Exploring the relationship between institutional factors and FDI attractiveness: A meta-analytic review

This meta-analysis attempts to synthesize and review decades of research on the relationship between institutional factors and host country foreign direct investment (FDI) attractiveness. Using prior tests derived from 97 primary studies, we find support for prior theoretical predictions that institutional factors such as political stability, democracy, and rule of law attract FDI, while others such as corruption, tax rates and cultural distance deter it. Further evidence suggests a need for exploration of moderating factors that may influence previous key findings. Specifically, environmental effects such as level of development, region of destination, and competitive industry environment have varying influence on the strength and significance of the relationship. We also explore a number of methodological and economic moderating variables, providing additional interesting insights into previous empirical analyses. We conclude with suggestions for future research that stress a call for further contextualization of the relationship.     

Foreign market entry mode choice of small and medium-sized enterprises: A systematic review and future research agenda

Despite significant differences between small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) and large multinational enterprises (MNEs), the majority of extant foreign market entry mode choice literature has focused on MNEs. The current state of knowledge regarding SME foreign market entry mode choice is equivocal. The present paper reviews the current state of SME foreign market entry mode choice literature and maps future research directions. To this end, we systematically analyze 33 relevant journal articles for their theoretical frameworks and contextual dimensions. Based on this review, we identify gaps in the literature and develop an agenda to guide future scholarship in this important domain of research in taking SME-specific characteristics into consideration.     

FDI in Sub-Saharan Africa: A longitudinal perspective on location-specific factors (2003–2010)

This paper examines the characteristics of Location Specific Factors (LSFs) in Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) regarding inward Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) by Multinational Enterprises (MNEs). Exploratory Factor Analysis (EFA) of 758 MNEs in 2003, 1216 in 2005 and 2402 in 2010 is used to compare the variability in LSFs in ten, 15 and 19 SSA countries respectively. We find firstly the most powerful factors, influencing the political-economy and trade dynamics of hosts to FDI, stable over time. Secondly, by 2010, production inputs become the most important factor for FDI followed by political-economic stability. This result reflects findings in International Business (IB) literature. Policy implications point to unwavering need by SSA to reduce transaction costs for FDI; increase the predictability of the policy environment; and increase the productivity-adjusted cost efficiency of inputs.     

Seeking greener pastures: a theoretical and empirical investigation into the changing trend of foreign direct investment flows in response to institutional and strategic factors

A generic theoretical model is proposed that provides a holistic conceptualization of the phenomenon of changing trend of FDI flows. Integrating both institutional and strategic factors, a rationale for such a change is provided, and the circumstances under which future shifts might take place are identified. A collection of criteria and incentives that various host governments and their agencies must provide to attract FDI are outlined. Several propositions that lead to empirically testable hypotheses are developed from this model. Statistical evidence is then provided of a shift in FDI flows, and the change in their determinants, by empirically analyzing investment by US multinational enterprises into Western Europe and Asia over the 20-year period, 1981–2000.     

Licensing versus direct investment: implications for economic growth

We develop a symmetric two country model of foreign direct investment (FDI) that captures the internalization decision and its implications for both the rate and magnitude of innovations. When mode choice (licensing versus FDI) is fixed, a subsidy to multinational production increases the rate but decreases the size of innovations. When mode can switch, the rate and size of innovations both increase, provided the subsidy is not too large. Although innovation size decreases for industries where firms already were choosing FDI, innovation size increases for industries where firms switch from licensing to FDI because multinationals choose larger innovations than licensors.     

Changes in foreign operation modes: A review and research agenda

This paper addresses the growing but fragmented research area of changes in foreign operation modes. Previous research claims this field to be under-researched and at the same time more complex than hitherto assumed. Moreover, a majority of studies investigating mode change include the topic rather inexplicitly. In consequence, literature on mode change is fragmented across different research streams and is characterized by incoherent nomenclature, a variety of research foci as well as results that are hard to compare. By conducting a structured literature review we consolidate existing findings, provide a deeper understanding of firms’ foreign operation mode change, related theoretical perspectives, and its antecedents and consequences. Based on our findings we discuss relevant areas for future research in this research field.     

A knowledge-and-physical-capital model of international trade flows, foreign direct investment, and multinational enterprises

This paper addresses two important issues at the nexus of the literatures on international trade, foreign direct investment (FDI), foreign affiliate sales (FAS), and multinational enterprises (MNEs). First, the introduction of a third internationally-mobile factor (physical capital) to the standard 2 × 2 × 2 “knowledge-capital” model of MNEs with skilled and unskilled labor allows us to resolve fairly readily the puzzle in the modern MNE literature that foreign affiliate sales among two identical economies completely displace their international trade. Intra-industry trade and intra-industry FDI (and FAS) can coexist for national and multinational firms (with identical productivities) in identical countries. Second, the introduction also of a third country to the model suggests a formal N-country theoretical rationale for estimating gravity equations of bilateral FDI flows and FAS, in a manner consistent with estimating gravity equations for bilateral trade flows.     

New Challenges for International Business Research: A Review of Extant Research and the Unique Contributions of John Dunning

Relative to other fields, international business is a young field of study. Tracing its origins to the mid-1950s, the field began to develop unique theories and paradigms in the 1970s and 1980s. The field has developed rich research streams since and has become firmly established as an independent field of study and important part of university curricula. John Dunning (1902–2009) is widely regarded as a father of the field, carving out unique theories from his primary field of economics and through his efforts hiring and training future prominent international business scholars. This article examines the evolution of the international business field and unique contributions of John Dunning's research to the development of extant theory. It then reviews Dunning's last contribution—his fifth and last book entitled New Challenges for International Business Research: Back to the Future.     

Culture and International business research: A review and research agenda

This study explores the role of culture and international business in internationalization outcomes through a systematic review and analysis of articles published between 2009 and 2019. By mapping the current research domain, this review reflects the avenues for future research in theory development, context, characteristics, and methodology (TCCM) in eight research clusters identified as national culture, external uncertainty avoidance, knowledge transfer & collaboration, HRM & management practices, international diversification research, entrepreneurial mindset, interaction, and firm performance. The clusters were grouped into independent factors and internationalization outcome factors. This framework provided deeper insights into the theoretical implications which will lead to further advancement in these research areas.     

Multinational enterprises and corporate tax planning: A review of literature and suggestions for a future research agenda

Corporate tax planning by the multinational enterprise (MNE), that is, the MNE’s ability to plan its tax affairs by using a multitude of strategies to reduce its tax bills legally, is a central research question in the literatures of international business, public economics, tax, finance, law and accounting. Underlying theoretical assumptions, approaches to empirical testing, profit shifting estimation strategies and findings are varied. Thus, it is important to conduct a critical literature review. In this paper, we offer new insights by studying the phenomenon from the international business (IB) perspective. We survey the academic literature on the MNE and corporate tax planning to examine the extent of knowledge on this topic and identify areas that we hope will stimulate interest among IB scholars for further research. We find materials across disciplines that are relevant to IB readers. We examine 120 articles in 51 scholarly journals and classic books published during the period 1966-2017. We identify the key mechanisms and the firm characteristics that may influence corporate tax planning. We suggest a research agenda where IB research can make clear contributions.     

A quantitative approach to multinational production

I examine new data on the number and revenues of foreign affiliates of multinational firms across a large number of country pairs. The data shed light on the behavior of the intensive and extensive margins of multinational production (MP). To capture the patterns observed in the data, I build and calibrate a multi-country general-equilibrium model of MP that combines a Lucas (1978) span-of-control with an Eaton and Kortum (2002) type model, and includes both fixed and variable costs of opening affiliates abroad. I use the calibrated model to calculate the gains that a country would experience from liberalizing access to foreign firms. Those calculations suggest that the welfare losses of closing up to foreign firms would be around 4%, while the gains of liberalizing access to foreign firms would be large, particularly if the variable – rather than the fixed – component of MP costs were lowered.     

Endogenous market structures and the gains from foreign direct investment

This paper discusses the gains from liberalizing foreign direct investment (FDI) in a two-country setting with endogenous market structure. We investigate two different scenarios. In the first scenario, headquarters costs are large in the foreign country so that the industry is located in the domestic country only. In this case, multinational and national firms may coexist and market concentration may make FDI welfare improving for the foreign country and welfare reducing for the domestic country. In the second scenario, headquarters costs are symmetric and firms will be located in both countries. Here, profitable FDI activities lead to mutual welfare gains, irrespective of market structure effects.     

Consumer cynicism: Interdisciplinary hybrid review and research agenda

Over the years, consumers have been questioning the intentions and actions of firms, resulting in a cynical attitude and behaviour. Due to the severity of the outcomes that cynical consumers may display, reputed journals and prolific researchers have addressed the core issue in their own unique ways. However, no single study offers a uniform, comprehensive, and contemporary review of consumer cynicism literature. Thus, we use an interdisciplinary approach to study the literature spanning 47 years (1976–2022) on cynicism in consumer research, psychology, and organizational domains through a hybrid review involving bibliometric and systematic literature reviews. Following the SPAR-4-SLR protocol, this review shows the most cited and co-cited articles, researchers, and keywords in cynicism research. We infer that the consumer cynicism construct draws heavily from the organizational behaviour area, possessing the potential to be correlated with, and extended to interdisciplinary research. Also, we offer an all-inclusive model of the predictors and predictands of consumer cynicism based on the ADO-TCM framework. We close this study with its academic contributions, practical implications, and future research directions using the ADO-TCM framework.     

Meaning-oriented consumption: A systematic review and research agenda

The quest for finding meaning in life is central to human existence. Evidence supporting consumption as a source of meaning in life is scant and lies in discrete studies across multiple disciplines. We call consumption that engenders a sense of meaning in life ‘meaning-oriented consumption’. In this paper we conduct a systematic literature review of 102 papers, using the Scientific procedures and rationales for systematic literature reviews (SPAR-4-SLR) (Paul et al. (2021). International Journal of Consumer Studies, 45(4)). We draw on the theory of meaning in life to arrive at a theoretically grounded conceptualization of meaning-oriented consumption. We discuss the antecedents and consequences of meaning-oriented consumption, categories and processes that make consumption meaningful. We gather insights into the relationship between hedonic and meaning-oriented consumption. Finally, we identify knowledge gaps in theory, context, constructs and methodology. This review identifies several consumption contexts and situations that offer potential for marketers to design meaningful offerings.     

The influence of political risk on the scope of internationalization of regulated companies: Insights from a Spanish sample

Political risk not only constitutes a threat for multinational enterprises but can also be a source of opportunities. Exposure to and accumulated experience dealing with political risk allows firms to better implement a wide set of political actions such as negotiation of entry conditions, lobbying, litigation, campaign contributions and coalition formation, leading to preferential conditions, reduced environmental uncertainty, reduced transaction costs and increased long-term sustainability to the firm. These advantages facilitate investments in countries with higher and more diverse levels of risk and make political risk to be positively associated with the firm's scope of internationalization. This effect is not homogeneous across firms. Drawing from a sample of 164 Spanish companies with investments in 119 countries, we find that the impact is greater for companies in industrial sectors that are the object of greater governmental regulation than it is for firms in non-regulated manufacturing or service sectors, with less frequent interactions with home and host-country institutions.     

Ecotourism experience: A systematic review and future research agenda

This study presents a systematic review of the last 25 years' literature and offers a comprehensive understanding of the ecotourism experience. The study uses a Theory-Context-Characteristics-Method (TCCM) framework, offering insights that ecotourism experience research has advanced beyond ecotourism sites and resources to a multi-stakeholder approach. As a result, we have developed a conceptual framework illustrating three consumption stages of ecotourism, that is, pre-visit, on-site and post-visit. The study concludes by identifying some neglected areas and suggesting some future research directions in ecotourism experience field. Lastly, several theoretical and practical implications are presented that could aid the ecotourism industry in overcoming ecotourists' inertia toward site visits.     

Internationalization through foreign listing: A review and future research agenda

This paper reviews and synthesizes literature on foreign listing from international business, management, and finance disciplines. A systematic review of 66 studies from 25 journals indicates fragmentation of the literature across the macro and firm-specific perspectives and a limited usage of current international business theories in research on foreign listing. We propose multiple developmental paths including use of institutional theory, especially institutional distance and institutional evolution to provide more comprehensive understanding of antecedents and contingent factors for foreign listing; supply-chain disaggregation of cross-border capital flow; integrate financial and strategic implications of foreign listing; and advancement of emerging market specific theories.     

International student mobility: A systematic review and research agenda

This study aimed to synthesize fragmented knowledge about international student mobility (ISM) in higher education to provide an understanding of existing studies and directions for future research. To this end, the authors conducted a systematic literature review using a hybrid approach that integrated bibliometric analysis with the theory, context, and method (TCM) framework (Paul et al., Journal of World Business, 2017;52(3):327–342). Applying bibliometric analysis, this study found publication trends, prolific journals, influential articles, and major themes in the field, whereas the TCM framework helped identify widely used theories (motivation theory, immigration theory, acculturation theory, learning theory, and capital theory), research contexts (destination country or region, population, and others), and methods in research and provided future study directions. The identified gaps in the existing literature suggest that future research should develop theoretical foundations and research designs to analyse new processes, patterns, and issues in ISM in higher education within the context of today's changing international environment. In addition to identifying the key research themes and research foundations of ISM in higher education, this review can help add value to the ISM literature from a marketing perspective. This is the first comprehensive literature review of this topic using a hybrid approach.