Is the cure worse than the disease? The effect of emerging market MNEs on host country corruption

In recent years, there has been an exponential increase in the amount of foreign investment by emerging market multinational enterprises (EMNEs). While it has been debated whether EMNEs strengthen or weaken the institutions in host countries they invest in, the literature has paid limited attention to how EMNE investment impacts corruption in other emerging markets, one of the most significant destinations of EMNEs. Following Hoskisson et al. (2013), we categorize two types of emerging markets as targets of EMNE investment, a) low-income emerging markets and b) middle-income emerging markets, based on their institutional and market development. Building on the theory of firm-specific advantages (FSAs) and the institutional advantage (IA) of EMNEs, we reason that EMNEs enter foreign markets in accordance to where their skills and competencies can be effectively utilized, and this impacts corruption in the host country. We make two key arguments: (1) EMNEs predominantly use their IA in low-income emerging markets, which in the long term increases corruption in the host market, and (2) EMNEs predominantly use their FSAs to gain competitive advantage in middle-income emerging markets, which decreases corruption in the host market. Empirical analysis of Chinese outward FDI from the 2008-2018 period supports our hypotheses. Our research contributes to both the literature on EMNEs and corruption.     

Explaining the performance of divested overseas subsidiaries

We examine the post-divestment performance of subsidiaries that have been divested by their foreign owners and have subsequently been acquired by domestic owners. Drawing on Hymer’s classic explanation of firm internationalization and on the resource-based view dimension of internalization theory, we suggest that the differences in terms of the degree to which FSAs are independent from the linkages to the parent firm will be reflected in the variation in the performance effect of a foreign-to-domestic sale of the business. We argue that the negative performance effect of a foreign-to-domestic sale of a subsidiary is lower (1) for older subsidiaries, (2) for subsidiaries oriented toward the domestic, and (3) when the foreign parent firm is located outside the subsidiary’s geographic region. By using propensity score matching and difference-in-differences estimations, we examine the proposed effects and provide novel insights on the performance implications of the foreign-to-local ownership changes.     

Revisiting FSAs and CSAs in Sub-Saharan Africa: Evidence from Ghanaian Firms

Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) is widely perceived as a region of countries with low technological capabilities, weak complementary assets competing on basic country specific advantages (CSAs) and relying on transferred technology. In this paper we argue against this perception. Integrating the extended concepts of Location Bound (LB) and Non-Location Bound (NLB) Firm Specific Advantages (FSAs) within a “revisited” CSAs/FSAs matrix, we provide evidence that home-market grown LB-FSAs and their transformation to NLB-FSAs are induced by domestic Ghanaian firms’ strategic and export orientation.