En Xie and K.S. Redding
The purpose of this paper is to introduce the special issue on state-owned enterprises (SOEs) in the contemporary global business scenario. Against the theoretical background of…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to introduce the special issue on state-owned enterprises (SOEs) in the contemporary global business scenario. Against the theoretical background of and the invited themes for the special issue, the paper presents a summary of key findings and practical implications of the accepted papers and suggests future research directions.
Design/methodology/approach
The paper is conceptual, which organized through utilitarianism or legitimism; SOEs scenario 1 – hungry fox, hunting bears; SOEs scenario 2 – dancing elephant, flying bears; what do we know and what we wish to explore; what have been examined; what we need to study further; closing note by bears’ well-wishers; and protocol of the special issue.
Findings
By deeply looking into emerging economies (China, India), developed economies (Denmark, Italy, Sweden), transition economies (Tunisia) and diverse sectors (public transport, space), coupled with cross-country sample data, the nine accepted papers have discussed several interesting findings and recommended numerous implications for the policymakers and SOEs’ managers. Drawing upon the interdisciplinary literature, empirical and qualitative papers would deepen the understanding of the growth strategies and performance of SOEs, and the application of management theories such as institutional theory, agency theory, social exchange theory, managerial grid theory, incomplete contracts theory and public governance view, among others. The issue also brings a review-cum-citation analysis paper on the impact of privatization on the performance of SOEs.
Originality/value
The papers have made unique contributions to the public economics, new public management, international business and organizational development literature by critically analyzing the burgeoning phenomenon of the changing dynamics and globalization of SOEs.
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Yu Li, K.S. Redding and En Xie
Given that several publicly announced international merger and acquisition deals have been abandoned in recent years, the purpose of this paper is to present a synthesis of…
Abstract
Purpose
Given that several publicly announced international merger and acquisition deals have been abandoned in recent years, the purpose of this paper is to present a synthesis of influential articles that examine organizational characteristics of cross-border acquisition transactions. The synthesis is framed through general traits and resources, learning and prior acquisition experience, and top-level management and governance attributes. Specifically, the paper conceptualizes key organizational attributes influencing the propensity of cross-border negotiations, and the most common characteristics and post-deal effects by illustrating several case examples from around the world.
Design/methodology/approach
Owing to fairness and integrity principles of the literature survey studies, the paper adopts an exploratory review design to present a synthesis of several influential articles published in strategy, international business and corporate finance journals. Since case method and storytelling are the best qualitative approaches to conceptualizing extant theoretical contributions, a number of case examples—successful, delayed and abandoned—from around the world have been discussed by leveraging the case information from archival sources.
Findings
Drawing on resource-based view, organizational learning, upper echelons and agency theory perspectives, the paper underscores three observations. First, organizational characteristics such as firm age, firm size, ownership structure, slack resources, marketing resources, technological intensity, export intensity and business group affiliation have different impacts on the propensity of publicly announced cross-border deals. Second, firm’s prior acquisition experience and firm’s acquisition experience in the target country have positive or moderating effects on the success of a cross-border merger. Third, top-level management characteristics such as CEO foreign nationality and CEO international career experience, and governance characteristics such as board size, the number of independent directors and directors with overseas experience, have mixed effects on the incidence of cross-border acquisitions.
Practical implications
The paper puts forth several recommendations for top-level managers participating in cross-border acquisition negotiations, such as learning from peers in the same industry, learning from predecessors in the target country and learning from failure negotiations in the same industry and other industries.
Originality/value
Nested within the organizational, international business strategy and corporate finance literature, the paper presents a synthesis of influential publications that study organizational characteristics affecting the propensity of cross-border acquisitions. The cases discussed in this paper are unique examples from around the world.
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K.S. Redding, En Xie and Qingqing Tang
The purpose of this paper is to examine the most interesting research question of the past decade – What Lures the Bears? Leveraging the public sector management and international…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to examine the most interesting research question of the past decade – What Lures the Bears? Leveraging the public sector management and international business strategy literature, the paper first presents an overview of the transformational dynamics of state-owned enterprises (SOEs) in three major phases – institutionalization, privatization, and corporatization, and internationalization. Then, it analyzes geographic patterns and industry trends of the outward foreign direct investment (FDI) projects announced by SOEs over an eight-year period.
Design/methodology/approach
Grounded in the exploratory research such as inductive and deductive logic, the study proposes theoretical constructs, and discusses several findings based on the data accessed from highly cited archival sources, such as the UNCTAD FDI stat/WIRs, the World Development Indicators, Doing Business Report, Global Competitiveness Report, the Index of Economic Freedom, the Academic Ranking of World Universities, and the Fortune Global 500.
Findings
Based on an analysis of global market trends (a sample of over 20 countries and five industries), the study highlights that SOEs from Asia and Europe have been greatly expanded into developed markets, thus to secure natural resources, to acquire strategic assets like technology, and to leverage the developed financial markets and better investment environment. Therefore, SOEs’ outward FDI strategy and overseas performance was driven by institutional transitions, resource security, home market development and government legitimacy may contribute to the competitive advantage of their home country.
Practical implications
The study offers several implications for the policymakers of the governments in emerging economies and bureaucratic management of SOEs. It recommends that state ownership pattern and bureaucratic system of SOEs need to be reexamined, revised, and corporatized in the changing dynamics of the multinational business environment, thus to secure resources, acquire technological know-how, and compete in home and global markets.
Originality/value
As a response to academic calls on the globalization, performance and governance mechanisms of SOEs in and out of emerging economies, this paper draws a unique presentation of the transformational dynamics of SOEs – establishment to internationalization.
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Jie Liang, En Xie and K.S. Redding
Nested within the industrial organization and corporate finance literature, this paper aims to analyze the market for cross-border mergers and acquisitions (M&A) in the world…
Abstract
Purpose
Nested within the industrial organization and corporate finance literature, this paper aims to analyze the market for cross-border mergers and acquisitions (M&A) in the world economy, developed economies, developing economies and transition economies. As multinational companies hold a large proportion of cash reserves and expand into diverse geographic markets, the paper aims to examine market patterns of high-valuation cross-border acquisition transactions. Specifically, it proposes a framework explaining the influential factors, motives and effects of high-valuation transactions by discussing some case evidences.
Design/methodology/approach
Drawing upon inductive and deductive logic, the paper discusses market trends and market patterns of cross-border M&A transactions by triangulating archival data analyses and accessible M&A literature. Some case examples are derived from news archive and official source sites. Regarding sample period, it considers the past two decades 1994-2013 to show market trends in various institutional settings and the past decade 2004-2013 to present market patterns of 62 high-valuation cross-border deals.
Findings
The transaction analysis indicates four cycles in the market trend, namely, growing period (1994-2000); declining, but promising period (2001-2006); financial crisis period (2007-2008); and recovering, but reversing period (2009-2013). A number of acquisitions undertaken by firms from emerging economies around the 2007-2008 global financial crisis have exemplified geographic (product) diversification as a primary motive of firm’s global strategy. In particular, a large proportion of sample high-valuation deals are spotted in developed economies such as the USA and the UK. In case of industry pattern, a good number of high-valuation deals are noticed in banking and finance, telecommunications and oil and gas sector.
Originality/value
Although several scholars have examined cross-border acquisitions in economics, corporate finance, strategy and international business literature, there is hardly any study that analyzes high-profile cross-border M&A deals. An exclusive market analysis of high-valuation international deals is important for several reasons. This paper fills this knowledge gap by showing both market trends and market patterns of cross-border M&A transactions. Importantly, to date, this paper is the first to propose a framework explaining the influential factors, motives and effects of high-valuation M&A transactions.
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Given the growing external value chain disruptions, there have been many studies seeking to propose methods for improving the resilience of global value chains (GVCs). This study…
Abstract
Given the growing external value chain disruptions, there have been many studies seeking to propose methods for improving the resilience of global value chains (GVCs). This study complements previous studies by proposing the perspective of firm strategy in switching governance modes to improve the resilience of GVCs. Specifically, this study explores under what conditions MNCs are more likely to switch governance toward non-equity mode (NEM) from the alternative ones. This study introduces three industry-specific factors that affect MNCs’ decision for NEM. It then applies this framework to explain how Korean MNCs’ strategic governance change for the co-productions with Chinese firms when entering their film market which is highly restricted by the Chinese government. This study enriches the research on GVC resilience by arguing that MNCs can avoid unfavorable environmental impacts by flexibly changing their GVC governance modes under certain conditions. This study also contributes to the understanding on why some countries maintain their high attractiveness for foreign MNCs, whereas other countries do not, given the similar level of restrictive government regulations. The protectionist policies of the host government are valid only in an industry where the three conditions are met, as they increase the possibility of domestic firms’ participation by encouraging foreign MNCs to shift their entry mode from sole venture toward alliances with domestic firms.
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Kai Sun, Hung-Gay Fung, Yuping Zeng and Penghua Qiao
This paper aims to examine the effect of chief executive officers (CEOs’) global experience (GE) on the Chinese firms’ outward foreign direct investment (OFDI) and provides new…
Abstract
Purpose
This paper aims to examine the effect of chief executive officers (CEOs’) global experience (GE) on the Chinese firms’ outward foreign direct investment (OFDI) and provides new insights on how CEOs’ foreign study and education experiences may affect firms’ OFDI. Further, this paper examines whether CEO power and state ownership have a positive moderating effect on the relationship between CEOs’ GE and firms’ OFDI.
Design/methodology/approach
This study used panel data of Chinese manufacturing companies in 2007-2016 to examine different hypotheses. The authors tested them using a zero-inflated negative binomial regression model to shed light on the effect of CEOs’ GE on the firms’ OFDI.
Findings
This study found that CEOs’ GE generally promotes Chinese firms’ OFDI. CEOs’ foreign study experience has a stronger effect than foreign education experience. Further, CEO power and state ownership have a positive moderating effect on the relationship between CEOs’ GE and firms’ OFDI.
Research limitations/implications
The findings have two important implications for managers and policy-makers. First, globally experienced CEOs are vital for firms to succeed in today’s highly competitive global environment. Second, CEO power is important in firms’ OFDI decision-making.
Originality/value
The authors use path dependency and upper echelons theories to show that GE, particularly foreign study experience, enables CEOs to take advantage of available resources in the market and institutional environment to create a path for the firm to expand globally.
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Thomas Greckhamer and Kevin W. Mossholder
Purpose – This chapter examines the potential of qualitative comparative analysis (QCA) for strategy research.Methodology/approach – We introduce the set-theoretic framework of…
Abstract
Purpose – This chapter examines the potential of qualitative comparative analysis (QCA) for strategy research.
Methodology/approach – We introduce the set-theoretic framework of QCA and provide an overview of recent methodological developments.
Findings – We utilize a variety of examples relevant to strategy research to illustrate the action steps and key concepts involved in conducting a QCA study.
Originality/value of paper – We develop examples from core research areas in strategic management to illustrate QCA's potential for examining issues of causality and diversity in strategy research, and in settings involving medium-N samples. We conclude by emphasizing that QCA offers an alternative mode of inquiry to open and redirect important lines of strategy research.
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Dongling Cai, Leonard Fengsheng Wang and Xiaokai Wu
The purpose of this study is to investigate the interplay between economic governance and privatization, and how these two instruments affect the entry mode choice of the foreign…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this study is to investigate the interplay between economic governance and privatization, and how these two instruments affect the entry mode choice of the foreign firm and the social welfare of the host country.
Design/methodology/approach
This study constructs a mixed duopoly model wherein one domestic public firm competes with a foreign firm and investigates the influence of economic governance investment on the domestic government’s optimal degree of privatization choice and the foreign firm’s entry mode choice.
Findings
This study shows that (1) better economic governance enhances the effect of privatization on output, thus resulting in a lower degree of privatization; (2) the optimal privatization policy of the domestic government is partial privatization irrespective of the foreign firm’s entry mode choice; (3) with optimal investment by the domestic government on economic governance, the optimal degree of privatization is higher under FDI than export, and the host-country welfare is also higher under FDI. In particular, this study demonstrates that better economic governance decreases the threshold of the degree of privatization when the foreign firm switches from export to FDI, implying that better economic governance stimulates the foreign firm to undertake FDI in the host country.
Practical implications
The findings shed some light on both the mixed ownership reform of the SOEs in China and attracting foreign capital inflow to improve the host country’s social welfare.
Originality/value
To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this study constitutes the first attempt to build a theoretical framework to explore how the interactions between economic governance and privatization influence the entry mode choice of the foreign firm.
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Kimberly A. Griffin, Uma M. Jayakumar, Malana M. Jones and Walter R. Allen
Our analyses and conclusions are based on both research literature on college access for African American males and the survey responses of 214,951 full-time, first-time African…
Abstract
Our analyses and conclusions are based on both research literature on college access for African American males and the survey responses of 214,951 full-time, first-time African American male freshmen between 1971 and 2004. First, we reviewed literature on the experiences of African American male high-school students and the common barriers facing their matriculation to college. We organized findings from the research into broad themes emerging from the literature, guided by Swail, Cabrera, Lee, and Williams's Integrated Model for Student Success (2005). Based on this framework, college access and academic achievement are not based on a single factor or one dimension; rather, they are constructed through a complex interaction of multiple dimensions. Swail and colleagues delineate these factors into three categories: cognitive, social, and institutional/systemic. Cognitive factors take place largely inside the student and relate to the skills, abilities, and knowledge students have which prepare them for higher education, including academic preparation, post-secondary planning, and college knowledge (Swail, Redd, & Perna, 2003; Swail et al., 2005). Social factors exist largely outside the student, and capture the ways in which those who have relationships with students can influence their access to post-secondary education. The social dimension includes a student's cultural history, family influence, financial issues and socioeconomic status, and ability to interact with peers (Swail, 2003; Swail et al., 2005). Finally the institutional/systemic dimension captures the ability of institutions to influence and shape student efforts to reach their college goals. High-school resources and support, outreach programs, and opportunities for financial aid could all be considered within this dimension of the framework (Swail, 2003; Swail et al., 2005).