Subsidiary strategy of emerging market multinationals: A home country institutional perspective

We examine the effects of home country institutional factors, namely, home country government support, domestic institutional weaknesses, and state ownership on the subsidiary-level strategy of global integration (I) and local responsiveness (R) of emerging market multinational enterprises (EMNEs). We draw upon the home country institution-based view and the I/R framework to develop our theoretical model. We empirically test our hypotheses using an original new survey data collected from Chinese multinational subsidiary managers supplemented with parent-level and country-level data. We find that home country government support and domestic institutional weaknesses have significant and negative effects on global integration strategy of Chinese multinational subsidiaries. On the other hand, domestic institutional weaknesses push foreign subsidiaries to pursue local responsiveness strategy. Nevertheless, those with greater degree of state ownership in their parent firms are neither willing to disintegrate from their parent firms nor motivated to pursue local responsiveness strategy in order to deal with home country institutional deficiencies and develop new sources of competitiveness in foreign markets. Our findings have advanced the literature on subsidiary strategy in the context of EMNEs, and provide important implications for subsidiary managers and policy makers.     

Subsidiary coopetition competence: Navigating subsidiary evolution in the multinational corporation

This paper examines the engagement of subsidiaries in coopetition, the simultaneous pursuit of competitive and cooperative behavior, in subsidiary role development. Drawing on twelve detailed case studies, we uncover how framing of the mandate situation shapes subsidiary actions to influence role development, thereby leading to competitive and cooperative subsidiary behavior. This paper advances our understanding of coopetition in MNCs by developing the concept of subsidiary coopetition competence and extends theory on subsidiary evolution.     

An internalization theory perspective on the global and regional strategies of multinational enterprises

Many multinational enterprises (MNEs) claim to be pursuing a ‘global strategy’, but the majority of MNEs is not global, in the sense that these firms cannot emulate their domestic success outside of their home region. This inability is largely caused by compounded distance among regions and can be mitigated in part, by infusing a regional component into the MNE's international strategy. In this paper, we explore whether internalization theory can address the global versus regional strategy phenomenon. Specifically, we investigate whether internalization theory can predict under which circumstances MNEs will be able to pursue successfully a global strategy, and whether the theory can explain firm-level variations in utilizing regional components in international strategic governance. We argue that internalization theory can help regionalization scholars unbundle regional strategy by matching resource bundling needs with various firm-level resource recombination practices. We identify four distinct resource recombination processes with increasing complexity: fast bundling, principles-driven bundling, adaptive bundling and entrepreneurial resource orchestration, and argue that adopting the best-matched resource recombination practices will advance the MNE's success outside of its home region.     

The effect of new business formation on regional development over time: the case of Germany

We investigate the effects of new business formation on employment change in German regions. A special focus is on the lag-structure of this effect and on differences between regions. The different phases of the effects of new business formation on regional development are relatively pronounced in agglomerations as well as in regions with a high-level of labor productivity. In low-productivity regions, the overall employment effect of new business formation activity might be negative. The interregional differences indicate that regional factors play an important role.

Emerging economies and institutional quality: Assessing the differential effects of institutional distances on ownership strategy

The current study contributes to the institution-based view of internationalization that is contingent upon the home country development. We examine the differential effects of formal and informal institutions on emerging market multinational corporations’ (EMNCs) ownership strategies. Facing a large informal institutional distance that represents diverse cultural beliefs, EMNCs opt for a low ownership position that alleviates legitimacy threat, whereas a large formal institutional distance leads EMNCs to establish dominant ownership control. EMNC home market conditions, including market size and regulatory institutional quality, further explain the differential effects of institutional distances.     

NGOs’ influence on MNEs’ social development strategies in varying institutional contexts: A transaction cost perspective

In this paper, we examine the effect of nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) on the transaction costs multinational enterprises (MNEs) assume in their nonmarket social development strategies. We develop propositions to predict the effect of three important aspects of the institutional context on how NGOs affect MNE transaction costs: institutional development, institutional distance and institutional dynamism. We also propose how these relationships are moderated by the level of civil society development in the countries in which these entities interact. We conclude with suggestions for further research.     

The role of complementarity and partner brand price level in new product introduction strategy using bundle offers: A study on the quality perception of bundle components

The quality perception of a new brand improves when it is bundled with a product having a strong brand image, moderated by the level of complementarity between the bundle components. This study takes this research forward with the help of two experiments. The first experiment uses anchoring and adjustment process to conclude that the quality perception of a new brand further strengthens if bundled with a strong brand of a higher price category than itself. The second experiment concludes that the quality perception of the strong brand can also deter if bundled with a new product of uncertain quality.