International Business Commons^™

Beyond Entertainment: Unveiling Digital Platform Strategic Implications For International Business Growth Of Individual Entrepreneurs, Hoik Kim

Theses and Dissertations

This dissertation examines how digital identity, comprising visual, psychological, and strategic components, impacts entrepreneurial success on global digital platforms. Rather than treating identity as a static or aesthetic trait, this study conceptualizes it as a dynamic and strategic construct shaped by audience perception, algorithmic systems, and institutional environments. The research is structured into three empirical studies. The first explores how facial visibility and social media engagement affect monetization on YouTube, considering the international context. The second study empirically investigates how a biometric cue influences entrepreneurial performance on digital platforms and interprets the results through the lens of social psychological perspectives. …

Internationalization And Investment Efficiency, Alireza Askarzadeh, Kenneth Yung

Graduate Student Government Association Research Conference

Conflicting results in the literature regarding the effect of internationalization on firm performance motivate this study to examine this effect through an important but less studied channel. Unlike previous literature mainly focusing on the impact of internationalization on firm financial performance, this study examines operational performance and probes how internationalization affects firms’ investment inefficiency, thus demonstrating an important aspect in determining the success of international strategies. By applying the concepts of transaction cost economics and agency theory to a sample of US firms between 1989 and 2022, we find evidence that internationalization has a positive relationship with investment inefficiency and …

International Diversification And Stock-Price Crash Risk, Alireza Askarzadeh, Mostafa Kanaanitorshizi, Maryam Tabarhosseini, Dana Amiri

Finance Faculty Publications

Despite the recent proliferation of research on internationalization, little attention has been paid to understanding the reasons behind the decrease in firm value accompanying international expansion. By delving into the underlying mechanisms and applying the concept of agency theory to a sample of US firms spanning from 2000 to 2022, we posit that an increased level of information asymmetry in internationally diversified firms incentivizes managers to prioritize their own interests. To protect their careers, CEOs of internationally diversified firms often suppress bad news. This behavior can lead to the accumulation of negative news and heighten the risk of a stock-price …

Entering The Next Level Of Value Generation: Servitization And Digitization For Industry 4.0 By Ifm Electronic, Robert Ciszewski, Jan-Philipp Büchler Prof Dr

Case Studies

Ifm electronic is a mid-sized wold market leader in sensor electronics for industry and automotive applications. The hidden champion shows an impressive growth trajectory in the last 20 years from around 200 mio. € to 1 bn. € in 2019. In this case study, the ambitious leaders of this company start to elaborate the strategy for achieving the next billion. Students are required to identify the drivers of growth in the past decades and evaluate the steadiness of this recipe for success in the context of major shifts and technological advances in key customer industries such as industry 4.0 and …

Gea Farm Technologies: Building Core Competencies Through Internal And External Growth, Jan-Philipp Büchler Prof Dr, Axel Faix Prof Dr, Gregor Brüggelambert Dr, Anna Weiland

Case Studies

GEA Farm Technologies is a mid-sized world market leader of mechanical equipment and service solutions for milk production and livestock farming. The so-called hidden champion developed a set of capabilities and core competencies to innovate the industry’s established business model through a two-fold strategy balancing internal and external growth. The case study invites students to explore the benefits and limits of this business model innovation and requires them to investigate further strategic options for growth.

Revisiting The Internationalization-Performance Relationship: A Twenty-Year Meta-Analysis Of Emerging Market Multinationals, Sihong Wu, Di Fan, Liang Chen

Research Collection Lee Kong Chian School Of Business

With the rapid growth of emerging market multinational enterprises (EMNEs), increasing interest has been focused on exploring the internationalization-performance (I-P) relationship of EMNEs. Yet findings on the relationship remain contradictory. Although researchers emphasize the home-country-bounded nature of EMNEs, less is known about how home-government features and the EMNEs' political mindset affect their internationalization and performance. This study integrates and extends the literature on the I-P relationship of EMNEs using a meta-analysis covering a dataset of 218 effect sizes from 186 retrieved studies published between 1998 and 2021. Findings show that the I-P relationship is overall positive, yet it varies across …

The Effects Of Institutions On Emerging Market Firms’ International Assignment Location Decisions, Iris Koleša, Anže Burger, Michael Dickmann

Economic and Business Review

We investigate international assignment (IA) location decisions of emerging market firms as determined by the institutional contexts of their home and host countries. Using an institutional perspective, assignment patterns of the entire firm population in Slovenia to either other emerging or developed host countries in Europe are analysed. The findings show that both institutional quality and distance influence expatriation flows in firms from a low quality institutional context. These firms expatriate more to markets with high quality institutions and choose host countries with higher rather than smaller institutional distance for their IAs. We refine institutional theory with respect to host …

Microfoundations Approach To Risk And Uncertainty In The Uppsala Internationalization Process, John P. Merli

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This study answers rising calls in International Business to employ a microfoundations approach for greater insight on differences in managerial cognition for entering business in high-risk locations. Consequently, findings challenge the Uppsala model’s longstanding stance concerning the risk-internationalization association governed by strict firm-level analysis. I examine CEO decision-making through the lens of their values, represented by their political ideology score along the liberal-conservative continuum, to offer greater predictability for rationalizing strategic choices. Accordingly, political ideology proved a significant predictor for explaining the circumstances in which CEOs elect high-risk locations based on their political ideology’s degree of liberalism. Additionally, its interactions …

The Liability Of Disruption, Valentina Marano, Stephen Tallman, Hildy J. Teegan

Management Faculty Publications

Research summary. We study the internationalization-related legitimacy challenges of firms with disruptive business models by using a case comparison of leading sharing economy companies Airbnb and Uber. We show that they are insulated from many traditional legitimacy challenges to multinationals entering host markets, but exposed to others that have not been noted previously. Specifically, we identify a novel market-entry legitimacy challenge, ‘liability of disruption,’ which manifests as regulatory, incumbent business and societal pushback against firms with disruptive business models. After presenting our cross-case analysis, we theorize about the nature and impacts of these three distinct but interconnected forms of host …

The International Penetration Of Ibusiness Firms: Network Effects, Liabilities Of Outsidership And Country Clout, Liang Chen, Noman Shaheer, Jingtao Yi, Sali Li

Research Collection Lee Kong Chian School Of Business

The burgeoning of ibusiness firms in the modern digital economy challenges the received internationalization theory. Given that ibusinesses such as social networking sites create value by providing a digital platform for users to interact with one another, we employ a user-network perspective and externalization logic, suggesting that ibusinesses' internationalization process depends critically on users' collective interactions, instead of being solely driven by firms' market commitments, as noted by the Uppsala model. However, ibusinesses may suffer from liabilities of outsidership due to the boundedness of international network effects. Drawing on social network theory, we demonstrate that such liabilities can be mitigated …

Examining The Effect Of Cultural Intelligence On The Internationalization Of Swiss Small And Medium Enterprises, Hadia Fakhreldin

Business Administration

The study examines the relationship between cultural intelligence (CI) and the internationalization of Swiss Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs). It also evaluates the role of internationalization motivators within that relationship. A self-administered survey was sent (by email) to the managers of 640 Swiss SMEs, identified from the Swiss SME database (Switzerland Global Enterprises-ge.com). The data analysis confirms that the internationalization process and the intention to internationalize depend to a large extent on the cultural intelligence of these managers. The analysis also identified access to information on foreign markets as the main motivator that affects this relationship. The study proposes solutions …

Live And Let Live: Africa’S Response Options To China’S Bri, Emmanuel T. Kodzi

Faculty Publications

Kodzi offers a timely perspective on the ongoing debate about how China’s BRI might deliver tangible benefits to African partners. The impact of Chinese engagement on local businesses in different regions is explored both broadly, and in a specific African country context. Using the resource dependence theory and the supply chain practice view, the chapter focuses on technology- and knowledge-enhancing industry linkages to conceptualize a pragmatic response by African industry sectors to the competitive pressures associated with Chinese business engagement. By adopting a response view, this chapter proposes credible options for African countries to increase the strategic value of their …

Rise Of Born Globals And Their Association With High Technology Intensity Or Services Sector - Myths Or Reality?, Suresh Singh

Management and Marketing Faculty Publications

Literature suggests that the proportion of born globals - firms entering foreign countries soon after birth - has increased significantly over time and such firms are associated with high technology intensity or services sector. However, there is little empirical support for these claims. To address this gap, this paper presents an empirical analysis of age at first global entry of US manufacturing and service multinationals that entered foreign countries in the last century. Only manufacturing showed a significant rise in the number of born globals. Being born global was not correlated with either having high technology intensity or being a …

Business Group Internationalization: Choosing A Host Country According To Institutional Distance, Marina A. B Gama, Jeferson Lana, Cyntia Vilasboas Calixto, Rodrigo Bandeira De Mello

Strategy and Operations Faculty Publications

Purpose – This research analyzes to what extent committing resources to the internationalization of family business groups is related to the institutional distance of the host country. Design/methodology/approach – We used OLS panel data with fixed effects. Findings – We identified that family business groups decide to internationalize themselves committing fewer resources to countries that present a positive institutional distance, and that are more institutionally developed than the country of origin. On the other hand, when family business groups choose to expand abroad committing more resources, they tend to invest in countries with a negative institutional distance, and that are …

Cooperative Strategies In International Business And Management: Reflections On The Past 50 Years And Future Directions, Paul W. Beamish, Nathaniel C. Lupton

Faculty Publications

Over the past 50 years, cooperative forms of governance such as equity joint ventures and other strategic alliances have received tremendous attention in international business and management research. This article traces the history of this research over these past five decades with particular emphasis on the critical role that (Columbia) Journal of World Business has played in disseminating scholarly and managerial expertise on the successful management of cross-border, inter-firm collaboration. We highlight the evolution of interest in different contexts, phenomena, theories, and methodologies, along with the factors that have driven interest in these topics. Several suggestions for future research are …

Entrepreneurial Orientation And International Scope: The Differential Roles Of Innovativeness, Proactiveness, And Risk-Taking, Li Dai, Vladislav Maksimov, Brett Anitra Gilbert, Stephanie A. Fernhaber

Scholarship and Professional Work - Business

This research integrates the international business and entrepreneurship literatures by examining the independent influences of innovativeness, proactiveness, and risk-taking on the ability of a firm to broaden its scope across international markets. For each dimension of entrepreneurial orientation, a cost–benefit framework is applied to highlight the trade-offs associated with different levels in the internationalization context. Based on a unique dataset of 500 SMEs spanning 10 industries, the results reflect the consequences of being “stuck in the middle” with respect to their strategic posture on innovativeness and proactiveness, but reveal a nuanced role for risk-taking behavior. The non-uniform and non-linear relationships …

When Do Domestic Alliances Help Ventures Abroad? Direct And Moderating Effects From A Learning Perspective, Hana Milanov, Stephanie A. Fernhaber

Scholarship and Professional Work - Business

While the importance of strategic alliances for new venture internationalization is well acknowledged, the effect of domestic partners remains less understood. Building on organizational learning theory's vicarious learning arguments, we suggest that internationally experienced domestic partners positively influence new ventures' international intensity. Moreover, acknowledging that ventures may have multiple learning sources, we argue that the effect is more pronounced when substituting for the lack of new ventures' top management teams' international experience, or when complementing the insights about foreign markets received from foreign alliance partners. The analysis of 194 publicly held new ventures largely supports our hypotheses.

Adapting To Change: The State Of Singapore Private Enterprise In China, Wilfred How, Caroline Yeoh

Research Collection Lee Kong Chian School Of Business

One of the most affluent and developed nations in its region, the city-state of Singapore relies largely on tapping global resources for economic growth, to ameliorate its tiny land area and accompanying lack of natural resources. Its current prominence is to a great degree owing to an early recognition of the need for such, and a well-documented stratagem of expanding its foreign direct investments (FDIs) as a means to stimulate economic development (Huff, 1995; Murray and Pereira, 1995) and strengthen the city-state’s ‘external economy’ - one which saw the island progress through a number of distinct phases of overseas investment …

The Internationalization Of Creative Professional Service Firms, Deirdre Mcquillan

Doctoral

The need to understand the internationalization process of the organization is a field of increasing contemporary interest due to greatly intensified trade flows between nations over the last two decades. While traditionally internationalization was generally pursued by manufacturing firms, service organizations, including creative professional service firms (creative PSFs) such as architects now commonly internationalize their activities. However, theory to date continues to focus on traditional manufacturing firms, and while insights relating to service firm internationalization have gained traction over the last decade, theoretical contributions remain fragmented and overlook the particular features of how creative PSFs internationalize. This is despite the …

The State-Enterprise Experience In The Gcc: Whither Singapore Inc.?, Wilfred How, Caroline Yeoh

Research Collection Lee Kong Chian School Of Business

The city-state of Singapore's roadmap for internationalization of local companies into the GCC region has, arguably, made its mark; recently crossing the milestone of 100 local companies that have, to date, found business opportunities in this foreign and exotic land. Actually taking these opportunities, however, has proven more complicated, with cultural differences and highly dynamic local business environments posing unforeseen challenges to Singapore companies – producing a test of adaptability that has returned rather mixed results. Of particular interest are government-linked companies (GLCs), among the largest and the first of Singapore's entrants into the region; perceived as more structurally rigid, …

The Singapore Experience In The Gcc: Notes From Singapore Inc, Caroline Yeoh, Wilfred Pow Ngee How

Research Collection Lee Kong Chian School Of Business

The city-state of Singapore's roadmap for internationalization of local companies into the GCC region has, arguably, made its mark; recently crossing the milestone of 100 local companies that have, to date, found business opportunities in this foreign and exotic land. Actually taking these opportunities, however, has proven more complicated, with cultural differences and highly dynamic local business environments posing unforeseen challenges to Singapore companies – producing a test of adaptability that has returned rather mixed results. Of particular interest are government-linked companies (GLCs), among the largest and the first of Singapore's entrants into the region; perceived as more structurally rigid, …

International Exposure Through Network Relationships: Implications For New Venture Internationalization, Stephanie A. Fernhaber, Dan Li

Scholarship and Professional Work - Business

Drawing on the network literature and attention-based view, we examine the extent to which international exposure from key informal (geographically proximate firms) and formal (alliance partners) network relationships impacts new venture internationalization. Our findings are three-fold. First, international exposure from both types of network relationships positively influence new venture internationalization, and serve as substitutes for each other. Second, the effects differ based on the age of the venture. While older ventures benefit more from international exposure from alliance partners, younger ventures are more influenced by international exposure from geographically proximate firms. Third, our analysis confirms a three-way interactive effect of …

Untangling The Relationship Between New Venture Internationalization And Performance, Stephanie A. Fernhaber

Scholarship and Professional Work - Business

To help untangle the inconsistency in prior performance studies for new venture internationalization, the dynamic capabilities perspective is revisited to consider whether the relationship is more complex than previously assumed. While internationalization requires the reconfiguration of routines and resources, survivability is argued to peak at moderate levels of internationalization where the associated resources and risk is balanced between local and foreign markets. In contrast, sales growth is suggested to peak at either low or high levels of internationalization where a singular market focus and set of capabilities is being exploited. The results confirm that the level of new venture internationalization …

Beating Competitors To International Markets: The Value Of Geographically Balanced Networks For Innovation, Pankaj C. Patel, Stephanie A. Fernhaber, Patricia P. Mcdougall-Covin, Robert P. Van Der Have

Scholarship and Professional Work - Business

Being able to launch new products internationally is critical for technology-based ventures to recoup the high costs of R&D and to exploit their innovations fully. Despite the widely recognized importance of networks within the innovation development process, there appear to be contrasting viewpoints as to whether local or foreign network partners contribute more in the race to internationalize. Drawing on the theoretical underpinnings of comparative advantage, we propose and empirically confirm that ventures pursuing a balance of local and foreign network connections for the development of an innovation are able to bring the product more rapidly into the international marketplace. …

Understanding Variety In Small Firm Internationalization : The Decison-Making Process Of Small Manufacturing Firms In Indonesia, Maria Y.D.H. Agustini

Theses: Doctorates and Masters

Research on small firm internationalization has been conducted intensively over the last few decades. However, knowledge of small firm internationalization varied. This research addresses the question of this variety in small firm internationalization applying the stage models theory, network theory, resource-based theory and international new venture. As the more recent studies showed that researchers have inclined towards one conclusive finding of the central role of the manager in internationalization, the key explanation of the inconclusive knowledge about small firm internationalization possibly resides in the decision made by the manager. Thus, this research explored the process of making an internationalization decision …

Two Essays On The Degree Of Globalization Of A Firm: Measurement, Antecedents, And Consequences, Victor B. Marshall

Dissertations, Theses and Capstone Projects (Full IR Collection)

In this research I address the question: how global should a firm be? Answering this question requires addressing several related questions. First, what is a global firm, and how does one measure how global a firm is? Second, which firm capabilities are antecedents to firm globalization? And finally, what is the relationship between firm globalization and performance?

I begin by examining Rugman’s (2003, 2005) and Asmussen’s (2009) measures for the globalization of a firm and develop a new, simplified, enhanced measure, the Degree of Globalization (DOG). DOG is an easy to interpret continuous ratio variable that is mathematically and empirically …

Asia In The Middle East: The Internationalization Of Singapore Private Firms Into The Gcc, Caroline Yeoh, Wilfred Pow Ngee How, Simin Sharmaine Neo

Research Collection Lee Kong Chian School Of Business

Internationalization efforts into the GCC as a national initiative tend to be spearheaded by a vanguard of government-linked companies (GLCs), usually assisted in their entry through various connections, political or otherwise. As large companies with the presumed reliability of government backing, these GLCs tend to be involved in larger-scale, more critical, and more iconic projects. It is a matter of fact, however, that while internationalization may be led by large-scale and attention-grabbing GLCs, the vast majority of FDI and economic activity is, in the long term, entrenched in the activities of private companies. As such, it must logically follow that …

Singapore’S State-Enterprise Network In The Gulf Region: Boom, Bane Or An Ongoing Game, Caroline Yeoh, Wilfred Pow Ngee How, Febbry Lasgon

Research Collection Lee Kong Chian School Of Business

Singapore’s state-enterprise network has been, and continues to be, at the forefront of Singapore's internationalization efforts; most recently in the city-state's newest area of focus, the Gulf region. This paper, as part of our series on this topic, studies the city-state’s determined efforts to encapsulate economic space for Singapore-based firms to expand beyond the region through a lens on the Singapore government-linked companies (GLCs), in the context of the unique ‘Arabian allure’ of the GCC economies. Our results show that while the government ‘endorsement’ appears to provide a distinct advantage, the strategic advantages created in the Singapore-styled projects remains uncertain; …

Revisiting The Dragon: The State Of Singapore’S Regionalization Into China, Caroline Yeoh, Wilfred Pow Ngee How, Febbry Lasgon

Research Collection Lee Kong Chian School Of Business

Many years on, with the main thrust of Singapore's internationalization efforts now pointed elsewhere, the current state of Singapore's state-enterprise network in previous main regions of interest, most notably ever-developing China, remains an area of interest for the purpose of evaluating the city-state's determined efforts to encapsulate economic space for its businesses on foreign soil – perhaps with lessons of relevance to the city-state's latest areas of focus, and certainly of relevance to efforts in the long-term. As a study related to our papers on this topic, we revisit the sprawling sub-continent and the operations of Singapore businesses located therein. …

Singapore's Venture Into The Gulf: Undiscovered Treasure Or Empty Pot?, Caroline Yeoh, Wilfred How, Joses Wong

Research Collection Lee Kong Chian School Of Business

Singapore: a country synonymous with business efficiency, strict laws and a reputation that belies its miniscule size. Its state-enterprise network and attempts at grafting “Singapore-styled” investment enclaves onto foreign locales often receive attention from the international community. These state-engineered projects are premised on the exportability of Singapore’s state credibility, systemic and operational efficiencies as well as the technological competencies of Singapore companies, to locations where these attributes are less distinct. This paper, as part of our series on this topic, revisits the city-state’s determined efforts to encapsulate economic space for Singapore-based firms, enabling them to expand beyond the region. This …