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The Nature of Business Policy Business policy — or general management — is concerned with the following six major functions:
Siyue Chen, Gengzhi Huang, Hongou Zhang, Yuyao Ye and Qitao Wu
Institutional factors play an important and complex role in Chinese outward foreign direct investment (OFDI) location choices that do not seem to be influenced by a host country’s…
Abstract
Purpose
Institutional factors play an important and complex role in Chinese outward foreign direct investment (OFDI) location choices that do not seem to be influenced by a host country’s high political risks. Moreover, the location choice for OFDI is key to corporate strategic decision-making on internationalization. Therefore, this study aims to examine the direct investments of Chinese multinational enterprises (MNEs) in Laos.
Design/methodology/approach
Combining the purposive sampling strategy and snowball sampling method, the authors interviewed nine market- and resource-seeking Chinese enterprises in Laos. Drawing from the mainstream eclectic paradigm and the theory of new institutional economics, the authors analyzed two key variables – enterprise investment motivation and enterprise heterogeneity.
Findings
Chinese MNEs are not insensitive to the regressive institutional quality of host countries; the relationship effect and institutional distance are the location decision pathways along with which institutional factors influence Chinese multinationals’ investments in Laos; political stability is necessary for Chinese-funded enterprises to invest in Laos and the degree of corruption is an overestimated institutional preference factor.
Originality/value
The relationship effect is introduced into the analysis framework as an intermediate variable that influences the decision of MNEs to invest in countries with underdeveloped institutions. It verifies the significant roles of bilateral political relations and network relations in the OFDI location decisions of state-owned and private enterprises, respectively.
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Alun Morgan and Roger Blanpain
A first difficulty in our enquiry has been to arrive at a satisfactory and agreed definition of a multinational enterprise. From our interviews no view common to all parties…
Abstract
A first difficulty in our enquiry has been to arrive at a satisfactory and agreed definition of a multinational enterprise. From our interviews no view common to all parties emerged. Much depends on the particular issue involved (taxation, technology, competition, etc.) but even in the restricted field of industrial relations and employment it was not possible to find agreement. A useful approach therefore seemed to be to start from the basis of what industrial relations implies and from there attempt to identify in what way multinational enterprises could differ from domestic enterprises, thus isolating the contentious issues. A useful point of departure appeared to be the fact that industrial relations are a reflection of power relations between labour and management, the ability of each side to put checks on the other, with the government in some countries intervening periodically to influence the balance. In this context, central decision‐making and size of enterprise become significant. The interviews with the four parties revealed no consistent viewpoint on central control, with employers insisting that decisions on industrial relations and employment were entirely decentralised and the trade unions, while admitting that this was in a narrow sense true, pointing out that decisions which affected these two areas indirectly and importantly were taken centrally.
Elitsa R. Banalieva, Laszlo Tihanyi, Timothy M. Devinney and Torben Pedersen
Do multinational enterprises evolve differently in emerging and developed economies? Although one camp argues that emerging economy multinationals are different from their…
Abstract
Do multinational enterprises evolve differently in emerging and developed economies? Although one camp argues that emerging economy multinationals are different from their developed country counterparts owing to the underdeveloped institutions in their home countries, another camp counters that they are the same and the existing international business theories can fully explain their strategies. A third camp suggests a more nuanced perspective by finding value in both approaches. In this introductory chapter, we review this debate and offer new perspectives on how to extend existing theories by accounting for four specific aspects of the home country institutional environments of emerging economies: breadth, depth, timing, and duration of exposure to institutional development. We then discuss how the chapters in this volume extend these ideas.
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The focus of this paper is the emergence of Russia's multinational companies. It aims to analyse their motives to internationalise as well as the approaches to…
Abstract
Purpose
The focus of this paper is the emergence of Russia's multinational companies. It aims to analyse their motives to internationalise as well as the approaches to internationalisation. While relevance of the theoretical perspectives is highlighted, the purpose of this paper is to contribute to the understanding of the present‐day phenomenon of emerging Russian multinationals.
Design/methodology/approach
The paper relies on a qualitative approach for the analysis of the nature of Russian multinationals. The phenomenon of the emerging Russian multinationals is analysed through the prism and using insights from a number of subjects, namely transition studies, politics, innovation studies and international business studies.
Findings
The paper traces the evolution of Russian companies; the idiosyncratic path of their formation serves as a background for understanding of their internationalisation strategies. A special attention is devoted to the R&D activities of Russian multinational companies, and access to foreign technology is found to be an important driver of internationalisation.
Research limitations/implications
The paper highlights relevance of further research on Russian multinationals and outlines research avenues.
Practical implications
The paper is rich in its practical implications. Specifically, it elaborates on the European Union‐Russian bilateral relations and the role of Russian multinationals in the European economies. The issue of political involvement is raised, and the paper seeks to identify whether Russian companies serve as tools of foreign policy, or they operate as business agents.
Originality/value
Despite their increasingly important role in the global economy, Russian companies have been largely overshadowed by the emergence of Indian and Chinese multinationals and not sufficiently addressed, even neglected, in the literature. Therefore, the objective of this paper is to fill in some gaps in the literature regarding this research area.
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Public sector enterprises show distinctdifferences in structure, managementphilosophy, and perfomance whencompared to private sector enterprises.This becomes more evident when…
Abstract
Public sector enterprises show distinct differences in structure, management philosophy, and perfomance when compared to private sector enterprises. This becomes more evident when one compares the performance of developed – versus developing‐country public enterprises. In particular, they are a dominant force for the socio‐economic and technological development of developing economies. In recent years, public enterprises have enlerged as important income contributors and a potent technology source to developing countries through their active internationalisation efforts. After two to three decades of home country‐based operations, public enterprises have begun to enter and operate in international markets, due to the impact of home country push and host country pull factors. The purpose of this article is to examine the internationalisation process of public sector enterprises from developing countries. In particular, their structures, operational methods and procedures, organisational behaviour and strategy formulation issues important to operations in overseas markets are examined for orderly decision‐making purposes. Public sector enterprise development for international markets is studied conceptually as well as analytically, and a number of effective strategies with contemporary examples are discussed.
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Fei Li, Yan Chen, Jaime Ortiz and Mengyang Wei
Deglobalization and the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic have severely hindered multinational enterprise (MNE) investment. At the same time, digital technology is…
Abstract
Purpose
Deglobalization and the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic have severely hindered multinational enterprise (MNE) investment. At the same time, digital technology is seriously challenging it with traditional production factor flows. Few studies have realized that the impact of digitalization is not limited to either transaction costs or the location-boundness of firm-specific advantages (FSAs), but extends to profound changes in the fundamental essence of MNEs. There is still limited understanding of this body of knowledge as a whole, including how its subtopics are interrelated. This study took the production factor change perspective to review MNE theory in the digital era. Therefore, this study aims to identify any upcoming and undeveloped themes in order to provide a platform suited to direct future research.
Design/methodology/approach
This paper presents a summary and a review of 151 articles published between 2007 and 2020. Such review was conducted to systematically explain the connotations and influential mechanisms of digital empowerment on MNE theory. This was achieved by using the CiteSpace citation visualization tool to build a keyword co-occurrence network.
Findings
The research findings pertain to how digitalization expands, breaks through, and even reshapes traditional MNE theory from four distinctive angles: the influential factors of internationalization, the process of internationalization, competitive advantage, and location choice. The findings are followed by the presentation of future research directions.
Originality/value
This paper presents an examination of MNE theory in the digital era from the perspective of production factor change. In doing so, it identifies significant theoretical innovation opportunities for future scholarly research priorities.
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The aim of this paper is to examine the emergence of multinational universities through the lens of Dunning’s eclectic paradigm.
Abstract
Purpose
The aim of this paper is to examine the emergence of multinational universities through the lens of Dunning’s eclectic paradigm.
Design/methodology/approach
An analytical framework combining the eclectic paradigm with the three missions of universities is proposed to explore the motives behind the cross-border activity of universities.
Findings
Although the analogy between a university and a multinational enterprise is flawed, this paper shows how the eclectic paradigm can still serve the purpose of better understanding why universities locate fully pledged campuses or research departments in foreign locations. A set of implications for universities and host countries are also discussed.
Originality/value
The internationalization of universities has been widely analyzed in the higher education literature, but few attempts have been made to draw connections with international business research. The originality of this paper lies in addressing this cross-disciplinary gap.
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A study of the impact of globalisation on the structure and management of multinational enterprises, based upon research into twenty‐four manufacturing MNEs. Three research…
Abstract
A study of the impact of globalisation on the structure and management of multinational enterprises, based upon research into twenty‐four manufacturing MNEs. Three research questions, developed from the literature, were used as the basis for an investigation into structure, control, knowledge transfer and culture in MNEs. The results confirm that there is a widespread move towards global integration, and that this is accompanied by changes in the relationships between managers from corporate and country units, and a tendency to encourage the development of best management practices across national boundaries.
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