Reconciling the advantages and liabilities of foreignness: Towards an identity-based framework

Jesper Edman ()
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Jesper Edman: Hitosubashi University

Journal of International Business Studies, 2016, vol. 47, issue 6, No 4, 674-694

Abstract: Abstract This article leverages identity theory to address the question of when and how foreignness acts as an advantage and liability for the MNE subsidiary. Applying an organizational identity lens, I delineate how subsidiaries manage their foreignness by accentuating and attenuating internal and external organizational attributes. Drawing on this conceptualization, I theorize how an accentuated foreign identity moderates context-specific advantages and liabilities. In offering a more nuanced understanding of how subsidiaries actively manage their foreignness, and its contextual implications, an identity-based framework helps to both explain and reconcile the advantages and liabilities of foreignness.

Keywords: foreignness; identity; subsidiary; institutional theory (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2016
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (53)

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DOI: 10.1057/jibs.2016.29

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