Born globals – presence,performance and prospects

The concept born global firms has gained a spectacular increase in interest from both academic and political circles. Rigorous quantitative treatment of born global firms are however rare in the international business/economics literature. Implementing unique data on all Swedish start-ups during 1998–2008 in the manufacturing sector, we conclude that born global firms are a very rare event, that their prevalence seems invariant to time, and that they perform similar to other matched “twin” firms with regard to profitability and productivity but report a considerably higher growth in employment and sales. These results are robust to a wider definition of born global firms and to the timing of performance measurements.     

Impact of international entry choices on the nature and type of innovation: Evidence from emerging economy firms from the Indian bio-pharmaceutical industry

As emerging economy multinational enterprises (EMNEs) enter foreign countries in search of new markets, seeking to expand their knowledge bases, research on the type and nature of innovation activity is needed to address the impact of EMNEs’ choices related to international expansion. Building on prior literature on entry mode and location choices, as well as on organizational learning, we argue that how and where an EMNE expands internationally will impact the nature of its innovation. We carry out empirical analysis on a sample of 167 Indian bio-pharmaceutical firms for the period from 1997–2017. Our findings suggest that greenfield ventures foster innovation in core technologies, while cross-border mergers and acquisitions (M&As) foster innovation in non-core technologies. In addition, locating subsidiaries in high income countries encourages product innovations, while locating in low income countries encourages process innovations. Our findings contribute to the growing literature on differences in learning outcomes of EMNE internationalization.     

Institutional investors and international investments in emerging economy firms: A behavioral risk perspective

While the extant literature has examined the influence of controlling and non-controlling principals on the internationalization decisions of emerging market firms, heterogeneity among non-controlling principals is largely ignored. The risk characteristics of different groups of owners, shaped by their institutional environments, could contribute to the differences in their preferences for firm internationalization. In this paper, we draw insights from institutional theory and behavioral risk perspective to examine the risk propensities and risk perceptions of various non-controlling principals, such as pressure-resistant (FIIs and mutual funds) and pressure-sensitive (banks, insurance companies and lending institutions) institutional investors. Empirical results from a sample of 2364 unique Indian firms during the 2005–2014 time-period show that, after controlling for firm-level resources and capabilities identified in prior literature, the ownership share of different types of institutional investors is associated with firms’ international investments differently. While pressure-sensitive institutional investors, such as banks and insurance companies, are not supportive of foreign investments by firms, pressure-resistant institutional investors, such as FIIs and mutual funds, are supportive of this strategic decision. Furthermore, our results show that the family ownership in a firm (measured in terms of family shareholding) further lowers the preference of pressure sensitive institutional investors for internationalization, whereas family ownership positively moderates the pressure resistant investors towards internationalization.     

期望落差与互联网新创企业狙击型国际化——基于资源条件与市场环境二元情境视角

互联网新创企业国际化战略目标及实施路径独具特色，逐渐成为研究热点。以北京小桔科技有限公司为案例对象，基于业绩反馈理论和前景理论，构建“期望落差-二元情境-狙击型国际化”的研究框架，系统揭示互联网新创企业狙击型国际化行为及实现机制。研究发现：期望落差促使互联网新创企业实施狙击型国际化战略，资源条件与市场环境二元情境在其中具有调节作用，即在资源劣势-市场壁垒高情境下采取“组合拳”模式的狙击型国际化，在资源劣势-市场壁垒低情境下采取界内合作模式的狙击型国际化，在资源优势-市场壁垒高情境下采取跨界协作模式的狙击型国际化，在资源优势-市场壁垒低情境下采取市场控制模式的狙击型国际化。     

Cognitive foundations of firm internationalization: A systematic review and agenda for future research

Managerial cognition has a fundamental role in the internationalization of firms. However, there exists no coherent understanding of how prior research has examined and captured the cognitive foundations of internationalization. This paper provides a systematic review of this body of literature. The review identifies three main streams of research that, overall, consists of nine more specific research areas. We show that especially the areas addressing (1) managerial learning, (2) characteristics of upper echelons, (3) intra-organizational perceptions, and (4) external actors’ perceptions provide opportunities for the further advancement of internationalization literature. For harnessing these opportunities, we find that the microfoundational approach could support the empirical examination of the cognitive foundations and would notably contribute to the Uppsala model-based theorization of the firm internationalization process.     

国家高新区创新国际化水平及影响因素研究

创新国际化是增强国家国际竞争力的关键。构建国家高新技术产业开发区创新国际化水平评价指标体系，以2014-2016年我国“一带一路”沿线68个国家高新区为研究对象，运用主成分分析法和二次指派程序方法对国家高新区创新国际化水平及影响因素进行实证研究。结果发现：国家高新区创新国际化以创新主体交互、创新活动融入、创新资源流动、创新绩效提升为本质特征；国家高新区创新国际化水平存在显著的区域不平衡性，东部沿海高新区创新国际化水平较高，中西部高新区创新国际化水平较低；国家高新区地理位置、经济发展、技术水平、政策质量等差异对创新国际化水平差异影响显著，自然生态环境差异对创新国际化水平差异影响不显著。     

Business model innovation: How the international retailers rebuild their core business logic in a new host country

Although research into the business model has received increasing attention, few studies have so far been conducted on business model innovation in an international context. The purpose of the study is to identify different patterns of business model innovation which enables international retailers to rebuild their core business logic in new host countries. On the basis of comparing and contrasting the business model changes of 15 international retailers from various home countries to one single host country (China), our study provides an in-depth understanding of business model innovation in the context of international business. By looking at the firms’ capabilities in rebuilding their core logic in the setting of a host country, we reveal six routes of retail business model innovation. Utilizing the lens of organizational learning theory and internationalization, we identify three patterns of resource deployment by international companies in the process of developing business model innovations. Our study, therefore, provides insights and guidance for multinational companies in general, international retailers in particular, as for how to successfully adapt their business model from home country to host country.     

Transaction services and SME internationalization: The effect of home and host country bank relationships on international investment and growth

Building on the argument put forward by North and Wallis (1994) that the transaction sector enables economic growth by lowering the costs of transacting, we investigate how internationalizing firms’ host and home country bank relationships affect their international specific investments and growth. Banks provide payment, liquidity, and risk management services, which are essential to international business relationships, yet little is known about how banks affect international business relationships. In a sample of 255 small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), we find that host and home country bank relationships affect the dependent variables differently. We contribute to the literature by explicating the role and effects of banks in international business relationships. Our findings have implications for understanding transaction services in international business as well as the choices made by their customers.     

研发国际化与企业创新绩效——吸收能力和地理多样性的调节作用

新兴经济体企业的国际化行为已经成为国际商务领域的研究热点之一,但如中国这样的新兴经济体的跨国企业是否能够通过研发国际化行为提升母公司的创新绩效,现有文献对该问题尚缺乏足够的研究。文章基于2011-2017年间沪深两市310家信息技术业上市跨国企业的年度观察数据,采用泊松面板固定效应模型考察了企业研发国际化与母公司创新绩效之间的关系,并首次从逆向知识转移的视角,探讨了吸收能力和地理多样性对研发国际化和创新绩效两者关系的调节作用。实证结果表明：中国企业的研发国际化显著促进母公司创新绩效的提升;以研发投入强度衡量的企业吸收能力显著正向调节研发国际化和创新绩效之间的关系,而以布劳异质性指数测量的地理多样性则显著负向调节研发国际化和创新绩效的关系。研究结果对中国企业国际化行为具有重要启示。该研究发现意味着中国企业在国际化过程中应该加大海外研发投资力度以提升母公司创新绩效,且为更好地实现外部知识的逆向转移,应同时提高企业总体研发投入强度。但作为新兴经济体企业,不宜在地理分布上实行快速扩张,否则较高的沟通和协调成本将弱化逆向知识转移的程度,而不利于母公司创新绩效的提升。     

Country-level corruption and accounting choice: Research & development capitalization under IFRS

International Accounting Standard 38 Intangible Assets mandates that development costs must be capitalized if certain conditions specified in the standard are met. However, this requires managerial judgement and hence may be subject to opportunism. Corruption is a permeable informal country characteristic that penetrates firms’ behaviour, influencing corporate misconduct. We conjecture that an environment with high corruption facilitates management in their justification of meeting the capitalization criteria of assets that should have been expensed, either partly or entirely. These capitalized assets will not generate the future economic benefits implicitly conveyed by their recognition. This recognition, however, sends positive (albeit distorted) market signals for future earnings and increases current year reported earnings. We find that there is a positive relation between country-level corruption and the amount of development costs capitalized in a given year. Moreover, the higher the levels of country corruption, the lower the contribution of capitalized development costs in a given year to future profitability. Finally, this association is moderated by companies’ levels of internationalization.