Shareholders’ tax incentives and changes in the organizational form of foreign operations

This study examines whether the tax incentives of home-country shareholders influence the organizational form changes of foreign operations. While a corporation and a limited company (LC) in South Korea are treated the same for Korean tax purposes, an LC can be treated as a pass-through entity for U.S. tax purposes. This tax treatment of LCs can create incentives for U.S. owners to convert their Korean corporations to LCs. We find that private corporations owned by U.S. shareholders are more likely to convert to LCs than those owned by non-U.S. shareholders. We also find that the tax costs and benefits of conversion affect the likelihood of LC conversion for U.S.-owned firms. Overall, our results suggest that multinational corporations use organizational form changes as a tool for international tax strategies.     

CSR and stakeholder salience in MNE subsidiaries in emerging markets

The purpose of this study is to identify the key stakeholder groups pressuring multinational enterprises (MNEs) in emerging markets (EMs), also if the pressure is global or local, to develop corporate social responsibility (CSR) strategies. Drawing on stakeholder salience and institutional theories, all the stakeholder groups acknowledged and analysed in the literature were identified and examined to understand if they were perceived by MNEs in China as effective in pressuring them to engage in CSR strategies and activities. Results demonstrate that only stakeholder groups with power – government power or voting power – are perceived as having enough pressure to make MNEs’ Chinese subsidiaries engage in CSR, which is contrary to current theories. Our results allow us to theorise on an extension of the concept of utilitarian power and political power when analysing stakeholder salience in EMs. This research has important implications for managers as balancing and working with limited resources and correctly identifying and prioritising key stakeholders are vital to successfully improving performance.     

Efficiency frontier of OECD MNOs: Multinational vs Domestic

This paper evaluates the efficiency frontier of 34 mobile operators from OECD countries and compares the performance of multinational companies and domestic companies between 2014 and 2018. Unlike most previous studies, the present paper relies on non-financial data for both input and output variables. It uses slack-based Data Envelopment Analysis (SBM DEA) to obtain the efficiency scores. The efficiency scores were compared for the statistically significant differences using Mann-Whitney U test. Our findings showed domestic companies to be more efficient than multinational ones regardless of their scale. The suggested explanation is that domestic enterprises are better at managing their resources and more familiar with their local market. The results also indicate that the primary source of inefficiency was inadequate utilisation of the available spectrum range. These empirical findings provide extra insight to the managers in the industry on possible steps to reduce the efficiency from the perspective of non-financial data.     

Back to roots: TMTs’ country-specific experience,FDI preference,and political center favoritism

This paper investigates how the origin experience and work experience of top management teams (TMTs) affect foreign direct investment (FDI) decisions of multinational enterprises (MNEs), drawing on learning theories and social capital view. Using data from Standard and Poor’s firms operating in China during 2014–2016, we find that TMTs’ country-specific origin experience and work experience have a positive impact on the extent of FDI in the focal country, while we find that the former has a greater impact. Consistent with the consideration of being deeply anchored in the specific country, we find that TMTs with origin experience, relative to work experience, are more likely to choose FDI locations in the political center. We further find that the effect of origin experience on the extent of FDI and the preference for political centers will be more pronounced for MNEs with low levels of profitability. This study contributes to the literature on international business and provides practical implications for international expansion.     

Contraction under minimum wages? Operational and financial advantages of multinational subsidiaries in China

The advantages of multinational enterprises (MNEs) over domestic firms have been widely acknowledged in several streams of literature. However, a more refined analysis on the sources of their advantages is lacking. Exploiting minimum wage hikes in China as an exogenous shock, we theorize that, due to multinational advantages, the employment of multinational subsidiaries may be less affected by minimum wages than that of domestic firms, and that their multinational advantages arise from both operational and financial advantages. Using nation-wide longitudinal firm data from 1998 to 2007 and border discontinuity design (BDD) to estimate the causal effects, we find supportive evidence for our hypotheses. We contribute to the literature on multinational advantages and minimum wages.     

Mandate dynamics and the importance of mandate loss for subsidiary evolution

This paper provides insights into the dynamics of mandate loss and subsidiary charter development through exploring two research questions on what the characteristics of subsidiary mandate loss are and what roles do intra-MNE actors have in subsidiary mandate loss? The paper is based on a qualitative study of 17 cases of subsidiary mandate losses. The data revealed four distinct patterns of mandate loss depending upon what phase of mandate development the subsidiary found itself: (1) mandate loss due to a combination of failure in the new mandate or a change in the external environment. (2) mandate loss due to competition with sister subsidiaries (3) Subsidiaries shed peripheral mandates to create space and focus on the core activities (4) mature mandate loss due to misfit between subsidiary skills and that of competition in the local market. This paper contributes to the subsidiary evolution literature by elucidating the multiplicity of subsidiary mandate loss and the “prime mover” involvement in mandate loss.     

Go small or go home: Operational exposure to violent conflicts and foreign subsidiary exit

This study aims to open the black box of heterogeneous responses to violent conflicts by focusing on subsidiaries’ operational exposure to violent conflict and their decisions to exit host countries. Drawing on real options theory, we propose a viable approach multinational enterprises can take when they encounter violent conflicts in their operating locations. Our analysis of 3,479 foreign subsidiaries operating in 11 countries over 26 years suggests that the exit decision of any given subsidiary located in a conflict-affected country depends on its operational scope. However, this effect depends on the characteristics of the operations the subsidiary undertakes, specifically, whether the subsidiary conducts natural resource-seeking operations and the degree of operational overlap with the same-parent affiliates.