Focused and ambidextrous catch-up strategies of emerging economy multinationals

Choi, Yoona; Cui, Lin; Li, Yi; Tian, Xiaoli

doi:10.1016/j.ibusrev.2019.01.002

Cited by 20 publications

(43 citation statements)

References 82 publications

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“…The internationalisation experience of the top management team will affect EMNEs' decision in pursuing aggressive international expansions (Choi et al 2020). Returnee managers in the headquarters of EMNEs who completed international assignments will also play an important role in enabling internationalisation due to their international experience as expatriates (Cui et al 2015).…”

Section: Emnes In a Volatile Environmentmentioning

confidence: 99%

Expatriate Management of Emerging Market Multinational Enterprises: A Multiple Case Study Approach

Zhong

Zhu

Zhang

2021

JRFM

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Expatriate management has evolved through the practices of developed economy multinational enterprises (DMNEs), with the aim of improving expatriate adaptability, cross-cultural adjustment, and performance. However, most of these studies focus on expatriates from developed countries and try to help DMNEs instead of emerging market MNEs (EMNEs). In a turbulent global economy, how EMNEs manage their expatriates when conducting business through their outward foreign direct investment (FDI) is understudied. This empirical study aims to address this research gap by utilising a qualitative approach and a multiple case study. It has conducted semi-structured interviews with expatriates, executives, and middle managers of Chinese MNEs in 2014. It contributes as one of the few to systematically examine expatriate related issues in the context of EMNEs with first-hand empirical evidence. The findings show that EMNEs are leapfrogging with their internationalisation and hence their expatriate policies are often ad hoc without systematic planning. Moreover, this study has contributed to practice, especially to EMNEs, regarding the way they need to improve their expatriate policies and practices.

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Section: Emnes In a Volatile Environmentmentioning

confidence: 99%

Expatriate Management of Emerging Market Multinational Enterprises: A Multiple Case Study Approach

Zhong

Zhu

Zhang

2021

JRFM

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“…Yet, reconciling the needs to be both exploratory and exploitative is challenging (Hsu et al, 2013) due to the conflicting organizational requirements in relation to structures (O'Reilly & Tushman, 2008), contexts (Gibson & Birkinshaw, 2004), and cultural environment (Carmeli & Halevi, 2009) of such efforts. For instance, a decentralized structure has been suggested to support exploration through increasing learning opportunities and facilitating knowledge transfer, while a centralized structure is considered to benefit for exploitation as it can provide a clear locus of control (Choi, Cui, Li, & Tian, 2020). Because of these organizational tensions, researchers have proposed a wide range of organizational solutions.…”

Section: Literature Reviewmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…However, disagreements on daily decisions may arise from functional-diverse TMT members, due to their very different attention and communication barriers (Su et al, 2019). This can hinder TMTs in developing capabilities required in synergizing exploitative and explorative activities in overseas markets (Choi et al, 2020), thereby deterring TMTs from conducting ambidextrous FDI. Embracing those contradictory arguments, a configurational perspective can detail the effect of TMT functional diversity in different configurations.…”

Section: Managerial Incentive Factors and Managerial Cognitive Factorsmentioning

confidence: 99%

The Micro-Foundation of Ambidextrous Foreign Direct Investment

Huang

Fan

et al. 2021

Manag. Organ. Rev.

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Pursuing ambidextrous foreign direct investment (FDI) has been suggested as a desirable strategic choice of emerging economy (EE) firms in their internationalization. Yet, reconciling explorative and exploitative activities overseas is complicated due to their conflicting and tensional nature. This study explores why some EE firms can achieve high levels of ambidextrous FDI while others cannot. Drawing on upper echelons theory, we propose a micro-foundation perspective of ambidextrous FDI by studying top management teams’ (TMTs) attributes. Applying a configurational approach to a sample of 294 EE firms’ FDI observations (of which 43 are ambidextrous FDI in nature) from 2011 to 2015, we not only confirm the equal importance of both TMT incentive and cognitive factors as causal conditions to achieve a high degree of ambidextrous FDI, but also provide original evidence on the interactive configurations of those factors that lead to ambidextrous FDI.

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“…Some latecomers in emerging economies have got close to or even overhauled the incumbents (e.g., high-speed railways, laser, and ultra-steel). However, the question has concerned: why such a catch-up did not happen in other latecomers [3]? Previous research has focused on explaining why paths are challenging to transform [4], whereas the causes of the path change have called for discussion, especially concerning how latecomers can maintain sustainable growth [5].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

An Exploratory Study of How Latecomers Transform Strategic Path in Catch-Up Cycle

Wang

2021

Sustainability

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In catch-up cycles, the industrial leadership of an incumbent is replaced by a latecomer. Latecomers from emerging economies compress time and skip amplitude by breaking the original strategic path and form a new appropriate strategic path to catch up with the incumbents. Previous studies have found that the original strategic path is difficult to break and difficult to transform. This paper proposes a firm-level framework and identifies the impetus and trigger factors for latecomers to transform the strategic path. The impetus is the mismatch between strategic mode and technological innovation capability. The trigger is the progressive industrial policy. Based on a Chinese rail transit equipment supplier’s (China Railway Rolling Stock Corporation; CRRC) catch-up process, this paper finds that the strategic path transformation is an evolutionary process from mismatch to rematch between strategic mode and technological innovation capability. With the implementation of industrial policy, the technological innovation capability will change. The original strategic mode does not match with changed technological innovation capability, which leads to performance pressure. With the adjustment of industrial policy, a new strategic mode adapted to new technological innovation capability emerges. This paper clarifies the source that determines successful catch-up practices for latecomers and contributes to latecomers’ sustainable growth in emerging economies.

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Focused and ambidextrous catch-up strategies of emerging economy multinationals

Cited by 20 publications

References 82 publications

Expatriate Management of Emerging Market Multinational Enterprises: A Multiple Case Study Approach

Expatriate Management of Emerging Market Multinational Enterprises: A Multiple Case Study Approach

The Micro-Foundation of Ambidextrous Foreign Direct Investment

An Exploratory Study of How Latecomers Transform Strategic Path in Catch-Up Cycle

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