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This paper investigates the ownership and location strategies as contingency factors, which affect the relationship between SMEs’ open innovation activities and innovation performance in the context of emerging economies. Drawing from the corporate strategy and open innovation literature, we argued that SMEs with state and foreign ownership can more effectively capture economic rents from open innovation in a weak intellectual-property-rights regime. Meanwhile, the subnational environments in which SMEs locate their businesses is also crucial for them to capture value from open innovation. Using the data of 1050 SMEs in China, we found that state ownership positively and significantly moderates the relationship between openness and innovative performance, while foreign ownership partially supports the same effect. By disentangling the pro-business environment and the market development, we found that for SMEs that are located in a region with a stronger pro-business environment and a higher level of market development, open innovation can bring more value than it does for those located in regions with lower levels of those factors. Overall, this paper also contributes to our understanding of the complementary relationships between ownership and location strategies and open innovation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to explore the relationship between international diversification strategy and corporate social responsibility (CSR) for firms from emerging economies. Design/methodology/approach – This paper is based on an empirical study of a sample of Chinese firms listed in Engineering News Record top contractors from 2010 to 2014. A moderated analysis is employed in order to test the hypotheses and examine how the scale and scope of international diversification affect CSR. Findings – The empirical results show that degree of internationalization (DOI), as the scale, is positively related to firms’ CSR scores. Furthermore, two scopes, geographic diversification (GD) and project diversification (PD), have different effects on CSR scores. GD negatively moderates the relationship between DOI and CSR scores, while PD has a positive direct impact on CSR scores. Research limitations/implications – This paper focusses on firms from emerging economies; therefore, the findings may not hold for firms from developed markets. Practical implications – The results of this paper provide strategical advice regarding international business, for firms from emerging economies to meet the managerial challenges regarding CSR in global markets. Originality/value – As the relationship between international diversification and financial performance has been thoroughly discussed in previous studies, this paper extends the literature on international diversification’s effects on CSR. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to develop a better understanding of the mechanisms by which symbolic commitment to self-regulation influences corporate environmental performance through the adoption of substantive actions. Design/methodology/approach – Using a sample of Chinese listed private firms in manufacturing sectors, this paper empirically investigates whether and how corporate symbolic commitment to environmental self-regulation really improves the consequences of corporate activities with respect to environmental issues under the current Chinese context. A moderated mediation analysis is employed to test the hypotheses and examine the relationships proposed in the research framework. Findings – The authors argue that making a commitment to environmental self-regulation could motivate firms to implement effective means of being green. The intriguing and robust results show that firms with higher ranking environmental commitment are more likely to use political connections to obtain resources (green subsidies), and then improve environmental performance. Practical implications – The results of this study provide a snapshot of the mechanism between symbolic promises and real outcomes. Originality/value – The authors theorize about and test both direct and indirect effects of commitment to self-regulation on real outcomes which provide empirical evidence for the incipient but growing understanding of self-regulation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]