International Theory Research Articles

Digitalization and internationalization of micro-, small, and medium-sized enterprises: An overall conceptual process

ABSTRACT The digital technologies that are emerging around the world are completely transforming the paradigms of our economies, societies, and firms, including the new reality of international trade that is becoming connected. Although there are many opportunities to be built, traditional theories of business internationalization do not specifically address the pervasive effects of digital technologies. This article aims to jointly study digitalization and firm internationalization and proposes an overall conceptual process that links these dimensions through entrepreneurial behaviors of firms and entrepreneurs. This process demonstrates how the use of digital technologies impacts entrepreneurial behaviors and how this might shape new opportunities to enhance the propensity for internationalization of firms. It illustrates that the effective use of digital technologies depends to a large extent on the entrepreneurial behaviors of firms (with an entrepreneurial orientation) and of entrepreneurs (with their self-efficacy). These results provide new relevant practical value to practitioners and policy makers.

FOREIGN DIRECT INVESTMENTS AND ECONOMIC GROWTH: A CRITICAL LITERATURE REVIEW

The relationship between foreign direct investment (FDI) and economic growth has attracted major attention from academics and the governments of developing countries. Since economic growth is one of their main focuses, FDI attraction-related policies have been prioritized during the process of economic growth and development in these countries. It is widely observed that FDI mitigates the saving-investment imbalance and provides technology which is used for the production of goods and services. Although some studies have found evidence of the positive impact of FDI on economic growth, others have revealed the opposite result. The objective of this paper was to perform a critical theoretical and empirical literature review on foreign direct investments and economic growth. The theories guiding this study included the internalization theory, eclectic paradigm theory, product lifecycle theory, Solow growth model and endogenous growth theory. From the empirical studies reviewed, most studies conclude that foreign direct investments influence economic growth in a positive way but it is also evident that the studies also provide conflicting findings with some oscillating from negative to positive and others indicating no relationship at all. The difference in findings among the scholars might arise from methodological differences and operationalization of the study variables. Contextual differences might also explain the inconsistent findings as most of the studies have focused on developing economies. The study identified preconditions in the host country that help harness FDI and influence economic growth and they include developed financial and legal institutions, proper infrastructure, conducive monetary and fiscal policies, and an enabling macro-economic and structural environment that directs FDI to productive investments.

What Factors Drive MNEs’ CSR Practices? An Analysis of Subsidiary and Supplier Reputation Risk

We analyze the drivers of corporate social responsibility (CSR) adoption in multinational firms. Building on internalization theory and the view of the multinational as a network, we argue that the reputation risk within the multinational’s portfolio of subsidiaries and suppliers determines its adoption of CSR. Specifically, we propose that multinationals facing higher internal (subsidiary) and external (supplier) reputation risk are likely to adopt more CSR practices, thereby preventing stakeholder backlash and protecting reputational advantages. We also propose that these relationships differ for state-owned firms, because they are created to promote social agendas like employment, public goods, and development. Hence, we argue that state-owned multinationals, in comparison to private ones, have a stronger CSR response to risk in their suppliers and subsidiaries. We find robust support for these ideas in an unbalanced sample of 726 multinationals from 40 home countries during 2008-2018.

Risky Reputations: The Role of CSI in Cross-Border Acquisitions

This study examines the influence of reputation risk on ownership choice in cross-border acquisitions (CBAs). Building on internalization theory and the reputation literature, we argue that acquirers with higher reputation risk through involvement in corporate social irresponsibility (CSI) obtain lower levels of ownership in foreign targets, as CSI implies damage to their firm- specific advantages (FSAs). We suggest that in a cross-border context acquirers obtain lower levels of ownership to take advantage of the target firm’s legitimacy in the host market and reduce the likelihood of regulatory scrutiny and stakeholder resistance. However, the negative effects of acquirer reputation risk on the level of ownership in CBAs are contingent on characteristics of the target firm’s country. We find support for our hypotheses in a sample of 17,362 CBAs by 11,136 unique acquirers from 84 countries of target firms located in 67 countries.

Love is Worldmaking: Reading Rabindranath Tagore'sGoraas International Theory

AbstractLove constitutes the global because it is normatively implicated in worldmaking work. I illustrate this empirically via a close and contextualized reading of the political novel Gora, which was set during a key moment of worldmaking during empire and penned by the first non-European Nobel Laureate in literature, Rabindranath Tagore (1861–1941). Tagore is an underappreciated figure in global international relations (IR) who not only traversed multiple political circles during the British empire but also saw himself as a confluence of several cultures. I read Gora as lending insight into love as a site of normative contestation—ethically indeterminate, and intimately involved in worldmaking projects, including nationalism, cosmopolitanism, and inter-communalism in an India on the eve of its independence. Setting Tagore's thought in conversation with contemporary research in international history, and normative and anti-colonial international political theory, makes two important offerings to the study of IR: it reveals how a sociological examination of the micropolitics of love helps us to understand and explain the innumerable ways in which intimacies animate worldmaking and equips us with a normative typology for engaging it.El amor constituye lo global porque está normativamente incluido en el trabajo de creación del mundo. Ilustro esto empíricamente mediante una lectura cercana y contextualizada de la novela política Gora, ambientada en un momento clave de la construcción del mundo durante el imperio, y escrita por el primer ganador del premio Nobel de literatura no europeo, Rabindranath Tagore (1861–1941). Tagore es una figura infravalorada en las Relaciones Internacionales (RR. II.) mundiales, que no solo atravesó múltiples círculos políticos durante el imperio británico, sino que también se vio a sí mismo como una confluencia de varias culturas. Considero que Gora refleja una visión del amor como lugar de contestación normativa, éticamente indeterminado e íntimamente implicado en proyectos de creación de mundo, incluidos el nacionalismo, el cosmopolitismo y el intercomunismo en una India en vísperas de su independencia. Al poner el pensamiento de Tagore en conversación con la investigación contemporánea de la historia internacional y la teoría política internacional normativa y anticolonial, se hacen dos importantes aportes al estudio de las relaciones internacionales: se revela cómo un examen sociológico de la micropolítica del amor nos ayuda a comprender y explicar las innumerables formas en que las intimidades animan la construcción del mundo, y nos equipa con una tipología normativa para abordarla.L'amour constitue le monde car il est normativement impliqué dans le travail de création du monde. J'illustre cela sur le plan empirique par une lecture attentive et contextualisée du roman politique Gora, qui se déroule à un moment clé de la création du monde à l’ère de l'empire britannique et qui a été écrit par le premier lauréat non européen du prix Nobel de littérature, Rabindranath Tagore (1861–1941). Tagore est une figure sous-estimée des relations internationales (RI) mondiales qui a non seulement traversé plusieurs cercles politiques durant l'empire britannique mais qui s'est également vu comme étant à la confluence de plusieurs cultures. J'ai lu Gora comme source de renseignements sur l'amour en tant que site de contestation normative éthiquement indéterminé et intimement impliqué dans les projets de création du monde, notamment dans le nationalisme, le cosmopolitisme et l'intercommunautarisme dans une Inde à la veille de son indépendance. Confronter la pensée de Tagore aux recherches contemporaines en histoire internationale et en théorie politique internationale normative et anticoloniale apporte deux contributions importantes à l’étude des RI : cela révèle la façon dont un examen sociologique de la micropolitique de l'amour nous aide à comprendre et à expliquer les innombrables manières dont les intimités animent la création du monde et nous équipe d'une typologie normative pour l'aborder.

The effect of geographic scope on growth and growth variability of SMEs

The impact of international expansion on the success of small and medium enterprises (SME) has been extensively studied, particularly with respect to the performance implications of expansion into foreign markets. Yet, the literature is still unclear on the consequences of the SME's geographic scope (i.e., the number of countries a firm operates in). Drawing on the contemporary internalization theory, we build a theoretical framework suggesting that SMEs’ geographic scope positively impacts firm growth rate, yet makes it less reliable, i.e., a positive effect on both the mean and the variability of growth. We also suggest that this relationship is highly context-dependent. The positive benefits of the increasing scope materialize only when the firms can manage the rising complexity of operational governance through leveraging the managerial international competencies (obtained, e.g., through international education and international experience) and constraining the geographic expansion to their home region. The framework is empirically tested on data from Swiss SMEs engaged in international operations, employing the multiplicative heteroscedasticity regression model specification with endogenously modeled scope.

The Development and Prospect of Neoliberalism International Relations Theory

Neoliberalism international relations theory occupies a great position in current international relations research and is one of the three existing international relations paradigms.Through a retrospective study on the mainstream branches of neoliberalism international relations theory, this paper summarizes the research starting points, main arguments, and shortcomings of the major schools of neoliberalism international relations theory, and sorts out the development and inheritance relationship between the major theories, comparing the similarities and differences between international theory under the neoliberalism school and other schools such as realist international relations theory. Through the method of literature review, the journals and monographs that are of great significance to various schools of neoliberalism are reviewed. The establishment of neoliberalism international relations theory has gone through a complex process, it is inherited from the traditional liberalism paradigm and has undergone considerable development in the second half of the 20th century. The formulation of neoliberalism international relations theory is a process of compromise between traditional liberal international relations theory and realism. It accepts many theoretical starting points and assumptions from realism and is also influenced by other disciplines such as economics. On this basis, several important branches have been developed. They are related to each other and share many ideological origins and basic assumptions.There is an obvious relationship of inheritance, development and iteration among different branch of theories. Although neoliberalism international relations theory has not completely replaced realist international relations theory, its proposal is still of epoch-making significance as it provides a new perspective to examine international politics and make up for the deficiencies of realist international relations theory.

Implementation Of Indonesia's Cooperation With Denmark In Waste Management

Garbage is a problem for every country in this world, including Indonesia that has large population and is related to the amount of garbage in Indonesia. To slove this problem Indonesia goverment need thecnology and good waste management in Indonesia. Denmark has good waste management and thecnology to turn waste become energy, because of that Indonesia coorperates with Denmark in waste management. This study aims to describe the coorperation between the Indonesia and Danish (Denmark) goverment in waste management in DKI Jakarta. The methedodology used is descriptive qualitative through secondary data which then answerd by using international cooperation theory and waste management concept. The results showed that in the collaboration carried out by Indonesia and Denmark, there were 8 points of cooperation but only 2 points were implemented in DKI Jakarta, namely pilot projects, planning, including technology transfer and regulations in certain provinces and cities or regencies, in this point of cooperation Indonesia and Denmark built PLTSa in DKI Jakarta, precisely at TPST Bantargebang, this PLTSa waste management method uses waste and uses steam from its combustion to be used as electricity and capacity building through workshops, training, scholarships, internships and seminars, which are manifested in Information Transfer (ToI) to monitor the waste management system in Indonesia and the efficiency of energy use and utilization, which is carried out in two programs, namely Capacity Building: Training for Jakarta Building and Energy Efficiency Seminar, in this program Denmark aims for Indonesia to conduct Business Par partnerships with partners energy company in Denmark.

Experienced ‘misfits’: Multinationality alignment, international experience, and adjustments to multinationality

Transaction cost and internalization theory offers that firm-specific transaction-cost factors determine firm-specific optimal levels of multinationality. Decision makers should prefer alignment with optimal levels of multinationality. Yet, some firms continuously misalign with their optimal levels of multinationality. We argue that having multiple preferences may explain these ‘misfit’ firms. Specifically, firms with international experience may develop an inertial preference for further international growth, along with their preference for efficiency/optimization. Hence, more internationally experienced firms with insufficient multinationality will increase their levels of multinationality in subsequent time periods to satisfy both preferences. However, growth preferences in more internationally experienced firms with excess multinationality will counter optimization preferences, reducing the likelihood of decreases to levels of multinationality in subsequent periods. We find support for these ideas in the context of 242 Japanese electrical appliance firms between 2011 and 2019 (1401 firm-year observations).

Research on the Influence of Brand IP Communication on Brand Citizenship Behavior of Urban Rail Transit Employees

In the post-pandemic (COVID-19) era, under the dual background of urban image communication and brand IP development, the influence of IP communication on brand citizenship behavior of urban rail transit employees and its mechanism have become an important issue with theoretical and practical significance. Based on the internal brand management theory, this study conducted an online questionnaire survey of urban rail transit employees in C city, which shows that brand IP communication has a positive correlation with the brand citizenship behavior of urban rail transit employees, and job satisfaction and organizational commitment have an intermediary effect in the process of brand IP communication’s influence on the brand citizenship behavior of its employees. Brand IP attitude has a positive moderating effect on brand IP communication affecting job satisfaction and brand citizenship behavior. Brand IP communication is conducive to strengthening the brand citizenship behavior of urban rail transit employees and improving their work quality and service level. It can also further promote the IP construction of urban rail transit, and provide a new paradigm of urban rail transit IP communication for urban image communication.

Effect of Running Pose Control Training on Ground Reaction Force, Lower Limb Kinetics

As a new strength training method, running form control training has been widely used in foreign athletes’ strength training and public rehabilitation. As a means of auxiliary strength training, running form strength has attracted wide attention in China. In order to keep up with the latest international strength training theory and technology, the reaction force of people’s running style on the ground was compared with the kinematics and dynamics of lower limbs and studied deeply. The significantly reduced load rate in the absence of running posture transformation is speculated to increase to the adaptation strategy of social body after changing shoe conditions. After training, the load rate was deep than that of the control group, increasing that even though the load rate could be reduced by the training method adapted to the ground hardness, the training effect with a clear goal was more significant. Through the comparison of lower limb joint kinematics and training effect, some flexor strength training methods can be added, and the load intensity and quantity can be appropriately increased, so that the proportion of the strength level of the extensor muscle of the lower limb joint can be coordinated, so as to better improve the coordination force level.

Extending internalization theory: Integrating international business strategy with international management

AbstractResearch summaryInternational business strategy and international management are two distinct but related fields of study. This article explores the connections between them. It shows how internalization theory can act as a bridge between them. The key is to analyze not only core activities, such as production, marketing and R&D, but support services such as human resource management, information technology, and corporate finance. Internalization decisions and location decisions must be analyzed holistically, and diagrammatic techniques show how this can be done. These diagrams reveal the networks of communication and the hierarchical structures that emerge from such decisions.Managerial summaryThe organizational structure of a multinational enterprise is inherently complex, making it difficult to determine whether one organizational structure is more efficient than another. Delayering, decentralization, and agility are recommended, but what are their practical implications? Internalization theory addresses these problems in a simple and coherent way. It shows that it is not only core activities, namely production, marketing and R&D, that need to be coordinated, but support services too. Decisions on the location and out‐sourcing of support services must be aligned with similar decisions on core activities. A diagrammatic analysis is presented that facilitates the solution of these problems.

Scaling digital solutions for wicked problems: Ecosystem versatility

Digital solutions are increasingly used to address “wicked problems” that are locally embedded but require global approaches. Scaling these solutions internationally is imperative for their success, but to date we know little about this process. Using a qualitative case study methodology, our paper analyzes how four digital solutions driven by the United Nations are built and how they scale internationally. These solutions address wicked problems through artificial intelligence, blockchain, and geospatial mapping, and are embedded in networks of partners which evolve during scaling to create unique ecosystem roles and configurations. We identify different ecosystem roles and find that the specific properties of digital solutions – modularity, generativity and affordances – enable either adaptation or replication during scaling. Building on these insights, we derive a typology of four different types of international scaling, which vary in their ecosystem versatility (how the ecosystem changes across locations) and the local adaptation of the application (the problems the solution addresses). This study presents a new way to examine the replication and adaptation dilemma for ecosystems and extends internationalization theory to the digital world.

Russian–Vietnamese mutual perceptions from linguistic and cultural perspectives

This paper investigates Russian–Vietnamese mutual perceptions based on the empirical, questionnaire-based approach. As the preliminary stage of a large-scale study devoted to revealing mutual representations of the Russian and Vietnamese people, ethnic portraits and self-portraits were compiled based on the linguistic data collected. The authors consider the study and its results as the further development of the theoretical and experimental approaches to the investigation of ethnic identification and self-identification processes. The survey participants were Russian and Vietnamese university students. The comparative analysis of the results demonstrated similarities and differences in the characteristic and personified (anthroponymic) self-portraits and portraits of the two peoples. Among the ten most frequently mentioned qualities to describe each other, kindness emerged as the only common feature. Regarding ethnic portraits, the most frequently mentioned characteristics of the Russians were hospitality, friendliness, and intelligence; while the Vietnamese portrait included such traits as hard-working, kind, and gay. The most frequent self-identification characteristics mentioned by the Russians were patience and courage, while the Vietnamese described themselves as united, hard-working and patriotic. The conclusion is made that ethnic portraits and self-portraits may differ considerably, as demonstrated above. Data obtained were systemised and analysed based of the Schwartz Theory of Basic Human Values, which resulted in noteworthy cross-cultural differences in the perception of openness to change and conservation. Data on the personified portraits and self-portraits of Russian and Vietnamese people are of interest. The collection of names of important or just famous persons as typical representatives of the people has been collected and analysed. The combined application of the international theories and the Russian ethnic conflictology approaches may contribute to gaining a clearer picture of Russian and Vietnamese mutual and self-perceptions, which in its turn will lead to a more effective intercultural dialogue.

Analysis of Psychological and Pedagogical Training in the Process of Training in Higher Educational Institutions of the Republic of Kazakhstan and the People’s Republic of China

The processes of globalization and international integration have been the subject of much researchin the field of higher education in many countries. The desire to integrate teacher education has becomeone of the main trends in modern international theory and practice of teacher education. The purpose ofthis article is to analyze the professional training of students of psychological and pedagogical specialties of universities in China and Kazakhstan by comparing work plans, credits and hours devoted to thestudy of individual sections and disciplines. Studies of integration between the Republic of Kazakhstanand the People’s Republic of China show that there is quite a wealth of experience in the developmentand reform of teacher education between the two countries.The authors of this article analyzed the ideas, goals, curricula, and teaching methods in China andKazakhstan. Integration processes in the field of education between the Republic of Kazakhstan and thePeople’s Republic of China have a market orientation, focus on organizational innovation in education. The reform of education integration in Kazakhstan in the future should be focused on three aspects:improvement of plural cooperation, mutual management system of teachers’ education and strengthening of this link after the end of teaching activity. The PRC is actively developing models of professionallearning communities aimed at teacher training.The article makes an attempt of comparative analysis of psychological and pedagogical training inthe process of training in higher educational institutions of RK and PRC. Internationalization and integration are the components of the modern process of higher education, contributing to its competitivenessand approaching to the best international practices.Key words: integration, education, psychological and pedagogical training, higher education; reflexion.

Investigating the Reconfiguration of Internationalization Strategies under Digitalization

Digitalization can induce the structural changes of multinational enterprises (MNEs), therefore, it is important to reconsider their internal organization. In this paper, the changes in the roles of the subsidiaries of MNEs due to digitalization was investigated. By adopting the internalization theory perspective, the local organizations, including the market demand, the digital technology, infrastructure platform, the institutional systems of the host country, including the legitimacy, substantial institutions, and symbolic rules, in contributing to the changes in the role of subsidiaries was also illustrate in this paper. Additionally, the implications of the framework on entry mode, knowledge transfer and other research issues was also discussed in this paper.

International Trade and Multinational Investment Theory of the Firm

This study developed the international trade and multinational investment theory of a firm. It examined the effects of export taxes and transport costs in attracting foreign direct investment. The study answered the following question: when is it profitable for a multinational to locate one of its affiliates in a particular host country to trade in that market in lieu of exporting the product to that country after producing it in the home country? In this study, multinationals locate themselves in developing countries to compete in an oligopolistic market and the host countries compete to attract them. The model predicts: (a) a negative effect of transport costs on the number of multinationals entering developing countries, (b) a negative effect of export taxes on the number of multinationals entering developing countries, and (c) a negative effect on the interaction between transport costs and export taxes on the number of multinationals entering developing countries.

Outward foreign direct investment by emerging market multinationals: The directionality of institutional distance

We investigate how emerging market multinationals (EMNEs) choose locations for foreign direct investment (FDI) and how they determine the scale of FDI in host countries where formal institutions are more developed or less than their home country. Integrating internalization theory with the directionality logic of institutional distance, we develop theoretical arguments of cost-effectiveness related to FDI location and FDI scale in two institutional directions: host countries with more developed institutions than the home country and those with less developed institutions. We hypothesize that an EMNE’s likelihood of investing in the positive (negative) direction decreases (increases) with the increase in home–host institutional distance, but the investment scale increases (decreases) with increasing institutional distance. The FDI location choice varies among EMNEs with different levels of intangible assets, but the FDI scale does not. Our analyses of 3,297 EMNEs’ outward FDI in 100 host countries between 2004 and 2019 provide supportive evidence. This study extends internalization theory using EMNE-specific evidence of directional distance between home- and host-country institutions.

Rediscovering Epistemic Coalitions Twenty Years Later: Using the International Olympic Committee to Build toward A Literature on Epistemic Institutionalism

AbstractThis article aims to help the literature on global governance and international professionalism move beyond a myopic focus on epistemic communities by unpacking the underutilized term epistemic coalition. Epistemic coalitions are an international nonstate actor that employ a broadened notion of expertise to incorporate business and political advocates alongside technical experts. I differentiate epistemic coalitions from epistemic communities by synthesizing the international relations, organizational theory, and public policy literatures. These organizations differ in the breadth of their policy agendas, dynamics of internal cohesion, and capabilities to engage in global policy transfer. However, I note that it is still unclear how epistemic coalitions coordinate member action along different professions and what are the conditions under which epistemic coalitions’ membership balances will be viewed by national elites as professionally legitimate. I then examine the role of the International Olympic Committee in US steroid policy to induce two preliminary hypotheses that can potentially address these gaps. First, epistemic coalitions use a foundational narrative to coordinate action among professions. Second, perceptions of equitable membership balance stem from an ideational congruence between national and international elites. I conclude with how these hypotheses can be tested in the future.

Government's Strategy and Role in the Internationalization of MSMEs

This study aims to discuss the strategy and role of the government in the internationalization of MSMEs. The research method used in this study is a qualitative descriptive method. The type of data used in this research is qualitative data, which is divided into primary data and secondary data. Sources of data obtained through library research techniques that refer to resources available online and offline, such as: scientific journals, books, and news from trusted sources. The results showed that the internationalization strategy conceptually and theoretically can be divided into two categories, namely internationalization theory and selectivity theory. The emergence of internalization theory can threaten the existence of MSMEs due to the development of large companies in the 1970s. Furthermore, in its development, the theory seeks to internalize the benefits that can be obtained from internationalization, localization, and ownership. At the same time, the eclectic theory in the internationalization strategy places more emphasis on the resources owned by MSMEs and knowledge of the markets and networks that MSMEs choose to market their products. The steps taken by the current government by creating a special portal at INSW are appropriate, but if this is achieved not only through existing portals, but also through direct engagement with business people, including through seminars and workshops by interacting with them more often and socialize.