Abstract：Petricevich and Teece's (2019) article on the reshaping of globalization raises profound issues on the theory and empirics of international business. The fracture in the world economy between the USA and China is the result of Government policy, but its relationship to rising VUCA (volatility, uncertainty, complexity, and ambiguity) elements in globalization is more complex than simple policy changes. This paper suggests that a reappraisal of theory is required, not least because of the eruption of Covid-19, but that internalization theory is the best source of theoretical restructuring in the face of the new empirical realities facing the global economy.
参考文献：Buckley, P. J. (2020). The theory and empirics of the structural reshaping of globalization. Journal of International Business Studies, 51(6): 13. doi:10.1057/s41267-020-00355-5
Abstract：The concept of absorptive capacity (AC) of firms (Cohen and Levinthal 1989 and 1990) is a foundational feature of organizational learning and adaptation that has had enormous influence in international business (IB), and innovation studies and management research in general. In this tribute to Dan Levinthal, we discuss the close connection between AC and learning - two areas central to Dan Levinthal's research - in relation to different contexts where AC comes into play in extant IB research. We discuss four specific aspects of the nexus of AC and learning in the context of IB: (1) bridging between intra- and inter-firm learning; (2) a routine-based framing of AC that emphasizes processes and capabilities underlying seeking, assimilating, and innovation in a global setting; (3) the role of socially enabling mechanisms, and (4) the logic of learning through trial and error experiments within firms and countries.
参考文献：Lewin, A. Y., Massini, S., & Peeters, C. (2020). Absorptive capacity, socially enabling mechanisms, and the role of learning from trial and error experiments: A tribute to Dan Levinthal's contribution to international business research. Journal of International Business Studies, 51(6): 12. doi:10.1057/s41267-020-00354-6
Abstract：The field of international business is fundamentally concerned with the implications of managerial actions that affect multinational risk and performance outcomes. While portfolio diversification and real options theory are often used to describe the outcomes of multinational investment, existing work often confuses the actions and predictions proposed by these theories. This is concerning, as the two theories emphasize different causal mechanisms, managerial actions, and conceptions of risk and performance. Whereas portfolio theory argues that passive management affects symmetric outcomes, such as variance in returns by attaining a well-diversified portfolio, real options theory posits that managers actively shift subsidiary resources to affect asymmetric outcomes, such as upside potential or downside risk by monitoring and responding to environmental changes affecting the portfolio. This paper disentangles these two theories by focusing on unique predictions from real options theory - that geographic dispersion of MNE activities is associated with asymmetric outcomes, that this association is contingent on management being aware of real options logic, and that these effects are moderated by the degree of market uncertainty. Our findings confirm these predictions and suggest differences in the types of managerial strategies and actions required to effectively implement these distinct theories of the MNE.
参考文献：Ioulianou, S. P., Leiblein, M. J., & Trigeorgis, L. (2020). Multinationality, portfolio diversification, and asymmetric MNE performance: The moderating role of real options awareness. Journal of International Business Studies, 51(6): 21. doi:10.1057/s41267-020-00357-3
Abstract：This study advances our understanding of the contextualization of the effects of cultural intelligence (CQ). Drawing from trait activation theory and institutional theory, we develop a multi-level model showing how host countries' informal and formal openness towards foreigners facilitate or constrain the importance of expatriates' CQ in becoming embedded in the host organization. Furthermore, this study positions organizational embeddedness as a mediator in the association between expatriates' CQ and a central element of expatriates' jobs - knowledge sharing in the foreign workplace. Results from a cross-lagged survey of 1327 expatriates from 100 different nations residing in 30 host countries combined with secondary data indicate expatriate CQ relates positively to organizational embeddedness. Cross-level interaction analyses further suggest that in-group collectivism, the proxy for host countries' informal openness towards foreigners, facilitates the importance of CQ as a predictor of expatriates' organizational embeddedness. In contrast, CQ was not found to interact with the proxy for host countries' formal openness towards foreigners, i.e. national immigration policies. Consistent with predictions, we identified that CQ relates positively to knowledge sharing and that organizational embeddedness carries an indirect effect. We discuss the implications for theory and practice.
参考文献：Stoermer, S., Davies, S., & Froese, F. J. (2020). The influence of expatriate cultural intelligence on organizational embeddedness and knowledge sharing: The moderating effects of host country context. Journal of International Business Studies, 51(6): 22. doi:10.1057/s41267-020-00349-3
Abstract：This paper examines the benefits of syndicating with foreign venture capital (VC) firms for domestic VC firms in emerging markets. We find that the VC firms that are domestic to their invested companies and previously syndicated with foreign partners invest proportionately more frequently in riskier ventures. After gaining syndication experience with foreign VC firms, a larger number of their portfolio companies are successfully exited, thereby suggesting improved performance. We hypothesize that this outcome is due to the organizational learning effects. While the previous research has shown benefits for foreign VC firms, our results show that domestic VC firms also benefit from international syndication through improved investments.
参考文献：Khurshed, A., Mohamed, A., Schwienbacher, A., & Wang, F. (2020). Do venture capital firms benefit from international syndicates? Journal of International Business Studies, 51(6): 986-1007. doi:10.1057/s41267-019-00296-8
Abstract：Are consumers across countries becoming more similar over time in terms of their spending across product categories? If so, what are the antecedents and consequences of convergence in consumption? These questions are of interest to scholars and managers alike. To examine them, we propose a novel empirical framework that encompasses: (1) a new measure of consumption convergence (budget allocation gap), and (2) an econometric model that links consumption convergence to its antecedents and consequences of convergence. Our empirical analyses - using data from 71 countries in 21 product categories between 1990 and 2017 - suggest that, overall, consumption patterns have been converging across countries. Yet, the speed of consumption convergence has been decelerating over time. We also show that consumption convergence is influenced by several previously unexplored antecedents, including technological advances, inward trade openness, and ethnic diversity. Of direct interest to managers and policymakers is the finding that the higher the level of consumption convergence, the higher the market concentration. These findings offer key implications for scholars, managers, and policymakers regarding global marketing strategy and audit, global demand forecasting, international market segmentation and penetration, and global competition.
参考文献：Ozturk, A., Cavusgil, S. T., & Ozturk, O. C. (2020). Consumption convergence across countries: measurement, antecedents, and consequences. Journal of International Business Studies, 51(6): 16. doi:10.1057/s41267-020-00334-w
Abstract：We combine after-action review and needs-assessment frameworks to describe the four most pervasive contemporary methodological challenges faced by international business (IB) researchers, as identified by authors of Journal of International Business Studies articles: Psychometrically deficient measures (mentioned in 73% of articles), idiosyncratic samples or contexts (mentioned in 62.2% of articles), less-than-ideal research designs (mentioned in 62.2% of articles), and insufficient evidence about causal relations (mentioned in 8.1% of articles). Then, we offer solutions to address these challenges: demonstrating why and how the conceptualization of a construct is accurate given a particular context, specifying whether constructs are reflective or formative, taking advantage of the existence of multiple indicators to measure multi-dimensional constructs, using particular samples and contexts as vehicles for theorizing and further theory development, seeking out particular samples or contexts where hypotheses are more or less likely to be supported empirically, using Big Data techniques to take advantage of untapped sources of information and to re-analyze currently available data, implementing quasi-experiments, and conducting necessary-condition analysis. Our article aims to advance IB theory by tackling the most typical methodological challenges and is intended for researchers, reviewers and editors, research consumers, and instructors who are training the next generation of scholars.
参考文献：Aguinis, H., Ramani, R. S., & Cascio, W. F. (2020). Methodological practices in international business research: An after-action review of challenges and solutions. Journal of International Business Studies, 51(6): 16. doi:10.1057/s41267-020-00353-7
Abstract：Knowledge transfer within multinational enterprises is a source of competitive advantage. However, we know little about repatriates' role in reverse knowledge transfer upon their return to headquarters (HQ). Using an organizational embeddedness perspective, we conceptualized how embeddedness fit - individuals' perceived match between their knowledge and skills and the job requirements - during the expatriation assignment and upon repatriation predicts repatriate knowledge transfer. To test the hypotheses, we collected multi-wave survey data from 129 repatriates and their supervisors and developed a repatriate knowledge transfer scale. The results show that perceived organizational support from HQ positively influences embeddedness fit, both in the host unit during expatriation and in the HQ upon repatriation. Further, embeddedness fit in the HQ upon repatriation has a direct effect, while embeddedness fit in the host unit during expatriation has an indirect effect on repatriate knowledge transfer via increased communication frequency with the former host unit. In addition, we found that knowledge transfer is particularly pronounced for repatriates with both high levels of embeddedness fit in the HQ upon repatriation and frequent communication with colleagues in their former host unit. Our results highlight the critical importance of helping expatriates increase their perceived embeddedness fit for reverse knowledge transfer to occur.
参考文献：Froese, F. J., Stoermer, S., Reiche, B. S., & Klar, S. (2020). Best of both worlds: How embeddedness fit in the host unit and the headquarters improve repatriate knowledge transfer. Journal of International Business Studies, 51(6): 19. doi:10.1057/s41267-020-00356-4
Abstract：As a counterpoint to Prashantham and Birkinshaw, I present an alternative model of MNE-SME cooperation where either type of firms can take the role of content provider or distributor. I argue that MNEs will interact with SMEs when there are differences in optimal scale between the content creation and distribution stages of the value chain, and it is not feasible or efficient for either party to vertically integrate between these two stages. I then build two 2 x 2 bundling models, one in which the SME provides content and the MNE distributes it, and another with the reverse configuration. In these 2 x 2s the axes are the transactional properties of the two complementary inputs, content and distribution, that MNEs and SMEs bundle to create value. I show that these models can explain the forms taken by MNE-SME cooperation and their dynamics.
参考文献：Hennart, J. F. (2020). More than intent: A bundling model of MNE-SME interactions. Journal of International Business Studies, 51(6): 19. doi:10.1057/s41267-020-00352-8
