Morphing: The Linkage of Inward Private Equity and Outward Ventures

Abstract

Private equity is impacting the global economy and competitive landscape of multinational enterprises (MNEs) worldwide. In this pioneering study, we find an important new pattern for global interfirm connections: an inward private equity investment is inductive for emerging MNEs to conduct an outward venture. This inward-outward linkage implies that emerging MNEs are more likely to undergo a series of organizational changes after receiving private equity investments. These changes include restructuring their boards of directors, rebuilding their top management teams, reconfiguring their corporate resources, reframing the industry structure, and altering competitive dynamics. These organizational changes induce emerging MNEs to modify their strategies such as speeding up the internationalization process, locating additional outward ventures in advanced economies, and choosing more complex entry modes, particularly cross-border mergers and acquisitions (M&As). We describe this type of evolving internationalization of emerging MNEs as a “morphing” process with in-depth case studies on emerging Chinese MNEs including Lenovo, Zoomlion, Geely, Alibaba.com, Huawei, NVC Lighting, and BYD. © 2014 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.