Internationalization Of State-owned Enterprises Research Articles

Bulls and bears: inscribing SOEs’ roles into the global climate agenda

Purpose This study aims to explore when and under what conditions state-owned enterprises (SOEs) become important players in orchestrating the global climate action and what their roles are as domestic or international (de)carbonizers. Design/methodology/approach This is a conceptual paper that aims to advance understanding of the role of SOEs in addressing the global climate challenge. The authors build on the institutional theory to capture the importance of home-country climate regulation mechanisms and advance knowledge on the internationalization of SOEs. The authors review the literature on the institutional boundaries that shape the environmental activities of firms at home and abroad and develop the argument on the influence of home country institutions and internationalization on the role of SOEs in the global climate agenda. Findings In this study, the authors elaborate the SOEs’ climate action matrix and offer three propositions based on the fact that SOEs’ environmental strategies are driven by the interests of the state as owner and the scope of SOEs’ internationalization. First, the authors propose that the level of home country’s climate policy ambition explains SOEs’ stance on climate action. Second, scope of internationalization explains SOEs’ stance on climate action. Third, the progressive/increasing involvement of SOEs in climate action enhances the country’s climate stance. Originality/value The authors incorporate the climate argument into international business (IB) studies of SOEs’ internationalization, a novel approach that helps us to advance the knowledge on the complex issue of corporate climate action. The authors argue for a dynamic and reciprocal relationship between home/host countries and SOEs’ climate engagement. In doing this, the authors contribute to the IB research and policy agenda by exploring SOEs’ engagement in advancing the global climate agenda.

The internationalization of state-owned enterprises in liberalized markets: the role of home-country pro-market reforms

We study how home-country factors can alter the impact of host-country conditions on the location decisions of state-owned enterprises (SOEs). Specifically, we examine the role of home-country pro-market reforms in facilitating SOEs’ entry into host countries with a free-market logic. We consider two types of home-country pro-market reforms: market liberalization and privatization. We propose that home market liberalization mainly mitigates SOEs’ market legitimacy deficit and facilitates their entry into host countries with a prominent free-market logic. In such contexts, businesses perceive SOEs from more liberalized home markets as more accustomed to market competition and thus are less likely to exert pressure on the host government against them. We also argue that furthering SOEs’ privatization mitigates SOEs’ political legitimacy deficit in host countries with a free-market logic, thus facilitating entry. In these contexts, host governments perceive more privatized SOEs as more independent from their home state due to reduced political connections. We find support for our arguments in a dataset of 97 telecom SOEs from 97 countries over the period 1990–2010. Our study advances research on SOEs’ internationalization and research on pro-market reforms and has relevant implications for managers and policymakers.

Enterprises’ globalization and ESG performance

This paper selects the data of China's A-share listed companies from 2011 to 2021 to explore the impact of enterprises' internationalization behaviors on their ESG performance. The study finds that internationalization activities promote the optimization of ESG performance;internationalization of state-owned enterprises (SOEs) in the field of production and operation is more conducive to the enhancement of their own ESG performance than internationalization of non-state-owned enterprises (NSOEs) at the level of their governance structure;especially in the manufacturing industry, has a more significant positive effect on ESG.

Formal and informal influences of the state on OFDI of hybrid state-owned enterprises in China

This study investigates how the state influences the outward foreign direct investment (OFDI) of hybrid state-owned enterprises (SOEs) in China. Previous studies have provided conflicting arguments and empirical findings on the internationalization of SOEs, with some studies proposing a positive relationship between state ownership and OFDI, while others propose a negative relationship. In this paper, we argue that the mixed effects are due to different influences of different levels of state ownership and different types of political connections. We investigate our proposed hypotheses based on a sample of publicly listed hybrid Chinese SOEs between 2009 and 2016. We find an S-shaped relationship between state ownership and OFDI such that at low levels of state ownership, OFDI increases as state ownership increases; at medium levels of state ownership, OFDI decreases as state ownership increases; at high levels of state ownership, OFDI increases again as state ownership increases. We further find that executive-branch political connections between boards and top management teams of firms and the government have a negative effect on OFDI, while legislative-branch political connections have no significant effect on OFDI.

Emerging market state-owned multinationals: a review and implications for the state capitalism debate

Internationalization of state-owned enterprises from emerging markets (EMSOEs) increasingly attracts the attention of scholars and results in an impressive body of research. Chinese state companies are the major focus in this debate. Yet, the conclusions of scholars generate a great variety of theorizing in a field that lacks systematization, which requires an assessment of the existing knowledge and a study of where the field is moving. We review the existing research in top academic journals in international business and strategic management and reveal the two major thematic strands that accommodate the discussion on EMSOEs’ internationalization from 2012 when the topic started receiving much scholarly attention. These are the government’s role in EMSOEs’ internationalization and the diversity of EMSOEs. We present the future prospective topics and questions within the debate on EMSOEs’ internationalization that promise to move the scholarly debate on this phenomenon forward.

The Internationalization of State-Owned Enterprises: An Analysis of cross-border M&As

The Internationalization of State-Owned Enterprises: An Analysis of cross-border M&As

Institutional Logics and the Internationalization of a State-Owned Enterprise: Evaluation of International Venture Opportunities by Telecom Finland 1987–1998

We contribute to the research on internationalization of state-owned enterprises (SOEs) by studying the coevolution of state governance of SOEs and SOEs’ evaluation of international venture opportunities during a shift in dominant institutional logic from state to market logic. Using a novel digital historical method to study Telecom Finland, we argue that as state governance mechanisms change due to a logic shift, rationales underlying SOEs’ internationalization can significantly change and impact SOEs’ geographical and partner preferences. However, a logic shift also affords SOEs significant influence over the formation of new state governance policies under the new dominant logic.

Internationalization of State-Owned Enterprises from Transitioning Economies

Using the economic theory of the State and the resource-based view, we examine the role of the home country context in the internationalization process of state-owned enterprises (SOEs) from three transitioning economies (the Czech Republic, Slovakia, and Vietnam). While the literature has highlighted that strategies of SOEs are embedded in home country settings, little is known about how state capitalism shapes cross-border activities of state-affiliated multinationals. We propose a model to explain the types and degree of state involvement in SOEs’ internationalization and discuss the various drivers of internationalization activities of SOEs from the three economies at different stages of transition.

Internationalization of state-owned enterprises from emerging markets: Overview of theoretical approaches

The article presents the analysis of the theoretical and empirical research on the phenomenon of the internationalization of state-owned enterprises from emerging market countries. Contemporary internationalized state-owned enterprises are far from the uncompetitive and ineffective firms of the 20th century that mostly operated domestically and give examples of truly exciting international strategies. However the question stays open, namely how exactly state ownership shapes their international strategies. The existing studies are vast and lack systematization, and the purpose of this article is to analyze the most widely used theoretical approaches that investigate internationalization of emerging markets of stateowned enterprises. The most popular theoretical approach to study the internationalization of emerging markets of state-owned enterprises is the institutional perspective that studies how the interplay of state ownership of companies and institutional environment shapes their international strategies. Nevertheless, the synergy of theoretical approaches is needed in order to extend knowledge on the internationalization of the state-owned enterprises. Examples of such a synergy are presented in this paper. It also offers prospects for future research and further topics to study. Analysis of theoretical approaches that study internationalization of emerging markets of state-owned enterprises helps map the research field and show where it is moving. The paper has value for both academia and practitioners that deal with the global expansion of state-owned enterprises from emerging markets.

Varieties of capitalism and the internationalization of state-owned enterprises

This article sheds light on how the internationalization of state-owned enterprises is influenced by the state involvement in ownership and by the home country’s institutional settings. Integrating international business literature with the debate on the varieties of capitalism, we contend that state-dominated enterprises internationalize more (less) than privately owned enterprises in coordinated (liberal) market economies, whereas they exhibit an inconstant behavior in state-influenced market economies. Our analysis on a sample of enterprises pertaining to 20 OECD countries supports our hypotheses. This article adds to studies on the influence of institutions on firms’ internationalization and has implications for both managers and policymakers.

Corporatization and internationalization of state-owned enterprises

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to provide a conceptual framework for the intermediation of state-owned enterprises (SOEs). Governments may apply different form of support with the aim of increasing corporatization and internationalization of SOEs. The paper suggests a strategy based on institutional intermediation as the more efficient to drive corporatization and internationalization.Design/methodology/approachThe research selected cases concerning SOEs in different industries in Europe in search of recurrences from a novel theoretical perspective. Among them, a case study concerning the Italian Space Agency explores the development of an institutional intermediary.FindingsGovernment supports to SOEs appear in different forms and contribute to different results. A typology of the most recurrent forms shows three different types of actions governments have taken to support internationalization of firms. Intermediation seems the most suitable to trigger corporatization and internationalization.Research limitations/implicationsThe study explores institutional intermediaries as a novel supporting strategy for governments. It proposes a novel concept based upon a single case study. Further research needs to test and verify the institutional intermediaries’ impact drawing on a larger sample and different contexts.Originality/valueSo far, few attempts have linked corporatization to globalization. The paper tries to fill this gap between corporatization and internationalization of SOEs. Its value is the provision of a novel view that includes institutional intermediaries as instrumental to governments’ strategy that aims to bridge the two components.