International Business Scholars Research Articles

Scrutinizing Emerging Markets and Exploring the Impact of Paradigms on Knowledge Production in International Business

Over the last few decades, the global economy has witnessed an unprecedented interest in Emerging Markets. They have become critical players in the global economy and contribute a significant proportion of the GDP in many countries. Indeed, most of the fast-growing economies today are Emerging Markets, and this trend will become more pronounced in the next decades. Some regions that were underrepresented in global economic forums because of their negligible economic influence are now emerging as promising destinations for foreign direct investments (FDI) and international trade. This is the case of the African region where some of the fastest growing Emerging Economies are located. The continent is projected to become a major economic hub by 2050, with more than 25% of the world’s population and consumers, the largest percentage of youth population and labor in the world, the largest reserves of mining and rare minerals, the largest reserves of underutilized water and arable land, and the largest Regional Economic Integration in the world, the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCTA) that was efective in 2019. With these considerations, it is unsurprising to notice a growing interest among researchers and academic journals in Emerging Markets, especially those in the African region. This is the case of the Journal of Comparative International Management (JCIM). Although this journal has focused on Emerging Markets for the last 25 years, it has reaffirmed its interest in Emerging Markets as one of its new strategic goals and is reinforcing its positioning in this regard with new leadership. I would like to mention that the second strategic goal of the journal is to raise its standard.
 The journal is fortunate to have a high-profile editorial team that I have the distinct honor to coordinate. The Editorial Board is comprised of 105 scholars from 25 countries located on five continents. Many of them are leading scholars, including a former president of the Academy of International Business (AIB), fellows of AIB, chairs of AIB regional chapters, and editors and associate editors of leading journals. I extend my heartfelt gratitude for their support. Not one of them hesitated to join the journal when I contacted them, which was immensely encouraging. Due to space limitations, I cannot name all of them here in this editorial article, but I thank the following colleagues for their exceptional support since the beginning of this new journey, and most importantly, for their contributions to this inaugural issue: Robert Grosse, former president and fellow of AIB; Elizabeth Rose, former president of ANZIBA (Australia and New Zealand International Business Association) and fellow of AIB; Gary Knight and Rebecca Piekkari, both fellows of AIB; Helena Barnard, former vice-president of AIB; and Tanvi Kothari, co-chair of AIB-US West and board member of Women of Academy of International Business (WAIB). Also, I extend special thanks to Nandini Lahiri of American University, Katherina Pattit of St. Thomas University, Malou Roldan of San Jose University, Richard Fletcher of the University of Western Sydney, Claudine Gaibrois of the University of St. Gallen, and Marijana Johansson of the University of Glasgow for their contribution to this inaugural issue. 
 I extend my heartfelt congratulations and sincere thanks to Prof. Basu Sharma, who founded JCIM 25 years ago and served as its Editor-in-Chief until passing this role to me recently. Serving as Editor-in-Chief is a time and energy consuming responsibility. Without the tenacity of Prof. Basu Sharma, JCIM would not have become the well‑established and ABDC ranked journal that it is today.
 This inaugural issue of JCIM contains six papers that focus on subjects related to Emerging Markets. These subjects vary from a new theory of the competition in Emerging Markets firms to women entrepreneurship in Emerging Countries, influence of the institutional environment on trust in Emerging Countries, Corporate Social Responsibility, marketing communication strategies in Emerging Countries, and finally, the impact of researchers’ paradigms on language-sensitive research in IB research. In this editorial article, I present these six papers by identifying their contributions and discussing the questions that they raise to inspire and enrich the conversation among International Business scholars.

What merits greater scholarly attention in international business?

Scholarly efforts to propose future directions for international business (IB) research have generated a timely and extensive inventory of potentially interesting areas of research. We supplement this line of inquiry by suggesting that an additional layer of scrutiny could be beneficial when advocating in favor of giving more attention to particular research realms. Specifically, we advance several guiding principles that will help IB scholars assess which research areas merit greater scholarly attention, based on their potential importance and impact. We distinguish between (1) research in new or underdeveloped research domains, where salience, urgency, and actionability are critical elements, and (2) new research in relatively well-established domains, where scholars may contribute to changing the theoretical conversations taking place in IB.

Sustainable Global Supply Chains: The Human Rights Aspect

The objective of this paper is to examine Global Supply Chains (GSC) from the perspective of human rights. Economists and international business scholars focus on the economic nature of this phenomenon and its complex international structure. International institutions (such as the WTO, OECD and others) direct their efforts to the regulation of the relations within the structure and to the measurement of the contribution of GSC to national economies and global trade. Human Rights activists, on the other hand, are tackling violations of human rights at the various stages of the supply chains. At present, politicians, regulators and a limited number of scholars are also trying to deal with the issue of human rights within GSC from a different angle – namely, the behaviour of business with regard to human rights issues in international business activities. The paper builds on the author’s previous research on global supply chains in their role as stakeholders within the corporate governance system. The author adheres to the view that the study of human rights issues in the context of GSCs demands an interdisciplinary research approach and utilizes an adequate conceptual framework that should be further developed. Theoretical observations are combined with a survey on the business attitude towards human rights. Venue for following studies is drafted. Keywords: words: global supply chains, human rights; international business; stakeholders; corporate governance, adverse impact, modern slavery JEL: M54, M55, K3, J28, F2

Advancing societal grand challenge research at the interface of entrepreneurship and international business: A review and research agenda

Societal grand challenges are increasingly attracting the attention of both entrepreneurship and international business scholars. While entrepreneurship focuses on the opportunities that emerge and need for bold and innovative solutions, international business research emphasizes the global reach of the challenges and role of multinational enterprises. Although both conversations are insightful, we argue that examining one without the other gives an incomplete picture on how to address grand challenges. In this paper, we conduct a systematic review of the conversation on grand challenges in the international business and entrepreneurship literature. Upon synthesizing the results, we create an integrated framework and research agenda for viewing grand challenges through an international entrepreneurial lens.

The internationalization of meatpacking firms: a competence-based approach

Purpose This study seeks to empirically and theoretically show how and why food chain specific advantages along with country-specific and firm-specific advantages impact the development of competences and shape distinct strategies for international growth.Design/methodology/approach Case studies were conducted with three Brazilian meatpacking firms with solid global operations. Top managers in charge of international operations were interviewed and documents were collected. Data were coded and submitted to triangulation. Content analysis was used as data analysis technique.Findings Results suggest that a meso-level of analysis is important to understand the development of competences and strategies for internationalization of meatpacking firms. Additionally, it was found that the internationalization process of meatpacking firms are supported by four supportive competences, namely: technical, production, sales and logistics competences. Findings also reveal that these companies tend to pursue either a raw material seeker or local taste supplier strategy.Originality/value International business scholars have struggled to incorporate meso-level characteristics into mainstream literature. This paper tries to fill in this gap by incorporating distinctive features from the food supply chain in the analysis. Two novel international strategy typologies were introduced by considering firm-, food chain- and country-specific advantages. It also proposes sound theoretical and managerial evidence to support public and private decision-making.

The use of multinomial choice analysis in international business research

Many strategic decisions made by firms involve a choice among several discrete alternatives. International Business (IB) scholars are often interested in modelling the factors that potentially influence these (multinomial) choices: these factors might include not only characteristics of the firms making the choices but also attributes of the alternative choices. This paper provides a succinct and intuitive introduction to the possible applications of multinomial choice models in IB research. We briefly outline the theory behind discrete choice modelling, and then explain how multinomial choice models may be estimated (including how the datasets need to be formatted) and how the significance of the coefficient estimates as well as the diagnostic statistics may be tested and interpreted.

Institutional Distance versus Intra-Country Differences: Capturing and Leveraging the Diversity Within

The field of international business (IB) largely focuses on the inter-country institutional differences, however, very little focus and attention have been given to the social interactions of sub-cultural groups within the country. Could we be overlooking greater opportunities for understanding differences across the diversity within countries? This article aims to provide insights and practical suggestions on: (1) How does leveraging intra-country diversity affect firm performance outcomes globally? (2) Why understanding intra-country diversity is important to the field of IB? and (3) How can IB scholars, managers, and educators engage further as a discipline to explore strategies that achieve more diverse and equitable societal and economic outcomes?

Employing brand governance mechanisms with export channel partners: What are the performance consequences and contingent effects?

For decades leading international business scholars have assessed the benefits accruing from successful governance mechanisms. Although the critical importance of initiating and maintaining good relationships with export channel partners is recognized within the literature, there has been little research focus placed on the optimal approach for governing intangible aspects of these relationships. We offer the first integrated definition of export brand governance of channel partners (EBGoCP) and investigate its influence on export performance. Drawing from relational governance theory and contingency theory, we develop and test a model of the contingent effects of different country specific advantages and firm characteristics on the performance upshots of EBGoCP. Using survey data from UK exporters, our findings validate the hypothesized enhancing effects of EBGoCP on export performance outcomes. Furthermore, consistent with our contingency based predictions, we find country-of-origin-image, firm size and scope of exporting moderate the impact of EBGoCP on export performance. Along with providing fresh insights from the results, this study opens up a new stream of international business governance research and offers productive future research paths to follow.

The interplay between location and strategy in a turbulent age

AbstractResearch SummaryThe spread of protectionist policies and the COVID‐19 pandemic force policymakers and managers to fundamentally rethink the relationship between location and strategy. We examine this location‐strategy interplay through a structure‐agency perspective by investigating how the economic landscape shapes and, simultaneously, is shaped by firm strategies. Increasing spatial disparity and diversity of innovation and wealth in clusters and city‐regions create both tremendous challenges and opportunities for multinational enterprises to strategically leverage knowledge over space. Locational choices and actions of multinationals, in turn, affect regional economic development paths and geographies of innovation. We argue for deep dialogue and collaboration between economic geography, international business and strategy to untie the knots in the intricate interplay between location and strategy and solve the grand challenges in our turbulent age.Managerial SummaryThe wide spread of protectionism and the COVID‐19 pandemic have disrupted global value chains unprecedently, forcing policymakers and firm managers to rethink the relationship between business strategies and locations. We suggest that this relationship can be understood in a bilateral way. The concentration of innovation and economic activities in city‐regions and clusters creates big challenges but also tremendous opportunities for multinational enterprises. Multinationals need to direct knowledge across space but also have to deal with local resistance and opposition. The choices and actions of these firms are shaped by and, simultaneously, influence spatial patterns of economic activities. We argue for deep collaboration between economic geographers and international business scholars to solve the grand challenges for business, community and society in our turbulent time.

Institutions and Firms’ Performance: A Bibliometric Analysis and Future Research Avenues

International business scholars have recognized the importance of the contextual embeddedness of firms. However, how they matter remains a contested question. Although recent efforts have been made to review the field, it remains unclear how institutions affect firms’ performance. We aim at answering the following research question: How is the intellectual and the conceptual structure of the institutions and firms’ performance field defined? We searched in the WoS and Scopus databases with pre-determined keywords, and we obtained a sample of 1063 articles that we analyzed by conducting the citation and co-citation analyses, keyword co-occurrence analysis, and thematic map analysis. Our bibliometric results portrayed how the intellectual and conceptual structure of the field has evolved. We contribute to the international business literature by providing a one-stop overview of the field, thus identifying current accomplishments and future research avenues on the relationship between institutions and firms’ performance. By analyzing the articles included on the Emerging and Niche clusters, we discuss future research avenues on the topics of sustainability, entrepreneurship, political ties, and institutional quality.

The local roots of global entrepreneurship: Insights from Stephen Young

A contemporary challenge for the international business (IB) field is to maintain a link between the global activity of firms and the local concerns of regions and communities. In this essay, we reflect on how the IB scholarship of the late Stephen Young, which was embedded in (but not confined to) Scotland, offers valuable insight into how this might be done. With an overarching interest in the role of IB in economic development, the common thread in his work on multinational enterprise (MNE) subsidiaries and internationalizing small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) is the significance of locally relevant entrepreneurial behavior in internationalized firms, which we refer to as “the local roots of global entrepreneurship”. We highlight three facets of his work: (1) the scholarly approach, which was sustained, engaged, and broad-based, (2) the conceptual ideas around the purpose, process and people involved in MNEs and SMEs, and (3) the resonance of these ideas with contemporary IB topics. Our analysis indicates that the emergent body of work on cooperation between MNEs and SMEs (especially new ventures) constitutes an extension and integration of Young’s IB scholarship. An overall implication of our essay is that perhaps, counterintuitively, the future interests of IB research may be served well by paying closer attention to one’s own backyard.

Multinational enterprises and natural disasters: Challenges and opportunities for IB research.

The purpose of this paper is to encourage and to extend research on natural disasters and international business (IB). More specifically, we review the characteristics of natural disasters and the unique challenges they pose to the business environment and examine how they differ from other types of disasters/crises often researched in the IB literature. Next, we investigate the applicability and challenges of core IB theories to the study of natural disasters. By extending new internalization theory (NIT) to overcome challenges of bounded rationality and reliability, we identify effective strategies for managing the threat of natural disasters through establishing multi-sector partnerships and alternative supply chains. Integrating research on the characteristics of natural disasters and the insights from NIT, we propose natural disaster management strategies for multinational enterprises (MNEs) based on varying degrees of geographic scope of natural disasters and MNEs. This paper concludes with proposing new research opportunities for IB scholars in disaster preparedness, cross-organizational collaborations, and supply chain management.

Revisiting the concepts of liability of foreignness and liability of outsidership from foreign subsidiary management perspective

The concepts of liability of foreignness and liability of outsidership have been central in international business research. The Uppsala model explains that firms often face obstacles and opportunities in management practices in a host market when internationalizing abroad. International business scholars discussed these concepts redundantly but vaguely in the literature. Only a few literature sources defined and utilized the concepts clearly over the last decade, however, it has not been demonstrated how the key constructs help to explain firms’ foreign subsidiary management. Therefore, the study reconsiders the concepts and identifies a proper utilization of the concepts in the texts drawing on an intensive systematic literature review in the leading international business and strategy journals from 2011 to 2021. The study also analyzes the articles in which the authors find ambiguous and overlapping use of the concepts by clarifying key constructs as identifiers. The study integrates defensive and offensive options for overcoming liability of foreignness and liability of outsidership into our conceptual model of operational structures from the foreign subsidiary management perspectives. The study contributes by providing a novel intensive literature review of the concepts over the last decade; by clarifying the key identifiers to distinguish the concepts in the leading international business and strategy journals; by proposing newly integrated conceptual models of defensive and offensive options from foreign subsidiary management perspectives with the focus on intra-organizational structures for operational aspects.

Lateral collaboration and boundary-spanning from a global leadership perspective: The case of global account managers

Responding to calls by international business scholars to examine contextual factors driving cultural change in developing and traditionally collectivistic countries, we examine cultural values shift in one such country, Turkey, from 1998 to 2019. Confirming study hypotheses, results evidenced a trajectory toward individualism. The percentage of respondents endorsing personal focus values in 2019 was over double that in 2009. Generational differences drove this shift – Late Millennials (born 1992–2001) in 2019 were over twice as likely to endorse personal over social focus values as same-age Early Millennials (born 1982–1991) in 2009. These trends were most pronounced in the most urbanized Turkish provinces.

Tax havens and international business: A conceptual framework of accountability‐avoiding foreign direct investment

AbstractBy taking an objective and scientific bibliometric analysis approach, this paper presents the first review of the extant knowledge base ontax havens. This analysis has guided us in developing an overarching theoretical framework that examines the determinants of the use of tax havens by multinational enterprises (MNEs). Based on our systematic review and theoretical framework, we were able to develop and introduce a new concept, calledaccountability‐avoiding FDI (foreign direct investment), which is distinct from the standard FDI motives identified in the international business (IB) literature. Our review also makes a contribution by explaining how various definitions, measurements, methodologies and categorizations of tax havens can lead to differing and mixed results. Given that the tax haven literature is of a cross‐disciplinary nature, we specifically make a case for how the IB community can make a stronger contribution to our understanding of tax haven activity and its ramifications. We conclude the paper with suggestions for the future research that IB and management scholars could pursue in order to contribute unique insights to the area of MNE strategy and the implications of tax haven investments for countries, various industries and the MNEs themselves.

MNCs as dispersed structures of power: Performance and management implications of power distribution in the subsidiary portfolio

Multinational corporations (MNCs) are considered as dispersed structures of power, in which diverse headquarters (HQ)–subsidiary power relationships collectively influence performance and management. Yet, few studies have accounted for the subsidiary portfolio characteristics shaped by the entire set of differentiated HQ–subsidiary power relationships, and little is known about their effect on the performance and management decisions of MNCs. Drawing on agency and resource dependence theories, this study investigates how the power structure of the MNC, or the pattern of power distribution in the subsidiary portfolio, affects MNC performance and expatriate utilization. Results from a comprehensive panel of Korean MNCs show that the degree of power concentration in the subsidiary portfolio has inverted U-shaped relationships with MNC performance and the use of expatriate control. However, the results also reveal that these relationships vary between manufacturing and downstream subsidiary portfolios. These findings suggest that the structural characteristics of the subsidiary portfolio are important determinants of MNC performance and management. This study opens an important new avenue for international business scholarship by explicitly conceptualizing the MNC as a portfolio of differentiated subsidiaries and by examining the consequences of the subsidiary portfolio characteristics.

Open for business in a closed world? Managing MNE nonmarket strategy in times of populism and geopolitical uncertainty

PurposeThe international strategies of multinational enterprises are increasingly augmented by insights on, and approaches to, external stakeholders and nonmarket dynamics. The rise of populism and increased geopolitical uncertainty have accelerated these efforts, particularly for business leaders anticipating and engaging external agents, events, and issues that challenge the strategic objectives of their enterprises.Design/methodology/approachIn this paper we explain why the increased preponderance of populism and geopolitical uncertainty are concurrently posing an existential threat to the post-Cold War global economy predicated on free trade and (relatively) open borders and, consequently, challenging the structures and strategies of international business.FindingsWe provide an overview of the four papers in our special issue and consider how each advances insights on how multinational enterprises effectively navigate the nonmarket uncertainties of the contemporary global economy. We then advance four important areas for international business research on multinational nonmarket strategies: (i) resilience and legitimacy; (ii), diversification; (iii), market and nonmarket strategy integration; and (iv), institutional arbitrage.Research limitations/implicationsWe anticipate that nonmarket strategy scholars can build on these themes to assess how nonmarket strategies can better enable multinational enterprises to survive and thrive in an age of heightened global risk and uncertainty.Originality/valueThis paper and the related special issue provides novel theoretical insights by drawing attention to the relatively under-researched realm of multinational enterprise nonmarket strategy, particularly in populist contexts and during periods of geopolitical uncertainty. Importantly, we identify four promising domains – resilience and legitimacy, diversification, the integration of market and nonmarket strategy, and institutional arbitrage – for international business scholars investigating nonmarket strategy to consider. We anticipate that our paper, as well as other papers in this special issue, contribute further momentum to this burgeoning area of research.

“Generation Me”: An intra-nationally bounded generational explanation for convergence and divergence in personal vs. social focus cultural value orientations

Responding to calls by international business scholars to examine contextual factors driving cultural change in developing and traditionally collectivistic countries, we examine cultural values shift in one such country, Turkey, from 1998 to 2019. Confirming study hypotheses, results evidenced a trajectory toward individualism. The percentage of respondents endorsing personal focus values in 2019 was over double that in 2009. Generational differences drove this shift – Late Millennials (born 1992–2001) in 2019 were over twice as likely to endorse personal over social focus values as same-age Early Millennials (born 1982–1991) in 2009. These trends were most pronounced in the most urbanized Turkish provinces.

MNEs and the practice of international business diplomacy

Scholars of international relations and international political economy have long documented international business diplomacy (IBD) as a practice of multinational enterprises (MNEs), although the specific practices involved have not been consistently established in international business scholarship. We apply "practice theory" to position IBD within the realm of MNEs’ global non-market strategy (NMS), arguing that IBD constitutes a set of practices in the implementation of global NMS, and that the most appropriate practices depend upon two key dimensions of the global institutional governance regime faced by the MNEs: the governance level and the degree of rule formality.

Neither developed nor emerging: Dual paths for outward FDI and home country innovation in emerged market MNCs

Emerged market multinational corporations (EDMNCs) ‒ those based in emerged markets that have transitioned out of emerging economic status ‒ have received little research interest from the international business scholarship, despite their growing presence in the global market. EDMNCs face significant competitive pressure to leverage cross-border knowledge to innovate and leapfrog their middle-zone status between emerging and developed market multinational corporations. Analyzing 174 publicly listed South Korean MNCs and their outward foreign direct investment (OFDI), we find that an EDMNC’s OFDI into developed and emerging markets contributes unequally to its home-country innovation. We also elaborate on the moderating effect of industry peers’ OFDI into developed countries through crowding out and spillover effects. These findings have implications for the OFDI and innovation literature in general, and particularly for international business scholarship focusing on an under-investigated category of MNCs that are increasingly becoming successful in international competition.