Where to Seek Strategic Assets for Competitive Catch-up? A Configurational Study of Emerging Multinational Enterprises Expanding into Foreign Strategic-factor Markets

Lin Cui, Di Fan, Xiaohui Liu, Yi Li

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

41 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

Emerging multinational enterprises (EMNEs) often engage in strategic-asset-seeking foreign direct investment (FDI) for competitive catch-up. This study explores the linkages between an EMNE’s competitive scenario consisting of a configuration of its awareness-motivation-capability (AMC) conditions and the comparative institutional advantages of its strategic-asset-seeking destination. Our configurational analyses of Chinese FDIs in the technology-intensive industries of OECD countries reveal a taxonomy of four distinct asset-seeking strategies of EMNEs. Our findings shed novel insights into the strategic variations within EMNEs based on a theoretically and methodologically extended AMC framework. This study also extends the varieties of capitalism literature by addressing the implications of comparative institutional advantages for foreign entrants, rather than domestic incumbent firms.
Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)1059-1083
Number of pages25
JournalOrganization Studies
Volume38
Early online date12 Oct 2016
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 1 Aug 2017

Keywords

  • awareness-motivation_capability framework
  • competitive catch-up
  • emerging multinational enterprise
  • foreign direct investment
  • fuzzy set methods
  • strategic asset seeking

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