How Do Entry Motives and Institutions Influence the Acquisition Strategies of Multinationals in Foreign Markets? Lessons from Acquisitions of Finnish Multinationals in Global Markets

When acquiring foreign targets, multinationals have an option for partial acquisition, staged acquisition, and full acquisition. This study seeks to understand how the motives of market entry and institutions influence these acquisition strategies in foreign markets. By integrating OLI paradigm and institutional theory with an empirical case study of seven acquisitions of Finnish multinationals in global markets, the study finds that the motives of market entry (i.e., market-seeking, efficiency-seeking, strategic-asset-seeking motives) interact with host country institutions in influencing the choice of partial, staged, and full acquisitions. The study also develops six propositions and recommends areas for future research.     

International joint ventures research on Africa: A systematic literature review,propositions, and contextualization

This study reviewed the research on international joint ventures (IJVs) in Africa up to 2017. The authors performed a systematic search of peer‐reviewed good‐quality research using the 6W procedure and ensured the quality of the review by using the 5Cs quality criteria. The content analysis was focused on four research questions. A total of 22 relevant studies were found. Overall, only about one‐third of the lead authors were affiliated with African universities. A majority of the studies were quantitative, and 78% of the studies were done for three countries: Ghana, Morocco, and Nigeria. There was either just one or no study on trust and conflict, partner selection, and human resource management (HRM). At the contextual level, it seems the most important factor influencing IJV strategy and success is institutions. We therefore suggest a greater use of institutional theory. Finally, we present a summary of conceptual framework and four propositions to guide future research.     

Environmental degradation,energy consumption and sustainable development: Accounting for the role of economic complexities with evidence from World Bank income clusters

The anthropogenic consequences of renewable and non-renewable energy consumption, economic growth, and air transport have been assessed enormously in the literature. However, given the complexities in many economies of the world today, it is important to reassess the ecological concerns of these factors in light of the Environmental Kuznets Curve framework. Therefore, this current study investigates the global assessment using data from World Bank Development database from 1995 to 2016. Evidence from the method employed, sys-GMM, revealed that the economic complexities index increases the carbon emission in low-income groups while it significantly decreases the carbon emission for upper-middle and high-income groups. For the combined group, the EKC hypothesis holds, and ECI significantly hampers carbon emissions. For the other variables, it is worthy of note that (1) economic growth contributes to the high carbon contents across the income group especially for low-income, upper-middle-income and high-income group; (2) the effects of air transport on carbon emission is positive for lower-middle-income and high-income group and negative for the upper-middle-income group; (3) the use of coal rents and energy use leads to high release of carbon contents across all the income groups; and (4) a significant increase in the utilization of energy leads to increase in carbon contents except for lower-income group, it leads to a decrease. From this empirical assessment, vital energy policy directions are suggested.     

Market entry into Africa: Acquisitions and international joint ventures. Studies of foreign firms' market entry strategies,challenges, and performance in Africa

While the interest in investing in Africa is rising, the know‐how of business on the continent is very limited. There have been only recently few special issues focusing on sub‐Saharan Africa in the top international business journals: “Sub‐Saharan Africa at a key inflection point” (Thunderbird International Business Review 2009); “Contemporary developments in the management of human resources in Africa” (Journal of World Business 2011); “Contemporary challenges and opportunities of doing business in Africa” (Journal of Technological Forecasting and Social Change 2016); “Critical perspectives on international business in Africa (Critical Perspectives on International Business 2016); “Strategic Management in Africa (Global Strategy Journal, 2017); and “The internationalization of African firms (Thunderbird International Business Review 2016). The aim of this special issue is to advance understanding of international business in Africa and specifically focus on how foreign firms enter African markets via acquisitions and international joint ventures and extend knowledge of these market entry strategies and performance in Africa for research and for foreign firms intending to, or currently doing business in Africa. This guest editorial provides a summary of the five articles and one book review in this special issue categorized into three broad thematic issues: International joint ventures and acquisitions as market entry strategies in Africa; cross‐border investments of African firms; and theoretical underpinnings.     

Revisiting the European Horsemeat Scandal: The Role of Power Asymmetry in the Food Supply Chain Crisis

This study explores the role of power asymmetry in the food supply chain, especially in relation to the channel conflict, and ultimate breakdown that culminated in the infamous European horsemeat scandal across Europe. Drawing upon the power‐dependency, and to some extent, social exchange theory, the study posits that mutual dependence between single supplier–multiple buyer relationships where major retailers are the weaker partners, may require a revisitation of risk management practices in that sector. In addition to the fraudulent and unethical practices established from media reporting on the horsemeat scandal, the study argues that the power asymmetry/imbalance may have contributed to a supplier culture that tolerated the unethical decision making leading to the horsemeat scandal. Based on an extensive review of secondary data sources comprising media reports on the scandal and a review of the academic literature on power dependency and social exchange theories, the study attempts to map out the root of the crisis, how to forestall future recurrence, and the managerial and policy implications of these. © 2016 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.     

A Reconceptualization of Entrepreneurial Orientation in an Emerging Market Insurance Company

The authors examine how entrepreneurial firms gain competitive advantage and hence entrepreneurial success by optimizing their dynamic capabilities. Using a single case design, incorporating in-depth interviews with key informants within an insurance company in Ghana, the authors attempt to highlight the limitations of an existing model. Their key proposition is that the growth and profitability exhibited in the case study are largely attributable to its ability to leverage its entrepreneurial orientation. They argue, therefore, that despite the ability of the resource-based view to translate into competitive advantage at the firm level, it falls short of longer-term competitive advantages and entrepreneurial success—especially in the financial services sector with homogeneous product offerings.     

Understanding cross‐border mergers and acquisitions of African firms: The role of dynamic capabilities in enabling competitiveness amidst contextual constraints

This article builds on existing international business literature that examines the drivers of cross‐border mergers and acquisitions (M&As) within emerging and developing economy contexts, theoretically exploring how dynamic capabilities (DCs) are connected to these drivers, and how African emerging multinational enterprises (EMNEs) can pursue them to achieve competitiveness. The article's contribution is the development of a DC framework and testable propositions for African EMNEs' cross‐border M&As. The theoretical framework shows the division of DC dimensions—sensing, seizing, and transforming—and establishes explanations for their linkage with institutional and resource drivers for African EMNEs' cross‐border M&A competitiveness. In addition, the article outlines managerial implications to this effect. Overall, the article contributes to the emerging literature on the international expansion of African EMNEs through cross‐border M&As by underscoring the role of DCs.     

Acquisitions Entry Strategies in Africa: The Role of Institutions,Target‐Specific Experience,and Host‐Country Capabilities—The Case Acquisitions of Finnish Multinationals in Africa

Acquisition is an important entry strategy for multinational enterprises (MNEs) seeking to gain faster entry into new and emerging markets and remain competitive in the global marketplace. MNEs utilize partial‐, staged‐, and full‐acquisition strategies when entering into foreign markets. This research analyzes how and why firms opt for these acquisition strategies in the context of Africa. The study applies institutional theory and explores constructs derived from the Uppsala internationalization process model. Using a case study of five Finnish acquisitions in Africa (Egypt, Morocco, Kenya, and South Africa), it was found that Finnish MNEs opt for partial acquisition rather than staged and full acquisition in the context of acquisitions made prior to late 1990s without earnout arrangements. Finnish MNEs opt for the choice of staged acquisition rather than partial and full acquisition in the contexts of mild regulatory framework in host countries and when the acquired firm business requires extensive improvements and the target host market structure is fragmented. Finnish MNEs opt for the choice of full acquisition rather than partial and staged acquisition in three contexts specifically: (1) when the acquiring Finnish MNE possesses host‐country capability, target‐specific experience, and ensures the retention of top management personnel of the acquired target; (2) when the size of the acquired target is relatively very small compared to the acquiring MNE; and (3) when the nature of the acquired firm business is well developed and the target host‐market structure is consolidating. © 2016 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.     

Breaking the Glass Ceiling in Nigeria: A Review of Women's Entrepreneurship

The relevance of the age-long conundrum known as the glass ceiling has become ever more questionable for a number of compelling reasons. First, its root in the invisible barriers (push factors) facing women's career progression prospects in the corporate world is ever-changing at a rapid pace across every region of the globe. Second, research shows some evidence of a major dramatic increase in women-owned businesses as being attributable to women's desire to gain more flexibility in their work arrangements (pull factors). By providing a catalogue of pull factors in the context of African (especially Nigerian) women entrepreneurs, this paper argues that the glass ceiling problem may have well been shattered in numerous spheres, and thus become less tenable as a gender-specific reality in the twenty-first century.