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This study argues that knowledge management (KM) by itself has only limited effects on client–vendor relationship (CVR) of global providers of highly customised services. Rather, it is the ability of top management to properly evaluate and utilise a vast array of complex knowledge which allows global firms to develop and maintain superior CVR. The paper tests the proposition that global mindset (GM) of top management mediates the effects of KM on CVR quality.

The paper uses survey data from a sample of 68 international service providers (ISPs) in the information technology sector in India and partial least squares approach to structural equation modelling to test the hypotheses.

The results show that both KM and GM have positive and statistically significant effects on the quality of CVRs. The results also confirm that the GM of top management has significant and substantive mediation effects on the relationship between KM and CVR quality.

The small size of the sample and the focus on ISPs in a single country constitute the main limitations of the study. Future research should ideally draw from a larger sample of ISPs from multiple countries and sectors in order to allow for greater generalisation of the findings.

ISPs will benefit from developing the GM of their top management teams to enhance their CVRs.

The paper provides new insights into how, in an international context, firms can transform their KM into superior CVR quality through the development of GM.

The purpose of this paper is to examine the mediating role of foreign market attractiveness on the association between export promotion programmes (EPPs) and export performance in the context of Ghanaian firms. In addition to understanding how EPPs help enhance the attractiveness of the foreign markets and thus export performance, the study contributes to the under-developed export performance literature regarding Sub-Saharan African (SSA) firms.

A mixed method approach is utilised. In the first instance quantitative analysis is undertaken on 116 Ghanaian firms via data collected using the drop and pick method. Qualitative data involving interviews with 18 managers of exporting firms are then reported upon.

The study finds full mediation effects for foreign market attractiveness. This suggests that EPPs can enhance export performance via the intervening variable of foreign market attractiveness. Specifically, EPPs should be considered as a resource in managers’ ability to develop capabilities in exporting, but need to be considered in the context of other intervening factors such as perceived foreign market attractiveness.

The literature regarding EPPs and export performance mostly overlook any link between EPPs and other determinants of export performance towards establishing an indirect relationship between the constructs. The study fills this important gap; in particular, in respect of SSA firms and specifically in the context of Ghana.

This study aims to contribute to the existing understanding of export practices in sub-Saharan African firms with a contextual focus on Ghanaian exporters operating in business-to-business (B2B) markets. Underpinned by resource-based theory and its association with the relational view, it examines how the interplay between various decision makers’ international experience, export commitment and distribution adaptation decisions influence firms’ performance.

The study uses a mixed methods approach, using survey data from 116 internationalising Ghanaian businesses across three sectors, supplemented with qualitative insights from 18 follow-up interviews.

The study establishes a full mediation effect of export commitment on the association between international experience and export performance; also, the moderating effect of distribution adaptation on export commitment – performance relationships. Unique insights are provided into the perceived role of trustworthy, intermediaries as “stakeholders” that add to a respective firm’s resource base; that is, in building capabilities in overseas markets and informing evolving business model decisions to overcome potential export barriers.

The insights from sub-Saharan African firms provide contextual value given the relatively under-represented existing research from the region. Original insights highlight ways in which decision makers build capabilities and that they do not always follow a forward moving internationalisation process, so use different measures of performance regarding B2B product-market ventures over time.

Contrary to the widely held belief in the linear positive effects of business relationships (BRELs) on performance outcomes, the authors posit that the quality of a manager's BRELs with a foreign business partner has an inverted curvilinear effect on managing challenges arising out of institutional differences between two countries, which the authors define as institutional success. The authors further propose that managers' global role complexity (GRC) negatively impacts institutional success and dampens the inverted curvilinear effects of BRELs on institutional success.

The proposed model is tested using questionnaire survey data from 186 senior Indian managers doing business with New Zealand.

The authors find significant support for the inverted curvilinear effects of BRELs and the negative effects of GRC on institutional success. They did not find significant results for the moderating role of GRC on the inverted curvilinear relationship between BRELs and institutional success. However, significant linear interactive effects of GRC and BREL are evident.

The key managerial implication is that managers should focus on building BRELs of appropriate quality with their overseas counterparts to keep producing relational rents. They should, however, also be sensitive to when such relational rents start to be eroded by internal and external factors and treat them as a dynamic equilibrium rather than a static one.

The study findings challenge the assumption of linear positive effects of BRELs within the relational view. They highlight the significance of BRELs, even for emerging economy managers doing business in advanced economies.

Given the surge in foreign direct investment (FDI) in emerging economies (EEs) during the past four decades, inward FDI (IFDI) has spawned a rich, scholarly conversation on the topic. This paper aims to review the literature regarding EE IFDI determinants and the impact of IFDI on those economies. It also aims to provide some future research directions.

A systematic review with thematic analysis of 372 articles on the topic, published between 1991 and 2021, is undertaken. In addition to using the relevant keywords, the snowballing approach was used to manually track the literature.

This review highlights EE IFDI determinants such as institutional quality, corruption and intellectual property rights, regional trade agreements and distances, formal and informal institutions and their interactions, national and subnational diversity and policy expectations. Further, IFDI impacts EEs both at macro- and micro-levels. This review also indicates a substantial increase in research during the period 2000 to 2010 and a decline thereafter; it also indicates Africa and Latin America being under-researched, with a focus on Africa recently increasing.

Rich research opportunities exist in examining the mechanisms (mediators) and conditions (moderators) that influence relationships between the antecedents of IFDI and their outcomes. Further opportunities exist in examining the role of the context and in undertaking a multilevel analysis.

This review provides an understanding of what influences multinational enterprises’ FDI to EEs and how it impacts those economies. It also raises potential future research questions. It provides a holistic understanding of the chosen scope and domain.

The paper aims to incorporate the social identity theory perspectives to the knowledge-based view in order to suggest how certain organizational characteristics can be leveraged as knowledge governance mechanisms for interpersonal knowledge transfer within the multinational enterprise (MNE).

This paper is a conceptual discussion on interpersonal knowledge governance mechanisms.

The paper proposes a new set of governance mechanisms which may be leveraged to govern interpersonal knowledge transfer. These mechanisms utilize organizational identity of individuals to govern individual level knowledge transfer behavior with the MNE. The paper also illustrates how subsidiary power, one of such mechanisms, influences interpersonal knowledge transfer within the MNE through organizational identification.

As the paper is conceptual, the proposed mechanisms have not been substantiated empirically. It calls for empirically testing the suggested mechanisms across countries.

The paper provides insights to managers for leveraging on organizational identity to manage interpersonal level knowledge transfer within the MNE.

The paper adds organizational identity-based knowledge governance mechanisms to the knowledge governance approach. It highlights how certain organizational characteristics (e.g. subsidiary power), even though these are not knowledge governance mechanisms per se, can be utilized to govern interpersonal knowledge transfer with the MNE.

Most of the research on international outsourcing of value chain activities focuses on larger firms. The purpose of this paper is to fill an important research gap by exploring how small firms manage institutional differences to enhance their international outsourcing success.

The paper uses data from interviews conducted with two managers of a small New Zealand apparel manufacturing firm who have over 35 years of combined experience with international outsourcing. The firm had both failed and successful experiences in its international outsourcing ventures. Findings are discussed in the context of the extant literature on international outsourcing.

Small firms overcome institutional constraints they face in offshore locations by leveraging from their entrepreneurial skills, learning from failures and using a relational governance mode. This results in achieving performance targets and sustaining long-term relationships with suppliers, defined as international outsourcing success in this study.

The findings may not be generalised as they are based on a single case and cover only the client perspective. The study contributes to the offshoring literature from the perspective of smaller firms and calls for quantitative investigations to generalise the findings.

The key implications include that small firms need to develop quality relationships and leverage from their unique entrepreneurial capabilities to enhance their success while outsourcing to relatively different institutional environments. Moreover, even a failed experience might help generate subsequent multiple successful ventures, if lessons are learned and behaviour adapted accordingly. Operating in emerging economies is much more challenging than managers from developed markets usually expect – thus the need for them to understand and prepare well before undertaking operations in these markets.

With the rise of international outsourcing of value chain activities, the findings are useful to small firms aiming to achieve success in their outsourcing ventures in offshore locations. This study is one of only a few studies investigating small firms’ international outsourcing that examines both failure and success in an institutionally diverse context.

The purpose of this paper is to examine the impact of high-status local exchange partners on foreign firms.

Bridging status research and international business literature, the study develops a framework that describes three prominent effects of high-status partners on foreign firms, and further links these effects to firms’ relationship outcomes. The proposed conceptual model is examined using partial least squares structural equations modeling on a sample of 96 foreign firms operating in China.

The study provides evidence that high-status local exchange partners tend to seek higher relationship-specific investment from foreign firms, and in the meantime, provide firms with greater opportunities for local learning and networking; subsequently, foreign firms are more likely to achieve satisfactory outcomes in the relationships.

These findings suggest that affiliation with high-status local actors can be a key approach to overcome the liability of foreignness in a host country. Firms therefore, should treat them carefully as an important category of exchange partner portfolios. These are particularly relevant to foreign firms competing in China, a society characterized by strong hierarchies.

The study serves as a preliminary attempt to introduce status concept to the field of international business. It promotes status as a key criterion for local partner selection, and offers the status research a contextual insight in the dilemma of choosing high- vs low-status partner candidates.