Call for Papers, Special issue on: From Emerging to Emerged: A Decade of Development of Dragon Multinationals

Asia Pacific Journal of Management

Special Issue and Conference on:

“From Emerging to Emerged: A Decade of Development of Dragon Multinationals”

• Submission Deadline: April 15, 2015
• Conference Place and Date: 11-12 December, 2015 
• Venue: Macquarie University, Sydney, Australia
• Estmated Date of Publication: November 2016

Special Issue Guest Editors:

• Jane Lu (University of Melbourne and National University of Singapore)
• Xufei Ma (Chinese University of Hong Kong)
• Lucy Taksa (Macquarie University)
• Yue Wang (Macquarie University)

Special Issue Consulting Editors:

• Mike Peng (University of Texas at Dallas) 
• Ravi Ramamurti (Northeastern University) 

Conference Sponsor:

Department of Marketing and Management, Macquarie University, Sydney, Australia.


In 2006, the Asia Pacific Journal of Management (APJM) published an influential article “Dragon multinationals: New players in 21st century globalization” (Mathews, 2006a, 23:5-27). In this conceptual article, John Mathews (Macquarie University, Australia) defines firms from the periphery—especially those from the Asia Pacific region—as ‘dragon multinationals’. The author develops a new model to illustrate the three pillars common in these firms’ pattern of accelerated internationalization and summarizes them into his linkage, leverage, and learning (LLL) model.

According to Mathews (2006a), for dragon multinationals, the best and the quickest way to capture global opportunities and to tap into global resources is first to link up with firms around the global, second to leverage such links to overcome resource barriers (including foreign direct investment (FDI) through acquisitions), and third to learn to build up their own capabilities in a cumulative fashion. These three pillars of linkage, leverage and learning are what make dragon multinationals’ international expansion distinctive from the internationalization pattern of Western incumbents.

To the extent that firms that lack initial resources may take advantage of the increasingly interconnected global economy in a pattern consistent with the LLL model, the LLL model may become one of the dominant paradigms in international business (IB) research in the 21st century, just like how the OLI model was viewed by the IB and management community in the 20th century. We do not know whether this significant paradigm development will happen, but the fact that John Mathews’ article won the second APJM Best Paper Award in 2009 and became the second most cited APJM paper ever (with over 600 Google Scholar citations) in just a few years after its appearance in 2006 is a strong signal that the IB and management community may just be ready to embrace such a paradigm development. However, whether such a paradigm development will materialize (Dunning, 2006; Narula, 2006) is at least dependent on two critical issues, which will be addressed in this Special Issue. First, do we have accumulated sufficient evidence to suggest that there is indeed a need for a new paradigm such as the LLL model to account for a very different internationalization process? Second, nearly ten years since Mathews (2006a), do we have sufficient knowledge about ways that those already emerged dragon multinationals (such as Acer, Li & Fung, and Lenovo that appeared in Mathews’ original article) manage their global operations?

To further enrich our understanding of the merits and limits of the LLL model, we also call for papers that provide new theoretical or empirical insights to help us better understand the internationalization patterns and strategies adopted by firms from the rapidly developing Asia Pacific region including those are still emerging and those already emerged in the global stage. To the extent that management problems remain the same over time while their solutions differ from part of the world to part of the world (Hostede, 2007), we also welcome manuscripts that look at the impact of the emerging or emerged dragon multinationals on the strategies and behaviours of Western MNEs in different parts of the world.

Overall, this Special Issue provides an opportunity to (1) reflect on John Mathews’ influential article on the then emerging dragon multinationals, and (2) bring together research on recent development of those dragon multinationals that are already emerged in the global market as well as research on the interactions between these (relatively) new players and incumbent western players in an increasingly interconnected global business environment. To serve these purposes, manuscripts are not restricted to, but could deal with the following topics:

• · Empirical studies to test the validity of the LLL model in a broader range of firms (including but not limited to emerging and emerged dragon multinationals). 
• · How the strategies, structures, and management practices (e.g. how to manage the challenge of diverse workforce) adopted by those emerged dragon multinationals differ from MNEs from the West and Japan. 
• · How the LLL model and OLI model complement or substitute each other. 
• · How the expansion of dragon multinationals to regions such as Africa and Australia affects the strategies of Western MNEs in these regions.
• · How the pattern of expansion of dragon multinationals is affected by varying institutional conditions in their home countries.
• · What the performance implications are as a result of the expansion of dragon multinationals.

Papers for the Special Issue should be submitted electronically to the APJM Online Submission System at https://www.editorialmanager.com/apjm/, and identified as submissions to the “From emerging to emerged: a decade of development of dragon multinationals” Special Issue. The deadline for receipt of papers for this special issue is April 15, 2015. The format of submissions must comply with submission guidelines posted at the APJM website. Please indicate that your submission is to be reviewed for the Special Issue on “From Emerging to Emerged: A Decade of Development of Dragon Multinationals” (choose that in the “article type” item during the submission process).

Papers will be double-blind peer-reviewed. We will make initial editorial decisions by July 1, 2015. Authors invited to revise and resubmit their work will be invited to present the papers at a Special Issue development conference hosted by the Department of Marketing and Management at Macquarie University, Sydney, Australia.

The papers accepted and presented at the special issue conference will be considered for publication in the Special Issue of the APJM. Presentation at the conference does not necessarily guarantee publication in the special issue. The combination of a development conference and a Special Issue nevertheless follows a highly successful APJM initiative to bring out the full potential of authors and papers.

For questions about the special issue, please contact any of the Special Issue Editors:

Jane Lu
Professor, Department of Management and Marketing, University of Melbourne; and National University of Singapore
Email: jane.lu@unimelb.edu.au

Xufei Ma
Associate Professor, Department of Management, Chinese University of Hong Kong
Email: xufei@cuhk.edu.hk

Lucy Taksa
Professor, Department of Marketing and Management, Macquarie University
Email: lucy.taksa@mq.edu.au

Yue Wang
Associate Professor, Department of Marketing and Management, Macquarie University
Email: yue.wang@mq.edu.au

References:

• Hofstede, G. (2007). Asian management in the 21st century. Asia Pacific Journal of Management, 24: 411-420.
• Dunning, J. H. (2006). Comment on Dragon multinationals: New players in 21st century globalization. Asia Pacific Journal of Management, 23: 139-141.
• Narula, R. (2006). Globalization, new ecologies, new zoologies, and the purported death of the eclectic paradigm. Asia Pacific Journal of Management, 23: 143-151.
• Mathews, J. A. (2006a). Dragon multinationals: New players in 21st century globalization. Asia Pacific Journal of Management, 23: 5-27.
• Mathews, J. A. (2006b). Responses to Professors Dunning and Narula. Asia Pacific Journal of Management, 23: 153-155.

Call for special issue: From Emerging to Emerged: A Decade of Development of Dragon Multinationals

Asia Pacific Journal of Management

Special Issue and Conference on

“From Emerging to Emerged: A Decade of Development of Dragon Multinationals”

• Submission Deadline: April 15, 2015
• Conference Place and Date: December, 2015 (tentative dates)
• Venue: Macquarie University, Sydney, Australia
• Estimated Date of Publication: November 2016

Special Issue Guest Editors:

• Jane Lu (University of Melbourne and National University of Singapore)
• Xufei Ma (Chinese University of Hong Kong)
• Lucy Taksa (Macquarie University)
• Yue Wang (Macquarie University)

Special Issue Consulting Editors:

• Mike Peng (University of Texas at Dallas)
• Ravi Ramamurti (Northeastern University)

Conference Sponsor:

Department of Marketing and Management, Macquarie University, Sydney, Australia.


In 2006, the Asia Pacific Journal of Management (APJM) published an influential article “Dragon multinationals: New players in 21st century globalization” (Mathews, 2006a, 23:5-27). In this conceptual article, John Mathews (Macquarie University, Australia) defines firms from the periphery—especially those from the Asia Pacific region—as ‘dragon multinationals’. The author develops a new model to illustrate the three pillars common in these firms’ pattern of accelerated internationalization and summarizes them into his linkage, leverage, and learning (LLL) model.

According to Mathews (2006a), for dragon multinationals, the best and the quickest way to capture global opportunities and to tap into global resources is first to link up with firms around the global, second to leverage such links to overcome resource barriers (including foreign direct investment (FDI) through acquisitions), and third to learn to build up their own capabilities in a cumulative fashion. These three pillars of linkage, leverage and learning are what make dragon multinationals’ international expansion distinctive from the internationalization pattern of Western incumbents.

To the extent that firms that lack initial resources may take advantage of the increasingly interconnected global economy in a pattern consistent with the LLL model, the LLL model may become one of the dominant paradigms in international business (IB) research in the 21st century, just like how the OLI model was viewed by the IB and management community in the 20th century. We do not know whether this significant paradigm development will happen, but the fact that John Mathews’ article won the second APJM Best Paper Award in 2009 and became the second most cited APJM paper ever (with over 600 Google Scholar citations) in just a few years after its appearance in 2006 is a strong signal that the IB and management community may just be ready to embrace such a paradigm development. However, whether such a paradigm development will materialize (Dunning, 2006; Narula, 2006) is at least dependent on two critical issues, which will be addressed in this Special Issue. First, do we have accumulated sufficient evidence to suggest that there is indeed a need for a new paradigm such as the LLL model to account for a very different internationalization process? Second, nearly ten years since Mathews (2006a), do we have sufficient knowledge about ways that those already emerged dragon multinationals (such as Acer, Li & Fung, and Lenovo that appeared in Mathews’ original article) manage their global operations?

To further enrich our understanding of the merits and limits of the LLL model, we also call for papers that provide new theoretical or empirical insights to help us better understand the internationalization patterns and strategies adopted by firms from the rapidly developing Asia Pacific region including those are still emerging and those already emerged in the global stage. To the extent that management problems remain the same over time while their solutions differ from part of the world to part of the world (Hostede, 2007), we also welcome manuscripts that look at the impact of the emerging or emerged dragon multinationals on the strategies and behaviours of Western MNEs in different parts of the world.

Overall, this Special Issue provides an opportunity to (1) reflect on John Mathews’ influential article on the then emerging dragon multinationals, and (2) bring together research on recent development of those dragon multinationals that are already emerged in the global market as well as research on the interactions between these (relatively) new players and incumbent western players in an increasingly interconnected global business environment. To serve these purposes, manuscripts are not restricted to, but could deal with the following topics:

• Empirical studies to test the validity of the LLL model in a broader range of firms (including but not limited to emerging and emerged dragon multinationals). 
• How the strategies, structures, and management practices (e.g. how to manage the challenge of diverse workforce) adopted by those emerged dragon multinationals differ from MNEs from the West and Japan.
• How the LLL model and OLI model complement or substitute each other.
• How the expansion of dragon multinationals to regions such as Africa and Australia affects the strategies of Western MNEs in these regions.
• How the pattern of expansion of dragon multinationals is affected by varying institutional conditions in their home countries.
• What the performance implications are as a result of the expansion of dragon multinationals.

Papers for the Special Issue should be submitted electronically to the APJM Online Submission System at https://www.editorialmanager.com/apjm/, and identified as submissions to the “From emerging to emerged: a decade of development of dragon multinationals” Special Issue. The deadline for receipt of papers for this special issue is April 15, 2015. The format of submissions must comply with submission guidelines posted at the APJM website.

Papers will be double-blind peer-reviewed. We will make initial editorial decisions by July 1, 2015. Authors invited to revise and resubmit their work will be invited to present the papers at a Special Issue development conference hosted by the Department of Marketing and Management at Macquarie University, Sydney, Australia.

The papers accepted and presented at the special issue conference will be considered for publication in the Special Issue of the APJM. Presentation at the conference does not necessarily guarantee publication in the special issue. The combination of a development conference and a Special Issue nevertheless follows a highly successful APJM initiative to bring out the full potential of authors and papers.

For questions about the special issue, please contact any of the Special Issue Editors:

• Jane Lu, Professor, Department of Management and Marketing, University of Melbourne; and National University of Singapore. Email: jane.lu@unimelb.edu.au
• Xufei Ma, Associate Professor, Department of Management, Chinese University of Hong Kong. Email: xufei@cuhk.edu.hk
• Lucy Taksa, Professor, Department of Marketing and Management, Macquarie University. Email: lucy.taksa@mq.edu.au
• Yue Wang, Associate Professor, Department of Marketing and Management, Macquarie University. Email: yue.wang@mq.edu.au

References:

• Hofstede, G. (2007). Asian management in the 21st century. Asia Pacific Journal of Management, 24: 411-420.
• Dunning, J. H. (2006). Comment on Dragon multinationals: New players in 21st century globalization. Asia Pacific Journal of Management, 23: 139-141.
• Narula, R. (2006). Globalization, new ecologies, new zoologies, and the purported death of the eclectic paradigm. Asia Pacific Journal of Management, 23: 143-151.
• Mathews, J. A. (2006a). Dragon multinationals: New players in 21st century globalization. Asia Pacific Journal of Management, 23: 5-27.
• Mathews, J. A. (2006b). Responses to Professors Dunning and Narula. Asia Pacific Journal of Management, 23: 153-155.

Call for papers: Special issue on Emerging economy multinationals and home country effects: Does origin matter?

Asia Pacific Journal of Management

Call for Papers for Conference and Special Issue on

Emerging economy multinationals and home country effects: Does origin matter?

Deadline for submission: December 1, 2013

Conference venue: Copenhagen, Denmark

Conference dates: September 2014

Targeted publication date for the Special Issue: June 2015


Special Issue Editors:

• Bersant Hobdari (Copenhagen Business School)
• Peter Gammeltoft (Copenhagen Business School)
• Klaus Meyer (CEIBS)
• Jing Li (Simon Fraser University)

Over the last decade emerging market multinationals (EMNCs) have become important players in the world economy. This has led to increased interest in their behavior by academics and policy makers alike who are beginning to come to grips with the most important analytical and policy issues that affect the world economy due to the rise of EMNCs. A lively debate in the literature is discussing the applicability of lessons from the study of developed country multinationals to EMNCs, and the contributions that the study of EMNCs can offer to theories of the multinational enterprise in general.

Studies from developed economy multinationals recognize that both firm-specific and environmental factors help explain international diversification. Over the last decade, increasing attention has been given to the drivers of internationalization strategies of firms from emerging economies and evidence on the relationship between EMNCs’ competitive advantages and the nature of their internationalization strategies is beginning to emerge. In this context, extant literature has focused on aspects of home country environments as potential determinants of EMNCs’ advantages and internationalization processes. Erramilli, Agarwal and Kim (1997) observed “that firm-specific advantages are molded by home-country environment has received some empirical scrutiny and support.” Yet, there remain significant unresolved questions in the international business and strategic management literatures as to how the home environment of a firm impacts its international strategies and operations. The substantial increase in outward foreign direct investment from countries such as China and India emphasizes the importance of this question.

The global economy is shifting in ways that offer new opportunities and new challenges for firms from emerging economies. These firms often originate from institutional environments which are heterogenic and segmented, have co-evolved their structures and practices within idiosyncratic institutional environments, and need to overcome differences between diverse institutional settings in their foreign direct investments. These challenges are often compounded by limited organizational and managerial experience and capabilities to internationalize.

We believe that there are significant opportunities for improving our understanding of how home country environment affects various processes and outcomes that drive EMNCs, and thus to advance theories of the multinational enterprise. Consequently, we are soliciting empirical and theoretical work addressing these complex relationships between various forms of home country environmental heterogeneities and EMNCs. This special issue provides an opportunity to bring together the research of scholars from a diverse range of disciplinary traditions such as economics, sociology and political science. As such, the following list of potential research questions is merely illustrative of the broad range of studies that could fit in the special issue of Asia Pacific Journal of Management (APJM):

• · How do EMNCs leverage political and social ties at home to gain access to and/or leadership in foreign markets, especially developed country markets?
• · How do the institutional framework and the resource endowment of the home country influence the patterns and processes of organizational learning and capability building that enable investments abroad? 
• · From a co-evolutionary perspective, what are the dynamics of the interrelationship between institutional change and corporate strategy? How do EMNCs leverage their experience abroad to impact institutional development at home?
• · What is the extent and modalities through which emerging market governments influence the operations of EMNCs?
• · What distinguishes international investment strategies by state-owned and privately owned EMNCs? Is government ownership enabler or liability in internationalization?
• · What role do country of origin formal (regulatory) and informal (cultural) institutions play in pace of internationalization and degree of international commitments?
• · How do governance structures, such as ownership and managerial incentives, affect internationalization decisions and the success or failure of overseas operations?

All papers are to be submitted to the APJM website http://apjm.edmgr.com. The submission website is already open with the deadline for receipt of papers being December 1, 2013. No late submissions will be accepted. The format of submissions must comply with submission guidelines posted at the APJM website, and we have a marked preference for submissions which debate with, extend, and/or refute the indicative literature cited below. Please indicate that your submission is to be reviewed for the Special Issue on Emerging Economy Multinationals (choose “S.I.: EMNCs and Home Country Effects” during the submission process).

Papers will be double-blind peer-reviewed. We will make initial editorial decisions by June, 2014. Authors invited to revise and resubmit their work will be invited to present the papers at the APJM special issue workshop to be held at the conference on “Emerging Economy Multinationals” at Copenhagen Business School in Copenhagen, Denmark.

The papers accepted and presented at the workshop will be considered for publication in a special issue of the APJM. Presentation at the workshop does not necessarily guarantee publication in the special issue. The combination of a workshop and a special issue nevertheless follows a highly successful APJM initiative to bring out the full potential of authors and papers. For questions about the special issue, please contact Bersant Hobdari, Guest Editor, at bh.int@cbs.dk.

Indicative Contemporary Literature

• Bhaumik, S.K., Driffield, N. & Pal, S., 2010. Does ownership structure of emerging market firms affect their outward FDI? The case of the Indian automotive and pharmaceutical sectors, Journal of International Business Studies, 41: 437-450.
• Boisot, M. & Meyer, W. 2008. Which way through the open door? Reflections on the internationalization of Chinese firms, Management and Organization Review 4(3): 349-366. 
• Buckley P.J., Clegg J., Cross A., Rhodes, H., Voss H. & Zheng, P. 2008. Explaining China's outward FDI: an institutional perspective', in: Sauvant, K. ed., The rise of transnational corporations from emerging markets, Cheltenham: Elgar.
• Chen Y.Y. & Young, M.N. 2010. Cross-border mergers and acquisitions by Chinese listed companies: A principal –principal perspective, Asia Pacific Journal of Management 27(3): 523-539.
• Cui, L. & Jiang, F. 2012. State ownership effect on firms’ FDI opwnership decisions under institutional pressure: A study of Chinese outward-investing firms, Journal of International Business Studies, online advance. 
• Dunning, J.H., 2006. Comment on ‘dragon multinationals: New players in 21st century globalization’, Asia Pacific Journal of Management 23, 139-142.
• Erramilli, M. K., Agarwal S. & Kim S. 1997. Are Firm-Specific Advantages Location-Specific Too, Journal of International Business Studies 28(4), 735-757.
• Filatotchev, I., Strange, R., Piesee, J. & Lien, Y.C. 2007. FDI by firms from newly industrialized economies in emerging markets: Corporate governance, entry mode and location, Journal of International Business Studies, 38(4): 556-502. 
• Gammeltoft, P. 2008. Emerging multinationals: Outward FDI from the BRICS countries, International Journal of Technology and Globalisation, 4(1): 5-22.
• Gubbi, S.R. Aulakh, P., Ray, S., Sarkar, M.B. & Chitoor, R. 2010. Do international acquisitions by emerging-economy firms create shareholder value? The case of Indian firms, Journal of International business Studies 41, 397–418.
• Jormanainen, I. & Koveshnikov, A. 2012. International activities if emerging market firms: A critical assessment of research in top management journals, Management International Review, advance online.
• Lin, W.-T., & Cheng, K.-Y. 2012. The effect of upper echelons’ compensation on firm internationalization. Asia Pacific Journal of Management. doi:10.1007/s10490-011-9261-9.
• Luo Y.D., Xue Q. & Han B. 2010. How emerging market governments promote outward FDI: Experience from China. Journal of World Business 45(1): 68-79.
• Mathews, J. A. 2006. Dragon multinationals: New players in 21st century globalization. Asia Pacific Journal of Management, 23: 5-27. 
• Meyer, K.E. & Thaijongrak, O. 2013. The dynamics of emerging economy MNEs: How the internationalization process model can guide future research, Asia Pacific Journal of Management, in press.
• Morck R., Yeung B. & Zhao M. 2008. Perspectives on China's outward foreign direct investment. Journal of International Business Studies 39(3): 337-350.
• Ramamurti, R. 2012. What is really different about emerging market multinationals? Global Strategy Journal 2(1): 41-47. 
• Tan, D. & Meyer, K.E. 2010. Business groups’ outward FDI: A managerial resources perspective, Journal of International Management, 16(2): 154-164.
• Yang, H., Sun, S. L., Lin, Z., & Peng, M. W. 2011. Behind M&As in China and the United States: Networks, learning, and institutions. Asia Pacific Journal of Management, 28(2): 239-255.