Determinants of Employment Growth at MNEs: Evidence from Egypt, India, South Africa and Vietnam

Foreign investors are expected to contribute to economic development through a variety of channels. However, many foreign investment operations are small, and almost insignificant in their impact on the local environment. An important indication of the potential contribution of foreign investors is thus their employment growth. Employees working for, and trained by, a multinational enterprise may become carriers of new technology and business practices. The more employees receive access to new knowledge, the more they in turn may spread the knowledge across the economy, for instance by setting up their own businesses. In this paper, we make a first step in investigating the determinants of this important mediating variable, employment growth. For a dataset covering four diverse emerging economies, we find that wholly-owned FDI operations have higher employment growth, while local industry characteristics moderate the growth effect.http://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/40093/3/wp707.pd

Boundary spanners, HRM practices, and reverse knowledge transfer: the case of Chinese cross-border acquisitions

This paper investigates the role of boundary spanners in reverse knowledge transfer in EMNEs’ cross-border acquisitions. Applying a micro-foundational approach and building on boundary spanning as theoretical perspective, we conducted case studies of acquisitions by Chinese companies in Germany and the UK. We find reverse knowledge transfer is a collective endeavour that relies on both the ability and motivation of individual boundary spanners as well as team-based international collaborations. We propose a conceptual framework of reverse knowledge transfer with two mechanisms—enabling and materializing. Their successful implementation depends not only on the personal characteristics of boundary spanners, but on supportive HRM practices

How does ownership influence business growth? A competitive dynamics perspective

Firms engage in competitive actions to gain market share and hence to grow their revenues. However, not all firms are equally able to use competitive actions to drive growth. We argue that the ability to translate competitive actions to revenue growth depends on the ownership of the firm. Drawing on principal-agent and principal-principal perspectives, we argue that: (1) private owners (both foreign and local) are better able to employ aggressive actions to grow their business than state owners; (2) firms with multiple owners (especially international joint ventures) are less able to implement actions that drive business growth than full ownership. We find support for these arguments in empirical tests on survey-based data of 106 firms in China. Results show that in an emerging market the principal-principal perspective can better explain governance and competition than the principal-agent perspective

A new approach to data access and research transparency (DART)

Recent debates on transparency and replicability suggest that JIBS needs to update its approach on data access and research transparency (DART). We propose a series of initiatives, knowing well that there is a balance to be struck. There are clear benefits on the one hand, chief among these the potential for learning and knowledge accumulation, and equally manifest challenges on the other: the imperative to respect privacy, confidentiality, and intellectual property rights. Without addressing these challenges, will there be the high-quality data on which the benefits depend? We present access and transparency objectives, and set out how an actionable and effective approach towards DART will be implemented, but also address ethical, legal, and organizational challenges of concern to us as a scholarly community

The Emergence of Stakeholder Capitalism

An unintended outcome of transition is the emergence of new forms of governance. Stakeholders other than shareholders influence corporate management to a higher degree than in mature market economies. Employees gained influence through ownership stakes or work councils, while elsewhere investment funds or governmental authorities retain influence via equity stakes or otherwise. This paper reviews privatisation and the newly created forms of private ownership to document the evolution of stakeholder capitalism and to discuss the opportunities and dangers that it may create for businesses in the region

From Danish Conglomerate to Global Specialist

Over the past decade, European businesses have accelerated internationalization, expanding within and beyond Europe. I argue that a major driving force behind this push towards global presence is the restructuring of corporate diversification strategies, which in turn is a result of gradual changes in industry structure and the institutional environment in home markets as well as global markets. The strategic change converts diversified conglomerates to global specialists in narrower niche markets. It brings them in direct confrontation with a small number of key competitors operating worldwide. On this stage, key competitive advantages are gained by making best use of resources across the world, and by effective global integration of operations. Hence de-diversification and internationalization are opposite sides of the same coin: globalfocusing. The argument is developed based on inductive case research of the restructuring in two Danish manufacturing enterprises, and a review of overall trends in Danish businesses. On this basis, I analyze the economic and institutional forces driving this process, and suggest propositions for empirical testing. The paper points to consequences of liberalization, and is thus of high relevance for managers and policy makers in countries that are not yet as open as Denmark