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Research SummaryDoes it pay to be a multinational? Despite decades of empirical research, we still do not know. We undertake a large‐sample, cross‐national replication of Lu and Beamish (2004) and Berry and Kaul's (2016) works to examine whether the multinationality–performance relationship is S‐shaped in a 2009–2016 panel of 889,865 firm‐year observations. Using a two‐stage least squares fixed‐effects model that accounts for endogeneity on a subsample of 32,835 multinationals from 64 countries, we find no evidence of an S‐shaped relationship; nor do we see it in any of the single‐country contexts. Our results show no evidence of any within‐firm effect of multinationality on performance, highlighting the need for more contextually‐grounded research focused on explaining between‐firm effects to advance our theoretical and empirical understanding of the multinationality‐performance relationship.Managerial SummaryWe replicate two studies that examined the relationship between a firm's multinationality and its performance. Lu and Beamish (2004) found evidence of an S‐shaped relationship—with performance first decreasing, then increasing, then decreasing again as firms expanded abroad—in a sample of Japanese firms; Berry and Kaul (2016) found no evidence of an S‐shaped pattern in a sample of U.S. multinationals. We test for the same relationship using data from nearly 250,000 firms based in over 100 countries from 2009 to 2016 and find no evidence of an S‐shaped pattern or of any effect of multinationality. Our study thus adds substantial evidence to the one shown by Berry and Kaul (2016), emphasizing the need to focus on how contextual differences influence the multinationality–performance relationship.

The growing interest in global value chains (GVCs) has been paired with a greater appreciation of the need for better measurement methods, as reflected by recent initiatives from academia and leading international organizations. This research note focuses on one method to measure GVCs that has been recommended in recent scholarly work, namely input–output models, but goes beyond the industry level of analysis by introducing intra-industry firm heterogeneity. Our illustrative application to multinational enterprises (MNEs) versus domestic firms’ participation in GVCs enhances our understanding of their specific role in GVCs and how such engagement varies across countries and industries. While showing that MNEs’ contribution to value-added exports is considerably smaller than what is suggested by traditional trade statistics, our findings also, interestingly, document that the higher import content of exports of MNEs can go hand in hand with the creation of local backward linkages as a function of their much higher specialization in only parts of the production process vis-à-vis domestic firms. By answering relevant questions on MNEs’ engagement in GVCs that have hitherto been impossible to address comprehensibly and in a cross-country comparative setting, this application illustrates how the methodology has great potential for international business research.

Whereas IB has extensively studied MNEs’ generic (positive) impact on host economies, but rarely on employee wages, economics research has only shown an overall MNE wage premium. We ‘unravel’ this premium, considering multiple levels of analysis and accounting for host-country contextual contingencies, to unveil MNEs different (positive or negative) distributional effects. Using unique micro-level data from over 40,000 employees in 13 countries, we examine MNEs’ distributional effects for employees’ gender, experience, and immigrant status; the influence of host-country property rights protection and labor regulation; and interplays with region and industry effects. MNEs’ distributional effects show marked differences that largely depend on the host-country context, and that are positive for experienced and foreign-born employees in developed countries but negative for females working in developing countries. Whereas in developed countries the gender wage gap is smaller in MNEs than in domestic firms as hypothesized, we find evidence of a larger wage gap in developing countries. The analysis also reveals that the higher host-countries’ level of property rights protection, the lower the MNE wage premium. Our study points at the need to reassess statements about the generic positive impact of MNEs in host countries, particularly in developing countries, and discusses (further) research implications.

Developed-country multinationals (DMNEs) have increasingly engaged in the practice of offshoring innovation to emerging countries. In this article, we leverage and extend the institution-based view to further our understanding of this phenomenon. Specifically, we examine the differential effects of formal and informal institutions on DMNEs’ strategic decision to offshore innovation activities aimed at augmenting (versus exploiting) home-base-knowledge to emerging countries. Concerning formal institutions, we argue that the stronger the emerging host country’s IP protection, the higher the likelihood that a DMNE offshores innovation activities aimed at augmenting home-base-knowledge. Regarding informal institutions, we argue that the greater the cultural differences between the developed home country and the emerging host country, the higher the likelihood that a DMNE offshores innovation activities aimed at augmenting home-base-knowledge. Additionally, we propose a key contingency that attenuates the relationship involving IP protection while strengthening the one involving cultural differences: the DMNE’s experience with offshoring innovation. Analysis of 128 offshoring innovation implementations by 78 DMNEs in ten emerging countries provides support for all our hypotheses except for the one focused on the moderation effect of experience on the relationship involving cultural differences.

The factors that determine firms' levels of internationalization remain a focal area of international business research. Within this research stream, studies building on the upper echelons theory have investigated the influence of the demographic characteristics of the top management team (TMT) on firms' international expansion. However, the literature to date has overlooked the TMT's overall degree of internationalization as a key driver of firm-level internationalization. In our paper, we argue that by having self-selected into careers abroad, foreign TMT members by definition have a higher cognitive tolerance of foreignness than domestic TMT members do. We theorize that foreign TMT members' higher cognitive tolerance for foreignness enhances the overall TMT's level of international attention and international trust, thereby facilitating strategic decisions that favor firm-level internationalization. Additionally, we propose two key contingencies that attenuate this relationship: the institutional diversity of the firm's home region and the firm's global focus. Analysis of Fortune Global 500 firms supports the hypothesized relationship between TMT internationalization and firm-level internationalization, as well as the two moderation effects.

While studies on international corporate social responsibility (CSR) have expanded significantly, their true global nature can be questioned. We systematically review 494 articles in 31 journals over a 31-year period. We assess the embeddedness of CSR in international management/business (IB); analyze the coverage of developing, emerging, and developed countries; map the literature thematically; summarize key findings; discuss main empirical features; and identify unanswered questions, implications, and best practices. We find that international CSR research is far from being global and still emerging in ‘mainstream’ IB. This comprehensive review also helps to set an agenda for future international CSR scholarship.

This chapter summarizes key themes and findings from research over the past decades, also considering its geographic foci (developed, developing, and/or emerging countries). Furthermore, noting that scholars are starting to explore the uptake of the United Nations (UN) Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) by organizations in practice, frameworks are presented for understanding ways in which business (can) engage with the SDGs, elucidated by a case example. This chapter closes with reflections on the SDGs as part of the broader debate on development, offering suggestions for further research considering current “blind spots” and the added value of combining international business and other disciplinary perspectives.

Recent years have seen growing interest in a leading role for cities in addressing major environmental sustainability challenges including cleaner air and water. While geographers have long studied urban governance responses, international business (IB) scholars have embraced city-level analyses only in the past decade, primarily to examine multinationals’ location strategies. Thus far, IB has not studied cities’ environmental sustainability in relation to foreign direct investment (FDI) inflows. Our paper does so by analyzing whether it ‘pays’ to be green for cities in attracting FDI inflows, using a comprehensive sample of Chinese cities of different sizes over a 7-year period comprising 918 city-year observations. A fixed-effects panel data estimation shows that it indeed pays for cities to be green, specifically considering air quality and waste water treatment, two key locational factors exposing different mechanisms. Implications for green urban and business policies and for IB research are discussed.

Sustainability has attracted increasing attention from business scholars as corporations have started to take more responsibility for their environmental, social, and development impacts. In this review, we focus on the latest sustainability-related research published in the international business and management (IM) field and explore the links with inclusive development in three ways. First, we introduce the concept of sustainability as perceived in the corporate realm. Second, we review key features of the most recent sustainability studies published in IM journals and analyze the degree to which these works have combined and elaborated upon the different components of inclusive development. Third, we discuss the role of IM research in sustainability science and the potential for interdisciplinary work with other academic fields.

Offshoring of services (OS), commonly defined as the international relocation of service activities that companies previously performed in their home country, has emerged as a relevant phenomenon in international business (IB). Over the past two decades, OS has grown rapidly in the global economy and it has increasingly attracted IB scholars’ attention. In this study, we systematically review the literature to map and assess the body of IB research focused on the OS phenomenon. To achieve our goal, we identify and analyze a total of 79 studies that appeared from 1990 to 2014 in a select group of 14 journals that are widely considered leading publishers of IB research. This review seeks to make a threefold contribution to the IB discipline. First, it provides an in-depth analysis of the OS literature through a synthesis of the theoretical perspectives adopted and an assessment of the empirical findings obtained. Second, it offers an organizing framework that contributes to a more nuanced understanding of the OS phenomenon. Third, it identifies emerging topics on the OS frontier and suggests potential avenues for future research.

The purpose of this paper is to investigate the relationship between the number of minority international joint ventures (MIJVs) formed and the level of internationalization attained in the context of small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). We argue that this is an inverted U-shaped relationship that is negatively moderated by a global (versus regional) focus. We test our hypotheses on a comprehensive sample of Spanish manufacturing SMEs from 2006 to 2013. Whereas our empirical analysis does not provide enough support for a curvilinear relationship, the results we obtained show a positive linear association between SMEs' number of MIJVs and internationalization and corroborate the negative moderation of a global focus. Thus, this study enhances our understanding of the specific impact of an internationalization strategy based on the formation of MIJVs in the context of SMEs. Moreover, it emphasizes the importance of considering contingencies at the regional frontier to understand the effect of SMEs' foreign expansion strategies.

This article explores the concept of leveraging global knowledge for business model innovation, whereby knowledge is transferred across space and firm boundaries for the reconfiguration of an incumbent firm's business model. Considering the implications of an ever-increasing fragmentation of global value chains and the associated dispersion of global knowledge sources, we propose that supply chain partners at foreign locations can provide valuable knowledge that incumbents can leverage to change their business model. Integrating insights from global supply chain, business model, and organizational learning literature, we theorize and empirically test how different organizational capabilities enable firms to acquire knowledge from foreign partners, integrate external with internal knowledge, transform knowledge through experimentation, and finally apply global knowledge in the form of business model innovation. We conclude with suggestions for future research.

Multinational enterprises (MNEs) can play an important role in the implementation of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). This article examines what we know about their participation in implementing the SDGs and their impact, both positive and negative, on people, the planet, prosperity and peace as identified in the United Nations (UN) 2030 Agenda. To this end, we review the research published in the main international business journals on five key SDGs that represent these “four Ps”, grouped into three categories: (1) poverty and inequality, (2) energy and climate change, and (3) peace. We summarize the findings of the 61 relevant studies and subsequently explore the UN’s “fifth P”, partnership, both in terms of published research on MNEs and the SDGs, and in terms of a collaborative agenda to help address the large challenges of the 2030 Agenda. In view of the relatively limited research on MNEs and SDGs thus far, academic institutions and international business scholars in particular are well-positioned to offer important insights about the role of business in supporting the SDGs, for which we offer suggestions, also in relation with other key actors.

The globalization of business and the related increase in amount and relevance of international research suggest the need to map the international management field. Building on reviews by Werner (2002) and Werner and Brouthers (2002), this study provides a comprehensive picture of the field by examining the amount and type of international management research in 20 top management journals from 2002 to 2006. An assessment of the pervasiveness of international management topics is also offered through a detailed analysis of international management publication patterns of 10 top management journals.

Western companies have increasingly relocated parts of their value chain to offshore locations in the recent past. Extant research documents that offshoring exposes firms to challenges associated w...

Business process offshoring, intended as the firm-level choice of relocating service and higher-skilled activities abroad, predominantly to lower-cost countries, has decidedly grown in the last dec...

textabstractThe growth of peer-to-peer sharing is crucially dependent on continued participation of current platform members and on them behaving prosocially towards other participants who are usually strangers. We propose a relational-models view that revolves around the idea that how members perceive the relationships among participants on a sharing platform significantly affects these behavioural outcomes. We test this idea with a survey where we capture participants’ perceptions of sharing relationships using Fiske’s (1991) relational models ‒ communal sharing, market pricing, and equality matching. We show that communal sharing and equality matching foster prosocial behaviour (which we label sharing citizenship behaviour) and the willingness to continue participating, whereas market pricing does not have the negative effects we expected. Our work advances relational models theory in addition to contributing to the literature on the sharing economy.