Alan M. Rugman

Bio: Alan M. Rugman is an academic researcher from University of Reading. The author has contributed to research in topics: Multinational corporation & International business. The author has an hindex of 69, co-authored 311 publications receiving 21088 citations. Previous affiliations of Alan M. Rugman include University of Oxford & Dalhousie University.

A perspective on regional and global strategies of multinational enterprises

Abstract: Multinational enterprises (MNEs) are the key drivers of globalization, as they foster increased economic interdependence among national markets. The ultimate test to assess whether these MNEs are global themselves is their actual penetration level of markets across the globe, especially in the broad ‘triad’ markets of NAFTA, the European Union and Asia. Yet, data on the activities of the 500 largest MNEs reveal that very few are successful globally. For 320 of the 380 firms for which geographic sales data are available, an average of 80.3% of total sales are in their home region of the triad. This means that many of the world’s largest firms are not global but regionally based, in terms of breadth and depth of market coverage. Globalization, in terms of a balanced geographic distribution of sales across the triad, thus reflects a special, and rather unusual, outcome of doing international business (IB). The regional concentration of sales has important implications for various strands of mainstream IB research, as well as for the broader managerial debate on the design of optimal strategies and governance structures for MNEs. Journal of International Business Studies (2004) 35, 3–18. doi:10.1057/palgrave. jibs.8400073

Subsidiary‐specific advantages in multinational enterprises

Abstract: This paper discusses the internal patterns of competence building in the multinational enterprise (MNE), with a focus on the creation of capabilities in its foreign subsidiaries We present a new framework to synthesize 10 types of MNE–subsidiary linkages leading to capability development We find that several of the 10 capability development processes are associated with subsidiary-specific advantages We discuss the process of subsidiary-specific advantage development within the organizational structure of the MNE when it is a differentiated network of dispersed operations Copyright © 2001 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd

Corporate strategies and environmental regulations: an organizing framework

Abstract: An emerging subfield of strategic management is that dealing with the natural environment as it affects corporate strategy. To analyze this we organize the literature on environmental regulations and corporate strategy into a new managerial framework. Next we develop a resource-based view of the interaction between firm-level competitiveness and environmental regulations, including the conditions for the use of green capabilities. Finally, we analyze the green capabilities of multinational enterprises within a standard international business model, using firm-specific advantages (FSAs) and country-specific advantages (CSAs). We then use this FSA/CSA configuration to explore hypotheses on environmental regulations, competitiveness, and corporate strategy. © 1998 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Edith Penrose's contribution to the resource-based view of strategic management

Abstract: Edith Penrose's (1959) book, The Theory of the Growth of the Firm, is considered by many scholars in the strategy field to be the seminal work that provided the intellectual foundations for the modern, resource-based theory of the firm. However, the present paper suggests that Penrose's direct or intended contribution to resource-based thinking has been misinterpreted. Penrose never aimed to provide useful strategy prescriptions for managers to create a sustainable stream of rents; rather, she tried to rigorously describe the processes through which firms grow. In her theory, rents were generally assumed not to occur. If they arose this reflected an inefficient macro-level outcome of an otherwise efficient micro-level growth process. Nevertheless, her ideas have undoubtedly stimulated ‘good conversation’ within the strategy field in the spirit of Mahoney and Pandian (1992); their emerging use by some scholars as building blocks in models that show how sustainable competitive advantage and rents can be achieved is undeniable, although such use was never intended by Edith Penrose herself. Copyright © 2002 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

The competitive advantage of nations

Abstract: The Need for a New Paradigm - PART I: FOUNDATIONS - The Competitive Advantage of Firms in Global Industries - Determinants of National Competitive Advantage - The Dynamics of National Advantage - PART II: INDUSTRIES - Four Studies in National Competitive Advantage - National Competitive Advantage in Services - PART III: NATIONS - Patterns of National Competitive Advantage: The Early Postwar Winners - Emerging Nations in the 1970s and 1980s - Shifting National Advantage - The Competitive Development of National Economies - PART IV: IMPLICATIONS - Company Strategy - Government Policy - National Agendas - Epilogue - Appendices - References

The Eclectic Paradigm of International Production: A Restatement and Some Possible Extensions

Abstract: This article reviews some of the criticisms directed towards the eclectic paradigm of international production over the past decade, and restates its main tenets. The second part of the article considers a number of possible extensions of the paradigm and concludes by asserting that it remains “a robust general framework for explaining and analysing not only the economic rationale of economic production but many organisational and impact issues in relation to MNE activity as well.”

Does Doing Good Always Lead to Doing Better? Consumer Reactions to Corporate Social Responsibility

Abstract: In the face of marketplace polls that attest to the increasing influence of corporate social responsibility (CSR) on consumers' purchase behavior, this article examines when, how, and for whom specific CSR initiatives work. The findings implicate both company-specific factors, such as the CSR issues a company chooses to focus on and the quality of its products, and individual-specific factors, such as consumers' personal support for the CSR issues and their general beliefs about CSR, as key moderators of consumers' responses to CSR. the results also highlight the mediating role of consumers' perceptions of congruence between their own characters and that of the company in their reactions to its CSR initiatives. More specifically, the authors find that CSR initiatives can, under certain conditions, decrease consumers' intentions to buy a company's products.

The Uppsala Internationalization Process Model Revisited: From Liability of Foreignness to Liability of Outsidership

Abstract: The Uppsala internationalization process model is revisited in the light of changes in business practices and theoretical advances that have been made since 1977. Now the business environment is viewed as a web of relationships, a network, rather than as a neoclassical market with many independent suppliers and customers. Outsidership, in relation to the relevant network, more than psychic distance, is the root of uncertainty. The change mechanisms in the revised model are essentially the same as those in the original version, although we add trust-building and knowledge creation, the latter to recognize the fact that new knowledge is developed in relationships.