Vikrant Shirodkar

Testing the Regional Performance of Multinational Enterprises in the Retail Sector: The Moderating Effects of Timing, Speed and Experience

Drawing on regional strategy theory we complement the core effect of firm-specific advantages on the performance of multinational enterprises with an analysis of the performance consequences of home region concentration on firm performance. We also develop hypotheses regarding the effect of foreign entry timing, internationalization speed and international experience on the performance effect of home region concentration. We test our hypotheses against unique longitudinal data from a panel of 128 multinational enterprises in the retail sector whose geographical spread of international activities we traced between 1995 and 2010. Our findings support the predictions of regional strategy theory and highlight the importance of foreign entry timing and internationalization speed in strengthening the positive effect of home region concentration on the performance of multinational enterprises.

Home‐institutional Imprinting and Lobbying Expenditure of Foreign Firms: Moderating Effects of Experience and Technological Intensity

The issue of whether a firm’s ‘home’ environment influences its nonmarket activities in a ‘host’ country is being increasingly discussed in the international business literature. In this paper, we use institutional and organisational imprinting theories to argue that multinational enterprises (MNEs) founded in countries with stronger regulatory institutions are likely to spend more on lobbying in a host country as compared to MNEs founded in countries with weaker regulatory institutions. We also argue that this effect is moderated by the MNE’s overall experience, its experience within the host country, and its technological intensity. We test our hypotheses using a sample of 378 foreign MNEs (among the largest 500) operating in the United States (U.S.), spanning the 8 year period 2006-2013, and representing 29 home countries. Our results support our hypothesis on the relationship between home-institutional imprinting and overseas lobbying expenditure, as described above. Our results also support our arguments that MNEs’ overall experience and technological intensity reduce the imprinting effect of home institutions on lobbying expenditure; however, our moderating effect of host-country experience on this relationship is not supported.

The direction of regulatory institutional distance and MNE’s subsidiary ownership strategy: Re-examining theory and evidence in the case of emerging markets

The possibility of institutional distance exerting an asymmetric effect on the entry strategies of multinational enterprises (MNEs) has attracted recent scholarly attention. In this context, we re-examine the relationship described by Hernandez and Nieto (2015) on the effect of the direction of regulatory institutional distance on MNEs’ choice of entry mode in host countries. We extend this research by (1) focussing on the context of emerging markets and (2) accounting for a greater variety of MNEs as well as institutions by including both large and small firms, and a larger set of home and host countries. In contrast to Hernandez and Nieto’s study, we find that, in the context of emerging markets, institutionally distant MNEs are more likely to choose the full-ownership mode when they originate from an institutionally stronger country in comparison to the host (emerging) country, and they are more likely to choose the joint-ownership mode when they originate from an institutionally weaker country. We discuss our findings with respect to Hernandez and Nieto’s study, which explores this relationship more generally (i.e. beyond emerging-market contexts), however in the context of small and medium enterprises.

Political CSR in India: Analysis of Indian Participants in the United Nations Global Compact in the Pre and Post Mandate Period

Research on the political connotations of Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) has been gaining momentum. Political CSR includes social and philanthropic activities undertaken by firms that enable them to access political stakeholders while safeguarding their legitimacy and reputation at the same time. One such activity includes participation in the United Nations Global Compact (UNGC), which, since its inception in 2000, has provided an opportunity for organisations to voluntarily participate in addressing social challenges from a global multi-stakeholder perspective. However, governments in several emerging-market countries have been making CSR mandatory to address social and environmental issues at a local (or domestic) level. In this study, I analyse the Indian participants in the United Nations Global Compact in the pre and post CSR mandate period (passing of the Section 135 of the Companies Act, 2013). By doing so, this study aims to explore how the CSR mandate could potentially have implications on Political CSR.

Determinants of Foreign Firms’ Collective Action in Emerging Economies: Evidence from India

Emerging economies are increasingly becoming long-term investment locations for Multinational Enterprises (MNEs) from developed countries. An important facet of foreign firms’ strategies in emerging economies is to engage in the policymaking process of these economies, as a means to reduce the negative impact of uncertain institutional environments and to shape host-government policy in a way that is conducive to their long-term business operations (Ahuja and Yayavaram, 2011; Li, Zhou and Shao, 2008; Luo, 2001, 2006; Sun, Mellahi and Thun, 2010; Zhou, Poppo and Yang, 2008). A key decision for firms in this regard is about their nature of participation in the policymaking process (Hillman and Hitt, 1999; Hillman, Keim and Schuler, 2004). While some firms may choose to participate in the policy process on an individual basis — that is, without co-acting with other firms, others may decide to participate collectively, or in a collaborative manner, such as through associations of firms belonging to the industry/sector or with those that collate the voices of firms across industry verticals (Astley and Fombrun, 1983). By engaging in collective action, foreign firms can influence policy and governance issues such as product quality standards, codes of conduct and environmental protection that are of collective interest (Boddewyn and Doh, 2011).