Toward a loose coupling view of digital globalization

Satish Nambisan () and Yadong Luo ()
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Satish Nambisan: Case Western Reserve University
Yadong Luo: University of Miami

Journal of International Business Studies, 2021, vol. 52, issue 8, No 10, 1646-1663

Abstract: Abstract The emerging digital context for international business along with rising deglobalization forces have accentuated multinational enterprises’ organizing challenges, particularly with regard to managing relationships with global platform and ecosystem partners. We propose that the loose coupling perspective, which suggests the coexistence of coupling (linkages) to maintain responsiveness and looseness (separateness) to retain distinctiveness, can provide valuable insights on addressing such external governance-related challenges in the context of global platforms and ecosystems. We draw on and integrate ideas from loose coupling theory and digitalization to inform on the key contingencies and mechanisms of MNEs’ external organizing. We show how these insights can be further integrated with other perspectives such as new internalization theory to inform combined internal and external governance in digital globalization.

Keywords: digital globalization; platforms; ecosystems; loose coupling; new internalization theory (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2021
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (12)

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DOI: 10.1057/s41267-021-00446-x

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