 Emerging multinational companies and strategic fit: A contingency framework and future research agendaPeter Gammeltoft, Igor Filatotchev and Bersant Hobdari European Management Journal, 2012, vol. 30, issue 3, 175-188 Abstract: There is an increasing awareness in international business that institutional factors need to be better incorporated into the understanding of international investments decisions of multinational companies. This applies equally to outward foreign direct investment by emerging economy firms. The intense renewal of interest in these ‘emerging multinationals’ over the last half decade or so has stimulated an increasing volume of contributions offering alternative theoretical perspectives, macro-level surveys of aggregate trends and case studies of firms and their strategies and operations. Not much has been suggested in terms of integrating various theoretical frameworks however and developing a more holistic understanding of these new investment flows. In this Editorial we propose that outward FDI from emerging economies can be better understood by analyzing them within a broad institutional framework of strategic fit. This theoretical approach may provide important insights concerning both the original impetus to the contemporary acceleration of these flows and their specific features. By building on the early literature on fit in strategic management we outline an institutional framework which considers flows of outward investment from emerging economies as framed by institutional pressures at the firm level towards achieving fit between the environment, strategies, structures, resources and practices of the firm. For the multinational firm this fit must be attained along multiple dimensions, domestically, abroad and in the global environment. We then proceed to interpret recent evidence on ‘emerging multinationals’, including the contributions in this special issue, in the context of this framework. We conclude with proposing promising areas of future research. Keywords: Outward foreign direct investment; Foreign direct investment; Emerging multinationals; Emerging economies; Contingency theory; Fit; Strategic fit; Strategic management (search for similar items in EconPapers) Downloads: (external link) Related works: Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:eee:eurman:v:30:y:2012:i:3:p:175-188 Ordering information: This journal article can be ordered from DOI: 10.1016/j.emj.2012.03.007 Access Statistics for this article European Management Journal is currently edited by Michael Haenlein More articles in European Management Journal from Elsevier |
Is your work missing from RePEc? Here is how to contribute.
Questions or problems? Check the EconPapers FAQ or send mail to .
EconPapers is hosted by the
School of Business at Örebro University.