IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/sae/ausman/v42y2017i4p673-691.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Internationalization strategy and the home-regionalization hypothesis: The case of Australian multinational enterprises

Author

Listed:
  • Youngok Kim

    (School of Management, UNSW Australia Business School, UNSW Sydney, NSW, Australia)

  • Sidney J Gray

    (Discipline of International Business, Business School, University of Sydney, NSW, Australia)

Abstract

In this study, we set out to, first, replicate the classification of multinational enterprise (MNE) types proposed by Rugman and Verbeke in the Australian context. Second, we explore how a firm’s international experience influences the degree of its home regionalization and how industry affects the international experience–home regionalization relationship. We find that while home regionalization is still a dominant regionalization strategy for Australian MNEs, the proportions are different from those of Rugman and Verbeke. In particular, the share of home-regional firms is less pronounced and the share of host-regional firms is higher than Rugman and Verbeke’s findings. We also find that a firm’s international experience is negatively related to home regionalization, and that this relationship is further moderated by the firm’s industry. Our findings suggest that more attention be devoted to uncovering both home-country effects and the differential impact of international experience on home regionalization across industries.

Suggested Citation

  • Youngok Kim & Sidney J Gray, 2017. "Internationalization strategy and the home-regionalization hypothesis: The case of Australian multinational enterprises," Australian Journal of Management, Australian School of Business, vol. 42(4), pages 673-691, November.
    • Handle: RePEc:sae:ausman:v:42:y:2017:i:4:p:673-691
    DOI: 10.1177/0312896216679215
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/0312896216679215
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1177/0312896216679215?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Edwards, Ronald W. & Buckley, Peter J., 1998. "Choice of location and mode: the case of Australian investors in the UK," International Business Review, Elsevier, vol. 7(5), pages 503-520, October.
    2. Farok J Contractor & Sumit K Kundu & Chin-Chun Hsu, 2003. "A three-stage theory of international expansion: the link between multinationality and performance in the service sector," Journal of International Business Studies, Palgrave Macmillan;Academy of International Business, vol. 34(1), pages 5-18, January.
    3. Ricardo G Flores & Ruth V Aguilera, 2007. "Globalization and location choice: an analysis of US multinational firms in 1980 and 2000," Journal of International Business Studies, Palgrave Macmillan;Academy of International Business, vol. 38(7), pages 1187-1210, December.
    4. Sea‐Jin Chang & Sekeun Park, 2005. "Types of firms generating network externalities and MNCs' co‐location decisions," Strategic Management Journal, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 26(7), pages 595-615, July.
    5. Alan M. Rugman & Alain Verbeke, 2005. "A Perspective on Regional and Global Strategies of Multinational Enterprises," Chapters, in: Analysis of Multinational Strategic Management, chapter 8, pages 104-119, Edward Elgar Publishing.
    6. Jan Johanson & Jan-Erik Vahlne, 2009. "The Uppsala internationalization process model revisited: From liability of foreignness to liability of outsidership," Journal of International Business Studies, Palgrave Macmillan;Academy of International Business, vol. 40(9), pages 1411-1431, December.
    7. Youngok Kim & Sidney J. Gray, 2008. "The impact of entry mode choice on foreign affiliate performance: The case of foreign MNEs in South Korea," Management International Review, Springer, vol. 48(2), pages 165-188, April.
    8. Jeffrey G. Covin & John E. Prescott & Dennis P. Slevin, 1990. "The Effects Of Technological Sophistication On Strategic Profiles, Structure And Firm Performance," Journal of Management Studies, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 27(5), pages 485-510, September.
    9. Elizabeth Maitland & André Sammartino, 2015. "Managerial cognition and internationalization," Journal of International Business Studies, Palgrave Macmillan;Academy of International Business, vol. 46(7), pages 733-760, September.
    10. Sethi, Deepak & Guisinger, Stephen, 2002. "Liability of foreignness to competitive advantage: How multinational enterprises cope with the international business environment," Journal of International Management, Elsevier, vol. 8(3), pages 223-240.
    11. Christian Geisler Asmussen, 2009. "Local, regional, or global? Quantifying MNE geographic scope," Journal of International Business Studies, Palgrave Macmillan;Academy of International Business, vol. 40(7), pages 1192-1205, September.
    12. Thomas Osegowitsch & André Sammartino, 2008. "Reassessing (home-)regionalisation," Journal of International Business Studies, Palgrave Macmillan;Academy of International Business, vol. 39(2), pages 184-196, March.
    13. Gongming Qian & Theodore A. Khoury & Mike W. Peng & Zhengming Qian, 2010. "The performance implications of intra‐ and inter‐regional geographic diversification," Strategic Management Journal, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 31(9), pages 1018-1030, September.
    14. Thomas Keil & Markku Maula & Henri Schildt & Shaker A. Zahra, 2008. "The effect of governance modes and relatedness of external business development activities on innovative performance," Strategic Management Journal, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 29(8), pages 895-907, August.
    15. Sui Sui & Matthias Baum, 2014. "Internationalization strategy, firm resources and the survival of SMEs in the export market," Journal of International Business Studies, Palgrave Macmillan;Academy of International Business, vol. 45(7), pages 821-841, September.
    16. Jean-François Hennart, 2007. "The theoretical rationale for a multinationality-performance relationship," Management International Review, Springer, vol. 47(3), pages 423-452, June.
    17. Peter J Buckley & Pervez N Ghauri, 2004. "Globalisation, economic geography and the strategy of multinational enterprises," Journal of International Business Studies, Palgrave Macmillan;Academy of International Business, vol. 35(3), pages 255-255, May.
    18. Jan Johanson & Jan-Erik Vahlne, 1977. "The Internationalization Process of the Firm—A Model of Knowledge Development and Increasing Foreign Market Commitments," Journal of International Business Studies, Palgrave Macmillan;Academy of International Business, vol. 8(1), pages 23-32, March.
    19. Keith D Brouthers, 2013. "A retrospective on: Institutional, cultural and transaction cost influences on entry mode choice and performance," Journal of International Business Studies, Palgrave Macmillan;Academy of International Business, vol. 44(1), pages 14-22, January.
    20. Ram Mudambi, 2008. "Location, control and innovation in knowledge-intensive industries," Journal of Economic Geography, Oxford University Press, vol. 8(5), pages 699-725, September.
    21. Alan M Rugman & Alain Verbeke, 2007. "Liabilities of regional foreignness and the use of firm-level versus country-level data: a response to Dunning et al. (2007)," Journal of International Business Studies, Palgrave Macmillan;Academy of International Business, vol. 38(1), pages 200-205, January.
    22. Rugman, Alan M., 2003. "Regional strategy and the demise of globalization," Journal of International Management, Elsevier, vol. 9(4), pages 409-417.
    23. Jean-Luc Arrègle & Toyah Miller & Michael Hitt & Paul Beamish, 2013. "Do regions matter? An integrated institutional and semiglobalisation perspective on the internationalization of MNEs," Post-Print hal-02313035, HAL.
    24. Chiung-Hui Tseng & Patriya Tansuhaj & William Hallagan & James McCullough, 2007. "Effects of firm resources on growth in multinationality," Journal of International Business Studies, Palgrave Macmillan;Academy of International Business, vol. 38(6), pages 961-974, November.
    25. Simon Collinson & Alan M Rugman, 2008. "The regional nature of Japanese multinational business," Journal of International Business Studies, Palgrave Macmillan;Academy of International Business, vol. 39(2), pages 215-230, March.
    26. Gongming Qian & Lee Li & Alan M Rugman, 2013. "Liability of country foreignness and liability of regional foreignness: Their effects on geographic diversification and firm performance," Journal of International Business Studies, Palgrave Macmillan;Academy of International Business, vol. 44(6), pages 635-647, August.
    27. Ivo Zander & Patricia McDougall-Covin & Elizabeth L Rose, 2015. "Born globals and international business: Evolution of a field of research," Journal of International Business Studies, Palgrave Macmillan;Academy of International Business, vol. 46(1), pages 27-35, January.
    28. Elango, B., 2004. "Geographic Scope of Operations by Multinational Companies:: An Exploratory Study of Regional and Global Strategies," European Management Journal, Elsevier, vol. 22(4), pages 431-441, August.
    29. Ricardo Flores & Ruth V Aguilera & Arash Mahdian & Paul M Vaaler, 2013. "How well do supranational regional grouping schemes fit international business research models?," Journal of International Business Studies, Palgrave Macmillan;Academy of International Business, vol. 44(5), pages 451-474, June.
    30. J. Michael Geringer & Paul W. Beamish & Richard C. Dacosta, 1989. "Diversification strategy and internationalization: Implications for mne performance," Strategic Management Journal, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 10(2), pages 109-119, March.
    31. Luis E Lopez & Sumit K Kundu & Luciano Ciravegna, 2009. "Born global or born regional? Evidence from an exploratory study in the Costa Rican software industry," Journal of International Business Studies, Palgrave Macmillan;Academy of International Business, vol. 40(7), pages 1228-1238, September.
    32. Peter J Buckley & Pervez N Ghauri, 2004. "Globalisation, economic geography and the strategy of multinational enterprises," Journal of International Business Studies, Palgrave Macmillan;Academy of International Business, vol. 35(2), pages 81-98, March.
    33. Gautam Ahuja & Curba Morris Lampert, 2001. "Entrepreneurship in the large corporation: a longitudinal study of how established firms create breakthrough inventions," Strategic Management Journal, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 22(6‐7), pages 521-543, June.
    34. Pankaj Ghemawat, 2003. "Semiglobalization and international business strategy," Journal of International Business Studies, Palgrave Macmillan;Academy of International Business, vol. 34(2), pages 138-152, March.
    35. Alan M Rugman & Alain Verbeke, 2008. "The theory and practice of regional strategy: a response to Osegowitsch and Sammartino," Journal of International Business Studies, Palgrave Macmillan;Academy of International Business, vol. 39(2), pages 326-332, March.
    36. Gupta, Vipin & Hanges, Paul J. & Dorfman, Peter, 2002. "Cultural clusters: methodology and findings," Journal of World Business, Elsevier, vol. 37(1), pages 11-15, April.
    37. Sjoerd Beugelsdijk & Ram Mudambi, 2013. "MNEs as border-crossing multi-location enterprises: The role of discontinuities in geographic space," Journal of International Business Studies, Palgrave Macmillan;Academy of International Business, vol. 44(5), pages 413-426, June.
    38. Stefan Lachenmaier & Ludger Wößmann, 2006. "Does innovation cause exports? Evidence from exogenous innovation impulses and obstacles using German micro data," Oxford Economic Papers, Oxford University Press, vol. 58(2), pages 317-350, April.
    39. Casillas, José C. & Moreno, Ana M. & Acedo, Francisco J. & Gallego, María A. & Ramos, Encarnación, 2009. "An integrative model of the role of knowledge in the internationalization process," Journal of World Business, Elsevier, vol. 44(3), pages 311-322, July.
    40. John H Dunning & Masataka Fujita & Nevena Yakova, 2007. "Some macro-data on the regionalisation/globalisation debate: a comment on the Rugman/Verbeke analysis," Journal of International Business Studies, Palgrave Macmillan;Academy of International Business, vol. 38(1), pages 177-199, January.
    41. Fenwick, Marilyn & Edwards, Ron & Buckley, Peter J., 2003. "Is cultural similarity misleading? The experience of Australian manufacturers in Britain," International Business Review, Elsevier, vol. 12(3), pages 297-309, June.
    42. Elitsa R Banalieva & Charles Dhanaraj, 2013. "Home-region orientation in international expansion strategies," Journal of International Business Studies, Palgrave Macmillan;Academy of International Business, vol. 44(2), pages 89-116, February.
    43. Jeffrey Frankel & Andrew Rose, 2002. "An Estimate of the Effect of Common Currencies on Trade and Income," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 117(2), pages 437-466.
    44. Subramanian Rangan & Metin Sengul, 2009. "Information technology and transnational integration: Theory and evidence on the evolution of the modern multinational enterprise," Journal of International Business Studies, Palgrave Macmillan;Academy of International Business, vol. 40(9), pages 1496-1514, December.
    45. Peter J. Lane & Michael Lubatkin, 1998. "Relative absorptive capacity and interorganizational learning," Post-Print hal-02311860, HAL.
    46. Jean-Luc Arregle & Paul Beamish & Louis Hébert, 2009. "The Regional Dimension of MNE's Foreign Subsidiary Localization," Post-Print hal-02312684, HAL.
    47. Rugman, Alan M. & Oh, Chang Hoon, 2010. "Does the regional nature of multinationals affect the multinationality and performance relationship?," International Business Review, Elsevier, vol. 19(5), pages 479-488, October.
    48. John H Dunning, 1988. "The Eclectic Paradigm of International Production: A Restatement and Some Possible Extensions," Journal of International Business Studies, Palgrave Macmillan;Academy of International Business, vol. 19(1), pages 1-31, March.
    49. Contractor, Farok J. & Kumar, Vikas & Kundu, Sumit K., 2007. "Nature of the relationship between international expansion and performance: The case of emerging market firms," Journal of World Business, Elsevier, vol. 42(4), pages 401-417, December.
    50. Shige Makino & Eric W K Tsang, 2011. "Historical ties and foreign direct investment: An exploratory study," Journal of International Business Studies, Palgrave Macmillan;Academy of International Business, vol. 42(4), pages 545-557, May.
    51. Manos, Ronny & Murinde, Victor & Green, Christopher J., 2007. "Leverage and business groups: Evidence from Indian firms," Journal of Economics and Business, Elsevier, vol. 59(5), pages 443-465.
    52. Aguilera, Ruth V. & Flores, Ricardo G. & Vaaler, Paul M., 2007. "Is It All a Matter of Grouping? Examining the Regional Effect in Global Strategy Research," Working Papers 07-0106, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, College of Business.
    53. Kim, Youngok & Lui, Steven S., 2015. "The impacts of external network and business group on innovation: Do the types of innovation matter?," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 68(9), pages 1964-1973.
    54. Elitsa R Banalieva & Kimberly A Eddleston, 2011. "Home-region focus and performance of family firms: The role of family vs non-family leaders," Journal of International Business Studies, Palgrave Macmillan;Academy of International Business, vol. 42(8), pages 1060-1072, October.
    55. Keith D Brouthers, 2013. "Institutional, cultural and transaction cost influences on entry mode choice and performance," Journal of International Business Studies, Palgrave Macmillan;Academy of International Business, vol. 44(1), pages 1-13, January.
    56. Winfried Ruigrok & Wolfgang Amann & Hardy Wagner, 2007. "The internationalization-performance relationship at Swiss firms: A test of the S-shape and extreme degrees of internationalization," Management International Review, Springer, vol. 47(3), pages 349-368, June.
    57. Jean-Luc Arregle & Paul W Beamish & Louis Hébert, 2009. "The regional dimension of MNEs' foreign subsidiary localization," Journal of International Business Studies, Palgrave Macmillan;Academy of International Business, vol. 40(1), pages 86-107, January.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Kirsten Martinus & Thomas Sigler & Iacopo Iacopini & Ben Derudder, 2019. "The role of tax havens and offshore financial centers in Asia-Pacific networks: evidence from firm-subsidiary connections," Asian Business & Management, Palgrave Macmillan, vol. 18(5), pages 389-411, November.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Dirk Ulrich Gilbert & Patrick Heinecke, 2014. "Success Factors of Regional Strategies for Multinational Corporations: Exploring the Appropriate Degree of Regional Management Autonomy and Regional Product/Service Adaptation," Management International Review, Springer, vol. 54(5), pages 615-651, October.
    2. Oh, Chang Hoon & Sohl, Timo & Rugman, Alan M., 2015. "Regional and product diversification and the performance of retail multinationals," Journal of International Management, Elsevier, vol. 21(3), pages 220-234.
    3. Heechun Kim & Jie Wu & Douglas A. Schuler & Robert E. Hoskisson, 2020. "Chinese multinationals’ fast internationalization: Financial performance advantage in one region, disadvantage in another," Journal of International Business Studies, Palgrave Macmillan;Academy of International Business, vol. 51(7), pages 1076-1106, September.
    4. Raquel García-García & Esteban García-Canal & Mauro F. Guillén, 2019. "International Dispersion and Profitability: An Institution-Based Approach," Management International Review, Springer, vol. 59(6), pages 855-888, December.
    5. Aggarwal, Raj & Berrill, Jenny & Hutson, Elaine & Kearney, Colm, 2011. "What is a multinational corporation? Classifying the degree of firm-level multinationality," International Business Review, Elsevier, vol. 20(5), pages 557-577, October.
    6. Jean-Luc Arregle & Toyah L Miller & Michael A Hitt & Paul W Beamish, 2016. "How does regional institutional complexity affect MNE internationalization?," Journal of International Business Studies, Palgrave Macmillan;Academy of International Business, vol. 47(6), pages 697-722, August.
    7. Alan M. Rugman & Alain Verbeke & Quyen T. K. Nguyen, 2011. "Fifty Years of International Business Theory and Beyond," Management International Review, Springer, vol. 51(6), pages 755-786, December.
    8. Lee, Jong Min, 2019. "Intra- and inter-regional diversification, subsidiary value chain activities and expatriate utilization," Journal of International Management, Elsevier, vol. 25(3), pages 1-1.
    9. Arregle, Jean-Luc & Miller, Toyah L. & Hitt, Michael A. & Beamish, Paul W., 2018. "The role of MNEs’ internationalization patterns in their regional integration of FDI locations," Journal of World Business, Elsevier, vol. 53(6), pages 896-910.
    10. Daniele Cerrato & Mariacristina Piva, 2015. "The Effect of Global Orientation on the Performance of International New Ventures: Evidence from Italy," Management International Review, Springer, vol. 55(6), pages 857-883, December.
    11. Minyoung Kim & Curba Morris Lampert & Raja Roy, 2020. "Regionalization of R&D activities: (Dis)economies of interdependence and inventive performance," Journal of International Business Studies, Palgrave Macmillan;Academy of International Business, vol. 51(7), pages 1054-1075, September.
    12. Demirbag, Mehmet & Glaister, Keith W. & Sengupta, Abhijit, 2020. "Which regions matter for MNEs? The role of regional and firm level differences," Journal of World Business, Elsevier, vol. 55(1).
    13. Oh, Chang Hoon & Kim, Minyoung & Shin, Jiyoung, 2019. "Paths and geographic scope of international expansion across industries," International Business Review, Elsevier, vol. 28(3), pages 560-574.
    14. Nielsen, Bo Bernhard & Asmussen, Christian Geisler & Weatherall, Cecilie Dohlmann, 2017. "The location choice of foreign direct investments: Empirical evidence and methodological challenges," Journal of World Business, Elsevier, vol. 52(1), pages 62-82.
    15. Pisani, Niccolò & Muller, Alan & Bogăţan, Paula, 2018. "Top Management Team Internationalization and Firm-level Internationalization: The Moderating Effects of Home-region Institutional Diversity and Firm Global Focus," Journal of International Management, Elsevier, vol. 24(3), pages 239-256.
    16. Losilla Solano, Luis Vinicio & Brümmer, Bernhard & Engler, Alejandra & Otter, Verena, 2019. "Effects of intra- and inter-regional geographic diversification and product diversification on export performance: Evidence from the Chilean fresh fruit export sector," Food Policy, Elsevier, vol. 86(C), pages 1-1.
    17. Verbeke, Alain & Kano, Liena & Yuan, Wenlong, 2016. "Inside the regional multinationals: A new value chain perspective on subsidiary capabilities," International Business Review, Elsevier, vol. 25(3), pages 785-793.
    18. Jenny Berrill & Shengkai Sun, 2018. "An Investigation into the Benefits of Investing in Chinese Multinational Companies," Journal of Emerging Market Finance, Institute for Financial Management and Research, vol. 17(2), pages 186-209, August.
    19. Lars Matysiak & Alan M. Rugman & Andreas Bausch, 2018. "Dynamic Capabilities of Multinational Enterprises: The Dominant Logics Behind Sensing, Seizing, and Transforming Matter!," Management International Review, Springer, vol. 58(2), pages 225-250, April.
    20. Conti, Claudio Ramos & Parente, Ronaldo & de Vasconcelos, Flávio C., 2016. "When distance does not matter: Implications for Latin American multinationals," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 69(6), pages 1980-1992.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    Home-country effect; home regionalization; host regionalization; industry; international experience; regionalization strategy;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • L25 - Industrial Organization - - Firm Objectives, Organization, and Behavior - - - Firm Performance

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:sae:ausman:v:42:y:2017:i:4:p:673-691. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: SAGE Publications (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.agsm.edu.au .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.