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The purpose of this paper is to examine the process of integrating sustainability into the corporate strategy of an emerging market multinational enterprises (EMNE) to achieve and maintain corporate legitimacy over time. The research explores how deploying a corporate sustainability strategy enhances the company’s long-term competitive relevance by creating and maintaining corporate legitimacy and transferring practices based on sustainable development goals within the organization.

The study adopts a qualitative single-case design, focusing on a corporate energy services company (Interconexión Eléctrica S.A.) operating in volatile, uncertain and turbulent environments.

The findings indicate that integrating sustainability into the corporate strategy enables subsidiaries to effectively meet global requirements, considering internal and external pressures. This integration also fosters the development of unique capabilities and the internalization of standards, addressing liabilities in foreign markets, thus providing a competitive advantage and safeguarding corporate legitimacy among stakeholders.

This research contributes to the international business literature by providing insights into strategy development and implementation in EMNEs. Specifically, it demonstrates how a Latin American emerging multinational enterprise (multilatina) adopts new sustainability strategies to enhance its business competitiveness. The study also offers guidance for emerging market companies on developing sustainability strategies and transferring them to subsidiaries operating in complex institutional environments. Furthermore, the research provides a rationale for governments and civil society organizations on why firms are committed to sustainability, highlighting its positive impact on firm’s competitiveness and survival in international markets.

This study aims to challenge the generic interpretation of Multilatinas as Latin American firms that have been able to internationalize because of highly competitive strategic capabilities. The authors test whether capabilities that international business researchers commonly associate with internationalization are necessary at different stages of the internationalization process to better understand the extent to which emerging market (EM) firms need to develop them.

International business research suggests a positive association between strategic capabilities and firm internalization. However, it remains unclear what specific capabilities are necessary and when they are necessary. These questions are particularly important in the context of the internationalization of firms from emerging economies, such as Latin America. The authors apply necessary condition analysis (NCA) on a sample of Latin American firms at different internationalization stages to test what strategic capabilities represent necessary conditions for becoming a Multilatina.

The findings suggest that only a few strategic capabilities are necessary for Latin American firms to become “Multilatinas”. While entrepreneurial orientation and marketing and sales capabilities represent necessary conditions, EM firms may internationalize even though other capabilities are developed to a lesser extent. The authors reflect on how shifts in local markets and technology drive the emergence of different types of Multilatinas.

Measuring strategic capabilities across multiple EM firms implies a risk that firm-specific aspects are not fully captured. While the authors focused on the comparative competitive strength of capabilities and took great care to minimize measurement error, the authors acknowledge possible bias. Also, while NCA does not require a minimum sample size, findings from our sample of firms from four countries may not generalize to the region or other EMs.

As a relatively new statistical technique, the use of NCA has spread rapidly. To the best of the authors’ knowledge, the linkage between organizational capabilities and firm internationalization has not been tested from a necessary conditions perspective yet. The reflections on the “Multilatina” concept based on the notion of EM firms as configurations of strategic capabilities inform current debates on EM multinational enterprises.

This paper aims to review the latest management developments across the globe and pinpoint practical implications from cutting-edge research and case studies

This briefing is prepared by an independent writer who adds their own impartial comments and places the articles in context.

Firms from emerging markets like Latin America can increase their prospects of successful internationalization through focus on developing and enhancing key strategic capabilities. While entrepreneurial orientation and marketing and sales capabilities are especially important in this regard, ambitious firms should likewise seek to develop various other capabilities to some degree

The briefing saves busy executives and researchers hours of reading time by selecting only the very best, most pertinent information and presenting it in a condensed and easy-to-digest format

This study aims to offer a bibliometric analysis of the already substantial and growing literature on global virtual teams (GVTs).

Using a systematic literature review approach, it identifies all articles in the Web of Science from 1999 to 2021 that include the term GVTs (in the title, the abstract or keywords) and finds 175 articles. The VOSviewer software was applied to analyze the bibliometric data.

The analysis revealed three dialogizing research clusters in the GVTs literature: a pioneering management information systems and organizational cluster, a general management cluster and a growing international management and behavioural studies cluster. Furthermore, it highlights the most cited articles, authors, journals and nations, and the network of strong and weak links regarding co-authorships and co-citations. Additionally, this study shows a change in research patterns regarding topics, journals and disciplinary approaches from 1999 to 2021. Finally, the analysis illustrates the position and centrality in the network of the most relevant actors.

The findings can guide management practitioners, educators and researchers to the most meaningful clusters of publications on GVTs, and help navigate and make sense of the vast body of the available literature. The importance of GVTs has been growing in the past two decades, and Covid-19 has accelerated the trend.

This study provides an updated and comprehensive systematic literature review on GVTs. To the best of the authors’ knowledge, it is also the first systematic literature review and bibliometry on GVTs. It concludes by suggesting future research paths.