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The purpose of this paper is to investigate the relevance of the mixed embeddedness thesis (Kloosterman, 2010; Rath and Kloosterman, 2002) to businesses with a more transnational mode of operation.

Interviews with the owner managers of a sample 24 Vietnamese businesses in London were undertaken to develop an understanding of how micro (individual resources: social, financial and cultural/human capital, and history of migration), meso (local, regional and national markets) and macro (politico-institutional) factors in the UK and overseas influenced business development.

The findings illustrate how business development is influenced not just by the interaction of the local (UK) opportunity structure and the entrepreneur’s resources, as suggested by the mixed embeddedness thesis, but also by institutional regimes, economies and markets in key countries of the diaspora, and the interaction of these. The extent to which new transnational opportunities can be exploited, however, depends on access to the necessary local and transnational forms of capital.

The empirical evidence presented is used to present a re-working of the mixed embeddedness thesis to provide a framework for understanding the drivers of transnational entrepreneurship.

The paper presents new empirical knowledge of transnational activity amongst the UK Vietnamese business community – a little known refugee community. Conceptually, the paper offers a theoretical development of the mixed embeddedness thesis to enable it to provide an explanation of transnational entrepreneurship amongst new migrant communities.

This paper seeks to explore the applicability of the eclectic framework of international production in explaining the growth of transnational crime groups.

The paper adopts a comparative discussion perspective. It examines a number of both similarities and differences between legitimate and illegal international business organizations suggesting that similarities between the two are sufficient to ensure the usefulness of existing explanatory frameworks which focus on ownership, location and internalization (OLI) advantages.

Similarities are apparent in the growing internationalization of criminal activities and the emergence of network structures. Key changes in the business environment, particularly globalization and technological change, are affecting both legitimate and illegal business. Like legitimate business, international crime is undergoing significant change. Increased diversification is apparent as traditional criminal activities – gambling, loan sharking and prostitution – are combined with cross‐border automobile smuggling, art and archaeological theft, arms trafficking, trade in illegal wildlife products and credit‐card fraud.

The discussion suggests a “mirroring” of legitimate international business strategies and structures by transnational criminal organizations. This raises interesting policy implications as to how such organisations might develop over time and how policy could be used to contain such activities.

In recent years, we have witnessed a surge in academic interest towards migrants and their entrepreneurial endeavours. This has resulted in valuable insights about immigrant, transnational, ethnic and diaspora entrepreneurship. By reviewing 158 articles published in the fields of migrant entrepreneurship, transnational entrepreneurship, ethnic and diaspora entrepreneurship over the last decade, the author maps the migrant entrepreneurship field according to the level of analysis and suggests potential avenues for the development of the field. Blurred boundaries between different streams of literature can potentially lead to duplication of efforts and harm cumulativity of knowledge. Therefore, the author summarises the key findings at each level of analysis, identifies the gaps and most pressing research questions. The author concluded that the field would benefit from (1) more specific definitions and assessment of whether observed findings stem from immigrant-, transnational-, ethnic- or diaspora-related factors; (2) appreciating the multilevel nature of the phenomenon; and (3) clarifying the boundary conditions. This review contributes to the accumulation of knowledge in two ways. First, it synthesises the findings in the fields of transnational, immigrant, ethnic and diaspora entrepreneurship under the framework of migrant entrepreneurship. Second, it suggests potential research directions across three levels of analysis and in-between those levels.

This study aims to investigate how different academic fields within and outside of international business (IB) engage with the topics of social value creation in the context of multinational enterprises (MNEs). The aim is to take stock of the main themes and offer suggestions for future research avenues.

The paper undertakes a scoping review. The authors use the Web of Science database to identify relevant articles. The database search yielded 466 articles. The NVivo software was used to code and identify key thematic areas.

The matrix analysis performed in NVivo yielded 15 main thematic areas spanning 37 research fields. However, further analysis revealed that 89 per cent of the articles originated from 13 fields. Furthermore, while IB journals represent the second-largest field home to publications related to the social value creation of MNEs, they only account for 12 per cent of the sample.

The paper responds to prior calls to reduce disciplinary silos through the performing of a thematic analysis across a multitude of research fields.

In the twenty‐first century more European organizations will have to go global in scope and operations. Increasing globalization is forcing such a transformation of corporations, associations, and agencies. If business expects to be competitive in the global marketplace, their use of information technology is not only a force in this trend, but a powerful tool to achieve this goal. This article examines the impact of globalization on institutions, the challenges and issues in globalization, and how to transform an organization into a global enterprise. The latter occurs, the author suggests, when such change is well planned, so that a new work culture is created which embraces new technologies, such as in the fields of communications and information.

The purpose of this paper is to investigate possible improvements in the pursuit of the sustainable development goals (SDGs) by multinational enterprises (MNEs) through an analysis of the literature.

A critical framework based on Gleicher’s formula for change is provided after conducting a systematic literature review.

The best way to pursue the SDGs is through an integrated approach that recognises the importance of MNEs in terms of possibilities and power of action. Working towards the SDGs appears to be largely limited by three aspects of the problem: its complexity and wickedness, the genuine interest in reaching some SDGs, at the expense of profit and low foresight.

A fundamental limitation of the study concerns, as in most of the literature on the matter, the impossibility of providing an optimal solution to the problem of meeting the SDGs, given their nature. However, formulating the best definition of the problem and its characteristics can contribute to making its management better.

This study has social implications due to the extreme importance that many SDGs have with regard to democracy and social equity, beyond their environmental and economic aspects.

The claimed contribution is the value brought by the synthesis of several points of view, through the interdisciplinary analysis of the research question. The novelty consists in organising the literature according to the formula for change.

The purpose of this paper is to examine the influence of bilateral political relations on the completion stage premium of cross-border mergers and acquisitions(CSPCMA) and the moderating roles of cultural distance, trade openness and the nature of firm ownership for this relationship.

Based on a sample of 401 cross-border mergers and acquisitions (M&A) conducted by Chinese companies from 1995 to 2019 in the Statistical Data Center (SDC), this article used weighted least squares (WLS) to empirically test the impact of bilateral political relations between countries on the CSPCMA.

The better the target country of entry’s bilateral political relations with China, the lower the premium of the transaction price paid by Chinese companies at the completion stage of cross-border M&A. Among the moderators, the study found cultural distance positively moderates the relationship between bilateral political relations between countries and CSPCMA. The degree of trade openness of the target country negatively moderates the relationship between bilateral political relations between countries and CSPCMA. The negative relationship between bilateral political relations between countries and CSPCMA is stronger when the acquirer is a state-owned enterprise (SOE).

The findings of this study not only add to the knowledge about the relationship between bilateral political relations and corporate cross-border M&A premiums, but also have managerial implications for Chinese corporate managers to sustainably reduce corporate cross-border M&A premiums.

The purpose of this paper is to analyse international business (IB) scholarship and present current gaps and new realities to enhance scholarly discourse.

The paper divides the scholarship into three distinct sections. First, it interrogates the changing definitions of the field from the 1880s to date. Secondly, IB paradigms are cross-examined while highlighting the understudied emerging interaction paradigm. Lastly, literature gaps, methodological gaps and new realities in IB are presented.

This research shows that IB inquiry has concentrated on firm-level paradigms, leaving the emerging interaction paradigm understudied. As a result, there is a deficit of novel ideas and limited research on critical emerging issues affecting IB. Further, simplistic methodologies are prevalent, making IB scholarship weak. Additionally, a majority of studies concentrate on the Americas, Europe and Asia, leaving Africa understudied.

This research augments the need for scholars to cross-examine the best approach to apply in IB discourse and presents gaps calling for new insights and future research directions.

For Colombia, cocaine is a product that is sold for profit in the United States. Mainstream political economy, let alone the other social sciences, has little to say about the process of extraction of surplus value in the production and distribution of cocaine, in other words, how cocaine is exploited for profit. The paper argues that the conventional framework, which locates profits generated from the cocaine trade in an economic model of crime shields a much deeper reality than simply ‘money laundering’ as a ‘legal problem.’ The central argument is that the cocaine trade in general, and the cocaine economy in particular, are a vital aspect of U.S. imperialism in the Colombian economic system. The paper tackles a critical problem: the place of cocaine in the re-colonization of Colombia – defined as ‘narcocolonialism’ – and the implications of the cocaine trade generally for U.S. imperialism in this context. The paper evaluates selected literature on the Colombian cocaine trade and offers an alternative framework underpinned by a political economy analysis drawn from Marx and Lenin showing that cocaine functions as an ‘imperial commodity’ – a commodity for which there exists a lucrative market and profit-making opportunity. It is also a means of capital accumulation by what could be termed, Colombia's comprador ‘narcobourgeoisie;’ dependent on U.S. imperialism. It is hoped that by analyzing cocaine with a Marxist interpretation and political economy approach, then future developments in understanding drugs in Colombia's complex political economy may be anticipated.

The purpose of this paper is to investigate Six Sigma implementation in the subsidiaries of General Electric (GE) located in Brazil and to explore the role of the quality culture of headquarters in overcoming common obstacles to Six Sigma implementation reported by other studies.

An exploratory survey was the basis for gathering data for this study. A structured questionnaire was developed covering issues related to Six Sigma implementation, such as experienced benefits, main outcomes, and metrics adopted by companies. Data from eight GE subsidiaries were qualitatively analyzed. The findings were discussed in the light of other studies conducted in Brazil as well as in other developing countries in the context of the role of existing quality culture in overcoming barriers to Six Sigma implementation.

The findings revealed that Six Sigma at GE subsidiaries achieved better results in comparison with the results obtained by other Brazilian companies reported in the literature. GE quality culture aspects such as top management commitment, high investment in training, recognition schemes, and development of a well-planned infrastructure were identified as valuable to overcome common barriers to Six Sigma implementation. Moreover, the findings showed a strong alignment with the goals and practices of GE headquarters, which is an evidence of the quality culture that exists in GE and that allows all GE businesses achieve benefits with Six Sigma.

Since limited empirical research has been conducted concerning Six Sigma implementation in developing countries, this paper aspires to contribute to Six Sigma body of knowledge by illustrating the practices of a world benchmark corporation.