Reverse Knowledge Transfer on Emerging Market Multinationals: A Case Study of the Largest Private Bank in Latin America

Knowledge transfer between headquarters and subsidiaries and the study of emerging market multinationals (EMMNE) are two important and rapidly growing research topics in International Business (IB) studies. This research analyzes, through an in-depth single case study, the Reverse Knowledge Transfer (RKT) processes of an emerging market multinational, more specifically the largest private bank in LATAM—Banco Itaú Unibanco S.A.—to understand how emerging market parent companies benefit from their subsidiaries’ knowledge. Our findings validate important concepts in the IB and RKT literature, contribute with valuable insights to theory generation, and indicate possible avenues for future research.     

A corporate entrepreneurship perspective of pre‐entry strategies for internationalization: A case study of a Chinese business conglomerate

The international expansion of Chinese firms is a remarkable phenomenon of contemporary international business. However, international expansion is particularly challenging for firms expanding from emerging market economies such as China because they have relatively few ownership advantages and suffer disadvantages. We apply a corporate entrepreneurship perspective to explore this under‐researched topic via a longitudinal case study of a large Chinese business conglomerate. Thirty‐one semistructured interviews and seven focus‐group discussions were conducted with 55 informants; company documents were also analyzed. We found sophisticated pre‐entry entrepreneurial initiatives are critical for successful internationalization, as they enable emerging market firms to overcome some constraints, leverage their assets, and build competences for international venturing.     

Motives behind retailers’ post-entry expansion - Evidence from the Chinese luxury fashion market

This study aims to examine the motives behind retailers’ post-entry expansion in foreign markets. Through case studies of eleven participating luxury fashion retailers in China, qualitative data was collected from twenty-two executive interviews. Although their initial market entry was driven by both reactive (push) and proactive (pull) factors, the motives behind their post-entry expansion have become predominantly proactive, especially long-term growth strategies, the ambition to extend their brands and retail formats to more cities, and the experiences gained in entry markets. The desire to optimize the retail store portfolio through multiple channel strategies have slowed down the expansions of physical stores.     

省思与规制:我国跨境期货交易法律困境及应对

我国推进期货市场"走出去"及国际化战略须以跨境期货交易法律机制构建为前提。文章通过厘定跨境期货交易内涵边界及监管正当性,省思主要法律困境及应对思路,提出应致力于跨境期货交易立法监管理念创新,确立跨境交易监管认同机制,提升跨境期货衍生品交易经纪能力,适度扩大衍生品跨境投资参与主体范围,逐步取消QDII投资品种限制,并从跨境期货交易运行保障、立法监管、风险控制以及解纷机制等方面建构系统法律保护体系,切实保障跨境交易整体性金融安全。     

Development and validation of a firm-level vertical and horizontal internationalization metric

The lack of valid and reliable measures of firm-level vertical and horizontal internationalization is impeding the development and testing of hypothesized relationships between these respective dimensions of internationalization and a range of important MNE characteristics, actions, and effects. Through a series of qualitative and quantitative studies using data collected from senior MNE executives (total N?=?3,146), we develop and validate a scale to measure both vertical and horizontal firm-level internationalization. Subscales for each type of internationalization prove to be unidimensional, reliable, temporally stable, and to have predictive, cross-cultural, cross-sectoral, and discriminant validity.     

Network embeddedness in the internationalization of biotechnology entrepreneurs

This study investigates how entrepreneurs of biotech enterprises embed in domestic and international networks so as to internationalize. We advance a contextual framework of embeddedness of internationalizing entrepreneurs, providing a contribution (i) by synthesizing and applying existing conceptual insights from the networking literature to provide a more culturally sensitive view of getting embedded for international entrepreneurship in the biotech industry and (ii) by adding insights into the practices and (micro)processes of how and in what ways embeddedness integrates with the internationalization of biotech entrepreneurs. Our study involves six entrepreneurs from Canada, Finland, and New Zealand. Context-specific embeddedness was studied by exploring the (i) type, (ii) strength, (iii) locality, and (iv) importance of the international and national network ties among internationalizing entrepreneurs. We found differences in relation to the locality of universities and research institutes, role and type of financiers, and customer focus in internationalization. For instance, while customers were central to the embeddedness of Canadian and New Zealand entrepreneurs, Finnish entrepreneurs had no focus on their customers, but acted solely through sales channels and partners. The customer focus of New Zealand entrepreneurs was mainly international, whereas it was domestic in the case of Canadian entrepreneurs.     

“一带一路”背景下人民币国际化的原油计价研究

在"一带一路"倡议下,人民币国际化的原油计价面临着重大机遇:中国与"一带一路"沿线能源出口国利益互补、亚洲缺少原油定价中心、全球出现"去美元化"的趋势以及人民币国际化具备强有力支撑等条件,但同时也面临着资本管制与原油期货市场流动性的冲突、较低开放度的中国金融市场无法为人民币提供畅通的回流路径以及"新特里芬难题"等挑战。借鉴相关发展经验,应积极推进人民币原油期货市场建设、推进金融市场开放构建人民币环流、扩大与"一带一路"沿线国家(地区)的贸易往来、借助基础设施建设强化人民币计价功能等,努力实现人民币国际化的原油计价。     

人民币跨境流动自由度的测算——基于资本项目名义开放指数的借鉴

长期以来,人们只看重货币国际化结果,以占全球贸易计价结算比重、外汇交易比重、国际债券比重、外汇储备比重等相关指标衡量一国货币的国际化程度,而忽视货币跨境流动放松过程,即一国货币的跨境流动自由化程度。货币国际化是一个过程又是一种结果,包含进程和结果两个层面,在货币国际化进程中,过早过快放松本币流出入会引发经济金融风险,某些情形下进程比结果更值得关注。构建人民币跨境自由度指数涉及强度赋值、项目设置和权重确定三方面内容。在梳理2019年第2季度前我国货币政策基础上,对2008年至2019年经常项目下的人民币跨境流动自由度、证券投资项目下的人民币跨境流动自由度以及资本项目下的人民币跨境流动自由度进行评估,并以美国近5年各项目下的资金流动平均占比为权重,构建了人民币跨境流动自由化指数,考察2008—2019年人民币跨境流动自由化程度,结果显示人民币国际化进展较快,跨境流动已得到很大程度放松,而且人民币流入自由程度显著高于流出自由度。我国人民币国际化进程应持续遵循先经常项目后资本项目、先流入后流出、先机构后个人、先大额后小额、先风险小项目后风险大项目的次序,提高人民币跨境流动的稳定性,降低无序流动的投机风险;严格管控证券投资、其他投资、衍生品项目下人民币跨境流动,并依据我国利率市场化程度、金融市场发达程度及审慎监管能力进行调整;大力提升经常项目的人民币结算比重,发展人民币离岸市场,提高非居民间的人民币使用频率和使用规模;充分评估各项目下人民币跨境流动和本外币兑换自由度,提高两者的协同匹配程度,降低因两者不匹配而产生的负面影响。     

消费国际化趋势下的中国对策

随着我国经济发展和融入全球化水平提升,国际影响力不断增强,消费升级进程推进,我国消费市场主体、客体和载体的国际化特征渐趋明显。本文基于对消费国际化理论的回顾,对消费国际化的内涵进行了界定,在总结当前我国消费国际化的特征及所面临的问题基础上,提出了丰富中高端商品供给、优化进口商品消费环境、健全免退税服务体系、推动扩大入境旅游等一系列政策建议。本文认为,当前我国消费市场主体、客体和载体等各要素的国内外融合程度仍然有待提升,我们应该顺应消费国际化发展趋势,推动我国消费升级朝着更高层次发展。     

Taking services to foreign markets: A taxonomy of Brazilian service firms

This study develops a taxonomy of international service firms from an emerging market, Brazil, and assesses whether there are significant differences in international performance between the groups. After an extensive literature review, a survey was carried out with a sample of international service firms located in an emerging economy, Brazil. Using as a departure point two theoretical perspectives, the internationalization process theory and industrial organization theory, in addition to service dimensions extracted from the empirical service management literature, the study identifies four groups—large traditionals, generalist neophytes, solitary traditionals, and daring differentiators—based on firm characteristics, international services delivered, internationalization process characteristics, and international strategies adopted. The findings suggest that there are significant differences in performance between the groups.