Degree Of Firm Internationalization Research Articles

What’s in it for me? Local employees’ anticipated career opportunities derived from firm internationalization

Local employees have different perceptions of the career opportunities they can derive from firms’ internationalization when compared to the senior managers who manage this process. We argue that perceptions of internationalization-related career advancement opportunities represent a perceived fit between employees and organizations. We examine this fit within a sample of 845 local employees from eleven Latin American countries. Our findings suggest that the degree of firm internationalization is negatively related to local employees’ anticipated career advancement opportunities. This relationship is positively moderated by perceived firm international competitiveness, but not by the extent to which the employee has a global mindset. These results suggest that local employees may feel threatened by their firms’ internationalization, as they perceive they may systematically be exposed to outside competition. This threat is attenuated by their firms' capabilities but not by individual characteristics such as an employee's global mindset, suggesting that firm characteristics are more influential in predicting local employees’ reactions to internationalization.

Board political experience and firm internationalization strategy

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to empirically examine the link between board of director composition and firm performance. Specifically, the paper argues that board political experience influences the firm’s internationalization strategy as directors with significant political experience provide guidance, resources, and network access that enhance the firm’s international presence. The authors also posit that board political connections would be more helpful for firms operating in high-regulation industries.Design/methodology/approachThe authors tested the predictions using data from 156 large US firms. Data on directors’ background were gathered from SEC proxy filings, while data pertaining to internationalization were obtained from Compustat and Mergent Online databases. Hierarchical moderated regression analysis was employed to empirically test the hypothesized relationships.FindingsThe findings provide strong support for the positive relationship between board political experience and the degree of firm internationalization. Contrary to the authors’ predictions, the level of industry regulation does not seem to significantly affect this relationship.Research limitations/implicationsFirms aggressively pursuing international strategy could benefit from having directors on their board with robust political experience. One of the limitations of the study is that the types of international activities for firms is not specified in the study as it might be in the form of joint-venture capacity, strategic alliances or for firms that might be born-global.Originality/valueThis study makes original contribution to the on-going research on board political activity and firm performance through internationalization strategy. The findings suggest that having directors’ with political experience is an important asset in influencing firm’s corporate strategy.

Top management team characteristics and firm internationalization: The moderating role of the size of middle managers

This paper examines the influence of the top management teams' (TMTs) characteristics, including tenure and international experience, on the degree of firm internationalization. In addition, this study explores the moderating effect of the size of middle managers (MMs) on the relationship between the TMT characteristics and the degree of firm internationalization. This study use the information-process perspective to emphasize that MMs provide information processing capabilities that assist TMTs as they cope with the high information-processing demands of the strategic decision-making process in international markets. We test the hypotheses using a sample of listed manufacturing firms in the electro-optical and textile industries during the 2006–2010 period. The findings indicate that TMT tenure has an inverted U-shaped relationship with firm internationalization and TMT international experience has a positively affect the firm internationalization. Furthermore, we find that large MM size positively enhances the inverted U-shaped relationship between TMT tenure and firm internationalization.

Which “green” is better? An empirical study of the impact of green activities on firm performance

This study aims to distinguish an array of green activities (ISO 14000, green processes, pollution prevention, and green certifications) and analyze their relationships with firm performance. Employing data from the sampled publicly listed firms in Taiwan and regressions to examine the hypotheses, we find that the degree of a firm's R&D investment fails to affect companies' choice of green activities; however, the degree of firm internationalization can. That is, more internationalized firms are also more likely to employ green certifications among these activities. In terms of the impacts of these green activities on firm performance, a company employing green processes can perform better, followed by ISO 14000, pollution prevention, and lastly, green certifications.

The Influence of Firm Characteristics and Export Performance in Central and Eastern Europe: Comparisons of Visegrad, Baltic and Caucasus States

In this paper we study the firm-level determinants of export performance in three groups of countries: the Visegrad, Baltic and Caucasus countries. Our analytical framework refers to the most recent strand in the new trade theory literature based on the Melitz (2003) model that stresses the importance of firm productivity in entering the export markets. The empirical implementation of the theoretical framework is based on the probit model and the BEEPS data set. Our empirical results confirm the importance of firm characteristics for export performance in the CEE countries. Also heterogeneity between different country groups within the region has been reported. Export competitiveness of firms from the CEE countries can be improved through the development of modern educational systems allowing to accelerate the accumulation of human capital. The financial support to research and development and innovation activities should also have a positive impact on the export performance of firms from the CEE countries. We take into account labor productivity and other firm characteristics that may affect export performance such as the age and the size of the firm, the use of human capital, and the degree of firm internationalization.

Risk Bias and the Link between Motivation and New Venture Post-Entry International Growth

We link research in international entrepreneurship and on behavioral decision making with the international business literature on firm degree of internationalization to advance a model of new vent...

Successor characteristics, change in the degree of firm internationalization, and firm performance: The moderating role of environmental uncertainty

AbstractOur study examines the relationship among successor characteristics, post-succession firm change in the degree of internationalization, and firm performance. We use the upper echelon, organization change, and contingency perspectives to frame our conceptual arguments. Based on data from 187 succession observations for listed companies in Taiwan between 2000 and 2005, we find that firms will opt for higher levels of change in their degree of internationalization when they experience outside succession and that the negative impact of change in the degree of firm internationalization on subsequent firm performance is relatively low. We extend the industrial environment, explaining the moderating effect of chief executive officer succession on change in the international strategy model. Outsider successors foster a greater degree of change in the level of firm internationalization when the industrial environment is munificent or complex.

Successor characteristics, change in the degree of firm internationalization, and firm performance: The moderating role of environmental uncertainty

AbstractOur study examines the relationship among successor characteristics, post-succession firm change in the degree of internationalization, and firm performance. We use the upper echelon, organization change, and contingency perspectives to frame our conceptual arguments. Based on data from 187 succession observations for listed companies in Taiwan between 2000 and 2005, we find that firms will opt for higher levels of change in their degree of internationalization when they experience outside succession and that the negative impact of change in the degree of firm internationalization on subsequent firm performance is relatively low. We extend the industrial environment, explaining the moderating effect of chief executive officer succession on change in the international strategy model. Outsider successors foster a greater degree of change in the level of firm internationalization when the industrial environment is munificent or complex.

Successor characteristics, change in the degree of firm internationalization, and firm performance: The moderating role of environmental uncertainty

Successor characteristics, change in the degree of firm internationalization, and firm performance: The moderating role of environmental uncertainty

Transcending borders with international top management teams: A study of European financial multinational corporations

Summary This paper investigates how changes in firm degree of internationalization are associated with the configuration of top management teams (TMT) based on a dataset of 41 large European firms in the banking and insurance industry, including detailed career profiles of the 264 executives that were serving on the TMTs of these firms at year-end 2002. Our findings suggest firms tend to match top executive profiles to their strategies. Entry into new foreign markets and new cultural zones was found to be associated with higher levels of international capacity at TMT level, whereas changes in international posture per se are not related to TMT international capacity. We discuss the interplay between firm strategies and internal structures in the context of firm internationalization and suggest directions for future research on TMTs.

International experience in the executive suite: the path to prosperity?

Attention is increasingly focused on the potential individual career and firm-level benefits of international experience for upper level executives. This research examines the relationships between CEO international experience, CEO tenure, firm internationalization, succession events, and corporate financial performance. Results indicate a significant interactive effect between CEO tenure and outside succession on CEO international experience. In addition to a relationship with CEO international experience, there are two additional interactive effects in the examination of corporate financial performance: (1) CEO international experience and the degree of firm internationalization, and (2) CEO international experience and CEO succession. These interactive effects are evident in accounting and market indicators of corporate financial performance. Copyright © 2000 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.