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This study explores how sharing platforms achieve platform loyalty through various operation management strategies.

A multiple case study method has been conducted in two Chinese sharing economy industries: ride- and bike-sharing. Data were collected through 30 semi-structured interviews with managers from four platform companies (DiDi, Uber China, ofo and Mobike). Individual case studies were developed from the triangulation of all existing data. Concurrent with the development of these individual case studies was a cross-case analysis. Emerging patterns have been identified and compared to previous findings in the literature to build upon and modify the existing knowledge base and to formulate a series of propositions.

Platform asset characteristics and mergers and acquisitions affect supply network readiness and operational capacity, respectively, and this effect would consequently contribute to achieving platform loyalty through user satisfaction. Moreover, externality, as a moderator, may influence the strength of the relationship between satisfaction and platform loyalty.

The proposed theoretical model provides an overarching framework for sharing platform companies to design and operate their businesses while carefully examining the situations, contexts and actions of users and other stakeholders and choosing an appropriate strategic mechanism to drive platform growth.

This study is one of the first to empirically explain how firms in a sharing economy sector could gain platform loyalty by adopting an expectation–confirmation theory perspective.

John Dunning introduced the OLI (Ownership‐Location‐Internalization) paradigm 37 years ago to explain the origin, level, pattern, and growth of MNEs’ offshore activities. Over the years, OLI has developed into perhaps the dominant paradigm in international business (IB) studies. However, the costs of being a paradigm are reflected in Dunning’s efforts to include an ever‐expanding array of IB theories and phenomena under the OLI “big tent.” In this paper, we focus specifically on the O in the OLI paradigm, tracing the history of Dunning’s ownership advantages. We argue that the modifications of O advantages over the past 37 years, as Dunning attempted to bring all IB phenomena and IB‐related theories under the OLI “big tent,” has had mixed results. However, we continue to believe that the typology of ownership advantages retains its relevance for IB scholars; that O advantages cannot and should not be subsumed within internalization advantages; and that O advantages are necessary for explaining the existence and success of the MNE as an organizational form

John Dunning’s Eclectic Model, introduced in 1976 (Dunning, 1977) and refined by him several times since then (1988, 1993), is a key contribution to the separation of international business studies (IBS) from international economics and trade theory and to the development of global strategy. Dunning’s proposed model was preceded by Stephen Hymer’s (1960) application of industrial organization economics to the study of international trade and investment, and Ray Vernon’s (1966) definition of an international product lifecycle, both critical steps for IBS away from macro-economic trade theory. He was contemporaneous with the work of McManus (1972) and Buckley and Casson (1976) that introduced Coasian economics to the study of international markets and multinational firms. He was also working at the same time that Stopford and Wells (1971) began the work that led to much of the modeling of global industries at Harvard University. These and related works were important to the development of IBS. However, these other models tended to take a narrowly defined perspective and therefore to examine only a part of the rapidly expanding phenomenon of the global firm. They also tended toward industry-level analysis. Dunning’s Eclectic Model, however, by its inclusive nature, opened up the study of multinational firms to broader influences from organizational studies and business strategy. Its strong grounding in economic theory provided a basis for further development and for the integration of strategic models based on similar theories, while its focus on firm-level characteristics provided opportunities to incorporate new ideas from organizational studies into the study of international strategy. For this reason, I see it as the key theoretical model in the process of turning IBS from a mix of macro-level theoretical approaches to national differences and case-based analysis of industry effects into theoretically grounded studies of business organizations functioning in extra-national markets. While Dunning himself makes the point that the Eclectic Model is aimed at the study of multinational firms (1988), not at evaluating individual firm decisions, it does provide a framework for both descriptive and normative studies of individual firms. This shift in emphasis brought much new insight to the study of international business and added considerable richness to developing theory in strategic management and other business disciplines. It has also led to the incorporation of IBS into most business disciplines and a concomitant decline in the study of international business as a separate area for scholarly endeavor – a sometimes disconcerting example of the law of unintended effects.

This study aims to comprehensively explore households’ residential search process by examining various decision dimensions – search tenure, housing typology, search criteria, information sources, search extent and search duration – and identifying factors influencing each.

The study area includes Bidhannagar Municipal Corporation and Rajarhat Newtown. A retrospective survey was conducted with recently relocated households to investigate their search process. Based on a search process framework from literature, separate logit models were developed to analyse decision dimensions.

The study identifies the influence of household typology, size, income, car ownership, origin and education, including travel attitudes, relocation reasons and urgency on decision dimensions. Key findings indicate that households use five dominant search criteria to orient themselves spatially, also affecting the search extent. Moreover, some households enter the housing market without housing typology preferences, exploring all options.

Choice set development – a critical stage in residential location choice modelling – represents the outcome of household’s search process: the collection of potential locations considered before making a final selection. Traditionally, entire urban area is considered as choice set, but the study’s findings can inform screening rules to tailor choice set to household preferences.

To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this is the first study to comprehensively explore the housing search process in India, introducing novel factors like travel attitudes, relocation motivations and urgency. Instead of focusing on specific housing typologies, the authors investigate whether households enter the market with established preferences or not. The authors also examined search criteria households consider to define search space and its impact on search extent.

Despite the importance of the service sector in developed economies and the growth of foreign investments in this sector during the last decade, few studies have undertaken to empirically analyze the factors influencing entry mode choice. The special characteristics of the service sector increase the complexity of the analysis and, thus, traditional explanations of entry mode choice in manufacturing sectors may need to be complemented by other moderating influences. Based on 174 entry decisions of service firms, our results suggest the importance of including strategic variables and the specific nature of services to understand a complex phenomenon, which is not always associated just with efficiency and value-based considerations but also with strategic issues and industry characteristics.

As a major driver of economic development, foreign direct investment (FDI) has been examined from different lenses. This study aims to investigate how the perception of bribery in target markets by foreign investors shapes their investment behavior depending on the level of corruption in their home country.

The authors develop a framework with distinctions between low and highly corrupt countries to evaluate their responses to clean and corrupt environments abroad when making foreign investments. A dynamic gravity model with panel data analyses on 36 economic cooperation and development members over the 2013–2018 period is used to test the hypotheses.

The authors find that low-corruption sources of investment are deterred by widespread bribery in foreign markets and tend to commit more resources to transparent environments. However, highly corrupt countries invest more in high-corruption target markets.

The literature is dominated by two views arguing that inward FDI is deterred by corruption in the host country, and corruption differences between home and host markets. The authors shift the focus from recipient countries to investors’ perspective with various configurations of bilateral outward FDI between home and host countries based on their level of corruption.

This paper examines radical reform of the Chinese public accounting profession in the 1990s. In particular, the paper seeks to provide a more nuanced understanding of the sources, responses and processes of this radical institutional change that effectively paved the way for development of the Chinese accounting profession into the twenty-first century.

The empirical data that inform this study come from both archival materials (mostly in Chinese) and in-depth interviews. These data are analysed and interpreted from a neo-institutionalist perspective, drawing, in particular, on the concept of institutional logics and the concept of institutional work.

A state logic initially guided the development of the Chinese accounting profession but was seriously challenged in the 1990s following a series of high profile financial scandals. The findings reveal a shift to a new professional logic, which was made possible through multiple forms of institutional works instigated by various state actors.

Research into the radical reform of the Chinese public accounting profession in the 1990s was mostly quantitative in nature, focussing mainly on one reform programme, i.e. the disaffiliation of the accounting firms from their sponsoring agencies. This paper adopts a qualitative approach and is aimed at providing a deeper and more nuanced understanding of the institutional change process within its political and economic contexts.

Using behavioral theory of the firm, the purpose of this paper is to examine how a small firm’s performance relative to historical and social aspirations is related to its international entrepreneurial orientation (IEO). This study also explores two environmental factors, liability of foreignness (LoF) and host-country market potential (HMP), as the moderators for the relationship of performance and IEO.

This study uses survey for data collection from Canadian small firms and employs regression models for data analysis.

The results show that small firms demonstrate stronger IEO when their performance is below aspirations, but their IEO diminishes when their performance exceeds aspirations. The authors also found that a small firm’s LoF does not moderate the impact of its performance feedback on IEO. However, the authors found HMP plays a moderating role when a small firm’s performance is below aspirations.

This study investigates the relationship of IEO to aspiration and found that this relationship is moderated by HMP. The study advances our knowledge on small firms’ international behavior.

The paper aims to investigate the determinants of outward foreign direct investment (OFDI) by Chinese enterprises during China's institutional and economic transition, specifically from the institutional perspective.

An analytical framework was conceptualized by introducing several institutional‐based advantages peculiar to Chinese firms and a series of hypotheses developed regarding the influences of these advantages on the OFDI strategies of Chinese enterprises.

The findings confirm the specific institutional‐based advantages in terms of home government support, investor's financing capacity and host ethnic Chinese resources have salient impacts on OFDI behavior of Chinese firms, as predicted by initial hypotheses. Evidence from sub‐samples tests indicates there are varied determinant mechanisms for trade‐oriented, produce‐oriented, and other types of OFDI, respectively.

The paper offers two primary contributions. On one hand, by integrating conventional eclectic theory and Chinese institutional context, a series of novel hypotheses is proposed that highlights some specific institutional advantages Chinese outward investors could exploit. In this way, the paper provides an analytical framework useful for better understanding of internationalization of enterprises from other emerging and transitional economies.

Outlines the underlying rationale for the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) between Canada, Mexico and the USA; and evaluates its impact from 1987 to 2000. Examines statistics on trade between the three countries and discusses changes in trade patterns and growth rates, providing a breakdown of US exports by state and industry. Shows an improved pattern and volume of trade, considers the impact on employment and admits that assessment of NAFTA’s costs and benefits is difficult. Sees Mexico as its main beneficiary so far, but predicts that this will change in the long run.