{"title":"Alternative finance in the international business context: a review and future research","authors":"Franklin Allen, Meijun Qian","doi":"10.1057/s41267-024-00739-x","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1057/s41267-024-00739-x","url":null,"abstract":"<p>Firms increasingly rely on alternative finance (AF) in addition to banks and equity markets, and its usage across countries differs significantly. We conceptualize AF as financing that operates within social, business, and virtual networks that generate informational, collateral, and incentive advantages compared to finance relying on traditional financial intermediaries. Examples of AF include family loans, microfinance, trade credit, community credit cooperatives, person-to-person (P2P), and crowdfunding. While AF is not a new phenomenon, technological development continues to facilitate its increasing prominence. We review the evolution of AF theories, summarize key empirical findings, and describe how AF intersects with international business (IB) research. Specifically, we review how AF feeds into the analysis of comparative financial systems, financial development, comparative corporate governance, and national culture. We conclude that AF has shaped comparative research in IB in important ways, but cross-border research in IB has hardly considered the role of AF. Globalization and technological development and adoption in the financial industry generate rich fields where AF and IB intersect; these have yet to be understood. We describe how IB research, specifically addressing the cross-border dimension, could benefit from integrating insights from AF research, and propose approaches to integrate theories on AF, IB, and internationalization.</p>","PeriodicalId":48453,"journal":{"name":"Journal of International Business Studies","volume":"5 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":11.6,"publicationDate":"2024-10-02","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142385061","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"管理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Albert Tsang, Kun Tracy Wang, Nathan Zhenghang Zhu
{"title":"Product market bonding and cross-listings: evidence from global competition law reforms","authors":"Albert Tsang, Kun Tracy Wang, Nathan Zhenghang Zhu","doi":"10.1057/s41267-024-00740-4","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1057/s41267-024-00740-4","url":null,"abstract":"<p>We propose and empirically test a product market motive for cross-listing, positing that intensified competition in domestic markets incentivizes firms to cross-list their securities as a strategic response to mitigate the adverse impact of heightened competition at home. Utilizing a hand-collected comprehensive cross-listing dataset covering 56 home countries and 45 cross-listing host countries, along with a novel measure of competition law reforms that intensify product market competition in firms’ home countries, our study provides robust evidence supporting this hypothesis. We find that firms are more likely to cross-list their securities following the implementation of competition law reforms in their home countries. Additional analyses suggest that cross-listing facilitates firms in gaining a deeper understanding of foreign product markets, signaling their commitment to delivering superior products, and enhancing product/brand awareness in foreign countries. Importantly, we demonstrate that cross-listing positively influences foreign sales, underscoring its efficacy as a strategic tool for bolstering a firm’s presence in foreign product markets amid heightened domestic competition. Overall, our study identifies a strategic product market motive for cross-listing and offers actionable insights for firms to enhance market positioning in an increasingly competitive global marketplace.</p>","PeriodicalId":48453,"journal":{"name":"Journal of International Business Studies","volume":"70 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":11.6,"publicationDate":"2024-10-02","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142385063","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"管理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Massimiliano Coda Zabetta, Ernest Miguelez, Francesco Lissoni, Sarah Hegarty
{"title":"Foreign-origin managers and FDI location choice","authors":"Massimiliano Coda Zabetta, Ernest Miguelez, Francesco Lissoni, Sarah Hegarty","doi":"10.1057/s41267-024-00726-2","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1057/s41267-024-00726-2","url":null,"abstract":"<p>Building upon the upper echelons theory of organizations as applied to internationalization strategies, we investigate the impact of foreign-origin top management team (TMT) members on their companies’ location choice. We propose that a <i>manager-from-target</i> effect may exist, by which a manager’s knowledge of their country of origin increases the likelihood of choosing that country as a target. We expect it to be stronger for acquisitions than for greenfield investments, the inputs of foreign-origin managers being more relevant in the first case. Based on a large sample of foreign direct investment from 2013 to 2019, and using name analysis to identify TMT members’ origins, we find that the effect is present in both establishment modes but larger and more robust for acquisitions. It is also larger in companies with less diverse TMTs, for which targeting one manager’s country of origin instead of others’ may be less likely to cause conflict. Future research should explore whether investments in locations suggested by managers from the target country outperform others. If this is the case, it implies that recruiting foreign-origin top managers can improve a company’s internationalization strategy via better location choices.</p>","PeriodicalId":48453,"journal":{"name":"Journal of International Business Studies","volume":"53 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":11.6,"publicationDate":"2024-09-17","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142236784","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"管理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Industrial policy, green challenges, and international business","authors":"Gabriel R. G. Benito, Klaus E. Meyer","doi":"10.1057/s41267-024-00722-6","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1057/s41267-024-00722-6","url":null,"abstract":"<p>Nation-states are designing their industrial policies increasingly to not only enhance national competitiveness, but also to simultaneously address “Green Challenges”, concerns about the natural environment that require concerted action among different actors in society, including domestic and foreign multinational enterprises (MNEs). This blending of global and national policy objectives is leading to a new wave of industrial policies in advanced economies that are informed by scholarly discourses in evolutionary economics, innovation systems, and 'wicked problems'. We discuss the implications of these sustainability-oriented industrial policies for MNEs. They operate in increasingly diverse local ecosystems shaped by local actors and local policies as we illustrate for two such ecosystems in Nordic countries: circular economy and energy transition. Many MNEs face a tension between capabilities they could use to help nations achieve their sustainability goals and incentives to protect existing rents and business models. They may thus engage pro-actively or reactively in both market and nonmarket realms in each country in which they operate. We discuss the interactions between MNEs, governments, and other actors in host countries pursuing both sustainability and competitiveness objectives, and outline how ensuing tensions create new challenges and opportunities for international business scholarship.</p>","PeriodicalId":48453,"journal":{"name":"Journal of International Business Studies","volume":"30 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":11.6,"publicationDate":"2024-09-17","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142236782","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"管理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Modes of control in international digital commerce: evidence from Amazon.com","authors":"Jiatao Li, Ziyi Chen, Ohchan Kwon, Jue Wang","doi":"10.1057/s41267-024-00731-5","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1057/s41267-024-00731-5","url":null,"abstract":"<p>Online marketplaces such as Amazon.com represent a new channel through which multinational enterprises (MNEs) can sell their products in foreign markets, either as third-party sellers or as suppliers to the platform owner. An MNE can have better control of the marketing mix when selling directly on Amazon.com as a third-party seller, but this task entails two challenges. First is the liability of foreignness, and second is the disadvantage of competing with other products that are directly sold by the platform owner. The platform owner sets the rules of the platform and has data and algorithmic advantages, putting competitive pressure on MNEs with tighter control. Data obtained from Amazon are analyzed and reveal that maintaining control as a third-party seller predicts lower sales than being a supplier to the platform owner. However, the penalty associated with retaining control is smaller for MNEs with more host-country experience and country-of-origin advantage. These findings provide new insights into how MNEs leverage platforms such as Amazon.com to expand their global reach.</p>","PeriodicalId":48453,"journal":{"name":"Journal of International Business Studies","volume":"48 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":11.6,"publicationDate":"2024-09-05","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142142572","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"管理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Christiaan Röell, Felix Arndt, Mirko H. Benischke, Rebecca Piekkari
{"title":"Doing good for political gain: the instrumental use of the SDGs as nonmarket strategies","authors":"Christiaan Röell, Felix Arndt, Mirko H. Benischke, Rebecca Piekkari","doi":"10.1057/s41267-024-00723-5","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1057/s41267-024-00723-5","url":null,"abstract":"<p>The United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) are changing the way multinational enterprises (MNEs) engage with host governments. The SDGs offer MNEs a unique opportunity to build political influence by assisting governments in attaining a host country’s social needs. However, international business scholars have largely remained silent on how MNEs strategize to repurpose ‘doing good’ into political influence. Based on a multiple case study of four Western European MNE subsidiaries in Indonesia, we uncover the strategies that MNEs use to turn their SDG initiatives into political access and influence. Our study reveals three nonmarket strategies – SDG-directed cross-sector partnership, SDG-directed conflict management, and SDG-directed constituency building. These actionable strategies help MNEs manage the tensions arising from misaligned government priorities, high levels of perceived corruption, and skepticism toward foreign firms. Our findings advance the literature on international nonmarket strategy by explaining how MNE subsidiaries resolve these tensions and convert SDG-directed investments into political access and influence without succumbing to locally institutionalized norms of corruption. Finally, our study suggests that emerging-market governments may benefit from rewarding MNEs for their investments that contribute to the SDGs, as long as they provide clear guidance and multi-stakeholder platforms that foster effective collaborations with MNEs.</p>","PeriodicalId":48453,"journal":{"name":"Journal of International Business Studies","volume":"62 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":11.6,"publicationDate":"2024-09-04","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142152426","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"管理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Jiatao Li, Han Jiang, Jia Shen, Haoyuan Ding, Rongjian Yu
{"title":"Using the difference-in-differences design with panel data in international business research: progress, potential issues, and practical suggestions","authors":"Jiatao Li, Han Jiang, Jia Shen, Haoyuan Ding, Rongjian Yu","doi":"10.1057/s41267-024-00725-3","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1057/s41267-024-00725-3","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":48453,"journal":{"name":"Journal of International Business Studies","volume":"15 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":11.6,"publicationDate":"2024-09-02","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142124059","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"管理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Gianfranco Gianfrate, Mirco Rubin, Dario Ruzzi, Mathijs van Dijk
{"title":"On the resilience of ESG firms during the COVID-19 crisis: evidence across countries and asset classes","authors":"Gianfranco Gianfrate, Mirco Rubin, Dario Ruzzi, Mathijs van Dijk","doi":"10.1057/s41267-024-00718-2","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1057/s41267-024-00718-2","url":null,"abstract":"<p>We use the exogenous shock of COVID-19 to explore the resilience of firms with strong ESG (environmental, social, and governance) ratings across 63 countries and three asset classes: stocks, credit default swaps (CDS), and corporate bonds. We show that the resilience of strong ESG firms is not a consistent global phenomenon outside of North America and varies considerably across countries. Additional evidence points towards a substitution effect between firm-level sustainability performance as captured by ESG ratings and country-level sustainability performance especially in terms of healthcare coverage. Overall, our findings indicate that the capacity of strong ESG firms to serve as “rainy day assets” is geography-dependent and that ESG considerations can also affect international corporate debt markets.</p>","PeriodicalId":48453,"journal":{"name":"Journal of International Business Studies","volume":"7 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":11.6,"publicationDate":"2024-08-29","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142100870","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"管理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Liang (Arthur) Li, Paul W. Beamish, Andreas P. J. Schotter
{"title":"General manager succession dynamics in MNE foreign subsidiaries","authors":"Liang (Arthur) Li, Paul W. Beamish, Andreas P. J. Schotter","doi":"10.1057/s41267-024-00717-3","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1057/s41267-024-00717-3","url":null,"abstract":"<p>Subsidiary general manager (GM) succession selection is a critical process in multinational enterprises (MNEs). Previous research, grounded in organizational learning and routines, has suggested that GM succession dynamics typically follow either an acceleration or a deceleration momentum. However, as we investigated succession decision-making heuristics through interviews with MNE managers, we observed neither acceleration nor deceleration. Instead, we found some consistent succession dynamics. Within this consistency, we found variations in decision-making models among subsidiaries—some adopting a rule-based approach with a short succession dynamic, some adopting a goal-based approach with a moderate succession dynamic, and others adopting a people-based approach with a long succession dynamic. Underlying these models were bounded rationality, bounded reliability, and their unexpected interactions. Our study sheds light on the critical role of managers in subsidiary management, enriches international business theorizing on the subsidiary GM succession process, and refines the boundary conditions of organizational learning. The central message is that looking solely at GM succession dynamics through an organizational learning lens may risk overlooking relevant causal mechanisms. To make the theorizing on the dynamics of subsidiary management more fertile, the behavioral model should account for the idiosyncrasies of decision-making as well as the heuristics of decision-makers.</p>","PeriodicalId":48453,"journal":{"name":"Journal of International Business Studies","volume":"7 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":11.6,"publicationDate":"2024-08-28","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142090040","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"管理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Foreign divestment: the missing piece in international business scholarship","authors":"Shyamala Sethuram, Ajai Gaur","doi":"10.1057/s41267-024-00727-1","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1057/s41267-024-00727-1","url":null,"abstract":"<p>As international business (IB) scholars seek to invigorate the field and steer it away from what some deem a “research coma” resulting from a narrowing scope, the significance of foreign divestment (FD) has once again been relegated amidst other pressing topics. We advocate for elevating FD to the same level of importance as foreign direct investment (FDI). Despite emerging a decade after seminal contributions on FDI, FD has suffered from a notable lack of attention in IB research and educational curricula. However, FD, like FDI, is a common practice among firms and is gaining prominence in light of recent disruptions such as geopolitical conflicts, economic decoupling, digital transformation, and growing skepticism towards globalization. We identify two main setbacks to overcome: the persistent view of FD as merely a misstep in firms' internationalization strategies, and its perception as a subordinate aspect within broader themes of internationalization, including emerging topics such as deglobalization and decoupling. As we elaborate in this commentary, delving into FD at a more granular level can uncover disruptive spillovers that require pushing the boundaries of extant theorizing in IB; neglecting FD leaves the field incomplete and hampers its ability to fully grasp the complexities of global business dynamics.</p>","PeriodicalId":48453,"journal":{"name":"Journal of International Business Studies","volume":"7 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":11.6,"publicationDate":"2024-08-23","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142045628","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"管理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}