between CSR, non-market strategies and international strategic management which provide a promising base for continuing research.

The purpose of the papers included in this issue is to cover a broad range of contemporary issues in Chinese corporate financial management and therefore provide the readers with important insights into Chinese financial markets as well as the social and economic consequences of firm behavior in the Chinese context.

The first part of this issue is a special section on “Corporate Finance and Corporate Social Responsibility”, which includes three papers that explore various aspects of corporate social responsibility (CSR) from a finance perspective – including the relationship between CSR and the cost of equity, the “insurance-like effect” of CSR and competition in corporate philanthropy. The remainder of the issue includes seven further papers that cover a wide range of finance-related topics, including currency and equity, monetary policy, cross-border mergers and acquisitions, earnings management, overseas investment, information disclosure, social capital and cosmopolitanism. All of the papers included in this issue are based on empirical research that draws on primary and secondary data from Chinese financial markets and from the information disclosures of Chinese enterprises.

The authors are confident that such in-depth discussions and analysis will help researchers and practitioners to develop a better understanding of the issues faced by Chinese managers in the context of China’s economic transformation. The findings reported in this issue will help inform and develop Chinese management theories based on a wide range of Chinese management practices.

Each paper in this issue reports on different aspects of finance, reporting and management in the Chinese context, discussing findings that have both relevance and significance beyond China.

The purpose of this paper is to develop and test an integrated model to examine the relationship between managerial ties and two types of open innovation (OI). It takes into account the mediating role of realized absorptive capacity and explains how a firm’s ability to recognize the value of new information, assimilate it and apply it to commercial ends can facilitate OI.

Data were collected from 259 middle and top managers working across different sectors in the United Arab Emirates.

Results obtained using structural equation modeling show that managerial ties facilitate both in-bound and out-bound OI. Results also establish the mediating role of realized absorptive capacity in these relationships.

Use of cross-sectional data as was done in this study has been criticized for being inappropriate to test causal models. Besides the findings may not be generalizable to different industries/cultures/regions.

This study suggests that managerial ties act to support OI in firms thus giving the insight that managers should be appreciated to build ties with managers of other firms, universities and government officials. Doing so can help firms achieve better OI outcomes. Firms should arrange means of interaction of their managers with these external knowledge sources such as events and occasions where managers of different firms can interact with each other to foster strong ties among them.

The above findings contribute theoretically to OI and managerial ties literature while providing insights for practitioners on how to succeed or avoid failure in their OI initiatives. These insights are novel and are new to the OI and managerial ties theory.

This study aims at providing exploratory insights into the initiative and capabilities of Chinese SMEs to develop and utilize diverse networks to support internationalization. Such network development and utilization efforts are fundamental to the analysis and explanation of Chinese firms’ internationalization patterns and outcomes. Extending from the existing network studies in the Chinese context that generally put emphasis on strong‐tie and ethnic‐oriented networks, this paper investigates and explains explicitly the use and effects of both strong‐ and weak‐tie networks in the international development of Chinese SMEs. Indepth case studies on four rapidly internationalized Chinese SMEs are conducted. The case findings demonstrate that weak‐tie networks are essential to the firms’ business development in foreign markets; and were proactively developed and utilized in the course of the firms’ development. The cases also provide alternative perspectives to the beliefs and values underpinning strong‐tie networks presumed in existing literature. The findings draw attention to the changing business values and approaches of the Chinese firms aiming at developing internationally. Managerial implications concerning the significant influence of effective networking on internationalization are pinpointed.

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 examine the relationships among taking a prospector local-market focus, managerial ties (business ties and political ties) and performance in the Chinese market.

This study, using a sample of 371 Taiwanese subsidiaries of multinational corporations (MNCs) in China, applies regression analyses to investigate the following questions: does taking a prospector local-market focus negatively impact performance? Do managerial ties (business ties and political ties) positively impact performance? Do these managerial ties positively moderate the effect of the taking a prospector local-market focus on performance?

Taking a prospector local-market focus negatively impacts the performance of MNC subsidiaries. Business ties positively impact the performance of MNC subsidiaries, as do political ties. Finally, the impact of a prospector local-market focus on performance is positively moderated by business ties.

The Chinese market is still a guanxi exchange business system and political connections usually require significant investment in exchange for advantageous market conditions. Thus, political ties must be carefully considered by MNC subsidiaries when they employ a prospector local-market focus in the Chinese business environment.

First, this study clarifies the key relationship between the strategic choice of taking a prospector local-market focus and performance of MNC subsidiaries in the Chinese market. Second, it identifies the moderating role of managerial ties (political and business ties) in influencing the relationship between a prospector local-market focus and subsidiary.

Research in the area of business model innovation (BMI) has focused on theoretical and exploratory discussions, thereby creating a lack of empirical evidence on the role of top management in BMI. The current study focuses on this research gap and provides empirical evidence by studying the impact of top managers’ managerial skills, managerial ties and entrepreneurial skills on BMI. It also seeks to explore the mediating influence of explorative and exploitative learning.

Data were collected from 200 respondents from top multinational firms in India covering six sectors, which was analyzed using structural equation modeling.

The findings reveal significant positive relationships of BMI with managerial skills, entrepreneur skills and managerial ties, and these relationships are found to be mediated by exploitative and explorative learning.

Given the increasing importance of BMI to organizational success, the study has highlighted that top managers’ skills and ties favorably influence BMI. Organizations can make related investments in training and capacity building by instituting appropriate programs in their organizations. In addition, organizations can exercise caution during recruitment by recruiting and selecting managers in top management teams who excel in managerial skills.

This study is one of the few to validate a comprehensive measurement model that highlights the influence of managerial skills, entrepreneur skills and managerial ties on BMI, explaining these associations with the mediating role of exploitative and explorative learning.