Call for chapters. Special issue: New Wine in Old Bottles? The Role of Emerging Markets Multinationals in advancing IB Theory and Research.

International Journal of Emerging Markets

Call for Papers for Special Issue on

New Wine in Old Bottles? The Role of Emerging Markets Multinationals in advancing IB Theory and Research.


Special Issue Editors:

• Bersant Hobdari (Copenhagen Business School)
• Lourdes Casanova (Cornell University)
• Peter Hertenstein (University of Cambridge)

In many respects, multinationals are a defining invention of Western economies. But like much else, they are no longer the preserve of the West. The emerging economies are producing business giants of their own at a staggering rate. While these businesses share the scale and ambition of their developed-world counterparts, their processes and patterns of growth are often dissimilar to those of their competitors in the developed world. They are success stories that are changing the narrative rules as they go along.

As emerging market countries gain in stature, their companies are taking center stage. Emerging market companies accounted for over 40 percent of world exports and around a quarter of outward foreign direct investment investments flows (UNCTAD, 2012; Contractor, 2013). These emerging market companies will continue to be critical competitors in their home markets while increasingly making outbound investments into other emerging and developed economies. Working to serve customers of limited means, the emerging market leaders often produce innovative designs that reduce manufacturing costs and sometimes disrupt entire industries. 

The state of the literature is divided in between those who claim that emerging market multinationals are similar to their Western counterparts and those who claim that these multinationals are a new phenomenon requiring new theories and frameworks. Arguments in support of new theoretical models in which EMNEs can contribute to IB theory can be divided into two streams. Ramamurti (2009), on the one side of the argument stresses the role of country of origin and other contextual factors in shaping emerging market multinationals internationalization strategies. In this respect, there is a need for empirically grounded research to discover ownership-specific advantages of emerging market multinationals, which either help or hinder internationalization process (Ramamurti, 2012). On the other side of the debate, others, like Dunning, Kim, and Park (2008) and Williamson and Zeng (2009), give reasons to believe that emerging market multinationals do not behave differently because of their origin, but because of fundamental changes in the world economy. As a consequence, emerging market multinationals would act similar to young multinationals from developed countries. In between these opposing views, Cuervo-Cazurra (2012) argues that the behavior of emerging market multinationals can be explained by extending and modifying the existing models rather than building new ones. Gammeltoft et. al. (2010) stress the role of macro and micro perspectives when analyzing the dynamics of emerging market multinationals. 

Consequently, we are soliciting empirical and theoretical work addressing these complex relationships between various forms of contextual heterogeneities and emerging market multinationals. 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:

• · Are emerging market multinationals different from similar-aged developing market multinationals?
• · Does the change in global economic conditions call for a radical change in the behavior of multinationals?
• · What opportunities do fine sliced global value chains open for entry and upgrading of emerging market multinationals in the global economy?
• · Can emerging market multinationals help broaden the concept of ownership advantages beyond the traditional definition including technology and brand value?
• · Does availability of finance and existence of internal capital markets shape the response of emerging market multinationals to the financial crisis?
• · Do emerging market multinationals use CRS and sustainability initiatives as sources competitive advantage? 
• · Are there contextual elements that make emerging market multinationals truly unique?
• · How does corporate governance affect internationalization strategies of emerging market multinationals?
• · What are the dynamics of the interrelationship between institutional change and corporate strategy?
• · Do emerging market multinationals possess institutional capabilities that can be transferred across borders?

Deadlines, Submission Guidelines and Co-Editor Information

Submissions to the Special Issue must be submitted through the IJoEM website. The deadline for submissions is March 1, 2016. For general submission guidelines, see http://www.emeraldinsight.com/products/journals/author_guidelines.htm?id=ijoem. No late submissions will be accepted. 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.

Papers will be blind peer-reviewed. We will make initial editorial decisions by June, 2016. Authors invited to revise and resubmit their work will be invited to present the papers at the IJoEM special issue workshop to be held at the 5th conference on “Emerging Economy Multinationals” at Copenhagen Business School in Copenhagen, Denmark during September/October 2016.

The papers accepted and presented at the workshop will be considered for publication in a special issue of the IJoEM. 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 template 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

• Aharoni, Y. 2014. "To understand EMNEs a dynamic IB contingency theory is called for." International Journal of Emerging Markets 9(3): 377 – 385.
• Buckley, P. J. 2014. “Forty years of internationalisation theory and the multinational enterprise.” Multinational Business Review 22 (3): 227-245.
• Contractor, F. J. 2013. “Punching above their weight.” International Journal of Emerging Market 8(4): 304-328.
• Cuervo-Cazurra A. and Genc M. 2008. “Transforming disadvantages into advantages: developing country MNEs in the least developed countries.” Journal of International Business Studies 39: 957–979.
• Cuervo-Cazurra A. 2012. “Extending theory by analyzing developing country multinational companies: Solving the Goldilocks debate.” Global Strategy Journal 2: 153-147.
• Cuervo-Cazurra A. and Ramamurti, R. (eds). 2014. Understanding multinaitonals from emerging markets. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, U.K.
• Dunning J. H., Kim C., and Park D. 2008 , “Old wine in new bottles: a comparison of emerging-market TNCs today and developed-country TNCs thirty years ago”, in The Rise of Transnational Corporations from Emerging Markets: Threat or Opportunity?, Sauvant K. (ed), Edward Elgar: Northampton, MA.
• Gammeltoft, P., J.P. Pradhan and A. Goldstein (2010), ‘Emerging multinationals: home and host country determinants and outcomes’, International Journal of Emerging Markets, 5(3/4): 254-265.
• Gammeltoft, P., H. Barnard and A. Madhok (2010), ‘Emerging Multinationals, Emerging Theory: Macro- and Micro-Level Perspectives’, Journal of International Management, 16(2): 95-101.
• Gammeltoft, Peter, Filatotchev, Igor and Hobdari, Bersant. 2012. “Emerging Multinational Companies and Strategic Fit: A Contingency Framework and Future Research Agenda.” European Management Journal, 30(3): 175-188.
• Narula, Rajneesh, (2012). Do we need different frameworks to explain infant MNEs from developing countries? Global Strategy Journal 2(3), 188-204. 
• Ramamurti, R. 2012. “What is really different about emerging market multinationals?” Global Strategy Journal 2: 41-47.
• Ramamurti, R. 2009. “What have we learned about emerging-market MNEs?” In Emerging Multinationals in Emerging Markets, Ramamurti R, Singh JV (eds). Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, U.K.: 399–426.
• UNCTAD. 2012. World Investment Report 2012: Towards a New Generation of Investment Policies. United Nations Conference on Trade and Development; Geneva, Switzerland.
• Williamson P and Zeng M. 2009, “Chinese multinationals: emerging through new global gateways”, in Emerging Multinationals in Emerging Markets, Ramamurti R. and Singh J. (eds), Cambridge University Press: Cambridge, U.K.

General call for papers: Organizations and Markets in Emerging Economies (OMEE)

The Multidisciplinary Research Journal: Organizations and Markets in Emerging Economies (OMEE)

General Call for Papers

Journal website: www.om.ef.vu.lt

Organizations and Markets in Emerging Economies mission is to contribute to the development and dissemination of multidisciplinary knowledge on organizations and markets in emerging economies, to increase dialogue among scholars focused on more narrow research issues within the OMEE scope and, finally, to offer an outlet for high quality scholarship.

The journal takes a broad definition of emerging economies. As such, emerging economies include the transition economies of Central and Eastern Europe, Asian nations (China, India, Vietnam, and others) that are increasing their free-market systems, countries in Central and South America, and finally countries in Africa. Each of these regions faces unique challenges and we encourage research that highlights the uniqueness of the particular region or country, while whenever possible seeks to identify shared patterns of organizational and market behaviour across different emerging economy contexts and across emerging economy and developed economy contexts.

The submitted papers can take economic, sociological or psychological perspectives. The Journal is open for various types of articles:

• Review articles, which summarize and evaluate the current stock of knowledge on a specific issue;
• Conceptual/theory building articles, which develop propositions and outline directions for further research;
• Empirical papers, which study specific issues employing qualitative or quantitative methodologies.
• Other types 

Topics of special interest include, but are not limited to:

1. Organizational learning and change in emerging economies.
2. MNE’s in emerging economies.
3. Alliances, networks and clusters in emerging economies.
4. Corporate and functional strategies in emerging economies.
5. Market development and consumer behaviour in emerging economies.

We equally appreciate and encourage submissions by scholars from both emerging and developed economies. The strength of the journal is openness to contributions of scholars coming from diverse geographical contexts disciplinary backgrounds, theoretical traditions, and methodological approaches. This is reflected in the structure of our editorial board as well as in the way Journal assigns reviewers. Such philosophy and ensuing practice allows the double-blind peer review procedure to be rigorous, constructive, and stimulating, which helps advance research papers.

The submissions will be considered for upcoming issues of Organizations and Markets in Emerging Economies. For more information, please visit homepage of the Journal www.om.ef.vu.lt. Inquiries and papers should be sent by e-mail organizations.markets@ef.vu.lt.

Prof. Sigitas Urbonavicius,
Editor-in-Chief Organizations and Markets in Emerging Economies

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 papers. Special Issue on: Management of Human Resources in MNCs from the BRICS Countries (Brazil, Russia, India, China, South Africa): Emerging Patterns, Challenges and Research Agenda

Journal of International Management 

Special Issue Call For Submissions

Management of Human Resources in MNCs from the BRICS Countries (Brazil, Russia, India, China, South Africa): Emerging Patterns, Challenges and Research Agenda

Guest Editors:

• Pawan S. Budhwar (Aston University, Birmingham, UK),
• Rosalie L. Tung (Simon Fraser University, Vancouver, CANADA)
• Arup Varma (Loyola University, Chicago, USA) 

Ever since the publication of the Goldman Sachs report (Wilson and Purushothaman, 2003), the world has been carefully watching the growth and developments in the BRIC nations. South Africa sought membership to the BRIC Forum and was officially admitted as a member nation in December 2010. Since then the group has been renamed BRICS to reflect the five-nation membership. Not surprisingly, we have witnessed a number of critical developments in these five markets, such as creation of massive new markets for foreign firms; ever-increasing levels of both outward and inward FDI to and from them; and lately, the growth of MNCs from these markets which are challenging global players and even acquiring them. While research exists on HRM practices of MNCs from developed countries and their subsidiaries – including their operations in developing economies (e.g., Schuler et al., 2009), there is a dearth of publications on HRM systems in emerging market MNCs (EMNCs). Given the increasing awareness of the impact of HRM on organizational performance, the context-specific nature of HRM, the trend towards cross-vergence of HRM systems across the globe and the scarcity of reliable research evidence on HR policies and practices of MNCs from BRICS nation, it is both timely and topical to pursue a special issue on this topic.

Apart from the creation of useful information and knowledge for researchers, practitioners and policy makers, this special issue is expected to test the relevance of existing theoretical frameworks (e.g., OLI – ownership, location, internationalization; global standardization versus localization perspective; resource based view of the firm; institutional theory) to examine the nature and emerging patterns of HRM systems in MNCs from BRICS nations. Further, due to a combination of factors such as the heterogeneity of the BRICS nations, the motives for the growth of their respective MNCs being different, and the ownership of MNCs from these nations being different from developed nations MNCs, this special issue is expected to provide researchers the opportunity to examine and confirm the usefulness of new theoretical perspectives such as the LLL (linkage, leveraging, learning) (Mathews, 2006), dynamic capabilities perspective (Cazurra and Genc, 2008), ambidexterity perspective (Luo and Rui, 2009), ambicultural mode (Chen and Miller, 2010), reverse diffusion, spring board strategy (Luo and Tung, 2007), liability of country of origin, liability of foreignness and late mover disadvantage (e.g., Contractor et al., 2007; Guillen and Garcia-Canal, 2009), and hybridization or move towards the best practice model; contributing to developments in the fields of international HRM, international management, comparative management, and organizational learning (e.g., Tung, 2008; Horwitz and Budhwar, 2014).

The aim of this special issue is to create an opportunity to fill the above highlighted gaps in the existing body of literature by assembling conceptual, theoretical and empirical developments related to the topic of ‘management of human resources in the MNCs from BRICS nations’. HRM is generally acknowledged to be context-specific; and to better understand the nature of HRM systems relevant for EMNCs in different settings, it is important to analyze the business environment of the country of origin of these MNCs and the country of their operations (e.g., Khavul et al., 2010). Also, over the years, there has been an ongoing debates in the field of international HRM on topics such as the suitability of specific approaches to IHRM; global standardization versus localization of HRM policies; transfer of HR across subsidiaries and global sharing of best practice; global talent management; reverse knowledge transfers; the role of country specific HR centers in coordination and transfer of knowledge across the MNE operations; and convergence-divergence or cross-vergence of HRM across subsidiaries of MNCs operating in different parts of the world (see, e.g., Budhwar et al., 2009). However, the majority of these debates have been tested in MNCs from developed nations. In light of the rapid growth of MNCs from BRICS countries, a number of questions need addressing, such as what is the role of the HRM function in the internationalization of EMNCs? What IHRM approach(es) do EMNCs adopt? Are these similar to or different from those of developed countries MNCs? What kind of theoretical frameworks are suitable to investigate the emerging patterns of HRM systems in MNCs from BRICS nations? Do EMNCs emphasize global standardization, localization or glocalization of HRM systems? What are the key HRM challenges facing MNCs from emerging markets? This special issue is designed to address the aforementioned issues.

The following are illustrative questions/themes that are consistent with the spirit of this special issue. Authors are encouraged to contribute papers with wider perspectives, as long as the papers are in line with the broad theme of the proposed special issue.

• What is the nature of HRM systems of foreign firms originating from emerging markets, specifically Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa? 
• What are the major factors that affect HRM policies and practices from EMNCs in their overseas operations? 
• What theoretical frameworks are relevant to examine and highlight the context-specific nature of HRM in EMNCs? 
• Are HRM systems of MNCs from BRICS countries convergent with systems of developed nations? 
• How do MNCs from BRICS countries share their best HRM practices and transfer them between headquarters and subsidiaries? 
• What is the experience of expatriates from MNCs of BRICS countries, and to BRICS countries? 
• How can HR policies and practices affect organizational performance of EMNCs? 
• What is the role of HR in the formation and implementation of global strategic alliances (e.g., mergers and acquisitions)? 

Key dates for the Special Issue:

• Submission Deadline: 31 July 2015
• Review Completion: 30 April 2016
• Publication: 2016/17

For enquiries please contact

• Pawan Budhwar - Email: p.s.budhwar@aston.ac.uk

References:

• Budhwar, P., Schuler, R. and Sparrow, P. (2009) (Eds.) Major Works in International Human Resource Management. London: Sage (4 Volumes).
• Chen, M.J. and Miller D. (2010) West meets East: toward an ambicultural approach to management. Academy of Management Perspectives, 24(4): 17‒24. 
• Contractor, F.J., Kumar, V. and Kundu, S.K. (2007) Nature of the relationship between international expansion and performance: The case of emerging market firms. Journal of World Business, 42: 401‒417. 
• Cuervo-Cazurra, A. and Genc, M. (2008) Transforming disadvantages into advantages: Developing-country MNEs in the least developed countries. Journal of International Business Studies, 39: 957‒979. 
• Gullién, M.F. and Garcia-Canal, E. (2009) The American model of the multinational firm and the new multinationals from emerging economies. Academy of Management Perspectives, 23 (2): 23‒35. 
• Horwitz, F. and Budhwar, P. (2014) (Eds) Handbook of Human Resource Management in Emerging Markets. Cheltenham: Edward Elgar (In Press).
• Khavul, S., Benson, G.S. and Dutta, D.K. (2010) Is internationalization associated with investments in HRM? A study of entrepreneurial firms in emerging markets. Human Resource Management, 49(4): 693-711.
• Luo, Y. and Rui, H. (2009) An ambidexterity perspective toward multinational enterprises from emerging economies. Academy of Management Perspectives, 23(4): 49‒70. 
• Luo, Y. and Tung, R.L. (2007) International expansion of emerging market enterprises: A springboard perspective. Journal of International Business Studies, 38: 481‒498. 
• Mathews, J.A. (2006) Dragon multinationals: New players in 21st century globalisation. Asia Pacific Journal of Management, 23: 5‒27. 
• Schuler, R.S., Sparrow, P. and Budhwar, P. (2009) Major Works in International Human Resource Management. In P. Budhwar, R. Schuler and P. Sparrow (Eds.) Major Works in International Human Resource Management – Volume 1. London: Sage, xxiii - xxviii.
• Tung, R.L. (2008) The cross-cultural research imperative: The need to balance cross-national and intra-national diversity. Journal of International Business Studies, 39(1): 41-46.
• Wilson, D. and Purushothaman, R. (2003) Dreaming with BRICs: The path to 2050. Global Economics Paper Number 99. Goldman Sachs Global Economic Website, www.gs.com

Call for chapters. Progress in International Business Research (PIBR)

Progress in International Business Research (PIBR)

Call for Chapters:
PIBR Volume #11

Book Series Title: Progress in International Business Research (PIBR)

Volume #11: “The challenge of/for BRIC Multinationals”

Editors: Rob van Tulder, Alain Verbeke, Jorge Carneiro, Maria Alejandra Gonzalez-Perez

Publisher: Emerald

For Volume #11 of the PIBR book series, we invite two types of contributions:

·      Research papers on emerging market – particularly BRIC – multinationals;

·      Teaching cases that address managerial dilemmas related to the internationalization of BRIC firms.

This Call for Chapters is intended to provide prospective authors for a volume on BRIC multinationals to come up with relevant ideas. The Call first describes why the issue of BRIC multinationals defines a specific angle in international business research. Secondly, the Call specifies the content of the special issue that we plan for the Progress in International Business Research (PIBR) book series (published by Emerald). Thirdly, this Call elaborates possible themes and the way these could be tackled in the form of teaching-oriented case studies. You are warmly invited and welcome to contribute!

General Introduction: Why BRIC multinationals are special?

The recent emergence of a number of high-profile multinational enterprises (MNEs) from emerging markets has triggered considerable research and debate on how to understand and appraise this phenomenon (Sauvant, 2011). The challenge for empirical research includes the question of whether the strategies and motives for the internationalization of these MNEs can be considered fundamentally different from the strategies of firms from developed countries (Luo and Tung 2007), or whether their ownership advantages are fundamentally different from those of developed country MNEs (Mathews 2002; Luo and Tung 2007; Buckley et al. 2007; Li 2007). Increasingly described as “springboarding” (Luo and Tung 2007), the internationalization strategies of emerging market firms are characterized by their high-risk, aggressive, and “boom-and-bust” or radical nature, while targeting many customers in many foreign markets at once, in a strategy of entrepreneurial venturing (Yiu et al. 2007). Comparing developed country MNEs of the 1960s, with emerging market MNEs in the 2000s, Dunning, Kim, and Park (2008) identified a number of additional differences. These include forms of entry (alliances); motivation (asset augmentation); managerial approach (regional and geocentric); role of home governments (more active than in the past); regional destination; institutional triggers of internationalization rather than traditional motives related to neoclassical models; and the lack of firm-specific ownership advantages (177).

One of the problems with these observations is that the category of ‘emerging market multinationals’ does not distinguish between different types of emerging markets. Although the empirical research is dominated by Chinese, Indian and – to a lesser extent – Brazilian multinationals, the theoretical literature nevertheless tends to adopt the more neutral term of emerging markets. But to what extent can the multinationals from these very specific country backgrounds be considered representative for a wider group of multinationals? Can China be compared, for instance, to Malaysia or Thailand? 

Taking these questions into account asks for the extent to which countries-of-origin matter in general for the study of MNEs. Moreover, with regard to the special case of BRIC countries and BRIC multinationals, a further dimension should be taken into account: the size of the home country as well as in particular the political weight in the international arena that this brings with it. To what extent can these domestic institutions be considered ‘normal” for explaining the internationalization strategies of BRIC multinationals as compared to emerging market multinationals in general? Another dimension related to these questions is the circumstance that whereas the classical developed country multinationals developed more or less parallel to their home countries economic development and political power, the BRIC multinationals still develop in relatively weakly developed countries, however with considerable political power and aspirations. Do these circumstances, therefore, imply that perhaps theoretical lines for ‘emerging market multinationals’ need not be redrawn, but that new approaches to explain the new breed of multinationals from BRIC countries need to be designed? If so what does that mean for the study of international business. Most modern IB theorists have either denied that there is need for new approaches, or have slightly modified their approach, not to explain for emerging market multinational specifically, but rather to include some of the characteristics of globalization in general. But to what extent does this underestimates the ‘uniqueness’ of the BRIC multinationals? Because the BRIC countries – in comparison to most other developing countries – have occupied a stronger bargaining position vis-à-vis developed countries’ multinationals, does this change their entry conditions and ultimately the way foreign multinationals (can) contribute to domestic development? And the flip-side of this argument: most BRIC countries only started to ‘allow’ their domestic companies to move abroad, thus creating substantial Outward Foreign Direct Investment flows. Many of these moves were accompanied by institutional arrangements, like Bilateral Investment Treaties (BITs). Depending on the ownership of these companies, their international expansion was part of national strategies and policy agendas. Compared to the outwards internationalization strategies of ‘western’ multinationals, this also provides a distinctive characteristic of BRIC multinationals: their links with the foreign ambitions of their home governments.

PIBR #11 – Research papers

This volume searches for a number of idiosyncratic elements in internationalization strategies of BRIC MNEs and, therefore, in particular in their relationship with home country policies:

1   The theoretical challenge: do we need different or more specific theories of EMNEs to assess the phenomenon of BRIC multinationals?

2   The empirical challenge: what marks the changing position of BRIC countries in the world economy: including institutional differences and commonalities in outward orientation and participation and shaping of international institutions (such as the BRICs bank complementing Bretton Woods institutes).

3   The managerial challenge: coming of age of a new breed of multinationals: what distinguishes BRIC multinationals from other multinationals? To what extent is the diplomatic agenda aligned with the corporate agenda? 

4   The policy making challenge: impact of outward Foreign Direct Investment on the home market: What impact have MNEs from BRIC countries on their domestic economy and the political constellations

PIBR #11 – Teaching cases

Educational ambitions

This volume emphasizes the unique characteristics of BRIC multinationals. We will actively solicit state-of-the art contributions, including systematic literature reviews – preferably by PhD students. Furthermore, the volume is intended to be used in an educational setting. For this, more extensive teaching cases as well as short cases (included as boxed in the book) are request that illustrate the above ambitions of the book: 

• Examples of how the size of the home market influences the international strategies of companies 
• Examples of how the international strategy of a company is linked to national political priorities 
• Examples of companies that successfully combined a Bilateral Investment Treaty (or any other form of diplomatic support) with a foreign investment 
• Examples of negative or positive responses by host governments to the entry of BRIC multinationals 
• Examples of the risks and opportunities of ‘springboarding’ strategies of BRIC multinationals 
• Examples of in particular the regional implementation of internationalization strategies by BRIC multinationals 

The teaching case format

1. The special focus of BRIC cases


The BRIC countries are a ‘special breed’ in the internationalization strategies of firms, because of a number of reasons: (1) big home market, that is rapidly developing, (2) but that remains not very well developed yet with sizable institutional voids and great ‘ issues’ at home, (3) at the same time these countries have sizable political weight in the international arena (member of security council, in international treaties etc.) that makes them incomparable to most other developing countries, which (4) therefore creates a different ‘risk mitigation’ strategy for the companies originating in the BRIC countries (Outward Foreign Direct Investment), and (5) at the same time creates a better bargaining position of these companies vis-à-vis incoming companies in their home turf (Inward Foreign Direct Investment), and explains also why (6) some of these companies have internationalized so rapidly (springboarding) due to a mix of domestic and foreign influences that in the case of BRIC multinationals really make a difference (strategic tipping points; for instance the political support to take over competitors in the home market and/or to invest abroad as part of geo-political strategic motivations).

2. Theoretical discussion

This distinguishes them from traditional multinationals (general theory on multinationals) and from ‘emerging market multinationals’ (general theory on latecomer multinationals). The discussion whether we need ’new theory’ or can continue to base our studies on ‘old’ theories therefore seems a bit off-the-case. See, for example, van Tulder (2010), who argues that it is more important to re-address classical approaches to IB (the political economic) next to recent insights that look at the motivations to go abroad in a more holistic manner: such as the ‘resource bundling’ perspective and different ways of looking at stakeholder engagement and new angles to the ‘liability of foreignness’.






VAN TULDER, Rob (2010). Toward a Renewed Stages Theory for BRIC Multinational Enterprises? A Home Country Bargaining Approach. In SAUVANT, Karl, McALLISTER, Geraldine, and MASCHEK, Wolfgang (eds.), Foreign Investments from Emerging Markets.

3. The case format

Taking the above considerations into account the teaching case should roughly follow the following characteristics:

•   [a] discuss a BRIC multinational, with controlling ownership in the BRIC country (can be anything)

•   [b] depart from a managerial problem: what should the manager do?

•   [c] take a bargaining and stakeholder perspective: how to deal with stakeholders at home and abroad (or how is action induced by stakeholder action at home)?

•   [d] look at risk mitigation factors (that are typical for BRIC countries; bilateral treaties between the home and the host countries: BITs, DTTs, regional treaties and the like)

•   [e] consider the institutional distance that the company has to overcome and the managerial problems it facing because of that

•   [f] try to specify in which stage of internationalization this company is and what that entails for the management problem

•   [g] NOTE: the core of the case can be any management problem in specific (R&D, take-over yes/no, marketing, license to operate, entry decision, independence of the subsidiary) as long as you are able to define the role that is played by the large home country basis (i.e. the BRIC nature) 

NOTE: At the EIBA 2015 conference in Rio de Janeiro (www.eiba2015.org), a special session around the prospective teaching cases on BRIC multinationals will be organized.

Deadlines:

·      April 30^th 2015: First submission of papers (to the EIBA 2015 Rio conference, www.eiba2015.org)

·      December 2015: Pre-selection of papers/chapters

·      March 15^th 2016: Second submission of improved papers

·      May 15^th 2016: Final submission of papers

·      November 2016: Publication of the book

Submit your contribution via the link: http://eiba2015.iag.puc-rio.br/?page_id=446

Teaching cases shall be submitted as competitive papers (as per the guidelines above) to Track 14 of the EIBA 2015 conference and must not exceed 25 pages (double-spaced), including tables, figures, references, and the respective teaching notes. Manuscripts submitted must not have been published, accepted for publication, or be currently under consideration elsewhere. Teaching cases must contain (1) the text of the teaching case itself, where the managerial dilemma is presented and information about the company and the context is shown; (2) teaching notes, which must present the learning objectives, issues for discussion, examples of appropriate analysis and of suggestions for in-class dynamics; and, ideally, also (3) a discussion of experiences in using the case in class.

ATTENTION – Special Issue of ARLA: While PIBR Volume #11 is interested in cases about BRIC multinationals, Academia Revista Latinoamericana de Adminsitración (ARLA) (http://www.emeraldgrouppublishing.com/products/journals/journals.htm?id=arla) will be publishing a special issue composed of the best teaching cases (submitted to the EIBA 2015 conference) that address internationalization challenges of Latin American firms (excluding Brazilian firms, which are within the scope of PIBR Volume #11).

Further information:

Rob van Tulder

Professor of International Business-Society Management

Department of Business-Society Management

Rotterdam School of Management (RSM)

Erasmus University Rotterdam, Netherlands

Email: rtulder@rsm.nl

Call for papers. Special Issue on: Internationalisation and Competitiveness of Emerging Economy Firms

International Journal of Business and Emerging Markets

http://www.inderscience.com/info/ingeneral/cfp.php?id=2647

Special Issue on: "Internationalisation and Competitiveness of Emerging Economy Firms" Submission Deadline 28th February 2015

Guest Editor:

• Prof. Murali D.R. Chari, Lally School of Management, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, USA

Enhancing competitiveness of emerging economy firms has been held up by scholars as an important motivation for the international expansion of emerging economy firms. Competency seeking, for example, has been attributed as a more pronounced motive for the international expansion of emerging economy firms, whereas competency exploiting is typically considered the dominant motive for the international expansion of advanced economy firms.
There is, however, a dearth of studies that have documented empirical evidence on the relationship between international expansion and the subsequent strengthening of emerging economy firm competitiveness. This special issue seeks to promote and publish research that addresses this void.
Theoretically grounded empirical studies are preferred. Carefully developed theoretical papers are also welcome. Studies can be focused on firms from one or more emerging economies. To maintain consistency and shared understanding, countries classified by the International Monetary Fund as emerging market and developing economies would be considered as emerging economies for the purpose of this special issue.

Subject Coverage

Suitable topics include, but are not limited to, the following:

• · How does foreign expansion enhance the competitiveness of emerging economy firms in their home country markets and in international markets?
• · Does the relationship between foreign expansion and the subsequent enhancement of emerging economy firm competitiveness vary by international entry/expansion mode such as exports, joint ventures and wholly owned operations?
• · Can we empirically document the relationship between different modes of international expansion and various measures of emerging economy firm competitiveness (e.g. market share, productivity relative to competitors, and profitability relative to competitors) after allowing for time lags necessary for the development of competencies?
• · Does foreign expansion into advanced economies and other emerging economies contribute differently to the competitiveness of emerging economy firms?

Notes for Prospective Authors

Submitted papers should not have been previously published nor be currently under consideration for publication elsewhere. (N.B. Conference papers may only be submitted if the paper was not originally copyrighted and if it has been completely re-written)
All papers are refereed through a double blind process.
All papers must be submitted online. Please read our Submitting articles page

Important Dates

• Manuscript submission: 28 February, 2015
• Reviewer reports: 1 June, 2015
• Revised paper submission: 1 September, 2015
• Final paper submission: 1 October, 2015

Call for papers. Special issue of the Journal of World Business

Business Group Affiliation and Internationalization of Emerging Market Firms

Submission Deadline: March 1, 2015

Guest Editors: Ajai Gaur, Jane Lu, Vikas Kumar, Robert Hoskisson

Business groups are prevalent in both developed and emerging markets (Ghemawat & Khanna, 1998) and constitute the dominant organizational form in many emerging markets (Chung & Luo, 2008; Khanna & Rivkin, 2001). Scholars have utilized multiple theoretical perspectives, including institutional economics, sociology and resource-based view to define, characterize and comprehend business groups. Business groups play an important role in emerging markets by filling institutional voids and creating their own internal capital, labor and product markets (Khanna & Palepu, 2000a). There are important differences between group affiliated and unaffiliated firms in emerging economies, in terms of their underlying resource base and embeddedness in the institutional and social fabric of the local market. To add to this complexity, institutional environments in emerging economies are constantly evolving and thereby impacting strategy, particularly of organizations such as business groups that are highly embedded in the domestic context (Hoskisson, Eden, Lau, & Wright, 2000; Hoskisson, Wright, Filatotchev, & Peng, 2013). Internationalization of business group firms under such tumultuous conditions presents a rich context for advancing internationalization theory and, in particular, contributing to a better understanding of the strategic adaptation of emerging market firms.

The extant literature on business group has primarily focused on how groups as a whole and/or firms affiliated to groups perform in their home countries (e.g. Chacar & Vissa, 2005; Chang, Chung, & Mahmood, 2006; Douma, George, & Kabir, 2006; Khanna & Palepu, 2000a; 2000b; Khanna & Rivkin, 2001). There are only a few studies that have explored the impact that affiliation to a business group has on the degree of internationalization of the focal firm, and present inconclusive findings (e.g. Chang, 1995; Kim, Kim, & Hoskisson, 2010). Examining not only institutional differences but also factor market difference between home and host countries also seems to matter with regard to internationalization from emerging economies (Kim, Hoskisson, & Lee, 2014). In the wake of the recent widespread and accelerated internationalization of emerging market firms, including many that are affiliated to larger business groups, the internationalization of business group affiliated firms warrants a deeper and systematic investigation from a variety of theoretical and empirical approaches.

As emerging economies develop and become mid-range economies (Hoskisson, et al., 2013), how does this change the nature of business groups and their internationalization strategies. Do they restructure their portfolios as transaction cost theory would imply (Hoskisson, Johnson, Tihanyi, & White, 2005)? Do they substitute domestic product diversification for more internationalization (Meyer, 2006)? How are they structured and governed differently (Chittoor, Kale, Puranam, 2014) as the country settings change and as they pursue increased innovation and internationalization (Yiu, Hoskisson, Bruton, Lu, 2014)? How does government ownership influence their corporate and internationalization strategies (White, Hoskisson, Yiu, & Bruton, 2008)?

Many studies simply use dummies to distinguish group affiliates from independent firms. This approach assumes all affiliates benefit equally, which is questionable due to differences in value capture.  For example, research shows that affiliate firms differ in their ability to capture benefits from internationalization; in this study more powerful group firms benefit from internationalization compared to less powerful affiliates (Wan, Hoskisson, & Kim, 2004). However, we have limited understanding of differences in power and of value capture among affiliates because few scholars examine heterogeneity among group affiliates.

The special issue solicits scholarly contributions that provide a finer-grained analysis of the internationalization of business group affiliated firms from emerging markets, encapsulating the unique attributes of business groups as well as that of the institutional and cultural contexts where they prosper. The following is an illustrative list of questions:

1.     How is the efficacy of business groups affected due to the rapidly changing institutional environment in EEs?

2.     Business groups are social structures deeply embedded in the broader institutional environment of EEs. How does this embeddnesses affect the internationalization propensity of their affiliates?

3.     What are the similarities and differences between business groups from different emerging economies as well as developed economies and how do these similarities/differences affect their internationalization behavior?

4.     How are business groups organized and managed differently in different country institutional and factor market settings? What organizational transformation are business groups undergoing to respond to the changes in the external institutional environment?

5.     What are the unique resources and capabilities of business groups?  How do these capabilities help group affiliated firms in internationalization?

6.     Are the advantages and/or disadvantages of affiliation to business group context-dependent?  How do individual business affiliate firms benefit more or less from group affiliation?

7.     Do advantages and/or disadvantages transfer to foreign markets when EE firms internationalize their operations?

8.     How do business groups extend their group like structure in foreign markets?

9.     How does the presence of a business group in an industry affect the industry-wide innovation and internationalization?

10.  How do the foreign market entry modes different between group affiliated and unaffiliated firms?

We encourage potential contributors to examine the internationalization of business groups from different theoretical perspectives and empirical approaches, including multi-level models and case studies.  Authors should not merely be testing the existing theories in the context of business groups, but make use of the novel context to develop new theories and explanations, and thereby enrich our understanding of firm internationalization behavior in general, and of business group internationalization behavior in particular.

Submission Process:

By March 1, 2015 all manuscripts should be submitted using the online submission system.  The link for submitting manuscript is: http://ees.elsevier.com/jwb. 

To ensure that all manuscripts are correctly identified for consideration for this Special Issue, it is important that authors select ‘SI: Business Groups’ when they reach the “Article Type” step in the submission process.

We may organize a workshop designed to facilitate the development of papers. Authors of manuscripts that have progressed through the revision process will be invited to it. Presentation at the workshop is neither a requirement for nor a promise of final acceptance of the paper in the Special Issue.

Questions about the special issue may be directed to any of the following guest editors:

Ajai Gaur, Rutgers University, USA ajai@business.rutgers.edu   

Jane Lu, University of Melbourne, Australia jane.lu@unimelb.edu.au 

Vikas Kumar, University of Sydney, Australia vikas.kumar@sydney.edu.au

Robert E. Hoskisson, Rice University robert.hoskisson@rice.edu

 References

Chacar, A., & Vissa, B. (2005). Are emerging economies less efficient? Performance persistence and the impact of business group affiliation. Strategic Management Journal,26(10): 933-946.

Chang, S.J. (1995). International expansion strategy of Japanese firms: capability building through sequential entry.  Academy of Management Journal, 38(2): 383-407.

Chang, S., Chung, C., & Mahmood, I.P. (2006). When and how does business group affiliation promote firm innovation? A tale of two emerging economies. Organization Science, 17(5): 637-656.

Chittoor, R., Kale, P., & Puranam, P. (2014). Business groups in developing capital markets:  Towards a complementarity perspective.  Strategic Management Journal, forthcoming.

Chung, C., & Luo, X. (2008). Human agents, contexts, and institutional change: the decline of family in the leadership of business groups. Organization Science, 19(1): 124-142.

Douma, S., George, R., & Kabir, R. (2006). Foreign and domestic ownership, business groups, and firm performance: evidence from a large emerging market. Strategic Management Journal, 27(7): 637-657.

Ghemawat, P., & Khanna, T. (1998). The nature of diversified business groups: a research design and two case studies.  Journal of Industrial Economics, 46(1): 35-61.

Hoskisson, R.E., Eden, L., Lau, C.-M., & Wright, M. 2000. Strategy in emerging economies. Academy of Management Journal, 43: 249–267.

Hoskisson, R. E., Johnson, R. A., Tihanyi, L. & White, R. E. (2005). Diversified business groups and corporate refocusing in emerging economies. Journal of Management, 31: 941-965.

Hoskisson, R.E., Wright, M., Filatotchev, I., Peng, M. (2013). Emerging multinationals from mid-range economies: The influence of institutions and factor markets. Journal of Management Studies, 50(7): 1295-1321.

Khanna, T., & Palepu, K. (2000a). Is group affiliation profitable in emerging markets? An analysis of diversified Indian business groups. Journal of Finance, 55(2): 867-891.

Khanna, T., & Palepu, K. (2000b). The future of business groups in emerging markets: long-run evidence from Chile. Academy of Management Journal, 43(3): 268-285.

Khanna, T., & Rivkin, J.W. (2001). Estimating the performance effects of business groups in emerging markets. Strategic Management Journal, 22(1): 45-74.

Kim, H., Hoskisson, R.E., & Lee, S.-H. (2014). Why strategic factor markets matter: ‘New’ multinationals’ geographic diversification and firm profitability. Strategic Management Journal, Forthcoming.

Kim, H., Kim, H., & Hoskisson, R.E. (2010). Does market-oriented institutional change in an emerging economy make business-group-affiliated multinationals perform better? An institution based view. Journal of International Business Studies, 41: 1141-1160.

Meyer, K.E. (2006). Globalfocusing: From domestic conglomerate to global specialist. Journal of Management Studies, 43(5): 1109-1144.

Kim, H., Hoskisson, R. E. & Wan, W. P. 2004. Power dependence, diversification strategy and performance in keiretsu member firms, Strategic Management Journal, 25: 613-636.

White, R. E., Hoskisson, R. E., Yiu, D. & Bruton, G. (2008). Employment and market innovation in Chinese business group-affiliated firms: The role of group control systems,Management and Organization Review, 4: 225-256.

Yiu, D. Hoskisson, R. E., Bruton, G. & Lu, Y. (2014). Dueling institutional logics and the effect on strategic entrepreneurship in Chinese business groups. Strategic Entrepreneurship Journal, 8(3): 195-213.