Management International Review 

About: Management International Review is an academic journal published by Springer Science+Business Media. The journal publishes majorly in the area(s): Internationalization & Foreign direct investment. It has an ISSN identifier of 0938-8249. Over the lifetime, 970 publications have been published receiving 50511 citations. The journal is also known as: M I R: Management International Review & Mir.

Internationalisation and the Smaller Firm: A Review of Contemporary Empirical Research1

Abstract: ■ This paper reviews and assesses recent empirical research on the internationalisation of smaller firms, in the context of Foreign Direct Investment theory, the "Stage" models of internationalisation, and the Network perspective. Patterns are also identified across a number of dimensions, including ontological assumptions, firm characteristics, and research methods.

United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD): World Investment Report 2000: Cross-Border Mergers and Acquisitions and Development United Nations, New York and Geneva 2000. (Biblio Service)

Abstract: United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD): World Investment Report 2000: Cross-Border Mergers and Acquisitions and Development United Nations, New York and Geneva 2000. 1. Capsule Summary of the Book and Its Review The World Investment Report, published annually by UNCTAD, is celebrating this year its 10th anniversary. Over the years these publications have established themselves an important position within the FDI literature, contributing towards a better understanding of the role of FDI in the world economy and to the ongoing discussions on globalisation and its impact on firms and countries. They provide valuable insights into the activities of TNCs and its consequences for their home countries and for the countries that host them. This review focuses on the recently published World Investment Report 2000: Cross Border Mergers and Acquisitions and Development. It starts by briefly describing the structure and content of this report, highlighting the main issues addressed in each of its sections, and assessing its specific contribution to the existing FDI literature. The review continues by examining some new features of this year's report and by suggesting possible additions and improvements that might be included in future reports. 2. Objective and targeted audience This year's report, like its predecessors, seeks to reach a wide audience interested in FDI-related issues, ranging from academics, national and international policy makers -- notably those with interests in and responsibility for developing countries -- and also, increasingly, practitioners. For this audience, it is a rich and most valuable source of different kinds of information (theoretical, anecdotal, and not least -- data!) on FDI. It adds an important dimension to the growing literature on FDI by contributing to filling a gap between purely academic and otherwise anecdotal research on FDI, and it reflects key aspects of the research agenda on TNCs. 3. Structures and Contents The first part of the report -- like its predecessors -- is devoted to a survey of general FDI developments over the last year at the global and the regional level, and to a description of the activities of the leading TNCs worldwide. In this part, the report documents the large increase in FDIs, which have reached new record in 1999 at $865 billion, an increase of 27% over the previous year. This increase is also presented via the growing number of TNCs world-wide, where about 63,000 parent firms are controlling an estimated 690,000 foreign affiliates. UNCTAD's report is the only source of FDI data which provide this latter kind of information, and in considerable details (broken by countries and regions). Documented is also the country breakdown of 1999 FDI, notably the lead of outward investment being taken this year by the UK, the continued, and rapidly growing, lead of the US as the largest, by far, host country for FDI. Another notable characteristic of the geographic distribution of FDI is the growth of inward flows to Japan, with the ratio between inward and outward becoming far more balanced than ever before. At the regional level, the report highlights the position of the EU as the world's most important source of FDI. The report emphasises the continued trend towards liberalisation of FDI regimes, as countries recognise its economic value for their economies, and seek to attract it. Most interesting is the analysis of the largest TNCs (by the value of their foreign assets), which comprises three parts - the top 100 worldwide, the 50 largest from developing countries and the 25 largest from Central Europe. The report provides illuminating information regarding the geographical and industrial distribution of these firms, in absolute (foreign assets) and relative (transnationality index) terms, and over time, covering the whole 1990s. The report emphasises that the driving force behind the 1999 increase of FDI activity continued to be cross-border mergers and acquisitions (M&As). …

Internationalization and Performance: An Organizational Learning Perspective

Abstract: For over 30 years, researchers have investigated the relationship between corporate internationalization and performance. While most recent findings indicate that the link may exhibit a non-linear form, researchers disagree on the exact shape of the statistical curve. In this study, the relationship was examined through cross-sectional and longitudinal statistical analyses of data from 84 German manufacturing companies during the 5-year period 1993-1997. A standard-U form of the internationalization-performance relationship was found across all statistical techniques applied. Organizational learning appears to accompany the internationalization process of multinational corporations (MNCs).

Commitment and opportunity development in the internationalization process: A note on the Uppsala internationalization process model

Abstract: * This paper starts from the observation that the internationalisation process (IP) model frequently is interpreted as a model of risk reduction in the internationalization of the firm. The dominating view of the model seems to be that commitment is the dependent variable and experience is the independent variable. A basic assumption of the original model, however, is that opportunity development is an important outcome of commitment. The purpose of this note is to articulate this relation, which is not stressed enough in earlier writings. Key Results * A causal chain from relationship commitment over relationship knowledge development and network knowledge development to opportunity development is specified. Two propositions are formulated regarding the effects of mutual relationship commitment and of network embeddedness in a country market on opportunity development in the market. Introduction 25 years afterwards, we are surprised. Firstly, we never expected this longevity of the model. Secondly, we are surprised, because after some thinking we have arrived at the conclusion, that we would not have built the model differently today, but with somewhat different underpinning. In a way we were lucky in using concepts such as "knowledge" and "commitment", which later came to be widely used in research on the theory of the firm but also in some functional disciplines. We were left with our inductively produced understanding of these concepts. We are grateful to the organizers of the conference and editors of this issue of MIR for focusing on the IP model and giving us this opportunity to elaborate on it. But, we must point out that the model is not "the establishment chain", going from ad hoc exports to the establishment of manufacturing subsidiaries. This was the empirical phenomenon we observed, giving the impetus to construct the model. The model is on learning and commitment building or, more precisely, on the interplay between knowledge development and increasing foreign market commitments. While the effect of knowledge development on foreign market commitment has been recognized and studied by many researchers the effect of commitment on knowledge development has been less noticed. The purpose of this note is to elaborate on this latter effect. In particular, we are here interested in the effect on opportunity development. Admittedly, this note is written in a way that it presupposes the reader is familiar with the original version of the internationalization model published in 1977 (Johanson/Vahlne 1977). In that article we tried to explain the gradual internationalization process observed by relying on two interdependent sub-processes--experiential learning and commitment building. We related those processes to the focal company only, later realizing that indeed these processes occur as interplay between at least two (potential) partners (Johanson and Vahlne 1990). In Johanson/Vahlne (2003), we tied the mechanisms of our original model closer to the network view of industrial markets by focusing on the critical role of building and changing relationships. One implication is that the concept of a "country market" is no longer seen as a valid unit of analysis. In this note, we focus on network or partner commitment and its role not only for uncertainty reduction, but on a sub-set of issues, notably--opportunity development. We believe we have under-estimated this aspect and the purpose of this note is to make up for that. The paper is structured as follows. After a short introductory review of important applications of the IP model in international business research, we discuss the change from market commitment to relationship commitment. In a following section, we discuss the relations between relationship commitment and knowledge development. Next, we widen the discussion to include network relationships, social capital and knowledge development. …

Enhancing the Trustworthiness of Qualitative Research in International Business

Abstract: Reliability, validity, generalisability and objectivity are fundamental concerns for quantitative researchers. For qualitative research, however, the role of these dimensions is blurred. Some researchers argue that these dimensions are not applicable to qualitative research and a qualitative researcher’s tool chest should be geared towards trustworthiness and encompass issues such as credibility, dependability, transferability and confirmability. This paper advocates the use of formalised and software-based procedures for the analysis and interpretation of qualitative interview data. It is argued that International Business research, with a focus on international datasets, equivalence issues, multiple research environments and multiple researchers, will benefit from formalisation. The use of software programmes is deemed to help to substantiate the analysis and interpretation of textual interview data.