Mohammad Rana

Multinational enterprises (MNE) are viewed as proactive global economic actors that enter new and emerging markets with intentional strategies, building on their inherent resources and firm-specific advantages. However, there are numerous actors involved at market entry-level who may represent thresholds for entry. Emerging markets tend to feature complex institutional contexts and therefore may incorporate idiographic entry challenges. Our study presents two under-examined types of stakeholders as distinct actors related to the internationalisation process of MNEs in emerging markets: the transnational diaspora and civil society. It provides evidence of the reactive internationalisation of an MNE, showing how the transnational diaspora drove the MNE's internationalisation and also how a civil society actor, in conjunction with a diaspora member, facilitated the entire process of both internationalisation and international joint venture (IJV) creation (i.e., Grameenphone) in Ban...

Rana and Allen focus on a relatively neglected research area: how business systems theory (BST) can help explain entrepreneurship. The authors employ this theory to understand: why a particular business model is developed; why entrepreneurs tend to make a particular type of decision, in a particular way, for a particular context; why firms or new ventures structures, strategies, and growth trajectory follow a particular path dependency in a particular institutional context; while complementarity and/or lack of complementarity present different types of opportunities, challenges, and growth patterns for new ventures or new industries in a society. The authors illustrate how BST can help to explain entrepreneurial decision-making, motivation, venture, and industry creation, social entrepreneurship, diaspora entrepreneurship, and, above all, institutional entrepreneurship in national and comparative institutional contexts.

Business systems theory (BST) lies at the intersection of organization theory, political economy and sociology. Over the last 25 years, it has been increasingly used to analyse not just firms within national business systems but also the nature of international business and its interactions both with national and transnational institutions. Yet, the field of international business (IB) studies do not tend to borrow much from this approach. This paper therefore provides a systematic review of BST literature and its contribution from 1992 to 2016. As the review suggests, whilst there are certain common questions discussed by both BST analysis and the dominant theoretical trends in International Business, i.e. organizational economics and neo-institutionalism, the different perspective brought by BST opens up new issues for research that can complement and extend the existing dominant approaches. Through a systematic analysis of BST literature, it is argued that four ‘broad themes’ whi...

Drawing on empirical examination of six European MNE-subsidiaries and using a multiple-case method & process analysis, this paper investigates the nexus between subsidiaries & civil society actors in institutional void that affect legitimacy development. Study finds four different levels (i.e. degree) of legitimacyacceptance, image, endorsement, and synergy (acceptance + efficiency) that subsidiaries earn, develop, or co-develop in collaboration with CS actors in internationalization. Our study brings a new insight on legitimacy theory in international management in a way that isomorphism perspective of legitimacy cannot explain the complexity of subsidiary legitimization in institutional void. This is because subsidiaries not only earn acceptance by complying to institutional context, they also create and co-create image, endorsement and synergy by strategic initiatives. We thus combine institutional isomorphism and institutional innovation perspective in legitimization and conclud...

The internationalisation phenomenon driving MNEs to go for globalisation of production has made the working environment (WE) and its relation to organisational performance (OP) and buyer–supplier relationships (BSRs) critical. However, studies at the intersection of the three themes in cross-border context are rare and insufficient. The specific questions our review addresses are: how BSRs affect, and are affected by, the working environment; and how both BSR and WE affect supplier’s organisational performance. Following a systematic review protocol, we map the literature covering BSR, WE, and OP and conduct a thematic analysis on the three themes and their relationships. Our review makes two contributions: first it synthesises BSR typologies and groups them into nine major dimensions, namely transaction orientation, relation orientation, operational excellence, partnership form, governance pattern, information exchange mode, cooperative mindset, collaborative attitude, and strategic orientation, and demonstrates a relationship among BSR dimensions, supplier’s working environment, and organisational performance. Second, our findings demonstrate that the working environment is becoming important in cross-border sourcing and supply management but it has been neglected in the BSR literature from almost every disciplinary perspective. We conclude by outlining six research agendas: (1) governance and shared value/shared responsibility creation, (2) capability development and value appropriation, (3) intervention and productivity enhancement, (4) knowledge augmentation, (5) institutional impact and industry condition, and (6) sustainable practices. We discuss these research agendas and show a pathway to advance research on the intersection of the three themes in the situation of BSR in a cross-border context.

The study investigates the knowledge spill-over from TNCs to supplier-firms in the apparel industry in Bangladesh in which the dynamic capability of the entrepreneurs and the absorptive capacity of the employees have been found to be critical. These enable firms to upgrade their position from CMT (cut-make-trim) to ODM (own-design-manufacturer) and OBM (own-brand-manufacturer) stage in the global value chain. This is a sign to make a move from static efficiency to dynamic efficiency that ensures downstream upgradation. Using case study method on ten firms from both TNCs and supplier-firm’s side the study explores four fundamental factors such as national level infrastructure and institutional support, firm level infrastructure and resources (tangible), visionary leadership, and managerial & technical efficiency that lead such upgradation in the value chain process. The study further argues that close relationship between TNCs and supplier-firms with visionary leadership directly sti...

ABSTRACT This paper focuses on ‘institutional void’ (IV) and ‘civil society’ (CS) as the two under researched multiplicities of institution. Investigating five European MNEs in a fragmented business system, and using a multiple-case-study method with a sense-making approach, we explore how IV and CS affect MNEs and how MNEs respond to them in pursuit of legitimacy. Our study reveals three forms of IV, i.e., system void, value chain void, and void between social need and citizen services, and two broad roles of CS, being an enabler and constrainer that affect MNE operations and survival. We validate four types of legitimacy strategies presented by previous research: adaptation, bypass, manipulation, and intervention/innovation. However, the paper goes further by presenting a framework for legitimacy strategy, postulating that it is grounded in the ‘corporate commitment’ of MNEs and is operationalized either by ‘corporate initiative’ or ‘collaborative engagement’. It further illustrates how, through these two strategic initiatives, MNEs can earn and maintain four levels of legitimacy, i.e., acceptance, image, endorsement, and synergy (combination of legitimacy and efficiency). The paper contributes to the theory and practice of institutionalism, international management, and strategic management by emphasizing the co-evolutionary perspective of legitimation.