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The paper aims to explore the role of talent management (TM) practices in shaping firm’s absorptive capacity (AC) in the host country. Based on the data from representatives of Chinese diaspora used in Russia, this study discusses the role of TM practices in developing firm’s AC through learning from diaspora.

To explore possible connections between both TM practices and AC and TM practices and attractiveness of a company for diaspora representatives (talent mobility), this study reports an exploratory study by using a set-theoretical analytic method, fuzzy set qualitative comparative analysis.

The findings state that retention and development practices significantly influence firm’s AC, which promotes attractiveness of Russia as of destination country for Chinese employees and of particular company with the corresponding TM system.

This study reveals the existing connection between diaspora talent attraction and knowledge assimilation and diaspora talent retention and knowledge transformation. Knowledge acquisition is influenced by talent retention and talent development with a mediation of knowledge sharing.

The purpose of this paper is to identify key factors that influence the integration process in cross-border mergers and acquisitions (M&A) deals of emerging multinational enterprises (EMNEs). The research questions are: how national and organizational culture coupled with other organizational characteristics influence M&A deals of EMNEs? Which factors influence the process of cultural and organizational integration in cross-border M&A deals, initiated by EMNEs? What is the effect and consequences that different integration factors have on cross-border M&A deals by EMNEs?

The paper is based on a multiple case study research, considering cross-border deals of Chinese and Russian firms separately. Each block consists of two cases, describing M&A integration of companies operating in two sectors: high technology and finance. The authors obtained the data for case studies from companies’ official websites, annual reports, press releases, other official documents where companies were mentioned, business-media sources (newspapers and magazines), published interviews, documented speeches, letters, laws, as well as through blogs and social networks. The authors have also used the published information from articles, books, databases, and previously conducted case studies.

The authors have identified the factors influencing deals’ results of Chinese and Russian MNEs, with explanation based on case studies’ analysis. The full list of factors is presented in Table IV in the manuscript. The authors have also identified the set of elements that were derived from the case studies’ analysis only, without having any strong support in the literature, such as changes at a senior management level, educational and business exchanges, CSR policy, and the government involvement.

The authors have identified the key factors that influence integration of emerging market firms in cross-border M&A deal. The list of factors was adjusted and actualized in accordance with the results of four cases of cross-border M&A deals of Chinese or Russian companies. As a result, the authors founded the combination of characteristics of cultural and organizational integration process of firms from China and Russia.

Foreign divestment (FD) has often different roles such as being a corporate diversification strategy, and of such divestment may have effects on a company’s image and reputation. Ongoing businesses trends including internationalization, deregulation and diversification have forced executives to exploit image and reputation as strategic corporate resources, which make them the target of a firm’s active management. The paper aims at developing the understanding of the framing techniques of discursive legitimation and of the strategies used by companies when signalizing their FD decision.

To examine the framing strategies used by companies to legitimize their FD decisions, the authors used the case study methodology using a critical discursive analysis. Using companies’ press releases regarding FD of Western multinational companies (MNCs), the authors examined for the specific frame used in each release. After identification through initial coding, the dominant frames were recognized by recording patterns in technique, content, themes, patterns of keywords, quotes and semantic method.

This study demonstrated that legitimation is an integral part of framing press release. Companies framing of their FD decisions can be interpreted as an attempt to not only prevent negative repercussion from stakeholders but also to legitimize the FD decisions to protect the company’s image and reputation.

By examining the elements of FD press releases, the authors uncovered the microelements of the framing techniques used by MNCs to legitimize their decision.

The purpose of this paper is to look into state ownership and political support as two factors that influence the process of internationalization of Russian MNEs.

The authors observe the theory and empirical evidence behind the phenomenon.

The authors find that state ownership and governmental political support are two mechanisms of the transformation of state-owned enterprises (SOEs) to MNEs in Russia.

The topic is not covered sufficiently in the literature. The paper is based on the recent findings by the paper co-authors.

The purpose of this paper is to provide a better understanding of how the government influences the internationalization of emerging MNEs and, more specifically, answer the questions how and to what extent does the combination of the home country government’s control and interest influence Russian MNEs.

First, the author examined sector-specific factors and institutional forces that affect the development of the Russian economy’s industries. Second, the author has classified the sectors included in this study into four groups according to the following two main criteria: the interest of the government in the development of the sector, and the degree of state control for the firms in the sector. Third, the author has analyzed the forms and types of the government participation in firms’ internationalization in defined groups based on the observation of industries’ legislative acts and state decrees and orders. After that, the author has verified the existence of certain similarities of strategies under the governmental influence, and finally discussed the extent of the control and interest implied by the government toward these firms.

After analyzing the patterns of the state involvement in firms’ internationalization in various groups the author found that some of the groups are characterized by similar types of government role and their responses are, also, sometimes similar. The author presents a more detailed look at the above results in Table III, and explain the two-sided role of the government in different groups of firms.

While the literature emphasizes that institutional forces shape the internationalization of emerging multinational enterprises, they have not been comprehensively linked to explaining the contradictory role of the government in this process. The author addresses this gap by examining an integrated influence that home government factors (namely, control and interest) exert in enabling firms to compete abroad. In addition, the author contributes to the knowledge about the behavior of Russian firms, which is one of the less researched areas in the field of international management.

The paper also has value for companies’ strategists as it provides them with understanding of the complexity of government-related determinants influencing the internationalization process of their firms and the types of firms’ abilities to be developed or supported. It also provides a practical tool for modeling their international strategy formation and accounting for different types of state influences on internationalization of EM firms.

This paper highlights the government-related aspects of the internationalization of Russian MNEs. Even when they go abroad with strong product capabilities and a proactive managerial style, they still benefit from home country institutional resources. The author sees the strength of the empirical findings in further extension of the understanding of origins, consequences and prospects of internationalization of emerging market firms with the home government involvement.

This paper aims to use the obsolescing bargaining power (OBP) Model (Vernon, 1977, 1998) to analyze the case of United Company Rusal, a Russian politically connected multinational companies (MNCs) that was one of the world’s largest aluminum companies between 2005 and 2014, having acquired and, ultimately, sold the Montenegrin aluminum smelter company Kombinat aluminijuma Podgorica.The authors did so with the aim of answering the following question: How do geopolitics affect the bargaining balance of power between a Russian MNC and a host country?

The authors used the discourse analysis methodology to identify the key players in the bargaining process and illustrate the evolving bargaining process.

The authors demonstrated that, over time, the shift in power from the Russian MNC to the host government had not merely been the result of the increase in committed MNC assets in the host country but, rather, of a geopolitical chess game involving the Russian Government, North Atlantic treaty organization (NATO) and the European Union (EU). By extending the OBP model with geopolitics, the authors found that a political agenda can influence the outcome of a bargaining process.

The authors extended the OBP model to illustrate the complex interaction between an emerging market MNC and an emerging host country government, indirectly influenced by two supranational organizations – the EU and NATO.

The authors revisit the traditional OLI paradigm with the objective to allocate politics within the set of internationalization advantages by building on the political strategy literature. The authors outline the specific role of political advantage that facilitates and propels the international expansion of state-owned multinational enterprises (SOMNEs) from emerging markets.

A conceptual paper which explains the role of political advantage in the internationalization of SOMNEs. The authors expand the scope of the OLI to capture the impact of firms' home governments' policies and relationships with host countries which are leveraged by SOMNEs in their internationalization.

The authors define political advantage as a new type of advantage which depends on and is sourced from external actors. The authors argue that P-advantage is a multifaceted and unstable part of POLI composition, which is contingent on political shifts and may be leveraged by various firms. The authors also assert that political capabilities have limitations in sustaining political advantage, which may be compensated via enhancing the political activity of firms.

The authors conceptualize the POLI-advantages paradigm for the internationalization of SOMNEs by proposing that in addition to the traditional ownership, location, and internalization advantages, firms can capitalize on their political advantage to enter markets where internationalization might have been difficult without their political connections.

This study aims to explore when and under what conditions state-owned enterprises (SOEs) become important players in orchestrating the global climate action and what their roles are as domestic or international (de)carbonizers.

This is a conceptual paper that aims to advance understanding of the role of SOEs in addressing the global climate challenge. The authors build on the institutional theory to capture the importance of home-country climate regulation mechanisms and advance knowledge on the internationalization of SOEs. The authors review the literature on the institutional boundaries that shape the environmental activities of firms at home and abroad and develop the argument on the influence of home country institutions and internationalization on the role of SOEs in the global climate agenda.

In this study, the authors elaborate the SOEs’ climate action matrix and offer three propositions based on the fact that SOEs’ environmental strategies are driven by the interests of the state as owner and the scope of SOEs’ internationalization. First, the authors propose that the level of home country’s climate policy ambition explains SOEs’ stance on climate action. Second, scope of internationalization explains SOEs’ stance on climate action. Third, the progressive/increasing involvement of SOEs in climate action enhances the country’s climate stance.

The authors incorporate the climate argument into international business (IB) studies of SOEs’ internationalization, a novel approach that helps us to advance the knowledge on the complex issue of corporate climate action. The authors argue for a dynamic and reciprocal relationship between home/host countries and SOEs’ climate engagement. In doing this, the authors contribute to the IB research and policy agenda by exploring SOEs’ engagement in advancing the global climate agenda.

The purpose of this paper is to advance knowledge about factors that influence the location of Russian foreign direct investments. In particular, it focusses on the role of institutional distance (represented by corruption perception distance, political distance and cultural distance) as a moderator of the relationships between traditional investment motives and the number of M&A deals made by Russian companies in a specific country.

The analysis is conducted on panel data of Russian cross-border M&As launched in 46 countries during the period 2007-2013. The final data set includes 322 observations. Due to the nature of dependent variable and the results of pre-tests, negative binomial regression is used in the main analysis.

The key finding of the study reveals the importance of institutional distance, in particular, the moderating effect of different dimensions of institutional distance on the relationships between internationalization motives and the number of Russian M&As. Corruption, political and cultural differences show different effects in terms of both direction and strength, but all three were found to be significant.

The major concern stems from the type of secondary data used in the paper. This indicates the necessity to improve data collection methods which could allow for better transparency of Russian foreign investments, would facilitate more sophisticated research and probably more accurate business forecasts.

By conducting a systematic examination of Russian cross-border M&As the authors contribute to the literature on emerging markets firms by addressing the important yet under-researched domain of Russian foreign direct investments. Building on the macroeconomic and institutional logic proposed in this study, future research on Russian cross-border activities could add to the understanding by providing more generalizable and critical evidence. The study provides a point of departure from prior studies on Russian outward FDI which the authors hope to inspire future research to further analyze the drivers of Russian M&As and foreign investments in general.