Inward internationalisation and cross-border acquisitions by EMNEs: The moderating role of ownership heterogeneity

<p>Unlike Advanced Economy Multinational Enterprises (AMNEs), Emerging Economy Multinational Enterprises’ (EMNEs) dominant participation in international trade and investment is a recent phenomenon. Still, EMNEs are found to adopt bold strategies in the early stages of their internationalization and show path departure in the selection of their entry mode, such as cross border acquisition (CBA). CBA is not only a widely adopted EMNE internationalisation strategy but also distinguished EMNA internationalisation behaviour from that of AMNEs. CBA, entailing a high level of risk, requires considerable experiential knowledge that EMNEs lack. This knowledge deficit increases the perceived cost and risk associated with internationalisation and decreases the likelihood of engaging in foreign investment. There is a gap in the knowledge around how EMNEs compensate for their lack of experiential knowledge and how this experiential knowledge influences EMNEs’ adoption of CBA. Drawing from organisational learning as a theoretical lens, this study proposes that learning from inward internationalisation facilitates EMNEs’ CBA decisions. From an organisational perspective, experiential knowledge, especially externally sourced, is valuable when the acquired knowledge fits the recipient organisations’ existing dominant logic and values. Therefore ownership structure, such as family, institutional or corporate ownership, acts as a boundary condition and may influence the impact of inward internationalisation on CBA decisions. This idea is grounded in agency theory. This study argues that EMNEs compensate for their lack of internationalisation experiential knowledge through inward internationalisation (externally sourced experiential knowledge) which serves as a resource based antecedent leading EMNEs to make risky CBA decisions. Further, from an agency theory perspective, the study proposes that inward internationalisation – CBA relationships are likely to vary for different types of ownership categories. The study uses a quantitative approach to test the hypotheses in an Indian context. India, being a large emerging economy, provides an appropriate backdrop to test the study’s conceptual model. For this study, a sample of 369 CBAs conducted by 205 public listed companies from 2009 to 2017 was collected from the SDC platinum database. The sample generated a panel of 1845 firm-year observations. Through a negative binomial regression analysis, it is found that inward internationalisation has a positive impact on the likelihood of Indian MNEs’ CBA decision. Regarding the moderating effect of ownership, it is found that family ownership reduces the impact of inward internationalisation, whereas foreign institutional ownership increases the impact of inward internationalisation. No moderating effects are found for domestic institutional ownership, nor are they found for domestic or foreign corporate ownerships. This research contributes to the understanding of the EMNEs’ risky internationalisation behaviour through CBA. The present study adds to this stream of research by focusing on inward internationalisation and ownership structure influencing risky CBA decisions. In doing so, it contributes to organisational learning literature by suggesting that the impact of experiential knowledge may not necessarily be the same across the firms. This heterogeneity is attributable to EMNEs (knowledge acquiring organisation) who show varying motives, objectives and governance structure depending on their ownership structure. By examining the boundary condition of ownership heterogeneity, this study also contributes to Principal–Principal (PP) agency theory that ownership concentration along with owner’s identity is not only confined to strategy formulation but also extends to entry mode (CBA) decisions. Goal incongruence due to PP conflict between owners also decides whether experiential knowledge acquired from inward internationalisation fits with the firms or not in the resulting CBA decision. Finally, this study provides deep insights on different owners’ attitudes and their supporting or confining roles in moderating the impact of inward internationalisation on Indian EMNEs’ risk-taking behaviour during internationalisation.</p>

Inward internationalisation and cross-border acquisitions by EMNEs: The moderating role of ownership heterogeneity

<p>Unlike Advanced Economy Multinational Enterprises (AMNEs), Emerging Economy Multinational Enterprises’ (EMNEs) dominant participation in international trade and investment is a recent phenomenon. Still, EMNEs are found to adopt bold strategies in the early stages of their internationalization and show path departure in the selection of their entry mode, such as cross border acquisition (CBA). CBA is not only a widely adopted EMNE internationalisation strategy but also distinguished EMNA internationalisation behaviour from that of AMNEs. CBA, entailing a high level of risk, requires considerable experiential knowledge that EMNEs lack. This knowledge deficit increases the perceived cost and risk associated with internationalisation and decreases the likelihood of engaging in foreign investment. There is a gap in the knowledge around how EMNEs compensate for their lack of experiential knowledge and how this experiential knowledge influences EMNEs’ adoption of CBA. Drawing from organisational learning as a theoretical lens, this study proposes that learning from inward internationalisation facilitates EMNEs’ CBA decisions. From an organisational perspective, experiential knowledge, especially externally sourced, is valuable when the acquired knowledge fits the recipient organisations’ existing dominant logic and values. Therefore ownership structure, such as family, institutional or corporate ownership, acts as a boundary condition and may influence the impact of inward internationalisation on CBA decisions. This idea is grounded in agency theory. This study argues that EMNEs compensate for their lack of internationalisation experiential knowledge through inward internationalisation (externally sourced experiential knowledge) which serves as a resource based antecedent leading EMNEs to make risky CBA decisions. Further, from an agency theory perspective, the study proposes that inward internationalisation – CBA relationships are likely to vary for different types of ownership categories. The study uses a quantitative approach to test the hypotheses in an Indian context. India, being a large emerging economy, provides an appropriate backdrop to test the study’s conceptual model. For this study, a sample of 369 CBAs conducted by 205 public listed companies from 2009 to 2017 was collected from the SDC platinum database. The sample generated a panel of 1845 firm-year observations. Through a negative binomial regression analysis, it is found that inward internationalisation has a positive impact on the likelihood of Indian MNEs’ CBA decision. Regarding the moderating effect of ownership, it is found that family ownership reduces the impact of inward internationalisation, whereas foreign institutional ownership increases the impact of inward internationalisation. No moderating effects are found for domestic institutional ownership, nor are they found for domestic or foreign corporate ownerships. This research contributes to the understanding of the EMNEs’ risky internationalisation behaviour through CBA. The present study adds to this stream of research by focusing on inward internationalisation and ownership structure influencing risky CBA decisions. In doing so, it contributes to organisational learning literature by suggesting that the impact of experiential knowledge may not necessarily be the same across the firms. This heterogeneity is attributable to EMNEs (knowledge acquiring organisation) who show varying motives, objectives and governance structure depending on their ownership structure. By examining the boundary condition of ownership heterogeneity, this study also contributes to Principal–Principal (PP) agency theory that ownership concentration along with owner’s identity is not only confined to strategy formulation but also extends to entry mode (CBA) decisions. Goal incongruence due to PP conflict between owners also decides whether experiential knowledge acquired from inward internationalisation fits with the firms or not in the resulting CBA decision. Finally, this study provides deep insights on different owners’ attitudes and their supporting or confining roles in moderating the impact of inward internationalisation on Indian EMNEs’ risk-taking behaviour during internationalisation.</p>

The effect of institutions and failure-based learning on entry mode choice

<p>This study investigates the role of learning from failures and how learning from failure of others shapes the entry mode choice of subsequent entrants – a choice between joint venture (JV) and wholly owned subsidiary (WOS). A review of the entry modes and institutional perspective literature has revealed that research to date has focused on the effect of successes rather than failures. While it recognises the effect of other firms’ entry mode on the entry mode decisions of subsequent entrants, it has overlooked the influence of failures’ on entry mode. It is important to investigate the effect of failure of other firms since it has been recognised by organisational learning scholars as a valuable source of information for firms to improve their performance, decrease their uncertainty and consequently influences their actions. Therefore, the present research applies institutional and organisational learning perspectives as the underpinning theories to examine how the failure of others determines the entry mode choice of a firm. Further investigation was carried out on how a firm’s entry mode decision in response to regulative and normative institutions might be asymmetric. Additionally, firms’ responses to institutional dimensions were analysed further by investigating how they would change with experience in the host country and in other foreign countries. This study applied a quantitative approach to answer these questions in the context of China. The data for this study consists of 1021 observations invested by 622 foreign firms from 2003 to 2012. Through a logistic regression analysis, this study found that the failure of prior entrants with JV structure increases a new entrant’s tendency to choose JV over WOS. Moreover, regulative distance negatively influences the choice of JV whereas the effect of normative distance was found to be positive. Regarding the effect of experience, host country experience was found to be an influential factor that mitigates the effect of regulative and normative distance on the entry mode choice. The findings of the present research contribute to both institutional and entry mode literature by demonstrating that firms make their entry mode decisions based on information inferred from prior entrants’ failures. This research also contributes to organisational learning literature by showing that responses to failures are not merely avoidance-based, but rather based on the firm’s evaluation of the cause of failure.</p>

The effect of institutions and failure-based learning on entry mode choice

<p>This study investigates the role of learning from failures and how learning from failure of others shapes the entry mode choice of subsequent entrants – a choice between joint venture (JV) and wholly owned subsidiary (WOS). A review of the entry modes and institutional perspective literature has revealed that research to date has focused on the effect of successes rather than failures. While it recognises the effect of other firms’ entry mode on the entry mode decisions of subsequent entrants, it has overlooked the influence of failures’ on entry mode. It is important to investigate the effect of failure of other firms since it has been recognised by organisational learning scholars as a valuable source of information for firms to improve their performance, decrease their uncertainty and consequently influences their actions. Therefore, the present research applies institutional and organisational learning perspectives as the underpinning theories to examine how the failure of others determines the entry mode choice of a firm. Further investigation was carried out on how a firm’s entry mode decision in response to regulative and normative institutions might be asymmetric. Additionally, firms’ responses to institutional dimensions were analysed further by investigating how they would change with experience in the host country and in other foreign countries. This study applied a quantitative approach to answer these questions in the context of China. The data for this study consists of 1021 observations invested by 622 foreign firms from 2003 to 2012. Through a logistic regression analysis, this study found that the failure of prior entrants with JV structure increases a new entrant’s tendency to choose JV over WOS. Moreover, regulative distance negatively influences the choice of JV whereas the effect of normative distance was found to be positive. Regarding the effect of experience, host country experience was found to be an influential factor that mitigates the effect of regulative and normative distance on the entry mode choice. The findings of the present research contribute to both institutional and entry mode literature by demonstrating that firms make their entry mode decisions based on information inferred from prior entrants’ failures. This research also contributes to organisational learning literature by showing that responses to failures are not merely avoidance-based, but rather based on the firm’s evaluation of the cause of failure.</p>

How increased foreign competition motivates domestic firms to do good: an examination of foreign entry mode and domestic CSR response

PurposeWe examine whether domestic firms react differently to foreign direct investment (FDI) entry modes –mergers and acquisitions (M&A) versus greenfield. Specifically, we ascertain whether the entry mode of foreign competition motivates different corporate social responsibility (CSR) responses from domestic firms and when such relationships hold.Design/methodology/approachWe employ fixed-effects models using 1,331 US firm-year observations for 2015–2018. Furthermore, we examine the interactive effects of industry concentration to examine a key boundary condition.FindingsForeign entry via greenfield mode has no effect on domestic firm CSR. Entry through M&A has a significantly positive effect. We attribute these findings to the increased threat to domestic firms from foreign M&A whereas foreign entry through greenfield mode is less threatening as entrants face significantly more challenges in host countries. We identify industry concentration as a boundary condition of our findings. The effect of foreign M&A entries on domestic firms' CSR becomes weaker as industries are more concentrated.Originality/valueThis study offers novel insights on FDI by parsing out different reactions to entry mode by domestic firms. We add to our understanding of CSR as a mechanism to stave off foreign competition, offer insights into a key boundary condition of such actions and demonstrate the robustness of our findings.

Global and local corporate social responsibility: a study of foreign entry mode choice in Spanish quoted firms

PurposeThis study examines the relationships between the foreign entry mode (FEM) used by a company, its global corporate social responsibility (CSR) and the host country's local CSR environment in Spanish quoted firms. Additionally, it seeks to explore the moderating role of the host country's CSR in the relationship between firm's global CSR and FEM.Design/methodology/approachTo test the proposed hypotheses, binary logistic regression is used with a sample of 418 foreign direct investment (FDI) operations between 2002 and 2008. This period is chosen with the aim of knowing what happened after the boom in Spanish investments abroad in the 1990s and the uncertainty of the early 2000s.FindingsThe results reveal firm patterns of behaviour regarding the FEM of companies and the two types of CSR according to the proposed hypotheses. Furthermore, it is found that the host country's local CSR may not only have a direct influence on the FEM decision but may also moderate the relationship between the firm's global CSR and firm's entry mode in a host country.Originality/valueThis is one of the first studies to propose as explanatory variables of FEM two types of CSR (firm's global CSR and host country's local CSR). This has been possible by the creation of an ad-hoc database with data from different information sources of FDI (Instituto Español de Comercio Exterior) and CSR [Eikon™ and AccountAbility National Corporate Responsibility Index (NCRI)].

The impacts of institutional differences in relation to intellectual property rights protection on foreign market direct investment: FDI inflows and modes of foreign market entry

<p>This Master‘s thesis seeks to consider the impacts of institutional distance regarding IPR protection on Foreign direct investment’s (FDI) internationalization strategies. Estimated at approximately US$ 1.8 trillion in 2015 and sitting at its highest level since the global economic and financial crisis in 2008 (UNCTAD, 2016), FDI flows are fast becoming a focal issue of global business. Developing Asia, for example, has emerged as the world’s largest FDI recipient region in the world, which has attracted a wide and public attention. China, in particular, is the largest recipient of FDI among the emerging economies. In 2014, it overtook the US as the most popular destination for multinational enterprises (MNEs). To date, most academic interest has focused on how the institutional environment of the host country affects both the overall volumes of FDI (e.g., Lee & Mansfield, 1996; Smarzynska Javorcik, 2004), and the modes of entry strategy (e.g., McCalman, 2004; Dikova & Witteloostuijn, 2007). However, other areas of research also consider institutional distance, and the magnitudes and asymmetric effects of institutional distance (e.g., Cuervo-Cazurra & Genc, 2011; Phillips, Tracey, & Karra, 2009; Zaheer et al., 2012). In this context, this thesis, uses China as a sample of FDI recipient to seek to understand how the directions of institutional distance affect FDI’s flows and MNEs’ choice of entry mode into the host country. In particular, the research questions being addressed in this study are: (1) How does the bidirectional distance between home and host country regarding IPR protection affect FDI’s inflows to China? and (2) How does this bidirectional distance regarding IPR protection influence MNEs’ choice of entry mode? Using a quantitative research design, two dependent variables are examined in this study: FDI inflows and entry mode (wholly-owned subsidiaries (WOS) versus joint ventures (JVs)). Using the institutional theory as its theoretical underpinning, this study hypothesizes that IPR distance between home and host countries negatively affects FDI inflows to the host market. It also hypothesizes that IPR distance is positively related to MNEs’ choice of WOS as an entry mode as opposed to JVs. Both hypotheses build on the new notion regarding the directions of institutional distance that MNEs’ strategies and behaviours are divided into positive and negative directions. This consideration of directions of institutional distance differs to that of the general institutional approach, which typically clusters all regulative, normative and cognitive pillars within the institutional distance. However, this research focuses on the single regulative distance of IPR protection. Using the 691 collected observations of FDI flows to China from 2006 to 2012, hypothesis 1 was tested by employing the estimation techniques of panel linear regression. To further assess hypothesis 2, 801 instances of foreign market entry of FDI in China between 2008 and 2012 were analysed by logistic regression. From the panel linear regression model, the empirical results show that the larger the distance of IPR protection between home and host countries, the fewer the flows of FDI that entered into China. Such results are consistent with previous mainstream literature suggesting that greater institutional distance significantly diminishes the MNEs’ intentions to invest (e.g., Du, 2009; Berry et al., 2010). Moreover, logistic regression for hypothesis 2 reveals that IPR distance appears to be significantly and positively associated with the choice of WOS. This means that the tendency of MNEs from countries with a higher distance of IPR protection to enter China’s market by means of WOS (as opposed to JVs) will decrease. This result is in line with previous studies that note that larger institutional distance is associated with a lower level of equity ownership mode, such as JVs over WOS (e.g., Xu et al., 2004; Xu & Shenkar, 2002; Estrin et al., 2009). The greatest takeaway from this study is that it advances knowledge about the impact of the directions of IPR distance and provides new opinions on the debate around the asymmetric effect of institutional distance on internationalization decisions. This study also offers practical implications for both firm managers and public policy makers.</p>

Speed and Sustainability When Entering New Market

When constructing a factory to enter new markets, the optimal size to respond to demand is determined by the construction time. Hyundai Motor Company (Hyundai), on the other hand, standardizes the size of its factories to speed up the entry and response to demand. The Hyundai’s entry mode, called SPEED, is modeled as a strategy. The strategy is evaluated of excellence with capacity expansion rules formalized, key parameters identified, and mathematical programming. The SPEED strategy is suited for market followers who want to enter a midscale or mature market in terms of business excellence and more sustainable throughout the factory’s life cycle on the side of sustainability. Shorter construction times, as a result of the SPEED strategy, can help to prevent environmental damage while also standardization can increase job prospects for local workers.