Dividend Policy and Informativeness of Reported Earnings: Evidence from the MENA Region

This paper documents that informativeness of reported earnings, measured by earnings–return relation, is an increasing function of dividend payout ratio in the Middle East and North Africa region during the period between 2003 and 2014. We argue that higher dividends reduce agency conflicts. Lower agency problems lead firms to disclose information more truthfully, thereby improving credibility of reported earnings. We also show that our results hold for various proxies of dividend policy.     

Shift‐contagion Vulnerability in the MENA Stock Markets

As part of a broader financial development reform agenda, the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) countries have successfully expanded and revitalised their stock markets over the last decade. Whereas previous contributions have investigated efficiency, international integration and portfolio diversification opportunities, very little is known about these markets’ vulnerability to external financial crises. In this paper, we investigate shift‐contagion to the MENA region using a comprehensive battery of econometric tests for a number of different crises episodes: the 1997 Asian crisis, the 1998 Russian virus and its Brazilian sequel, the 2000 Turkish collapse, the 9/11 turmoil, the 2001 Argentinean crisis, the 2002 Enron/WorldCom scandal and the 2007–09 global financial crisis. We found that Turkey, Israel and Jordan were the most vulnerable markets over the 1997–2009 period, followed by Tunisia, Morocco, Egypt and Lebanon. Our results also highlight heterogeneous but increasing levels of sensitivity to external financial shocks, especially during the recent global financial crisis. From a financial point of view, this suggests that MENA‐based diversification strategies may be relatively inefficient during periods of global turmoil. From an economic point of view, our results suggest that stock market development also involves potential destabilisation costs. This issue should be acknowledged and addressed by policymakers if these countries are to ensure a smooth transition towards international financial integration.     

Banking market power and its determinants: New insights from MENA countries

This paper evaluates the degree and determinants of banks' market power in 13 MENA countries for the years 2000 to 2018, with a special focus on customers' switching costs and banks' cost efficiency. We find that MENA banks enjoy a substantial degree of market power on the loan market, while their customers have to face remarkable costs in case of switching to other banks. Banking market power increases with the level of switching costs and is higher when credit institutions are more cost efficient, focus on the traditional intermediation activity, are smaller in size, and operate in countries where stock markets are less developed, banking markets are more concentrated, the inflation rate is lower, and GDP growth is poor. Our results are robust to alternative specifications and estimation techniques.     

Service Sector Restrictiveness and Economic Performance: An Estimation for the MENA Region

This article aims to assess barriers to service provision in the banking and telecom sectors of four Middle East and North Africa (MENA) countries, and the impact of these barriers on firm performance. Our methodology involves the computation of aggregate and modal trade restrictiveness indices (TRIs) by sector, and utilisation of these TRIs as regressors of firms’ economic performance. Our analysis shows that significant regulatory reforms have taken place in the service sectors over the last decade in the MENA region, but that a broad range of restrictions still remain. The most significant change in these service sectors has been the lifting or softening of constraints on foreign equity participation. These regulatory reforms, however, have had varying degrees of impact on market structure depending on the country, the sector and the mode. Moreover, service restrictions have had an impact on economic performance in the three studied sectors. While a rent‐creating effect seems to dominate restrictions on banking and fixed telecom sectors, a cost‐inefficiency effect seems to dominate the mobile telecom sector. Finally, we find evidence of interactions between modal restrictions for banking services. Our results suggest a complementarity between Modes 3 and 1, as well as a substitution effect between Modes 3 and 4 in the banking sector.     

A Conceptual Model of the Internationalization of Services Firms

Abstract

In the 1990s, the global marketplace is characterized by the speed and ease with which services cross over national boundaries. As a result, service industries in many countries around the world have become extremely important in the development and socioeconomic well-being of these countries. The purpose of this paper is to understand the internationalization process of services firms. It is concluded that international operations of services firms are driven by a similar set of variables used by manufacturing firms, but the intensity and direction of some key relationships require modification and adaptation.     

New Venture Internationalization from an Emergent Market: Unexpected Findings from Russia

This article offers new insights on determinants of degree and scope of new venture internationalization from emerging markets. We set our study by development of a theoretical framework and hypothesis integrating entrepreneur-, firm-, industry-, and institutional factors to be tested in the Russian empirical context. The results indicate that institutional factors have the strongest relationship with the degree and scope of internationalization in Russian NVs. However, contrary to our expectations and existing literature, entrepreneur-, firm-, and industry-related factors are not associated with new venture internationalization. These unexpected findings have motivated us to implement the second round of empirical research using qualitative approach. As an outcome, we were able to explain the underlying forces behind the inconsistencies in the survey results and to develop four puzzles that provide a foundation for the theoretical extension of new venture internationalization from emerging markets.     

Internationalization and Performance of Retail Firms: A Bayesian Dynamic Model

This paper offers a fresh approach to the literature examining the effect of internationalization on retail-firm performance. We draw on the organizational learning theory to test the moderating effect of four variables which are hypothesized to affect the performance of internationalizing retailers through facilitating the transfer of learning in international markets. The study innovates by introducing a new performance metric, and an advanced methodology to account for the dynamic aspects of organizational learning. Testing our hypotheses on a sample of international retailers, we find that the relationship between internationalization and performance is U-shaped, and moderated by mergers and acquisitions, age at entry to international markets and country of origin. The findings extend prior research by providing more comprehensive evidence regarding the conditions under which internationalization leads to improved performance. The authors conclude by outlining the implications for practice.     

Toward A New Model For Firm Internationalization: Conservative,Predictable, and Pacemaker Companies and Markets

Through this article we develop a new model for the internationalization of firms, called the Conservative, Predictable and Pacemaker (CPP) model, for extending research in the domain of international business. The main purpose is to provide a new typology that can be used as a theoretical lens for future research and to motivate researchers to think beyond the established models, which are repeatedly used in many studies. This article is based on primary data collected from firms in the information technology sector in Puerto Rico. The CPP model may be useful for industry analysis and research dealing with the growth and internationalization of firms across industries and countries. © 2018 ASAC. Published by John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

The Internationalization Strategy of Spanish Indigenous Franchised Chains: A Resource‐Based View*

In this paper, we identify characteristics of Spanish franchised chains that favor the adoption of an internationalization strategy and those that have a negative influence from a resource‐based perspective. Data used were drawn from Annual Franchise Guidebooks published in Spain for 2005. Various independent variables were taken into account and the final sample included 316 Spanish franchised chains. In order to detect relevant differences between chains with some degree of internationalization and those that only operate in the Spanish domestic market, we conducted a discriminant analysis to discover which of the independent variables contributed significantly to a correct classification of chains to their corresponding group (those that have chosen to spread activities abroad and those that have not).     

Internationalization as Interaction: A Process Perspective on Internationalization from a Small Developing Country

Despite their heavy dependence on international markets, small developing countries or small states have been underrepresented in the internationalization literature. Unlike developed or large developing countries, small states face dual constraints of relatively weak institutions and a narrow resource base along with an open market environment. A changing domestic environment in small states requires firms to adapt and a process approach was employed in order to examine sustained internationalization firms from Trinidad and Tobago (TT). Analysis of the findings indicates that changing economic circumstances result in varying domestic production and market resource availability. In response, firms from small states may engage in phased rather than staged patterns of activity that include accelerated, reverse, and inward internationalization. © 2014 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.     

企业国际化研究新视角 ——战略控制力

本文针对现有企业国际化理论缺乏战略因素综合考虑的研究现状,从战略控制力的视角对企业国际化问题进行研究,剖析了企业国际化战略控制力的内涵与特征,并提出了国际化战略控制力五要素,指出国际化战略控制力是维持企业国际化持续发展和优胜地位的根源,同时对中国大企业国际化战略控制力的构建问题进行了有益探讨。     

Internationalization of services: The case of intra‐multinational enterprise trade

Increased tradability of services, made possible by the information and communications technology (ICT) revolution, has been at the heart of the internationalization of services. Although rapid growth of the services trade between parents of multinational enterprises (MNEs) and their overseas subsidiaries has contributed to the internationalization of services, empirical studies examining the determinants of intra‐MNE trade in services are few. This article, using the ownership, location, and internalization (OLI) framework, attempts to explain intra‐MNE trade in services. The results provide strong support for the OLI perspective, and posit a complementary relationship between manufacturing foreign direct investment and intra‐MNE services trade. The results also suggest the importance of subsidiaries' absorptive capacity and breadth of global connectedness for intra‐MNE trade.     

A Typology of International New Ventures: Empirical Evidence from High‐Technology Industries

We examine determinants of different types of International New Ventures (INVs), namely Export Start‐up, Geographically Focused Start‐up, Multinational Trader, and Global Start‐up. Whereas this typology of INVs has been widely accepted in the literature, empirical testing of the determinants of INV types is largely missing. Our arguments build on the International New Venture Theory (INVT). Hypotheses generated from our framework are tested on 195 German high‐tech enterprises. Results show that growth orientation, prior international experience, knowledge intensity, product differentiation, and learning orientation distinguish significantly between the different INV types.     

Internationalization of SMEs: Toward a New Paradigm

Small Business Economics -     

企业国际化理论的新发展:国际新企业理论

传统的国际化理论认为,企业国际化发展是一个渐进的过程。而近年来却出现了企业国际化加速的现象,许多企业在建立之初就开始进行跨国发展,这是传统理论所不能解释的。国际新企业理论就是在这种背景下产生的。本文从国际新企业的概念、形成、发展以及其理论框架模型出发,对国际新企业理论的相关研究进行了回顾和评述,探讨了其未来研究方向,同时阐述了其对我国企业相关研究的指导作用,并对后续研究作了简要的讨论。     

Cognitive and Information‐Based Capabilities in the Internationalization of Small and Medium‐Sized Enterprises: The Case of Croatian Exporters

The purpose of this study was to explore the impact of information and cognitive‐based capabilities on the international performance as the main rationale behind successful internationalization. The study was conducted on a sample of 125 Croatian exporting small and medium‐sized enterprises (SMEs), and results indicate that there is a significant influence of the cognitive and information‐based capabilities on the SME export performance. The results implicate the role of cognitive complexity as a platform for successful processing of foreign market intelligence which has value‐added impact on the SME's export performance.     

Firm Resources and Host‐Country Factors Impacting Internationalization of Knowledge‐Intensive Service Firms

In the era of the global economy, knowledge‐based services are becoming important sectors of the service industry. Services offered by a university are knowledge‐based services. Universities are in the service business, and they play a key role in creating and disseminating knowledge through teaching, research, and related services that cross domestic borders. The current research focuses on the internationalization of US MBA programs. The internationalization of US MBA programs refers to the delivery of knowledge‐based services beyond the domestic borders. The main objective of our research is to examine the effect of an organization's (e.g., a US business school) resources and a host country's attractiveness on the internationalization of knowledge‐based services offered by a firm (a US business school). Using data gathered from MBA programs of US colleges and universities, theÊstudy findings show that internationalization is influenced by human capital, prestige and reputation, management's willingness, and foreign market attractiveness. The results of this study offer practical insights for US business school leaders. © 2014 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.