Exploratory and exploitative OFDI from emerging markets: Impacts on firm performance

This study identifies exploratory and exploitative OFDI as two distinct approaches for emerging market (EM) firms to overcome their liability of foreignness in overseas markets. It assesses the performance impacts of both types of OFDI through investigating three sets of questions. (1) What are the differential impacts of exploratory and exploitative OFDI, and how long do they persist? (2) How do industry factors in the home country, including technological turbulence and competitive intensity, moderate these effects? And (3) how can firms balance these two types of OFDI across time? Based on multi-sourced data of 766 Chinese firms during 2008–2015, the results show that both types of OFDI promote performance, yet the positive effect of exploratory OFDI lasts longer than that of exploitative OFDI. Moreover, technological turbulence strengthens the effect of exploratory OFDI and weakens that of exploitative OFDI, but competitive intensity strengthens the effect of exploitative OFDI only. Finally, sequential ambidexterity improves firm performance through exploratory‒exploitative OFDI process.     

Outward FDI and Innovation Performance of Chinese Firms: Why Can Home-Grown Political Ties Be A Liability?

We explain how home-grown political ties of Chinese firms negatively influence the effect of outward foreign direct investment (OFDI) on the innovation performance of their parent firms. Our results show that these ties can turn into a liability in the host countries (particularly developed ones) due to their misfit with the local institutional environment, hampering the parent firms’ innovation performance from OFDI. We also clarify how absorptive capacity of the parent firm mediates the relationship between OFDI and innovation performance. Our study furthers understanding of the link between internationalization and innovation performance and the ‘dark side’ of political ties.     

Portfolio characteristics of outward foreign direct investment and dynamic performance of emerging economy firms: An option portfolio perspective

In recent decades, emerging economy (EE) firms have taken an aggressive approach to international expansion. Drawing upon option portfolio theory, this study develops the characteristics of the OFDI portfolio based on two attributes of a portfolio and two dimensions of host environments. We examine how the characteristics of the OFDI portfolio dynamically influence the OFDI?performance linkage. Using a sample of 545 Chinese listed multinational firms during the period 2009–2018, we find EE firms’ OFDI contributes more to short-term performance when the OFDI portfolio features a higher overall quality of host institutions or a higher diversity of strategic factor market developments in the host countries. However, over a relatively long period, EE firms’ OFDI contributes more to long-term performance when the portfolio features a higher overall diversity of strategic factor markets and institutional environments. These findings offer further knowledge on the OFDI?performance link in emerging economies.     

The impact of home business network attributes on Chinese outward foreign direct investment

Researchers who take a network perspective argue that insidership in foreign market networks is a necessary condition for internationalization. In this study, we argue that insidership in home market networks also matters. The effect of home network insidership on outward foreign direct investment (OFDI) depends on both individual and joint effects of structural and relational network attributes. Our study based on a survey of 194 Chinese firms shows that firms in a central network position are more likely to engage in OFDI than those in a brokerage position. Furthermore, we find the interaction between firms’ centrality and their connections to foreign-invested enterprises to be significantly and positively associated with OFDI, whereas a significantly negative effect is evidenced when a firm is connected more to domestic firms.     

The internationalization of Nigerian firms: Motivations and location patterns

Despite the increased number of studies of the internationalization of emerging‐market multinationals (EMNCs), Latin American and Asian firms have dominated the focus of such studies, while the study of the internationalization process of sub‐Saharan African firms in the international business literature is quite limited. Therefore, this article examines the motivations and location patterns of the internationalization process of four Nigerian firms through a multiple case study approach. The findings show that the internationalization of the Nigerian firms is a recent phenomenon, but the foreign investment pattern reflects a pan‐African investment strategy. However, the findings also reveal that the firm‐specific advantages that had been accumulated in the domestic market, coupled with home‐country factors and regional‐/host‐market factors, were key determinants of the motivations and location patterns in the internationalization process of Nigerian firms.     

Subnational institutions,political capital,and the internationalization of entrepreneurial firms in emerging economies

This study advances the institution-based view of strategy by integrating it with firm-specific capability considerations. In particular, we investigate the integrative influence of subnational-level home country institutional environments and firm-level political capital, as an important way to seek resources, on emerging economy entrepreneurial firms’ internationalization. With data from Chinese entrepreneurial firms, we find that the development of subnational institutional environments in the home country is related to firms’ degree of internationalization. Furthermore, while political capital with low-level governments enhances the effect of subnational institutions on internationalization, political capital with high levels of government has no such moderation effect. Theoretical and empirical contributions and implications are discussed.     

Performance feedback and outward foreign direct investment by emerging economy firms

Integrating the behavioral theory of the firm (the BTF) and the self-enhancement motive of managers, this paper examines how performance feedback—the discrepancy between actual performance and aspiration levels—affects the international expansion of emerging economy firms (EEFs). Empirical results using panel data on 876 publicly-listed Chinese manufacturing companies over a 7-year period indicate that performance relative to social aspiration (i.e., peer performance) and relative to historical aspiration (i.e., firms’ own past performance) affects EEFs’ levels of subsequent outward foreign direct investment (OFDI). Specifically, performance below social or historical aspiration enhances levels of OFDI, while the effect of performance below social aspiration is stronger than that of underperforming historical results. The results also show that performance above social aspiration enhances levels of OFDI, while performance above historical aspiration decreases levels of OFDI. Moreover, we uncover the importance of considering the joint effect of historical and social performance feedback, as receiving consistent or mixed signals about firm performance may result in risk-taking behaviors that differ from those triggered by just one performance signal on its own. These findings underscore the impact of performance feedback relative to social and historical aspirations on EEFs’ OFDI activities.     

Performance feedback on sales growth goal and OFDI location choices for firms in emerging economies

This study explores the influence of performance feedback relative to sales growth on emerging economy firms’ (EEFs) outward foreign direct investment (OFDI) in developed and developing economies. It takes a global value chain perspective to examine whether performance feedback motivates EEFs’ location choice for OFDI. Using listed Chinese firms’ data, we find negative performance feedback relative to sales growth motivates EEFs to increase OFDI in developing economies but reduce it in developed economies. However, positive feedback relative to sales growth reduces it in both developed and developing economies. We contribute to OFDI location choice literature by including a behavioral perspective.     

Leader narcissism and outward foreign direct investment: Evidence from Chinese firms

Researchers use the upper echelons theory to establish how leaders’ attributes affect firms’ outward foreign direct investment (OFDI), a proxy for foreign operations. This extant literature has largely ignored the impact of leaders’ psychological attributes, particularly, narcissism. We use a narcissism index of leaders of Chinese listed companies to examine the relationship between leader narcissism and firm-level OFDI for the period 2007-2017. We show that leader narcissism has a positive and significant impact on firm-level OFDI. In addition, we find that firms with state ownership and political connections show a greater positive effect of leader narcissism on the firm’s OFDI. Our results suggest that leader narcissism appears to be a stimulus to corporate OFDI, and thus in recruiting top corporate executives who are responsible for managing the international investments of the corporation, this psychological trait should be given special consideration in addition to other qualifications.     

Performance feedback and location choice of foreign direct investment

Integrating the behavioral theory of the firm and the OLI paradigm, this paper studies how performance feedback affects the location choice of emerging market firms between developed countries (DCs) and less developed countries (LDCs) during the process of internationalization. Using the sample of 1,306 Chinese public listed firms which established new foreign subsidiaries between 2008 and 2019, we find that the further a firm’s performance is below aspiration, the more likely it will invest in LDCs than DCs, whereas the further a firm’s performance is above aspiration, the more likely it will invest in DCs than LDCs. In addition, technology-based capability and labor intensive production capability have moderating effects on the relationship between performance feedback and location choice between DCs and LDCs. This paper complements and extends the OLI paradigm by injecting dynamic and non-economic factors to explain OFDI location choice.     

Corporate cash holdings,uncertainty avoidance,and the multinationality of firms

We examine the relationship between uncertainty avoidance, multinationality and firm cash holdings. We develop several hypotheses from corporate finance and multinational firm theory, positing that cultural factors as well firm multinationality influence corporate cash holdings. In particular, firms in countries with high uncertainty avoidance hold more cash as a way to hedge against undesired states of nature. At the same time, firm multinationality moderates the effects culture has on the firm's holdings of liquid assets. Based on a large panel of firms in fifty countries, we present evidence consistent with these hypotheses. Firms in countries with high levels of uncertainty avoidance tend to hold more cash. Against commonly held views in cash management, the degree of multinationality of the firm is positively correlated with holdings of cash. At the same time, the effect of national culture on firm's cash holdings is lower for multinationals. These results are economically significant.     

Does outward FDI generate higher productivity for emerging economy MNEs? – Micro-level evidence from Chinese manufacturing firms

This paper investigates whether emerging economy multinational enterprises (EMEs) that undertake outward foreign direct investment (OFDI) become more productive, controlling for the self-selection into the global investment market. Particularly, we focus on the moderating effects of firm heterogeneity on the OFDI-productivity nexus. A theoretical framework incorporating the resource-based views and institutional theory is established and the propensity-score matching and difference-in-difference (DID) approaches are combined to test the framework, utilizing unique data on Chinese manufacturing firms over the sample period 2002–2008. We find that EMEs turn to be generally more productive after they conduct OFDI, but this productivity effect varies depending on the parent firm and investment strategy heterogeneity. Our results suggest that EMEs without state ownership but with stronger absorptive capability gain higher and more sustainable productivity effects and such gains are higher for EMEs investing in OECD than in non-OECD countries. Policy and managerial implications are discussed.     

Unpacking the relationship between an innovation strategy and firm performance: The role of task conflict and political activity

This article adds to extant literature by examining the contingent effect of two cross-functional processes on the relationship between the use of an innovation strategy and firm performance, namely, task conflict and political activity. The authors examine the effects of these processes with a sample of 260 firms. The positive relationship between the use of an innovation strategy and firm performance is stronger for higher levels of cross-functional task conflict and lower levels of cross-functional political activity. Furthermore, the authors find support for a configurational hypothesis: the innovation strategy-firm performance relationship is strongest for the high task conflict/low political activity configuration and weakest for the low task conflict/high political activity configuration. The results unveil two important cross-functional mechanisms influencing the extent to which the benefits of an innovation strategy can be reaped.     

Firm internationalization,business group diversification and firm performance: The case of Latin American firms

We examine the influence of multinationality and business group diversification on firm performance. Further, we examine how their interaction varies between service and manufacturing firms. We assess these relations in three Latin American countries using a sample of 103 firms over the period from 2000 to 2007. We found that there is a limit to the positive effects of business group diversification and that business group diversification effectively moderates the multinationality-performance (M-P) relationship. Our results also suggest that diversified business groups have a stronger positive influence on the M-P relationship for service firms compared to manufacturing firms.     

The export performance of emerging economy firms: The influence of firm capabilities and institutional environments

We advance a two-stage theoretical model which contends that the export performance of emerging economy firms (EEFs) will depend both upon their firm-specific capabilities and their home institutional environments. Specifically, we argue that EEFs will be more likely to export when facing more uncertainty at home from greater political instability, substantial informal competition, and high corruption. Furthermore, we hypothesize that firms’ export intensities will be contingent upon specialized internal capabilities such as a skilled workforce, top managerial experience, and access to external technologies. We test these hypotheses using a dataset of more than 16,000 firms from the four BRIC economies (i.e., Brazil, Russia, China and India). Our results confirm that political instability and informal competition have robust effects on the export propensity of EEFs, whilst export intensity is contingent upon the availability of skilled workers and access to external technologies via licensing.     

Horizontal and Vertical Firm Networks,Corporate Performance and Product Market Competition

This paper sheds new light on the assessment of firm networks via multiple directorships in terms of corporate firm performance. Using a large sample of European listed firms in the period from 2003 to 2011 and system GMM we find a significant compensation effect on corporate firm performance for the initial negative effect of horizontal multiple directorships by product market competition. In markets with effective competition, horizontal multiple directorships turn out to be an efficient mechanism to increase firm performance and thus assure competitive advantages. By contrast, linkages between up- and downstream firms have no significant influence on financial performance, irrespective of the level of competition intensity.     

Outward FDI and profitability of emerging economy firms: Diversifying from home resource dependence in early stage internationalization

We investigate the effect of conducting FDI on the profitability of emerging economy firms in early stage internationalization. We argue that FDI can be an effective strategy to alleviate liabilities of emergingness, thus generating positive performance outcomes. We hypothesize that, contingent on factors altering motivation and capability of firms to diversify from home resource dependence, emerging economy firms can benefit from conducting FDI, resulting in a greater rate of intangible assets growth and enhanced profitability. Using panel data of Chinese firms prior to the global financial crisis, and through combining matching techniques with difference-in-difference analysis, we find empirical support for our arguments.     

Home country institutional environments and foreign expansion of emerging market firms

We propose that home country institutional environment shapes emerging market firms’ foreign expansion. We argue that better-developed home country institutional environment promotes emerging market firms’ expansion to foreign markets more advanced than the home country, while institutional instability in the home country reduces this propensity. We further hypothesize that the effects of home country institutional environment are contingent on firm-specific government ownership. Data on the foreign expansion of 921 Chinese firms in the period of 1996–2000 provide strong support for the effects of home country's institutional development and institutional instability. We also find that a high degree of government ownership weakens the positive effect of home country's institutional development on emerging market firms’ propensity to expansion to more advanced markets.     

Heterogeneity of political connections and outward foreign direct investment

By examining the heterogeneity of political connections (PCs), this study reconceptualises the relationship between PCs and outward foreign direct investment (OFDI). Drawing upon resource dependence theory, we hypothesise that firms with ascribed PCs benefit from top political privileges in their home market and have a low OFDI commitment. Firms without any PCs have a medium OFDI commitment because they have to avoid the discriminative competition associated with their inferior political status. Firms with acquired PCs possess relatively strong political and market resources and face exchange pressure; thus, they exhibit a high OFDI commitment. The aforementioned hypotheses are supported by empirical results from probit and Tobit models based on panel data of 482 listed Chinese firms with OFDI from 2003 to 2014.     

Institutional compatibility and the internationalization of Chinese SOEs: The moderating role of home subnational institutions

This study investigates the outward foreign direct investment (OFDI) of state-owned enterprises (SOEs) through the lens of the mechanism of institutional compatibility. Drawing on institutional theory, we argue that institutional compatibility (thus legitimacy) at home and institutional incompatibility (thus lack of legitimacy) abroad reduce SOEs’ OFDI activities. However, we also argue that home-country subnational factors (coercive, normative, and mimetic forces) provide a potentially offsetting effect. Using a sample of publicly listed Chinese firms, we find that coercive and mimetic forces generated from home subnational institutions reduce the negative effect of state ownership on OFDI activity.