An institutional work view toward the internationalization of emerging market firms

Through the lens of institutional work – the institutionally embedded practice that aims to create, maintain, or disrupt the rules and shared meanings in social life, we discuss how an emerging economy’s governments establish policies and regulations to develop outward foreign direct investment, and how domestic firms seek to shape these institutional arrangements to suit their interests and needs as they expand overseas. This study underscores the importance of the home country to multinational enterprises. We argue, the policymaking that underpins the internationalization of firms is not only a top-down (state inspired) but also a bottom-up process.     

Unleashing the dynamics of product-market ambidexterity in the pursuit of international opportunities: Insights from emerging market firms

Extending the current debate surrounding ambidexterity, this study examines how emerging market firms pursue international opportunities by leveraging the dynamics of strategic ambidexterity in product and market domains. The investigation draws on longitudinal and multiple sources of data from four Chinese multinational firms. Two follow traditional or incremental internationalization pathways, whilst the other two pursue rapid or accelerated internationalization. The study offers a more dynamic perspective to help understand the evolving nature of ambidexterity with respect to the routes of strategic product and market development options. In particularly, the findings reveal that incremental internationalization is characterized by structural ambidexterity combining product exploitation with market exploration at the initial stages, whereas accelerated internationalization is best explained by market exploration and exploitation (or market ambidexterity) when first entering foreign markets. Moreover, firms were found to maintain strategic priorities through structural and punctuated ambidexterity across product and market domains at later stages of internationalization. This study contributes to the dynamic perspective of strategic ambidexterity for seizing international opportunities among emerging market firms.     

Industry globalization and the performance of emerging market firms: Evidence from China

In this study, we explore the extent to which industry globalization affects the performance of firms in China, an emerging market. We focus on the period between 1996 and 2001 and track the globalization levels for six different Chinese industries as well as the performance of 166 public listed firms in these industries. The results validate our major premise: high levels of industry globalization positively impact the performance of Chinese firms. We also find that when their industries globalize, firms with slack resources experience greater performance improvement than other firms without these resources.     

Private firms in China: Building legitimacy in an emerging economy

Firms are legitimized by their environments if they survive and prosper. But firms can also proactively build legitimacy to enhance their long-term growth prospects. This is vital for private firms based on emerging economies given the weak protection for private property. This article examines ways in which private firms in China build legitimacy for themselves and their industries. Through field interviews with firm founders and top managers in China various legitimization strategies and the conditions under which they can be used are examined. The authors also conducted follow-up interviews in Taiwan to investigate legitimacy-building strategies there. Though more advanced, Taiwan's economy shares many cultural traditions with Mainland China, and it presents firms with similar legitimacy-related challenges. Interviews with managers of multinationals operating in China were also conducted to determine what they are learning from the legitimization strategies of the indigenous Chinese firms.     

Inheriting the DNA of emergingness: Strategies of advanced market firms under emerging market ownership

Despite growing concerns about emerging market firms (EMFs)' acquisitions in advanced markets, the influences of emerging market ownership on advanced market firms (AMFs) as targets remain largely underexplored. This study aims to conceptually advance our understanding of the environmental adaptation strategies of AMFs under emerging market ownership, focusing on the strategic implications of the “emergingness” encapsulated in the resource transfer from EMF acquirers to AMF targets. Drawing on the institution-based view and resource-based view, this conceptual piece develops an Institution-Resource-Strategy framework and proposes two types of strategies for AMFs under emerging market ownership, namely arbitrage and avoidance, each comprising three varying tactics. We illustrate our propositions using three cases of Japanese firms under Chinese ownership. This study adds to the literature on internationalizing EMFs, the institution-based view of global strategies, and cross-border mergers and acquisitions and offers managerial implications for emerging and advanced market stakeholders.     

Nature of the relationship between international expansion and performance: The case of emerging market firms

Internationally expanding companies would like to see how they compare with rivals in terms of the effect of internationalization on financial performance (for their sector and their firm). Virtually all such studies have focused on advanced nations. This study, on internationalization of firms based in an emerging economy (India), provides a unique research setting and sheds additional light on this relationship. It tests for the shape of the internationalization–performance curve for emerging market firms, and investigates differences between service firms and manufacturers in the threshold effect between the initial and later stages of internationalization. We find a U-shaped curve depicting the internationalization–performance relationship of Indian firms. Service sector firms tend to gain the positive benefits of internationalization sooner than manufacturing companies.     

Network complementaries in the international expansion of emerging market firms

Can domestic political capital be transferable to more or less similar institutional contexts abroad? Motivated by contradictory results in two streams of research, this study seeks to combine the insights from two theoretical arguments and conceptualize the role of domestic political ties in international expansion as a dual problem of securing key resources from home governments and looking for opportunities in foreign markets and matching resources to capture them. We adopt the notion of network complementarity to examine the complementarity effect of domestic political ties and foreign ties on international expansion. The implication is that EMNE research that concentrates on either looking for foreign opportunities or securing domestic resources, but not both, is likely to be incomplete when international expansion is being studied. Using a longitudinal panel dataset of Chinese international new ventures expanding to 105 foreign markets, we find a positive interactive effect of domestic political ties and foreign ties on Chinese MNEs’ internationalization. This positive interactive effect on internationalization is found to be stronger for expanding to developing host markets than to developed host markets. We discuss the implications of these findings for research on domestic political ties, the international expansion literature, the network complementarity literature, and the international entrepreneurship literature.     

Exploring the influence of resource environments on absorptive capacity development: The case of emerging market firms

Research recognizes that emerging market firms (EMFs) have relatively underdeveloped absorptive capacity. Yet, scarce attention has been paid to the conditions that constrain or facilitate EMFs’ absorptive capacity development. In this article, we explore how differences in home country resource environments influence EMFs’ absorptive capacity. We suggest that home country institutions and factor markets influence EMFs’ choice among three learning strategies: duplicative imitation, creative imitation, and innovation. Building on the organizational learning perspective, we then explore how learning strategies of EMFs’ from different emerging economies influence their preferences with respect to sources of new knowledge, and consequently the implications of these strategic choices for their absorptive capacity.     

浅析信托在我国并购融资中的作用

在我国金融业分业经营的环境下,信托投资公司是惟一能够综合利用金融市场连通产业与金融的机构。信托参与并购融资不但具有“混业经营”、隔离风险等优势,而且有助于改善企业的负债结构,降低财务风险,为企业提供全程的金融服务。     

The effect of institutional isomorphic pressure on the internationalization of firms in an emerging economy: evidence from China

This study uses institutional theory to explore the driving force for internationalization of firms in emerging economies. It posits that the internationalization practices of firms are driven not only by efficiency consideration, but also by the desire to conform to institutional isomorphic pressures exerted by the social environment. The impact of three types of institutional isomorphic pressures – coercive pressure, mimetic pressure and normative pressure – on the intensity of internationalization is investigated. Analysis using survey data collected from 174 Chinese firms shows that all three institutional pressures have positive and significant effects on the intensity of internationalization. We also examine the interaction between institutional pressure and firm capability. Results suggest that firm capabilities enhance the effect of coercive pressure on internationalization, and weaken the effect of normative pressure on internationalization.     

The dynamic role of small- and medium-sized multinationals in global production networks: Norwegian maritime firms in the Greater Shanghai Region in China

This article examines the role of small- and medium-sized multinational enterprises (MNEs) in the dynamic development of global production networks (GPNs) in the maritime industry. It studies the dynamism between subsidiaries of Norwegian maritime firms and regional actors and institutions in the Greater Shanghai Region of China from the perspectives of the subsidiaries. It argues that strategic coupling, recoupling and decoupling are partly the results of regional selection mechanisms. However, in the cases where the subsidiaries are embedded within the host region, the strategies and behaviour of MNEs are of decisive importance for the dynamic development of GPNs.     

How strategic orientations influence the building of dynamic capability in emerging economies

Under the fierce pressures of the fast changing environments that characterize emerging economies, firms must develop dynamic capabilities to survive the competition. This study examines how strategic orientation helps build dynamic capability and its contingencies in China's emerging economy. A survey of 380 firms indicates strategic orientations are important drivers of adaptive capability, a key element of dynamic capabilities. The effectiveness of strategic orientations is contingent on market dynamics. In particular, when market demand becomes increasingly uncertain, customer orientation has a weaker impact, whereas technology orientation has a stronger effect on adaptive capability. As competition intensifies, both competitor and technology orientations build adaptive capability more effectively.     

Talent management motives and practices in an emerging market: A comparison between MNEs and local firms

This paper compares the differences in talent management motivations and practices between MNEs and local firms in the emerging market of Turkey. It uses institutional theory and the resource based view of the firm to explain these differences. Examining data from 201 firms the findings show significant differences between the talent management motives of MNEs and local firms, with MNEs having more tactical motivations for their talent management systems. The study also shows significant differences in the talent management practices between MNEs and local firms, with MNEs implementing more robust systems of talent management overall. The findings indicate that the motives for TM and the practices that are pursued by organizations are society-bound. The study of TM motives and practices has to be framed within the context of the institution as this shapes the way in which actors perceive and respond to environmental and organizational stimuli and the extent to which they seek to protect the rules that shape and structure their environments.     

Host-site institutions,regional production linkages and technological upgrading: a study of automotive firms in vietnam

Using technological capabilities as embodied in machinery, organization, processes and products, this study examines the links with host-site institutions and regional production linkages. The statistical results show no relationship between these variables. In-depth interviews complement the quantitative findings. Overall, the result shows that the government’s localization efforts failed because too many joint-venture assemblers were approved in the 1990s when the domestic market was small. The lack of economies of scale also affected the growth of national suppliers. Hence, national producers are confined to low value added segments and lack the quality to compete in export markets.     

An empirical investigation of immigrant effects: the experience of firms operating in the emerging markets

The immigrant effect consists of the ‘employer’ and the ‘employee’ effect. This study focuses on the ‘employee’ effect. Existing studies on the immigrant effect have identified its contributions to international trade and international marketing management but have not explained under what circumstances this effect can be used to achieve a firm's objectives when operating in a foreign market. This study explores the profile of the firms which have used this effect to assist their operations in three foreign host markets (China, Hong Kong and Taiwan). Based on the outcomes of a multivariate logistic regression analysis, this study has generated a number of useful findings. Firm size is not suggested as a factor for the selection of immigrant effects. Firms are more likely to adopt an immigrant effect when their products are new to the markets. FDI mode users tend to be more likely to use the immigrant effect. Usage of immigrant effects is also found to be associated with firms from a smaller domestic economy. The immigrant effect is often used to break cultural barriers between home and host markets, but is more helpful when the marketing infrastructure in the home and host markets is similar. The choice of immigrant effect is suggested to have no influence on firms' performance in the host markets.     

Innovation and export performance of emerging market enterprises: The roles of state and foreign ownership in China

This article examines the role of ownership for the relationship between innovation and exports. Analyzing a large firm-level data set on Chinese manufacturing firms during 2000–2007, we find that state ownership has a positive moderating effect on the innovation–export relationship. We ascribe this effect to state-owned firms’ privileged access to complementary resources and networks that strengthen their ability to use innovation to generate exports. In contrast to many earlier studies, we also find that foreign ownership has a negative moderating effect. One likely reason is that indicators of local innovation do not reflect the flows of knowledge between foreign-owned firms and their parent companies. This finding highlights the fact that innovation and production may be geographically separated within multinational enterprises. A policy implication of the analysis is that public support to innovation is likely to have stronger effects on exports when it targets firms that carry out most of their activities in domestic market.     

How foreign firms achieve competitive advantage in the Chinese emerging economy: Managerial ties and market orientation

As China experience unprecedented changes in its social, legal, and economic institutions, on what should foreign firms focus more to overcome this challenge, managerial ties or market orientation? This study investigates how managerial ties and market orientation affect competitive advantage and, consequently, firm performance in China. On the basis of a survey of 179 foreign firms in China, we find that both managerial ties and market orientation can lead to firm success—but in different ways. Market orientation enhances firm performance by providing differentiation and cost advantages, whereas managerial ties improve performance through an institutional advantage (i.e., superiority in securing scarce resources and institutional support). Institutional advantage, in turn, leads to differentiation and cost advantages and consequently superior performance.     

第二次重庆市科技工作者状况调查报告分析

习近平总书记强调,硬实力、软实力,归根到底要靠人才实力。重庆市打造具有全国影响力的科技创新中心,关键是要建设一支规模宏大、结构合理、素质优良、充满活力的科技人才队伍。近日,本课题组通过数据测算,详细掌握了重庆市科技工作者总量情况;通过发放问卷4299份、召开座谈会10场、分析文献80余篇,重点从人才引进、培育、激励、服务四个方面深入剖析重庆市科技工作者队伍建设面临的主要问题,并提出相关对策建议,供重庆市加强科技工作者队伍建设决策参考。