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Studies concentrating on digitalization and interconnected capabilities have increased over the past several decades. Digitalization capability and open innovation are perceived as sources of sustained competitiveness across disciplines. This study investigated how digitalization capability and coopetition strategy affect the sustainable performance of firms by exploring the role of internal and external factors in influencing the adoption and success of open innovation in emerging markets.

To test the hypothesis, the authors conducted a structural equation model analysis on 509 firm datasets from the hub cities in China, an innovative battlefield where multilateral cooperation and competition are interwoven for globalization, clean development and the enhancement of economic growth.

The authors found that a firm's digitalization capability positively impacts outbound/inbound open innovation, coopetition strategy and sustainable performance. This study’s results support a series of mediating effects through outbound/inbound open innovation and coopetition strategy. Also, it provides a nuanced understanding of how digitalization capability and open innovation can affect sustainable performance in emerging markets.

The present study provides a nuanced understanding of how digitalization capability and in/out-bound open innovation can affect sustainable performance in emerging markets. The authors believe this model contributes to current knowledge by filling several research gaps, and this study’s findings offer valuable and practical implications for achieving open innovation and creating sustainable performance.

This study aims to explore how subsidiary capabilities collectively configure for performance. Additionally, it seeks to examine whether these configurations of capabilities can provide equifinal solutions through developing a comprehensive research framework that focuses on subsidiaries in China.

With a data set collected through a questionnaire from 172 Korean multinational enterprises (MNEs) in China, this study used a fuzzy-set qualitative comparative analysis to detect the capability conditions and configurations. These configurations represent combinations of various subsidiary capabilities linked to high performance.

This study identified several complex pathways with distinct configurations for high subsidiary performance. The findings demonstrate the importance of configurations over individual conditions. Thus, the results highlight that the effectiveness of diverse capabilities, which are widely believed to singularly contribute to the high performance of MNE subsidiaries, depends on how each combines with other capabilities. Overall, the findings provide a richer and fine-grained understanding of the role and relative importance of various forms of MNE subsidiary capabilities and how the joint effect of these subsidiaries contributes to high performance.

This study suggests that MNE managers should comprehensively understand how subsidiary capabilities are configured to produce subsidiary performance outcomes. This specifically illustrates the importance of understanding the mutually conflicting yet collectively exhaustive results of multi-selective solutions and aims to align with China’s industrial and regional heterogeneity.

By examining the role of MNE subsidiary capability configurations, which may collectively influence the subsidiary’s performance, this study contributes to the literature. It elucidates how MNE subsidiaries may achieve superior performance by developing and possessing various capabilities tailored to the local context.

The purpose of this study is to examine the impact of technological diversification (TD) on enterprise innovation performance, meanwhile focusing on the moderating effects of various organizational slack (i.e. absorbed and unabsorbed slack) and ownership types (i.e. state-owned or privately-owned) in the context of Chinese listed firms.

This study formulates five hypotheses based on organization and agency theories. Our empirical analysis employs a fixed-effect regression estimator with a unique panel dataset of Chinese-listed manufacturing firms and 13,566 firm-year observations over 9 years from 2012 to 2020.

Our findings show that an inverted U-shaped relationship exists between TD and innovation performance, varying with different types of organizational slack and ownership. In state-owned enterprises (SOEs), unabsorbed slack negatively moderates the inverted U-shaped relationship; however, in privately-owned enterprises (POEs), this relationship is positively moderated. Although absorbed slack has negative moderating effects in both SOEs and POEs, its impact is only significant for POEs.

Our results imply that organizational slack has a contrasting impact on the relationship between TD and innovation performance when the type of ownership varies. Therefore, the managers that intend to achieve optimal innovation performance through TD should understand how organizational slack can be leveraged.

This study contributes to the existing literature by applying the relationship between TD and innovative performance to the transition economy, as well as examining the double-edged sword impact of state ownership on firm innovation performance.

The purpose of this paper is to complement the conventional international business (IB) theory, the OLI perspective, which is good at explaining the foreign direct investments (FDIs) undertaken by developed market multinational corporations (DMNCs). This study also suggests a new theoretical framework, namely, the OILL paradigm, that is able to encompass FDIs from emerging market multinational corporations (EMNCs) toward developed economies.

The data comprising 206 Chinese MNCs, which completed international mergers and acquisitions (IMAs), were obtained from Zephyr. By using these data, logical regressions are conducted to statistically confirm that we should not omit the learning motivation if we want to adequately understand the FDI phenomenon by encompassing investment flow from developing (or emerging) to developed countries.

The results based on this data set indicate that EMNCs often try to enter developed economies with the motivation to seek sophisticated foreign host knowledge that is not available internally. In particular, they tend to use IMA strategies when they want to learn from heterogeneity (i.e. inter-industry mergers and acquisitions) and absorb advanced technologies from DMNCs.

By shedding light on the recent new trend in FDI (i.e. FDI from emerging countries to developed economies), the study provides useful theoretical implications, as well as suggesting scholarly contributions. However, we should acknowledge that there are some limitations to this study. First, the study explores only Chinese MNCs. Second, learning motivations need to be minutely and precisely measured by other studies. Third, this study argues that FDI from EMNCs to DMNCs is triggered by the former’s motivation concerning knowledge acquisition. However, the type of knowledge should be considered, and this is perhaps another avenue for future research.

Conventional IB theories, such as the OLI paradigm and internalization theory, have long sought to answer the question of why DMNCs go for foreign markets, in spite of the presence of the liabilities of foreignness, and focused on their main investment motivations (i.e. market-seeking, efficiency-seeking and resource-seeking motivations). For this reason, these theories do not adequately capture the primary FDI motivations of EMNCs, and consequently, they are unable to see the big picture when it comes to the FDI phenomenon. Based on this idea, the authors complement the well-known triad motivations (i.e. market-seeking, efficiency-seeking and resource-seeking motivations) by adding the knowledge-seeking motive and contribute to the evolution of IB theories by suggesting a new theory, which is the OILL paradigm.

The study contributes to the extant literature in the field of IB in two key ways. First, it examines EMNCs’ central motivations in conducting FDI where empirical research is sparse. By doing this, this paper attempts to solve the query indicated above (i.e. why MNCs choose FDI in spite of the presence of the liabilities of foreignness), and it offers a new theory (i.e. the OILL paradigm).

The aim of this study is to examine the entry mode that retail firms correctly choose when culture is simultaneously considered has a positive effect on firm performance.

This study relies on the two-step analysis originally derived from Heckman and applied into multinational enterprises (MNEs) entry mode by Shaver. To figure out the probability of entry mode in the first step, the paper uses the logit regression that independent variable is four culture dimensions and dependent variable is the entry mode (joint venture vs wholly owned subsidiary). Since the selection bias is relatively reduced by adding lambda calculated in the first step to the second step that verifies the degree of fit, the safety for interpretation of subsequent models is secured.

This study collected 96 entries of top global retail firms and found out the relationship between culturally determined entry mode and firm performance is positively significant. While existing literatures dealing with manufacturing firms' international entries showed that wholly owned subsidiary is favored over joint venture when the cultural distance is high, this study focusing on retail firms in the service sector indicates that those firms are more likely to enter the global market with joint venture. Finally, firms that appropriately understand cultural distance demonstrated higher performance in the target country.

This study focuses on the relationship between culturally determined entry mode and firm performance in the service sector, whereas extant literatures heavily depend on the one in the manufacturing sector. Moreover, the two-step analysis is exquisitely adopted to confirm the hypotheses.

The purpose of this study is to look at Chinese mergers and acquisitions (M&A) in Germany on a firm level. It focuses on the benefits and risks from the viewpoint of Germany. In this way, the authors want to close the research gap concerning the financial consequences of Chinese takeovers for the affected German firms. The purpose is to find out if Chinese investors show a specific behavior in terms of profitability, growth and business risks in the acquired companies.

This paper studies the financial situation of German firms two years before and two years after being bought by Chinese companies, by analyzing accounting data of 19 target companies in six economic sectors. In this empirical study, firm performance is measured by profitability, research and development cost, liquidity and financial leverage. It is using the industry adjustment method and calculation of mean and weighted mean considering company size.

Overall, German firms’ financial performance after Chinese M&A did not significantly improve, but they did not worsen either. The changes in financial ratios are different across economic sectors and company sizes. Obviously, the final performance of firms after M&A is quite diverse due to diverse company-specific targets. The results do not reflect common fears about deteriorating situations brought by Chinese involvement drawn in mass media.

The study lacks analysis for a longer period, ideally five years before and five years after M&A. The calculated results of industry mean may differ from the real industry mean, as components are collected from the sample companies accounting for only 70% of the market. Industry means figures are calculated for only one single point in time and assumed to be unchanged over the whole time period. The study covers mostly firms which have total assets of more than €50m, so SMEs are underrepresented.

Owners of German firms that are in target but have not been purchased by Chinese investors can see the trends and anticipate which group of M&A targets their firms are categorized into. If their firms belong to the group of sectors or company sizes that shows negative results of performance after Chinese M&A, they can plan to protect their firms by implementing defending strategies against hostile takeovers. If their firms are in the groups that tend to enhance performance after Chinese M&A, they may be in a good position and able to negotiate for mutually beneficial transactions.

The results are important for political and public discussion. It is shown that Chinese acquisitions of German firms do not have a deteriorating effect, at least not in the short-term. Therefore, the results are a good input to neutralize discussions in German society.

The results disagree with the few previous studies on Chinese M&A in Germany (Bollhorn, 2015; Müller, 2017; Löchel and Sächtig, 2019). While the studies of Bollhorn and Müller are based on subjective methods, the study is based on a detailed financial method. Then, in contrast to the study of Löchel and Sächtig, it is strictly focusing on Chinese/German M&A. Most existing empirical studies are focusing on cross-border M&As from developed to developing countries and there is little attention to acquisitions in the other direction (Ma et al., 2016, p. 22).