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This study aims to examine the effects of formal and informal institutional factors (i.e. marketization and guanxi culture) on interorganizational conflicts (IOCs) and their interaction effects.

Drawing on IOC literature and an institution-based view, the authors use a sample of 12,022 Chinese firms from the World Bank’s Investment Climate Survey. A zero-inflated negative binomial regression was used to analyze the data.

The results suggest that guanxi culture has U-shaped effects, but marketization does not negatively affect IOCs. Furthermore, a low level of marketization weakens the U-shaped effect of guanxi culture on IOCs. A moderate level of guanxi culture can enable marketization to reduce IOCs.

This study provides a better understanding of the management of IOCs. Managers should fully understand the differential effects of the institutional environment in different regions and their interactions by adopting different response strategies.

This study enriches the literature on IOCs’ antecedents and contextual factors by examining the institutions’ direct and interaction effects on IOCs.

Drawing on the resource-based view and network theory, the purpose of this paper is to investigate the role of external networks (ENs) and absorptive capacity (AC) in export market location decision of emerging economy firms (EEFs) and the performance implication of this decision.

This study employs structural equation modeling to test three hypotheses: first, ENs influence an EEF manager's propensity to enter culturally/psychically distant markets for exports. Distant markets are more likely to be chosen by managers of firms with abundant ENs. Second, AC moderates this network-market location relationship. Third, superior performance results from the fit between managers’ propensity to enter a market and firms’ levels of ENs and AC.

An analysis of 196 Chinese exporting firms supports the hypotheses.

Though the theoretical discussion is general, the empirical context is specific to Chinese export manufacturers. Replicating the study is necessary in different contexts.

The study identifies to managers the importance of external (i.e. ENs) and internal resources and capabilities (i.e. AC) and linkages between resources and capabilities, strategy and performance.

The study is novel in conceptually addressing the role of ENs and AC in firms’ decision making and performance and in testing hypotheses with robust methodology and data.

This paper seeks to challenge the traditional wisdom that sheds light upon sequential entry modes in developed countries by exploring the dynamic entry mode choice in sequential foreign direct investment (FDI) in emerging economies.

A review of the literature on the entry mode choice is undertaken. Based on analysing two related theories consisting of the knowledge‐based theory of the firm and organizational learning theory, entry mode choices in sequential FDI in emerging economies are investigated using both an internationalisation process model and the capability‐developing perspective, and exclusive propositions are put forward accordingly. Then, these propositions are tested on the context of China with the methodology of paired‐samples t‐tests.

Based on macro‐level longitudinal data in China from 1979 to 2005, the choice of entry mode in sequential FDI in emerging economies is inconsistent with the capability‐developing theory of the firm, but is consistent with the international process model.

This study provides four practical implications. First, managers intending to invest abroad need to consider the cost and return of a specific entry mode. Second, knowledge about host markets has a more important effect on entry mode choice in emerging markets than MNCs' internal organizational capabilities. Third, MNCs adopt sequential investment in emerging economies, in which they adopt joint ventures in earlier entries and then shift to green‐field investment in later entries. Fourth, experiential learning, which consists of learning about host markets and local partners' skills, is emphasized in sequentially entering emerging markets.

This paper expands the research scope of previous studies that either explore a static choice of entry mode in foreign markets or only examine the entry mode choice in sequential FDI in developed countries. Taking into consideration the dynamic choice of entry modes, the paper studies sequential FDI in emerging economies, which throws light upon theoretical analysis of sequential FDI in China, and which has practical implications for foreign firms that are interested in China and planning to enter China's markets.

This paper aims to explore the interlock-performance relationship among mainland Chinese firms listed in Hong Kong by taking advantage of a relationship-intensive context whereby such a link is likely to be especially important. Although strategic networks such as interlocking directorates have been found to affect a number of strategic behaviors, the link connecting board interlocks and corporate performance has remained ambiguous. Considerable light has been shed on the strategic networks of firms whose shares are listed abroad, which have been under-studied despite their rising importance in the global economy.

Data come from a particularly interesting historical period – the early 1990s prior to Hong Kong’s 1997 handover to China. Both quantitative and qualitative research have been used.

Empirically, it was found that good performance in an earlier period helps draw outside directors in a later period, and that network centrality and certain types of interlocks help improve performance, albeit with varying degrees. Overall, our results answer the question whether strategic networks such as interlocks matter for corporate performance with a qualified “yes”.

Taking advantage of a relationship-intensive context, this article explores the interlock-performance relationship among mainland Chinese firms listed in Hong Kong. Focus is specifically on the two years, 1993 and 1995, due to their specific historical importance because these two years represent the beginning of Chinese firms’ listing in Hong Kong.

This paper identifies the development of and gaps in knowledge in various management disciplines, including international marketing in relation to political ties in emerging markets, based on a systematic review of the related literature. The paper develops a synthesized integrative framework and provides a research agenda and pathways for future research.

The study adopts the systematic literature review protocol to investigate the ways in which political ties have been examined in the management literature in various disciplines, such as international business, marketing, entrepreneurship, strategy, innovation, and organization. In total, 114 articles published in peer-reviewed journals from 2000 to 2022 were analyzed.

The authors believe that studying the impact of political ties on firm outcomes is timely and important as interest in this area of research is growing rapidly. The review reveals that the diverse conceptual and methodological approaches adopted in different management disciplines have resulted in inconclusive and mixed findings on the relationship between political ties and performance.

This is one of the few systematic literature reviews of political ties and firm performance in emerging markets. The authors clarify some of the ambiguities around the subject and offer a path forward for developing current understanding and insights. The study also highlights the major perspectives in management and clarify the similarities and differences in the conceptualization of political ties. In addition, the authors develop an integrative framework of the political ties–performance link in emerging markets.

Prior studies argue that social capital is vital for firm growth. Adding to this line of research, this paper provides more evidence regarding the contribution of bonding and bridging social ties to various aspects of small-l and medium-sized enterprise (SME) development. Building on the original data from Russia, this paper investigates the effects of firm-internal and firm-external relational ties on SME performance and geographic expansion. The findings indicate that horizontal bridging ties facilitate specific strategies of SME growth. Thus, this paper supports prior research conducted in the Asian context, and allows for extending the outcomes of bonding and bridging social capital into broader institutional settings. In addition, this study raises the question of relationship between the composition of social capital and distinct organizational characteristics of SMEs. Finally, the paper discusses the implications for future research, and outlines some practical recommendations for SMEs operating in emerging markets.

The purpose of this paper is to examine whether competitor concentration relates to better customer acceptance of the firm’s offerings and better networking of the firm with competitors and government officials.

The research is conducted in the context of the transition economy of Vietnam, using a combination of methods. Qualitative interviews are followed by a survey of 199 small firms in Hanoi, Vietnam. Since competitor concentration is count data, Poisson regression is used to test the relationship between networking, customer acceptance, and competitor concentration.

The results show that locating in a competitor concentration area improves customer acceptance of the firm’s offerings and increases networking with competitors, while decreasing networking with government officials. Competitor concentration does not help improve firm performance.

A sample of 199 businesses in the food, furniture, and jewelry sectors in Hanoi may not be representative of all private businesses in Vietnam. The use of cross-sectional data could not establish causational relationships among variables.

Small firms in transition economies should be aware of the trade-offs between initial customer acceptance and negative consequences of being in a competitor concentrated area. Thus, once the firm’s offerings are generally accepted by customers, the firm may consider moving out of competitor concentration areas to expand and differentiate.

This paper points out that in the absence of effective market institutions, businesses want to be located near a concentration of similar firms as a means of gaining initial customer acceptance. This initial acceptance does not necessarily help firms improve business performance beyond the firm’s survival.

The purpose of this paper is to igvestigate how strategic orientation influences managerial networks in Indian SMEs and the role competitive intensity as a moderator.

Structured pre-tested questionnaire was employed to gather information from 147 top managers from Indian SMEs. Statically models were used for internal and external validation, hypothesis testing and data analysis.

The study results support the positive significant influence of strategic orientation including market orientation (customer orientation, competitor orientation and inter-functional orientation), technology orientation and entrepreneurship orientation on managerial network (business and political networks) building in Indian SMEs.

This study is one of the few studies on the subject line in Indian context, and among the first few studies in the Indian SME sector.

Extant research has integrated ambidexterity perspective into international business studies and calls for emerging market multinational enterprises (EM MNEs) to implement exploration and exploitation activities simultaneously in foreign markets. However, less attention has been paid to empirically test whether and how international ambidexterity can benefit the innovation performance of EM MNEs. Based on the data of international manufacturing firms in China, this paper explores the relationship between international ambidexterity and innovation performance and investigates four contingency factors of top management team (TMT): two external resource accumulation elements (i.e. TMT business ties and TMT political ties) and two internal resource integration elements (i.e. TMT contingency rewards and TMT social integration).

The author conducts multiple hierarchical linear regression analysis to test the hypothesis by collecting survey data from 227 MNEs from several Economic Development Zones located in Zhejiang province in China.

The results show that international ambidexterity is positively related to innovation performance, and the international ambidexterity–innovation performance relationship is amplified when TMTs build strong ties with external business partners and political departments, when EM MNEs link top managers' income to team collective performance and create a highly social integrated TMT.

The results contributes to answer the question that how well EM MNEs will succeed and enrich the context specificity of international ambidexterity. The findings also help us better understand the inconsistent empirical findings in organizational ambidexterity by uncovering the contingency role of several TMT attributes.

The purpose of this study is to reconcile the positive, non-significant and even negative effects of guanxi on firm performance from two aspects. First, it explores the linear and curvilinear relationships between guanxi and distinct performance dimensions. Second, it examines the moderating effects of both exchange-related behavioral risk (reflected by contract enforcement in this study) and market-related environmental risk (reflected by market turbulence in this study) on the above relationship.

Based on data for 206 samples collected from distributors of house furnishings, computers and their components, a moderated regression is used to test the hypotheses.

The empirical test generally supports the conceptual model and demonstrates three findings. First, guanxi has a linear, positive effect on financial performance and an inverted U-shaped effect on strategic performance. Second, contract enforcement decreases the effect of guanxi on financial performance and enhances its effect on strategic performance. Third, market turbulence enhances the effect of guanxi on financial performance and weakens its effect on strategic performance.

First, this study collects data only from China. Future studies should collect data from other emerging markets to allow for either model validation or cross-country comparisons. Second, the data come only from buyers, and suppliers’ viewpoints are not included. Third, in addition to contract enforcement and market turbulence, other important contingencies should be considered in the guanxi–performance link.

The results provide important implications for managers to manage guanxi in an emerging economy. Managers should be very clear about their primary goal (i.e. pursuing short-term financial revenue or long-term strategic targets); next, they should understand how to match guanxi with various levels of contract enforcement and market turbulence to achieve that goal.

First, prior research has documented guanxi’s role in channel relationships, but it has not achieved consistent conclusions. Second, although existing studies have analyzed the contingencies of guanxi at the firm level, market level and institutional level, another important contingency “the dyadic relationship condition” is rarely considered. Third, although the extant research has realized the value of guanxi contingent on various market conditions, conflicting views exist. This study contributes by addressing these issues.