Country institutional environments and international strategy: A review and analysis of the research

Overcome social anxiety disorder and develop visionary leadership in uncertain environments: The important role of psychological resilience

Uncertainty is the main feature of the business environment in the post-coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) era. People taking leadership positions in an uncertain environment constantly encounter unprecedented risks and challenges. Many of them have difficulties adapting to such an environment and thus experience severe anxiety, showing the symptoms of social anxiety disorder (SAD), failing to exert effective leadership in social interaction contexts. How can leaders overcome SAD and effectively motivate their subordinates in an uncertain environment? This study explores the important role of psychological resilience. Using sample data collected from 82 leaders and 363 subordinates of eight enterprises in China from May to June 2020, the current study reveals that a high degree of psychological resilience enables leaders to maintain intrinsic motivated at work in an uncertain environment. Leaders with a high degree of psychological resilience perform better in identifying the organizations' vision and displaying visionary leadership than those with a low degree. The current study enriches the knowledge of leaders' psychological well-being and effective leadership in the post-COVID-19 era.

E-commerce Policy Environment, Digital Platform, and Internationalization of Chinese New Ventures: The Moderating Effects of Covid-19 Pandemic

Drawing on institutional theory, this study investigates how institutional pressure can affect digital platform risk. Specifically, it examines whether two types of institutional pressure - domestic market e-commerce policy uncertainty and foreign market e-commerce policy uncertainty - affect the perceived digital platform risk for international new ventures (INVs) and its relationship with their scope of internationalization. The recent crisis caused by the Covid-19 pandemic has further impacted this new phenomenon, thus we examine its effects on the relationships between/among domestic and foreign market e-commerce policy uncertainties, digital platform risk, and the internationalization scope of INVs. We conduct four waves of a survey to test the Covid-19 effects as well as to minimize common method bias, analyzing the final sample of 394 responses from 260 Chinese INVs using structural equation modeling. The results show that domestic and foreign market e-commerce policy uncertainties positively affect the digital platform risk for INVs, with foreign market e-commerce policy uncertainty having a stronger positive impact. Moreover, we find that the Covid-19 pandemic interacts asymmetrically with the relationship between domestic vs. foreign market e-commerce policy uncertainty and the digital platform risk for INVs. In addition, the pandemic strengthens the negative relationship between digital platform risk and the internationalization scope of INVs. This research broadens and strengthens our understanding of e-commerce policy and international business in the context of INVs' internationalization.

History Matters: Colonial-Based Connectivity and Foreign Headquarter Location Choice

In this study, we argue that European countries’ extensive relationships with former colonies represent a location factor that attracts foreign headquarter investments. The strategic role of foreign headquarters as coordinators, opportunity detectors, and global bridgeheads makes the location choice of headquarter activities sensitive to historical-based institutional connections. Drawing on a sample of 2230 foreign headquarter investments in Europe, we find that the stronger the combined effect of historical connections and current economic relationships with former colonies, the higher the probability of attracting headquarter investment projects. We refer to this combined characteristic as colonial-based connectivity. The study findings support the hypothesis that past colonial relationships and historical context influence FDI decisions and location preferences. We contribute to the literature by advancing the understanding of foreign headquarter location choices, and by demonstrating the importance of historical context in international business research. We emphasize how the former colonial influence continues to confer advantages upon some countries, including the attraction of FDI.

Tracing the connections between international business and communicable diseases

We posit that international business and the emergence and spread of communicable diseases are intrinsically connected. To support our arguments, we first start with a historical timeline that traces the connections between international business and communicable diseases back to the sixth century. Second, following the epidemiology of communicable diseases, we identify two crucial transitions related to international business: the emergence of epidemics within a host country and the shift from epidemics to global pandemics. Third, we highlight international business contextual factors (host country regulatory quality, urbanization, trade barriers, global migration) and multinationals' activities (foreign direct investment, corporate political activity, global supply chain management, international travel) that could accelerate each transition. Finally, building on public health insights, we suggest research implications for business scholars on how to integrate human health challenges into their studies and practical implications for global managers on how to help prevent the emergence and spread of communicable diseases.

Institutions and Firms’ Performance: A Bibliometric Analysis and Future Research Avenues

International business scholars have recognized the importance of the contextual embeddedness of firms. However, how they matter remains a contested question. Although recent efforts have been made to review the field, it remains unclear how institutions affect firms’ performance. We aim at answering the following research question: How is the intellectual and the conceptual structure of the institutions and firms’ performance field defined? We searched in the WoS and Scopus databases with pre-determined keywords, and we obtained a sample of 1063 articles that we analyzed by conducting the citation and co-citation analyses, keyword co-occurrence analysis, and thematic map analysis. Our bibliometric results portrayed how the intellectual and conceptual structure of the field has evolved. We contribute to the international business literature by providing a one-stop overview of the field, thus identifying current accomplishments and future research avenues on the relationship between institutions and firms’ performance. By analyzing the articles included on the Emerging and Niche clusters, we discuss future research avenues on the topics of sustainability, entrepreneurship, political ties, and institutional quality.

The (COVID-19) pandemic and the new world (dis)order

The COVID-19 pandemic produced a significant environmental jolt that has altered the trajectories of economies and institutions and the strategies of MNEs. We examine the pandemic effects on countries’ political and regulatory institutions, the interplay between their formal and informal institutions and the resulting environmental uncertainty. These changes are transforming the global landscape, MNEs’ raison d’être and their international strategies. MNEs are having to change or develop new country- and firm-specific advantages, refashion their FDI, focus supply chain networks, and emphasize regional strategies and localization. Although these strategies may help them to bound uncertainty, they produce other forms of risk. A new economic order is likely to arise along with transformed MNEs.

Emerging Economies’ Institutional Quality and International Competitiveness: A PLS-SEM Approach

The home country’s institutional framework determines the capacity to compete in the global arena. This paper discusses the linkage between institutional quality (IQ) and international competitiveness (IC). We measured institutions’ quality in emerging economies through the use of selected indicators between 2007–2017. To evaluate the proposed IQ constructs and their relationship with IC, we applied partial least squares – structural equation modeling (PLS-SEM) analysis. The model outcomes suggest that political and lack of systemic conditions have a significant and negative effect on international competitiveness, while science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) resource conditions have a significant and positive effect.